forbidden words: GBV

1. GBV / gender-based violence

Gender-based violence (GBV) is an umbrella term for harmful acts of abuse perpetrated against a person’s will and rooted in a system of unequal power between women and men. This is true for both conflict-affected and non-conflict settings.

The UN defines violence against women as, ‘any act of gender-based violence that results in, or is likely to result in, physical, sexual or psychological harm or suffering to women, including threats of such acts, coercion or arbitrary deprivation of liberty, whether occurring in public or in private life.

Over one-third of women and girls globally will experience some form of violence in their lifetime. However, this rate is higher in emergencies, conflict, and crisis, where vulnerability and risks are increased and most often family, community, and legal protections have broken down.

Harm caused by GBV comes in a variety of visible and invisible forms—it also includes the threat of violence. 

GBV can manifest in a variety of ways. Some of these include: physical violence, such as assault or slavery; emotional or psychological violence, such as verbal abuse or confinement; sexual abuse, including rape; harmful practices, like child marriage and female genital mutilation; socio-economic violence, which includes denial of resources; and sexual harassment, exploitation and abuse.

What is Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)?

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV), or ‘domestic violence’ is an all-too-common form of violence against women and girls. It refers to any behavior from a current or previous partner that causes harm—including physical aggression, sexual coercion, psychological abuse and controlling behaviors.

Globally, the UN reports that one in four women have been subjected to physical and/or sexual violence by an intimate partner at least once in their lifetime, and IRC research has shown that it is the most common form of violence against women and girls in humanitarian contexts.

Who is most at risk?

Gender-based violence can happen to anyone. However, it disproportionately affects women and girls. Those in crisis settings are at a double disadvantage due to their gender and their situation.

Women and girls from other diverse and marginalized communities face an even greater risk where gender inequality intersects with other forms of oppression.

Those at higher risk include:

• Women and girls living with disabilities
• Young and adolescent girls
• Older women
• People who identify as LGBTQ+
• Women of ethnic minorities
• Refugees and migrants

While we reference these different identities separately, each person holds multiple identities at once. For example, a woman who lives with a disability might also be an older refugee. 

This is why it’s important to understand the concept of intersectionality —that a person faces different kinds of discrimination and risks due to a combination of their identities like gender, race, religion, age.

It is crucial to understand intersectionality when working to determine and provide prevention and response services. For instance, research has found that adolescent girls living in displacement are particularly at risk of being overlooked in emergency settings, where they may fall between the cracks of child protection services and those aimed at adult women.

from — Irc. (2025, April 30). What is gender-based violence – and how do we prevent it? 

2. GBV / gender-based violence

Gender-based violence is harm, or threats to harm, committed against a person(s) based on actual or perceived sex, gender, sexual orientation, gender identity or expression or other such sex/gender related characteristics.

Gender-based violence may include physical, sexual, emotional, psychological and financial abuse, or threats of abuse. People of all genders, sexual orientations and gender-identities may experience gender-based violence, but women and girls are impacted the most.

Gender refers to how gender-identity is experienced in society. It is a cultural and legal term referring to society’s expectations. There are expectations about how people of different genders should act, dress, speak and behave. These expectations create gender roles and stereotypes. Society has very specific cultural ideas about what it means to be a man or a woman, and there is little acceptance for differences within these choices.

from — About Gender-Based violence. (n.d.). Office for the Prevention of Domestic Violence. 

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example sentences: GBV 

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June 20th, 2025
Flagstaff, Arizona

This is one of the words/ phrases you can’t say in the new Trump Administration. See a comprehensive list at the Forbidden Words Project.

image: peacock wall © Holly Troy 6.2025