The recent guide Learn to change your perspectivepublished by the Women’s Institute, states that sexist violence “transcends cultures, countries, social classes or ages”. Anyone can be a victim, regardless of their socioeconomic profile. This is an idea that is assumed naturally today, but it was not always like this. In the not so distant past, society didn’t believe women who didn’t fit a certain profile. And this was particularly evident in famous women of whom many had a preconceived image. It hasn’t helped the declining entertainment industry silence to the most extreme frivolity, treating sexist violence as mere entertainment on which everyone could have an opinion. Despite this, there is an evolution in the way society has approached the issue. These were the most important cases of the last decades.
Barbara Re. In 1989 the lookout She reported her husband, Ángel Cristo, for mistreatment. He responded by filing another complaint against her for abandoning his home, a crime that was no longer classified in 2005. It is common that, after a woman files a complaint against her attacker, criminal proceedings are initiated against her in parallel. It is a defensive strategy, that of cross-reporting, which undermines the protection of victims. Years later, Rey opened up about a lifetime of abuse. “He insulted me, kicked in my bedroom door… and raped me, spitting in my face and calling me a whore,” she said in the docuseries. A life as Barbara. Nobody listened to her, she complained recently, but everyone judged and condemned her.
Carmina Ordonez THE socialite She reported her ex-husband Ernesto Neira for mistreatment in 2001. The complaint was rejected for lack of evidence, and in the document she also added that there were “no data that would allow us to consider Ordóñez in the profile of women who suffer mistreatment due to economic dependence or environmental pressure.” Carmina Ordóñez did not provide a profile of a battered woman. She was attractive, rich and fluent. That’s why his testimony was called into question. This is also why it was particularly valuable: it broke the taboo and the image of how a victim should be and behave.
Maria Jimenez. The singer of It’s overanthem to heartbreak and women’s liberation, for decades she maintained an on-and-off, violent relationship with her ex-husband, actor Pepe Sancho. They married in 1980 and only in 2004 did they have the strength to file a complaint. He responded with a lawsuit for violating his right to honor. Five years later came the sentence, in which the judge considered the abuse proven, but did not condemn the actor for prescribing it. “In my time this couldn’t be told. If it happened today, I will put him in prison for 20 years,” the singer said then, recounting her experiences in a book and on several sets.
Fayna Betancourt. There are abusers who pretend to the point that no one suspects them. It wasn’t that of Carlos Navarro, alias El Yoyas. He was the first Big Brother contestant to be expelled from the competition on disciplinary grounds. Those responsible made this decision after seeing the violence with which he treated his colleagues and especially Betancourt, with whom he began a relationship in competition. In 2018 it came to light that he was accused of mistreatment towards his ex-partner and her children. In January 2021 he made public the ordeal he had been suffering for years. “I’ve wasted a lot of time. I’ve been undone for 16 years,” she said. Navarro was sentenced to nearly six years in prison. He fled from justice. In this context, the newspaper The world He interviewed him “to give his version”.
Carlotta Prado. “She was used by the defendant as an object to be satisfied as a sexual toy without there being the slightest shadow of consent.” This is how José María López Pérez, former Big Brother contestant, treated fellow former contestant Carlota Prado on the night of November 4, 2017 in the house where the show was recorded. reality. This is what was held in the sentence that sentenced the man to 15 months in prison for sexually abusing Prado. She was in an alcoholic drowsiness close to unconsciousness, but she repeated to the condemned man “I can’t” as he removed her trousers when they were both in the same bed.
Sea Flowers. In her recent autobiography, the model and actress recounted episodes of abuse by her ex-husband, Carlo Costanzia, against whom there is no conviction. “At that moment no one paid attention to me,” he complained. In the book he says that a magistrate even rejected one of his complaints because it was famous. He says he told his story to make us reflect, as a society, on where we were a few years ago. The reaction of the press made it clear that something has changed, but not that much. Many programs focused on Flores’ infidelities, as if this somehow justified or explained the sexist violence, explained journalist Martín Bianchi.
Rocio Carrasco. Rocío Carrasco and Antonio David Flores separated in 1999, after almost four years of marriage. But it was in December 2016 when she turned to the investigative court number 23 of Madrid to report a crime of psychological harm and violation of custody obligations of her two children. “That they don’t do like me. That they say it from minute zero. That they are not alone,” he told the victims of gender violence in the television program in which he told his story in 2021. His testimony reached more than 30% share and shocked Spanish society. Calls to the gender violence hotline increased by 42% in a week. Then, as happened now with Alessandro Lecquio after Antonia Dell’Atte’s testimony, Mediaset gave up on its collaborator. In 2023, the Supreme Court found his dismissal void because he had never been convicted of sexist violence.
The 016 telephone line assists victims of sexist violence, their families and those around them 24 hours a day, every day of the year, in 53 different languages. The number is not recorded on the phone bill, but the call must be canceled from the device. You can also contact via email016-online@igualdad.gob.esand via WhatsApp on 600 000 016. Minors can contact the ANAR Foundation telephone number 900 20 20 10. In case of emergency it is possible to call 112 or the telephone numbers of the State Police (091) and the Civil Guard (062). And if you can’t call you can use the ALERTCOPS application, from which an alert signal is sent to the Police with geolocation.
