Posts Tagged ‘sexual violence’
Friday Roundup: April Was Sexual Abuse Awareness Month but May Brings It Front and Center
I’ll get to Arnold Schwarzenegger later. For now it’s enough simply to observe that over the past few weeks, the world has been cracked open to reveal–and we hope come to revile–the sexual hubris that has enabled so many men to feel entitled to power over women’s bodies. I’ve made the “power over” versus “power to” distinction in No Excuses. What more direct way to rob women of their power to?
There are many kinds and facets of sexual abuse and assault. This week’s roundup is a sampling of recent news about some of those facets. Why do I feel hopeful? Because now there are names for this abuse of power. Because when you name it you can fight it. Because young women know it’s wrong and they aren’t going to take it any more. That’s what’s cracking the world open. It’s not just the way things are any more.
IMF Head Arrested for Sexual Assault: What Happened, What it Means.
Military Veteran Opens Up About 1970s Sexual Assault.
Wear jeans for more than comfort.
Peace Corps-50 years, more than 1,000 rapes?
And let me end with a particularly heartwarming success story from Hollaback, an organization that fights street harassment around the world:
Back to Arnold…Nah, I’d really rather think about Maria Shriver, his wife.
Read MoreAt the UN, Criminalizing Rape as a Weapon
By Bia Assevero, a dual French-American citizen and a graduate of the American University of Paris with degrees in international politics and international communications.
A Women’s Media Center exclusive, reprinted here with permission of the WMC.
In the last week of October, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton made headlines and sparked anger in travels to Israel and Pakistan. Her role some weeks earlier was less controversial yet critically important, as she led UN diplomats forward in an action that could ease the suffering of countless women and girls living in conflict zones around the world.
Last year, the United Nations classified the deliberate use of rape as a tactic of war and a major threat to international security. On September 30, 2009, the Security Council went one step further.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chaired the session as the Security Council unanimously adopted a U.S. sponsored resolution (S/Res/1888) that called for the appointment of a special envoy charged with coordinating the efforts to combat the use of rape as a weapon of war and assist governments in ending impunity for the perpetrators. Having met with women who survived rape and violence in her recent visit to the Congo, Clinton said in remarks to the council, “The dehumanizing nature of sexual violence doesn’t just harm a single individual or a single family or even a single village or a single group. It shreds the fabric that weaves us together as human beings.”