The Contribution of Critical Pedagogy to Feminist Research on Sexual Violence

Abstract

As a form of scientific enquiry, feminist research aims to produce knowledge that is decentred from, as well as decentres, androcentrism. It also establishes challenges that send us back to methodology and how we produce knowledge. Feminist research on sexual violence proposes a number of methodological challenges that open new paths for exploration: integrating intersectionality into research; reflexivity as a criterion of rigour; the development of research techniques that respect the voices and practices of women as active agents; and the role of emotions in research. In order to analyse to what degree methodological challenges are being met and what work is still to be done, we reviewed various Spanish studies (published between 2015 and early 2022) that used a feminist approach to research sexual violence. Subsequently, using illustrations from two studies we have implemented, we outlined how critical pedagogy can make an important contribution to the methodological challenges of feminist research in this field. The article proposes that a closer relationship between socio-educational praxis (critical methodology) and feminist approaches can contribute to an enrichment and improvement of scientific praxis (feminist methodology), as well as showing how knowledge production can straddle scientific concerns and social intervention.