NO MORE. It is a simple, direct message representing a broad and pervasive issue. No more sexual assault. No more violence against women. Today, March 13 marks NO MORE day, a day to join the movement to stop domestic violence and sexual assault, and launch the organization’s new symbol — a thick “O” of light blue. Keep reading »
“Every nine seconds in the United States a woman is assaulted or beaten. Every nine seconds. Violence against women is the single greatest human rights violation of our generation. This is a call to action—not an action that will make things better in six months’ time or a year’s time, but action that might save someone’s life and someone’s future this afternoon, tonight, tomorrow morning.”
– I’m still on vacation in Paris, but I always can find time to post about my favorite Starfleet captain — Captain Jean Luc Picard, I mean. Sir Patrick Stewart, who of course portrayed Picard on “Star Trek: The Next Generation,” was the host for the launch of “Ring The Bell,” a global campaign calling on one million men to make one million “concrete, actionable promises” to end violence against women. Stewart also spoke from his own experience with domestic violence, which he witnessed between his mother and father as a child. Keep reading »
March is Women’s History Month, and this Friday is International Women’s Day. (And March is my birth month — so many reasons to celebrate!) Fitting then that this week kicked off the start of the United Nation’s Commission on the Status of Women: 10 days focused on promoting women’s rights worldwide.
What is this commission all about? Six essential things to know about it after the jump:
Keep your fingers crossed: Politico is reporting that the Violence Against Women Act is expected to pass in the House of Representatives this week.
VAWA was originally championed by then-Senator Joe Biden back in 1994 and gets renewed very six years. The bill allocates funds to help victims of rape and domestic violence, including money to process rape kits, and prosecute men accused of abusing women. Sounds like a no brainer, right? Well, it’s not. Apparently violence against women is A-OK for some of our politicians. Last year, VAWA hit a snag in the House, which refused to pass a Senate version of the bill allocating funds to undocumented women, same-sex partners, and Native American women who are abused by non-Native American men. Keep reading »
This morning, Olympic athlete Oscar Pistorius faced his first bail hearing regarding the death of his girlfriend Reeva Steenkamp and disputed the premeditated murder charge against him. The higher charge caries the most intense bail requirements of South African law, according to The Atlantic.
Here’s an update on where the case is at… Keep reading »
Yesterday afternoon, two Democratic politicians introduced the Ruth Moore Act, a bill to support former service members who survived sexual assault in the military. Veterans Affairs has long rejected disability claims of military sexual trauma (MST) for troops who were raped by colleagues and now need assistance. According to the Service Women’s Action Network, only one in three claims of PTSD from MST were approved by the VA between 2008 to 2010, presumably because the threshold was too high for these survivors to been seen as eligible. Keep reading »
Oscar Pistorious, 26, a Paralympian and Olympian and inspiration to athletes around the world, was arrested today — Valentine’s Day — and charged with murdering his girlfriend, model Reeva Steenkamp.
Police responded to a 3 a.m. call about gunshots in Pistorius’ upscale neighborhood of Silver Woods in Pretoria, South Africa, where Steenkamp, 30, was found dead with four bullet wounds. A police spokesperson told The New York Times that police had previously responded “allegations of a domestic nature” at Pistorius’ home. Police recovered a 9mm pistol from the scene.
After the jump, nine things to know about Reeva Steenkamp and Oscar Pistorius.
If you’re not into the commercial cutesiness of Valentine’s Day, there’s an alternate, empowering holiday to celebrate on February 14th: V-Day, a global movement to end violence against women and girls. ”The Vagina Monologues” playwright Eve Ensler created V-Day, which is celebrated each year on Valentine’s Day as the play is staged around the world to raise money for local rape crisis centers.
This year, V-Day also marks the grand finale of Ensler’s year long One Billion Rising campaign. The One Billion Rising name and collective goal derives from a statistic that one in three women will suffer abuse or rape in their lifetime; out of the seven billion people populating the world, that means roughly one billion women will be victims. Keep reading »
