The existence of a “rape culture” typical of the patriarchal model; the socialization tools that force the female population into a “permanent availability”; the capitalism that has turned pornography and the trafficking and exploitation of women into a lucrative business; the false “uncontrollable” male sexuality or the “vitiated” consent of many sexual relations protected by marriage were some of the arguments put on the table at the meeting Keys for prevention and intervention in sexual violence: identification and management of critical knots”.
These women's conferences, organized by the Mararía association in the year of its 30th anniversary, on June 6 and 7, have been the most attended in its history, with more than a hundred people registered, among those who attended the auditorium of the Lancelot Playa hotel and those who followed the presentations from their homes, through streaming.
The concern of feminist entities, administrations and society in general is not for less when, as reported during the opening ceremony, in the first quarter of the year crimes against freedom and sexual indemnity in Lanzarote increased by 105.3% compared to 2023, with 39 cases counted, while sexual assaults with penetration increased by 275%, with 15 cases reported.
In this scenario of involution and regression of the exercise of women's rights and freedoms, the work of feminist vindication and awareness, prevention and care for victims of male chauvinist violence of the Mararía association was recognized and applauded by the authorities present at the opening of the meeting, the Minister of Social Welfare and Inclusion, Marci Acuña, the Councilor for Equality of Arrecife, Maite Corujo, and the Councilor for Social Services and Citizen Participation of Tías, Nicolás Saavedra.
The artist Tayó also spoke, author of the poster announcing and commemorating the 30th anniversary of Mararía, who explained the metaphors and symbolisms of his work, a female figure who advances in calm waters, leaving a tsunami behind and under a violet sky.
Porn, prostitution and sexual assaults
On the first morning, together with the president of the entity, Nieves Rosa Hernández, and the vice president, Carmen Delia Reyes, who acted as hosts, the doctor in Sociology from the University of La Laguna and expert in sexual violence, pornography and prostitution, Esther Torrado, the doctor in Equality from the University of Salamanca and former Secretary of State of the Presidency in Zapatero's cabinet, Soledad Murillo, and the director of the NGO Haurralde de Derechos Humanos de las Mujeres and president of the COMPI coordinator, Patricia Ponce, shared their presentations.
The three speakers agreed to highlight the pornified and hypersexualized social context that has normalized violence against women through a massive consumption of pornography that opens the way to prostitution and sexual assaults. “Violence is not a pathology, it is a culture that is learned and that is only counteracted with education and legislation that stops those who profit from female rape,” Torrado pointed out. She recalled that currently, there are 23,000 girls and women in sexual trafficking in Spain.
Soledad Murillo emphasized the mortal leap of women from availability to self-care “which has enormous significance for their own lives.” She raised the importance of bringing the nature of sexual desire to the classroom “which they do not manage and for which they blame themselves” and demanded “references of autonomy and transgression” to change the order of things.
For her part, Patricia Ponte reviewed the international regulation of defense of women's rights, demanded sufficient legal sanctions against male chauvinist violence and mentioned the dramatic casuistry of sexual assaults, especially painful and harmful when it occurs in the family environment.
The day closed in the afternoon with an informative presentation on the functions, achievements and challenges of the violet points and a time of collective work in debate tables.
Violence in porn
The doctor in interdisciplinary gender studies from the University of Alicante, Lydia Delicado, opened the day on Friday with an online intervention dedicated to pornography on digital platforms, which is located in the world elite regarding the volume of traffic, ahead of Facebook, Google or Amazon and with an impact and capacity of influence according to these figures. “In the last three decades we have lived a process of cultural pornification, by which thousands of images per second convey a message of normalization of violence against women,” she pointed out.
According to her, the unequal relational model, the female acceptance of degradation and humiliation, the praise of incest or rape as a desirable and exciting non-punishable behavior are part of an iconography that is currently consumed for the first time between the ages of eight and ten.
Delicado recalled that against the liberal and patriarchal theories, feminism defends that pornography cannot be protected by freedom of expression “because it is not part of the realm of ideas.” “And in any case, freedom of expression is not above the inalienable rights of women.”
Next, the chief inspector of the Family and Women's Care Unit (UFAM) of the National Police Station of Arrecife, María Mayordomo, explained the police work in the face of crimes against freedom and sexual indemnity and stressed that 92% of sexual violence crimes against minors end in conviction.
The conferences ended with the talk of the head of the Violence against Women Unit of the Insular Directorate of the General State Administration in Lanzarote, Margara Bello, and the biodanza activity Bringing hearts closer.
This meeting has been organized by the Mararía association and the Coordinator of Women's Organizations for Participation and Equality (COMPI), with the financing of the Canarian Institute of Equality and the collaboration of the Lancelot Playa hotel.
