Introduction
In recent days, the bodies of prominent individuals in Mexico have been subjected to violence. Carlos Manzo was killed in front of his family and community, while Claudia Sheinbaum, the mayor, was sexually harassed at her home’s doorstep. Although attacking life and assaulting dignity and integrity are distinct acts, there is a shared root: the trivialization of our bodies.
The Desensitizing Frequency of Violence
With a frequency that often numbs empathy, authorities and media report the discovery of lifeless bodies with headlines such as: “Clandestine cemetery found in Hermosillo, Sonora: 60 bodies discovered,” “32 bodies found in Guanajuato,” “Over 300 embalmed or hidden bodies discovered in a crematorium in Ciudad Juárez.” Official data indicates that 60 people are murdered daily in Mexico. However, the country’s common grave depersonalizes those who were once children, friends, neighbors, cousins, colleagues, reducing them to mere bodies.
Limited Information on Victims
In some cases, thanks to civil society demands, the victim’s sex, migration status, and/or crime classification provide more information: “Woman killed in Álvaro Obregón; it’s the third femicide in 10 days in Mexico City.” Yes, three women were victims of femicide during the last ten days of October in Mexico City while the city government boasted a reduction in such crimes. There were no national headlines or scandal, but they weren’t entirely anonymous.
Prominent Cases and Their Impact
It is clear that, although all lives have equal value, not all deaths share the same relevance. In some instances, among the victims are cases that stand out: they have names and faces, dominate headlines. Carlos Manzo’s murder shook the nation. There have been nine more mayor assassinations this year, with their names and municipalities circulating on social media. The same applies, albeit on different scales, to cases involving businessmen like Bernardo Bravo, activists like Homero Gómez González, or mother searchers like Teresa Gonzalez. Their losses represented more than a figure. Unfortunately, all these cases are the tip of that deep and gruesome iceberg filled with nameless bodies.
Dehumanization and Daily Violence
Bodies without names also fill the streets of any city or town in the country. Some violence does not kill but severely undermines existence. Victims of integrity and dignity offenses, mostly women, many of whom are minors, are equally the result of perceiving our person as a body serving others.
- At one extreme, we’re discussing human trafficking and sexual exploitation; however, the daily symptoms like the sexual harassment Claudia Sheinbaum experienced this week are part of the same illness.
Public Discourse and the Severity of the Problem
We could perform a similar exercise on how the situation is reflected in public discourse. Some articles inform that “one in two Mexican women reports having experienced harassment or sexual assault.” However, the abuse of our bodies is so common and normalized that the situation leaves no room for doubt: the problem’s gravity is far from the meager figures reported by the prosecutors and rarely becomes news.
- Though the president was harassed, and the incident flooded public conversation, women are daily victims of rampant sexual harassment. Just like with murder, the focus shifts from numbers or bodies to a person with a remarkable story, unique characteristic, or position of power. In this case, the harassment of the president gives a face to a victim: Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo. One of hundreds of women harassed and abused daily in this country.
Common Thread: Violence Knows No Boundaries
There is a common thread between Carlos Manzo and Claudia Sheinbaum: violence does not discriminate based on rank, occupation, or creed; no one is exempt from being part of the figure. Not even a visible municipal president with power or the most powerful person in Mexico escapes living in a country sick with normalized violence, where murdered, violated, and harassed bodies abound.
One murder may eventually be solved, and the harasser will be prosecuted. There will be jail time, called “delivering results.” The president’s security perimeter will be reinforced, more crimes will be classified or reclassified, and additional plans to combat extortion and organized crime will be presented. They will continue to think of violence only in terms of results.
We still confuse justice with strategy and empathy with spectacle. If anything, our experience should have taught us that numbers and security measures cannot heal a nation accustomed to seeing others as bodies rather than persons. Perhaps the most urgent task is not reinforcing perimeters or multiplying plans but regaining the ability to feel sorrow: naming bodies, returning history, voice, and humanity.
