Gender-based violence extends among adolescents

The perpetrators and victims of abuse are becoming younger each time. The girls who have not yet reached the age of majority are already facing such cases. In a few years now, the phenomenon is beginning to worry. The figures are not very anecdotic.

Gabriel Alconchel, Injuve CEO, explains that "gender violence is based on the feeling of belonging from the man over a woman and unfortunately, many teenagers have that feeling too."

According to Eva Corrales, National Policewoman from Palma, they have registered an increase in complaints by very young girls who suffer abuse, humiliation and physical abuse by their boyfriends. In Córdoba there has also been observed in recent years that women have complaints of mistreatment of an ever-younger age.

In Tarragona, these cases increased by 33% in 2009. Luis Morales, head of the Domestic Violence Court in this city, says that today the complainants are of all ages. He indicates that many young people have suffered attacks in their first romantic relationship with 15 or 16 years, and that they have been hiding it from their parents.

This is the data of a few provinces, but enough to get an idea of the shocking increase in cases among adolescents. Where is the root of the problem? What values have today's youth?

In the light of a study by the Center for Adult Education, Juan Jose Llorente says that it is checked that 15% of boys between 16 and 25 years believe that when a woman is abused, it is because she deserves it. According to surveys, there is a reversal in the thinking of the girls between 16 and 25, as they are not so clearly informed about gender equality than women over 26. It is worrying that in the same age group, 5% of girls agree that if the man abused of a woman is because he has reasons to do it.

It should be noted, for example, that 50% of respondents felt that a family is better when there is a father who exercises authority in the home, and between 20 and 35% say that in these times, we must prioritize access of men to work because they have more capacity. As you can see, there are still many women who are mentally under the man and see him as the dominant male.

According to the "Journal of Youth Studies", 17.7% of men under 30 believe that the aggressive man is more attractive to women, and 4.5% of women supported the same theory. However, young people must begin to understand that there are ways of being men, as this publication explains, "that begin to be not correctly valued in society".

We all must tackle the problem of this kinds of aggression from the root, trying to teach in children and adolescents the right ideas to grow up believing in equality. If we all make an effort, the change in mentality is possible. We must eliminate from our minds the idea of male superiority in order to convey to younger values which we consider necessary in a society of the 21st century.