The incorporation of violence by women video artists

This paper examines the way in which women video artists embodied violence in their video pieces as a strategy of critique of the patriarchal regime. Since the 1960s several generations of women artists used different strategies of self-harm or explored the physical and mental limits of their bodies to express the anguish of those who are excluded from the patriarchal society on sexist and/or racist grounds. Considering the guiding line that covers three fields – art, gender, and feminist social movements – as well as their key thinkers and scholars in Sociology, Fine Arts and the Humanities, we have built the object of study of this essay, namely, the relationship between women's video art focused on the body, violence and gender along with feminist social movements in the period ranging from 1967 to 2007, in a Western context. The methodology used had as its primary goal to create a link between the micro-sociological level of expressions, body gestures and behaviours in the videos and the macro-sociological level of broader, institutionalized social forces that are at the origin of inequalities, such as dimensions of gender and «race». This study concluded that at least since the 1960s there is the denunciation by women video artists of the general circumstances women live under, while enduring violence of various kinds, such as socio-cultural, psychological and sexual violence against women.

Social Representations of Violence against the Elderly

The repercussions of violence on the mental, social, and physical well-being of the elderly are some of the most challenging problems in public health today. Using a qualitative design, we conducted a study in Portugal and the United States that applied both descriptive and comparative methods in order to understand the social representations of violence against the elderly. Utilizing the Theory of Social Representations, we explored the perspectives of the elderly, their families, and healthcare professionals on the subject of violence against the elderly. The data on which the findings were based were obtained in two very different cultural contexts, yet the representations of violence against the elderly revealed no significant cross-cultural differences. However, conceptualizations regarding expectations of care and protection for the elderly proved to be distinct. We discussed concerns about the general attitudes of tolerance toward violence, including those of the elderly who self-identified as eventual victims. Violence against the elderly was portrayed as a part of old age and also somehow was justified by it. The results also indicated the need to better prepare healthcare professionals and society in general to deal with the consequences of the problem and not, as we would like to report, to prevent it from happening.

Symposium: Violence in Adults and the elderly: to investigate and intervene

This symposium aims to address some studies on violence in adults, as well as address the job done in an intervention network in domestic violence and a project on the study of violence in the elderly, in Alentejo. Communications: - PREVALÊNCE OF VIOLENCE IN ADULTS- Zangão, Maria Otília; Serra, Isaura; Gemito, Maria Laurência; Pinheiro, Felícia Tavares; Magalhães, Dulce; Marques, Maria de Fátima - SOCIAL REPRESENTATION OF DOMESTIC VIOLENCE - Gemito, Maria Laurência; Pinheiro, Felícia Tavares; Zangão, Maria Otília; Serra, Isaura; Magalhães, Dulce; Marques, Maria de Fátima - DOMESTIV VIOLENCE IN THE PERSPECTIVE OF WOMEN WHO LIVE IT - Magalhães, Dulce; Marques, Maria de Fátima; Zangão, Maria Otília; Serra, Isaura; Gemito, Maria Laurência; Pinheiro, Felícia Tavares - INTEGRATED INTERVENTION NETWORK OF DISTRICT OF ÉVORA (RIIDE): A multidisciplinary response to violence - Gemito, Maria Laurência; Pinheiro, Felícia Tavares; Lopes, Manuel - ESACA - Ageing Safely in Alentejo – Understanding for Action - Mendes, Felismina; Gemito, Maria Laurência; Zangão, Maria Otilia; Chora, Maria Antónia; Pereira, Catarina Symposium goal(s): - To present studies on violence in Alentejo. - To discuss the importance of networks in the problem of violence. - To present Project underway on how to age with security in Alentejo. Symposium moderator(s): Maria Otília Brites Zangão Project affiliation:All three studies have resulted in an intervention project against domestic violence "Love me, love me not- Why does the violence exist and why does it not choose ages?" funded by POPH. ESACA Project - Aging Safely in Alentejo - Understanding to act, co-funded by: Alentejo 2020 Portugal 2020 and the European Union.