The bases of the machista iceberg
Attention was drawn to the multitudinous concentration that took place last day 7 in the Plaza del Ayuntamiento de Pamplona against sexual assaults. It was considered a great achievement and it was also a satisfaction that thousands of people responded decisively to the early morning rape that day. It gives the possibility to act more on sexual assaults between families and friends. What is aggression, the importance of no, the need for women, the responsibility of men… there are very interesting talks about these facts, at least in terms of education and reflection, without which they are no more than clay giants.
These are also instruments that need to be very careful, as society and the attendees may think that that is enough. These are the risks of institutionalization and the feminist movement will ensure that its management becomes paprika rather than analgesic. After all, and although not overemphasized, the pressure of the feminist movement has been key in shaping these meetings.
Murder and rape are the sexual assaults that most reject society, the castle’s tallest and most spectacular towers, but below are all that supports them: a male society that still generates inequality between women and men. Contempt, disregard, retouching, “everything is free and more with alcohol” in parties, clothing and ‘inadequate’ attitudes, looks and dirty comments, indifference and lack of denunciation of minor assaults, control… all of them are at the base of the architecture of sexual assaults.
As before, women, and especially the feminist movement, will be the main subjects of the struggle until all these structures collapse. It is up to men not only to support this struggle, but also to have our own role in the reflection and conduct to develop, since man is the main subject of all these oppressions and inequalities.
These kinds of attitudes in daily life are harder than you think. José David Yllanes killed Nagore Laffage in the Sanfermines of Pamplona/Iruña of 2008. During the Yllanes trial, the popular jury has passed three questions to the judge to ask the mother of Laffage, Asun Casasola. The first two were not formulated by the judge, because they did not seem worthy of respect. The third was as follows: “Was your daughter very ligona?”
Soaked wine, images of girls touching their breasts have also become common in sanfermines. That jury would surely have asked if it is very topless, but in the streets of Pamplona it is still being discussed whether the fault is who it is, or at best, whether it is who the guilty party is.
The photos of toplessen and headdresses have also fallen into the redactions of the media, which has generated controversy. It is not discussed, or much less, when the news is based on these attacks of touches; however, on social media it has caused a scandal to use a photo of this kind to illustrate the news of the rape committed by five men in the early hours of 7 July.
What do the two events have to do to get out together? Or is it being suggested that rapes occur in that sexual environment? Or, what's more serious, is the risk of rape than the one who makes a toplesa?
Great welcome sessions are an achievement, especially if they serve to empower daily life: festive atmosphere, housework, differences between siblings, television, labor world, male protagonism, composition of governments, power... They feed the machista society, the basis of sexual assaults and the strongest fertiliser. “Long live the feminist struggle,” was one of the strongest cries of the Pamplona Assembly.
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