Department of Justice Addresses Gender and Race Bias

Attorney General Loretta Lynch has announced that the Department of Justice has new guidelines for addressing sexual assault cases in local departments and communities. Officers are to treat victims with respect, investigate each complaint, test all rape kits, and keep data on each case.  Officers who commit sexual assault and domestic violence are to be held accountable by their local departments for their behavior.

            Carol Tracy, executive director of the women’s law project, recommends that local departments also need to raise awareness of the ways that racial bias affect policy and practice. For more details, see Danielle Paquette “Gender and racial stereotypes derail rape investigations, attorney general says.” 

Retraining the Freeze Response

In “’Run, Hide, Fight’ is Not How Our Brains Work, “ Joseph Ledoux examines the three-step safety plan  from the FBI and Homeland Security of run, hide, fight.  Ledoux argues that scientifically the advice falls short because people are hard-wired to freeze in the face of danger.  He posits that we cannot just tell people to stop freezing but that we have to learn how to interrupt a freeze response—what he calls cognitive reappraisal.  Self-defense training is one way to retrain the freeze response and to enhance our ability to shift from freezing to action. 

Thank you to 2015 IMPACT Chicago Volunteers

Thank you to all the volunteers who keep IMPACT going! 

Lisa Amoroso                                   Rob Babcock                   

Tara Brinkman                                 Ann Botz

Bruce Brio                                       Natalie DeMariobus         

Laura M. Dini                                  Tess Given

Kathleen Grant                                Debborah Harp                 

Vesna Havran Mueller                      Courtney (Childs) Henderson

Sheila Hickey                                  Jesse Holzman

Katie Kramer                                   Naomi Love

Jim Lucas                                        Shannon Mahoney

Rachel Marro                                   Carol Middleton

Deb Mier                                          Mark Nessel

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Ben Ruiz                                          Arden Schuman

Katie Skibbe                                    Daniel Teafoe

Martha Thompson                            Nate Tracy-Amoroso

Margaret Vimont                             Janean Watkins

Laura Weiss                                     Nat Wilson
Shu-Ju Yang

We invite you to volunteer  in 2016! 

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Men and Bystander Intervention

"There are many great empowerment-based self-defense classes that can give women strategies for avoiding, interrupting, and stopping harassment. In Chicago, Thousand Waves Martial Arts & Self-Defense Center, NFP and IMPACT Chicago are great resources.  For all the men who wish to be allies to women who experience harassment, I'd suggest reading a bit about how to do so in a way that doesn't dis-empower women." Marie O/Brien

Marie suggests reading Colorado State University Men and Bystander Intervention: "Because most perpetrators of gender violence are men, many bystander intervention programs focus on the ways that men  can intervene when they see other men committing gender violence. This can be an effective 

approach but it’s important to take masculine socialization into consideration as to not encourage a strategy that will cause more harm. Most men have been socialized to protect women … and it’s not a bad thing necessarily to want to make sure people are safe (regardless of gender)…Men often make the mistake of assuming that women need the help of men. Sometimes women would appreciate some help, other times it’s unwarranted… The organization Men Can Stop Rape offers some suggestions for men who want to intervene in a way that doesn’t take agency away from the person on whose behalf you’re considering intervening. Note that these tactics involve things like checking in with that person, using low-key methods like calling her cell phone, and generally keeping the intervention fairly covert as to not escalate the situation."

Domestic Violence Survivors Speak Out About Law Enforcement

The National Domestic Hotline with the assistance of TK Logan, University of Kentucky, surveyed 637 survivors of domestic violence who called the Hotline. The average of participants was 30 and mostly white (56%) with 15% Hispanic and 11% African-American.

Twenty-five percent of the women who had called the police in the past said they would not call again. Both women who had called the police and women who hadn’t stated calling the police would make things worse (1/2) and expressed fear that the police would not believe them or do nothing (2/3)

The report recommends that law enforcement responses to survivors must be based on the following principles:

• Treating survivors with dignity and respect

• Giving survivors their “voice” during encounters

• Being neutral and transparent in their actions”

For more information or to read the full report: National Domestic Violence Hotline, Who Will Help Me? Domestic Violence Survivors Speak Out About Law Enforcement Responses. Washington, DC (2015).

Caring for Each Other After Violence

In “Caring For Each Other After Violence: 4 Things We Can Do To Create Trauma-Informed Communities in Our Schools, Organizations and Activist Groups,” CarmenLeah Ascencio identifies four things we can do to build trauma-informed communities:

1. Build on and affirm our cultures and history

2. Increase physical and emotional safety

3. Build trust

4. Foster collaboration, power sharing and choice

For the details about each of these four things, check out her essay on the reader-funded, non-profit project Black Girls Dangerous (BGD).

Who Benefits from Dissing Self-Defense Training?

In Asking for It: The Alarming Rise of Rape Culture and What We Can Do About , Kate Harding presumes that self-defense blames victims, restricts women’s freedom, and is not part of the anti-violence movement. See Jane Fight Back responds to Harding’s distorted views of self-defense reminding everyone that: “…making women aware of their rights to defend themselves, and offering them training in self-defense skills, empowers women to move freely about the world and make the choices that are best for them – choices like how short to wear their skirts, or what beverages they consume, or which neighborhoods they frequent, or yes, whether to go for the groin or the solar plexus if someone is trying to assault or rape them. “

For more
Harding, Kate. September 17, 2015. “We demand that women live in fear and behave impeccably to avoid ‘asking for it.’” The Guardian. 

See Jane Fight Back. September 19, 2015. “Protest the ‘Asking for It’ Rhetoric by Dissing Self-Defense ?”