She was walking down Pichincha Street with her 7-year-old daughter when a man who passed in the opposite direction brushed her left arm and said: “You’re so delicious!, mijita.” That quick action disconcerted Isabella, 28, who for security reasons pressed her daughter’s hand tighter and quickened her pace towards the Simón Bolívar boardwalk, where they were going to walk.
It was not the first time that he heard that “disgusting and morbid phrase” in the streets of Guayaquil. She has been told more obscene words when she is alone or with friends, but she never imagined that they would “disrespect” her with her daughter. “They are sick, it’s even scary now to walk alone with the girl,” she says.
His case is one of the hundreds that are replicated at any time and in any place, especially in public spaces such as the street, urban transport, parks, squares and others.
One of the recent cases of harassment with media coverage, after learning of the complaint made by the victim on social networks, was that of a Metrovía guard who on four different occasions blew kisses at her and said “mamacita”, “this is what that you like” to a young woman at the Caraguay stop, south of Guayaquil.
On January 26, she was able to film the guard. And she came back with her boyfriend to confront him.
“She is a woman and she is beautiful, throwing a kiss at her is not disrespectful, it is something normal”, the caretaker refuted the boyfriend, and even accused him of “not being a man” because he did not have his behavior, that of “a gentleman”. that he called “mamita” to the young woman because “she is beautiful”. That day, the Metrovía announced that it separated the guard and that it contacted the complainant to offer her support.
As a result of that, the debate on sexual and street harassment that women experience daily returned, as well as the issue that compliments or compliments are supposedly well or poorly received, depending on who issues them.
An expert in Law and university professor, as well as a clinical psychologist and defender of women’s rights affirm that no one has the right to express or make a comment to a woman, and to any citizen (including men), about his appearance or physical, sexual aspect and appearance reproductive without the other person having previously allowed and wished to do so.
This includes what some call compliments such as ‘pretty’, ‘beautiful’, ‘beautiful’, ‘rich little thing’, ‘sweetie’, among others.
For crimes of violence against women or sexual harassment, the aggressor could be criminally prosecuted, in addition to administrative sanctions, in the case of public officials, or internal sanctions in the case of private workers.
“A verbal expression towards a woman is invasive, it is somehow intimidating because it reaches and impacts the global integrity of a person. In the case of women, listening to the voice of a stranger who speaks to her with intimacy – as if he were a couple when he says: ‘my life’, ‘my love’ – there is emotional and psychological damage because it produces fear, fear, despair”, explains Annabelle Arévalo, Cepam clinical psychologist and women’s rights activist.
The guard who was supposed to provide her security on the Metrovía harassed her by blowing kisses at her and calling her mamacita. ‘She thought that she was there she was like her other times’
The emotional impact of these words, phrases or ‘flattery’ makes some people feel afraid to go out on the street or in more serious cases, that women even have suicidal ideas.
Vanessa, 32, is one of the women who stopped going out for a while because of the rude words and phrases that men said to her when they saw her walking.
“I even wore long and wide skirts so that my physique (his anatomy) would not be marked so much; he didn’t put on my makeup, he came out with a washed face, but nothing worked. Now to whom I can I am also answering rudely, I am facing them”, explains this woman, who remembers that since she was ten years old she felt violated by the kisses and obscene phrases that were shouted at her in the street, even in the company of her mother.
Pamela Aguirre Castro, Doctor of Law and director of the Social Legal Observatory of the University of Espiritu Santo Specialties (UEES), recalls that there are international instruments that recognize the right of women to live free of violence, as provided by the Convention on Belém Do Pará, approved by the OAS General Assembly in 1994, and later reformed, of which Ecuador is a party.
Therefore, says Aguirre Castro, the State has the obligation to prevent and eradicate violence against women. However, she adds, it is sometimes misunderstood and it is believed that criminal law (proceedings brought by the victim) is the only way to prevent this type of behavior that harms the right of women to live free of violence.
System to prevent gender violence will only work if the full budget is allocated; if they provide sufficient services and clear protocols, without revictimization, say DD advocates. H H.
“Which is the first obligation of the state to prevent this type of behavior? is the education. And be careful, this has to do with education in values and the codes of conduct that officials must have. For example, in universities there are codes of conduct to prevent harassment”, explains this expert in Law.
It adds that in the case of a public official, he has a reinforced duty of protection and action, since he exercises his role on behalf of the State. “Whether they are a security guard, a transit agent, a military officer, a public official of any entity, they are acting on behalf of the State, so they have a reinforced duty with respect to state, functional and international obligations,” Aguirre Castro remarks.
The figures of harassment and violence
65 out of 100 women in Ecuador have been victims of some type of violence (physical, sexual, psychological, patrimonial) in one of the different areas throughout their lives, according to the latest Survey of Violence Against Women published by the Institute National Statistics and Census (INEC), in 2019.
In the Prosecutor’s Office there was a weekly average of 37 complaints for sexual harassment alone in 2019 and in 2020 before the state of emergency due to the pandemic. After that state, the figures dropped to 32 complaints of sexual harassment per week in 2020.
Can the harasser or aggressor be stopped right away?
Yes. If the aggressor expressed any comment that violated the integrity of the victim or did any action that violated it, such as touching her, showing her his genitals, among others, the Police can immediately arrest him. There are routes and protocols established in different spaces and institutions for these cases.
No one, absolutely no one has the right to comment on the appearance, on the sexual, reproductive aspect of a woman or any other person. That for the respect to a human right that we have: that of private life.
Pamela Aguirre Castro, Law expert and teacher at UEES
If it happens on the street and the police are notified, they must stop it immediately because it would be a flagrant crime, according to the activists who deal with cases of violence against women on a daily basis.
Can these cases be criminally reported?
Yes. You can also report the harassment or violation suffered in these cases to the Prosecutor’s Office, but the name of the aggressor must be there.
Even on the website of the judicial entity it is indicated that the data of the aggressor in the form to be filled out is mandatory, in order to continue with the process. Applies to sexual, psychological and physical violence; for femicides; pornography with the use of children and adolescents, and crimes against children and adolescents by electronic means, is read in the area that is invited to report on-line these cases.
It is mandatory to have the name of the accused for complaints in the Prosecutor’s Office
Knowing the identity of the aggressor is one of the frequent problems of women who experience sexual and street harassment on a daily basis, since the man throws out his phrases and continues on his way or activity. There have also been cases in which women have had to hide somewhere or ask for help because the aggressors (unknown men) have started following them, causing them more distress.
“When they do not locate the aggressor or the accused, this crime (harassment or violence) generally goes unpunished and that can be committed and repeated many times. There are obstacles in the laws in terms of procedure, at a time when it is time to improve, because we are left defenseless,” explains Annabelle Arévalo, from the Ecuadorian Center for the Promotion and Action of Women (Cepam).
One of the routes in mass transportation
Arévalo says that in the case of the Metrovía, Guayaquil’s municipal mass transportation system, it has had a campaign against sexual harassment for some years. Cepam even participated in the construction of communication pieces and the route that the Metrovía guards had to follow when a passenger was or felt violated by another. Thus, they better than anyone should know the procedure or protocol to apply.
On this route, if a passenger experienced this harassment, they notified or alerted the driver, who in turn notified the guard. And the latter called the Police to arrest the aggressor in one of the Metrovía stations.
And this same route, says Arévalo, they should have applied with the Metrovía guard denounced on social networks for harassment.
“We have care and training protocols. This guard cannot continue in the system, because he clearly does not respect them, ”replied that January 26, Paola Carvajal, director of the Metrovía Agency, a mass transportation system where the harassment reported on networks occurred.
What other sanctions or actions can be applied to the aggressors?
Pamela Aguirre Castro, doctor of Law and professor at the UEES, says that in the case of civil servants or public workers there is the administrative sanction that can be applied, apart from the criminal issue.
In the private sphere, there are also codes of good conduct and practices to eradicate violence, where the latter is totally prohibited and is even sanctioned by areas such as Human Resources.
Where to report?
To the Police or the closest uniformed person you see on the street; to ECU911. Also in the Prosecutor’s Office, if you have the name of the aggressor. Another option in cases of strangers is to sound the alert so that bystanders or service users help stop them for a moment until the police arrive.
There are routes and protocols established in some entities.
You can also call the free telephone line 1800-112-112 of the municipal program Amiga Ya No Eres Sola, which attends 24 hours a day (seven days a week) to victims and witnesses of violence against women.
The psychological damage caused by these messages, these so-called flattery in quotation marks, which are not flattery because they are verbal violence that we receive, can even reach suicidal ideation in women when they fail to somehow separate these situations from people who do not … they also want to identify that they cannot invade a person in that way.
Annabelle Arévalo, Cepam clinical psychologist and women’s rights activist (I)
Source: Eluniverso
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