Laws and public policies aimed at gender violence-related issues deserve to be reflected upon at the time of their application and analysis. In the context of a heterocentric and patriarcal society, their application is not free from difficulties, traps and lacunae. This text, grounded analytically on critical psychology, post-structuralist gender studies, queer theory, and critical criminology, intends to be an invitation to a reflection on how these laws and policies have contributed to building and maintaining a stereotype and antinomy of man-as-aggressor versus woman-as-victim. For such, it is necessary to focus on the processes whence the subjects produce gender. Our motivation is to contribute with analytical tools that enable opening new perspectives for legal and assistential intervention. As conclusions, we underline the importance of freedom from a linear, dichotomous discourse, of paying attention to power relations, and of taking into consideration normative-decentred differences and particularities, and from fixed heterocentred positions.
law; policies; violence