Adriana Gallegos Dextre, 27

“It starts with street harassment and minor incidents that aren’t perceived, but then it starts to materialize into a violence that is a lot more direct, physical, psychological, and sexual — in other words, a violence that is much more disruptive in the lives of women.

“Then there’s the issue of abortion. Peru has legalized therapeutic abortion, but we know the state is trying to repeal the few advances that we’ve made.

“The same is true for sexual education; they are trying to take it out of schools and make it the responsibility of parents. But what happens in cases where we have dads who rape children and the mom turns a blind eye to the situation? How are we going to put the responsibility of teaching sex education in the hands of people like that? Plus, in our conservative culture, people don’t talk about these issues—and it’s not a question of socio-economic class.

“We have to constantly be building feminism. It’s a diverse movement with a common objective: to liberate our bodies and demand rights that protect the physical and mental health of women. And not only women. I now view the movement as trans-feminist, because through the construction of my identify as a woman and a feminist I have learned that identify is not static; our bodies are diverse and trans men should also have access to the movement. Trans men suffer violence because others identify the female part of that man’s identity, so they should be included in the feminist movement.”

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