Sexual and Instrumental Violence

Vitiated Consent, Reproductive Coercion and Myths

Sexual violence within the couple is, statistically, the most invisible typology and with the highest black figure, protected by taboos and archaic myths such as that of the "conjugal debit".

It is imperative to clarify that marriage or cohabitation does not grant perpetual consent; any sexual act without the free and enthusiastic desire of one party is a violation.

Many women describe sexually coercive dynamics where they give in to their partners' demands not out of desire, but out of fear of reprisals, "to have peace," "so he won't get angry," or to avoid hitting their children.

Sex becomes a bargaining chip for survival and appeasement, reifying the victim's body.

Within this spectrum, we find reproductive coercion, a tactic designed to control procreative capacity: it includes the sabotage of contraceptives (piercing condoms), the prohibition to use them, forced pregnancy to "tie" the victim, or the obligation to abort against her will.

These practices seek to destroy the most intimate bodily autonomy and annul human dignity.

Instrumental and Vicarious Violence: The Multispecies Family

Violence is not always directed at the body of the primary victim; it is often diverted toward what she loves most in order to exercise coercion.

In the context of the "multispecies family," where animals are part of the emotional core, perpetrators instrumentalize pets to cause terror.

Legislation and psychology recognize animals as sentient beings and part of the support network, which makes them points of critical vulnerability.

The aggressor harms, tortures or kills the animal not only out of cruelty, but as a terrorist message to the partner: "Look what I am capable of doing".

Cases have been documented where the aggressor throws the animal out of the window or kills it and places it in a visible place for the victim to find it, seeking to paralyze her through terror and guilt.

The animal, a defenseless being that cannot denounce, becomes an object of vicarious punishment to break the will of the woman and children, keeping them subdued under the implicit threat that they could be next.

To ignore animal abuse in this context is to ignore a critical red flag of danger.

Summary

Sexual violence in the couple is the most invisible, protected by myths such as the "conjugal debit". Any act without free desire is rape; many victims give in for fear of reprisals or to "have peace" in the home.

It includes reproductive coercion to control the ability to procreate. The aggressor sabotages contraceptive methods or forces pregnancies and abortions to destroy the woman's bodily autonomy and bind her permanently to the relationship through children.

Instrumental violence uses third parties, such as pets, to cause terror. In multispecies families, the aggressor tortures or kills animals to send a message of cruelty to the victim, paralyzing her through vicarious fear.