Our intention throughout this article is to cover various current issues generated around gender inequality, since we are obliged to, at least, highlight all possible points to understand what is happening around us; This is the first step if we want to get involved in achieving a more livable, free and just world.
To begin, we will talk about the riots in Iran, which since September have left around 500 civilians dead, including Mahasa Amini. The death of this young woman outraged Iranian citizens, being a trigger after so many years of repression against a town where its citizens lack several essential rights; for example, an Iranian woman cannot obtain a passport without the permission of her father or husband.
According to the authorities of that country, Mahasa wore the veil in such a way that it revealed some locks of her hair. According to her family, she was going to be taken to the police station to receive some “re-education” classes. Some time later she was taken by ambulance to the hospital for an alleged heart attack, arriving dead at the hospital. It is outrageous that there are currently women fighting for rights that should already correspond to them for the mere fact of being people, as is the way in which the police attack the protesters who, while seeking justice and fighting For equality, they challenge a regime that disproportionately oppresses women, taking away all kinds of dreams (especially if they don’t want to fulfill them next to a man who controls or manipulates them).
It would be a mistake to think that the aforementioned only occurs in other countries; without going any further in our own society, women are forced to endure micro-machismo on a constant basis. The so-called “micromachismos” are attitudes of subtle or very low intensity domination, which include comments, ideas, gestures, attitudes and behaviors, such as gender stereotypes that are propagated in all patriarchal cultures (social system in which men exercise control). primary power). Examples of micromachismo are covert violence against women, disregarding their opinions, or patronizing them. Gender stereotypes are a way of reinforcing the patriarchal system, influencing the sexual division of labor, the distribution of resources, and the definition of hierarchies between men and women. These stereotypes can have perverse effects on women, devaluing them or assigning them traditional roles. Education for equity and equality seeks to challenge these stereotypes, as well as the patriarchal educational model that promotes them. The consequences of gender stereotypes can include violations of human rights and fundamental freedoms, damaging child development, affecting self-concept, causing confusion, low self-esteem, lack of self-respect, and misogyny.
Chaining with micromachismo, it is worth highlighting and emphasizing one of the biggest problems we have today in the first world: We believe that women are so afraid of having to walk down the street alone because, after all, the chances of being raped are alarming and fear is a consequence of the data they are aware of and which, unfortunately, are pure statistics. Between 2012 and 2021, in Spain, the increase in registered sexual crimes in 10 years is 88.9%. The increase in sexual crimes for the first nine months of 2022 (latest data available) is 16.3% compared to the same period of the previous year. Of these, registered violations increased by 21.5%.
This, added to the large number of rapes that also occur worldwide, will lead to the more than understandable insecurity on the part of the female sex; women who are forced to call or notify someone close, to request the company of anyone who can inspire confidence or provide peace of mind, and even to pay for private transportation in order to avoid the recurring idea that they can be sexually assaulted in many of everyday contexts. Contexts in which they will also have to put up with the fact that society has normalized sexist and macho comments; It is not necessary to fall into the standardized situation of crossing a construction site for a bricklayer to yell at you at any barbarity with which he hypersexualizes or objectifies you, this happens more and more frequently in the work environment, at home, and in almost any area belonging to our sociocultural framework.
As for today’s youth, it is worth emphasizing the damage that the growing consumption of pornography has caused and continues to cause. Adolescent consumers are associated with a reduction in cognitive performance, but it can also cause physical and psychological damage to society, especially to us, the youngest. Pornographic references tend to have a high content of violence, whose victims (the vast majority of whom are women) tend to react to the camera with apparent impassivity and even pretending to feel pleasure, which can encourage viewers to develop unhealthy fantasies and aggressive, demeaning and humiliating towards women. On many occasions this is about whitewashing claiming that “it is fiction”, since they are actresses. But we forget that it is not; This filmed practice is real, it is reliably produced, it is not like fake blood in a horror movie. The consumption of pornography causes behavioral modifications that an adolescent person, given the high ignorance of it in the field of sexuality, can interpret as usual instead of what they are; unhealthy and harmful behaviors. Various studies show that it has a negative and detrimental impact on the correct development of a healthy sexuality, as well as its contribution to degrading the true meaning of sexual relations. For this reason, it is essential to demand a good sexual education from an early age. In the words of Malcolm X “Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs to the people who prepare for today.”
It is clear that the male figure is, on many occasions, responsible for the suffering of women. Obviously, to generalize is to plunge headfirst into a swampy terrain, since not everyone promotes gender violence. We question ourselves then; Can a man be a feminist? The short answer is yes, of course. Men can support the movement and help it advance and progress in its objectives. Giving an example, a father of a family should not carry out housework thinking that he is “helping his wife”, because he would be associating the idea that washing the dishes is an intrinsically feminine task, when the appropriate thing is to be aware that it is also his homework, as part of the family. He is not helping his wife, nor collaborating as a “good husband”; he is doing what corresponds to him as a cohabitant.
We should educate future generations in the idea that there are no specific jobs, clothes or toys exclusive to each gender or typical of a more masculine or feminine aspect, but rather that they are shared; neither of men, nor of women, rather of all and all.
Men do not have to direct or lead the feminist movement, it is enough to support, listen and accompany: we can be part of these spaces from that position. The 8M demonstrations are places for feminism to claim its purpose, where women remain united, fighting as equals from sorority, asking to be heard and demanding equal treatment where their rights are not relegated or in the shadow of “alpha males”. ” of no herd. Men must recognize our privileged position and our place in the feminist cause. Feminist man, ask yourself: what do you do to combat machismo? Do you tolerate reprehensible comments or attitudes from your colleagues when they humiliate or denigrate a woman? That is already being part of the problem, instead of being part of the solution.
Some of the possible solutions to end gender violence include starting to educate boys and girls from an early age, as it will reflect what we collect in the future. The behavior of fathers and mothers during upbringing will also have a significant influence (mimesis, imitation of behavior patterns and behaviors that we assume as appropriate and normalize because we have seen them at home). It is imperative to always teach from respect. We are progressing towards sexual equality, but there is still a lot of work to be done and, as Nelson Mandela said “Education is the most powerful weapon that you can use to change the world”, for this reason we defend that a healthy and complete education, as well as Fostering the creation of critical and autonomous thinking will make the population increasingly aware, fighting for a world that is less violent, less sexist and hypersexualized, less sexist and more equitable, just and humane, where every step forward counts.
For a better future, for a place for us.
