Belén López Beiró, Inspiring Writer To Denounce Sexual Abuse

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And it is that every vacation time, she traveled with her family to the Argentine town of Santa Lucía, where her uncle lived, commissioner Claudio Sarlo, who, without any scruples, abused her between the ages of 13 and 17.

In 2014, at the age of 22, he decided to bring to light his problematic and dramatic experience that was even made invisible and increased by all the cumbersomeness of the judicial process, which finally culminated in December 2022, with a ten-year sentence. jail for his uncle.

Thanks to the success of his writings, which have been translated into several languages such as Catalan, French, Italian, English, and Portuguese, Rolling Stones magazine rated this work as one of the best of the year 2022. From this, other Women have been encouraged to publicize experiences like those of Bethlehem and that, for one reason or another, they had not been encouraged to report. This is the case of the actress and singer Thelma Fardin, who was abused by the Brazilian singer Juan Darthes, being supported by Argentine actresses, the members of the collective 'Look how we get' Romina Gaetani and Gianella Neyra.

López Beiró is an active part of the 'Ni una menos' movement and gives talks and conferences in educational institutions about abuse so that there is awareness for prevention and reporting this crime. She has also coordinated non-fiction writing workshops with institutions such as the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) and has also organized feminist reading and writing activities at the University of Buenos Aires. She has been a collaborator in the media in Argentina and Spain such as Pikara Magazine and has been a film scriptwriter on various projects.

In 201 she published her second novel called ´Donde no hago pie´ in which she captures all the processes, obstacles, setbacks, and delays in the judicial process of complaints of sexual abuse.

Why don't women report sexual abuse?

Even though this crime presents very high figures at the international level, the number of complaints does not show the real problem.

There are many factors that women do not denounce. Among these can be listed fear, fear, shame, social blame, the lack of credibility of family or friends, the process through which you must go through in the course of the complaint, and if we add to this that in most cases where the abuse is committed by a close relative, or by an employer, or by a renowned public figure, there are thousands of obstacles for the woman to report and confront her aggressor.

It is also important to consider that there are feelings of guilt since socially the victim of abuse is considered and pointed out as if she were the one causing this, either because of her way of dressing, and speaking, or even because it happens at a young age and the insecurity and confusion of the situation make it impossible to speak.

Figures and data

According to UN Women: Less than 40 percent of women who experience violence seek any kind of help.

At least 158 countries have passed laws on domestic violence, and 141 have legislation on sexual harassment in the workplace.

Worldwide, 6% of women report having been subjected to sexual violence by someone other than their husband or partner.

Fifteen million adolescent girls ages 15 to 19 have experienced forced sex (rape or other forced sexual acts) around the world.

In the Middle East and North Africa, between 40% and 60% of women have experienced sexual harassment on the street.

One in 10 women in the European Union claims to have experienced cyberbullying since the age of 15.

In the US, two in 10 young women ages 18-29 have experienced sexual harassment online, and one in two have received inappropriate explicit images.

 nhy122Source: https://www.unwomen.org/es/what-we-do/ending-violence-against-women/facts-and-figures