What is proxy violence, another cruel weapon of ma …

Harming children as a form of abusing a woman is one of the most savage and cruel forms of gender-based violence. Unfortunately this cowardly action, which is defined as vicarious violence, is starting to get more popular every day and the case of the two little sisters, kidnapped and disappeared by their father in Tenerife, Spain, shed light on this.

Little Anna and Olivia Gimeno Zimmermann, 1 and 6, disappeared on April 27 passed after his father, Tomás Gimeno, did not return them to his mother, Beatriz Zimmermann, at the agreed time.

According to some reports, before that, Gimeno had sent numerous messages to his ex-wife, showing that the disappearance was not an accident. This Thursday, 45 days later, the discovery of the body of little Olivia at the bottom of the sea, near the port of Güimar, confirmed the worst omens.

This case, which displaces Spain, could be included in what is called indirect violence, since the crime was committed with one and the same cruel aim: to do as much harm as possible with this death to the mother of the minors.

The term was coined by Spanish psychologist Sonia Vaccaro almost ten years ago.. This is secondary violence against the main victim, who is the mother. Despite the fact that the physical and direct violence of the man against his wife or partner is very evident, there are many cases in which the woman is the victim of continuous psychological violence and The result of harming the children you have in common. In the worst case, such as the disappearance of girls from Tenerife, extreme damage can occur with the joint murder of minors.

The instrumentalization of other vulnerable groups subject to the guardianship or guardianship of women victims of gender-based violence is also included as indirect violence., such as the elderly, people with disabilities or in a situation of dependency.

It is, in short, a dehumanization of the most vulnerable people close to the victim of gender violence in order to make them an object to further increase the pain of the victim and make you feel guilty for not being able to protect your children or dependents.

Violence that shakes and shows how a sexist aggressor is able to satisfy his desire for hatred in the most cruel way possible, even going so far as to deny his own family link.