The Government Delegation in the Canary Islands has published today the fourth episode of What do you know about gender-based violence?, the new audiovisual campaign to inform and raise awareness of this social scourge launched by the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands, through its Coordination Unit against Violence against Women.
In the fourth of the seven chapters that make up this series, the head of the Service against Violence against Women of the Delegation of the Government in the Canary Islands, Evelia Déniz, and the journalist David Perdomo go out on the street in Lanzarote to check the degree of knowledge of the citizens about the so-called myths of romantic love, understood as distorted and generalized beliefs about love and relationships, such as "jealousy is a sign of love", "love forgives everything" or "half orange", which can lead to unreal expectations and, in some cases, to harmful and violent relationships.
Specifically, the people interviewed in the center of Arrecife are presented with various daily situations between relationships and three possible responses, of which only one is a sample of a healthy relationship based on respect, trust and communication.
Thus, the participants of this episode face questions such as what to do when your partner asks you not to upload photos in a swimsuit or bikini to social networks, or share with her the geolocation in real time when you go out with friends. Or also if they consider it normal for the couple to look at the mobile screen while they are using it or to demand that you show them conversations with other people.
Evelia Déniz, who is clarifying the doubts and, above all, dismantling some mistaken interpretations, points out that the answers she has found in this chapter are very varied: “There are deep-rooted myths and that sometimes makes certain behaviors, disguised as love, go unnoticed or considered harmless.”
As the head of the Service against Violence against Women of the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands explains, this also happens in the digital world, since the myth of romantic love is often used to justify control behaviors, jealousy and aggression online. Examples of this include demanding passwords, constantly tracking location, monitoring what the other person does on social media, or showing anger at not always having an immediate response online.
For his part, the island director of the General Administration of the State in Lanzarote, Pedro Viera, highlights in this episode of the campaign the importance of focusing on certain behaviors that are camouflaged as signs of love but that, in reality, are pure control: “There are normalized behaviors in the couple and they are clear examples of violence, and many of them are derived from the myths of love. These are situations that must not be allowed to pass.”
Seven episodes, seven themes
In What do you know about gender-based violence? A team led by Evelia Déniz travels through the seven Canary Islands where the Government Delegation has an island headquarters to ask different questions and offer answers to people who are in the street, issues that address issues directly or indirectly related to violence against women, such as the myths of love or the use of pornography.
The head of the Service against Violence against Women of the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands will respond to doubts, but, above all, to erroneous approaches, placing special emphasis on the existence of a whole series of assistance resources for victims and their daughters and sons, sponsored by the State Pact against Gender Violence.
The campaign, funded by the State Pact against Gender Violence and also distributed to the media, will be extended until the week before the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, 25N, two months in which the media channel will acquire particular prominence. YouTube of the Government Delegation in the Canary Islands and its new profile in Instagram, in addition to their accounts in X, Facebook and LinkedIn.