Alma Chavira Farel, 13 years old Murdered in 1992
Daisy Jazmin Garcia Hernandez, 15 years old Murdered in 2017
Guadalupe Brenda Vizcarra, 26 years old Murdered in 2019
Susy Salais, 25 years old Murdered in 2020
These are the names of four women murdered in the state of Chihuahua, Mexico. There have been close to two thousand women murdered in the past 25 years in my hometown.
Vanessa Guillen, 20 years old Murdered in 2020
I left my country to run away from violence, but our nightmare does not end at the border.
Las mujeres olvidadas
2:00 am, and in between dreams, I hear my mother calling my sister in despair.
A knot in my stomach invades me with doubt whether my sister is safe or not. Whether my sister is alive or not.
That was my reality for a long time. I grew up thinking that as a woman, being murdered was a possibility and that it was my duty to avoid it.
Missing young women, destroyed families Jóvenes desaparecidas, familias destruidas.
¿Cómo nos atrevimos a culparlas? How did we dare to blame them?
Men and women giving excuses for emotional and sexual abuse, what have we become?
Blaming women for calling attention to what they wear, as if we could control your mind. We are in a desert of sexual education, we lack clarity.
Otra mañana, otra mujer asesinada, Another morning, another murdered woman
Recuerdos de infancia de violencia e impunidad, recuerdos de miedo y frustración Childhood memories of violence and impunity, memories of fear and frustration
Every morning I woke up to the news of a femicide. Standard features: Brown skin, short height, dark hair… it could have been me.
One more pink cross. It became the new normal for us.
My value as a woman was reduced to the fear of being murdered … I felt that I had to leave. And now I am caught between wanting to be with my family or surviving, because in our reality, women who speak up are considered a threat. Women are supposed to listen.
Vanessa Guillen, nunca olvidaremos tu nombre. Una mujer más, otra que se nos va de las manos.
We will never forget your name.
Times have changed, but minds remain the same. It is more complicated than I thought.
What have we become? Giving excuses for people committing abuse and justifying degrading actions by men who are supposed to be leaders.
Solo una de cada diez mujeres denuncia el abuso. No porque no queramos, si no porque sabemos que nadie nos escuchará.
Only one in ten women report the abuse. Not because we don’t want to, but because we know if we do, most of the time, no one will truly listen.
Intersectionality is our enemy.
Temen hablar de sexo seguro y menstruación, pero no temen tocarnos. They fear to talk about safe sex and menstruation, but they are not afraid to touch us.
¿Y cómo se acaba esto? And how does this end?
I’m still searching for the solution. Today my weapons are my mind and my voice. My most powerful weapon has become to turn the word me into us, my voice into our voice.
Alma, Daisy Jazmin, Guadalupe, Susy, Vanessa Guillen. Our voice.