Yves Saint Laurent presents the Abuse is not love initiative to raise awareness among young people about gender-based violence and abusive relationships.
Gender-based violence is very present in our society and we often see abusive behaviour, especially among young people. In Spain, YSL Beauté is launching the ‘Abuse is not Love’ programme in partnership with the Ana Bella Foundation. Its aim is to raise awareness among young people and give them the tools to detect sexist behaviour in their relationships. The campaign aims to reach 23,000 boys and girls over the next three years, 3,200 by 2021.
The conference to present the project was attended by Ana Bella Estévez, founder of the Anabella Foundation, Ángeles Carmona, president of the Observatory of Domestic and Gender Violence, Elisabeth Calderón, survivor of an abusive relationship and Jesús Abia, CEO of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté. The actress and director Leticia Dolera was in charge of the presentation.
From left to right: Jesús Abia, Ángeles Carmona, Ana Bella Estévez, Leticia Dolera and Elisabeth Calderón.
Patriarchal society and gender-based violence
One in three women suffer from gender-based violence, which is why YSL is working on targets up to 2030 with a special focus on young people. “Abuse is not love” aims to give teenagers useful tools to help them detect abuse in their relationships and prevent the situation from going any further.
The statistics on gender violence speak for themselves. As Ángeles Carmona points out:
“Of all the women murdered, only 20% had reported the abuse. Moreover, more than 50% of women have suffered some kind of violence at some time, whether sexual, physical, psychological, economic…”.
But murder is only the tip of the iceberg. Underneath, there are many signs that often go unnoticed. This is why YSL and the Anabella Foundation are committed to financing workshops for young people, training more than 2 million teenagers and also training YSL employees.
Workshops in schools throughout Spain
So far, YSL has already held workshops in 22 schools in Andalusia and plans to visit schools in Madrid, Extremadura and Catalonia. The workshops not only focus on the warning signs in relationships, but also aim to make girls aware of whether they are going through or have gone through an abusive situation. Similarly, they want boys to evaluate their behaviour to see if they are exercising or have exercised some kind of abusive control over their partners. As Leticia Dolera points out: “It is very important that education and campaigns are not only aimed at women but also at men”.
One of the workshops held in schools thanks to the Abuse Is Not Love project.
Sometimes these situations are difficult to control. On many occasions, it is even complicated, especially for the victim, to realise that they are being abused. Ana Bella Estévez recounts her own experience:
“I would see on the news that a woman had been killed and I thought why didn’t she leave her house earlier. On the same day, my husband had hit me with a belt and I was still there. I was 11 years in a relationship of psychological and physical abuse.”
To prevent this from going any further, the workshops in schools want to show nine key warning signs to know and look out for:
- Ignoring you on days when you are in a bad mood.
- blackmailing you if you refuse to do something
- humiliating and belittling you in private and in public
- Manipulating you to force you to do or say something
- Feel jealous of everything you do
- Control where you go and how you look
- violate your privacy by snooping on your phone or tracking your location
- Isolate you from friends and family members
- Intimidating you by telling you that you have lost your mind and instilling fear in you
This type of psychological abuse is reportable and can seriously affect the victim. As Ana Bella Estévez points out:
“An abusive relationship is one of dominance and submission. If you rebel, then there is physical abuse. But it doesn’t always come, and psychological abuse is just as important and much more invisible”.
Workshop held in a school thanks to the Abuse Is Not Love program.
Yves Saint Laurent’s initiative to fight against gender-based violence
The project is driven by L’Oréal for the Future, the sustainability campaign of the L’Oréal group, of which YSL is a part. According to Jesús Abia, CEO of Yves Saint Laurent Beauté: “The brand was very clear that it wanted to help one of the biggest problems we have in society today, which affects 1 in 3 women in the world”.
Thanks to this kind of initiative it is easier to educate in a society where even young people believe that gender violence is an ideology and not a reality. That is why workshops like the ones Yves Saint Laurent is promoting are of the utmost importance. As Ángeles Carmona points out:
“Our society is patriarchal. Ancestrally, women have suffered situations of domination by men. To put an end to this pattern that we all unconsciously have in our heads, we need to identify, educate, raise awareness…”.
So far, thanks to the talks in schools, more than thirty teenagers have confessed to having gone through or being in a situation of abuse in their relationships. It is very important to raise awareness from an early age, that way we prevent many women from having to go through a series of abuses that can seriously affect their lives.
Telephone and whatsapp of the Ana Bella Foundation: 665541133
Telephone number of the Delegation against Gender Violence: 016
Images courtesy of YSL Beauté
