ROTTEN TO THE CORE?

Violence near my house is increising, for example more and more women are being killed by strangers with no reason. Femicides, the crime where women are murdered because they are women are increasing in Guatemala. Everyday two women are brutally killed in the country, without almost any efforts to stop it or find the perpetrators. It is my opinion that conceptions and notions surrounding the gender identities are crucial in trying to understand the murders, motives and impunity which the murders are characterized by. That is why I have chosen to take a closer look on the femicides in Guatemala and especially it?s relation to the female gender identities in the country. Placing femicides in a gendered continuum of violence gives me the opportunity to discuss the crime in terms of social, economical and political violence. Together with theories surrounding gender, nation and identity femicides can be connected to the notion of female identities through power discourses surrounding gender. It becomes highly visible that the Guatemalan civil war is crucial in understanding today?s gender identities because wars affect identities fundamental, and especially a conflict that lasted for over three decades. During armed conflicts the perception of ?manhood? and ?womanhood? becomes essential in discourses related to the nation and the national identity. But as my thesis will show, the Mayan people, and especially the Mayan women came to symbolise the enemy through her breeding of ?difference? which resulted in brutal assaults by the Guatemalan army. In my thesis I will show how gender identities can become visible through placing femicides in a wider perspective and by analysing the power and gender discourses surrounding the crime.

Dear friend:

A warm late summer afternoon on a leafy street in an area colonised by fashionable cafes and shops came to an abrupt end when the peace was shattered by a raw, terrifying eruption of gang violence this week.

Armed with spades, screwdrivers, bars and sticks, two gangs clashed and sent locals fleeing into shops for safety. It was awful and very scared, So im writing you this letter to be careful on anytime you go out of your house. And besides that, here near my neighborhood are killing a lot of women so please bne careful with that too.

I hope you take responsability for this letter and take some actios, and please let know all of your friends and the people you care the most.

Sincerely,

cristy

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