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¡Ya No Mas! (I've Had Enough!)
Domestic Violence in Nicaragua
| Length: | 38 min |
| Released: | 2010 |
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I'm a Macho Man!
I beat my woman!
I'm very macho!
If you want to tame a woman, beat her!
‒Lyrics from a Nicaraguan popular song
Violence against women affects the lives of millions of women worldwide across all socioeconomic classes. It is the leading cause of death and injury among women from fifteen to forty-five years of age, occurring in greater numbers than traffic accidents, cancer, or war, and Nicaragua has not escaped the effects of this pandemic. A pervasive culture of machismo and the general public’s indifference to violence lead to the murders of more than fifty women at the hands of their husbands or partners each year, despite the fact that half of these women filed police reports before they were murdered.
In ¡Ya No Mas!, several women recount their attacks and the frustrating attempts to obtain justice from the Nicaraguan police, district attorneys, and judges. The victims are routinely ignored by the police and bureaucrats responsible for arresting their attackers. The media mocks these women's suffering, using songs to encourage male chauvinism. Psychologist Ruth Marina Matamoros describes a situation so bad that violence against women has been declared a public health problem. To alleviate this pandemic, several all-women police precincts have been developed, staffed by specially-trained policewomen who woe the lack of shelters for battered women. The film also follows a group of women attending a meeting to learn how to break the cycle of violence and concludes with a protest march, where women take to the streets to declare, “Not One More Woman Killed—¡YA NO MAS!”
I beat my woman!
I'm very macho!
If you want to tame a woman, beat her!
‒Lyrics from a Nicaraguan popular song
Violence against women affects the lives of millions of women worldwide across all socioeconomic classes. It is the leading cause of death and injury among women from fifteen to forty-five years of age, occurring in greater numbers than traffic accidents, cancer, or war, and Nicaragua has not escaped the effects of this pandemic. A pervasive culture of machismo and the general public’s indifference to violence lead to the murders of more than fifty women at the hands of their husbands or partners each year, despite the fact that half of these women filed police reports before they were murdered.
In ¡Ya No Mas!, several women recount their attacks and the frustrating attempts to obtain justice from the Nicaraguan police, district attorneys, and judges. The victims are routinely ignored by the police and bureaucrats responsible for arresting their attackers. The media mocks these women's suffering, using songs to encourage male chauvinism. Psychologist Ruth Marina Matamoros describes a situation so bad that violence against women has been declared a public health problem. To alleviate this pandemic, several all-women police precincts have been developed, staffed by specially-trained policewomen who woe the lack of shelters for battered women. The film also follows a group of women attending a meeting to learn how to break the cycle of violence and concludes with a protest march, where women take to the streets to declare, “Not One More Woman Killed—¡YA NO MAS!”
"It puts a very human face to the social and statistical travesty that is the abuse of women not only in Nicaragua but in most parts of the world. It would be a wonderful first foray into a discussion of domestic violence and the culture that supports it, and it offers an immediacy that a strict ‘documentary’ on violence would often lack. We should be glad that ¡Ya No Mas! exists, but we should also look forward to the day when such a film would not need be made—a far off day indeed.
‒Anthropological Review Database
‒Anthropological Review Database
2008, Festival Icaro-Nicaragua
