“Nothing like the silhouette of a naked woman covered in indeterminate fluids to show equality. It’s not a reification or anything. » The comment of a Facebook user on the campaign poster of the town hall of Cee (La Coruña) for this 25N sums up the roar that shakes the networks and groups of WhatsApp of Galician feminism. The chosen image is that of a naked woman, “a stereotype”, faceless, in a submissive attitude and covered with something that could be paint or even blood. Another Internet user wonders: “This poster is not understandable. Is it a parody, a parody of the 25th, to use the image of a brothel? The socialist mayor of Cee defends that the drawing shows “a woman torn by pain” and attributes these interpretations “to the machismo that we have internalized”.
“It’s terrible,” Priscila Retamozo told elDiario.es. This gender equality expert and political scientist believes that design is exactly what people should avoid. “You can’t see their face or their eyes… which makes you recognize a person and sympathize with them. Without head or gaze, lying in this attitude dehumanizes her. And it is precisely the fact of seeing women like this, as an object, which provokes sexist violence.
Priscila is one of the people to whom the image reached thanks to feminist networks. For her, more than bad intentions, what this conveys is “laziness” when it comes to creating a poster aimed at denouncing machismo. And it’s “discouraging” for him. “We don’t take equality seriously and that’s part of the problem. As if the law hasn’t been in effect for 20 years,” a period during which she insists that “we don’t give women flowers or discounts or show pictures of women being slapped.”
“I don’t understand the controversy.” The mayor of Cee, Margarita Lamela, finds it difficult to hide her astonishment. He responded to elDiario.es after finishing his institutional speech for 25N in which he denounced “internalized machismo” of which he blames precisely these interpretations. “We are raising our voices to show that we must fight against this machismo that leads us to judge ourselves and our colleagues,” she said.
This is why, in deepening this reflection, he asks himself: “Doesn’t the fact that a woman is sensual, attractive or that she is a prostitute give her the right to suffer as much sorrow as another? ? Because this is what Lamela sees on the poster – already used last year without making any noise -: “A woman torn apart by pain”. For her, any other interpretation, she says, is based on an “internalized machismo” which must be reviewed.
The image is circulating on the networks as a background for announcing events planned for the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. Next to the logo of Ceense City Hall are that of the Ministry of Equality and the State Pact against Gender Violence, as well as that of the Department of Social Policy and Equality of the Xunta de Galicia.
