Gender and Verbal Violence: a Form of Psychological Abuse in Moroccan Popular Culture

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Language is a mechanism of communication that is constructed to provide a shared environment with mutually understood terms and ideologies. Language is both constructed by society and it constructs society. The words people use to communicate ideas reflect the ideologies people hold and how they think about the world. Indeed, language can be used to convey violent ideas and feelings. Although violence is presumably physical, it can extend into the verbal realm of spoken and written communication in a way that produces both physical and psychological effects. It is within this theoretical framework that the present study tends to reflect upon verbal violence as a form of psychological abuse against women. Based on qualitative data, this study argues that Moroccan popular culture, especially through some words and expressions constitute a key form of violence against women. Words such as “divorced”, “infidel”, “spinster”, and “ ‘aqrusha” are used to serve and maintain the patriarchal system through upholding a set of gender binary pairs where women are linguistically relegated to a passive other.

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gender , language , violence , women , Moroccan culture , patriarchy , stereotypes , feminism

Revue Sciences, Langage Et Communication

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Revue Sciences, Langage Et Communication