Who would want to support a victim?

For many years—in some cases, more than thirty—numerous individuals have publicly explained how Ramón Flecha defended them against cases of violence when they asked him for help. I have not found any mention during those years of the events that are now being recounted anonymously against Ramón Flecha, nor of any individuals leaving the CREA network for these reasons.

What I do have evidence of is that, when we interns suffered inappropriate treatment from seniors who used their hierarchical position to act inappropriately, we asked Ramón Flecha for help. In my case, I had heard other people explain how he had taken a stand and helped them when they asked him to, even when this meant losing friends, attacks and threats. It is no coincidence that other members of CREA are also feminists whose stance and support for victims over decades has been recognised internationally. Some of the people who told me about the support they had received from Ramón Flecha and members of CREA did not subsequently support us scholarship holders who decided to speak out about inappropriate treatment by senior colleagues, who were their friends or themselves. In my case, it involved inappropriate messages, such as insisting that I carry out tasks during the weekend knowing that I had other activities that were important to me; it also involved shouting at my thesis supervisor and at me, as well as inappropriate comments about other colleagues. When he was given the opportunity to rectify his behaviour, he did not do so, nor did he speak to me, and he left the CREA network. Ramón Flecha did support me without hesitation.

When the CREA Violence 0 Commission was set up, everyone was given the opportunity to speak, and I did so. A document on guidelines for the prevention of violence in the research group was made public. This document was a source of pride for many people. It did not please those who did not act as they claimed to and did not want to change. In the same way that the first measures against gender violence in universities were not welcomed, and now we are assured of freer contexts.

People who left CREA said that we female scholarship holders were exaggerating and even that we were crazy. Nor did I hear the facts that now accuse Ramón Flecha as the cause of his stance. Not many people believed them. Ramón Flecha received threats that if he continued to act against violence, he would suffer the reprisals he is now suffering. I also know that people began to demand the removal of public samples in which they appeared linked to CREA.

Faced with all this information and people willing to explain, journalists who have only published anonymous testimonies against Ramón Flecha have admitted that they do not know what CREA is or that the Violence 0 Commission exists. They have also refused to give a voice to any of the eight interns or to Flecha. This is the ‘investigation’ carried out by those who only spread attacks.

Citizens have the right to know the facts. That is why, unlike those who ask us to believe without proof and from anonymity, I ask you to seek information and ask questions. We have nothing to hide, which is why, unlike those who attack us, we have never hidden. We are using our voice to protect the support we receive when we need it and ask for it. Seeing how they attack those who support us in order to isolate us revictimises us. It saddens me deeply because if this happens to those of us who have received support, imagine those who are alone. These attacks are a step backwards in the progress that society and feminism have fought for over decades and which has been so hard to achieve. Who will want to protect a victim when the consequences are so serious?

The worst kind of sexism wants to isolate and silence us. It wants to take away our ability as women to make decisions and tells us that we are submissive and have a ‘sectarian character’. In this way, they deny our freedom to have asked for help when we did not want to suffer inappropriate treatment by people who were using their hierarchical position. Feminism is against all violence and fights for freedom. The worst kind of machismo now denies us our voice, because, as one of the ‘journalists’ said, what we are saying is not news. I do not allow anyone to attribute to me the inability to decide about my own life. Those who do so, those who promote this inability to decide in us, are promoting the oldest form of machismo.

I have spent days thinking about how many stories we have seen or read with similar situations and thought, ‘I would definitely act consistently.’ History is full of attacks on those who risk themselves to protect others. Now that we are facing this, what are we doing?