Recent videos shot in the Brazilian favelas show how gender-based violence (GBV) is used by Illegal Armed Groups (IAGs) to punish women who they percieve have acted against them. These videos show the IAGs publicly shaving and humiliating various women - highlighting how misogyny and machismo lead to such exhibitions of public punishment. As postited by Júlia Quirino, states have a responsibility to address these open expressions of GBV, especially since the prevalance of IAGs is born out of a power vaccum caused by state inaction. While Quirino asserts that gender power dynamics have shifted in IAGs in the last years, this does not negate the responsibility of the state to enforce the law and address systemic issues that perpetuate GBV.
Compiled from: Júlia Quirino, "Narco Tribunals: Gender-Based Violence as a Tool of Power in the Favelas, Small Wars Journal," Jan. 24, 2025.