This is one of the main conclusions of the first SEXVIOL report, which starts from the analysis of 178 sentences issued by the Provincial Court of Madrid between 2016 and 2018, sentences all of them associated with prosecution processes of assault with sexual violence.
But there are other myths or stereotypes, such as the nocturnal, the time or the area in which sexual assaults occur and that this report dismantles.
This is how he explains it to EFEsalud Esmeralda Ballesteros Doncelone of its authors and a member of SEXVIOL, a group made up of teachers and researchers from four Spanish public universities (UCM, U. de Jaén, UC3M and U. de Valencia) who collaborate in the study of sexual violence in Spain, from a comparative perspective.
Recorded Incident: Sexual violence is a crime that has not stopped increasing since official statistics were available in Spain.
In 1989, 5,770 complaints were registered and in 2018 its magnitude was estimated at 13,782, 80% corresponding to the most aggravated crimes (sexual assault and abuse), according to sources from the Interior Ministry: Report on crimes against freedom and sexual indemnity in Spain 2019.
Actual incidence: The propensity to report sexual violence is very low. It is estimated that of every 100 sexual assaults only 12 are reported, the rest are silenced.
The real rape myth: The social and media characterization of the attacks has been built around an unfounded myth that identifies the assault of an unknown aggressor, with a pathological profile, who attacks violently at night, in an isolated place and by surprise.
The victim defends himself tenaciously and, consequently, the aggression causes injuries, traumatisms or death.
Sexual violence: the bond with the victim
However, and according to the SEXVIOL group, the main findings of this research deny some myths:
Link.- In more than 80% of sexual assaults there was previously some kind of link between victim and perpetrator. In 17.4% the bond was intimate (partner or ex-partner).
Unknown perpetrators account for 19.1% of sexual assaults.
Place.- Homes are the place where most sexual assaults are committed (60.1%), followed by public spaces (20.2%).
Weapons.- The use of weapons only appears in 13.5% of the cases of sexual assault prosecuted.
extreme violence.- In 90% of the attacks extreme violence is not used.
In 4.6% of the sentences, the victims present serious or fatal injuries; more than half of the cases reported minor injuries (51.5%); In 31.5% of the cases, no lesions were identified.
Time of the day.-The time of day in which the sexual assaults occur is irrelevant: 45.2% took place during the day compared to 54.8% that occurred at night.
The myth of the herds.- Group sexual assaults represent 2.8% of the total sentences analysed.
The research by Cazorla (2021) on the analysis of 244 sentences with multiple perpetrators, handed down in Spain between 2005 and 2020, also clarifies that 63.5% of the group was a duo and 21.3% was a trio.
Sexual violence is gender violence.- 95.5% of the victims of sexual assault were women. 99.4% of perpetrators are men.
Sex offenders do not respond to an antisocial or pathological pattern.- 70.2% of the perpetrators did not have a criminal record of any kind. 1.7% of the defendants had a history of sexual assault.
Sexual violence: victims need respect
The members of SEXVIOL consider that the victims of sexual violence do not need our pity, they demand our respect.
They defend that the dignity of the victims can only be restored “if we contribute to raising awareness, raising awareness, producing proven scientific knowledge… if we manage to illuminate the shadows in which the myths remain…”.
Also, if we work to “have resources to prosecute crime, if sufficient accompanying services, legal advice and specialized care are established to attend to the physical, psychological, social and affective-sexual damage that cause these aggressions against the freedom and autonomy of women, girls and boys.
In this sense, Emerald Ballesteros advocates expanding the expert assessment of the effect of aggression, “because there is a predominant biological culture that leads to pointing out the marks or signs that the aggressor leaves on the victim’s body, but there is no mention of the change of life that this type supposes of aggression for the victim.
“You don’t talk about your fear of living, your difficulty establishing affective relationships, your social self-isolation, your depressive periods… It’s about social and mental health damage that must begin to be collected.”
The sociologist and university professor also draws attention to the culture of silencing that prevails in society and that has done so much damage to the victims with close ties to the aggressor.
“That covering, covering and covering to also avoid the stigma towards the victims.”
Finally, he considers that there must be a design change in public policies, in light of some data, such as the link between victim and aggressor, and adds that “no one is free from suffering sexual violence and no one is expendable at work to its eradication”.
The group Sexviolenceits members explain, was born “under the influence of the bloody aggression known as the 2016 San Fermín case” .
«From this social questioning, different researchers, shaken by the news, weaved a small network of debates on the seriousness of the event, the development of the judicial process and its media resonance, adopting an activist commitment with a view to contributing to the scientific knowledge of the sexual violence in Spain.
Thus, this research group began a work project in 2017 with two objectives: to find out the statistical incidence of sexual assaults in Spain and to explore the characteristics of this form of crime through a content analysis of court rulings relating to this type of assault, while promoting seminars and initiatives aimed at young people and adults.
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