¡Ni Una Mas!: Sexual Assault. It’s an issue everywhere. But let’s focus on Mexico.
It’s great that women all over the United States are speaking up and fighting for the justice they deserve. BUT we cannot ignore or forget about the gendered violence women face in other countries, specifically while crossing the US-Mexico border.
It wasn’t until a couple weeks ago that I felt disappointed in myself for not putting as much attention to the issue of sexual assault in my own country, Mexico, as I was for sexual assault in the United States. Even though I knew that sexual assault happens everywhere, I never really focused on the issue when it came down to where my whole family, including myself, are from. I don’t know if it is because I was scared to look into it or because, from what I’ve gathered over the past couple years, it is consistently covered up.
In “‘National Security’ and the Violation of Women: Militarized Border Rape at the US-Mexico Border”, Sylvanna Falcon brings awareness to instances of rape on women near the US-Mexico border and highlights that rape in these circumstances is used as a weapon by the military and security and is further perpetuated by the culture that comes with Border Patrol agents. Falcon refers to these rapes as “militarized border rapes because of the ‘power’ associated with the border itself” (120). She also points out that these rapes “have not been left to chance” and that “they have been the subject of prior planning” (122). For whatever sick reason someone would want to rape another, Border Patrol agents are often influenced by military culture to force themselves on women using the excuse that they are raping women for the sole purpose of protecting the nation’s security. She explains how these systematic rapes aren’t random and that people already have this mentality of wanting to rape someone and that they might not suffer any consequences because of the title they wear, for example, the badge.
In “80% Of Central American Women, Girls Are Raped Crossing Into The U.S.”, Eleanor Goldberg reveals that 80% of women crossing the border experience rape during their trip which is 20% more than the last investigation. Many women in Mexico are aware of this high percentage which is why, before embarking on their journey, they take birth control as a precaution. These women are expecting to be raped for whatever reason, being raped is a “good enough” price to pay as long as they make it across the border. Because many women lack the necessary funds to cross the border on their own, they view rape as a form of payment.
It gets worse. These women aren’t getting the justice they deserve by speaking up for many reasons like risking deportation, feeling ashamed about being raped, and for the simple fact that many perpetrators including state officials get little to no consequences. To this day, I have felt scared to ask my own family about their experiences crossing the border. Now, I can’t even bare thinking about it without bursting into tears.
Ni Una Menos is an Argentine feminist movement against gender-based violence that started in 2015 and continues on today. Based on Ni Una Menos, ¡Ni Una Mas! was formed in Mexico for the same purpose to end gender-based violence but also because of the 75 women that disappeared and were murdered in the Cuidad of Juarez in the year 2017. In “¡Ni Una Mas! The Mexican Epidemic of Femicide”, Kathleen Ebbitt recognizes the issue of femicide in which women are being subject to violence because of their gender and that “seven Mexican women die everyday due of femicide within the republic”. She criticizes Mexico for not doing much to end the ridiculous number of women being assaulted and killed. It’s another thing for only a small percentage of these incidents are being investigated and only a smaller portion actually lead to criminal sentencing. These movements prove that many women have finally said “Enough is enough” and no more women are going to subjected to these kinds of violence without a fight.
Every since I did a podcast on the show of “13 Reasons Why” and the issue of rape for my Media Studies class almost one year ago and became a Gender & Sexuality Studies major as well as Media & Cultural Studies major, all I’ve been focusing on is how much of a global issue rape is. Last quarter I did a podcast on the sexual assault as well. It wasn’t until a few months ago when many sexual assault allegations in the entertainment industry came up that more and more conversations arise daily. But people, including myself, don’t really pay attention to this issue in other countries. It breaks my heart knowing that so many women in Mexico are being subjected to all kinds of violence and so close to the United States, right on the border. To this day, I have not heard of any types of solutions that can prevent these numbers from continuing to rise. I cannot give up hope. I won’t.
