RIGHTS-ARGENTINA: Domestic Abuse Campaign Targets Teens

By Marcela Valente Reprint | | Print |

Marcela Valente

BUENOS AIRES, May 15 2000 (IPS) - A new programme in Argentina is targetting teenage girls, to prevent domestic violence by helping them see the red flags indicating that their boyfriends are potentially abusive.

The campaign “Violent Engagements” has distributed 10,000 informational pamphlets and posters in schools and hospitals since last month, and set up self-help groups for young women, based on research results that indicate that warning signs existed before marriage for most women caught up in abusive relationships.

According to available statistics, the abuse – whether physical or emotional – began before marriage in most cases of domestic violence. Moreover, 95 percent of the victims of abuse are women.

“The aim of this campaign is to raise awareness among teenage girls about problems related to violence, at a time when prevention is still possible,” explained the coordinator of the “Violent Engagements” programme, Isabel Tajani.

The campaign, launched by the Buenos Aires city government’s General Office on Women, produced a greater response than expected, and 20,000 additional pamphlets have been ordered, while a special domestic abuse hot-line for young, unmarried women, which has already received 200 calls, was set up.

The pamphlets are aimed at helping young women become familiar with the typical profile of a potentially violent man.

They pose questions like “Are you afraid of his reactions? Do you dare tell him what you think? Does he accuse you of going out with male friends or flirting with other men? Has he ever pushed or hit you or twisted your arm? Does he belittle, insult and discredit you?”

The young women, their families or other concerned individuals can call the hot-line 24 hours a day, seven days a week to describe what is happening. Experts then determine whether the young woman would benefit from joining a self-help group for victims of domestic abuse.

The idea for the new programme arose as the number of adult women who dared report abusive relationships increased, with the number of calls to hot-lines in the city of Buenos Aires climbing from 15,000 in 1996 to 25,000 in 1999.

The head of the Political and Social Institute of Women, lawyer María José Lubertino, praised the new campaign targetting teenage girls and young women, many of whom see their first relationships, in which their boyfriends seek to control them or mistreat them physically or emotionally, as “natural” or normal.

“It is very common at this age, for example, for boyfriends to threaten adolescent girls with leaving if they do not agree to have sex,” said Lubertino, who stressed the need to help girls or young women learn to stand up for their own needs and wishes.

Tajani added that “girls should know that behind a jealous, controlling boyfriend who gets angry if she uses a mini-skirt, wears make-up or goes out with a male friend, there could be an abusive man.

“The big problem with domestic violence is the silence,” she added, pointing out that not only married victims of abuse, but girlfriends as well, were reluctant to talk about what was going on.

“The idea is to help young women stay alert to what looks normal but really isn’t, and to help them start talking about what is happening,” said Tajani.

Even as teenagers, men with a tendency to be violent often try to convince their girlfriend that her friends or family are trying to turn her against him, the only person who really loves her. And after a fight in which violence may have already occurred, they tend to be very sweet and romantic, sending gifts and love letters.

Teenage girls have called the hot-line saying their boyfriends won’t let them go to parties wearing certain dresses or won’t let them go on the class graduation trip. Some complain that they have found out that their boyfriends follow them around like private detectives.

One of the girls participating in the self-help group told of an incident involving her boyfriend, who waited for her every day outside her school. But he got furious one day when school let out early and she started walking home with her friends, and he slapped her when he caught up. Later he apologised and gave her chocolates and a card.

Lubertino, an expert in the question of violence against women, said “there are a number of discriminatory cultural standards underlying the abuse, which is not only physical, but emotional as well.

“It is not ‘natural’ for men to be more violent than women, nor is it ‘natural’ for women to be ‘good’ or submissive,” she maintained. “These are behaviours expected of men and women. Many believe men’s strength, virility or masculinity makes them more violent, while women are taught to be submissive, and to believe that they naturally rank below men.

“We are even taught that if a man is jealous, it is because he loves us, not because he wants to own us,” she added.