The battle of the crosses. Crimes against women in the border and its performers

Abstract

This paper focuses on public discourses regarding violence against women over the last ten years in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. The goal is to outline the various hypotheses proposed by social actors among which are included institutions belonging to the three levels of government, the media, academics, NGOs, political parties and religious institutions. These discourses are considered speech acts, going beyond the truth-false criterion. The authors wish to stress the conditions of enunciation, their theoretical or ideological background and their use as a political act. This study of social discourses on violence against women seeks to highlight the way in which victimization is instrumented in the field of power relationships in the Mexico-US border region.