The stark facts about violence against women

[dcsmart]

WHEN THE media reported that singer Rihanna was reconciling with R&B star Chris Brown after reports that he beat her in February, the horrible incident became the hot topic of every tabloid and entertainment show.

For the most part, the media turned a serious topic into a sensation, exploiting every gory detail for no other purpose than to shock its viewers.

In the midst of the frenzy, talk show host Oprah Winfrey pulled together a show on dating violence in an effort to take the issue seriously, and reach out to women who might be living in violent situations.
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Statistics on dating violence and young women are shocking. According to the Family Violence and Prevention Fund, one in five female high school students reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a date, and 8 percent of high-school-age girls say that they have been forced by a boyfriend to have sex against their will. Forty percent of girls aged 14 to 17 say they know someone their age who has been hit by a boyfriend.

According to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, every year women in the U.S. experience 4.8 million intimate partner-related physical assaults and rapes. According to the Bureau of Justice, 1,181 women were murdered by an intimate partner in 2005--an average of three women every day.
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FULL ARTICLE
http://socialistworker.org/2009/03/18/facts-about-violence-against-women

[OneBlueSky]

1. good article that makes some important points . . .

for example . . .

But the "individual responsibility" way of looking at violence against women masks a greater, more systemic problem--that a society which treats women as less than equal opens the door for women to be abused.

In all sort of ways, our society views women as if they are of less value than men. This isn't expressed only in music lyrics or sexism in popular culture, but in women's overall status, including the unfair burden in the home that most women are expected to bear.

(snip) . . .

The answer to domestic violence lies in fundamentally changing the status of women in society. One first step would be to demand services, such as a safe place to live, for women who are facing abuse. Another is fighting for living wages, so that no woman feels the need to stay with an abuser because she cannot afford to leave. Likewise, free and accessible child care and health care would go a long way toward freeing women, and men, from the stresses and burdens of everyday life.

all very true . . . domestic violence and sexual assault are far more pervasive in this society than anyone would like to admit . . . I work with a battered women's shelter in a county of 300,000 that each year serves 2,500 to 3,000 victims . . . last year, arrests for these crimes numbered over 350 -- about one per day . . .

if you can, please support your local shelter or service organization for abused women and their children . . . the services are much needed and vastly under-funded just about everywhere . . .

[raccoon]

2. K&R. nt