PHRASES:
1. Enough of minutes of fear, humiliation, pain, silence. We have the right to have a minute of freedom, happiness, love, of life. (Not One Less Campaign)
These phrases express the will to live and the right of women to be free and happy, to live without fear.
2. We want each other alive. All. Not one less. (Not One Less Campaign)
Many women die every day less than their partners or ex-partners for the mere fact of being. That is why phrases like this make us see the need to combat gender violence.
3. In the face of atrocities, we have to take sides. Silence stimulates the executioner (Elie Wiesel)
Failure to act is not an option in the face of gender violence, since it favors the perpetrator of the aggression to continue inflicting the abuse.
4. Any time of the day or night is better to say enough and put an end to a stage of your life that you would have liked not to live (Raimunda de Peñafort)
The renowned judge and writer Raimunda de Peñafort expressed to us in this sentence the need for the appearance of the moment when the victim decides that it is necessary to change and end her torment.
5. Neither saints nor whores. We are only women (Rotmi Enciso)
Sometimes raised as a phrase in various manifestations against gender violence and in favor of equality, this phrase expresses the need to consider women as human being equal to men: an existence worthy of respect and that does not have to be or virtuous and virginal neither passionate and sexual nor sheltered as if it were something fragile and incapable nor used as an object.
6. No man is good enough to rule any woman without her consent (Susan Anthony)
No one has the right to choose and dominate our life beyond ourselves.
7. This irrational desire for dominance, control, and power over the other person is the main force that fuels domestic violence between couples (Luis Rojas Marcos)
As this well-known Spanish psychiatrist indicates, what ultimately generates abuse is the desire for power over the other, often using traditional gender roles.
8. Walling up your suffering is to risk it devouring you from the inside (Frida Kahlo)
Although the phrase in question does not refer to abuse, it does express a very common reality among people who suffer from it: hiding and burying the suffering deep down, something that makes it difficult to decide to say enough.
9. All violence is the result of people deluding themselves into believing that their pain is caused by other people, thus thinking that they deserve to be punished (Marshall Rosenberg)
This phrase is quite self-explanatory and leads us to think that one of the motivators (although not the only one) of aggression is self-contempt and the feeling of little competition from the abuser.
10. Break the silence. When you witness violence against women, do not stand idly by. Take Action (Ban Ki-Moon)
This phrase from the diplomat and former Secretary-General of the United Nations expresses the need for witnesses and those who perceive abuse not to just ignore it, but to help victims and report acts of violence.
11. Women's fear of men's violence is the mirror of men's fear of women without fear (Eduardo Galeano)
Many cases of gender violence are based on the aggressor's need to maintain power and control over the other, using aggression as a method of trying to suppress the victim's own power to live freely.
12. We had two options: be quiet and die or speak and die. We decided to talk (Malala Yousafzai)
This phrase refers to the reality of many women who are subjected and tied to suffering, pain, and even death due to the fear that rebelling will cause them even more pain.
13. It's not any!
Gender-based violence is exercised in multiple ways, one of them being sexual violence: sexual abuse or rape are the best-known examples. Perpetrators of this type of violence often ignore the denials of their victims, trivialize them, and even imply that the victim wanted to have relationships. That is why it is very important to take into account a message, in principle as simple as it is evident, such as the one expressed in this phrase.
14. No woman can call herself free when she does not have control over her own body (Margaret Sanger)
Many women are forced by their partners to have sex despite not wanting it or causing pain and suffering, something that is frequently hidden, or even the person himself does not consider it sexual assault due to the thought that who is doing it is his spouse or couple.
18. I have seen men suffering psychologically unable to ask for help for fear that they are not considered "macho". I am bothered by the idea that men cannot cry (Emma Watson)
The young actress expresses in this sentence the fact that although in a much smaller proportion, some men also suffer violence from their partners and do not usually report it for fear of social rejection.
19. Man's violence against his partner is invisible except when it is reported; invisible to all except the children who run the risk of perpetuating it, they as abusers, they as submissive victims (Jacobo Durán)
Gender-based violence does not only affect the person who directly receives the abuse. If there are children, they will be secondary victims or sometimes even instruments to perpetrate violence against the spouse. Likewise, they are exposed to a parental model that they may replicate in the future. It is also necessary for them to fight to get out of the situation of violence.
20. Defend your life, fight for your independence, seek your happiness and learn to love yourself (Izaskun González)
Phrase addressed to all people who are subjected to gender violence, and that seeks to wake them up and make them seek to get out of their situation.
21. Wherever someone fights for his dignity, for equality, to be free ... look him in the eye (Bruce Springsteen)
Being abused and living in subjection generates great suffering and pain, and breaking up with the partner or resolving that we need to change is often a great difficulty. That is why we must recognize and validate the efforts and courage of those who fight to achieve it.
22. Violence is not just killing the other. There is violence when one uses an aggressive word when he makes a gesture of contempt for a person when he obeys because he is afraid (Jiddu Krishnamurti)
Although the original phrase encompasses other types of violence, this phrase applies to gender violence. And it is that this is not only physical violence or death: insults, humiliations, coercion, and threats are just some other types of violence that it includes.
• You may be interested: "The 11 types of violence (and the different kinds of aggression)"
23. Violence is the last resort of the incompetent (Isaac Asimov)
A phrase also used to condemn gender violence, clearly expresses that violence is the result of the lack of capacity to manage the relationship with the other.
24. Qualifying gender violence as a women's issue is part of the problem. Give huge numbers of men the perfect excuse not to pay attention (Jackson Katz)
Even though every day there is more awareness at the social level, the truth is that on many occasions it has been observed that there is a tendency to consider the fight against gender violence as something typical of the female gender. However, ending this scourge is everyone's business.
25. Today as yesterday, women must refuse to be submissive and credulous, because dissimulation cannot serve the truth (Germaine Greer)
The absolute submission that tradition imposed on women concerning men has often been used as an excuse for the exercise of violence, such submission being something that must change to guarantee freedom and avoid and prevent abusive relationships.
26. Every 15 seconds a woman is attacked in the world, every 15 seconds a man ceases to be (Jorge Moreno Pieiga)
Gender violence is a problem that unfortunately continues to occur day by day, and that we must make an effort to combat.
27. There is no barrier, lock, or bolt that you can impose on the freedom of my mind (Virginia Woolf)
The famous writer leaves us a phrase in which she expresses that our mind is and must be free and that we have to fight to overturn the impositions that they want to pour on it. It pushes us to be strong and to fight violence to regain freedom.
28. Being free is not only getting rid of one's chains but living in a way that improves and respects the freedom of others (Nelson Mandela)
This phrase pushes us to seek to improve the situation of those around us, which includes helping to combat violence against them.
29. Hitting a woman is not something cultural, it is a crime, and should be directed and treated as such (Hillary Clinton)
Sometimes some aggressors and even some victims justify the violence considering that it is something "normal", considering that their acts are not negative as they have been allowed in the past. But the fact that in ancient times abuse was not so persecuted does not imply anything: abuse will never stop being so, and must be treated and combated as such.
30. Mentor and teach young men how to be men in ways that do not degrade or abuse girls and women (Jackson Katz)
Jackson Katz is a well-known writer, filmmaker, and educator who has created various GBV prevention programs. One of the points that this author highlight is that one of the pillars to prevent possible situations of violence is education free of gender stereotypes that make women subordinate to men or as sexual object.
31. When they tried to shut me up, I screamed (Teresa Wilms)
It is important to bear in mind that sometimes people who suffer some type of gender violence are not listened to, they are vilified and even held responsible for what happened. But that someone does not listen to us does not mean that we do not have to continue fighting to live free.
32. I don't want to feel brave when I go out. I want to feel free
Many people, especially women, express that the simple fact of going out on the street alone generates a certain fear and insecurity in the face of the high prevalence of sexist attitudes and even sexual harassment (and in some cases abuse and assault). This generates great anguish and tension. Nobody wants to live in fear.
33. It is very common for women to think that enduring abuse and cruelty and then forgiving and forgetting is a sign of commitment and love. But when we love well we know that the only healthy and loving response to abuse is to get away from those who hurt us (Bell Hooks)
Many victims decide to give the abuser another chance, with a somewhat distorted idea that the forgiveness of such acts or the repentance that many abusers show after the act of abuse is a sign of their love. But allowing and forgiving such acts over and over again only leads to repeating a pattern continuously, without anything changing, perpetuating violence against them.
34. I will not be a free woman as long as there are still women subjected (Audre Lorde)
This phrase pushes us to fight against gender violence even if we are not experiencing it, helping to eliminate this scourge from our society.
35. Don't whistle at me, I'm not a dog
When we talk about gender violence, we are not just talking about beatings, rapes, or insults. Also, vexatious and objectifying attitudes can be considered as such. We must always respect the dignity of others.
STORY:
The four years of their marriage have been of mistreatment, humiliation, yelling, insults, hitting, kicking, electro-shocks, rape, hair pulling, kicking, etc., from Sergio towards his wife Sandra.
"Why do you enjoy hurting me?" Sandra asked, blood coming out of her mouth.
"Why are you so brutal, thinking that I fell in love with you?" Sergio asked, really annoyed.
"I did fall in love with you," Sandra replied sadly.
"Too bad, but not me. The only thing I want from you is your money, nothing more than that, "said Sergio.
After that, Sergio got dressed and left, leaving Sandra alone, sad, and with a huge sense of loneliness.
Sandra knew perfectly well that she could not continue in this unhealthy situation any longer; So, he packed his things and went to the house of one of his brothers.
At the home of one of her brothers, she not only told him the whole truth; but also to his entire family, who told him that, under no circumstances, he could return with him.
When Sergio found out what had happened, he was made a panther, and immediately, he started looking for Sandra in all the places he thought she would be.
Since no one wanted to tell him where Sandra was, he began to threaten the family of each one of them, so that they would tell them the truth; Then, everyone saw the true side of Sergio and realized that he is not what he appeared to be.
They all wanted Sergio to pay for all the damage he had done to Sandra, they all told him that he was where his brother Xavier was, and he immediately went there.
The reason why they had said that to Sergio was because they knew Xavier couldn't stand it and if he found out what Sergio had done to his sister, he would be a panther.
On the other hand, everyone knew that Xavier is a lawyer and that he has specialized precisely in the mistreatment of women and they all wanted from the heart that Sergio would start paying for all the evil he had committed against his wife Sandra.
While Sergio was heading towards Xavier's house, to demand that Sandra return to the house, Xavier, like his family, had convinced Sandra to report her husband and she did so.
Everyone knew that Sergio would look for Sandra at Xavier's house; so they set him up. The police were in hiding, waiting for Sergio to show up to put him in jail, to pay for all the damage he had done to his wife.
As soon as Sergio arrived at the house, the police came out where he was hiding and took him, prisoner.
During the trial, it was demonstrated with photos and video, the mistreatment that Sandra was subjected to, because of her husband, and they all concluded that Sergio is guilty and sentenced him to life imprisonment.
From that moment to the present, Sandra has been seeing a specialist who is helping her overcome this problem and move forward.