A Sex Sense: If they touch one, they touch all of us: #NiUnAMenos

(Translated from this article which is in Spanish)

In Spanish we use the term "UNA" as "one" in female form. "UNO" is "one" in male form. The social movement #NiUnAMenos is trying to bring awareness of feminicides, but some people want them to focus on a general term (male term) to bring awareness to general violence. On this article I express my point of view on why I think the female term should stay and why it is important.

I will start talking about what is a FEMINICIDE. It is the assassination of someone just because of being female. In simpler terms, lots of women die in Peru but not all of them are feminicides, this means there are women being murdered for other reasons more than just being female but there is great percentage that have this reason and that is called feminicide.

Just as the Fundation of Justice and the Democratic State of Law expresses, some causes could be domestic violence, in the name of "honor", paying a marriage portion, sexual orientation, insecure abortions, sexual trafficking, etc.

According to the report of 2011 performed by the Public Ministry and the National Prosecution of Peru, for each 10 women murdered, 5 are feminicides. On the men side, for 10 men murderered, 1 is by a woman's hand. Do you see the difference? "795 women have been murdered in a feminicide context from January of 2009 and October of 2015, meaning that on average 10 women are assesinated monthly in this context", indicate the reports. Women are a group that is in disadvantage, that is suffering from violence in this and many countries and that is why the hashtag should remain in a female form #NiUnAMenos (UNA).

When was the #NiUnaMenos march was created?
The first march was performed on June 3rd, 2015 in Argentina. Then It was done in different Latin American countries such us: Chile, Uruguay, Colombia, Mexico, Spain, Ecuador, Costa Rica, and Peru.

Why is it wront to say #NiUnOMenos?
I give the example of what happened in the United States with the campaign #BlackLivesMatter (
It was created to make visible a SPECIFIC group of people that has been receiving multiple aggressions and many murderers of black people have occured just because of the colour of their skin. Nevertheless some people, wrongly suggested that the campaign should be called #AllLivesMatter. Sure, It is obvious that the life of all people should matter BUT on this campaign in particular, they are trying to support a specific group of people that is being discriminated. That's why there are so many critics to the people supporting #AllLivesMatter.

This are some other articles that talk about this subject:

Company: Fusión. Article: The next time someone says 'all lives matter,' show them these 5 paragraphs
Company: The Huffinton Post. Article: Please Stop Telling Me That All Lives Matter
Company: British GQ. Article: Why #AllLivesMatter is an ignorant response to #BlackLivesMatter
Company: The New York Times. Article: Why ‘All Lives Matter’ Is Such a Perilous Phrase

A paragraph I highlight from one of these articles is the following:

"The phrase "black lives matter" also has an implicit "too" at the end: it's saying that black lives should also matter. But responding to this by saying "all lives matter" is willfully going back to ignoring the problem. It's a way of dismissing the statement by falsely suggesting that it means "only black lives matter," when that is obviously not the case. And so saying "all lives matter" as a direct response to "black lives matter" is essentially saying that we should just go back to ignoring the problem."

This example illustrated why I believe #NiunOmenos should not be used. Just like the case of #AllLivesMatter, they are diverting the attention from the central issue which is violence towards women. When we say #NiunAmenos we are NOT saying that there is not violence towards men, we are NOT saying that is just a march for only women, we are NOT saying that men are not welcome to march. On the contrary, we are saying that now, the main issue is the fact that women are having it worst and we need the support of EVERYONE: men, women, girls, boys, all races, all genders, all sexual orientations. With education and showing to the public the problem, we will decrease the violence and feminicide rates in our country, and also all gender violence which concern to men too.

LET'S GO!