An alleged gang rape in broad daylight has shone a harsh spotlight on the pervasiveness of rape culture in Argentina and prompted fresh calls for men to play a bigger role in the country’s battle against gender violence.
The assault of a 20-year-old woman by six men allegedly happened on a holiday Monday afternoon in February, in a parked car in Palermo, one of Buenos Aires’ busiest neighbourhoods.
Two men kept watch outside, strumming a guitar in an apparent attempt to conceal the attack, as four others allegedly took turns assaulting the woman in the vehicle.
A couple came to the young woman’s rescue, and a crowd formed afterwards, screaming insults at the men who sat handcuffed next to a police cruiser.
All six, aged between 20 and 24, are charged with rape, aggravated by the involvement of two or more people.
Two have denied the allegations, but all remain in custody and a court has placed an embargo on their assets.
Argentina is at the forefront of Latin America’s feminist and trans feminist movements: it legalized abortion in 2020 and has introduced a raft of government policies aimed at eradicating gender-based violence. But cis and trans femicide rates are still shockingly high, with about one woman killed every 30 hours.
Like a notorious assault in Pamplona, Spain, by a group of men who called themselves “the wolfpack”, the Palermo case has sparked a national debate with intense discussion of the way rape is habitually described as an isolated act rather than a reflection of broader society.
“It’s your brother, your neighbour, your father, your son, your friend, your colleague at work,” Elizabeth Gómez Alcorta, Argentina’s minister of women, gender and diversity, declared in a tweet following the attack.
“It’s not a beast, it’s not an animal, it’s not a pack with unstoppable instincts. None of the acts that horrify us are isolated. Everyone responds to the same cultural matrix,” said Alcorta. “We need men to be part of the [feminist] struggle.”
Members of the political opposition attacked Alcorta, saying she was painting wide swaths of society as rapists – with some even suggesting that such framing justified those who commit abhorrent crimes.
Luciano Fabbri, president of the Institute of Masculinities and Social Change, said there was still an inclination to see these cases as an exception from the norm, rather than a reflection of the way men are socialized to accept that violence and feel entitled to women, their bodies and their time.
“Just because we don’t kill or rape doesn’t mean that we don’t have a responsibility for the societal change that the women’s movement is pushing for,” said Fabbri. “We have to figure out how we are still participating – through omission or complicity – in those power relations that legitimize gender violence.”
At a protest in Buenos Aires after the Palermo assault, the indignation was palpable.
“I’m fed up. I’m tired,” said Ornella Michetti, a teacher. “There’s this feeling that despite all the effort we have put into this, it’s just not enough.”
Nadia Vega, a vegan food vendor at the march, said: “It’s horrible that this keeps happening and that we have to keep telling [men]: don’t give us flowers, start talking about this with your friends.”
For Magdalena Morgenstern, the Palermo attack triggered an uncomfortable conversation with her partner, who revealed he had gone to school with one of the accused and stayed silent when he acted improperly with women.
“I have a father and boyfriend who have micro-machismos and I love them a lot. So I feel conflicted about that, obviously,” said Morgenstern, 19. “And while we’re all in this process of breaking down who we are, rapes and femicides keep happening.”
Adriana Morgenstern, her mother, saw such discussions as a sign of progress.
“I think about myself at her age, and who I am years later and how I went changing and positioning myself according to my own rights. It’s a collective construction. We are transforming together.”