Lucia S. Naveros (Madrid1967) began working in the Asturian press in the 90s. After 20 years in the Oviedo editorial office of The New Spain decided to exchange a good position in the local section for the adventure of The Voice of Trubiaa small independent media, very close to the reality of the territory. She is also the author of the book “Carmela no longer lives here”a history of women in the Spain contemporary.
Feminist, libertarian and abolitionist, we spoke with her about an outbreak of anonymous complaints on networks about sexist behavior, which does not leave left-wing parties indifferent.
What was an Asturian newsroom like for a journalist in the early 90s?
I entered a very masculine editorial office, with few but very prestigious colleagues, like Ángeles Solís and Pilar Rubiera, who helped me a lot, very generous people who broke the sexist myth that women are competitive by nature. Women were confined to “feminine” issues, what some colleagues disparagingly called “the boutique”, society and culture. The hangover from the uncovering was still alive, with some section of half-naked women. One of the newspaper’s regular pages was called “Señora de”, and it interviewed wives of politicians, businessmen and other illustrious figures in the region. We asked management to change and we lost the battle. The section continued for some time.
How has information about gender violence changed?
There is a very strong change since the murder of Ana Orantes. It was a case that shocked the entire society and produced a very profound change that led to the Gender Violence Law of 2004. The treatment of the murders of women used to be in the events section, as an isolated case and with morbid details. It’s not that that trend has completely disappeared, but it is no longer the same. For example, no one talks about “crime of passion” anymore, which was something that always served to relieve sexist murderers of guilt.
How can we combine in the media respect for women who report violence with the presumption of innocence of the accused?
The problem with the presumption of innocence is that it is usually understood as a presumption of falsehood on the part of the victim, and this despite the fact that there are more false reports of theft to collect insurance policies than false reports of mistreatment. That said, “Sister, I do believe you” is an emotional motto that wants to break this misogynistic connection between women and falsehood and false denunciation, but it should not be taken literally. The complainant and the accused must always be informed with respect. How is that done? Not being vague, not giving names, not publishing the first information that arrives without contrasting it… The truth is not within the reach of human beings, but truthfulness is.
How do we deal with anonymous complaints?
I believe that women face deficits in formal complaints and that they need safe spaces to express attacks that can be very traumatic and potentially devastating. Many women have heard the phrase “it’s not that big of a deal,” and if when you go to report you are met with skepticism and that you end up being the one who has to explain, many will remain silent. Silence is good for aggressors. It is a mechanism that facilitates impunity.
There social networks offer a huge opportunity
The social network opens the opportunity for women to share their experiences for the first time collectively. They find a collective pattern, that their cases are not unique, and that is healing.
They also have risks
They have the danger of provoking lynching dynamics, which seem fatal to me, especially in But remember, if the networks are becoming the place for reporting, it is because the problem of the lack of other formal safe spaces to do so has not been resolved.
What should the media do when faced with complaints that are anonymous and cannot be verified?
In the case of Errejón or now in that of the IU Oviedo advisor, the media do not echo the anonymous complaints, but rather these once they have generated a political crisis because in their organizations they have been taken as possible.
“Men and women are going to have to renegotiate what is acceptable or not in a relationship”
Some feminists warn that we run the risk of calling everything sexual violence, including things that may be sexist or unpleasant, but that would not fall into the category of violence.
Men and women are going to have to renegotiate what is acceptable or not in a relationship. It is true that not all sexist behavior is a crime, but left-wing organizations should not tolerate behavior of this type in their ranks. Also, and this helps because of the Errejón case, there is a lot of hypocrisy in left-wing parties. Podemos was very masculine and sexist, and those very competitive dynamics of men measuring each other do not change because they speak feminine.
Well, women also measure themselves and compete. And now that we are talking about Podemos, some also purge, and viciously.
Women purge too, of course. Women are human beings. They are neither bad from birth, as the old misogyny says, nor are they angelic and good and everything they do is touched by goodness. That is why they can also use these complaints to eliminate political enemies, and that is why the parties have to be very rigorous when examining them.
It also seems that the sexist men of the left are an easier target for the media than the sexist men of economic power. When a well-known businessman like Miguel Ángel del Fueyo had a complaint for gender violence, the story spread throughout the Asturian media and only NORTES covered it. I suspect that something similar with a left-wing activist would have been considered relevant information.
I agree with you. There is a special acrimony with left-wing parties. The case you mention was also a businessman with a well-known public profile in the local information of Oviedo. But what bothers women who are denouncing sexist attacks by left-wing men is that these men then present themselves publicly as champions of feminism.
I have doubts with the word victim. It seems to me that there is an inflation of it. For example, anti-Franco fighters have become “victims” of Francoism. Aren’t we taking agency and power away from people by pigeonholing them as victims?
Everyone can be a victim of something. People understand the victim as a loser and no one wants to recognize themselves in that. It is another mechanism of perpetuation of impunity. When faced with aggression we have two major reactions, fight and flight, but there is also denial and freezing. Elisa Mouliaá did not recognize herself as a victim at that moment but opted for denial, and only later did she realize that she had suffered an attack. Nobody takes away agency from the women who are reporting.
Do the media look for perfect victims?
Yes. They assigned a detective to the victim of La Manada to follow her and prove that she was not dressed as a widow and traumatized.
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