GENDERIZED CONCEPTIONS IN THE ANALISYS OF PROTECTIVE ORDERS

Abstract

This paper presents, under the premises of Sandra Walklate’s feminist victimology, Raewyn Connel’s gender theory, and Marlene Matos and Helena Grangeia’s stalking definition, the ways by which judges conceive the concept of gender in their decisions when associated with stalking cases, through the categories of violence, risk and fear. The objects of analysis were eight denied restraining orders, which presented stalking behaviors, that litigated by the "Women’s Protection Division” of the State Public Defender’s Office, from January 2017 to July 2017. From the content analysis methodology, we discovered that there were three main arguments for the denials:

i) gender violence unawareness; ii) rejection of the victim’s fear as a legitimate category to evaluate the restraining orders’ requests; iii) low risk evaluation for the victim’s safety when there was no physical violence.

Keywords:
Stalking; restraining order; violence; risk; fear