Back to the program

Understanding Vulnerability to Homicides of Adolescent Females from the Perspective of Virtual Violence and Intersectionality

Tatiana FIUZA, Helena RIBEIRO, Marco RIBEIRO, Francisco Daniel VIANA, Bruna SOUSA, Tayná SILVA, Maria Beatriz DUARTE, Wallyson SEVERO and Micael SAMPAIO

An intersectional approach highlights that adolescent females are at risk not solely due to their gender, but also due to the combination of gender, race, class, and territory. The overlapping of these factors increases exposure to lethal violence, particularly in peripheral neighborhoods controlled by criminal factions, where state protective presence is limited. Rather than analyzing inequality through race or class alone, this approach seeks to understand it through the interactions of multiple power categories that mutually reinforce each other.To understand the vulnerability of adolescent females to homicide from the perspective of virtual violence and intersectionality.The study employed a qualitative research framework and was conducted in two peripheral neighborhoods with high social vulnerability. Adolescent females aged 15 to 18 were included. Participants were selected using a snowball sampling technique. Semi-structured interviews were conducted and analyzed using discourse analysis.Findings indicate that violence extends to social media platforms and messaging apps, which are used by criminal factions for control, monitoring, and intimidation. In this context, such threats as exercises of power over bodies, regulating territories’ influence on social relationships. Participants’ accounts revealed everyday experiences shaped by multiple forms of oppression, including physical, psychological, symbolic, and virtual violence.The narratives reflect the constant fear experienced by peripheral adolescent females and illustrate the complexity of vulnerabilities across various territories, genders, races, and age groups. From an intersectional perspective, these layers demonstrate that Black and Brown girls experience violence not in isolation but as part of a historical process of exclusion, marginalization, and racialized poverty.The study points to the need for research that gives a voice to vulnerable populations from an intersectional perspective.