Terminology

The language in the violence discourse is highly sensitive. That is why it is important that we use proper terminology.

We believe that experiences of violence do not define the individual, but rather are a piece of a larger self identity. Labels which focus on experiences of violence, presuppose an individual’s inability to change and to transform their identity into a peaceful, empowered personality. Therefore we try to use terms:

• person who has perpetrated violence
• person who has experienced violence
  We realize it is sometimes difficult to use such long terms, therefore we also use terms:
• victims of violence (sl. žrtev nasilja)
  It refers to a person who has been violated. We refer to this person as a victim because they have been the target of abuse.
• perpetrators of violence (sl. povzročitelji nasilja).
  It refers to individuals who abuse or batter another person.
• violence in the family (sl. nasilje v družini)
  It can be thought of as an umbrella term that covers all forms of violence that occur within the home (violence agains children, women, elderly ...)
• intimate partnership violence (sl. nasilje v intimnopartnerskih odnosih)
  An intimate partnership is a term that describes the relationship that someone has with her/his significant other. It can include couples who are dating, living together in a common law relationship, or who are married.
• gender‐based violence
  The term recognises that violence occurs within the context of women's and girl's subordinate status in society, and serves to maintain this unequal balance of power. It includes violence against women occurring within the family, geographically or culturally specific forms of abuse such as female genital mutilation, “honour killings” and dowry‐related violence as well as various forms of sexual violence, including rape during warfare, trafficking of women and forced prostitution.
• users (sl. uporabnice, uporabniki).
  The term refers to people that we work with in all our programmes (persons who experience or perpetrate violence, general public ...).