Originating in Mexico City, the “revolución diamantina”, or the “glitter revolution”, is a new movement started by Mexican women to protest institutionalized sexual violence perpetrated by Mexican polices forces.
The movement began in response to an incident in Azcapotzalco on August 3rd, in which a teenage girl was raped by four Mexican police officers. The police crime followed promises by newest President Lopez-Obrador that the high rate of sexual violence in Mexico would decrease as a result of his presidency. However, since taking office, Lopez-Obrador’s administration has significantly cut funding for projects such as women’s shelters.
Due to the widely accepted social concept of machismo, or the dominance of masculine pride, domestic violence in Mexico is rampant. 2016 figures show that an average of seven women are murdered each day in Mexico— a crime for which men are almost never prosecuted.
The first protest of the “glitter revolution” began when over three hundred women gathered in Mexico City on August 16th to shower Mexico’s chief of security in pink glitter.
“It’s unbelievable … They can’t see the pain in the faces of the mothers and sisters of murdered women, and the raped women, and the harassed women who were there at the protest,” 28-year-old Mexican feminist Sandra Aguilar-Gomez said of the government’s reactions to the glitter revolution protests.
Aguilar-Gomez commented that she does not believe the glitter revolution will cease in the near future.
Sources: The Guardian 8/26/19, Merion West 8/22/19, UN Women 11/29/17
