We recently read in the press that 33% of young Spaniards between the ages of 15 and 29 consider it inevitable or acceptable, in some circumstances, to control their partners' schedules, prevent them from seeing their families or friends, or tell them what they can or cannot do.
This is the most striking conclusion of a study prepared by the Center for Sociological Research (CIS) commissioned by the Ministry of Health to find out how adolescents and young people perceive gender violence.
In Lanzarote, the project 'SMS: No Machismo Yes', shows that there are girls who do not identify control attitudes, insults or humiliations as gender violence, which they interpret as 'normal in boys' protection behaviors.
If these data are compared with the conclusions of studies carried out with adults, the conclusion is even more worrying, since young people are less critical than older people with this type of macho attitudes in couples: 32% of girls tolerate them compared to 29% of the general female population, while 34% of boys consider them acceptable, four points more than the group of men of all ages.
The problem lies in the fact that, although the young population is able to identify physical aggressions as sexist violence, the same does not happen with control violence, which should also be considered gender violence.
Tolerance to these attitudes should be perceived as a priority objective of attention in homes and study centers, as it may anticipate other more serious ones in the future.
Administrations also have a key role in the fight against the assumption of sexist roles and positions of power within young couples.
Encouraging reflection and awareness through projects such as 'SMS: No Machismo Yes' is undoubtedly one of the appropriate ways. But so is recovering in the Public Budgets the items destined to Equality, an intangible and abstract concept that makes sense and strength every time a woman says "no" to machismo.
*María Dolores Corujo, island secretary of the PSOE of Lanzarote.