“Show support for abusers”

2023-06-22 19:02:02

“Society does not penalize gender-based violence behaviors.” The months go by and the cases in which soccer players are denounced for sexual crimes follow one another. Dani Alves, Santi Mina, Neymar Jr, Rubén Castro, Cristiano Ronaldo, Gonzalo Montiel… And the last one, Joel Dominguez. The youth player from Las Palmas has been sentenced for mistreatment of his underage partner and the club, after the sentence, has decided to invite him to do the preseason with the first team.

“Joel Domínguez is a boy who made a mistake,” said the club’s president, Miguel Ángel Ramírez, at a press conference after hearing the sentence. The 18-year-old footballer has been convicted of physical abuse with a sentence of 40 days of work for the benefit of the communityone year of removal (less than 500 meters) from the victim, the prohibition of any communication with her and two years of deprivation of possession of weapons.

The events took place on the first Sunday of June in the Tamaraceite area (Las Palmas de Gran Canaria), “where the attacker kicked and shoved the victimbeing detained in the dungeons until his appearance before the judge,” reported The province. The presence of three witnesses at the scene, one of them a plainclothes police officer, were key in the trial in which the victim did not want to file a complaint or undergo a forensic medical examination to prove the injuries. The sentence was handed down with the agreement of the parties and as a result of the confession of the facts by the player.

“What we have to try is to help him reintegrate into society“, added the president of the club. The entity has kept him away during the 40 days of services for the benefit of the community, but now, facing the preseason, they have included him in the first team. Las Palmas defends that “he believes sportingly” in him, hence his decision. “If we haven’t sent him off, it’s because we believe in him sportingly and we understand that he is a player with significant potential. Why don’t we keep promoting it? “added Miguel Ángel Ramírez.

Referents and power

“Footballers convicted of mistreatment do not have a major problem with their club. What the entity says is: being an abuser or a fraudster does not make you a bad player. They put economic reasons first,” he reflects. Lucía Avilés, judge specialized in gender violence, on the case of Joel Domínguez. “There is a certain laxity. The fans cling to that player, they even show support for abusers. Models and references are built with people who are convicted of abuse,” he claims.

Increasingly, victims are raising their voices and denouncing cases of gender violence. However, only 8% of cases are reported, that is, 92% of the attacks remain hidden, unpunished. “That silence is beginning to be broken and in some way an attempt is being made to make this type of violence visible. He is no longer the powerful man who can do everything and who imposes the law of silence, but the victims are feeling that they are victims” reflects Avilés.

“Despite the fact that it is a sexual attack, it has to do with the exercise of power. There is an activation against the ‘no’. We are talking about people [los futbolistas] who are used to having access to exclusive things that nobody can have. Faced with refusals, they want to impose their law,” says Carla Vall, lawyer specializing in sexist violence. “On a social level, it does not penalize conduct of this type. These situations have always occurred,” adds the Catalan lawyer.

Protocols

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“It is living in the courts a increase in gender violence in young people. It has been appearing repeatedly in studies, which warn that there is a kind of polarization. Pornography is one of the elements that is marking some sexual behaviors of young people. Porn makes it possible to build models of sexuality and generates a confusion. Many minors believe that sex is what is seen in violent porn. The fact that these types of platforms are accessed with a simple click means that the youngest can imitate behaviors that are pornification of crime”, Avilés abounds.

There are usually no action protocols in the clubs to respond to cases like this. While some entities such as Barça have created a protocol on how to act when there is a situation of gender violence or violence against children, others leave decisions at the mercy of events. In the case of Joel Dominguez, an extreme situation, Las Palmas has put the footballer’s sporting future ahead of sentencing him as an abuser.