Breaking the Cycle: Confronting Gender-Based Violence

Growing awareness of Italy’s gender gap fuels focus on violent discrimination, particularly secondary victimisation. The Council of Europe defines this as a ‘victimization not from the crime itself, but from institutions and individuals’ response to the victim’. Despite being a recognised phenomenon by European Institutions and the international specialised literature, it’s often overlooked. Therefore, this talk seeks to shed understanding on how secondary victimisation is carried out through language, especially in rape and sexual violence criminal proceedings and to ultimately find solutions that protect women’s rights in the legal setting.

Rape is an increasing global health issue. As one of the biggest countries in the world, rape is a severe and prevailing crime in China that entails imperative attention. According to a recent statistic, 19.6% of Chinese women had experienced sexual violence. An earlier study conducted in Guangzhou, one of the most representative cities in China, has demonstrated that 1.6% of female college students have been victimized in rape within the past 12 months. Compared with such high incident rates, the reporting rate of rape in China is relatively low with only 10% of reported cases. To provide more comprehensive understanding, this talk will explore causes and factors within the society/culture that are associated with rape myths.