The ghost of the control and teh jealousy: gender violence during the engagement (dating violence)

Abstract

It is undeniable that gender violence continues to be a social scourge. And, although the increase in visibility and social sensitivity is evident in this respect, a great work of social raising awareness about equality and respect toward the woman is still necessary. In this sense, the accelerated advance of the new technologies, the generalization of their daily use and their high social impact have provided other ways of communicating and relating, but they have also made possible new manifestations of gender violence, especially in couples of adolescents and young people. Thus, the new forms of gender violence during the engagement, the romantic myths and the gender stereotypes demand a new direction towards research lines adapted to the times. In the present work, it is intended to analyze, by means of a quantitative empirical-analytical methodology, the gender violence during the engagement and its relationship with the new technologies, focusing on the cognitions, experiences and behaviors tried out by the women in that sense. To do this, a selfmade questionnaire was used, consisting of closed multiple-choice and Likert-type questions, which was applied to a sample of 141 women. The results found reveal that, in the analyzed sample, both the degree of information and effective knowledge of the phenomenon is lower than desired. On the other hand, almost a third of women recognize that their boyfriend is jealous and possessive. A similar percentage states that her boyfriend has her mobile passwords, although to a lesser extent they assume that he controls her social networks and her mobile device. Also relevant are the comments and the sarcastic jokes of jealous character towards them by their partners and the accusations of infidelity or flirting with others. Finally, some short lines of socio-educational action are proposed.