We talk about machismo as if it were a biblical curse, a design of invisible gods who hold the future in their hands. We don't say, as they used to say in my town, that everything is written, but we sigh, saying, "We're not doing well, we're going backwards." The harassers and abusers of Barbamecans are not explained by classic misogyny; they are a reflection of the technological forms that that old acquaintance, hatred of women, has adopted. If the older femicides are perfect children of the patriarchy, as the well-known feminist slogan goes, these kids are perfect children of the techno-nihilistic neo-machismo that the great magnates of monstrous corporations have been imposing on us. bros Those who are driven by the predatory impulse of people and nature must hold them accountable for how they are changing who we are by acting on the most unprotected and impressionable link: that of children in education.
It is true that sexism has always existed and that in many cases it is learned by seeing it at home, but there has been an exponential leap in the possibilities of causing this type of damage. If before the internet a boy wanted to anger a classmate, he would pull her braids or spread a malicious rumor. Now he has computer tools at his disposal with which he can continue his harassment outside of the classroom and specific and limited physical environments in which he could encounter the victim, who no longer feels safe either at home or in the privacy of her room or bed. If the girl uses technology to silence or block the annoying person on duty (great invention, the block button), there are many other avenues available to continue the abuse. If he can't get her to send him scantily clad photos, let's say, it doesn't matter; with digital editing, he can strip her naked and expose her publicly.
Faced with this reality, we raise awareness among minors so they can protect themselves, but this is still just a patch, an emergency mending to minimize the damage that can be done to them. The real work must be done with the children who were born sexist and misogynistic, even though their grandparents already had to be reeducated by the generation of feminists from the Transition, who came from an old and very long-standing regime. The most important difference between that transformative wave and our present is that back then, the root of the repression was perfectly clear. Now, before acting, we must ask ourselves: where does this neo-machismo come from? Where did these boys learn to demand male domination? In other words: who is educating them in these values? And how? And how is it that neither the hegemony of equality values in public debate, nor schools or families, have enough influence to prevent them from rejecting a demand for justice as unquestionable as that of feminism?
In my opinion, the problem is that we have neglected a very powerful educational agent that has a large and attractive presence in the lives of children and adolescents: the realm of leisure time, the free time in which it seems adults should not interfere. The content they consume during leisure time represents (and massively disseminates) terribly sexist values, normalizes violence against women, and colonizes spheres as intimate as sexuality. Given this situation, feminists write, analyze, demand, and continue to work in different areas, but we cannot do everything alone. We need men themselves to take on the work of educating children about feminism, to become good role models for their children. Ultimately, let them counter the misogynistic models they see on their screens with a clear and decisive defense of equality. They will listen to them more than to those they have already learned to see as enemies.
