Invalidation: A Neglected Dimension of Gender-based Violence and Inequality

Abstract

This article proposes that invalidation is a pervasive manifestation of gender relations as expressed through strategies of minimisation, disbelief and denial. Invalidation is embedded within interpersonal and institutionalised arrangements and interactions. It is a constitute element of gender-based violence as well as a socio-political condition that enables gender-based violence. Invalidation serves to inscribe gender relations upon the bodies of women through the mental and physical health deficits of the gender-based violence that it enables and facilitates, as well as through the denial of testimonial legitimacy and the consequent withholding of resources, support and services.