Group items tagged

Encuesta Nacional de Salud Familiar FESAL 2008 http://www.fesal.org.sv/, accessed April 2010 "Encuesta Nacional de Salud Familiar," is a site which has a document of statistics from 2008. The information shows rates and incidents of domestic violence in El Salvador. There are percentages that show what kind of violence is experienced and how women react to the violence, in terms of if they tell a friend, family member, or report it. The data also explains the different types of violence that women experience, meaning physical, sexual, and verbal. In detail it also discusses the kind of forms these three types of violence take, such as pushing and kicking for physical violence, humiliation and threatening for verbal abuse, and forced sex for sexual abuse. This information also discusses the differences of domestic abuse between rural and urban areas of El Salvador. This source helps to understand domestic violence in Latin America because it gives actual data and information on the rates of domestic violence in a particular Latin American country. Unlike other sources which do not mention domestic violence at all but only focus on femicide. This site is very helpful because it gives me the type of information that is very hard to find because domestic violence in Latin America is not a widely addressed issue.

I came across this while searching for ant-domestic violence campaigns and couldn't resist posting it... This is an article on a Danish anti domestic violence PSA, which apparently asks you to virtually beat a woman and then calls you an idiot and presents facts about domestic violence at the end. I personally do not think that this is an effective way to prevent domestic violence, as it would seem to desensitize people to it, but not all commentators agreed, and some that I read felt that this was a good strategy because it was edgy and attention grabbing, and would make people notice this issue. Other peoples thoughts?

I think this game is just as sick as the other game that we saw in the CNN article. I would love to know who came up with the game's design to see why they chose to use "pussy" and "gansta" to describe the type of man you could be, and why they thought this would stop violence rather than increase it. I think the creators are making these actions seem normal by putting the female character in a situation that could happen so frequently and by making the male respond to it with violence. Like we've been talking about in class, it seems like the game is only going to increase the amount of violence against women rather than stopping it.

What this anti-violence campaign is doing is making light of violence against women. Although the reason why it was created was to make people aware of violence against women, in fact I believe it is doing the opposite of what they intended. The campaign was created to shock people and to catch their attention in order to bring a focus on violence against women. I'm curious to hear about what others think and whether they believe this example of activism works in certain contexts. My question is, did this campaign work in Denmark? Was it effective???

Gaudermann, Kimberly 2003 Women's Lives in Colonia Quito: Gender, Law, and Economy in Spanish America. Texas: University of Texas Press. "Women's Lives in Colonial Quito: Gender, Law and Economy in Spanish America" by Kimberly Gaudermann provides a very important historical perspective to my paper. This book discusses how domestic violence was handled in Quito, Ecuador in the seventeenth century. Women who reported instances of domestic abuse were able to charge their husband and bring him to court. The state empowered women through giving them the ability to punish their husbands if he hit them or mishandled their money or dowry property. The state's incentive in doing this was to control the money and property involved in marriages and to ensure that no one person had more power than the state and was able to 'play' them in anyway. This book is an extremely important aspect to my paper in answering the question of why domestic violence is not created as a problem in Latin America because it shows that domestic violence was not always ignored. Rather, during the seventeenth century the state was very involved in trying to prevent domestic violence and any man who committed this crime was punished. However this is not true today where domestic abuse is created as a cultural norm and the government does not do much to enforce prevention on this matter. I think this book is important because it creates another part to my paper that is not only historic but also develops questions for why the ideas toward domestic violence have changed in Latin America and how that affects women.

Creel, Liz 2001 Domestic Violence: An Ongoing Threat to Women in Latin America and the Caribbean. Population Reference Bureau. http://www.prb.org/Articles/2001/DomesticViolenceAnOngoingThreattoWomeninLatinAmericaandtheCaribbean.aspx, accessed April 2010. This article explains how many Latin American countries do not seriously address domestic violence. Men may receive a misdemeanor instead of a felony based on the kind of injuries that a woman has, for example, if she only has bruises or does not have to stay in the hospital for a long time, than her abuser is charged with less. On top of this, police do not always follow through or even respond to reports of domestic abuse and courts and judges do not ensure adequate protective services for victims. This article is very crucial to my paper. I am looking at why domestic violence is not constructed as an issue in Latin America. This article shows that not only is domestic violence not handled as a serious issue by officials, it also demonstrates that these apathetic attitudes towards domestic abuse only increase the problem of it not being handled as a important issue and allowing for victims to believe that it is a not a worthy enough problem that they should report.

(This is the organization's website that produced my source. Diigo would not allow me to bookmark the actual source because it is a pdf file so I am doing the organization's website instead) Consejo Centroamericana de Procuradores de Derechos Humanos 2006 Situación y análisis del femicidio en la Región Centroamericana. Instituto Interamericanode Derechos Humanos Secretaría Técnica (IIDH). http://www.conadeh.hn/pdf/Femicidio.pdf, accesed March 2010 Consejo Centroamericano de Procuradores de Derechos Humanos 2006 Situación y análisis del femicidio en la Región Centroamericana. Instituto Interamericano de Derechos Humanos Secretaría Técnica (IIDH). http://www.conadeh.hn/pdf/Femicidio.pdf, accessed March 2010 "Situación y análisis del femicidio en la Región Centroamericana" is a document that presents data and statistics on violence against women in Central America. The study is focused on femicide but there is a small amount of information on domestic violence. This study is important to my paper for two main reasons. First, it does provide some information on the occurrences of domestic violence which is helpful to answering one part of my research question which studies the role of domestic violence targeted against women in Latin America. Secondly, this study provides a lot of information and data on femicide in Central America, including rates and laws. This immense amount of data on femicide in contrast with the little presented on domestic abuse demonstrates what is constituted as a problem in the region and what is considered to be important enough to study. Femicide has been constructed as the main issue targeting women in Latin America which is why this study and many others focus solely on that rather than other forms of violence against women as well. In my paper I am also looking at the constraints to studying domestic violen

This is a great resource for understanding the intersectionality of gender, culture and ethnicity. It is the official website of La Alianza, a Latino Activism against Domestic Violence organization. This is a great resource to use for the understanding of the different experiences and expectations Latinas face when in abusive relationships.

I think this website and organization are really important because it brings to light an issue we have discussed in class, the idea of cultural differences and how to address problems such as domestic violence in cultures that have different views on it and may not agree with how others choose to handle domestic violence. This website mentions that Latina women have a strong sense of moral code to their families and to what they are supposed to do in their role as women because of their cultural norms and values. Thus, many Latinas, when faced with domestic violence, may not find it as easy to just leave their families or take other action to stop the violence due to these cultural morals. I think cultural differences is something very important that must be taken into account in this class and all over when thinking of ways to end violence against women. To many women in particular cultures, such as the Latino community, leaving one's husband or reporting a case of domestic abuse is not acceptable to them and goes against the very culture and values that they come from and that has formed the person they are. When we think of ways to help women dealing with situations of domestic abuse we must think of the cultural barriers they have to cross in order to get out of a violent home, which is why this organization is very important, because it is aware of those barriers and works to find ways around them and still end violence against women in the Latino community.

This site is about domestic violence perpetrated by police officers. I thought this site was interesting because it deals with a subset of domestic violence that is not always on the top of the discussion list. It talks about the added problems that victims have when their abuser is a cop who has been trained to be the authority figure.

I agree that this site is interesting and worth noting because it does happen and when it does, there is practically nothing a civilian victim can do against a government paid law enforcement officer. It was difficult for me to read because it reminded me of a classmate I had in high school who had been physically abused by his father who was a judge. His story was particularly difficult for me to understand because he had volunteered all of this information about his horrible home life without warning. It was also interesting to me because he had decided to leave his house to live with his grandmother, which is actually how we started carpooling. He was a year older than I, but he has a younger brother in my year who stayed at home with his parents. I never knew how to act around him knowing what I did even though he hadn't told me. The boy in my year must have had a crush on one of my best friends and had a poor way of showing it, which I think was partly due to his violent family dynamic. My girlfriend still tells me about how he stalked her and still calls and sends her odd and unwelcome messages.

I also agree that this site is very interesting. Not only does it expose a flaw of prosecuting domestic violence in our legal system, but also shows how traditional "masculine" roles influence domestic violence. I like that the author shows how police culture, which conforms to many stereotypes about masculinity, works to increase rates and intensity of domestic violence, rather than only looking at problems with the individual abusers. The only thing I didn't like about this article was that I felt it down played the difficulties that women who have not been abused by officers face. The beginning of the article made it seem as if there was a wide network of support and help for victims of domestic violence within the legal system, which is not typically the case.

I bookmarked this particular page because it is a petition to help end violence against women in United States foreign assistance programs by asking Congress to pass The International Violence Against Women Act. We are supposed to be bookmarking resources that respond to violence against women or provide a vision for change. This petition which is aiming to pass an important act does those things exactly because it is trying to change existing conditions of violence against women. If the act is passed there will hopefully be much less violence against women in US foreign aid programs. I think we in this class have a responsibility to be active which is why I posted this petition which we should all read and sign. I already have!

This site is a good way in raising awareness and encouraging people to participate in stopping violence against women. I really like how the petition opens with a few descriptions of imagining a world free of domestic violence, emphasizing how life for women would be safer, comfortable and prosperous. After looking through the site and reading more about the objectives/ goals of various organizations trying to stop domestic violence, I felt compelled to sign the petition and make a change myself. I think a lot of times we view issues such as violence against women out of our control or reach. However, I think by having petitions and sites like this that support the cause, will allow change and inspire people to be more active.

Lancaster, Roger M. 1992 Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua. Berkeley: University of California Press "Life is Hard: Machismo, Danger, and the Intimacy of Power in Nicaragua" by Roger N. Lancaster discusses domestic abuse in Managua, Nicaragua. Lancaster discusses the unequal power structures that exist between genders and enforced gender norms. The machismo culture in Managua produces men who show their masculinity through violence, power, and dominance over the women in their lives. Women also have fixed gender roles of tending to their domestic chores and obeying their husbands. When women act outside of their gender roles, such as drinking, not listening to their husband, or telling their husband what to do, this is when their husband hits them in order to show that they are the men and thus they have the power. This book is important to my paper because it explains how domestic violence is culturally situated in Latin America and what cultural circumstances cause domestic violence, which in this case are gender norms including women's inequality and men's power over women.

This is a link to the Battered Women's Justice Project. This site is helpful because it deals with both local and international domestic violence, and covers a wide variety of issues including battering, stalking, child abuse, immigrant rights, etc. It both provides resources for victims of domestic violence and also works to show how to change the legal system and criminal justice proceedings concerning domestic violence.

This article/campaign is really interesting and actually quite funny. I have mixed perspectives on the effectiveness of having a man walk a mile in women's high heels. The point of the campaign is to end domestic violence and raise awareness of the issue. It accurately demonstrates how ridiculous it is that women are expected to wear heals but at the same time, I don't know how much it can rally change a man's behavior. I think this campaign is more effective in the gender roles women and men face and in addressing verbal/social abuse, but not so much in physical abuse.

I found this campaign to be hilarious! What a great fun way for men to get involved. We've talked so much about how crucial it is for men to recognize violence against women as an issue for it to ever cease and here is an opportunity. The pictures were of firemen and business men who seemed to be having fun with the event which would most likely encourage other men to get involved. The pain of wearing high heels is only a fraction of the pain that women face as a result of domestic violence, but maybe it starts to get the point across to men!

I thought this was a really great idea. It is definitely important to get men involved, and this offers a fun and creative way to do it. I wasn't quite sure that wearing heels will offer that much awareness to violence, but more towards the oppression that women face, which can lead to domestic violence. It definitely demonstrates gender roles, ideals, and possibly will help men to realize the pain that it takes to be the 'ideal woman'. But I don't know how effective it would be in actually making men take action outside of the walk.

This is a link to "Man Up" , a group dedicated to helping youth end violence against women and girls, it's slogan being that violence against women is everyone's issue, not just a women's issue. They give out grants to youth activists to start programs against domestic violence in their communities, and work through a number of mediums including sports, music, technology, and art.

While I fully support any non-profit organization's attempt at gaining awareness and participation by female and male youth alike, I would also argue that I have seen better-designed and more informed websites to encourage participation for the cause to stop violence against women. The section with the definition of different types of violence was rather informative, but I wish the "Get Involved" section would have been more in depth and easy to navigate to links of promoted involvement.

United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women. 2009 The UN Secretary-General's Database on Violence against Women. http://webapps01.un.org/vawdatabase/country.action, accessed March 2010. The UN Secretary General Database on Violence against Women provides information on the laws, plans, and organizations which have been formed in different countries to end and prevent violence against women. The laws from Latin American countries such as Guatemala, Nicaragua, and El Salvador are very important to my paper. I discuss what has been done in different Latin American countries to stop and prevent domestic violence. Some of the links on this website connect to the actual laws which are very interesting to read in order to understand the details of each law, meaning what is being changed and implemented and who is responsible for helping victims.

This article is about 6 students in India who chose to do a project on domestic violence which included an exhibition using props that symbolized the atrocities that women face. The article also deals with some of the reactions of the people that saw the exhibits.

This website is dedicated to showing how art can be used as a healing tool for victims of domestic violence. There is a list of exhibitions that can be seen online which include postcard art, dolls, masks, and family trees, and each piece is created by a person who experienced some form of domestic violence. I think this site is a good one because it shows how the victims aren't alone and allows them to possibly heal from the experience.

"The study described in this paper looked at homelessness law in the UK before the passage of the recent Housing Act (1996) in Britain. It does not bear out the supposition that homeless families, including women escaping from domestic violence and their children, were unfairly favoured under the previous legislation. The paper argues that the withdrawal in the new Act of the statutory link between homelessness and a lifeline to permanent housing is an example of the ambivalent and contradictory nature of government policy in relation to families and to the social position of women, and is a potentially disastrous development for many women experiencing domestic violence and for their children."

This website is created by men to get information and discuss male victims of domestic violence. It's not an official website by any means, but it is kind of interesting to read, if only to spark interesting discussions.

As I mentioned in my earlier post, domestic abuse is the leading cause of homelessness in the United States. Women who go to shelters are tended to, but this article causes me to wonder how much attention and support their children are receiving. Domestic abuse and homelessness can have catastrophic effects on children, including behavioral problems, poor nutrition and severe emotional stress. This leads me to believe that there needs to be more programs in schools and shelters that focus on offsetting the traumatic effects on children of violence in the home.