Genealogy of Gender-Based Violence in South Africa

Explanations for gender-based violence often lead to myopic discussions of an elusive, almost mythical “culture” that implies that gender-based violence has always been and may always be part of society. These problematic notions of culture eclipse the very real material conditions and power structures that shape contexts of violence. This chapter stands in contrast to the idea that gender-based violence is “cultural.” South African service providers instead understand gender-based violence as existing within larger contexts of power and inequality. Service providers argue that gender-based violence is ensconced in the violence of poverty and inequality that were fostered by apartheid, in the slow violence of neoliberalism, and in the contemporary climate of xenophobia, substance abuse, and sexual entitlement.