Latin America’s Women Confront Sexual Harassment By Sharing Their Stories of Abuse · Global Voices
Elizabeth Rivera

“Do not let it happen again.” Photo from the Flickr account of Pablo Fernández. Used under CC 2.0 licence.
Over the past few days, the Twitter hashtag #MiPrimerAcoso (“My First Assault”) has accumulated tweets from tens of thousands of women relating harrowing testimonies of their first – and often not their last – experiences with sexual harassment.
This conversation began on social networks in support of a nationwide protest against sexist violence, called “Vivas Nos Queremos” (“We Want Us Alive”), that was held in several cities throughout Mexico on April 24, 2012.
Online the movement hasn't been limited to people in Mexico, and women from other Latin American countries have also dared to share their painful experiences.
¿Cuándo y cómo fue tu primer acoso? Hoy a partir de las 2pmMX usando el hashtag #MiPrimerAcoso. Todas tenemos una historia, ¡levanta la voz!
— (e)stereotipas (@e_stereotipas) April 23, 2016
When and what was your first encounter with sexual harassment? Today from 2pm (Mexican time) use the hashtag #MiPrimerAcoso. We all have a story, speak out!
Asked to share stories about the first time they were sexually harassed, most women have recalled assaults that occurred in childhood. Here are some Twitter users demonstrating just how early such violence begins:
Tenía 12 años. Estaba en la puerta del colegio esperando para entrar. Pasó un tipo y me metió la mano por debajo del jumper. #MiPrimerAcoso
— Nam (@namirita) April 24, 2016
I was 12 years old. I was at the school gate waiting to enter. A guy passed by and put his hand underneath my jumper. My First Assault
#MiPrimerAcoso tenía 11 años y un tipo pasó en una bicicleta y me apretó un seno. Una señora en la calle me culpó por llevar esa blusa.
— Barbie Barrio (@salta_violetta) April 23, 2016
My First Assault: I was 11 years old and a guy passed by on a bicycle and squeezed my breast. A lady in the street blamed me for wearing that blouse.
Estaba en el bondi.13 años.El tipo apoyó sus genitales en mi hombro.Me quedé quieta.No supe q hacer.Me dió asco y vergüenza #MiPrimerAcoso
— CONNIE ® (@connieansaldi) April 24, 2016
I was on the tram. 13 years old. The guy put his genitals on my shoulder. I stood still. I didn’t know what to do. I was disgusted and ashamed. My First Assault.
#MiPrimerAcoso: Tenía como 8 años iba sentada en el camión y un estúpido me pegó su miserable pene en el brazo. Iba con mi madre,no le dije.
— Alma Maldonado (@almaldo2) April 23, 2016
My First Assault: I was about 8 years old, I was seated on the bus and an idiot stuck his miserable penis on my arm. I was with my mother, I did not tell her.
#MiPrimerAcoso Como 6 años. Un señor me sentó en sus piernas y metió la mano bajo mi vestido. Me quité disimuladamente porque me dio pena.
— Silvea (@loverita) April 23, 2016
My First Assault: About 6 years old. A man sat me on his lap and reached a hand under my dress. I moved away covertly because I was ashamed.
#miprimeracoso Cuando tenía 5 años un Tio, mayor de 40 años, me levantó para cargarme y luego dedearme mis genitales bajo el vestido.
— Tatiana García (@Tatatiu) April 23, 2016
My First Assault: When I was 5 years old a guy, who was more than 40 years old, picked me up to hold me and then fingered my genitals underneath my dress.
#MiPrimerAcoso tenía 8 años. Mi vecino adolescente me llevó a un lugar recóndito, me bajó los pantalones para tocarme. Logré escapar.
— Sndy (@pistolitabumbum) April 24, 2016
My First Assault: I was 8 years old. My teenage neighbor took me to a secluded place, and pulled down my pants to touch me. I managed to escape.
Reading through women's stories, Karina Velázquez wondered how skeptics might respond:
Llegando y leyendo #MiPrimerAcoso y casi todas hablan de edades impresionantes: 4, 6, 8, 11…Ahora digan “por provocadoras”, quiero ver…
— Karina Velázquez (@karyva) April 23, 2016
Arriving and reading My First Assault tweets and almost all of them speak of shocking ages: 4, 6, 8, 11… Now say it's “because we’re provocative,” I want to see it…
For those who preferred to participate anonymously, there was also an online space on Facebook:
Si quieres contar #MiPrimerAcoso anónimamente envía un mensaje privado a https://t.co/xlyPGkEghG y lo publicaremos desde la cuenta
— (e)stereotipas (@e_stereotipas) April 23, 2016
If you would like to speak about My First Assault anonymously send a private message to facebook.com/estereotipas/ and we will publish it from our account.
Here is one of dozens of the testimonies submitted anonymously:
#MiPrimerAcoso pic.twitter.com/bxWU5xQkmf
— (e)stereotipas (@e_stereotipas) April 23, 2016
My First Assault: My parents worked and I would wait leaning out the window until they returned, I was about 10 years old and a teenage neighbor came up to my window, lowered his shorts, and began to masturbate, urging me to touch him, until I fell from the little chair that I was using while trying to get away. I never returned to wait for my parents at the window, nor did I let my little sister who was 5 years younger do it either.
Another recurring theme was the silence in which many women endure sexual harassment on an almost daily basis. Whether it is because of embarrassment, guilt, or helplessness, many women have chosen to say nothing. Others say they did speak up, but were ridiculed or not believed, and so they decided to kept further incidents to themselves, until now:
pic.twitter.com/KnAXcJKb9W
— A Eme (@alejandraemeuve) April 23, 2016
The boys at the public pool who took turns swimming past me to touch my butt while I was in the pool with my little sister, and I had no idea what to do. The guy in shabby clothes who followed me for two blocks, masturbating. The taxi driver that stopped in front of me and demanded that I get in the car. The man that cornered me on the street with his truck while I was walking home alone, until a bus rescued me. The guy who approached me at the entrance of the movie theater where I was waiting for my friends and told me: “come, you will go with me to the movie that you want.” The drugged-up kid who last Thursday screamed at me: “you’re going to like it!” while he walked fast behind me, until fortunately I arrived at the bus stop and he then began to harass other people (how lucky). The ex-boyfriend who, for many years, too many years, did with my body what he pleased every time he drank too much, and then later remembered nothing. The subtle acts of people close to me as well as people I don’t know, which make me feel uncomfortable, like I should suddenly cover up my body, or take off running. And all that I can’t even manage to remember right now. Cities that are full of death traps. Families that are full of silence. All the harassers that with small and large actions add to the layers of fear. It is not about convincing anyone that there’s a problem; it's about getting rid of the problem, starting with saying it, demarcating it, and seeing it. And I swallow my own words a little bit: while I still believe that there aren’t any universal codes with which to respond, we don’t “have to” say anything, nor are there standards for brave victims or cowardly victims. It’s true that reading what you all are saying for the first time has given me confidence to say these things so publicly, and sharing has made me feel sad for the Alejandra who was assaulted, because it shouldn't have happened, but it has also released me from a shame that should have never existed either. It’s like giving me an embrace that has been kept away for many years, which I extend to you all now. Thank you.
Leí en muchos TL que el HT #MiPrimerAcoso las confronta/incomoda. Muchas voces se alzan, muchas continúan calladas. Somos más de lo que ven.
— Wady*Castillo (@SoyWady) April 24, 2016
I have read many messages on my timeline saying the hashtag “My First Assault” is uncomfortable and challenging. Voices have been raised, many remain silent. We are more than what you see.
Muchas callamos los acosos por vergüenza, porque nos sentimos culpables, porque la sociedad nos hace sentir culpables. #miprimeracoso
— Rubens (@nancyortiz_) April 24, 2016
Many of us remain silent about sexual harassment because of shame, because we feel guilty, because society makes us feel guilty. My First Assault.
Sacudida con el hashtag #MiPrimerAcoso. Porque nos cuesta decirlo, porque nos sigue poniendo vulnerables y porque aún hay quienes se burlan.
— Eileen Truax (@EileenTruax) April 23, 2016
Shocked by the hashtag My First Assault. Because it is so difficult to say it, because we continue to be vulnerable, and because still there are those who mock us.
Many of the women who shared their stories wrote that their first experience with sexual harassment was at the hands of a family member, which put them in even more vulnerable situations that culminated in silence.
#MiPrimerAcoso el hermano de mi amiga se metia a tocarla mientras dormía, su mamá no le creyó, sus hermanas sí porq les había hecho lo mismo
— Misspartes (@misspartes) April 23, 2016
My First Assault: The brother of my friend would touch her while she slept, her mother didn’t believe her, her sisters did because he did the same thing to them.
Mi primer acoso me lo hizo el padre de mi mamá y yo tenia 9 años.Lo hable a los 25 y nadie me creyo #MiPrimerAcoso pic.twitter.com/iVRqUreYb4
— Elizeth (@lichiitaz) April 24, 2016
[The poster reads: We live in a society that teaches women NOT TO GET RAPED instead of teaching men NOT TO RAPE.]
My first assault was at the hands of my mother’s father and I was 9 years old. I came forward when I was 25 years old and nobody believed me. My First Assault.
#MiPrimerAcoso fue a los 9 años en una reunión familiar. Nadie lo supo entonces y me duele mucho pensar que aún ahora no me creerían.
— Tania Tagle (@Tania_Tagle) April 23, 2016
My First Assault was when I was 9 years old, at a family reunion. Nobody knew about it then and it hurts me very much to think that even now they wouldn’t believe me.
It is so commonplace for a woman to be violated in the streets that a prevalent theme in thousands of tweets is the feeling that sexual assault has been normalized.
Yo no recuerdo #MiPrimerAcoso. Como tampoco recuerdo lo que es caminar en la calle sin miedo a que algo pase y escale.
— Sambuka (@samnbk) April 23, 2016
I don’t remember My First Assault. The same way I don’t remember what it’s like to walk down the street without the fear that something will happen and escalate.
Mi madre me dijo que ignorara a los hombres que se me quedan viendo mientras camino; por la calle “porque así son ellos”. #miprimeracoso
— Paloma (@ThePalomina) April 24, 2016
My mother told me to ignore the men who stare at me as I walk down the street, because “that’s the way men are.” My First Assault.
Desde que somos niñas tenemos que vivir con su violencia machista, sus miradas puercas, sus piropos y chiflidos callejeros, sus manoseadas.
— Barbie Barrio (@salta_violetta) April 23, 2016
Since we were children we have had to live with their sexist violence, their filthy looks, their catcalls and street whistling, their groping.
Crecí desde muy pequeñita viendo cómo en la calle TODOS los días acosaban a mis hermanas. Cuando me pasó pensé que era normal #MiPrimerAcoso
— Wady*Castillo (@SoyWady) April 23, 2016
Growing up, since I was very little I saw how in the streets my sisters were harassed EVERY DAY. When it happened to me I thought it was normal. My First Assault.
El problema no solo es #MiPrimerAcoso, el problema es que le sigue un segundo, un tercero, un cuarto…hasta que crees que es normal.
— Edi_C (@edi_co) April 24, 2016
The problem is not only My First Assault, the problem is that it happens a second a time, a third time, a fourth…until you believe that it’s normal.
Although there were those who joked about the subject or responded with misogynistic comments, there were some men who read the testimonies carefully and reflected on the disturbing reality of daily harassment against women, as well as their own role in gender violence.
Leyendo historias de #MiPrimerAcoso pienso todas las veces que los hombres, desde niños, somos testigos y normalizadores de esa violencia.
— Javier Raya (@javier_raya) April 24, 2016
Reading the stories from My First Assault, I think of all the times that we as men, from childhood, are witnesses to and normalizers of that type of violence.
Es desgarrador leer cientos de mujeres abrir su corazón con el hashtag #MiPrimerAcoso.
Pero es más desgarrador saber que no fue el último.
— Hector Fernandez (@SootsWiinic) April 24, 2016
It is heartbreaking to read hundreds of women open their hearts with the hashtag My First Assault.
But it is more heartbreaking to know that it was not the last time.
Just a few days ago, three women publicly urged Mexicans not to remain silent when they are the victims of sexual crimes. Many online embraced the call, appealing for solidarity, and arguing that speaking up and supporting those who are suffering from harassment are ways to break the cycle of violence.
Muchos #MiPrimerAcoso son experiencias brutalmente solitarias en espacios eminentemente públicos. Si lo notamos, aproximémonos, protejamos.
— La Tremens (@MssFortune) April 24, 2016
Many of the My First Assault stories are brutally solitary experiences in eminently public spaces. If we notice it, we must approach [the situation], we must protect each other.
Sea amable con usted misma. La niña que fue a los 10 años no supo reaccionar ni tenía por qué. La adulta que es hoy puede ayudarse y ayudar.
— Virginia (@Huishte) April 23, 2016
First tweet: Hug your girlfriends soon. Speaking about My First Assault is very difficult for many girls because on top of it all one might feel guilty for not reacting.
Second tweet: Be kind to yourself. The girl who was 10 years old didn’t know how to react or why. The adult you are today can help herself and help others.
Los testimonios de #MiPrimerAcoso me llenan de rabia pero también de esperanza. Ya no tenemos miedo. Ahora nos tenemos unas a otras.
— Tania Tagle (@Tania_Tagle) April 23, 2016
The testimonies of My First Assault fill me with anger but also with hope. Now we are not afraid. Now we have one another.
You can read more testimonies and reflections on Twitter at #MiPrimerAcoso (My First Assault).