Violence Against Women: Do not be silent!

Violence against women:
Do not be silent, report it !  

Violence against women is any act that results in the death or physical, sexual or psychological harm of women in both the public and private spheres. Sometimes considered a hate crime, this type of violence targets a specific group, with the gender of the victim being the main reason.  This type of violence is based on gender, which means that acts of violence are committed against women expressly because they are women. 

Violence against women can fit into several broad categories, including violence perpetrated by both "individuals" and "states." Some of the forms of violence perpetrated by individuals are: Rape, domestic or family violence, sexual harassment, reproductive coercion, female infanticide, selective abortion and obstetric violence, as well as harmful traditional customs or practices such as honor crimes, dowry-related femicide, female genital mutilation, abduction marriage, forced marriage and violence at work, which are manifested through physical, psychological and social aggression. Some forms of violence are perpetrated or tolerated by the state, such as rape, sexual violence and sexual slavery during conflicts, forced sterilization, forced abortion, police and police violence, stoning and flagellation. Many forms of violence against women, such as trafficking in women and forced prostitution, are often perpetrated by criminal organizations.

Violence against women in the world

Hungary is the only EU country that does not penalize sexual harassment. Russia has decriminalized gender violence. Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon forbade the pardoning of rapists who married their victims, (absurd).

The regions on the planet that least guarantee women's rights remain Sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia and the Middle East. But Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon stand out for their advances. In Europe, the continent that most punishes gender violence, Russia stands out as the least secure country for them. In the European Union (EU), Bulgaria stands out for not having laws that criminalize rape within marriage and Hungary for not punishing sexual harassment.

In addition to country-specific progress, last year we witnessed a global women's struggle: the #MeToo campaign. And 2017 was also the year of the Harvey Weinstein case, of which hundreds of women reported a large number of cases of sexual harassment committed by men with power in various spheres and spheres. However, most of the women reporting are in the United States and Europe.

Women in the West are beginning to point out their accusers, but in the rest of the world there is still a long way to go, especially in Africa and the Middle East.

There are still 34 countries around the world that do not judge rapists if they are husbands of the victims or later marrying them. Even so, this year highlights the advances of three Arab nations:Tunisia, Jordan and Lebanon ended laws forgiving rapists who married their victims. In many other countries, especially in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia, rape is not punished if it occurs within marriage, which leaves women helpless if the rapist is the husband. The case of India, where, despite the legal gap, the Supreme Court ruled that the sexual act is in fact considered a rape if it occurs within the marriage, but only if the wife is a minor. Within the EU, Bulgaria is the only country that does not recognize the sexual assaults committed by the husband.

In Brazil, the Maria da Penha Law was created, enacted on August 7, 2006, as Law No. 11,340 aims to protect women from domestic and family violence. The law gained this name due to the fight of the pharmacist Maria da Penha to see its condemned aggressor. Being she shot with firearm, where  left paraplegic.  The Maria da Penha law does not only contemplate cases of physical aggression. Situations of psychological violence are also foreseen, such as the removal of friends and relatives, offenses, destruction of objects and documents, defamation and slander. 

The case of Maria da Penha was only solved in 2002 when the Brazilian State was convicted of omission and negligence by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.

In this way, Brazil had to commit itself to reformulating its laws and policies regarding domestic violence. 

Despite the success of the Maria da Penha Law, statistics on violence against women in Brazil remain high. Every day, about 13 women are murdered in Brazil.

Feminicide: Rate of violence against women

The number of women killed in violent conditions rose from 3,937 to 4,762, an increase of 21% in the decade. In 2013 alone, 4,762 female deaths were recorded - representing 13 female homicides per day.

It is in the domestic universe that 55.3% of homicides occur, 50.3% committed by relatives, 33.2% of executioners are husband, boyfriend or ex. In the main points, are women between 18 and 30 years. Men liquidate by using physical force (strangling, punching, kicking) with knives, machetes, and piercing objects.

According to the WHO (World Health Organization), it is estimated that 35% of women worldwide have already suffered any physical and / or sexual violence practiced by intimate partner or sexual violence by a non-partner at some point in their lives . At the same time, some national studies show that up to 70% of women have already been victims of physical and / or sexual violence by an intimate partner.

A study conducted in New Delhi in 2012 showed that 92% of Indian women reported having suffered some form of sexual violence in public spaces throughout their lifetime and 88% reported having been subjected to some kind of verbal sexual harassment (including unwanted comments of a nature sexual, obscene whistles or gestures).

In Brazil, denunciations of violence against women reach 73,000 in 2018

In the European Union, one in 10 women reported having been harassed over the Internet, including unwanted messages received via SMS or explicitly sexually offensive emails or inappropriate social networking approaches. The risk is higher among young women between the ages of 18 and 29.

Source: Facts and Figures: Ending Violence against Women (UN Women) 

Scenario is worse for blacks, lesbians, bis and trans - 

Another key point highlighted in the Dossier and by the panelists is the fact that the femicide rate of black women has grown by 54% in the last 10 years, while white women have dropped by almost 10%. A fact that shows how much violence against women has a strong factor of race and class that influences it.  

The report also highlights the violence suffered by lesbian, bisexual and transgender women. In the case of murders of lesbian and bisexual women, there are no specific data on crimes, which is considered essential if violence against women is to take place. So they remained invisible and dying. 

In the case of trans women, the data exist and show an alarming scenario: according to the NGO Transgender Europe, 42% of the murders of transgender and transvestite women worldwide.  

Violence against women in the United States  

YWCA, a community support institution for women, more than 40% of teenagers between the ages of 14 and 17 know someone who has already been bullied, and one in three women suffers domestic violence and 25% of college students have already been victims. 

According to the CDC, there were 10,018 homicides of women in the United States in this period. 55% of the circumstances known to have involved domestic violence. According to a survey by the North American Huffington Post, about 3 women are killed daily by an intimate partner in the country. Every 2 minutes a woman suffers some kind of sexual harassment. 

In Los Angeles, some community centers offer special programs for women and children who are victims of violence and rape. 

 Reasons why women fail to report cases of harassment and sexual violence 

When a woman reports harassment, she suffers double violence. They will question your dress, your conduct, the time she was on the street, will minimize your reporting, question your word. And this happens in all instances, from the domestic environment to the police station, passing by the hospital. 

There is this perversity in the analysis of the word of the woman victim of sexual violence. The analysis of behavior is shifted to the victim, not to the rapist. Society and institutions thus end up blaming the victim. His word is always analyzed as a possible false denunciation. 

The following factors can be cited as motivators of female passivity in the face of the problem of violence:  

- Fear of the aggressor

-Financial dependence on the aggressor

-Affective dependence on the aggressor

-Not knowing your rights

-Not having where to report

 -Perception that nothing happens to the offender when reported

-Lack of self-esteem

-Concern about child rearing

-Feeling that it is the duty of women to preserve marriage and family

- Shame to separate and admit to being assaulted 

-Believing it would be the last time

-Be advised by the family not to report 

Aggressor Profile 

-Are intolerant

Intolerant people do not respect the opinions, attitudes, or behaviors of others. 

-They are authoritarian

Abusers are authoritarian because they have antidemocratic and intransigent characteristics 

-They are charming at first

These people are not intolerant at first, they are charming in the early stages of the relationship 

-Are psychologically rigid

These individuals have a hard thought and pursue a single truth, theirs

-They're blackmailers.

These people always behave according to their interests and blame, harass and provoke fear in the victim of blackmail.

-Change of mood in seconds

Mood swings are common in this type of person, ranging from a pleasant state to anger or fury in a matter of seconds.

- They are cruel and insensitive

Such people not only psychologically mistreat their partners, they often also extend this type of behavior to their children, for example. They can even inflict physical damage on pets. They are cruel and insensitive people 

-They become victims

As they are always blaming another person, they often put themselves in the role of victim to justify their actions. For example, uttering phrases such as "You do not want me, you always prefer your friends" 

The records placed as points of reflection, does not necessarily mean that one or more of these points are infallible characteristics to identify an aggressor. Are just information that 'can' identify . 

Demonstration of machismo

There are some macho behaviors in our daily lives that we do not even notice.

-"When a woman can not finish her sentence because it is constantly interrupted by the men around."

-When a man spends his time explaining something obvious to you, as if he were not able to understand, you are a woman after all. "

-Emotional violence through psychological manipulation that leads the woman and others to feel that she is incapable. "

They are attitudes of the macho behavior that is revealed in the rape, the domestic violence, the economic restraint, the submission and the subservience. 

16-day activism campaign 

The 16 days of activism began in 1991 when women from different countries, gathered by the Global Women's Leadership Center (CWGL), launched a campaign to promote debate and denounce the various forms of violence against women in the world, according to UN Women Brazil. 

Is called 16 + 5 Days of Activism, as it incorporated the Black Consciousness Day, according to the Special Women's Procuratorate. The mobilization ends on December 10, International Human Rights Day. About 150 countries are participating in the campaign.

The date is a tribute to the sisters Patria, Minerva and Maria Teresa, known as "Las Mariposas" and murdered in 1960 for opposing the government of dictator Rafael Trujillo, who presided over the Dominican Republic from 1930 to 1961, when he was deposed . 

Women's march against violence

Forms of violence against women 

-Physical violence,

 understood as any conduct that offends their integrity or bodily health; 

-Psychological violence

 understood as any conduct that causes emotional damage and diminishes self-esteem or that harms and disrupts full development or that seeks to degrade or control their actions, behaviors, beliefs and decisions through threat, embarrassment, humiliation, manipulation, isolation, constant vigilance , persistent persecution, insult, blackmail, ridicule, exploitation and limitation of the right to come and go or any other means that causes harm to psychological health and self-determination; 

-Sexual violence

understood as any conduct that makes, maintains, or engages in unwanted sexual intercourse through intimidation, threat, coercion, or use of force; to induce her to market or use her sexuality in any other way, to prevent her from using any method of contraception or to force her into marriage, pregnancy, abortion or prostitution through coercion, blackmail, bribery or manipulation; or that limits or nullifies the exercise of their sexual and reproductive rights; 

-Patrimonial violence

understood as any conduct that entails retention, subtraction, partial or total destruction of its objects, instruments of labor, personal documents, property, values ​​and economic rights or resources, including those designed to meet its needs; 

-Moral violence

understood as any conduct that constitutes slander, libel or slander.

-Moral violence

understood as any conduct that constitutes slander, libel or slander.

-Gender violence 

 violence suffered by the fact of being a woman, without distinction of race, social class, religion, age or any other condition, product of a social system that subordinates the female sex.

-Domestic violence 

when it occurs at home, in the home environment, or in a relationship of familiarity, affection or cohabitation. 

How to report

If there is no such agency in the area where you live, you can go to a common police station, where you should have priority in the care. If at the moment of flagrante delicto of the threat or aggression, the victim can also call  or go to a Basic Health Unit (UBS), where there is guidance to refer the victim to competent entities. 

Brazil, two crimes that echoed in the world  

Marielle Franco, councilwoman shot dead in Rio de Janeiro

 MARIELLE FRANCO - councilor of the city of Rio de Janeiro Brazil - Marielle Franco, was murdered on the day (3/15). She left an event, in a car and was shot with four shots in the head by a sniper in another car. Besides the parliamentarian, the driver Anderson Pedro Gomes also died with 3 shots on the back 

It is suspected that she was targeted by corrupt militias or PMs from Rio de Janeiro. Marielle Franco made several denunciations regarding the violence of the Military Police, especially in Acari, where he lived. The Brazilian Civil Police investigates the case.

 The councilwoman was also rapporteur of the House committee that oversees federal and military intervention in the capital of  Rio de Janeiro. 

Marielle, as well as counselor and rapporteur, was Human Rights Defender (who is not defending bandits). It is to defend the right of all human beings to be treated with dignity, respect and access to justice. Much of this has spread to respect for Marielle, who fights for human rights and not that no criminal is not  punished. 

The fact that Marielle criticized the truculent performance of the PM (Rio de Janeiro Military Police) does not mean that it was against the military police. It only required that the organization respect the rights of the favela and the blacks.

According to the Atlas of Violence 2017, every 100 people killed violently in Brazil, 71 are black. So it is possible to say that black people suffer most from violence. And Marielle Franco was black.

 Tatiane Spitzner, lawyer dead by her husband 

TATIANE SPITZNER lawyer murdered by her husband in the State of Paraná (Brazil) - According to the Public Prosecutor's Office, her husband practiced all forms of domestic and domestic violence against Tatiane Spitzner. In the document, the delegate also alleges psychological violence, citing that he forced the woman to do all domestic service. In addition, the man is also accused of patrimonial violence, for preventing the victim from using the money he received from work in a free way, such as to make purchases. In one episode, he even ripped off Tatiane's clothes for not liking them. the prosecutors used cases of domestic violence followed by the woman and serious crimes reported by witnesses to seek the detention of Luis Felipe Manvailer, (accused and husband of the victim). Among the situations mentioned are the destruction of a garment that he did not like and even humiliating offenses and nicknames.

In what was classified as moral violence, the police investigation found that on several occasions Manvailer insulted his wife and called her humiliating nicknames, such as "albino dung," because of their skin color.

The accused also would not have accepted the divorce and would stay days without talking to the woman; when he came to express "feeling hatred" and "disgusting." he was also reported for physical violence, with serious and serial attacks by security cameras such as "tapas, hair pulls, jerks, kicks, punches, martial arts punches that even left the victim unconscious for about two minutes in floor". day of crim.

Manvailer (accused and husband) was indicted for qualified homicide, for a clumsy and half cruel reason that gave no chance of defense to the victim. The police chief also indicted Tatiane Spitzner's husband on suspicion of having changed the crime scene by erasing bloodstains, stealing the lawyer's car to escape and by femicide - hate crime because the victim is a woman .

Do not be silent

Many women lose their lives for not having the courage to report their aggressors. Violence against women is a crime and must be denounced. A person who commits violence once will probably do the same thing if there is no intervention or an end point. If you suffer some type of violence, report it and ask for a protective measure against your abuser. This will prevent him from coming close to you and giving you more security. Do not be part of the statistic, preserve your life!

It is very common for the victim to be accused by society. There are several ridiculous excuses of the machistas. There are those who say that the woman deserved, for wearing very short clothes, for not behaving and having the house, for walking alone or with wrong people, etc.The reality is that there is no reason for any kind of violence against women no matter what the age. And if you are or have been the victim of any type of abuse, immediately seek local authorities. This can certainly save your life. Do not be afraid or ashamed. You can be sure there will be a lot of people giving you support.   

*Remember, together we are stronger!

"How many more will they have to die for this violence to end " 

-Marielle Franco-  

"I wanted him, without dividing him with another woman, without mistreating me, but asking for the simple is a lot." 

-Tatiane Spitzner -  

ANA PAULA MENEZES  

          Mulher