Content Warning: RAPE AND HOMICIDE
Yesterday they killed me.
I refused to be touched and with a bat they cracked open my skull. They stabbed me and left me to bleed to death.
As if I were trash, they put me in a black polyethylene bag, wrapped with duct tape and thrown at the beach, where hours later they found me.
But worse than death was the humiliation that followed.
From the moment they had my lifeless body, nobody wondered where the son of a bitch who ended my dreams, my hopes, my life was.
No, rather they started asking me useless questions. To me, can you imagine? A dead woman, who cannot speak, cannot defend herself.
What clothes were you wearing?
Why were you alone?
How can a woman travel alone?
You got yourself into a dangerous neighborhood. What did you expect?
They questioned my parents for giving me wings, for letting me be independent, like any human being. They said that we surely were taking drugs and we were asking for it, that we must have done something, that they (my parents) should have had us guarded.
And only when I was dead, I realized that no, to the world I am not the same as a man. That death was my fault; it will always be. That if the headline said that two young male travelers had been killed, people would be commenting with their condolences and with their false and hypocritical double-standard speech. They would demand higher penalty for the murderers.
But by being a woman, it is minimized. It becomes less severe, because of course I asked for it. Doing what I wanted, I found what I deserved for not being submissive, not wanting to stay at home, for investing my own money in my dreams. For that and more, I was sentenced.
And I felt sorry because I'm no longer here. But you are. And you're a woman. And you have to stand that they keep rubbing in your face the same speech: "earn respect," it's your fault that you get yelled, that they want to touch / lick / suck any of your genitals on the street, for wearing shorts when it's 40°C (104°F), that if you travel by yourself you are "crazy," and that surely if something happens to you, if your rights are trampled upon, you asked for it.
I ask you for myself and for us, all the women that were silenced, that had their lives and dreams destroyed. Raise your voice. We will fight. I'll be by your side in spirit, and I promise that one day we will be so many that there won't be enough bags to silence us all.
(Guadalupe Acosta wrote this, adopting the point of view of one of the two Argentinians girls who were raped and killed in 2015) The original status was erased BY FACEBOOK. afther the woman who wrote it had a discussion about male chauvinism with some people.
Today there was a demonstration and a strike in Argentina -and because this is not just a national issue, there were other demonstrations in other countries. We, women, are getting killed because we are women. One of the cases that triggered today's demonstration was the rape and murder of a 16 year old girl called Lucía Pérez who was impaled to death. In the last 19 days, there have been 17 femicides reported in Argentina.
There were three hashtags used today.
#NiUnaMenos (Not a wowan less)
#VivasNosQueremos (We want us -women- alive)
#MiércolesNegro (Black Wednesday since women wore black showing grief)
The main hashtag is #NiUnaMenos (which was the demonstration that took place last year, on June 3rd and which resonated in other countries) so if you see it again, know that yet again we are mourning.
I refused to be touched and with a bat they cracked open my skull. They stabbed me and left me to bleed to death.
As if I were trash, they put me in a black polyethylene bag, wrapped with duct tape and thrown at the beach, where hours later they found me.
But worse than death was the humiliation that followed.
From the moment they had my lifeless body, nobody wondered where the son of a bitch who ended my dreams, my hopes, my life was.
No, rather they started asking me useless questions. To me, can you imagine? A dead woman, who cannot speak, cannot defend herself.
What clothes were you wearing?
Why were you alone?
How can a woman travel alone?
You got yourself into a dangerous neighborhood. What did you expect?
They questioned my parents for giving me wings, for letting me be independent, like any human being. They said that we surely were taking drugs and we were asking for it, that we must have done something, that they (my parents) should have had us guarded.
And only when I was dead, I realized that no, to the world I am not the same as a man. That death was my fault; it will always be. That if the headline said that two young male travelers had been killed, people would be commenting with their condolences and with their false and hypocritical double-standard speech. They would demand higher penalty for the murderers.
But by being a woman, it is minimized. It becomes less severe, because of course I asked for it. Doing what I wanted, I found what I deserved for not being submissive, not wanting to stay at home, for investing my own money in my dreams. For that and more, I was sentenced.
And I felt sorry because I'm no longer here. But you are. And you're a woman. And you have to stand that they keep rubbing in your face the same speech: "earn respect," it's your fault that you get yelled, that they want to touch / lick / suck any of your genitals on the street, for wearing shorts when it's 40°C (104°F), that if you travel by yourself you are "crazy," and that surely if something happens to you, if your rights are trampled upon, you asked for it.
I ask you for myself and for us, all the women that were silenced, that had their lives and dreams destroyed. Raise your voice. We will fight. I'll be by your side in spirit, and I promise that one day we will be so many that there won't be enough bags to silence us all.
(Guadalupe Acosta wrote this, adopting the point of view of one of the two Argentinians girls who were raped and killed in 2015) The original status was erased BY FACEBOOK. afther the woman who wrote it had a discussion about male chauvinism with some people.
Today there was a demonstration and a strike in Argentina -and because this is not just a national issue, there were other demonstrations in other countries. We, women, are getting killed because we are women. One of the cases that triggered today's demonstration was the rape and murder of a 16 year old girl called Lucía Pérez who was impaled to death. In the last 19 days, there have been 17 femicides reported in Argentina.
There were three hashtags used today.
#NiUnaMenos (Not a wowan less)
#VivasNosQueremos (We want us -women- alive)
#MiércolesNegro (Black Wednesday since women wore black showing grief)
The main hashtag is #NiUnaMenos (which was the demonstration that took place last year, on June 3rd and which resonated in other countries) so if you see it again, know that yet again we are mourning.