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

[RockOn]

This has bothered me ever since I read it on the news about 3 months ago.
I must confess, I did not check to see if someone else had already posted
about this little girl's death. A mere child.

I cannot say on this forum how I truly feel in detail about this and what needs to be done.

Breaks my heart to think of what happened to this girl child. Takes a sick freak of a man to do something this horrible to an innocent. And no one could ever convince me he did not know he was killing her - not in a million years.
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SANAA (Reuters) - An eight-year-old Yemeni girl died of internal bleeding on her wedding night after marrying a man five times her age, a social activist and two local residents said, in a case that has caused an outcry in the media and revived debate about child brides.

Arwa Othman, head of Yemen House of Folklore and a leading rights campaigner, said the girl, identified only as Rawan, was married to a 40-year-old man late last week in the town of Meedi in Hajjah province in northwestern Yemen.

"On the wedding night and after intercourse, she suffered from bleeding and uterine rupture which caused her death," Othman told Reuters. "They took her to a clinic but the medics couldn't save her life."

Othman said authorities had not taken any action against the girl's family or her husband.

A local security official in the provincial town of Haradh denied any such incident had taken place. He did not want to be identified because he was not authorized to speak to the press.

But two Meedi residents contacted by Reuters confirmed the incident and said that local tribal chiefs had tried to cover up the incident when news first broke, warning a local journalist against covering the story.

Many poor families in Yemen marry off young daughters to save on the costs of bringing up a child and earn extra money from the dowry given to the girl.

A U.N. report released in January revealed the extent of the country's poverty, saying that 10.5 million of Yemen's 24 million people lacked sufficient food supplies, and 13 million had no access to safe water and basic sanitation.

Human Rights Watch urged Yemen's government in December 2011 to ban marriages of girls under the age of 18, warning it deprived child brides of education and harmed their health.

Quoting United Nations and government data, HRW said nearly 14 percent of Yemeni girls were married before the age of 15 and 52 percent before the age of 18. The group said many Yemeni child brides-to-be are kept from school when they reach puberty.

Discussions on the issue were shelved by political turmoil following protests against President Ali Abdullah Saleh in 2011 that led to his ouster.

(Reporting by Mohammed Ghobari; Writing by Mahmoud Habboush; editing by Mike Collett-Whi

[*Anya*]

Controversial Morocco rape law axed.

Last updated Jan 23, 2014, 5:37 AM PST

BBC NEWS

Violence against women and gender inequality are the subjects of frequent demonstrations in Rabat.

The parliament of Morocco has unanimously amended an article of the penal code that allowed rapists of underage girls to avoid prosecution by marrying their victims.

The move follows intensive lobbying by activists for better protection of young rape victims. The amendment has been welcomed by rights groups.

Article 475 of the penal code generated unprecedented public criticism.

It was first proposed by Morocco's Islamist-led government a year ago.

But the issue came to public prominence in 2012 when 16-year-old Amina Filali killed herself after being forced to marry her rapist.

She accused Moustapha Fellak, who at the time was about 25, of physical abuse after they married, which he denies. After seven months of marriage, Ms Filali swallowed rat poison.

The case shocked many people in Morocco, received extensive media coverage and sparked protests in the capital Rabat and other cities.

Article 475 provides for a prison term of one to five years for anyone who "abducts or deceives" a minor "without violence, threat or fraud, or attempts to do so".

But the second clause of the article specifies that when the victim marries the perpetrator, "he can no longer be prosecuted except by persons empowered to demand the annulment of the marriage and then only after the annulment has been proclaimed".

This effectively prevents prosecutors from independently pursuing rape charges.

In conservative rural parts of Morocco, an unmarried girl or woman who has lost her virginity - even through rape - is considered to have dishonoured her family and no longer suitable for marriage. Some families believe that marrying the rapist addresses these problems.

While welcoming the move, rights groups say that much still needs to be done to promote gender equality, protect women and outlaw child marriage in the North African country.

"It's a very important step. But it's not enough," Fatima Maghnaoui, who heads a group supporting women victims of violence, told the AFP news agency.

"We are campaigning for a complete overhaul of the penal code for women."

BBC © 2014

[Happy_Go_Lucky]

"The television show “Democracy Now” had a heartbreaking segment Friday about a teenager whose school accused her of lewd conduct” and sent her to disciplinary school after she reported her rape."


http://www.businessinsider.com.au/ra...n-texas-2014-1


The hatred and violence against girls and women each and every day will never stop with only women and a handful of men giving a damn.

[Happy_Go_Lucky]

LINCOLN — She made an agonizing decision two years ago to give birth to a child who was conceived during a rape.

Today, the 20-year-old Norfolk, Neb., woman has a beautiful toddler, but a different sort of agony. Recently a judge granted child visitation rights to the man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her.

http://www.omaha.com/article/2014012...hts-restricted

And the hits just keep on coming...

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by Happy_Go_Lucky

LINCOLN — She made an agonizing decision two years ago to give birth to a child who was conceived during a rape.

Today, the 20-year-old Norfolk, Neb., woman has a beautiful toddler, but a different sort of agony. Recently a judge granted child visitation rights to the man who pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting her.

http://www.omaha.com/article/2014012...hts-restricted

And the hits just keep on coming...

[Sweet Bliss]

Originally Posted by Kobi

This is sickening.

Which 31 states?

[Kobi]

Originally Posted by Sweet Bliss

This is sickening.

Which 31 states?

I like knowing from whence things came. The above graphic is from a 2012 CNN story where Shauna Prewitt, a Chicago lawyer responded to Todd Akins "legitimate rape rarely results in pregnancy" comments with the story of her own rape which did result in pregnancy.

In an article in The Georgetown Law Journal in 2010, entitled "Giving Birth To A Rapists Child, A Discussion And Analysis Of The Limited Legal Protections Afforded To Women Who Become Mothers Through Rape", Prewitt explains how states have hurried to enact laws to cover the termination of a rapists legal rights in order to enable adoption, but have fallen woefully short when it comes to aid for raped women who choose to raise their raped conceived children.

Fascinating reading if you are well versed in legalese.

In 2012, the 19 states that bar rapists from custodial and visitation rights are: Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Missouri, Nevada, New jersey, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Texas, and Wisconsin.

Since then, a number of states have been attempting (but I cant find actual success) to enact such provisions such as Arkansas, Colorado, and Florida.

I found a really cool site from the Colorado government called "A State By State Review Of the Parental Rights Of Fathers Who Conceive A Child By Rape." Getting past the odd title, I like it because it has a chart (Kobi likes charts) of all the states, the ones with statutes and what the statutes are for i.e. adoption, custody, termination of parental rights, visitation, criminal. It also shows if conviction is required, and the burden of proof i.e. clear and convincing evidence, preponderance of evidence, beyond reasonable doubt.

http://www.colorado.gov/cs/Satellite...&ssbinary=true

[Words]

Originally Posted by *Anya*

In conservative rural parts of Morocco, an unmarried girl or woman who has lost her virginity - even through rape - is considered to have dishonoured her family and no longer suitable for marriage. Some families believe that marrying the rapist addresses these problems.

Just to be clear...

In Islamic societies, it is still custom for girls/women to remain virgins until they marry and for a girl who is no longer a virgin to be considered 'spoilt goods'. Although most families would indeed feel a sense of shame if one of their females were raped, PART of the reason for their agreeing to her marrying her rapist would be to ensure that she was taken care of in the future. I know it sounds heartless, but you have to understand that even today, in most Islamic societies it is the men who take care of the women and that with no social welfare system to turn to, a girl is reliant first on her father, brothers (if no father is present), and then husband for her every need. Add to that the fact that many rape cases involve a member of the extended family as opposed to an absolute stranger, then I can understand, kind of, why families often view marriage between the victim and the rapist as the only viable solution. (This view is based on over 20 years living amongst Muslims - both liberal and conservative - in the Middle East.)

Words