Per un’anatomia delle politiche di prevenzione e contrasto alla violenza di genere

This introduction to the thematic focus examines how gender-based violence, particularly men's violence against women, has become recognized as a structural social problem through decades of feminist activism, public debate, and policy frameworks. Growing social awareness and increased helpseeking among women challenge antiviolence systems to strengthen both support pathways and longterm prevention strategies. Using Nancy Fraser's model of needs construction, the article highlights the inherently political nature of defining, interpreting, and addressing violence, showing advances, tensions and transformative ambition in policy design, measures' coordination and grassroots intervention in the Italian context. In this Focus, then, contributions from Italy, Catalonia, and Portugal explore the roles of specialized actors such as women's centers and shelters and perpetrator programs, intersectional blind spots, and the challenges of multi-level governance, illustrating the coexistence of transformative approaches and more fragmented ones. How anti-violence policies are conceptualized and implemented is analyzed, focusing on their theoretical foundations and their impact, highlighting tensions around regulamentation, bureaucratization, and depoliticization. A women-oriented and intersectional perspective underpins the contributions, revealing how policy narratives shape discourses and practices on gender-based violence, visibilizing some forms of violence while exposing to marginalization some groups of survivors. Overall, the thematic focus aims to advance critical reflection on policy effectiveness and on the capacity of welfare systems to address the structural roots of genderbased violence.