The journalist María Antonieta Flores Astorga, in her book “The beast that devours children” (Ed. Aguilar, 2023), portrays the Mexican reality as one of the first places in the world in child sexual abuse and offers a detailed, tragic and outrageous review of a reprehensible practice; and what rape, pornography, trafficking and harassment of girls, boys and adolescents causes in the victims.
In this investigation, the names and facts of pedophiles and rapists are revealed, ranging from businessmen to church representatives, judges and lawyers who, together with the authorities, cover up these crimes., the same as officials, teachers, teachers or directors of complicit schools. Likewise, heartbreaking testimonies are offered, although the purpose is to denounce these practices and demand that no attack on minors go unpunished, promote cyber security and say enough to everything that hurts children in Mexico and the world.
In an interview with this medium, the author highlights that -as she pointed out in her introduction- “a victim understands the victims more; I think that as a journalist few things impress you more, suddenly things happen in your life that are a brand. I remember that on one occasion I went with a friend (both very young) to interview Dr. Mario Rivas Souza; and while she was answering she led us to where the plates were located and she stopped just before the corpse of a girl who was abused and murdered ”.
At that moment, recalls Flores Astorga, “I lost my breath; A vision like that is terrifying. In addition, lately I have been investigating issues of trafficking and child abuse. What strikes me is, if I can talk about the experience and share it, who can a child locked up in a shelter where he is subjected to abuse turn to, especially if nobody pays attention?
And in “The beast that devours children” the motivations for why a child remains silent in the face of his bad experience are also reviewed, and we do not understand them because “we simply live in an adultocracy and with our attitude we make the child feel ashamed and guilty. There begins a vicious circle where there is complicity, silence, falsehood, hypocrisy; and it happens both in church, at school and at home.”
The figures, in this context, are terrible: close to 90% of the abuses are committed in this country by someone the victim knows, who is a relative or someone very close; Added to this is the fact that we live in a country with a high degree of impunity, “and I always say it -explains Flores Astorga-, I did not seek to confront authority, that happened naturally. And when I analyze recent cases of abuse in the book, we had to work from the media to bring to light, things so scandalous that the whole society rose up in outrage.
This is his fourth publication and the third in which he addresses this topic; “and the authorities were already pushing me aside, outright. But, If internationally journalists uncover scandals and frauds, because they take us into account, why not here? If we also seek the common good. But no, they look at us as enemies. I have been reckless and they have called me to tell me things, but I am equipped and I continue forward ”.
Visible in the public spectrum and with a career where he has obtained recognition for his work, Flores Astorga does not lose optimism “because I have had the opportunity to travel the world and know that what we live here is not worth it; In Japan, child care is national policy, why not here? Here they care (or say they care) about different political or environmental causes, but not about children; And that is the social fabric that we should take care of, and not use it anymore, what are we really doing?
Who is she and what has María Antonieta Flores Astorga done?
He is a journalist. She studied Communication and Information Sciences and Techniques at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris (France) and a law degree at the University of Guadalajara (UdeG). In 2008 he won the National Journalism Award and has been awarded the Jalisco Journalism Award three times (1999, 2006 and 2009). He received the Jalisco Prize for Journalism “American Awakener” in 2021, for his career. He has published the books “Carriolas vacías: trafico de niños en México” (2012) and “Niños a la carte” (2017).
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2023-07-21 08:16:56
#Books #Review #effects #child #sexual #abuse
