Todos Contra Todos : Sexual and gender-based violence in Salvadoran schools, new realities of an old problem

Abstract

A taboo is that which is considered forbidden to mention. In many ways this is a definition that describes sexual violence in schools in El Salvador. Of the forms of violence that occur in school, sexual and gender-based violence is among the most perverse, common and least studied. This article analyzes the situation of sexual and gender violence in medium-level educational centers in
the whole country. It is proposed that in order to understand the problem, the roles of victim in students and of perpetrators on the part of teachers should not be assumed a priori. On the contrary, the manifestations of sexual and gender-based violence occur in a generalized environment of violence in which there are cultural patterns and relationships, as well as institutional deficiencies that allow them and in which the roles of victims and perpetrators are exchanged between school actors. This work is carried out within the framework of a broader research called "Diagnosis of Violence in School in Salvadoran educational centers of medium level", developed by the Health and Society Research Center of the Evangelical University of El Salvador.