The body and emotions in women demobilized from the guerrilla

Abstract

Violence in Colombia has for decades been tied to the problems of rural areas development, and it is the peasant women inhabitants of these territories who have suffered the most. The article shows how nine (9) women of peasant origin experienced and symbolized their emotions and their bodies, during the time they were guerrilla members of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia. The research is non-experimental, qualitative and exploratory-descriptive. Individual clinical interviews were carried out and the Phantom Body Map was applied. The research found: a) Peasant women who were members of the guerrillas were victimizers and victims, on the one hand, because they were born and grew up in rural contexts in conditions of socioeconomic and political vulnerability, and on the other hand, because their gender condition was made invisible. b) The war implied for them that their body and emotions, as well as their sexuality, maternity, family and social relationships, should be inscribed in the logic of war and be functional to it. It is concluded that their life in the guerrilla introduced consequences in their mental health, body and social ties, which implies that the care of this population must be done with a gender approach.