"Terrible, terrible", repeats María Pérez Conchilla, with reference to the eight sexual assaults (with 20 minors identified) that have taken place in Badalona in the last 11 months. And he speaks with knowledge. María Pérez is a doctor in Psychology, sexologist, founder of the Institute of Psychology and Sexology Espill and former vice-president of the World Association for Sexual Health.
Surprised by the news that talk about minors – many not yet 14 years old – offering their girlfriends to friends to rape them? "More than surprise, very distressed", she replies. María Pérez emphasizes that, from many entities, associations, organizations and institutes specialized in analyzing sexual behavior, "for many years we have been warning that these sexual assaults at such early ages will increase if the problem is not addressed seriously" .
The information that comes to her from Badalona is for the psychologist like "an announced chronicle", and she is unable to determine where the limit is for the aggressors, who are increasingly ruthless and emboldened by the fact that they act in groups. She is also not surprised, "as terrible as it is", that at least four of the minors identified have participated with different groups in various violations. "This is the most incontestable proof that we are not doing things right", says María Pérez.
What is going wrong? If some of Badalona's precocious rapists reoffended when, due to a previous assault, they were already under the radar of a court or the Children's umbrella (those under 14), the answer is clear. Here the protocols planned to reroute the ducts have failed. On paper, everything seems very clear – the Government is working to adapt the current protocol of 2012 to the new realities – but in practice there are many who doubt that these measures will be effective.
Lluís Ballester, PhD in Sociology and social researcher at the University of the Balearic Islands, advocates revising the protocols. "Punishment, monitoring or isolation are not enough to rebuild behavior patterns", he says. It is necessary to apply, adds the expert, "programs based on scientific evidence, protocols that include cognitive therapies and adjusted to the new reality".
The details of assaults as brutal as those reported in Badalona (a minor said she was unable to count the number of people she was on top of) show that "these rapists have lost all boundaries of reality". The most serious thing is that "they feel strengthened, once the act has been completed". And the environment - it happens with the visits of classmates from the boarding schools in Badalona juvenile centers to encourage the alleged rapists - "considers them little less than heroes", adds Ballester.
For the sociologist, who has been investigating this type of aggression for years, precocious sexual aggressors "only imitate what they see in the violent porn they consume from a very young age". This would be the worst epidemic for now, he adds. And viewing these scenes repeatedly causes "there is a disconnection of empathy". It is similar to the lack of feelings of a racist, says Ballester, or the soldier who goes to war. "They think they are not doing anything wrong". The consequences of consuming violent porn "are tragic". And the cause-effect relationship is already "proven with dozens of real causes".
