While my time in Cusco, I heard various stories in the media about young girls from rural areas in Peru experiencing some type of gender violence. One of the stories that caught my attention the most was about this underage girl from Cusco being sexually exploited by her own father. It was horrendous to learn about this since this case was happening hours away where I was staying—yet rarely no one was speaking about it.
I found this story to resonate with the ideas of gender violence I had, since majority of the victims abusers start and are in their own families. This was being portrayed in the media since the person that should’ve been protecting and caring for this underage girl, was dehumanizing her.
One of the main reasons I found this story to not get as much coverage in the media, or reaction from the public, was because it contradicts the family values often religious countries like Peru push onto the public. This affects who the public views as the harasser, which in Latin America are often thought to be strangers, but never family members. However, various studies and stories have proved that harasser’s are often in the victims families due to closeness they have with the victim.
Additionally, my Capstone Project Draft is going very well. I’m thinking of touching this subject and its intersectionality with other factors that contribute to gender violence.
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