The summer of 2023 has been one of the most tragic in sexist violence in the last 20 years. Up to 16 women have been killed. Between July and August, 40% of the 40 deaths have been registered so far this year and the figure once again confirms that the seasonal factor increases the risk of suffering gender violence, an argument put forward by the Ministry of Equality to explain the figure and that the former Government delegate against Gender Violence, Miguel Lorente, has also argued to Europa Press. The Ministry of Equality has convened for next Monday, September 4, the crisis committee to analyze the six crimes due to gender violence registered so far in the month of August
In July and August there have been eight cases each month, although the last one is still pending official confirmation by the Government Delegation after a retired police officer who had been entrenched since Wednesday morning in Alzira (Valencia) ) allegedly killed his ex-wife and subsequently took his own life. "It can be one of the most serious (summer)," Lorente said. Also this week a man has been arrested after murdering his partner, only 36 years old, in Béjar (Salamanca)
The figures for these months are the highest in the entire year 2023, since until now it was January, the month in which there is also a holiday period for Christmas, the month that registered the highest number of cases with a total of seven. The rest of the months of the year register lower figures, such as February and March with two deaths, April and June with four and May with five.
To reach data such as those registered up to this August 31, 2023, it is necessary to go back to 2018, when 16 women died due to gender violence in the months of July and August. Also in 2003, 16 deaths were registered in July and August, while 2006 is the year with the most fatalities, with 17.
As Lorente has indicated, the seasonal factors that take place in seasons such as summer or Christmas occur around coexistence, a moment in which "in a more direct way it can affect the perception that the aggressor has of what control is. of the woman".
For all of the above, Lorente has exposed the need to campaign and develop proactive protocols "to be able to start working on everything that is response and prevention and even protection" in the places where the victims are. "They are not only in police stations, nor in the courts, because there the complaints represent 30% of all reality. 100% of battered women, sooner or later, are in the health services and in many social services ", has added.
Regarding the ages in which most of the murders have occurred this year (31-40), he has declared that there is a higher incidence in the age in which the response and conflicts acquire a greater intensity. However, Lorente has stated that in a general study there is an incidence, both at very high ages and in very young people. "They are nuances that we have to consider, but they are not the factors that define violence," he concluded.
On the other hand, regarding other types of factors that influence sexist murders, he has highlighted the "innovative" term of denialism in gender violence, which, in his opinion, facilitates a "violent response" by the aggressors.
"That emotional charge that has been launched, especially that of the institutions with the denialist message of Vox and supported by the PP with its pacts and with its measures and then promoted by many media, in the end it is charging with anger and is facilitating that violent response from the aggressors," he warned.
Along the same lines, he has pointed out that "right now" there are men who "are thinking about killing their wives", a statement that he has explained that "it may seem outrageous", but that there are those who "are closer" to giving that passed.
Finally, he has shown his concern about the "factor of taking action". "Studies show that there is that reinforcing effect, which is not that someone who is not going to kill or use violence suddenly uses it. It is about someone who is already seriously thinking about killing his wife and is reinforced in his idea when he sees that another man has achieved what he is trying to achieve", he concluded.
