While the story is important and laudable, it is unbalanced. Deep into the story it's revealed that Spain has for several years had laws that offer extraordinary protection to women victims of violence.
Morever laws aim to shield women from domestic violence. These are "crimes against women in a relationship."
Scarcely noted is a potent women's movement that is pushing the government to more assertively adhere to the laws.
10
Having experienced domestic violence as child the later in life can attest to the difficulties in getting help and being safe. 60 now but have never really "recovered".
7
I'm sure the father in law meant well when he hit his son in retaliation for the son hitting his wife, Ana, but it just shows how violence begets violence. The dad probably hit the son growing up, and who knows, perhaps his wife too. Then the guy went to the army, not exactly known for being a warm and cuddly place. More sanctioned violence there. What happened to the children after their mother was killed and their dad went to jail? Were any of them still minors? Did the girls pick abusive partners too? Did the boys hit like Daddy and Grandpa? I'd love to know more.
11
Why would he get only 17 years in prison when he was clearly a psychopathic monster? Why are men in power so loath to protect women? Why are men so terrified of women achieving parity? I know a lot of men who are wonderful people, what's wrong with the rest of them? It's a problem of men; why don't you people solve it?
12
Dear New York Times,
You barely ever have stories about Latinos, and when you do, they are negative and highlight the worse of our community. Does that not feel karmatic and wrong to you? We are 20 something percent of your readers and we have one of the highest upward mobilities in America, so sooner than later you will depend on us reading you for your survival.
PLEASE start highlighting the multiple beautiful and inspirational stories of Latinos in America, from doctors to soldiers to CEOs to writers; Latinas that are founding businesses, young couples who are buying most of the new homes in America, inventors and astronauts and civil rights leaders, and many other incredible American Latinos around you.
If you don't, you'll find the paper soon being outdated, old- mainstream-focused, and your shareholders and stakeholders will be sad to close an amazing has-been news media organization.
1
@Petra Lopez
Spain is in Europe. You can say Spain belongs to the Hispanic community, but they are not Latinos.
13
Another example in which the conservatives are jerks and the liberals are heroes.
6
Did you actually read this article? It’s about violence against women by their husbands, not partisan politics.
10
Could you publish please this translated to Spanish?
12
Thank you, NYT, for reporting this information and calling attention to a brave and great woman and a tremendously important issue.
7
People who want to make sure that women and children are always second-class created and perpetuate all of the stigmas that keep their victims quiet. If everyone who has been affected by domestic violence stayed home for a day - if we held an international "Day Without Battered Partners and Children" - the streets everywhere would be empty. Hold a few more and people would really begin to feel it. We can make notoriously slow and aloof law enforcement and politicians purge their ranks of perpetrators and begin to address this scourge as though it were really important.
6
An overlooked angle on this horrific story may also be education. Note that Ms. Orantes was uneducated, thus leaving her even more susceptible to abuse. That she overcame everything to seek help numerous times is a testament to her extraordinary spirit and courage.
Abusers and the powerful want to keep us ignorant so that we are easier to control. Many men would like to keep women ignorant so that they do not recognize their inherent worth or to keep them from knowing their rights under the law. It also keeps them from seeing possible escape routes or learning about options on the internet, for example. Girls' education must be a global priority.
This does not in any way suggest that this is a problem that touches only the lower-classes or other countries or any such thing. This is a pervasive problem, but education is one part of helping the victims.
8
I don’t disagree, but even well educated women get killed. A few months ago a woman from New York City who worked for the U.N. was killed; not long before that, a woman who worked in one of our private schools. We’re all vulnerable.
5
There is madness in love and hence many of the crimes are never reported. In certain cultures men are put on a pedestal and that gives men unprecedented power in all matters.
This has to stop and brutality against women should never be tolerated. While I read this article, many women are still suffering silently and too scared to come out in public.
8
We continue to allow men who threaten and abuse their wives to own or buy guns and then are surprised that these same men go on to kill their wives and girlfriends, especially after they are told by the courts to stay away from them.
We live in a society that actually dislikes and even hates women and that is why as a culture we minimize the atrocities that men commit against them. We provide little in the way of protection but make a big deal of our lip service.
The sources of this deep seated anger towards women are eons old, but they are also as new as the age of the individual man and his family of origin. The psychological and sociological underpinnings of men’s violence towards women have never been taken seriously because . . . After all . . . the “battered and dead” are disposable and “less than” persons.
2
to think this was just 20 years ago gives me the chills.
4
Very sobering to think how much much cruelty must people see "in their face" to bring change. If Ana was just one more beaten wife, it's probably safe to believe change might still be coming.
Today many persons/families come to the US to escape abuse and fear, and we cage them and treat them as subhuman.
2
Wow! I'm still on the first sentence describing the rationale for your series, Overlooked. Are you going to go back to check on all the weddings you never covered?
Well, I congratulate the Times to examine itself in this way. It's a remarkable thing to examine things and come away with a fresh approach. Your decision speaks volumes about what's really "right" with your approach, an solid effort really to recognize the real worth of taking another look at how you've done things and strive to make adjustments where needed. Bravo!
I lived in Spain for 6 years (from 2004-2010), and the only crimes that were most notable were domestic violence committed by, you guessed it, men! And they were quite proud of the fact that they (Spain) did have crimes related to drugs, gangs, and serial killers. That's why when women get abused by their husbands, it's just a crime of passion, a jealous husband who loves his wife. Spare me that kind of love any day, as I, too, was married to a monster, but was lucky enough to fight for my freedom from that kind of private tyranny. God Bless Ana Orantes' beautiful soul.
10
The author is misleading by saying “But she lived in Spain, where, like much of Europe, no laws protected women from domestic violence.” Living in the USA was not different either. And divorce was a right in 1996, no needed to be granted. Misleading because most europe is way ahead in social rights such as gay marriage, and Antonio Banderas is not colored.
5
@Paco
No use. Ignorance is bliss, and one can be so much assertive by not bothering about details.
3
It's not the laws but the culture that's at fault here...
3
@Matt Carey
Please stop typecasting Southern European culture. Just looks at the stats in my comments below. Germany has twice the murder rate than Spain. Apparently it is xenophobic to mention that many abuses are committed by recent immigrants. The government stopped providing nationality data two years ago (I think).
4
Wonderul series. Thank you NYT!
Contrary to the bigoted comments (Franco, Catholic Church, etc.), feminicides in Spain are well below the rate of other "advanced" European countries.
This was published by the BBC in 2007
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49586759
Murders in Europe comitted by a partner per 100,000 inhabitants
Finland: 0.36 Germany: 0.23 France: 0.18 England & Wales: 0.13 Spain 0.12 Italy 0.11 Greece 0.1
But please don't let facts change your preconceptions.
6
Thank you, Ms. Orantes, for speaking out. I am sorry for your suffering and wish you peaceful rest.
2
you should point out that the murder rate against women by husbands and boyfriends in Spain is about a third of what it is in Germany or the US!
6
Why? The article doesn’t purport to be a comparative analysis, nor does it have to be.
2
@me
Ms. Orantes murder was news because it was unusual and horrific. The article represents Spain at the time as a country where these sexist abuses and atrocities were commonplace.
2
Beaten. Tied Up. Doused with gasoline. Set on fire while still alive.
"Symbol of parity." - how New York Times Board member Brent Staples once erroneously described Elizabeth Cady Stanton's motivation for women's suffrage in a Pulitzer prize winning editorial. Merely a "symbol."
People like Staples can minimize the dehumanizing abuse women of all colors have met as the legal and/or cultural chattel of males who own their bodies, property and children only because we are so ignorant of the history of women all over the world, including in the United States of America.
I wonder, if black men were beaten and burned alive in the 1990s, if Brent Staples would still think women having a political voice is just a "symbol."
1
@Amy Luna
Horrendous as Ms. Orantes murder is, a women was arrested in Spain last December for trying to do the same to her partner.
https://www.lavanguardia.com/sucesos/20191222/472412430559/detenida-mujer-alicante-quemar-colchon-marido.html
Violence has no gender.
1
Many of the commenters here do not know Spain and all, and rely on the typical topics; Franco, Catholic Church, and so on. This sounds like bigotry to me.
The "legal changes" have provided a much better degree of protection to abused women, but also have been misused repeteadly by radical collectives such as the "Infancia Libre" association. Whoever wants to have more information can use the Internet or the archives of the main Spanish newpaper www.elpais.com.
https://elpais.com/sociedad/2019/06/18/actualidad/1560855564_367197.html
1
The (bigoted ?) comments in this forum give a totally distored version of female abuse in Spain, and resort to the usual tired topics. In fact, there are other countries in Europe - not Catholic, all democratic - with far higher rates of feminicides. Germany, for instance, has almost the double feminicide rate than Spain.
From a BBC report in 2017
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-49586759
Murders commited by a partner, by 100,000 inhabitants
Germany 0.23 France 0.18 England and Wales 0.13
Spain 0.12 Italy 0.12 Greece 0.1
4
It seems we have a Franco supporter trying to cover for thuggery in Spain. Don't worry we are quite aware of the violence against women here in the US. You on the other hand haven't said a thing about the "manada" gang rape of a woman, and the disgusting legal process in Spain, where unless a woman "resists" it's not rape.
2
When will more good men stand up for the abused women, children and animals of the world?
7
Wow, talking about a backward society, in the 90’s no laws in Spain protecting women? Shame on them. What awful way to enact a law protecting women... only a gruesome femicide is committed.
1
@RBR
the 90’s no laws in Spain protecting women?
Laws have to protect everybody.
The author is talking about the "Violencia de genero" law, totally biased against men, that treats all men as violent rapists and that is nurtured by a state bureaucracy who is the main beneficiary of the EU funds destined to women.
The "Violencia de genero" law would be declared unconstitutional in the US.
Spain, and now the rest of the world, owe this woman a debt of gratitude, there is no doubt, I am sure people in Spain when she spoke out probably said things like "Oh, she is just doing that to spite her poor husband" and so forth..but when she died, more than a few of them probably realized how blind they had been.
Sadly, domestic abuse of all kinds when done by men has been dismissed by religious leaders at all levels when it is done by a husband. "he far-right Vox party has intensified its effort to overturn the gender violence law as part of an agenda of returning the country to more conservative Roman Catholic values." tells a lot of what "conservative' religious throught it when it comes to women, and that is their duty is to protect the man at all costs, that the man is 'above all'. It isn't just Spain, my dad grew up in NYC in the 1930's, and back then if a guy beat his wife and actually got arrested (rare, because the NYPD was full of men who thought like the church did), the priest would go to the precinct and get the guy sprung, saying "the poor guy had a bit too much to drink and the wife got on his nerves". My wife and her mother experienced horrific abuse from the father (this is 1970's-early 80's), she told her priest and people at her catholic school about the abuse, and they told her to pray for her father as head of household, and did nothing else. To this day, right wing Christians, Catholic and Evangelical, want to overturn marital rape laws...QED
33
@music observer The days of male hegemony is dead and dying so are all religions. I can't wait to see them reduced to a minuscule foot not in the annals of human history so that we can focus on real needed progress.
1
Poor lady . What all she had to go through. 17 years in prison is no justice for a murdered woman by arson.
39
@VT This is a case where an eye for an eye needs to be applied.
1
Much of the particularly backwards and reactionary attitudes and laws of Spain are derived from the defeat of the Republicans Revolution in the 1930s, and the establishment of brutal dictatorship that surpressed democratic and civil rights. The end of the Franco dictatorship came not as the result of a democratic struggle but of its own exhaustion. The current 'democracy' in Spain is the illegitimate child of Franquisimo, which largely left much of its reactionary social-political framework intact. The fight for women's rights is a fight for the dignity and rights of all.
16
@AR
My father lived in Franco's Spain on a college scholarship in the '50s. The young college women lived under a curfew. The men usually escorted the women back to their residence/dorm and then continued on their way. One night he was with a young woman who realized that time had gotten away from her and she might break curfew. She proceeded to have an absolute breakdown, crying hysterically as she rushed out to run home as fast as she could, my dad struggling to keep up with her. Coming from Puerto Rico, where no such rules existed, he could not understand her reaction. Well, after 2 years in Spain, he got it. Franco's regime was brutal on its citizens.
1
@memo
In the 50s not many Spaniards could afford a dorm.
1
Yes I was 12 in 1972 when the Guardía Civil stuck a machine gun in our faces for having a beach bonfire. The Franquistas, and their admirers are unpunished and unbowed, all through the state, military and police. The Spanish can still barely talk about the civil war, fearful of consequences and reprisals. Nothing like 'strong men' to beat women.
1
Calling attention to this victim's plight is long overdue - but putting this piece under the heading 'The Great Read' is poor form.
24
@common sense advocate
Agreed. Really poor taste. As if Ms. Orantes's plight is for our entertainment.
3
"Orantes said she had gone to the police more than a dozen times to report the beatings."
The saddest part is that it doesn't surprise me that the authorities dismissed her complaints, likely calling them "family matters." Too many women around the entire world continue to die at the hands of male friends and family members.
27
@BMD Woman should start to take matters into their own hands and see what happens. Men will be terrorized. let them find out how it feels for a change.
1
@JG
Obviously you know nothing of the current situation is Spain, and the article does not help. Men are second class citizens. In December a woman was arrested because he wanted to burn her husband.
https://www.lavanguardia.com/sucesos/20191222/472412430559/detenida-mujer-alicante-quemar-colchon-marido.html
What would have happened if she had killed him in self defense?
26
He wasn't "eccentric," and he wasn't a monster. Like so many abusers, he was a man conditioned by the patriarchy, including the church, the military, the police, and the courts, to view his wife as his possession, to control as he pleased.
42
@CH Na. Stop trying to make him sound Mr. Everybody.
10
@CH The father of the murderer didn't stab his wife like a beast. In any society, patriarcal or not, there are "normal persons", ocasionally violents, and psycopaths. The murderer of Ana Orantes was one of them.
3
@CH He was and is typical of any culture who allows boys to accept their testosterone-fuled machismo as normal. Yes, he was conditioned by patriarchy, but somehow personal responsibility and the ability to control his violent emotions were left out of this monster's upbringing. Males are allowed to be monsters in any society where they won't admit that they are responsible for their actions and that their actions are wrong.
1
“... part of an agenda of returning the country to more conservative Roman Catholic values. ...”
Roman Catholic values do not include the enabling or encouraging of violence against your wife or your children. Enabling this violence should have no part in any family situation. Laws must be passed that effectively protect the vulnerable. Whether conservative or liberal, both parties must realize that it is their duty to protect its citizens against this most insidious and harmful violence.
10
@Maureen Roman Catholic values include exterminating any "heresy" with horrible violence, including the torture and murder of millions of people during the inquisitions, plus the same violence against native people all over the world. Any religion that excludes women from any role other than as pious worshipper while placing its "mother of god" on a pedestal is suspect and needs to be eliminated from government. Spain is still hip-deep in blood from their religion-based violence, and males are the perpetrators.
4
Not a lot of change unfortunately. The recent gang-rape trials demonstrate how rotten the laws, prosecutors and police are when it comes to violence against women.
9
"But she lived in Spain, where, like much of Europe, no laws protected women from domestic violence"... hmmm ... for that matter she could have been living in US where according to Rachel Lousie Snyder "No Visible Bruises" : <>... In Spain or on any country in Europe that number is unthinkable... so, it is not a European "mania". Do your homework, as Ms. Snyder did in that incredidle book and write and denounce domestic violence in US. Nowadays in Europe and US the most dangerous place for a woman to be is at her own home... and that is unacceptable!
13
Failure of society back then that continues even today in other forms. Humanity is despicable.
11
Most Americans believe that Europe is so much more advanced in human rights and life is easy street over here with universal health care, strong workers unions, etc. compared to the US. As an American living here, it’s just not so, especially when it comes to social issues regarding gender and race compared to America. Thanks for this article that speaks to the reality of women’s rights in Europe.
22
Thank you for telling her story. May she be remembered around the world because of it.
21
Thank you for this series of articles and in particular, this one sharing the horrifying story of Ana Orantes. I gasped as I read about Ana's final moments, eyes filled with tears, sobbing in front of a computer screen, wondering how anyone is not motivated to support protection for other victims of domestic violence? I love Spain, the generous people who make it so special. I'm shocked and saddened by Ana's story.
67
This remarkable woman had the courage to try to leave this vile monster and protect her children multiple times.
117
@Paul
He was not a "monster". He was a man.
Using "monster" somehow provides a fictionalized attribute to a human being and we must remember that MEN are far too capable of violence against their domestic partners.
5
It is hard to imagine the courage it must have taken to for Ana Orantes to carry on in that nightmare, looking after eight kids and married to a monster, and absolutely trapped. She tried again and again to seek some kind of justice, but there was none available -- until after her death. I'm moved that her murder spurred change, but it seems obscene to say she didn't die in vain. Descansa en paz, Ana! There sure wasn't any peace during your life.
176
How many - if not all- of those kids were the product of rape?
4
Thank you NY Times for this obituary. This series is such a brilliant idea and I look forward to every single one. Plus they’re beautifully written. Thanks!!
97
Thank you to the New York Times for this -very hard- to read obituary. Hope that it can be translated into Spanish and published in large newspapers in Latin America. Domestic violence is a huge problem in Latin America as is violence against women in general.
Spain invented the machismo. That's part of a deeply-rooted sexism, subtly reflected in a very common expression "boys don't cry" Male children of abusive fathers tend to be abusive too.
24
Mistreatment of women is not the only cruelty issue in Spain. The galgo Español, the Spanish sighthound relative of the greyhound, is today still brutalized by many breeders and those who use the dog for hunting prey. Poorly performing dogs are likely to be beaten, mutilated, starved, or thrown down wells or hung from trees by their owners. There’s some sort of sickness that runs through cultures that turn blind eyes to these behaviors.
https://aidanimals.com/animal-cruelty/galgo/
28
@SkepticaL
Thank you for bringing this up. And let us not forget to protest the vile bullfighting tradition in Spain.
1
What a horrific (and frighteningly recent) timeline:
“Divorce had been legalized in Spain only in 1981.”
Ms. Orantes’ murder in 1997.
“Spain started collecting data about domestic violence only in 2003.”
And to add my own sad vignette from a nearby European country we visited in 2005: A man beating his wife in broad daylight on a city sidewalk with people passing by disinterestedly. My husband pulled over our rental car and stepped in. Chivalrous as it may have seemed to my young self 15 years ago, I’ve often wondered since whether his instinctive act that day didn’t ultimately make things worse for the woman he had tried to help.
I’d like to think that the US justice system has done better on behalf of our women, but I have worked at a rape crisis center: I know better.
28
Every bit of this story is horrific, but I am most outraged that after BURNING A WOMAN ALIVE, this man was sentenced to just 17 years in prison? Is that what a woman's life is worth, 17 measly years?
62
@TrixieinDixie My understanding is that European countries don't put people away for as long as we do, in general. For better and worse, in this case worse. I do agree with you.
7
Thank you, thank you and thank you one million times for this obituary.
15
I just hope that her sons didn’t carry on the “family tradition “.
16
Apparently, per this article, conservative catholic values include more leniency towards husbands who tie their wives to chairs and burn them to death.
13
@Xoxarle
I’m not catholic, but I hate to see this portrayed as a “catholic issue.” There are plenty of religions out there that advocate for the right of men to mistreat their wives and daughters. And, as anywhere else on the planet, the biggest drivers of violence against women are always poverty and lack of education.
4
@SA: The 'biggest driver of violence against women' are the men who choose to do it. Poverty and lack of education make women vulnerable, but it is men actively making a choice to prey on women who are vulnerable. (And many women with education and money still are abused by partners.)
7
My mother’s stepfather was very religious. He was a brutal abuser of all six children, even hitting the babies when they cried in the night. My mother and her twin were the oldest and would rush to get the babies in the middle of the night so he wouldn’t .
I remember him singing in the choir and taking us to church. It is part of the tradition of the man owns the woman and he is allowed to do what he pleases.
That being said , what country and religion doesn’t have extreme violence against women? Bhutan, the only Buddhist country has the same, if not worse, violence towards women that we have. Nepal same rate as in America:
1
. What is it? Do these men who prohibited such laws not have daughters, sisters, mothers, nieces, aunts? Do they not understand that their daughters,sisters or nieces might also be tortured and killed by their husbands? What world do they live in where they cannot see something so obvious, all these educated lawyers and judges and politicians--do they not have eyes? That is the real and true pathology, not the psychotic idiot who killed his wife. TWhat is it? Do these men who prohibited such laws not have daughters, sisters, mothers, nieces, aunts? Do they not understand that their daughters,sisters or nieces might also be tortured and killed by their husbands? What world do they live in where they cannot see something so obvious, all these educated lawyers and judges and politicians--do they not have eyes? That is the real and true pathology, not the psychotic idiot who killed his wife. The ones dressed in suits and robes and have long rows of books--these are the psychopaths. They are as complicit as the villain herehe ones dressed in suits and robes and have long rows of books--these are the psychopaths. They are as complicit as the villain here
10
@Ron: I agree with most of your comment. But "lawyers and judges and politicians" are often involved as perpetrators themselves. And it's too bad we often call on men to think of women as "daughters, mothers, sisters, etc." because that only defines women in relationship to other people instead of recognizing their full humanity and worth independent of their relationships. They are full human beings all on their own and should be treated with respect not because they are a wife or daughter but because they are a human being.
27
@Ron
I have a mother, a wife, a daughter, nieces, aunts, etc. And I need none of those relationships to know t is wrong to be violent towards women.
Should men without close female family members get a psss?
4
@Maggie There are males who rape, torture and murder their own daughters. The sickness is in their brains, not just their cultures. There is something wrong in their brains that needs to be dealt with--from birth, in childhood and when they become adults. Science, where are you? Something is wrong.
1
Sadly in 2020, we still discuss this issue as 'domestic' violence (as opposed to the regular old garden variety kind). Why do we need *extra* laws to protect women, or others in relationships? Why isn't good old assault and battery used? Until we take a good hard look at this, and put terms like 'domestic' violence in the dust bin, it seems like we will continue to protect violent, out-of-control men (mostly).
38
@OnlyinAmerica: A lot of violence is random and difficult to prevent. Domestic violence often follows a pattern of escalation of frequency and severity over time. It can be prevented if we take it seriously and provide support to women who are trying to escape and hold the perpetrators accountable. There's a reason to look at it independently. And, yes, laws need to be used to protect women.
16
@OnlyinAmerica We need specific laws against domestic violence because women have been viewed as the property of men. Women have been left unprotected when family violence between a man and wife was viewed as a relationship issue rather than a legally defined criminal violation. Naming domestic violence creates a defined category that is harder to ignore or dismiss. It is an important distinction because women are still too likely to die from domestic violence that in the past was ignored completely and today often still is.
20
@OnlyinAmerica
In Australia, the term domestic violence is generally no longer used because as suggested, it belays a tone that is less violent than the reality. Instead, the terms 'intimate partner violence (IPV)' or 'family violence' are used to highlight the type and relational nature of this abuse. Academic literature on this subject now uses these terms as well. Whilst Australia still remains unsure at how to best address this complex but highly common issue (most common cause of preventable death for women), there is progress and reform occurring. Internationally, IPV should have the money, research energy, and social /political reform thrown at it for the national health crisis that it is.
12
Take note kids.
The conservative government wasn't concerned. Minimized the whole issue.
The socialist government passed laws to protect women.
Some humans in this would, with a certain worldview and mindset, are typically less concerned about others and about justice.
They have to be checked always.
They are our collective burden.
103
@Paul King Thank you. The Republican Party in the US is blatantly misogynistic and disinterested in changing because it gets its power from boosting white men and marginalizing others. Vote for the progressives who value all people, not troglodytes who can only maintain power by forcing others beneath them.
2
Thank you to the New York Times for this obituary. Orantes belongs to a remarkable generation of women in Spain. They are the post-civil war generation who, without education, means or social support - and often against brutal forces - managed to build the next chapter in the country, educating and pushing forward our generation and helping create what is now modern Spain. How astonishing their sacrifices were, how brave and what incredible level of endurance. I am really grateful that the New York Times recognizes these accomplishments and those who indeed changed the world for the better.
50
This is merely one of the reasons I loathe organized religion, and its prime role in the abuse of Women, worldwide. This year, I’m starting a daily 30 minute period of silence. It’s like prayer, but instead I’ll be thinking about my Heroes, and what I can learn from them.
Ana Orantes will be on MY list.
My very sincere condolences and best wishes to Her Children.
60
@Phyliss Dalmatian
Organized religion is indeed bad. They love to make up their own little rules which have nothing to do with the Bible. Catholicism is an excellent example of an organized religion which does not pass the Christianity test. I know as I was brought up Catholic. Tell me... where in the Bible does it state you should pray to Mary, or the Pope himself is infallible?
But don't let that sway you from non-denominational folks where they read, teach and believe in the word of God. In other words the Bible. There are many Biblical examples of Christ communicating with women.
What this poor woman went through is absolutely horrible.
6
@Phyliss Dalmatian
I hope that Priests and Bishops in Spain read your comment. They often rail against secularism and secular values while ignoring their own culpability for allowing tragic situations like the Orantes beatings and abuse a d finally the woman’s brutal murder to happen.
6
Look at the brutality in the history of Catholicism in Spain. The conquistadors- the inquisition - there is an especially dark sadism in the tradition.
1
Male abusers are the lowest form of life. Their actions are indefensible. These activities are in the same category as sexual abuse.
31
In this country, at this time, the leading case of death during pregnancy is homicide.
The very close second cause is heart issues. Most of the murders are from male partners.
Pregnant women are 5 times more likely to be murdered than non pregnant women.
Almost nobody talks about this.
In this country, now, the leading cause of death on the job for women is either homicide or vehicular accidents, depending on the year, as they are almost equal causes of death.
We are a long way from equality and at risk of sliding backwards.
111
Were the “justice of peace “ personnel, whose wisdom ordered her to live in the same house as the belligerent ape of a husband, ever brought to book? I find them as culpable in this situation as the wife beater.
59
Completely agree. Who thought that was acceptable/wise?
Her husband sounds like an undiagnosed sociopath. Wife abuse, sexual child “misconduct” (at best), and full mental abuse via isolation from family or friends fear.
Tragic. Thank you to the NYT for acknowledging her sacrifice and contribution to humane domestic abuse legislation in Spain.
6
What could ever be the justification of striking a woman? Degrading them? Men who do these atrocities have low esteem and act in these manners to boost their own egos. Shame on you all. This poor excuse for a human being got off too easily. He should have died as his wife did. That might have discouraged a few more men.
33
This shows how bone-deep sexism is in our cultures.
We imagine we are advanced, but we are still a primitive species who still believes in human sacrifice to effect change. We cannot yet see injustice and simply use our minds and hearts - someone has to die before people will act. Unbelievable that this was in the late 90s and she had asked her town's authorities for help for 40 years. May she rest in peace knowing that she helped more in her death than they did alive.
150
@Kay Johnson
Misogyny is particularly rampant in my own
Latino culture. Currently Mexico and Central America are experiencing a very dangerous uptick in violence against women. Trans women are especially subjected to violence.
4
This was hard to read. Thank-you for bringing it to the attention of NYT readers. This story reminds me that women must be militant in our efforts to protect our reproductive rights and maintain agency over our own bodies. The Equal Rights Amendment must become the law of the land.
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Descanse en paz Ana - Rest in Peace. The horrible and brutal treatment of women in Spain, the widespread machismo, and overall lack of protection for women - especially before the PSOE took power in 1981 - was one of the many reasons my Spanish grandmother insisted I NEVER get married. Have children, yes, but do not sign any papers tying yourself to a man. Thank you for the advice abuela!
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A BIG thank you.
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The absolute most important thing for women to do to protect themselves from domestic violence is to learn the signs of narcissistic personality disorder. People with this character disorder often present initially as wonderful people, totally trustworthy and ideal. Too ideal, really. That is their public face. But it's all fake. Once they have control, like in marriage, they become monsters in private. The abuse can range from "merely" emotional in the case of a low level disorder, to murder, when the disorder borders on psychopathology. But the underlying character disorder is the same, and is not that difficult to recognize when the signs are known. The media is also complicit in women not having this knowledge because it ignores this as a threat and continues to present these cases as individual rather than recognizable character disorder patterns that are the real underlying cause. Thankfully there are a lot of online resources and books to understand this complex, and sadly too common, disorder well (the DSM barely explains it, and leaves out many of the subtleties that are critical for evaluation of a person's behavior and character).
A deep understanding of narcissistic personality for recognizing and staying away from threats, and the deployment of spy cameras for evidence if abuse already exists - these are the weapons every woman needs to defend herself.
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@SL Absolutely spot on! Narcissists start by love bombing you with affection and attention that feels like a fairy tale romance. Then at some point they turn abruptly and may become cold, demeaning, or quite contrarian. They zigzag between personas to create an emotional instability in their target, and to condition the target to doubt herself and become more malleable to win back his full affection. Then begins the gaslighting and you don’t know up from down anymore. A helpful primer on the topic can be found for free at esteemology.com. Just like the theme of the movie War Games, the only way to win is not to play the narcissist’s game.
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@Person @SL You're both exactly right!! Had real life experience with Narcissist men like this and they're both from Spain! I was lucky to spot the narcissist behaviors early on and ended these toxic relationships. One of them had a high position in the art museum world in both NY and Spain. Some ugly sick things that seems to have deep root in their society, regardless of how beautiful Spain is.
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@SL And a poor, uneducated, marginalized woman in Spain, India, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Congo, The US, Brazil, Finland, China.....will be able to do this how?
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So the Catholic Church is for domestic violence?
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Have you ever heard of a priest telling a woman to save herself and leave the abusive spouse? No he will tell you be a better wife, be understanding, work at your marriage harder. Yes they are men first, they will say for your children stay. Go talk to another woman who is more educated in standing up for her rights.
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@Dee Maitland Since Paul advice women to do not speak in the church, and to wait for their husbands advice, because men were closer to god than women, the Catholic church do not appreciated women who speak for themselves. They are objects which value to be mothers, women should be obedient and compliant, to their parents, their husbands, the church, etc. Until her murder, domestic violence in Spain was seen as a family business, nothing else
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@Dee Maitland They might as well unfurl a banner that reads: "Come unto us for abuse, sexual harrassment, child rape and domestic violence." The Catholic church has been complicit in some of the most outrageous violence against human (and other animal)-kind since its inception. Control of women under any circumstances--that is what the Catholic church is for. If that means ignoring all manner of abuse and murder, then so be it.
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Wow. Another story where the “conservative” government oppresses women only to have protective legislation passed by “socialist” one.
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@Steve In Spain, my country, the church used it alliance with the dictator Franco to make us 'perfect Christians', no abortions, no women rights, no liberty. The problem with conservative government is that when they speak about family over all, they forget about children made work as slaves, or women being beaten for those who love them. It is a fact, no a conspiration
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@Steve Astonishing, isn't it? Still, that is what happened, would you prefer that the NYT lies?
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@Lorena Secades
Maybe you can remind us when Spain legalized abortion (paid by the free health care system), divorce and gay marriage.
Why this Franco obsession? He died in '75, and Spain has been under socialist rule for many years.
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I appreciate you running this, and it's a brutal story, and so very sad.
But. Your obit policy still needs work. Even now, one gets the impression that only white men die...
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Sadly, domestic violence is a worldwide scourge that societies still sweep under the rug. Thank you, NYT, for publishing this long overdue obituary. Ana Orantes, you will always be a heroine for abused women everywhere. May you rest in eternal peace.
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Also, if you care deeply about ending domestic violence in America, please encourage your members of Congress to reauthorize the federal Violence Against Women Act (which is gender-specific in its name but gender-neutral in its application).
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This is heartbreaking and disgusting at the same time. Many people might wonder why Ana would have stayed with her husband, but I think it’s really difficult to understand how unhealthy a relationship can be when you are still inside it, how much fear must be overcome to find a way out. God rest her soul <3
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She tried to leave and was prevented from doing so by her husband and the court.
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Thank you for sharing this brave woman’s story. I’m sitting here feeling gob smacked after reading it. I wonder what her abusive husband’s story was. What turned a human being into a monster?
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@Barbara Morrell it’s usually a bad dad or inborn psychopathy.
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@Barbara Morrell
Learning via culture that it's your right as a man to own & control women, your wife in particular, & failure to do so is a reflection of your weakness & dishonor as a man.
See: honor killings, family annihilation murders
It really is easy to imagine all intimate/"domestic violence" as individual "bad men" but it's not men who are bad doing something aberrant.
It's (some) men who have internalized specific messages about their worth, women's worth & what women's very existence & purpose is as well that of men.
A man is the head of the household ideas are at the root.
There is also a general size & strength disparity that underpins this (what allows for any of it at all). But from that fact flows the rest.
Man>woman
Women must obey men.
Bc men can physically enforce that norm on a cultural & frequently individual level.
It's simple & so unfathomably destructive to men and women both.
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He was on the military. Many men who are shattered by their military experience , go in to abuse their mates. Within the military, look how many female soldiers are raped.
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Thank you so much for this long-overdue obituary. Such a shame that this brave woman had to die before politicians would be willing to discuss domestic abuse in her country.
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Ana Orantes' difficult life and death, a story that is replicated all over the world every day is a gruesome reminder. We MUST learn from her story. The personalities and behavior of perpetrators of gender based violence are characterized by narcissism, entitlement, hypersensitivity, impulsivity, insecurity, incivility and impunity - and these patterns and behaviors are enabled every day, all over the world by courts, law enforcement, families (who state "that's how he is - marriage is difficult"), communities who turn a blind eye to black eyes, and even well meaning therapists and advocates who attempt to "mediate" these relationships with perpetrators who will never change their behavior. Gender based violence is an epidemic worldwide, damaging girls and women's psyches and bodies. In a world in which uncivil tweets are celebrated, entitled behavior is rewarded, violence and impulsive behavior are glorified, and the narcissists and psychopaths are running the asylum - Ana Orantes' story will be in vain. This story may have been extreme but not as extreme as many may think. And this goes well beyond physical violence. I am sure Ms. Orantes lived in unspeakable pain from the physical wounds, it is the emotional wounds, the chronic dehumanization and invalidation - that are often worse for anyone who is a victim of long-term violence at the hand of a partner or family member. RIP Ms. Orantes - those of us fighting for reforms in this area will fight in your memory.
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@Angry professor
Don’t forget the church, especially the patriarchal, hieratic, Catholic Church and hard right, conservative Catholic organizations like Opus Dei whose members now dominate the United States Supreme Court.
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@Angry professor: I agree with your commment. However when you say: "The personalities and behavior of perpetrators of gender based violence are characterized by narcissism, entitlement, hypersensitivity, impulsivity, insecurity, incivility and impunity " that is true for some abusers. Others *seem* to be quite charming, normal and devoted to their families. Not all perpetrators are walking around acting crazy which is why too often women aren't believed when they report the seemingly 'nice' pastor, attorney, coach, etc. for abuse.
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@Anne Yes, they wear two faces: the false mask of civility for the world, and the true demon unleashed at home.
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stories like these made me conclude that men (and the right wing everywhere) just don't deserve to lead anything, anywhere, ever. look where it's gotten us to.
if only we could just live in a peaceful, matriarchal society.
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@JA Perhaps we could just treat each other respectfully and as equals.
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@Bill,
respectfully,
treating each other with respect and as equals results in a civil society- no small feat these days. however, that does nothing for power imbalances and dynamics- those in power make the rules to favor them staying in power. and all laws are basically created to keep the ruling class in power, even in a democracy- in America that is white men.
it's only just recently that women and minorities and disenfranchised are making themselves heard and demanding change to those very structures.
men have ruled, without being asked, from day 0 of civilization. is it too much to ask to try a different way now?
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@JA I'm a woman, but respectfully, women are capable of great evil too. It actually reinforces some of the evil dynamics in play to reduce this to a "men bad, women good" analysis. The point is no human, man or woman, has the right to treat another this way, and that every human, man or woman, has the right to equal protection under the law.
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Wow. I had no idea Europe is still in medieval times. No laws that protect women from domestic violence, and prostitution is also legal in many countries there. Very sad.
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@Petunia
Europe is not in medieval times. Go there, travel.
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Domestic violence is still a major problem in Spain as is violence against women in general. Recently a judge decided that a gang rape wasn't because the victim hadn't fought back. in another case the sentence was appallingly short. I hope the current government helps this.
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@H Silk
The PSEO has had 140 years to fix this and hasn't.
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@H Silk Yes! We need the police and the law to catch up with the science of trauma and the fact that our bodies are hard wired for three possible reactions: fight, flight, or FREEZE. I unfortunately experienced the latter during my rape. It was the most surreal event of my life because the animating spirit and all power or movement and thought left my body. It was like an off switch was pressed on my being. I ceased to exist for all intents and purposes. I could not move or speak to defend myself or even make a sound to cry for help. Evolution must have found tremendous value in our playing dead, because it hardwired that response into us. So for the courts to hold “not fighting back” as a reason to acquit or not even charge men who gang rape is adding insult to injury when they cannot fathom the depth of the crime committed and how the body itself pulls the plug on one’s ability to fight back because the circumstances are so incredibly dire.
Women all over the world are being immeasurably harmed by domestic and sexualized violence that men and courts seem to condone. The most dangerous person in a woman’s life is her boyfriend, her husband, or her ex. That fact is a tragic statement about our culture of misogyny. It’s time for the law and the police to wake up!
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@Person: I'm so sorry that happened to you. And fighting back can often escalate the violence or turn a rape into a rape/murder. Most women just want to survive the assault.
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Gracias for this piece!! Would it be possible to make it available in Spanish? It will inspire Spanish speaking communities.
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What a debt we all owe to this woman.
Unfortunately, having laws is only the first step; enforcing them is a completely different leap that remains inconsistent.
Rest In Peace.
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