Martina Troentle, author of the book 'CalladÃta', turned silence into a public statement. Her book does not aim to name names but to open a conversation: 'It's a book that asserts the need to raise your hand and speak'. In an exclusive interview with the Argentine News Agency, she shared: 'This book briefly tells the story of a sexual abuse I suffered at the age of 15 and everything that happened to me for not speaking up at the time and for keeping silent.' She is now 30 years old and lived with this secret for half her life: 'I went 15 years without telling anyone,' she affirms. Before starting to write, Troentle decided to talk to her mother: 'We have a very close relationship, and I couldn't not tell this to the person I love most in the world,' she recalls. She did it 'full of doubts and with a lot of vertigo,' because until then she had never said it out loud, but luckily, the response was supportive, but also a key question: 'Well, what are you going to do about this?'. The author first thought to leave it only in writing, as something intimate, however, she changed her mind when she understood the impact her testimony could have: 'When I realized that telling my story could be the push someone else needed to turn around and tell it in their circle, I decided to publish it.' 'Writing was easy, but publishing it was not so much.' The process was quick, as the author started writing in December 2024 and presented it in April: 'It was a very fast process too.' As she explained, the speed played in her favor since 'it's those things that if you think about them twice, maybe they scare you.' 'It was 100% something I had had in my head for so long that it was easy to put into words,' she assured, although the complexity came at the time of publishing: 'The day before it came out or the same day it came out, I was very scared, I didn't tell anyone, and suddenly everyone could know it.' The reaction of her environment. Her family found out at different stages of the process, as some found out a week before the publication. 'Everyone took it very well,' she said and admitted she feared negative reactions, even that someone would think she was to blame, but that did not happen. She also highlighted the role of her friends: 'Absolute support. I felt very contained by my friends.' Many accompanied her at the Book Fair and in the presentations: 'I am very grateful, beyond my family, to have the friends I chose.' After the abuse, she explained she activated a defense mechanism: 'I entered a state in which I tried not to bring what had happened to me into my relationships.' Therefore, she continued to have partners but never spoke of the issue in those bonds: 'I never had a 100% honest relationship because I never told anyone in any relationship.' At the age of 12, she developed an eating disorder and had purgative nervosa bulimia for 10 years, it was then that she began intensive treatment at a specialized center, and since then she has not stopped therapy and continues with the same psychologist. On the other hand, when asked about writing that terrible moment, the writer stated: 'It cost me a lot to face that moment again.' Relating what happened implied looking back at the story from the perspective of the teenager she was then: 'It is very difficult to be 29 and go back to when I was 15 and speak and remember what a 15-year-old's head remembers, I cannot tell that with my 30-year-old head.' Six months of abuse and extortion. As she recounted, the situation lasted for approximately six months and involved several boys: 'It was several people, many times,' she stated. 'They extorted me into performing oral sex on everyone there or else they would tell the whole school what was happening,' detailed Troentle. The events occurred outside of school, at the house of one of those involved: 'From minute one, I made it clear that I did not want to do that,' she emphasized. It all started with a boy she liked, who invited her to his house and there the situations of abuse and threats occurred: 'If you don't do such and such, I won't be with you anymore and I will tell everyone that you did this.' As to whether she was the only victim, she noted: 'I never came across another person, but I know I'm not the only one.' Finally, the author did not initiate legal proceedings and explained that, being facts between minors, the process would be complex. In addition, she does not find in justice her reparation: 'Today justice is not my place of reparation, but my place of reparation and healing is writing.' 'Unfortunately today, all of us who have gone through some type of abuse are revictimized when they make us tell our story again,' for this reason, she chose to heal from another place. Despite the harshness of the account, the writer maintains that her story does not reduce her to what she lived: 'It's something that happened to me and not something that defines me.'
