The Committee for Gender Equality in the Parliament of Montenegro expresses the strongest protest because of the inappropriate and ugly mime-construct directed against another woman and politician, Sanja Damjanović.
Damjanović is the holder of the "European Team for Nikšić" list in the local elections held in that city on March 14.
The "European Team for Nikšić" list consists of the Democratic Party of Socialists (DPS), the Social Democrats (SD), the Liberal Party (LP) and the Patriotic Committee Alliance (PKS).
"Like many previous ones, this indecent "work" immediately became viral thanks to fierce political polarization, which in Montenegro results in the loss of all ethical landmarks and elementary decency of society. And Sanja Damjanović's "sin" is that he leads an electoral list in local elections . This deeply sexist construct is just a continuation of the already established practice of dealing with women who dare to enter the "ban" of the male world, instead of being silent and watching. Or just to "look", as a necessary quota in parliament. We observe that such attacks against women occur on both sides of the political and national spectrum and are a sign of serious social pathology", it was announced from this parliamentary committee.
As they add, "it is important to point out the fact that the great exposure of politicians to offensive speech and constructs clearly differs in the type and meaning of the insults".
"When it comes to women, severe misogyny and sexism are at work, and the representation of female politicians through caricatures and mimes is largely reduced to the female body and its objectification. Such intolerance towards women, who in every patriarchal society are certainly exposed to visible and less visible systemic discrimination, is one of the important indicators that will confirm Montenegro as a hybrid regime. It is known that a society becomes democratic and inclusive not only in relation to who is in power, but also to how the political struggle takes place and what happens to it makes sacrifices. The Committee for Gender Equality will certainly make an effort to create a database on the phenomenon whose current target is Ms. Sanja Damjanović. We believe that the media, scientific and civil communities also have an obligation to help, both in analyzing the dangerous discourse and in creating a database on the scale discrimination and inappropriate insults addressed to women," the statement of the Committee for Gender Equality states.
That committee calls on the authorities to use available legal means to ensure a balance between the right to freedom of speech and the right of women, as one of the two largest social groups, not to be discriminated against.
"We warn of the phenomenon of spreading hate speech and misinformation through social networks, which, thanks to their anonymity and unregulated status, act like media and contaminate society with inappropriate and dangerous content. The phenomenon is certainly of a global type, but each individual society and state is obliged to seek and find a way so that the great potential of social networks for the democratic participation of citizens does not instead become its "tomb", the announcement concludes.
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