[Day 7] Domestic Violence
One hundred and sixty one years ago, a group of women and men drafted the Declaration of Sentiments, stating that "The history of mankind is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations on the part of man toward woman..." Their immediate goal of equal voting rights for women in the United States has long since been met, but this statement still rings with a tragic amount of truth.
Three years ago, when rageprufrock first began the project that would grow into 14 valentines, she spoke about how women are praised and worshiped, torn down and degraded. We live in a world where our bodies are revered for the ability to give life and derided for leaving behind the appearance of adolescence, where we can rise to the highest offices of power in some countries and are deprived of basic rights in others.
We are told to be strong, to stand up for ourselves, told that we can do anything, be anything - but only to a point, always to a point.
Around the world, women die from lack of basic medical attention, from infanticide, from starvation beyond their control, from starvation inflicted upon themselves in a twisted attempt to be beautiful. We are beaten, raped, murdered, told in so many horrifying ways that we are lesser that we don't matter.
Forty years ago we declared that Sisterhood is Powerful, and it still is. We must remember that, must continue moving forward.
It's 2009 and we've come so far, but there is still more work to be done. We deserve better, and we can do more. We're strong. The next fourteen days is meant to remind us of that. It's our time to take back our bodies.
V can stand for vagina, like Eve Ensler's groundbreaking monologues. V can stand for violence, under whose auspices all women continue to make a home.
V can also stand for victory.
Domestic Violence
Domestic abuse against women has decreased steadily since 1993, but decreases do not equal eradication of the epidemic.
For every 1,000 people age 12 or older in the United States, there are 4 women being abused by a spouse or partner. In 2005, 1 in 320 households in the United States were affected by domestic abuse. Of the 260,000 cases of domestic violence perpetrated against women in 2005, 25,000 resulted in serious injury--including broken bones, internal injuries and knife wounds--and another 13,000 involved rape or sexual assault of some kind. Between 2001 and 2005, nearly 40% of the cases of domestic violence against women occurred in households with children.
The statistics and numbers are there, and if we think about them we cringe.
But we need to think about them, and we need to associate those numbers with names, and with women just like us.
What can we do? We can support organizations like The National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, The National Network to End Domestic Violence, and The National Domestic Violence Hotline.
More importantly, we can reach out for assistance from the organizations above if we're being abused. We can offer knowledge and options to those who are being abused.
If you need assistance and you're afraid your internet and/or computer usage might be monitored, you should access the sites above at a public location such as a library or internet cafe, and/or call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-SAFE(7233).
[Today's essay courtesy of idyll]