Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1485769
maltatoday | SUNDAY • 27 NOVEMBER 2022 8 INTERVIEW Raphael Vassallo rvassallo@mediatoday.com.mt 'Housing the oppressor' This week, Bernice Cassar be- came the 17th victim of femi- cide in the past decade. First of all: do you agree with the reac- tion of (among others) Women for Women, that this was a case of society having collectively 'failed' Bernice Cassar? And if so, how? Well, that's the million-dol- lar question, isn't it? But yes, I do believe that we are all im- plicated, one way or another. Because society is made up of all of us: what we believe; what we hold to be important; what we prioritise, the decisions we make… so yes: when a tragedy like this happens, it means that society has failed. Clearly, we have failed Bernice Cassar; but we have also failed ourselves. These are, after all, things that are not supposed to happen. But it's not a question of 'pointing fingers' at one entity or another. Yes, some people are more responsible, definitely. But we all have a degree of re- sponsibility, in all this. The way we speak; the way we judge; the way we tend to 'blame the vic- tim'… even the fact that there is so much stigma [around do- mestic violence]. Why does this stigma exist? Because peo- ple are socialised into thinking that – if they have this problem – they are alone. And they feel ashamed: because they think to themselves that: 'Nobody else has this problem; it's just me. So there must be something wrong with me…' And they are left to go through this hell alone, behind closed doors. They often feel they can't speak about the problem; because they might lose their friends; because people will judge them; or because they think, 'Who knows what the relatives will say?'; 'How they will treat me, or look at me, from now on?'… All these factors combine to form the monster called 'stig- ma'. And stigma is a product of society: of cultural values that we have inherited through the ages; of lots of ideas – coming from our Colonial past; the in- fluence of the Church, and so on - that have fossilized into the collective consciousness. And if we don't stop and think crit- ically; and reflect… we will end up perpetuating those ideas, on autopilot. This is why education is so im- portant… On the subject of education: there have already been ef- forts to 'educate' the public, including a number of (ongo- ing) campaigns organised by the Domestic Violence Com- mission. And yet – to quote the Malta Women's Lobby – "the situation in Malta is regressing rather than improving in many aspects". Statistically, they are right: in 2015, Malta's Chief pa- thologist stated that femicides account of 25% of all murders committed in Malta. But every time it happens, our reaction is always to say that 'it should serve as a wake-up call'… Well: we always say things like 'the time has come'; we always speak about 'wake-up calls'… but it all rings false, to me. Because this has to do with our way of life; it has been with us, forever. Why do we need a femicide to occur, to 'wake up' and say, 'Oops, we have a prob- lem'? That's what I was coming to, though. What are we actually doing, in practical terms - apart from organising educational campaigns, etc. – to prevent such murders from happening? Well, a lot is being done, to be fair. But yes, the problem re- mains. Because it takes educa- tion, to address an issue of this magnitude; and you can't just educate people, from one mo- ment to the next… By education, I don't just mean what we teach our chil- dren at school. Yes, schools do play a huge role: but the media also has a very important part to play, in educating the public. Tell me: who are the story-tell- ers of our time? Are they the teachers in schools? Or is it the social media; and the constant bombardment by advertising, of all kinds… which include exam- ples of how to behave; and what sort of values to aspire to? Look at young people to- day: where are they getting their education from? They're constantly with their mobile phones in their hand; they're following all these 'social media celebrities'… they're observing how these people dress; how they speak; what is important to these people; so we also get this culture, of distorting your ap- pearance to fit into some kind of 'ideal look'… And people repeat what they see. They repeat what they hear, every day. So the media, too, have a very important function, when it comes to educating the public. Are you seeing anything spe- cific – when it comes to adver- tising, for instance; or the mes- sages imparted by social media – that reinforces the stereotyp- ical views of women being 'ob- jects, to be possessed by men'? Oh, yes. All the time. Just look at how women are portrayed in pop videos, for instance. Or in advertising. Despite all the campaigns, all the education, all the feminism, and so on… we still keep seeing women treat- ed as objects. And we still see women who keep accepting to be treated as objects… This raises another aspect. While women's rights groups have taken a united stand, in demanding that responsibility be shouldered for Bernice Cas- sar's murder… the same view is not necessarily shared by all women, across the board. There were even comments, posted by women, arguing that 'we should not be too quick to define this murder as a femi- cide.' And we see this in other cases, too: there is often a ten- dency for women 'blame the victim' in such cases. How do you account for this, yourself? I come from an education background, so I'll take a step back here. I studied [Brazilian education philosopher] Paolo Freire: who wrote about op- pression, and how we tend to The murder of Bernice Cassar has shocked and outraged the public; but as Domestic Violence Commissioner AUDREY FRIGGIERI points out, Bernice was also the victim of 'a monster called stigma'; and we all have a part to play, in feeding this monster PHOTO: JAMES BIANCHI / MALTATODAY