Breathe
By Loreley Maldonado, Founder and Managing Director of Eje Comunicación
What if one day you could denounce your aggressor without fear of reprisals and knowing that your call would be heeded? What if when you did so, instead of being judged, you would at least receive respect and perhaps even support and solidarity? Surely you would not hesitate to speak up.
The image of Denisse Dresser, Marcelina Bautista and Pamela Cerdeira comes to my mind, dressed in black, with a bloodstained hand covering their mouths, preventing them from speaking, restricting their right to express themselves, forcing them to remain silent. This same image is replicated among dozens of other women assaulted both for their vocation and for the simple fact of having been born a woman, so it makes you want to shout: #YaNoMás, #Háblalo!
It would seem that reporting is simple, that speaking out is easy and that confronting the aggressor does not generate any type of trauma, but this is not the case, especially given the shocking figures that Mexico has in terms of violence against women: 10 women are murdered every day, according to the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System. Hence the importance of not remaining silent.
More than a communication campaign, #YaNoMás #Háblalo is a denunciation in itself created by Grupo IMU, in coordination with Eje Comunicación, the Citizens' Council and Opinión 51, which has had an impact on the decision of women who have been raped in Mexico to no longer remain silent.
With the image of 15 Mexican women, politicians, writers, sociologists, journalists and social fighters who shared their stories of violence, in just a month and a half, it was possible to increase 11% the requests for support to the Citizen Council for Security and Justice of Mexico City. The campaign could be seen in 1,944 of Grupo IMU's urban furniture spaces, located in 19 cities across the country, both for pedestrians and motorists.
Thanks to this project, the Citizen Council for Security and Justice of the CDMX has received 1,929 calls for support from women victims of violence, 11% more than in 2022. Of these calls, 87% were from women and in 78.2% of the cases it was the victim herself who asked for help.
According to data from the Citizen Council for Security and Justice, 35% of the women who requested support are between 26 and 40 years old, and 64% of the reports originated in Mexico City.
It is worrying that both the CDMX and Edomex are the entities where violence against women is concentrated, and the worst thing is that this is a known issue by the authorities, who continue to leave the perpetrators unpunished.
The impact achieved with this communication campaign exceeds expectations: #YaNoMás #Háblalo had 500 thousand impacts on people on foot and more than 350 thousand in vehicles. Each poster made and displayed on public roads had a QR code in which the ambassadors, columnists of Opinion 51, presented their experiences in situations of violence through a podcast.
In short, we are not alone, we know how difficult it is for most of us to tell what happened to us, the violence of which we have been victims, however, we have the strength, the support networks are increasingly extensive and, although it is still hard for us to say, there are more of us who speak out, those who denounce and those who will fight so that no one is silent again.
*Loreley Maldonado Razo
She has more than 20 years of experience in corporate reputation management, strategic communication, public affairs and crisis management in Mexico and several countries in the Americas. He is currently pursuing doctoral studies in Communication and Strategic Marketing at the Universidad Anáhuac México. loreley@ejecom.mx
The opinions expressed are the responsibility of the authors and are absolutely independent of the position and editorial line of Opinion 51.
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