Understanding and Stopping Violence Against Women

I found this particular piece of art among several others under the category of on deviantart.com, an online community created for all sorts of artists. X4rsyzt3m, the artist, provided a short explanation of her piece, which included statistics about violence against women, particularly violence among intimate partners of which she is a victim. I read the comments below the work and was taken aback by what a person called Saywhaat and another called Humanisticparadox said in response to the piece. (I do not agree with either of them). Saywhaat was offended by the piece because she (I'm assuming it is a she) thinks that the artist is, "degrading not only [her]self but [her] entire sex" because the artist thinks that women should be treated differently, which I am not sure the artist is trying to say. I was personally offended by what Humanisticparadox said because he (he admitted to being a he) thinks that it is our fault that we are the weaker sex emotionally and physically and that we should be toughened up instead of protected.

This article is about the different perspectives in a rape case in this college and how it was addressed. Was this way of dealing with rape just and exemplary or not ?

I think whether or not this case of rape was exemplary or not can be argued both ways. Since Melandy waited to report the rape, did not have a rape kit, witnesses or any other evidence, the ruling was based on her statement and the PS officer's investigation. I think because the college hearing board listened to Melandy as a victim and took into account the fear and distress she experienced they were more concerned about her rights as a victimized woman. By not convicting Jordan, the hearing board would have sent a message that justice is not served and women will remain the victims, normalizing rape on the campus. If society becomes more intolerant with violence against women in the form of rape and sensitive to women's rights, I think more women will come forward and report rape.

This is about a recent victory in South Africa regarding hate speech and rape. It is important to our course because rape is a major problem in violence against women. By taking action against offenders, in a country where rape is very big problem, the South African government is taking a stand and helping to change the future of violence against women.

This article draws a parallel to the questions/ workshop based on femicide in class. When discussing effective ways to raise awareness and stop the violence, the government seemed a major resource in doing so. I found it very interesting and surprising that the South African government is taking hate speech and rape seriously and being proactive in making sure this violence stops and perpetrators are punished. By getting the government involved in gender equality and violence, can allow change within society among men and women. In particular men can be educated in how to support women's rights and gender equalities, and also create new standards or systems of gender roles to advance gender equality.

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.

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.

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.

Active for Ending Rape is an organization that works with students to get organized and make a change within their own college community. Focusing on ending sexual violence, SAFER encourages kids to know their school's policy when it comes to such violence on their campus. Through policy changes, the organization hopes that university campuses will be a safer place for all. The website offers on-campus training as well as other free resources students can use to get going. With a list of other schools who have started using the program as well as specific student video stories, SAFER gives students the tools they need to get started.

This is a great webpage. One of my articles was on how one rape case in Holly Cross was poorly addressed. The importance of clear and fair procedures in college campuses mark a difference in prevention and in especially addressing the cases. I think that an organization such as SAFER ism important because it gives tools to empower students to end the inustice. It is a very positive article ! Thank you Kat.

Being a student on a College campus, I could not think of a better website to correlate everyday reality to this course. Also, this site seems appropriate to coincide with the Symposium, "Breaking the Silence", as it asks college students nation-wide to take a proactive role in sculpting the future of their College's sexual assault policies. It is important to note that on the Wheaton campus, we maintain and encourage a "don't ask, don't tell" type of policy where the discussion or realization of sexual assault on the campus is seemingly unheard of. This site encourages its viewers to be open-minded and encourage others to discuss the current campus policies and acknowledge that assault and rape do in fact, occur on college campuses nation-wide despite their lack of publicity.

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 is article was on the front page of the Economist on March 4th, 2010. This article has a great deal of information on the current phenomena seen on how "technology, declining fertility and ancient prejudice are combining to unbalance societies" This article focuses on China, India and South Korea but touches on the general issue a lot. This article is a good resource to understand how violence against women can start even before they are born. Furthermore, you can see the political prejudices that go into it.

I think that this issue relates a lot to violence against women and cultural perceptions of women around the world. By choosing not to keep, or evening killing a child simply because it is a girl you are putting forth the image that girls are not as important as boys, and have less worth. I know that in many cultures this is believed to be true at all ages, but it especially hits home when those involved can't in any way defend themselves.

This article is very important because it shows how economical factors, cultural factors, technology and the goverment contribute in some way to "gendercide" and how they also sustain the hatred against women. This factors help us understand that violence against women, even when they havent been born yet is connected to other factors beyond culture. This article is important in the aspect that it shows that hatred and violence against women may take place even before they are born and it is also important because it discusses a number of factors that contribute to it. This article conncts to my articles on Guatemala because the goverment and other social factors also perpertuate inequality and violence against women.

The Spiritual Alliance to Stop Intimate Violence is an organization that advocates awareness on intimate violence as a global issue. The website provides information on family life and focuses on strengthening the partnership between parents and children.

I think this website is really important because it focuses on intimate violence which affects not only women but children as well. The majority of the other bookmarked websites primarily discuss violence against women, and although that is obviously extremely important, I think it is also very important to look at how violence against women in the home can affect children and the ways to help families cope with intimate violence and the ways we as a world can try and stop it. SAIV works to raise awareness about this issue that occurs around the globe by grassroots movements and by bringing these issues to different sectors of the government, two very important movements that help in creating change. This website and SAIV are very important to our class because they work to bring to light intimate violence as a global issue and the ways we can become active to stop the violence and help families affected by intimate violence around the globe.

This is an article from the newest edition of "Our Bodies Ourselves" regarding self-defense. The article discusses what self-defense is and the controversy behind it. Self-defense is explained as a way to effectively protect ourselves against violence. This web page is useful because it provides links to other articles from "Our Bodies Ourselves" that discuss violence against women.

I really enjoyed this articles discussion on what self defense is, and the fact that it didn't seem to place the responsibility for prevention on the woman, but rather focused on empowerment. So many sites dealing with violence protection/prevention engage in victim blaming and make it seem as if it's the woman's fault that she was raped/hit/killed if she did not follow these tips and techniques, so it was really refreshing to read one that doesn't engage in these practices

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.

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???

This sound clip interview discusses the first UK studies and survey of violence against women... well, not so much women as adolescent girls. I appreciated this news bit as it was addressing younger girls and women who are facing some of the same problems that older women are facing in marital or intimate relationships. Many of these young women are dealing with battering and typical types of domestic violence that most people only relate to older women. Christine Barter, senior research fellow for the School of Policy Studies at Bristol University is head of the research. Once the research is obtained, it is examined in relation to the government's policies. People are hoping to catch this violence early and teach girls about it so as to prevent it later in their lives. I find this to be a noble and valuable effort. Relates to past readings like Crenshaw, Yllo, Ptacek, Tjaden, and DeKeseredy.

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."

I wanted to bookmark this site because we do not yet have a blog bookmarked and this one is specifically about ending violence against women. The blog, started in 2007 on Women's Day, has posts and comments that pertain to movements,organizations, ideas, and personal opinions on ending violence against women and the activism that surrounds it in the UK. The blog is also a coalition which represents 7 million people and organizations in the UK working to end violence against women. The different posts, which range from articles to youtube links to people just writing their thoughts, are all very interesting and provide a diverse look at the ending violence against women activism that is happening in the UK. It also shows how the internet and blogs can be a resourceful and important aspect of activism.