“If you ever met a rapist”

In the Everyday Feminism blog “3 reasons why 'if I ever met a rapist, I’d punch him' isn’t helpful," Ginny Brown writes about while the intention is good, these kinds of statements do more harm than good. She says:

1   

     We have all met a rapist

Saying “if I ever met a rapist,” perpetuates the idea that rapists are somehow identifiable and women should know one when they see one, but in reality rapists are indistinguishable from everyone else.

2

      Rapists often don't think of their actions as rape

I    If someone forces another person to have sex without their consent, that person is a rapist. It doesn’t matter what the person who rapes calls his own behavior;what matters is the action.

3

     Threatening to harm rapists doesn’t necessarily help survivors

Better to find out what a survivor needs to heal than assuming punching out a rapist is what she needs.

For the full article, check out Brown’s blog here.

Empowering Victims of Sex Trafficking

Romanian psychologist Iana Matei is the founder of Reaching Out Romania, a nonprofit dedicated to rescuing girls and young women who have been caught in the web of sex trafficking.   Reaching Out Romania has removed girls and young women from sex trafficking; provided them with opportunities for counseling, education, and developing life skills; and helped improve public responses to victims of sex trafficking.
To learn more about this organization, visit Reaching Out Romania.. To learn more about Iana Matei, see the Aljazeera article “Romanian WomanSaving Victims of Sex Trafficking.” http://bit.ly/1peveUh 
Reference

A Mighty Girl. 2016. “The Woman Who RescuedOver 450 Girls from Sex Traffickers.”

Thanks to IMPACT grad Audrey Raden for drawing attention to Matei's amazing work.

How Can Empowerment Self-Defense Address Coercive Sexual Environments?

The patterns of sexual and racial discrimination embedded in US culture result in a coercive sexual environment (CSE) in high-poverty, chronically violent areas, with a lack of strong community connections. A CSE means that women and girls routinely experience harassment, domestic violence, and sexual exploitation (Zweig et al 2015). Advocates recommend using “place-conscious strategies” to effectively address coercive sexual environments.

Place-conscious strategies (Turner et al 2014):

Connect to city, state, and federal initiatives

Integrate efforts across policy domains in a neighborhood

Integrate the work of multiple organizations

Identify shared goals and assess whether or not the goals are being met

Recognize and plan for residential mobility

What does this mean for Empowerment Self-Defense (ESD)?

Empowerment self-defense programs offer important tools for women and girls to understand, prevent, interrupt, and stop sexual violence. Place-conscious strategies in terms of ESD means: 
Find out and connect to existing initiatives to address violence

Work with existing organizations in a neighborhood

Work to have ESD become part of violence prevention efforts

Develop programs which allow people to come when they can

References

Turner, Margery Austin, Peter Edelman, Erika Poethig, and Laudan Aron with Matthew Rogers and Christopher Lowenstein.  2014. “Tackling Persistent Poverty in Distress Urban Neighborhoods.  Urban Institute.

Zweig, Janine M., Susan J. Popkin, and Mary Bogle. 2015. “Let girls be girls: Growing up too soon in neighborhoods of concentrated poverty.” Urban Wire.