2023-04-25 10:36:25
It’s not a compliment, it’s bullying.” That phrase sums up the struggle to install one of the many forms of violence suffered by women on the public agenda. A claim for society to denature a macho practice camouflaged in the old idea of men flattering women. A claim that, like many others, gained strength and finally in 2019 was incorporated into National Law No. 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence under the modality of violence once morest women in public spaces.
Street harassment transcends local borders and spreads, like the rest of the violence, in different countries. Since 2011, the International Week Against Street Harassment has been held in April with the aim of raising awareness regarding the negative effects it has on the lives of women. And how the public space often becomes a hostile and insecure place for girls and women.
Since 2017, the General Directorate of Masculinities of the Undersecretariat for Women -dependent on the Ministry of Women and Diversity- makes harassment visible as another form of violence once morest women with the “Provincial Campaign Piedra Libre al Macho”. In addition, last year joint work began with the Neuquén Municipality with different interventions in the public space to denature this sexist practice.
Women begin to suffer street harassment, by a man or group of men, from the age of 12. Thus, since they were girls, they suffer from whistling, honking, obscene gestures, sexual comments, groping, or unauthorized body recordings, among other manifestations of this violence.
According to the report Violence once morest Women in the Public Space “The insecurity that nobody talks regarding”, published in 2017 by the MuMaLá Group in collaboration with the Institute for Social, Economic and Citizen Policy Research (ISEPCi), in Argentina on 93 % of women stated that they had suffered street sexual harassment. While 80% said they felt unsafe when walking on the street and, especially at night, in areas with little traffic or poor lighting.
As on many other occasions, a device of power typical of hegemonic masculinity is put into play. Men (cis) feel they own the public space. In this way, the historical sense of ownership of men over women and people with other gender identities is manifested, enabling them to say and do what they want without fear of being punished.
In different workshops with groups of men, it is common to hear that women “cannot be told anything anymore” or that “they get angry regarding anything”. These comments correspond to a report from the General Directorate of Masculinities where it is indicated that 70% of the Neuquén surveyed do not recognize street harassment as a form of violence.
In this context, there is the challenge of continuing to deepen public policies with a gender perspective to sensitize the general public, and men in particular, regarding this violence that affects the lives of women.
For this reason, we work so that men become actively involved in order to put a stop to these behaviors that are still in force and sustain the patriarchal system. It is necessary to get involved and intervene with our peers to dismantle a macho culture that seems to endorse all kinds of violence, including street harassment.
General Director of Masculinities of the Provincial Undersecretariat for Women.
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