Presenter Angélica invited lawyer Luciana Temer to talk about sexual violence on her YouTube channel , Mina Bem Estar . The two spoke about the Brazilian scenario of sexual violence and told of their own experiences as victims of these aggressions .
The purpose of the dialogue and of the two telling their own moments where they were vulnerable and were victims of these crimes is to break with the silencing. For Angélica and Luciana, the greatest ally of sexual violence is silence — the fear of embarrassment, since many victims of these abuses are blamed. To break with sexual violence it is necessary to talk about it, mainly through education.
“Every year more than 500,000 cases of child sexual exploitation are registered in Brazil . We are the second country that most prostitutes its children, right behind Thailand. Even with these absurd numbers, the estimate is that only 10% of cases are reported and often the victim is still blamed. Another frightening fact is that 70% of sexual violence against children happens at home . This happens in all social classes and do you know who is the biggest accomplice of child abuse? Angelica.
Breaking the silence is the solution
Angelica decided to tell a situation that happened when she was fifteen years old, in a photo shoot in Paris. She was raped by three young French men.
“Like most women, I too will tell a story. I suffered sexual violence . I was taking pictures, launching Vou de Táxi , I was fifteen or sixteen years old. I was in Paris, I was going to participate in a festival there. I was in the street. French came to ask who I was. ‘Brazilian?’. The photographer said: ‘Come on, stay by her side to take some pictures’. When he said that we were from Brazil, they were getting close to me, getting closer and rubbing against me. You don’t react.”
“One of the boys, I don’t even know who it was, was rubbing my ass, all over me. I was after a taxi, and I didn’t do anything. I was petrified. First, I was in another country, they were speaking in the I couldn’t understand them, while I was being raped by three boys who were touching me. I didn’t do anything! I never talked about it. I didn’t know this was violence! I didn’t say anything to anyone and they left , I took the logic of ‘It’s gone’ and continued taking my photos”.
Angelica said that it marked so much, that she always felt uncomfortable to bring up the subject. “I knew it and I had no reaction. I never said that, I’m saying it now for the first time. Then I stopped and reflected, but I didn’t say it because… It’s gone. They did that, they left and I continued taking my photos. a little embarrassed, but no one noticed. This type of violence is remarkable. People are increasingly talking and having the courage to reveal it. We don’t just talk about sexual violence like rape anymore”, he added.
With Angelica’s revelation, Luciana said that at the age of 27 she was the victim of a rape in a robbery.
“I was 27 years old, I had recently left the post of delegate at a women’s police station. The most natural thing in the world would be to record the occurrence, but I didn’t. I thought they would never find it, so why expose me?”. Luciana said that she was so afraid of exposing herself that she silenced herself. “We have to stop this social hypocrisy and understand that sexual violence is permeating our society, people who suffer this violence cannot be embarrassed. We are in two women, 100% of this conversation suffered sexual violence”, concluded the lawyer.
Sex Education needs to be taken seriously
For Luciana Temer, Brazilian society needs to begin to see the size and consequences of sexual crimes, but the country refuses. “We are talking about sexual exploitation , which is known as child prostitution, as well as what is known as abuse, which is technically the rape of a vulnerable person.. They are two very common sexual crimes in Brazil, with different characteristics. One is usually a girl of high social vulnerability, who is in a situation of sexual exploitation and the other of abuse, which is intra-family violence, which happens in all social classes, regardless of race or color. We have data problems, we don’t have records, but I would venture to say that the records are usually of people with greater social vulnerability, because the economically more favored class, they are even more embarrassed, they silence even more.”
During the exchange, Luciana said that when she was a child, on her way home from school, she saw a man masturbating on the way. “I ran out and nothing happened. Did nothing happen? It took me a long time to make this journey alone again. This is a crime provided for in the penal code.”
With the report, Angélica and Luciana came to the conclusion that those who commit these crimes and are not criminalized continue to commit this type of violence. The two highlighted the importance of discussion at home and the debate on sexual violence in schools. “We need to allow our children to recognize this as violence. Often they don’t know,” said the lawyer.