Warrior Princesses Fight Against Domestic Violence

2024 Author: Steven Freeman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 08:15

October is domestic violence awareness month, a disease that affects 1 in 3 women in the United States, 29.7% being Hispanic, according to data from the National Domestic Violence Hotline. To combat this social problem, which is still treated as a taboo despite the fact that it occurs in all social circles, Venezuelan blogger Marinés Duarte, creator of In Your Shoes, has started an awareness movement called Warrior Princesses.

The name is born because all Latinas are beautiful but warriors, says Duarte. “The princess theme has been discredited a lot, not silly, and quiet, prettier, no. You are a warrior because you have a voice and you are going to fight for your dreams.”

The t-shirt for girls modeled by one of the daughters of Marinés Duarte.

To collaborate with the cause, Duarte designed these t-shirts with a powerful message: "Latinas are a perfect combination of princesses and warriors." 100% of sales will go to the National Domestic Violence Hotline, which has more than 5,000 centers through which they provide telephone help to victims of abuse. Each donation will allow five calls to be answered, and one life is saved for every five calls.

"The physical, psychological and sexual abuse, especially of girls, is what hits me the most," explains the mother of three girls. “When I started to see the vulnerability of the girls [for example] my friends criticized me because I don't let my daughters do sleepovers at home because I don't know their husbands and there are other children. I realized that this awareness is not there, there is a lot of confidence. And the issue of not paying much attention to our children, if your son does not want to go to a playdate, or to this class with this teacher, pay attention to him.”

With the campaign, which celebrities such as Alessandra Rosaldo, María José barraza, Elizabeth Gutiérrez or Ximena Córdoba have already joined; Duarte has set out to end domestic violence and gender inequality suffered by Latina women through education, and encourages those who suffer from this problem, or are witnesses of violence, to raise their voices with messages such as “If it bothers you, Say it, if it bothers you, shout it out!”

“It happens everywhere, it is a very strong subject and it is raising your voice. If this is happening to you, realize it”, says the communicator. “Many say 'if it is my husband then it is not rape', no, no, no. It is equal abuse. Whether it is because we are very submissive because of our culture, men are macho, in the US for being an immigrant, the fear of deportation, they think they cannot do anything, but no. Speak up, there are thousands of women like you."

Every minute, 24 people are victims of intimate partner violence in the United States, but only 38% report it. “Many think that it is only violence when there is a blow, a [tear], something that you can verify. But both a touch, a bad word … is abuse, "says Duarte.

The problem is even greater when it comes to minors. "The children are threatened, manipulated, they don't know what is right. I say 'nobody can touch your parts', my mom never told me, "he notes. "That they have their limits, that they respect their bodies, that no one can yell at them, that no one can mistreat them."