Last year, I wrote an article called Are Victims Ever to Blame? I talked about how I have been raised in a society that perpetrates ‘rape culture’. Women are taught to avoid getting raped instead of men being taught not to rape. Victims are routinely blamed for sexual violence.
It feels like the perfect time to write a new post on this topic. For those of you who don’t know, Mexico is experiencing a feminist revolution. On this year’s International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women, thousand marched in Mexico City demanding justice and a safer country.
Mexican women are fed up with the fact that 9 of us are killed every day.
We are also fed up with the fact that at least 6 out of 10 women have faced a violent encounter. Of these, 41.3% were of sexual nature. And because it’s the only thing we can do, we protest.
The media is encouraging victim blaming. There has been a total lack of empathy shown towards these anti-violence protests. Graffiti art painted on city monuments by protestors has received far greater indignation than the gender-based violence we are fighting against. In fact, to correct myself, there has actually been indignation about the grafitti. The vast majority of the population doesn’t seem to care about the violence their wives, daughters, sisters and mothers face every single day.
I listen to a lot of women discrediting the movement taking place in Mexico and it makes my skin crawl. Victim blaming hasn’t changed one bit since I wrote that post last year. We are going to be fighting this battle for many years to come.
The government is not paying attention to one of the biggest security threats faced by our country. If this is the only way to get their attention, then so be it. I also listen to men dismissing the protests and think how I would love to be in their shoes for just one second. I would love to know how it feels not to be scared of being raped, burned, kidnapped or murdered because of my gender.
We need to join together and demand that this ends now. All of us. Privilege must not make you immune to empathy.
I support my feminist sisters because I am terrified to go out on the street alone. I support them because I fear taking a cab by myself and because every time I go out I experience sexual harassment. And I support the feminist revolution in Mexico because paint comes off monuments and statues, but the 3,578 women brutally murdered since 2015 alone are never coming back.
