VIOLENCE AGAINST TRANSEXUAL WOMEN AND THE LAW MARIA DA PENHA

AN EXPRESSION OF THE SOCIAL ISSUE

Abstract

In 2016 the Law 11.340 / 2006, the Law Maria da Penha completed 10 years. It defines a field of protection for women limited through the concept of female gender. Using the same concept to define homicide victims, surveys point to Brazil as the country with the highest number of murders of transsexual women. In Brazil, people of the female gender are targets of violence, not protection. This is what we attribute here to the patterns of social behavior based on a socio-historically constructed and sustained conservative morality in Brazil. The objective of this study is to draw Social Service professionals' attention to the understanding of how these patterns of behavior are built in Brazilian society and how they result in the high rate of violence against transsexual women. Violence is understood as an expression of the social question and, therefore, the object of the work of social workers. This discussion aims to stimulate the debate around this issue as a first step towards the elaboration of strategies of professional intervention by the social workers.