In the face of possible cases of street harassment, Yahayra Centeno Ceballos, director of the Municipal Institute for Women (IMM), urged women to avoid confrontations and make use of the “Women’s Line”, where they will receive the necessary psychological assistance.
It should be noted that this is a complicated issue, a situation of power or machismo on the part of various men that for many years was kept silent and anonymous, but now it is often spread.
“The important thing for us is to be able to give them attention in these cases if any woman has experienced any of these situations. First, we have to invite them to get to know our line, it is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year because many times what we are looking for is to re-stabilize the emotional aspect of what we can experience on the street,” she said.
The “Women’s Line” 800 455 7672
“Also, what we are looking for with the line is immediate police assistance, while we are talking and giving guidance to women by phone, we are asking for that help by phone as well. It is important that they know this medium, what we are looking for is that approach for women, sometimes they do not know the line, they think that it is only attended during office hours, but no, the most important thing is that if they are close to one of our offices they come closer, we have four and they can go to provide them with psychological, legal and social work support”, she added.
According to Centeno Ceballos, the men who can carry out this type of action are usually associated with psychological problems and come to think that women are under their power.
“At the Women’s Institute we can guide them, they are not alone, it is extremely important not to put themselves at risk, because many times we want to face this situation, we must take the necessary measures, if another woman is found nearby, invite her to help with a photo, a video or call 911, let us be empathetic with the citizens and not alien to this situation”, she said.
“It is important not to confront, because we do not know who we are meeting, it could be that they have a weapon or are a more violent person and the situation could become complicated, always take care of one’s integrity as a woman and especially if they are alone,” Yahayra Centeno Ceballos, director of the Municipal Institute for Women concluded.
If any citizen is affected, they can contact the “Women’s Line” at 800 455 7672.
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