GENDER, VIOLENCE AND POWER: IN THE WEB OF SOCIO-LEGAL DISCOURSES SURROUNDING THE PARENTAL ALIENATION LAW

Abstract

In this study, one examines the social and legal discourses surrounding the Parental Alienation Law and its relationship to gender issues. It begins with the following question: can the LAP be contributing to gender violence in the context of the Democratic Rule of Law? Although there are arguments defending the indispensability of this law for the protection of those who care for children, it is noticeable that it may be being used excessively to divert the focus from the protection of the child and/or adolescent to merely parental issues involving, therefore, disputes between parents. The overall objective is to analyze these discourses in the construction of this law as to whether or not it incites gender-based violence. The study is justified by the need to understand how the legal and social discourses surrounding this law reproduce punitive and unequal practices under the rhetoric of child protection. Methodologically, a qualitative and exploratory approach was followed, based on bibliographic and documentary sources, with the field of analysis encompassing academic production, national and international legislation, such as draft laws in progress and statements from social groups. Laurence Bardin’s content analysis was adopted as the main technique. The results showed that, although created with the intention of protecting children, the Parental Alienation Law has been used to discredit maternal reports of violence, reinforcing gender stereotypes, legitimizing patriarchal practices, and promoting the revictimization of women and children. The social and legal discourses analyzed showed that the aforementioned law is based on weak foundations, linked, for example, to the discredited thesis of Parental Alienation Syndrome, proposed by Richard Gardner in the 1980s, and disregards contexts of domestic violence. In conclusion, it is suggested that the Parental Alienation Law, instead of guaranteeing full protection, operates as a mechanism for silencing and punishing mothers, compromising the principle of the best interests of the child.