Violence Against Women - What we in the US take for granted

[Novelafemme]

Originally Posted by AtLast

I see what you are saying. I don't recall exactly what was going on when I first did this thread. Yes, my own back yard is a mess.

What I often have problems with here in the US is a US-centric outlook about violence against women- not much awareness of how globally, women are treated. That we need to look at all of the issues and cultural variables around the world that women face. That is what I was trying to get at. Believe me, I get what continues here in the US.

I recently took a class on transnational feminisms, which is precicely what AtLast is referencing in her above post. and, yes, the us has a very us-centric perspective on just about every human rights issue you can think of. take "third-world" countries for example. "third-world" as compared to what? the u.s.? does this mean we are a "first world" country? and if so, what criteria did we meet in order to exact a first place status?

[AtLast]

Originally Posted by Novelafemme

I recently took a class on transnational feminisms, which is precicely what AtLast is referencing in her above post. and, yes, the us has a very us-centric perspective on just about every human rights issue you can think of. take "third-world" countries for example. "third-world" as compared to what? the u.s.? does this mean we are a "first world" country? and if so, what criteria did we meet in order to exact a first place status?

This does click with what I was trying to say.

Something that has struck me as well is how I can better see the world outside of US paradigms is seeing independent films. Sure, I just like this genre, but, more often than not, I leave feeling like I might just understand perspectives outside of my own better. Yes, I see mainstream US movies, but, let's face it, they are mostly (not always) from a white, middle class perspective of life in the US.

[*Anya*]

Nearly One in Five U.S. Women Raped in Lifetime
By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) Dec 15 - Nearly 20% of women in the United States have been raped at least once and one in four has been severely attacked by an intimate partner, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported on Wednesday.

Almost 80% of female victims were first raped before age 25 and more than half were raped by a current or former partner, according to the CDC's analysis of data from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey of 18,049 men and women in the United States in 2010.

The survey, which the CDC said was the first of its kind, found that one in eight female rape victims said the perpetrator was a family member.

Alaska, Oregon, and Nevada had the highest percentage of women who had been raped, the study found.

One in seven men reported having experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner and one in 71 men said they had been raped at least once.

The report highlights numerous long-term health problems associated with sexual violence, including headaches, chronic pain, and difficulty sleeping.

"This landmark report paints a clear picture of the devastating impact these violent acts have on the lives of millions of Americans," U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius said in a statement.

The CDC numbers show rape "is still a crime that impacts almost every family in America," said Scott Berkowitz, president of the nonprofit group Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network.

More victims need to report rape and more rapists need to go to prison, Berkowitz told Reuters.

"The more we can get off the street, the more crime we can prevent," he said.

The new report defines rape as "completed forced penetration, attempted penetration, and alcohol or drug-facilitated completed penetration."

SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/t10uOI

CDC, 2011.

Reuters Health Information © 2011

==========================================

[Glenn]

Fully one quarter of all South African men admit to having raped at least one woman or girl in their lifetime, according to a recent study about rape and HIV in South Africa. This study used Palm Pilots to guarantee anonymity.

[Greyson]

I just saw a quick news story the other night about "Honor Killings." Yes, they are happening globally. One story in particular was out of Canada. These women are killed by male family members because they have done something that is considered to have "disgraced" the family. Something horrible like stepped out of their home without being chapperoned by a male family member.

[Kobi]

TEL AVIV—For years, Israeli women have been pressured into moving to the rear of public buses serving strictly religious Jews. Now, in confrontations reminiscent of the era of Rosa Parks, women are pushing back.

Doron Matalon, an 18-year-old soldier, says she was standing at the front of the No. 49a municipal bus after an overnight shift at her Jerusalem base on Wednesday morning last week when an ultra-Orthodox man ordered her to move back.

"I said that I have the right to sit here," she says. "Then a commotion ensued, and other people gathered around and started shouting….It was scary."

The conflict drew national media attention and highlighted the growing tensions in Israel as the population of once-insular ultra-Orthodox Jews has surged beyond the urban enclaves of Jerusalem and the Tel Aviv suburb of Bnei Brak, where they have lived for decades.

As the Orthodox seek jobs and housing in other areas, they are increasingly interacting with mainstream Israelis who see their strict code of religious practice to be coercive, and a threat to Israel's democracy.

"It's a slippery slope. What starts with women boarding the bus in the back because of modesty can end up with women not voting," says Mickey Gitzin, the director of Be Free Israel, a nonprofit that promotes religious pluralism. "It could turn Israeli society into a segregated society in which women don't have a place in public life."

In the past week, public outrage peaked following a TV report on the harassment of an 8-year-old girl by ultra-Orthodox men, in the Jerusalem suburb of Beit Shemesh. The men spat on the girl and called her a prostitute for dressing in a way they considered to be immodest.

That spurred thousands of people to demonstrate against the segregation of women on Tuesday, Dec. 27; a counterprotest two days later ignited clashes in Jerusalem and in Beit Shemesh.

Haredi rabbis of Beit Shemesh said the women of their community observe modesty rules voluntarily because they are for women's honor and Judaism orders the separation of men and women in the public sphere.

Many ultra-Orthodox object to segregation, but have gone on the defensive. "The problem is that they want to make a secular state in the Holy Land. That's what creates the friction," said Israel Eichler, a parliament member from the ultra-Orthodox United Torah Judaism party.

Mr. Eichler alleged that Israel's secular media is focusing on the ultra-Orthodox treatment of women as a way of indirectly attacking a political ally of the Haredis—Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Mr. Netanyahu has repeatedly denounced segregation. Last week he insisted that "women will sit in every place."

Haredi political parties wield outsized clout because they often function as kingmakers of Israeli coalitions by moving between right and left, though their outlook is more in keeping with right-wing coalitions.

For decades, Israel's Haredi sects kept at a distance from the mainstream, congregating in self-contained ghettos. Their religious ideology rejected the foundations of the secular Jewish state even as they participated in its politics.

Because they made up a relatively small percentage of the population, they were allowed to avoid army service and oversee schools that shed elements of state curriculum, and lobbied for public subsidies that enabled graduates to continue religious study rather than pursue jobs.

In the 14 years since the first public buses went into operation in Jerusalem, exclusion and segregation efforts have expanded to include men-only sidewalks in ultra-Orthodox
neighborhoods, separated waiting rooms at some health clinics, and the gradual disappearance of women from billboard advertisements in Jerusalem.

With Haredi birthrates double the average Israeli family, ultra-Orthodox Jews are poised to surge from around 10% of the country's population. Economists say the status quo, where most Haredi men don't work, will eventually drag down the economy because the government won't be able to afford the rising cost of so many men staying out of the workplace.

The bus lines that initially served only ultra-Orthodox communities eventually spilled over into mixed areas. As the number of segregated bus lines grew into the dozens and complaints emerged, the liberal Israel Religious Action Center, an affiliate of the U.S. Reform Jewish movement, petitioned the Supreme Court to ban segregation on buses.

In a ruling in January 2011, the court said that while forced segregated buses were illegal in principle, it would be possible to allow them to operate for one year on a voluntary basis.

The ruling highlighted a dilemma for Israel's government in determining how to handle diverse religious and national groups that reject many of its basic principles.

"The deeper question is how does a democracy deal with separatist fundamentalist communities in its midst," said Yossi Klein Halevi, a fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem. "Israel's great domestic challenge is to figure out the balance between allowing cultural autonomy and reinforcing its sovereign authority."

With the one-year trial period about to end, the petitioners say they plan to press the Supreme Court again.

For Ms. Matalon, it might be too late. She says she fears riding the bus and hasn't returned for fear of harassment.

"It wasn't the first time and it won't be the last time," she says.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...myyahoo_module

[Novelafemme]

Originally Posted by Greyson

I just saw a quick news story the other night about "Honor Killings." Yes, they are happening globally. One story in particular was out of Canada. These women are killed by male family members because they have done something that is considered to have "disgraced" the family. Something horrible like stepped out of their home without being chapperoned by a male family member.

CANADA?!?!

[Cin]

Eve Ensler Calls for a Billion Women to Strike Against Sexual Violence

The Vagina Monologues shot writer Eve Ensler to stardom. Now she is a global campaigner who plans to call a billion women out on strike against rape.

Eve Ensler has big plans. For the 15th anniversary of V-Day in 2013, she wants to get a billion women – the figure comes from the UN's estimate that one in three women will be raped or assaulted during their lifetime – to come together, "to walk out of their jobs, to walk out of any situation where they have been violated, or just to walk because they were violated, and to join with whoever. If women could see the numbers, how many women we are who have been through this experience …
http://www.alternet.org/story/153625...e/?page=entire

[EnderD_503]

Originally Posted by Novelafemme

CANADA?!?!

Erm...you do realise honour killings occur all over the world yes? Basically anywhere that has residents who come from regions where honour killing is accepted will have an issue with honour killings. Canada (and other western nations including the US) has had quite a few cases where immigrants from the middle east or south Asia, particularly, participate in honour killings. There was one case recently where a husband, his wife and their son were responsible for drowning their three daughters over "revealing" social media pictures and having boyfriends or something like that. Every nation in the world has a struggle against honour killings.

[Truly Scrumptious]

Originally Posted by Novelafemme

CANADA?!?!

Yes, Canada.
Right now there is a trial going on that has a mother, father and son accused of killing 4 family members: 3 daughters and one first wife.

It's hard to stomach, but if you're up for the challenge you can read about it here:
http://www.thestar.com/news/canada/a...honour-killing

[LaneyDoll]

Originally Posted by *Anya*

Nearly One in Five U.S. Women Raped in Lifetime
By David Beasley

ATLANTA (Reuters) Dec 15 - More victims need to report rape and more rapists need to go to prison, Berkowitz told Reuters.

"The more we can get off the street, the more crime we can prevent," he said.


SOURCE: http://1.usa.gov/t10uOI

CDC, 2011.

Reuters Health Information © 2011

==========================================

I think the problem with his statement is that a vast majority of victims are unable to report the crime. Little girls rarely "tell" out of fear. And, speaking as someone who HAS been slipped Rohypnol, it is very unsettling to wake up one day and realize that you have lost an entire weekend.

I am not speaking for others here, I am speaking for myself. A victim does not always have a voice.