#MeToo shakes Argentina
Wave of women come forward with sexual misconduct accusations
BUENOS AIRES: For months, Claudia Guebel could only tell family and friends about a traumatising encounter with a colleague in Argentina’s Senate.
At the beginning of this year, she said, Pedro Fiorda, a senator’s chief of staff, grabbed her violently by the arms like a “hunter who catches prey”. Then, she felt his tongue inside her mouth. The terror that seized her made those minutes seem eternal, she said.
“I didn’t know how to react, I was paralysed,” said Guebel, a congressional aide who previously worked for the same senator.
In December, she was finally moved to file a formal complaint with judicial authorities after actress Thelma Fardin publicly accused actor Juan Darthes of raping her in 2009 when she was 16 and he was 45. Writers, politicians and journalists expressed support for Fardin on social media.
“With Thelma’s statements, everything was awakened in me,” said Guebel, 52.
Guebel is now part of a wave of women who have come forward in the South American country with sexual misconduct accusations in what has inevitably been compared to the #MeToo movement in the United States, where the worlds of media, business, entertainment and politics have been roiled by allegations against powerful men.
Women say they are also taking a cue from “Ni Una Menos”, an Argentine grassroots movement that emerged in 2015 and spread globally. The movement has drawn thousands into massive demonstrations against feminicide and violence against women in Argentina, where a Bill attempting to legalise abortion was defeated in August.
“For a while in Argentina we have been witnessing a paradigm shift ... where the voices of women are beginning to be heard, understood and, most importantly, accompanied by others,” said Fabiana Tunez, executive director of the National Institute for Women in Argentina.
In Argentina, there is no national registry of victims of sexual abuse. But a survey found that 45% of the 2,750 students polled at public and private universities in Buenos Aires reported suffering physical or psychological abuse and 9% had suffered sexual abuse.
The survey was published in a 2016 report by Unicef Argentina.
Another poll conducted by the Argentine Management Society of Actors found that 66% of actresses said they had suffered some type of harassment or abuse while exercising their profession.
The wave of women speaking out is now threatening an entrenched machismo culture in a country where women are often catcalled, hissed at and harassed on the street.
In recent weeks, telephone lines that receive reports of gender violence have seen sharp increases – the largest coming on Dec 12, the day after Fardin’s news conference.
For her part, Guebel, the assistant to lawmakers, says she will continue working to eradicate a culture of patriarchy.
In addition to her complaint against Fiorda, she has filed a complaint against Sen Juan Carlos Marino for allegedly touching her breasts, and against congressional staffer Juan Carlos Amarilla, who she says sexually harassed her.
Both Marino and Amarilla have declared themselves innocent. All three have been formally charged by a public prosecutor.
“I am dealing with an incredible level of exhaustion that has caused me many health problems and wear and tear on my soul,” said Guebel, who has worked in the Senate for nearly 20 years.
“The message that I can give to women is that they become bold,” she said.
“This is just the beginning, we are becoming more powerful.” — AP