Today, November 25, International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women, we affirm very loudly and clearly that the fight against male violence is a collective struggle that needs the whole of society. Because male violence is not an isolated or private fact. Because male violence is one of the country’s main public security problems. Because they are not a women’s problem. They are a problem for the whole of society.
In recent decades we have experienced in our country a profound change in the social rejection of this structural violence against women. To get to this point, it has been necessary to name the different forms it adopts and point out all the areas in which it occurs. It has also been essential that both women and men learn to identify the facts that constitute male violence and, in a fundamental way, to hold the aggressors accountable instead of blaming the women who suffer for what they have done or have not done.
This change did not happen because it did. It has been the result of an intense feminist struggle that comes from far away, in the social and community sphere, in the workplace, in the cultural sphere or in the sports sphere, and that has also won a central place for political institutions and public administrations. More resources are being allocated than ever for specialized care and recovery services for women and their children.
That is why it is inevitable that the words of condemnation will be exhausted and that we will ask ourselves with pain: “Why do violence against women not stop?”, “Why do femicides not stop?”, or “Why do they not stop increasing the number of complaints?”
Let us be aware that with the increase in social rejection and the firmness of the institutional response there is not enough. We don’t face a sprint but a race in the background. We still have very normalized machista attitudes and behaviors of contempt, ridicule, control or domination towards women and their bodies. And all too often it still costs to get rid of stereotypes about the victims and about the aggressors, doubts about the intention of the victim or survivor who denounces the situation of violence and complicity or comradeship with the aggressor.
This summer everyone has been able to see how a fact that occurred before the cameras and spread throughout the world was not enough to obtain in the first moment an agile reparation to the violence experienced. Everyone has also been able to see that, because this happened, a social outcry of indignation was necessary in the face of the lack of diligence of those who had the responsibility to act, of those who applauded unjustifiable excuses, of those who pressed or questioned the reaction of the victim and of those who were soft in their communiqués or kept silent for too many days. Everyone has also been able to see that, with the cry “#Se haAcabat”, soccer players did not only denounce these facts, but focused on a set of inequalities that must be addressed to guarantee non-repetition and to make equality effective.
This is the step we need to take every day to put an end to male violence. Silence and inaction are not neutral responses, but they support the aggressor, impunity and the reproduction of violence. You have to break all the silences and have a proactive role in prevention and detection. We are all observers and observers of violence suffered by many women in our environment (family, friends, work, education, social media groups, leisure spaces, public transport or on the street) by men in our same environment.
All of us can prevent violence from occurring by intervening and denouncing aggressive behavior, discrimination and inequalities. We can help establish standards about what is acceptable and what is not acceptable in our environment, we can help to recognize intolerable comments or behaviors, including those negationist discourses of male violence, and thus push to overcome the patriarchal cultural norms of our society. We can draw attention to the situation of violence because it stops and demand in our work center, association or leisure space that it properly applies the protocol that it is obliged to have.
Likewise, all of us also have a central role in the immediate response after the violence. As a friend or friend, family member, co-worker, neighbor or neighbor, we can help who is suffering identify signs of violence or life risk factors. It is especially important to support you emotionally, to help you overcome the fear, isolation, shame or guilt that can be caused by the violence experienced, assuring you that it is not your fault, that we are at your side and that we can accompany you to the specialized services found throughout the country or call 016 or 900 120.
The political institutions of the country are committed to dedicating all the necessary efforts and resources to guarantee the right of women in a life free from male violence. We know that we have worked a lot, but we still have to do much more: with due diligence, with a comprehensive response and with transformative and courageous public policies.
But, in order to eradicate male violence, the involvement of everyone is essential. Each and every one of us can be agents of change. We lift all the carpets, we break all the silences and we have all the alerts activated to prevent, detect and repair the violence against women. Let us take sides to stop once and for all the main violation of women’s human rights and to put an end to their ultimate responsibility: patriarchy and the sexist ideology that sustains it.