Thousands of people took to the Brazilian streets on Sunday (29 May) to rally in support of the 16-year-old female victim of an alleged gang rape by 33 men. There was outrage not only at the attack, which is said to have taken place in a slum in Rio de Janeiro last weekend, but also that images of the incident were posted on Twitter and shared with obscene comments. Many commenters have blamed the girl for what happened.
Signs at the rally read The victims not to blame and 33 against all of us as womens rights groups say there is a deep-rooted culture of victim-blaming in the country.
We are here to say that it is not 33 against one, it was 33 against all of us, and we will not put up with this culture of machismo and the patriarchy which imposes rape, fear and a life of violence.
A life without violence is a right all women have. So we want to call on women to take up this fight, but also to call on all men to free our society of machismo said leader of the Young Feminists Movement, Maria das Neves, in São Paulo.
It is estimated that 10% of rapes in Brazil are not reported to the police, and that a rape occurs every 11 minutes in the country.
The police have made three arrests regarding the alleged rape so far, and are searching for more information on all 33 men said to have been involved.
