Perception and Compassion

IMPACT graduate Jennifer Hill was inspired to write about compassion by the women in her IMPACT class and by an Anais Nin's quote: "We don't see things as they are, we see them as we are."

In her blog  "Perceptions," Jennifer reflects on what compassion means to her: "It is not our job to judge. Our job is to listen when asked, and to provide support when called upon."

Reference
Hill, Jennifer. 2016. Perception. Head Turners.org 

Preventing Gender Based Violence

In "What Works in Preventing Gender Based Sexual Violence," Elizabeth Dartnall outlines what constitutes gender based violence, what prevention is, and what is currently known about effective prevention efforts:

• Women's economic empowerment 
• Skill-building programs
• Education and Community Action
• School-based interventions
• Empowerment and Self-Defense 

Reference

Darnall, Elizabeth. 2016. What Works in Preventing Gender Based Sexual Violence. Sexual Violence Research Initiative. 

Is it bullying or something else?

In "Rude vs. Mean vs. Bullying," Signe Whitson lays out how rudeness, meanness, and bullying differ:

Rude: unintentionally hurting someone else

Mean: intentionally hurting someone else

Bully: intentional, repetitive, and aggressive behavior that reinforces power differences

For more information about these differences and more about bullying, click here

Reference

Whitson, Signe. 2014. "Rude vs Mean vs Bullying. Huffington Post, August 27.

“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.

What works to prevent sexual violence?

In "A Critical Review of Sexual Violence Prevention on College Campuses," Newlands and O'Donohue report their extensive review of research on sexual-violence interventions on college campuses. Based on their analysis of what works, they recommend that campuses offer separate gender programs: self-defense and alcohol awareness programs for women and consent programs for men.

Alena Schaim (2016), IMPACT Director of New Mexico, notes that while their recommendations mirror what we already do in IMPACT, she is"disappointed they didn't directly address working with trans/gender non-conforming folks nor did they address head-on the assertions currently being made that it's better to do sex education (including consent) in mixed gender settings, because doing binary splits teaches that we shouldn't talk about sex with the 'opposite' gender."

My take: Newlands and O'Donohue's work supports the self-defense work IMPACT and other Empowerment Self-Defense organizations are doing on college campuses and, in fact, advocates for expanding those offerings. While this is good news, indeed, we also want to continue to expand our understandings of the complexities of gender and integrate these understandings into our programming.

Martha Thompson
IMPACT Chicago Instructor
NWMAF Certified Self-Defense Instructor

References

Newlands, Rory and William O'Donohue. 2016. "A critical review of sexual violence prevention on college campuses." Acta Psychopathologica 2(2): 40.

Schaim, Alena. 2016. Facebook post, Self-Defense Discussion Group, May 28.

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.

First-Ever National Street Harassment Hotline Will Launch in July

RESTON, VA -- Stop Street Harassment (SSH) and Defend Yourself are partnering with the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network (RAINN) to launch a gender-based street harassment national hotline in July 2016.

RAINN operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, which provides confidential support those affected by sexual violence in both Spanish and English. The hotline is available via online chat and by phone 24-7. SSH and Defend Yourself will train RAINN staff who will be answering the National Street Harassment Hotline, to be equipped to help those calling about street harassment.

“We are thrilled about this new partnership and the ability to provide a safe space for those impacted by street harassment to receive help and appropriate resources,” said RAINN’s vice president for victim services, Jennifer Marsh.

Gender-based street harassment affects at least 65% of women and 25% of men in the USA, and it starts at a young age. It can range from catcalls and unwanted sexualized and homophobic comments to illegal acts like following, flashing, groping and sexual assault.

“Until now, there has not been a go-to place for people facing gender-based street harassment to find help. They want to know things like how to respond if they’re harassed, what their rights are under the law, or to generally receive emotional support,” said Holly Kearl, founder of SSH. “SSH is so pleased to be partnering with these two organizations to create that system of support.”

A growing body of research shows that street harassment negatively impacts women emotionally. It can be traumatic for them, especially for survivors of sexual abuse. “Mild” street harassment can escalate into physical harassment without warning and many women and some men have an underlying fear that verbal harassment will become physical. In January 2016, there were two cases – in Texas and Pennsylvania -- of street harassment escalating into murder. In late March 2016, a mother in California was shot in the stomach by street harassers whom she confronted for harassing her teenage daughter.

“Harassment is so pervasive, and it does so much damage to the lives of women and LGBTQ people,” says Lauren R. Taylor, founder and director of Defend Yourself. “Support can mean so much. We hope to empower people by sharing skills -- and increasing options -- for dealing with harassment in public spaces.”

Defend Yourself teaches skills for stopping harassment, abuse, and assault. It works to empower people -- especially women and LGBTQ people – to end violence and create a world where they can be fully themselves

RAINN (Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network) is the nation's largest anti-sexual violence organization. RAINN created and operates the National Sexual Assault Hotline, and carries out programs to educate the public about sexual violence and improve the criminal justice system.

Stop Street Harassment is a nonprofit organization dedicated to documenting and ending gender-based street harassment worldwide through public education and community mobilization.