A/HRC/17/26 33. The psychological/individual perspective draws from biological, sociological, and psychological theories, and posits that violence occurs due to a male’s higher level of testosterone (hormone theory), and also that men have evolved to have more violent tendencies than women (evolutionary theory). Additionally, an individual may be abused because the perpetrator perceives a benefit from the abuse, i.e. he is able to gain what he wants by maintaining a level of fear and disquiet in his partner (or members of the family) and this ultimately benefits his individual well-being. Another argument is based on the notion of resource competition, in which individual family members are in competition with one another for scarce resources, and thus the combination of hormone differences and sexual dimorphism allows males to dominate females in the private and public sphere. 34. The feminist perspective holds the view that gender discrimination and its attendant devaluation of women cause gender-based violence against women, and that violence against women is an issue of power and control, with men using physical and other forms of violence to maintain a dominant position over women in their lives. Thus women’s treatment as second-class citizens is both justified by and justifies men’s violence against them. Also, the violence against some women by other women is often as a result of intersecting forms of discrimination. Feminist agendas often include analyzing and addressing the problem of violence from the social structural level. 35. The societal perspective reflects the way that formal and informal social institutions perpetuate a discriminatory context where social, economic and cultural advantage maintains hierarchies that contribute to violence against women in multiple forms. The most pervasive form of violence in societal theory is structural violence, which holds that individuals can experience violence without a single individual physically touching them. Examples of such violence include sexist and racist epithets, State policies that have an adverse and/or exclusionary impact, harmful cultural and/or religious practices, and the impact of conflict on women’s lives. 36. The societal perspective is also helpful in considering how the collective manifestation of individual freedoms can cause violence against women. This perspective considers the ways in which the relationship of the individual to family members and the larger community contributes to violence against women. The Special Rapporteur on freedom of religion or belief has argued that collective manifestations of some individual freedoms, notably freedom of religion or belief, operate at the intersection of multiple forms of discrimination and violence against women.8 Societal values and community norms, according to which this kind of collective manifestation is organized, often perpetuate different forms of violence against women. 37. Social structures (family forms, formal and informal institutions, religious and societal beliefs) also generate the inequitable valuing of men over women, and promote male dominance over females. Often these values are reproduced from one generation to the next. 38. Social and economic exclusion works as a process as well as an outcome for violence against women, and can produce and contextualize “social relations and organizational barriers that block the attainment of livelihoods, human development and [equality].”9 For instance, trade, development and economic policies which target areas outside of where marginalized women reside lead to uneven development and economic opportunities. Such exclusion can create or sustain poverty and inequality, and can restrict participation, thereby increasing vulnerability to and risk of violence against women. 8 9 10 E/CN.4/2002/73/Add.2 Available from http://www.un.org/esa/socdev/social/meetings/egm09/docs/Rosenberg.pdf