Saturday June 10. 9:00 p.m. Line 1 of the Barcelona metro. Wagon full of passengers. A middle-aged and not particularly corpulent man goes up to a transgender woman, who was sitting, and begins to give her a brutal beating. punches and kicks in the face and body while letting out hysterical screams: “I’ll kill you, your fucking wig. Behave, shit. Behave, idiot. I’m going to kill you.” The woman tries to protect her head with her arms and unsuccessfully tries to run away from her attacker. The travelers contemplate the scene and stand back a little.
Fear, the loss of a sense of community, the lack of a safe environment and the normalization of violence explain, according to sociologists, why no one lifted a finger
Beyond a girl who timidly says “stop it now & rdquor; and a man who, when the aggressor separates from his victim, puts his hand on his back as if to end the event, no one moves to defend the person attacked. Because? For many reasons: paralyzing feartransphobia, social disconnection, normalization of violenceabsence of a safe environment that invites witnesses to help, and political polarization of the society.
I was not going to show this part, but with a sector it has decided to attack the victim, ho trec.
De veritat això és a discussion sense més, fins i all scopint to the face and tooth-li bitch and whore??? The person attacked in cap moment attacks in all the videos I have.
Go home go!!! https://t.co/Dtrkixgw3G pic.twitter.com/aZuTEKT8nF
– Francisco Garrobo (@FGarrobo) June 11, 2023
First, a bit of context. “Transphobia exists, it is not from now. It has been shown that between 80% and 90% of the trans population suffers violence and discrimination& rdquor ;, he affirms Oriol Rios, sociologist and professor at the Rovira i Virgili Universitywhich explains that the event on Saturday in the Barcelona metro “is not an isolated event & rdquor ;.
“Our society normalizes and trivializes violence& rdquor;
Oriol Rios, sociologist and university professor
The beating of the man to the trans woman confirms a serious fact. “Our society normalizes and trivializes violence& rdquor;. The university professor adds that this gives value to violence, which even becomes attractive and has social value thanks to the traditional model of dominant masculinity.
unsafe environment
Once the context has been analyzed, the key question comes. Why didn’t anyone do anything to stop the brutal beating? “It was very difficult to do. I say this without justifying that attitude. But it is complicated because for someone to intervene they need to have a safe environment. And that does not happen & rdquor ;, reasons the professor.
Rios makes it clear that we are a caring society. However, he insists that there must be an environment (also political and social) to favor this solidarity. “I don’t know what he would have done in that situation either & rdquor ;, reflects the teacher, who suffered a homophobic attack some time ago, also on the subway, early in the morning. No one moved a finger. “I went to report it to the police, but they told me that without physical bruises I couldn’t do anything. Then I went to denounce those responsible for the subway, but they told me that there were no cameras. So I couldn’t do anything,” recalls Rios, who insists on the importance of make visible the problems of the LGTBI collective to increase social awareness.
trans victim
Would people have had a different reaction if the victim had been a non-trans woman running away from a macho assailant? “I’m not sure. I think that, before a woman, people would have reacted because they can feel more challenged and because violence against women is neither tolerated nor accepted as much,” he replies. the sociologist paco abril, which, like Rios, describes as “terrible and very tough & rdquor; recorded images of the Barcelona metro
“I think that before a non-trans woman, people would have reacted differently because they may feel more challenged and because violence against women is neither tolerated nor accepted as much”
Paco Abril, sociologist and university professor
Related news
Professor at the Faculty of Education and Psychology of the University of Girona and a member of the Homes Igualitaris-AHIGE association, Abril recalls that, in the face of an attack of this caliber, witnesses can stand still for the fear of feeling that they can also become victims. In addition to a lack of empathy (the ability to put yourself in the shoes of another), the expert mentions the “social disconnection& rdquor; that we usually have in the subway, where each traveler “goes to his own way”, losing the sense of group and community
One last point, equally serious. Society is increasingly polarized, recalls Abril. People are freer to express their identity, but others also feel more confident in reacting badly before the freedom of others. People who do not accept the presence of a trans woman, “people with a more reactionary ideology who are now being reinforced by extreme right-wing political parties.”