On July 21, in the central news show on Canal 12 in Córdoba, journalist Fabiana Dal Prá interviewed a rape victim. We denounced before the Public Defender’s Office, her approach, which was an example of media and symbolic violence, showing how much there is still no training in gender perspective in the media.
“Do you blame yourself for something?” Dal Prá asks after a woman on her back recounted her painful experience, visibly moved. Dahyana, the young Cordovan woman who was sexually assaulted in the Ampliación Las Palmas neighborhood responds forcefully that she is not guilty of anything, that she has been the victim of a sex crime.
It is not the first time that the journalist has committed symbolic and media violence. In 2019, in the case of Lautaro Teruel, accused of sexual abuse of a ten-year-old girl, he described the fact on the air as a “mistake”. The same thing happened in 2018, when interviewing a young woman who had been abused in the vicinity of the Kempes Stadium, who asked her, after the account of the events: “Are you sorry for how you reacted?”.
This approach to sexual abuse cases, focusing on the victim’s guilt and questioning their actions, only manages to minimize the fact of physical and sexual violence to which they were subjected through re-victimization and stigmatization. This treatment is an exercise in media violence, not only towards the victim who is exposed and questioned, but also towards other women and femininity who are part of the audience and may have experienced situations of the same type. The impact of a journalistic action of these characteristics is enhanced by the breadth of the scope of the channel and the program’s central schedule.
Nor is it the first time that Canal 12 commits these forms of gender violence nor the first time that it receives public condemnation. This recidivism does nothing more than make evident the lack of commitment of the environment with the visibility, prevention and fight for the eradication of the different types and modalities of gender violence.
In this situation, we denounce the facts before the Public Defender, the administrative body that protects the rights of the hearings, so that it analyzes the interview and intervenes, making recommendations to the media.
Symbolic and media violence in the media
The media are key actors in the construction and reproduction of meanings and values that can legitimize or transform violent practices, behaviors and ways of understanding the world. They are actors who have the possibility of building a more just and equitable society through the deconstruction of gender roles and stereotypes that violate LGBTIQ + women and people.
Unfortunately this is not the case, despite being recognized by law. We are, once again, before a medium that systematically exercises symbolic and media violence in accordance with the definitions of Law 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women, and which are also contemplated in Law 26,522 on Services of Audiovisual Communication.
Media violence is one that through stereotyped patterns, messages, values, icons or signs, transmits and reproduces domination, inequality and discrimination in social relations, naturalizing the subordination of women in society.
Symbolic violence is any publication or dissemination of stereotyped messages and images through any mass media, which directly or indirectly promotes the exploitation of women or their images, injures, defames, discriminates, dishonors, humiliates or attempts against dignity of women, as well as the use of women, adolescents and girls in pornographic messages and images, legitimizing unequal treatment or building sociocultural patterns that reproduce inequality or generate violence against women.
To avoid these types of violence when dealing with cases of sexual abuse, the Public Defender’s Office has a Guide for the responsible treatment of cases of violence against women, in which it indicates that it is necessary to “dispense with approaches that stigmatize, blame , they disbelieve and / or sexualize women in situations of violence ”, as well as“ privilege approaches focused on prevention and awareness of the social problems of violence against women, regardless of the spectacularization and fictionalization of cases.”
It is urgent that the media and journalists are trained and sensitized to develop communication with a gender perspective, egalitarian and non-sexist, but fundamentally, that they put aside these violent practices.
The only appropriate and responsible way of addressing violence against women through the media is starting from a perspective that respects human rights and is committed to the prevention and eradication of violence.
More information
Contact
Playing ESI: “Tutti Frutti De_Generado”
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
Last Thursday, September 10, we carried out an activity on Instagram together with the “Activating rights” team for Sexual and (non) Reproductive Rights, in order to learn about their activities and share different experiences on the implementation of Law 26,150 on Education Integral Sexual in educational institutions, in a fun and psychopedagogical way.
From the current context generated by the pandemic, new ways of teaching-learning are proposed through virtuality. These new ways challenge not only teachers and students, but also families. It is at this new juncture that ESI is problematized and thought as part of the curriculum and as essential as the right of children and adolescents. However, its implementation today continues to be hampered within many institutions.
“Chomaso that they speak for you”
The meeting took place on InstagramLive and was carried out with a game -tutti frutti- based on topics of interest that emerged from a survey that we had distributed among young people. The categories we played with were: insults based on sexual orientation or gender identity; forms or types of sex-affective relationships; strategies to reject someone who insists on looking for you; things that should not happen in a sex-affective bond and LGBTTTIQ + cultural consumption. These sections gave rise to the conversation among those who broadcast the live, who while receiving the responses from the public developed a brief analysis of each proposed word.
After going through several letters, from Activating Rights they shared some reflections on their work and the experiences within the workshops that they carry out in schools together with children and adolescents. The team works with young people in different educational institutions from a rights perspective and with a gender perspective, generating collective and non-adultcentric spaces, where they can express what they think and feel, developing in an environment of informality and trust.
The importance of articulating
These learning and exchange spaces are enriching and collaborate with the promotion and implementation of a fundamental right for young people, giving place to the protagonists to appropriate them and be an active component of their own learning.
More information
To learn more about Activating Rights, follow their networks: Facebook – Instagram
Authors
Josefina Gelid
Luz Baretta
Contact
Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org
We request the opening of friends of the court before the Supreme Court
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
On September 10, we presented a request to the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation to open the call for amicus curiae in the case “Argentine Chamber of Medicinal Specialties and another against the National State Ministry of Industry of the Nation and others s / Nullity administrative act ”. In said process, where the controversy concerns the regulation of the conditions for the patentability of chemical-pharmaceutical inventions, the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) requested participation as “amicus curiae”. This in the understanding that there is an intimate relationship between the right to health, and access to medicines under conditions of equality, and the criteria for patentability. However, this request was denied both in the first instance and in the Federal Civil and Commercial Chamber.
The rejection was based on the absence of regulation of the procedural figure in lower instances than the Supreme Court and the lack of expertise of the CELS on the merits of the case. However, the jurisprudential antecedents show that this is not an impediment to admit the participation of the friends of the court. On the other hand, the reason why CELS requests participation in the cause lies in the public interest and the fundamental rights committed, a subject in which it has a recognized track record.
In our request we state that the intervention of the amicus curiae can contribute to an improvement in the jurisdictional activity of matters of public interest and to a democratization of the judicial debate. The denial of CELS as amicus curiae in all procedural instances obstructs the possibility of reaching a more democratic and transparent decision.
The decision made by the Court in this instance may mark a jurisprudential guide for similar cases. That is why this presentation constitutes a good opportunity for you to establish a broad criterion for the admission of this figure and for citizen participation in judicial debates of public interest to begin to be the rule and stop being the exception.
Author
Barbara Juarez
Contact
Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org
Argentina, one step away from becoming a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
Argentina is one step away from becoming a member of the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank -AIIB- since by means of a unanimous vote, 69 affirmative votes, the Argentine Senate approved the entrance of our country to the institution. Now the Chamber of Deputies needs to deal with the entry project.
Argentina’s intention to be part of the Bank dates back to the administration of Mauricio Macri, where in the first ‘One Strip and One Route for International Cooperation’ Forum held in 2017, he affirmed the country’s intention to be part of the AIIB. That same year, the AIIB Board of Directors approved Argentina’s entry into the institution.
From the region, Ecuador and Uruguay are already members of the AIIB. On the other hand, Bolivia, Chile, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil have requested access to the organization. The Senate of the latter also approved his entry, however he joined as a founding member because he is part of the BRICS and all the founding countries of this bloc enjoy that status.
The AIIB was born in 2015 at the initiative of China, but began operating in January 2016. It currently has 102 members from different regions of the world. It is a multilateral financial institution that, through investments in infrastructure, fosters sustainable economic development, creates wealth, and improves connectivity in infrastructure, promoting regional cooperation with multilateral and bilateral development institutions. The Bank’s strategy is based on the Lean, Clean and Green concept in which it seeks to be efficient, agile, ethical and respectful of the environment and social rights. In addition, the financing to the countries is carried out through public capital and private investments and its financial operations are based on granting credits, guarantees and participations.
Since it began operations, the AIIB has already financed 138 infrastructure projects, between completed projects and projects in progress. In addition, the agency’s invested capital reaches $ 31 billion, which includes approved and requested projects. The sectors in which this organization invests are energy, transportation, telecommunications, infrastructure in rural areas, agricultural development, urban development, water supply, health services, environmental protection, logistics, among others.
Joining the AIIB gives our country the possibility of accessing financing from a new multilateral organization for infrastructure works in the energy sector, transportation and urban reforms, for example. Also, SMEs and other productive sectors could access Bank financing. Finally, another point to note is that this organization provides loans at low interest rates and without economic and political conditions, unlike traditional multilateral organizations such as the IMF.
Also, the bill approved by the Senate enables the Central Bank to access up to 50 capital shares, with a value of 100,000 dollars each, according to the registration admitted by the AIIB for the incorporation of a member country. A part of these shares, specifically 40, correspond to the callable capital and the remaining shares correspond to the capital to be integrated.
The strengthening of the relationship between our country and the People’s Republic of China is intensifying and among its causes, in addition to the partial approval of Argentina’s admission to the AIIB, there is also the strengthening of the Comprehensive Strategic Association with the Asian country, the donation and provision of health supplies in the fight against Covid-19, the progress to test the Chinese vaccine in the Argentine population and the negotiations that are being carried out to make effective the entry of Argentina to the Initiative of the Route and the Silk and the construction of the fourth atomic power station. Therefore, an even stronger tightening of cooperation between the two countries is expected.
More information
Contact
Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org
Conversation “ILE, Pandemic and Telemedicine: new challenges”
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
In the current context of the pandemic, the WHO has ruled that different health practices are “essential services”, such as systematic vaccination, treatment of chronic diseases, and sexual, reproductive and non-reproductive health services, among which includes care during pregnancy, childbirth and the Legal Termination of Pregnancy. The national health authorities and various specialized health institutions did the same. However, the lack of information and measures by the competent authorities, together with the absence of a clear legal framework, make it difficult for health professionals to be able to effectively comply with ILE practices, and for pregnant people to exercise rights that, in the current health situation, require special attention in order to avoid their subjugation.
In the meeting, in which a total of 40 health professionals participated, they spoke about the legal framework under which the practice of Telemedicine is governed in Córdoba and Argentina in general, in the particular context of the pandemic and independent of it, practical examples and parallels with international regulations were given. The instance also served to share different experiences experienced by professionals, who highlighted the importance and need of spaces for the exchange of tools, information and updating of regulatory knowledge for the exercise of practices in a safe way, both for patients and professionals of the intervening health.
Presentation of the booklet “Aborting with rights during the pandemic: Legal Interruption of Pregnancy as an essential service”
Fundeps presented at the meeting a document that develops the technical and legal aspects that must be considered when guaranteeing the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy during the crisis generated by the coronavirus, with references to protocols and recommendations prepared by the World Health Organization and other health institutions. It also contains a section on the use of telecare to attend to these practices, considering the modifications recently promoted by the pandemic. The document is a synthesis of the updated information for the attention of the ILE, following the principles of risk reduction and resource optimization.
Knowledge exchange as a fundamental tool
We celebrate these instances of training and exchange with different actors involved in the realization of human rights, as in this case, health professionals. Meetings like this are essential for these health practices to be carried out without risk or fear and in a complete, informed and safe way.
More information
Authors
Irene Aguirre
Luz Baretta
Contact
Mayca Balaguer, maycabalaguer@fundeps.org
Regional statement regarding the IDB presidential elections
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
On September 12 and 13, the Inter-American Development Bank -BID- will elect a new president who will replace Luis Alberto Moreno, after 15 uninterrupted years of management. The elections will take place through an extraordinary meeting of the Board of Governors to be held virtually. Different countries in the region have nominated candidates, such as Argentina, which nominated Gustavo Béliz, and Costa Rica, Laura Chinchilla. However, what is causing concern in the current IDB presidential selection process is the nomination by the US of candidate Mauricio Claver Carone. This, in addition to going against the unwritten IDB rule that the Institution must be led by a Latin American representative, threatens the decision-making capacity of the Bank’s borrowing countries, given that the United States has the highest percentage of capital and votes within the Institution.
In a context marked by the crisis of multilateralism that the world is going through; the socio-ecological and climatic crisis that has a particularly serious impact on Latin America; the historical problems of inequity, inequality and poverty in the region; and the economic, social and health impacts and repercussions that the Covid-19 pandemic is generating, the transition in the presidency of the IDB is key for the future of the region.
Therefore, today more than ever the IDB requires a qualified leader who is capable of critically positioning himself with regard to the role that the Institution plays in the face of the complex panorama that the region is experiencing, and who is predisposed and capable of promoting a model different development. In this sense, the person appointed to the presidency of the IDB should necessarily meet a series of requirements that include, among others, the following:
At the same time, the statement, to which more than 50 organizations joined, emphasizes that the election must go beyond voting and open spaces for dialogue between candidates and civil society and communities. After 15 uninterrupted years under the leadership of a presidency that impregnated particular characteristics, and in many cases questionable, the management and actions of the Bank, a unique opportunity is presented to learn more about the positions and proposals of the different candidates. facing the concerns and demands of communities and civil society; and in relation to the prevailing context in the region.
We hope that the IDB will rise to the current circumstances and take advantage of this opportunity to ensure that whoever becomes president of the Bank is truly the most qualified and appropriate person to lead it in the face of the complex moment the region is going through.
More information
Contact
Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org
Statement in the face of the election of the new president of the IDB
Through a statement addressed to the Governors of the Inter-American Development Bank, civil society organizations, peasant communities, indigenous peoples and Afro-descendants and people with disabilities in Latin America and the Caribbean, we express our concern regarding the presidential elections of the Institution. In particular, we express our rejection of the decision of the United States government to present a North American candidate to preside over the Bank, and of the election process itself, which does not give rise to the participation of social organizations and communities.
Aborting with rights during the pandemic: Legal Termination of Pregnancy as an essential service
The following primer develops the technical and legal aspects that must be considered when guaranteeing the Legal Interruption of Pregnancy during the crisis generated by the coronavirus, with references to protocols and recommendations drawn up by the World Health Organization and other health institutions. It also contains a section on the use of telemedicine to attend to these practices.
Comments on the second draft of the IDB Environmental and Social Policy Framework, from a gender perspective
Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic.
In December 2019, the Inter-American Development Bank -BID- published the draft Environmental and Social Policy Framework -MPAS- to modernize its environmental and social policies. In January of this year, the face-to-face and virtual public consultations began, where Fundeps was present. In April, we sent a document with comments and observations on the draft MPAS from a gender perspective, which had the input of other civil society organizations. In this document we point out, above all, the lack of mainstreaming of the gender perspective in all the performance standards of the draft MPAS.
At the beginning of July, the Bank published the second draft of the MPAS in which it incorporated some of the recommendations sent by stakeholders (civil society, indigenous communities, Afro-descendant community) and began the second phase of the process for sending comments that It ended on Tuesday, August 5. From Fundeps, we analyzed this second draft of the MPAS and sent a new document with observations and comments from a gender perspective, with the aim of incorporating issues that we consider fundamental when considering the human rights of girls, adolescents, women and LGTTTBIQ + people. in the new social and environmental framework of the IDB.
Among the main points identified, we find positive aspects that have been incorporated as the reference to the Performance Standard -ND- 9 on gender equality in PS 1 (Evaluation and Management of Environmental and Social Risks and Impacts), PS 2 ( Labor and Working Conditions), PS 5 (Land Acquisition and Involuntary Resettlement) and PS 10 (Stakeholder Engagement and Disclosure of Information). Another aspect to highlight is the incorporation of ILO Convention 190 against violence and harassment in the workplace and Convention 100 on Equal Remuneration.
However, there are still many aspects to be incorporated that we believe are essential to guarantee gender equality and the mainstreaming of the gender perspective in the projects financed by the Bank. Among the necessary issues to be added to the new MPAS is the Bank’s duty to explicitly and transversally incorporate current and future international Treaties, Agreements and Conventions that contemplate the rights of girls, adolescents, women and LGTTTBIQ + people. In addition, the Bank as the main person in charge must mainstream the gender perspective throughout the Framework to avoid gender blindness.
A worrying issue is the replacement of the Policy on Gender Equality in Development by PS 9. Here the Bank should maintain the validity of the Policy as a complement to PS 9 on Gender Equality. Finally, we emphasize the need for the IDB to incorporate the great diversity of gender-gender identities, since the MPAS does not mention LGTTTBIQ + people, but rather identifies them as sexual and gender minorities. Therefore, we insist that LGTTTBIQ + people are specifically enunciated to ensure visibility and recognition of their existence and rights.
More information
Author
Sofia Brocanelli
Contact
Cecilia Bustos Moreschi, cecilia.bustos.moreschi@fundeps.org
Gonzalo Roza, gon.roza@fundeps.org
Observations on the second draft of the IDB Environmental and Social Policy Framework from a gender perspective
In early July, the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) published the second draft of the Environmental and Social Policy Framework -MPAS- and began the second phase of the 30-day consultation process. This document was produced within this framework and contains observations and comments on the second draft of the MPAS from a gender perspective.
The creation of the Agroecology Directorate at the national level was made official
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
The main objective of the directorate will be “to intervene in the design and implementation of policies, programs and projects that promote intensive and extensive primary production based on agroecology at all its scales, coordinating with producers, agrarian organizations and municipal and provincial governments.” To comply with this, it is expected, among other actions, the creation of a Strategic Plan of Productive Transition that contains the objectives, methodology and recipients for the agro-ecological implementation; and the granting of technical, credit and tax assistance to promote said activity.
This government decision is historic for our country, and is framed within the growing environmental crisis and the need to establish consistent public policies, such as the design of alternatives to the agricultural production model that prevails today. It is a decision that recognizes the approach that various farmer organizations have been developing for years, who have created alternatives to confront the hegemonic system. In addition, the current Minister of the Environment, Juan Cabandié, has repeatedly pointed out the risk that the use of pesticides and phytosanitary products entails in the health of the population and the environment, classifying them as “poisons”.
In this sense, agroecology proposes another way of producing food, which in the words of Eduardo Cerdá “implies taking into account and putting into play all ecological processes when producing agriculture and livestock. It is not a business look, it is a system look, to understand the natural processes that work in a field. By taking into account all the processes, it is easier to take care of them ”.
For these reasons, we welcome the implementation of this direction at the national level, since it represents a change of vision in the way of producing food in our country and implies an advance in the much-promised food sovereignty. We believe that this measure provides the appropriate initial impulse to give place and space to this production alternative based on sustainability and caring for the health of people and the environment. In this way, it is possible to incorporate a social and environmental perspective to the Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries, which is extremely necessary in these times.
Authors
Maria Laura Carrizo Morales
Ananda Maria Lavayén
Contact
Juan Bautista Lopez, juanbautistalopez@fundeps.org
Argentina-China: cooperate in adverse times
“Below, we offer a google translate version of the original article in Spanish. This translation may not be accurate but serves as a general presentation of the article. For more accurate information, please switch to the Spanish version of the website. In addition, feel free to directly contact in English the person mentioned at the bottom of this article with regards to this topic”.
During the Covid-19 pandemic and the validity of social, preventive and compulsory isolation (ASPO), various cooperation actions were carried out in health matters between the People’s Republic of China and the Argentine Republic. In order to mitigate the adverse effects caused by the pandemic, China has cooperated with Argentina in both the public and private spheres to strengthen the national health system.
Regarding the public sphere, the cooperation emphasized donations and purchases of sanitary elements, at the national and sub-national level. In this sense, the province of Buenos Aires imported from China, for a value of 54 million dollars, 5.5 million disposable chinstraps, 300 thousand N90 chinstraps, 83 thousand goggles, 700 thousand face masks and 12 million pairs of gloves disposable. To this end, Aerolineas Argentinas carried out 32 flights to the city of Shanghai at a cost of $ 500,000 each. In the act in which the tightening of the quarantine in the Metropolitan Area of Buenos Aires (AMBA) was announced, on June 26, Governor Axel Kicillof affirmed that “28 planes with sanitary supplies for his province had arrived in the country from from China”.
At the subnational level, the Chinese province of Guizhou donated medical supplies to the province of Jujuy, including a total of 9 thousand medical masks donated by the People’s Hospital of said province of China. Since 2017, both provinces have maintained a fraternal relationship within the framework of the twinning intention agreement to improve understanding, foster friendship, consolidate and develop friendly cooperation.
Likewise, the All China National Association of Journalists donated 200,000 masks to the Union of Press Workers of Buenos Aires to be delivered to union members. In this sense, Secretary General Lidia Fagale expressed that one of the central premises in the international arena of the Chinese press entity is the “deep sense of cooperation.” He also thanked “the solidary attitude of the colleagues and their repeated signs of commitment in strengthening the bilateral bond.”
On the other hand, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, International Trade and Worship informed Fundeps, in response to a request for information made on June 30, that the Argentine Republic and the People’s Republic of China have maintained fluid contact within the framework of the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic through videoconferences; and that Chinese President Xi Jinping expressed his strong support for the measures taken by Argentina in relation to the pandemic.
The Foreign Ministry detailed that the following measures were carried out: first, negotiations were carried out through the Embassy of Argentina in China and the Consulate General and Promotion Center in Shanghai for the pertinent permits for the overflight and landing of aircraft of Aerolineas Argentinas to Shanghai in search of medical supplies, as well as the displacement of people. Secondly, the White Helmets Commission advised on the documentary procedures related to the donation of goods from abroad so that they comply with the customs regulations in force in our country.
On the other hand, the Foreign Ministry made it known that the cooperation between both countries is multi-level since it includes subnational entities, companies, institutions and other entities, which have made donations and sent supplies to various actors in our country. Within the donations and shipment of supplies are detailed: chinstraps, protective suits, protective glasses, detection tests, gloves, protection for footwear, among others.
These were assigned to the Ministry of Health, Defense, Security, provincial ministries and municipalities. In this way, the bilateral cooperation in health matters between Argentina and China reflects the growing interaction and linkage between both countries, in areas that are not only limited to trade and investment but also include a wide range of areas, such as academic, cultural , technological, health or scientific, among others. The aforementioned request made to the Argentine Foreign Ministry is part of a set of requests recently sent by Fundeps to different agencies of the national government requesting information regarding various aspects of Sino-Argentine relations and infrastructure and energy projects that have Chinese financing. In this sense, it should be noted that effective and timely access to public information is essential even in a context like the current one, marked by the pandemic.
More information
“Operation Shanghai”: what medical supplies have been bought from China since the beginning of the pandemic”– Checked
Chinese province of Guizhou donates medical supplies to Argentina – Xinhuanet
Chinstraps for press – Dangdai
Blame it on the media
“Do you blame yourself for something?” Dal Prá asks after a woman on her back recounted her painful experience, visibly moved. Dahyana, the young Cordovan woman who was sexually assaulted in the Ampliación Las Palmas neighborhood responds forcefully that she is not guilty of anything, that she has been the victim of a sex crime.
It is not the first time that the journalist has committed symbolic and media violence. In 2019, in the case of Lautaro Teruel, accused of sexual abuse of a ten-year-old girl, he described the fact on the air as a “mistake”. The same thing happened in 2018, when interviewing a young woman who had been abused in the vicinity of the Kempes Stadium, who asked her, after the account of the events: “Are you sorry for how you reacted?”.
This approach to sexual abuse cases, focusing on the victim’s guilt and questioning their actions, only manages to minimize the fact of physical and sexual violence to which they were subjected through re-victimization and stigmatization. This treatment is an exercise in media violence, not only towards the victim who is exposed and questioned, but also towards other women and femininity who are part of the audience and may have experienced situations of the same type. The impact of a journalistic action of these characteristics is enhanced by the breadth of the scope of the channel and the program’s central schedule.
Nor is it the first time that Canal 12 commits these forms of gender violence nor the first time that it receives public condemnation. This recidivism does nothing more than make evident the lack of commitment of the environment with the visibility, prevention and fight for the eradication of the different types and modalities of gender violence.
In this situation, we denounce the facts before the Public Defender, the administrative body that protects the rights of the hearings, so that it analyzes the interview and intervenes, making recommendations to the media.
Symbolic and media violence in the media
The media are key actors in the construction and reproduction of meanings and values that can legitimize or transform violent practices, behaviors and ways of understanding the world. They are actors who have the possibility of building a more just and equitable society through the deconstruction of gender roles and stereotypes that violate LGBTIQ + women and people.
Unfortunately this is not the case, despite being recognized by law. We are, once again, before a medium that systematically exercises symbolic and media violence in accordance with the definitions of Law 26,485 on Comprehensive Protection to Prevent, Punish and Eradicate Violence against Women, and which are also contemplated in Law 26,522 on Services of Audiovisual Communication.
Media violence is one that through stereotyped patterns, messages, values, icons or signs, transmits and reproduces domination, inequality and discrimination in social relations, naturalizing the subordination of women in society.
Symbolic violence is any publication or dissemination of stereotyped messages and images through any mass media, which directly or indirectly promotes the exploitation of women or their images, injures, defames, discriminates, dishonors, humiliates or attempts against dignity of women, as well as the use of women, adolescents and girls in pornographic messages and images, legitimizing unequal treatment or building sociocultural patterns that reproduce inequality or generate violence against women.
To avoid these types of violence when dealing with cases of sexual abuse, the Public Defender’s Office has a Guide for the responsible treatment of cases of violence against women, in which it indicates that it is necessary to “dispense with approaches that stigmatize, blame , they disbelieve and / or sexualize women in situations of violence ”, as well as“ privilege approaches focused on prevention and awareness of the social problems of violence against women, regardless of the spectacularization and fictionalization of cases.”
It is urgent that the media and journalists are trained and sensitized to develop communication with a gender perspective, egalitarian and non-sexist, but fundamentally, that they put aside these violent practices.
The only appropriate and responsible way of addressing violence against women through the media is starting from a perspective that respects human rights and is committed to the prevention and eradication of violence.
More information
Contact