Spatial Resistance and Feminist Urbanism: Rethinking Gender-Based Violence Prevention in the University Micro-City of Medellín

Abstract

This paper analyzes Gender-Based Violence (GBV) within Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) by conceptualizing the university campus as a "micro-city" and a contested territory. Utilizing a critical-social paradigm and a qualitative methodology grounded in feminist autoethnography and Standpoint Theory, the research reveals that institutional planning is not a neutral exercise. Instead, it often projects power structures that prioritize a "universal subject" while precariousness is imposed upon intersectional identities.

The investigation identifies several structural barriers to justice, including the "culture of simulation," normative "purplewashing," and the metaphorical figure of "elevator holders": gatekeepers who ensure institutional indemnity for aggressors. Additionally, the study addresses the emergence of the digital "manosphere" as a sophisticated, collective form of misogyny that infiltrates the academic environment.

As a pedagogical counter-proposal, the research presents the "Women’s Virtual Agora" as a practice of "acuerpamiento" (collective embodiment) and resistance, designed to transition from individual malaise to collective dignity. The paper concludes that effective GBV prevention requires a fundamental paradigm shift toward an "ethics of care". This shift is essential to guarantee the right to the university city as a secure refuge rather than a landscape of risk.