First consequence of punctures in Spain: frightening women in leisure spaces

At a disco in Mataró, at a festival in Burriana, in a bathroom in a bar in Puerto de Santa María.

The denunciation of dozens of women for punctures in discos, bars, parties or festivals has triggered social alarm in Spain in recent weeks, and has done so under a misconception, chemical submission.

According to the data, until now, only in one case has liquid ecstasy been detected, in the analyzes of a child under 13 years of age in Gijón.

In the rest, nothing.

There are no detainees or any other crime linked to these punctures.

And yet, the restlessness exists.

It is not what happens, but the possibility that it will or the uncertainty of what may happen.

It is fear.

And fear is enough to subdue, to paralyze those who are feeling those stings, the women.

To limit their movement and their space, to limit their freedom.

It is that “now I am afraid not only to return home alone at night, but also to be anywhere with many people” that Violeta, who is 22 years old and is on the Cadiz coast spending the month of August.

The “I have even thought about stopping wearing suspenders or

in case that makes the puncture more difficult” that Ana María, 26, who is thinking about what to wear this weekend that the August festivities begin in Madrid, tells.

Or what Patricia, 24, more forceful, plans to do, reports

: “I don't plan to go out to party, at least this month, because I'm afraid of the wave of punctures.

I am afraid of not realizing that they prick me, not knowing what they do it with or that the elements are infected and can cause some disease.

I'm going to stay home at night."

These stories are the result of what the doctor in Feminism and Gender Nerea Barjola explains as "sexual terror".

She theorized about it in 2018, in the book

Virus, 2018), where she put on the table how the forced disappearance, rape and murder of Míriam, Toñi and Desirée marked several generations.

“The representations of sexual danger contained in the stories are forms of punishment that seek to instruct, correct and coerce women,” she wrote.

In addition, she delved into surveillance patterns, which she defined as a "social punitive system" by which "women correct behaviors, mold their bodies, deny themselves spaces, control schedules, restrict movements and gestures."

The fear of something that is not there, but is perceived: "That feeling of threat or danger that arises in certain circumstances in which, a priori, nothing is happening, but which, nevertheless, turn on the alarm of sexual terror" .

In this case, not only the alarm for women —which has already occurred in other countries such as France or the United Kingdom—, but also at a political and security level.

Last week, the Ministry of Equality signed an agreement with the National Federation of Leisure and Entertainment Entrepreneurs so that nightlife venues are also violet points.

"The sector has shown itself to be committed against sexual violence and, from now on, at visible points in the bathrooms you will be able to find a QR code that will take you directly to the Violet Point Guide", which is also available on the ministry's website explained Irene Montero.

Several communities, including Valencia, the Balearic Islands, Extremadura or Andalusia, have also begun to activate specific protocols for punctures with meetings between the regional governments, the government delegations, the State Security Forces and Bodies and the field of nightlife.

Although they do so under the premise —wrong at the moment, because there is no data to support it— of chemical submission, these action guides represent not only a positive institutional reaction in these cases, but also support and protection measures for women.

In the Valencian Community, among other actions, they will implement a plan so that nightlife professionals "take extreme measures" in the face of possible sexual assaults.

In the Balearic Islands, the Autonomous Executive will meet this Friday with that same institution and the Security Forces and Bodies to coordinate the action protocols and also in the next few days they will do so with the leisure companies.

And in Extremadura, as in Andalusia, the first indication of the respective governments is to notify someone you trust and call 112 or go directly to the emergency room of a hospital to explain what has happened.

"The most important thing is prevention and knowing that this is happening," said the Andalusian Minister for Social Inclusion, Youth, Families and Equality, Dolores López.

Although drugs are not detected in the tests, and therefore cannot be classified as chemical submission, punctures can constitute a crime, as explained this week by the Minister of Justice, Pilar Llop, in statements to TVE.

One of injuries with the aggravating factor of gender, in principle.

In addition, Llop announced that the Government is working on trying to find out what intention is behind what is happening because they could involve more serious crimes.

"We need to know what happens in the puncture phenomenon, we do not know if there are substances in certain cases, but it is a serious fact because we are expelled from places of entertainment and leisure where we want to be", the minister stressed.

For days, the feminist movement, experts and professionals have been remembering exactly that: the alarm that generates fear and the fear that separates public space.

In other words, the primary response to punctures is that of the victims, withdrawing as prevention;

something that, in all forms of sexist violence, has been trying to turn around for several years now.

The focus, the campaigns and the solutions must be on the aggressors and not on the victims.

Among others, this is the objective of the

published by the Federation of Young Women.

It has five points, none addressed to women, but to men: do not rape, do not assault, do not harass, do not intimidate, do not drug.

"If you think you can't follow this protocol, stay home!"

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