The 13-year-old Berlin student Lisa T. was allegedly kidnapped and murdered - her body was discovered at the weekend. This case should not only trigger sadness, it requires resistance against a system of patriarchal violence. – A comment from Helena Platt.

On the morning of November 3rd, the 13-year-oldLisa T.reported missing from Berlin-Marzahn. She left her family's apartment around 7:15 a.m. to go to school. However, she never got there. Her family suspected early on that Lisa had not disappeared voluntarily. Her older sister described her as a girl who wouldn't just run away.

While her relatives desperately searched for her and the missing person report spread throughout the city, the police began a large-scale manhunt. More than 220 emergency services, sniffer dogs, a helicopter and an underwater drone were deployed.

Lisa's mother also addressed the public in several videos. "Mom just hopes you come home safe and healthy. Mom misses you so much," she wrote in a Facebook post in Vietnamese.

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Suspected murder of Lisa T.

On Sunday, police officers finally discovered the 13-year-old's body in an uninhabited single-family home in Altglietzen, Brandenburg. The fact that the investigators checked the building at all was apparently a coincidence: they had originally been called because of a possible trespass.

In the house, next to the body, they found a seriously injured 22-year-old man who is now suspected of the crime. He is said to have attempted to commit suicide with a firearm and his life is still in danger. The investigation into the exact circumstances of the crime is ongoing. Among other things, possible drag marks in the adjacent forest and the question of whether Lisa experienced sexual violence are being examined.

Neighbors also reported a car with a Berlin license plate that was said to have been standing in front of the house for a long time on the day Lisa disappeared. Others claim to have heard cries for help. It is not yet clear whether these observations are related to the crime. The cause of death and the exact time of death must also be examined by a forensic doctor.

But despite all the necessary caution towards unexplained investigation results, one fact must not be put into perspective: a 13-year-old girl is dead. A daughter, a sister, a child who still had so much ahead of her - whose life had only just begun.

Patriarchal violence: Every day, everywhere

Unfortunately, violence against women and girls is by no means an exception, but rather a sad normality. Officials already show thisPolice statistics, but that only gives a limited picture, as violence – whether physical, psychological or sexual – is often not even reported. In the dark field study, life situation, safety and stress in everyday life (), 62.3 percent of the women surveyed said they had ever been sexually harassed, and 17.8 percent said they had experienced sexual assault at least once.

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Relationships and family relationships are particularly often spaces for patriarchal violence: 18 percent of all women surveyed in the LeSuBiA study experienced physical violence in a relationship, and almost half experienced psychological violence. In this context, the media often speak of “individual cases” or “relationship crimes” – even the Federal Criminal Police Office (BKA) includes the category “partner violence” in crime statistics. Violence against women is portrayed as separate and apart from social conditions.

But that's exactly what it's about: patriarchal violence is not an individual problem, but rather an expression of social power relations. It does not arise in a vacuum. A society in which female self-determination is repeatedly questioned, women's bodies are sexualized and male dominance is normalized, creates the breeding ground in which violence is trivialized and reproduced.

In the worst cases, this leads to femicide – the murder of women because of their gender. It is difficult to say how many femicides are committed in Germany every year because there are no official statistics. If at all, the BKA produces statistics on “gender-based violence" and categorize them there, for example, according to perpetrator-victim relationships. The fundamental problem - the power relations and ownership claims created by the patriarchal system - are ignored.

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From childhood: growing up under patriarchal threat

Lisa's age is particularly shocking, and yet her fate is a frightening reflection of reality: patriarchal violence does not only begin in adulthood. Girls experience boundary violations, intimidation and attacks at an early age.

They learn to be careful, avoid paths, share their location and not dare go home alone. The responsibility for their safety is placed on them themselves, instead of taking into account the power relations that produce this violence.

We must stop teaching girls and women to protect themselves from men and start tackling the conditions that breed male violence. It is not enough to express concern after such an act and then return to business as usual a few days later. Political consequences and a confrontation with patriarchal role models in upbringing and education are needed.

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We also need a social infrastructure that does not make protection dependent on place of residence or income. Women's shelters, advice centers and youth welfare services must be funded in a needs-based and long-term manner. While billions are being mobilized for rearmament, the protection of women and children remains underfunded in many places.

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This is not a question of a lack of resources, but of political priorities. Anyone who destroys social infrastructure increases dependencies and leaves those affected to fend for themselves. A consistent fight against patriarchal violence must therefore also attack these very conditions, subordinate social security to the interest of profit and reproduce economic dependencies.

Grief must become resistance!

We mourn Lisa. About a young life that was ended far too early, and her thoughts are with her family, whose everyday life will never be the same again.

Lisa was more than a headline, more than a name in a missing persons report. She was a 13-year-old girl with her own dreams, desires and a future that was taken away from her at the hands of a man. She should have experienced, discovered and become so much more. We must not allow her name to be forgotten.

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Lisa's death must not remain without consequences. Our sadness and anger must have consequences. What is needed is a society in which girls and women can live freely and self-determinedly, without constant fear of violence. To do this, we must join together, stand up for one another and oppose the conditions in which people believe they can dispose of the bodies and lives of others.

It should be understood as the duty of all of us that more than social concern arises from the memory of Lisa: a common fight against patriarchal violence.

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