"Femicide" and the death of women in Brazil

Abstract

This article deals with the rising interest in "femicide" as a category for the analysis of women's deaths in Latin America and its usage in the Brazilian case. Despite occurring in diverse circumstances, through their categorization as "femicides" all deaths are explained by the fact that the "victims are women", emphasizing the persistence of a patriarchal model of domination in contemporary societies. The use of this category is questioned by opposing it to the discussions on the specificities of gender and its intersection with other social markers.