[Discourse on violence against women in a virtual forum: the view from the gender framework]

This study (which forms part of a broader inquiry) aimed to determine the constructive aspects of the written language to introduce gender-based violence and its articulation in referential frameworks. Special attention was paid to detecting spaces where a gender framework could emerge.

A discourse analysis of contributions to a specific virtual forum was performed using the analytical tool of detecting interpretative repertoires, with the support of the Atlas.ti v.6 program.

We identified three main interpretative repertoires. In the first two, 'Violence, a social symptom' and 'All victims', the gender framework was largely blurred. However, the third repertoire, 'The pendulum of gender', was the main route of expression and of confrontation for this framework and was constructed mainly from the criticisms made by many participants of the effects of what is called 'positive discrimination'.

We identified the difficulty of distinguishing the gender framework, in the context of the adoption and development of the law, from the punitive framework. This lack of distinction limits violence against women to an interpersonal problem between the victim and the aggressor, and essentially offers official complaints and their legal outcomes as the solution.