The Power is Ours
Last Saturday was the day against gender violence. There were marches and protests in at least fifty Spanish cities and towns. My mother-in-law, my daughter, and I joined the protest in Santiago that night. It was large, composed of mostly young women, with a few scattered men, generally younger, and a few older couples with their children. But we were all united in denouncing the violence that centuries of patriarchy have imposed on women in just about all the world.
Forty-eight women and eight children have been killed so far this year by the men they most loved. While that may not seem like many women out of a total population of over forty million, it's still too many. And that number only represents forty-eight cases of abuse and humiliation that have ended in death. Many hundreds or thousands more women suffer violence of one kind or another from their husbands, boy friends, or partners. Some go to the police; too many stay quiet, hoping not to trigger another bout of slaps, verbal abuse, or even punches.
Another form of violence against women is rape. Too many women are scared of the night and empty streets. Too many women aren't safe even on streets streaming with people. These past couple of weeks five men have been on trial in Pamplona for raping a woman during last year's festival of San Fermín. They called themselves, La Manada, The Pack. The trial has been getting attention not only because of the enormity of the crime, but also because of how the defense is attacking the victim, aided by the judge. Closing arguments were Tuesday.
Apparently, the group of five men travelled to Pamplona not just for the festivities, but also looking for women. There, they enticed an eighteen year old from Madrid into the hallway of an apartment building, and raped her. They took videos of her humiliation. She was found later, spaced out on a park bench, by a couple who called the police. The police's statements of how they found her in a state of shock should have been enough to believe her story. But the defense attorneys decided that because she didn't complain or make any sounds of negation in the films, that she consented. The attorneys also hired a private detective to investigate her life after the gang rape, and decided she hadn't been traumatized because she led a "normal" life.
What led the public to pay so much attention to the case, was the judge's decision to not include in the trial the Whatsapp messages among the group in which they were discussing finding and raping a woman, and including the testimony of the private detective. We don't know what the verdict will be yet, but there have been too many cases of the judge ruling in favor of a rapist because the woman "didn't close her knees enough" or because she never voiced "no." Perhaps the woman was too scared, confronted by five large strong men, to do anything which might threaten her life, including saying "no?"
The indignation is strong. The first premise the defense made, claiming there was no rape because the victim doesn't display outward signs of psychical trauma, is insulting. The men who claim that, expect a rape victim, almost always a woman, to stay crying in her room all her life to be believed. The victim, to them, has no right to try to put behind her an experience that can never be forgotten. The second premise is that consent is always assumed if the woman never says "no," even if she doesn't say "yes." So, there's no rape if a woman doesn't claw, kick, and scream "no" at the top of her lungs? Because to the woman the most threatening part of the whole experience is supposed to be the rape, not the final threat to her physical integrity of a knife to her throat or a broken neck, or any other method of murder?
And all this leads us to the final problem of power. Men have always had power over women, throughout the centuries. Society has always been based upon a patriarchy, with the men in charge over everything. That includes women. A man's word has always prevailed over a "weak-minded," "hysterical" woman. When an accusation is made of sexism, rape, or sexual assault, society is always ready to believe the important man in a position of power, rather than the weak woman who is seen as seeking something she doesn't need and which is not hers by right. That's why so many women keep quiet. They know the man will be more readily believed than they. That is the principle problem in the Pamplona rape case. Feminism isn't simply about equality, and much less revenge; it's about getting back power over our bodies and our lives. It's about not being looked at as a woman first and a person second. It's about not being looked at as objects that can be owned, traded, or thrown away.
That is the reason for the marches, and for all the women who have come forward to denounce their present and past aggressors. We want power over ourselves, and we don't want anyone to wield it for us. We can do so ourselves pretty well, thank you.
Forty-eight women and eight children have been killed so far this year by the men they most loved. While that may not seem like many women out of a total population of over forty million, it's still too many. And that number only represents forty-eight cases of abuse and humiliation that have ended in death. Many hundreds or thousands more women suffer violence of one kind or another from their husbands, boy friends, or partners. Some go to the police; too many stay quiet, hoping not to trigger another bout of slaps, verbal abuse, or even punches.
Another form of violence against women is rape. Too many women are scared of the night and empty streets. Too many women aren't safe even on streets streaming with people. These past couple of weeks five men have been on trial in Pamplona for raping a woman during last year's festival of San Fermín. They called themselves, La Manada, The Pack. The trial has been getting attention not only because of the enormity of the crime, but also because of how the defense is attacking the victim, aided by the judge. Closing arguments were Tuesday.
Apparently, the group of five men travelled to Pamplona not just for the festivities, but also looking for women. There, they enticed an eighteen year old from Madrid into the hallway of an apartment building, and raped her. They took videos of her humiliation. She was found later, spaced out on a park bench, by a couple who called the police. The police's statements of how they found her in a state of shock should have been enough to believe her story. But the defense attorneys decided that because she didn't complain or make any sounds of negation in the films, that she consented. The attorneys also hired a private detective to investigate her life after the gang rape, and decided she hadn't been traumatized because she led a "normal" life.
What led the public to pay so much attention to the case, was the judge's decision to not include in the trial the Whatsapp messages among the group in which they were discussing finding and raping a woman, and including the testimony of the private detective. We don't know what the verdict will be yet, but there have been too many cases of the judge ruling in favor of a rapist because the woman "didn't close her knees enough" or because she never voiced "no." Perhaps the woman was too scared, confronted by five large strong men, to do anything which might threaten her life, including saying "no?"
The indignation is strong. The first premise the defense made, claiming there was no rape because the victim doesn't display outward signs of psychical trauma, is insulting. The men who claim that, expect a rape victim, almost always a woman, to stay crying in her room all her life to be believed. The victim, to them, has no right to try to put behind her an experience that can never be forgotten. The second premise is that consent is always assumed if the woman never says "no," even if she doesn't say "yes." So, there's no rape if a woman doesn't claw, kick, and scream "no" at the top of her lungs? Because to the woman the most threatening part of the whole experience is supposed to be the rape, not the final threat to her physical integrity of a knife to her throat or a broken neck, or any other method of murder?
And all this leads us to the final problem of power. Men have always had power over women, throughout the centuries. Society has always been based upon a patriarchy, with the men in charge over everything. That includes women. A man's word has always prevailed over a "weak-minded," "hysterical" woman. When an accusation is made of sexism, rape, or sexual assault, society is always ready to believe the important man in a position of power, rather than the weak woman who is seen as seeking something she doesn't need and which is not hers by right. That's why so many women keep quiet. They know the man will be more readily believed than they. That is the principle problem in the Pamplona rape case. Feminism isn't simply about equality, and much less revenge; it's about getting back power over our bodies and our lives. It's about not being looked at as a woman first and a person second. It's about not being looked at as objects that can be owned, traded, or thrown away.
That is the reason for the marches, and for all the women who have come forward to denounce their present and past aggressors. We want power over ourselves, and we don't want anyone to wield it for us. We can do so ourselves pretty well, thank you.
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