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 would like to preface this by saying that I love James Brown and respect him as the Godfather of Soul and appreciate his work not only for it in itself, but for all of the artists whose work he influenced. I am glad that Christina Aguilera took the effort to honor him at the 2007 Grammy's, but am not sure why she picked "Its a Mans World" as the song to sing in his remembrance. I can admit that I like the song, but not the lyrics. I feel that this song is pertinent to our class because it shows that patriarchy is still the driving force behind our society. James Brown has produced so much work worthy of remembering, but this particular song makes me uncomfortable. It shouldn't be just a man's world, but everyone's world. I'm glad that he decided "it wouldn't be nothing, nothing without a woman or a girl," but I just don't think that is the right approach. I had a difficult time choosing between this song and Respect by Aretha Franklin because they are both great, but then I found Christina's version and thought it was worth mentioning.

I must admit as well that I love this song and Christina Aguilera. With that being said, this song title captures the essence of our patriarchal society. James Brown was a brilliant musician and to be a true artist, you must observe the world you live and and deliver your emotional response. He did this by acknowleging the reality that we live in a society of male privilege. I would also like to add that this clip is another example of how the media helps to perpetuate our beliefs about women and is a tool to keep women subordinate to men.

This is a video regarding rape as a weapon of war from the voice of a Sudan soldier. This is extremely helpful because it verifies the rape that is going on in Sudan and allows me to gain the perspective of a soldier. He claims that he didn't want to do it and was forced or he would be killed. This video gives me a little more insight into who is commanding the war rape and how the soldiers actually feel about doing it. Here, structural violence is seen through the eyes of the perpetrator.

Desai, Sapna. 2005. "HIV and Domestic Violence: Intersections in the Lives of Married Women in India." Health and Human Rights 8(2, Emerging Issues in HIV/AIDS):140-168. This article is important because it looks at another culture, where HIV/AIDS is spread through marital rape. This is important because acquaintance rape, and rape by random people are not the only types there are, but they are frequently the only ones that are talked about. This article explores how women have no control over their sexuality and bodies, and are forced into sex with their husbands, thus leading them to contract HIV. This will help to add an angle to the paper on marital rape.

I use this entry from encyclopedia.com only to reference historical content on the Tailhook Scandal of 1991. This incident is an example of the United States military's mal-treatment and rape of female soldiers. This coincides with my topic on female soldiers involvement in armed forced.

Unaware before taking this class of reality, I too, like the majority of society, was influenced by the misconception that rape was a stereotypical image. I have come to find through taking this class that the majority of rape and physical assaults are experienced by females from a male perpetrator who is an intimate partner, including spouses, boyfriends, or dates. When searching ways in which the violence against women has been an issue under which proactive means have been taken toward awareness or even a solution, I came across the website for the Bahamas Crisis Center. This page offers a direct introduction to the issue with the poster that states, "When we got married, I promised to love, honour and obey him and he promised the same to me. I gave him my love, respect and my heart, but last night he betrayed that love and broke my heart. He RAPED me." This page seeks to directly address marital rape as an eminent threat to the well-being of women and the society at large by taking a problem that ordinarily occurs within the home and places it in people's faces. The video "Silent Pain" is a collage of images, words, songs, and interviews. It begins with a description of the emotions felt by women whom are betrayed and raped by their husbands. When asked if they were aware of what marital rape was, those interviewed replied "no" and of those who were female, they remarked that it is indeed, unacceptable while the males depicted it as "a condoned act of marriage". Fortunately, the video also attempted to show how the issue has become increasingly apparent in the media to raise social acknowledgment. The video ends with a detailed personal account of a woman who was raped by her husband. I believe this is a positive step toward making a private issue a public one that needs to urgently be addressed.

This was an amazingly difficult video for me to watch. The explicit images from films, reenactments, etc. were incredibly jarring. However, I think that this was a good thing because it really sent the message through to me, even more so than the readings we have been doing in this course, especially those from last week. I think it is great that you found this. Is this also implemented in the US or only in the UK? This might be something really good to place within the symposium!

This website lays out a description of and a schedule for the "Cuentos de Hadas (Fairy Tales) Art Exhibtion at Avenue 50 Studio, Inc. in California. It is the intent of the artists' collections to display the discrepancy between the assumed and enforced male and female gender roles within fairy tales. The physical appearance, control of emotions, and psychological mind-set of the leading heroin and hero roles are pre-destined and the same stereotypes in most fairy tales. This exhibition asks the viewer to acknowledge this fact and address the underlying issues and implications within it. Furthermore, the weekend of the Art display is a march where participants will march in the name of a prayer for Juarez, Mexico where Femicide is both an immediate and devastating reality.

I LOVE this idea! Since I seem to be in connection mode... this really made me consider the fairy tales and new renditions of fairy tales and short stories I read over the past month for my English class, "Romancing the Novel." Typical tales do seem to subjugate women, and set them up for interactions of violence towards and against them, while the Angela Carter renditions of past fairy tales set up new heroines much like this artwork is attempting to do. Also, I think it is great that the institution and artist are relating these works to the Femicide in Juarez. Rather than make art for arts sake, they are trying to force more impact and meaning within the work, and this really appeals to me. It is scary to think that most young girls are read or watch the more traditional versions of fairy tales... perhaps this sets us/them up for ignorance of violence against women???

I found this article/sound bite to be very interesting. Women in Baghdad are beginning to reclaim femininity (although a more western view of what femininity is) in fashion and appearance. Women describe their ability to wear western clothing as freedom; many say it is more about the freedom than the fashion itself. One has to wonder though, will the violence specifically against women be provoked by these women who are contradicting the male ideal of what a woman should wear and act like? I certainly hope not, but it does make me nervous. Woman have drastically come from abaya's and hijab's to low rise jeans and snug shirts. At times even, if a woman was seen without one of these (hijab or abaya), she may be kidnapped or even killed. However, we should hope that this freedom continues for these women, in more ways than one. Relates to past readings like Narayan and Sylverstein, or the film "Killers Paradise."

Public awareness of the specific kind of violence being inflicted upon women and girls was still lacking until into the eighties. Cruelty such as genital mutilation, dowry murder, the trade in women, forced prostitution, abortion of female foetuses etc. were all accepted as cultural peculiarities.