Gaslighting as a Gender-Based Violence

Abstract

The article actualizes the problem of gender-based violence, which has a socio-structural nature and arises as a result of unequal power relations between women and men. The socio-historical conditions of the existence of gender-based violence are considered. Distinctions are made and subordination is determined between such concepts as gender-based violence, domestic violence, rape, sexual violence, sexual harassment. It is noted that gaslighting is a psychological manipulation that should be considered as a gender-based violence. The 1944 film adaptation of Patrick Hamilton's play "Gaslight" (directed by George Dewey Cukor) is analyzed in detail, and it is demonstrated that gaslighting has both a psychological and a sociodramaturgical dimension. It is argued that changes in the identity of an individual who undergoes gaslighting can be considered as a post-patient stage of his moral career (I. Hoffmann's term). Since social factors determine that gaslighting is more often perpetrated by men and experienced by women, gaslighting is correctly understood as a form of psychological violence, which is part of the structure of gender-based violence. It is noted that gaslighting is a social process, as a result of which a person is forced into the role of a patient in a psychiatric clinic. It is emphasized that combating gender-based violence means combating violence in general, the idea of violence as such and is a necessary condition for building a productive and happy society.