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“Some Kind of Love, Some Say” Maya’s poem on violence suffered by women.

I came across an old post I wrote for the rape crisis center I work at, where I did a poetry review on Sunday’s. I decided to review poetry written about and in response to the pain and suffering of violence. How do people write about rape, sexual abuse, violence? How does one use poetry to write about the unbearable, the unthinkable, the unimaginable? I’m starting with Maya Angelou’s poem: “Some Kind of Love, Some Say”

“is it true the ribs can tell

The kick of a beast from a

Lover’s fist? The bruised

Bones recorded well

The sudden shock, the

Hard impact. Then swollen lids,

Sorry eyes, spoke not

Of lost romance, but hurt.

Hate often is confused. Its

Limits are in zones beyond itself. And

Sadists will not learn that

Love, by nature, exacts a pain

Unequalled on the rack.”

What do you think about this poem, how does Maya use poetry to write about intimate partner abuse? What does her title mean? So often such abuse, violence and rape is couched as love, described as caring to try to lessen the harsh reality of power and control dynamics. How does language get used to try and change the perception of abuse as necessary action, as love, as teaching? How did this dynamic of needing to control others through pain start?

Do you have poems you would like to share? Do any of my readers write about their experiences through prose or poetry? I would love to read them, please feel free to share here either in the comments or I am happy to have you guest post.

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Some facts and info on sexual assault

After today’s Abolish the Blame event and seeing the number of young people who attended, I decided to provide information about sexual assault of college students.

Sexual assault/rape on college campuses is more prevalent than many people realize. While colleges may report low numbers, the local rape crisis and domestic violence center will provide much higher numbers.

According to the American Association of University Women and local rape crisis centers,

20 to 25 percent of college women are raped while attending college.
65 percent of these attacks go unreported.
Alcohol is involved in 75 percent of attacks.
{Source: The American Association of University Women, 2004)

These statistics mirror statistics of sexual assaults globally, 1 in 4 women are victims of sexually violent crimes. Why is such a high percentage of assaults unreported? Many colleges and universities have protocols in place that make reporting difficult or unwelcome. The cases are handled on campus and may not be reported to law enforcement and are therefore not prosecuted. Victim-blaming is still a factor in many communities and influences survivors of violence to not report. Unfortunately, many myths still are present in society and inaccurate beliefs are still held, such as: wearing tight or revealing clothing causes rape, being out late at night, or wearing makeup. Alcohol is used frequently as a means to reduce judgement and impair the ability to provide consent.

These are myths. There is no correlation between certain clothing and rape. No rape victim is ever “asking for it.” If you are the victim of sexual violence, please understand that what happened was wrong and that it was not your fault.

What should you do if you get raped?

Get yourself to safe place, call 911. Sexual assault is an emergency. If at all possible, find a supportive person who can help you, like a close friend or a residence assistant.

Resist the urge to take a bath or a shower. Cleaning yourself is a natural impulse, but don’t. Your body is covered with physical evidence that can help catch the rapist. Preserve all evidence, such as your clothing.

Go to an emergency room and get medical attention immediately! Even if you do not plan to report the rape, it is crucial that you seek help at a local emergency room, campus health center or elsewhere. Prompt medical assistance reduces you chance of developing some STDs, and many women choose to take the morning after pill to prevent pregnancy. Rape victims also sustain other physical injuries, and you may be more hurt than you realize. Yes, an intimate medical exam is the last thing you want after such a horrible experience, but it’s something you need to do for the sake of your health.

Get psychological counseling as soon as possible. Rape is a traumatic experience, and most women need help coping. Be kind to yourself and get the help you need! Most communities have rape crisis centers and may provide counseling. Colleges also have counseling centers.

Report the assault to the campus and/or city police. Many women choose not to do this, and their decisions should be respected. But if you are raped, please consider reporting it. Doing so may prevent the rapist from hurting someone else, and if enough women report rapes, rape statistics may go down because the consequences will go up. And even if the rapist never strikes again, rape is a crime and needs to be reported.

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End Violence Against Women International

Do you know about End Violence Against Women International (EVAWI)? www.evawintl.org
They are an international organization dedicated to creating a world where gender-based violence is unacceptable; where perpetrators are held accountable; and victims receive the compassion, support and justice they deserve.

They have free trainings based off their website and an annual conference in April. Check out what they offer and help support their cause as their cause is our cause.

Help me – End Violence Against Women

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Sexual Assault Awareness Month – Virginia Facts

 

Sexual assault affects every community in Virginia

 Nearly 1 in 5 women have been raped in their lifetime while 1 in 71 men have been raped in their lifetime. 1

 Approximately 80% of female victims experienced their first rape before the age of 25 and almost half ex­perienced the first rape before age 18 (30% between 11-17 years old and 12% at or before the age of 10). 28% of male victims of rape were first raped when they were 10 years old or younger.2

 Sexual assault profoundly affects children and teens

 56% of youth report experiences of sexual assault and coercion. 

In 2010, Sexual Assault Crisis Centers in Virginia…3

  • responded to 61,860 hotline calls
  • offered 50,949 hours of advocacy services to 4,903 adults
  • provided 26,570 hours of advocacy services to 2,123 children

  

You can help too…

  Three out of four people affected by sexual violence turn to family and friends for help before contacting a Sexual Assault Crisis Center.4

 

1 -2  National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS), 2010. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Published December, 2011.

3-4      VAdata: The Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Data Collection System, 2010.

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NSVRC Releases New Prevention Report

The NSVRC has released the Prevention Assessment Year 2 Report: Innovations in Prevention.   This report was prepared for the NSVRC by Stephanie M. Townsend, PhD.   Additionally PreventConnect provided additional support to augment the assessment and include an examination of how innovations diffuse.

 This second phase of the NSVRC’s Prevention Assessment project focused on interviews with innovative prevention programs and a diffusion survey to document how innovations have spread throughout the sexual violence prevention field.  The emphasis of this assessment was on how programs are thinking about primary prevention and the processes that allowed innovation to develop.  This report contains findings from that assessment.

Podcasts conducted by PreventConnect with some of the programs interviewed for the report can be found in the following link:http://www.preventconnect.org/mail/newsletter/NSVRCNewsletter2012.html

The Year 1 report of the Prevention Assessment Project, released in 2011, can be found here.

http://www.nsvrc.org/sites/default/files/file/Projects_RPE_Updated_NSVRC_PreventionAssessmentYear1FinalReport.pdf

If you have question about this report or the prevention assessment project, please contact jgrove@nsvrc.org.

*Note: reposted from NSVRC.org

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The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey

The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) has published it’s survey on sexual violence and intimate partner violence.   The continuing incidents yearly, monthly, daily, and every minute may shock you.  They found that on average: 

24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States.

Annually that equals more than 12 million women and men.

More than 1 million women are raped in a year and over 6 million women and men are victims of stalking in a year.

These findings emphasize that sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence are important and widespread public health problems in the United States.  This would be considered an epidemic if a disease. 

 NISVS is an on¬going, nationally representative survey that assesses experiences of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence among adult women and men in the United States. It measures lifetime victimization for these types of violence as well as victimization in the 12 months prior to the survey. The survey goes beyond counting acts of sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence by assessing the range of violence experienced by victims and the impact of that victimization. The report also includes the first ever simultaneous national and state-level prevalence estimates of these forms of violence for all states.

 Findings from the 2010 Summary Report will be available online

 http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/nisvs/index.html

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Stalking: Know it, Name it, Stop it

January is National Stalking Awareness Month, a time to focus on a crime that affects

3.4 million victims a year.

1 This year’s theme—“Stalking: Know It. Name It. Stop It.”—challenges the nation to fight this dangerous crime by learning more about it.

Stalking is a crime in all 50 states and the District of Columbia, yet many victims and criminal justice professionals underestimate its seriousness and impact. In one of five cases, stalkers use weapons to harm or threaten victims,

2 and stalking is one of the significant risk factors for femicide (homicide of women) in abusive relationships.

3 Victims suffer anxiety, social dysfunction, and severe depression at much higher rates than the general population, and many lose time from work or have to move as a result of their victimization.

4Stalking is difficult to recognize, investigate, and prosecute. Unlike other crimes, stalking is not a single, easily identifiable crime but a series of acts, a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause that person fear. Stalking may take many forms, such as assaults, threats, vandalism, burglary, or animal abuse, as well as unwanted cards, calls, gifts, or visits. One in four victims reports that the stalker uses technology, such as computers, global positioning system devices, or hidden cameras, to track the victim’s daily activities.

5 Stalkers fit no standard psychological profile, and many stalkers follow their victims from one jurisdiction to another, making it difficult for authorities to investigate and prosecute their crimes.

Communities that understand stalking, however, can support victims and combat the crime.

If more people learn to recognize stalking, we have a better chance to protect victims and prevent tragedies.

Your local rape crisis or domestic violence center can offer information, resources, or help.

For additional resources to help promote National Stalking Awareness Month, please visit http://stalkingawarenessmonth.org  and www.ovw.usdoj.gov 

1 Baum et al.,

Stalking Victimization in the United States

, Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Justice, Office of Justice Programs,

Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2009, http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/pub/pdf/svus.pdf (accessed September 29, 2009).

2 Ibid.

3 Jacquelyn C. Campbell et al., “Risk Factors for Femicide in Abusive Relationships: Results from a Multi-site Case Control Study,”

American Journal of Public Health

93 (2003): 7.

4 Ibid.

5 Baum,

Stalking Victimization in the United States.

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Help for Rape Victims in Cartagena, Columbia

Here in my travels, I’m stopping in Cartagena, Columbia.  I can only find information for rape victims on the Embassy website for American’s traveling (which is better than some embassy websites)  It’s wonderful that they put information on how to preserve evidence.

Here is info taken from the Bogota. Columbia Embassy website.

Special Information for Cases of Sexual Assault and Rape:

Physical evidence is very important in sexual assault cases, and can deteriorate as time passes.  As such, victims should not change clothes, avoid bathing if possible, and have a physical exam at the first opportunity.  You should take these steps even if you are unsure about whether to report the crime to police.  If you decide to pursue a prosecution at a later time, these steps preserve evidence that will assist the prosecutor.  A consular officer or after-hours duty officer from the U.S. Embassy may be able to accompany victims of sexual assault for the medical exam. You should get medical attention to determine if you have been injured in any way and to discuss treatment and prevention options for pregnancy and sexually transmitted diseases.  The U.S. Embassy can provide you with a list of local doctors.

In Colombia the legal definition of rape and sexual assault does not vary from region to region.  Rape and sexual assault are characterized as acts performed with the use of force, weapons and/or intimidation by the assailant.  It is often committed in isolated places, or when the assailants take advantage of the absence of surveillance and security measures. This may be a premeditated crime or crime of opportunity.  In many cases the assailant remains unknown. The law provides for sentences ranging from eight to 15 years of imprisonment for violent sexual assault.  For acts of spousal sexual violence, the law mandates sentences of six months to two years and denies probation or bail to offenders who disobey restraining orders.

Instituto de Medicina Legal y Ciencias Forenses (Forensic Institute)
Calle 7 A No. 12-61
Bogotá, Colombia
Tel. 4069977 – 4069944

Authorizes and performs forensic sexual assault exam in all cases of rape and sexual assault. The exam involves collection of blood samples, semen, or other substances, as well as a psychological and sociological evaluation. The victim may bring a family member or a witness to the exam, and a minor may be accompanied by a parent or guardian.  There is no fee for the exam, because it is required as a part of legal process.  If the victim refuses to take the exam, it may make a difference during the trial, as there will be no physical evidence for the legal process to consider. However, the medical exam is not necessary to file the charges. The victim can report the case to a Family Commissioner, Police or Unidad de Reacción Inmediata.  Afterwards, the case is forwarded to Unidad Especializada en Delitos Contra La Libertad Sexual y la Dignidad Humana. The victim is interviewed by Colombian judicial officials, a psychologist and an investigator. The laws within the Colombian Criminal Code protect the identity of a victim of sexual assault, and the media must comply with the law.

The rape crisis hotlines: (operators speak Spanish only)

Instituto Colombiano de Bienstar Familiar (ICBF) – 018000918080 – 24 hours
ICBF provides psycho-social, medical, and legal support to victims of sexual violence.

Centro de Atención Integral a Victimas de Delitos Sexuales
Diagonal 34 No. 5-18, Tel. 2880557, 2324011

Special Information for Cases of Domestic Violence:

Domestic violence is a crime under the Colombian Penal Code. The National Constitution sets the guidelines for implementing prevention, solution and punishment of violence within the family. Domestic violence, including spousal abuse, remains a serious problem in Colombia.  Judicial authorities may remove an abuser from the household and require counseling.  Prison time is possible if the abuser causes grave harm or the abuse is recurrent; however, provisions for fines are generally not applied.  The law stipulates that the government must provide victims of domestic violence with immediate protection from physical or psychological abuse.  The ICBF provides safe houses and counseling for victims, but its services are dwarfed by the magnitude of the problem.  In addition to fulfilling traditional family counseling functions, the ICBF family ombudsmen handle domestic violence cases.  The Human Rights Ombudsman’s Office conducts regional training workshops to promote the application of domestic violence statutes. If you need immediate assistance finding a place to stay the Embassy can also provide the names of hotels or a temporary shelter.

How can the victims obtain a restraining order?
Under Colombian law, every person, who is a victim of physical or psychological abuse, insult, offence or any other form of aggression within his/her family, can ask the family commissioner, the Civil Municipality or PROMISCUO Judge, for an immediate protective measure that helps to put an end to the violence or prevent its reoccurrence.  The request for a protective measure can be made personally by the victim, any other person that acts on his/her behalf, or by the family commissioner when the victim cannot do it, in writing or verbally .

The request for protection measures has to state the following clearly:

a) Name of requester and identity card number, if possible
b) Name of the victim
c) Name of the perpetrator and his/her address
d) Report of the facts
e) Request for necessary evidence

A commissary or judge upon receiving the petition will issue a restraining order within four hours.

“ASEDIO”- harassment or stalking in Colombia has a political connotation.  It is not considered to be a violent crime.

Point of contact to report domestic violence:

Local Police Stations

Instituto Colombiano de Bienestar Familiar 018000918080, 24 hours a day

The criminal report can be filed

  • at any URI
  • the Prosecutor’s Office
  • SAU or police officer and at the CAVIF located on Cra 13 # 18-38 First Floor in Bogota.

123 (equivalent of U.S. 911) in cases of security, fire, rescue, disasters, car accidents, public services emergencies (i.e. gas leaks, short circuits, etc), health emergencies, family violence

 

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Sexual and Domestic Violence – Intersecting with the Latino Population

Today starts Hispanic Heritage month and I thought I would put out some thoughts and facts toward serving the Latino community in regards to sexual and domestic violence.

The Latino population is growing across our nation.  By July 2050, the projected Latino population of the United States is expected to be 132.8 million, or 30% of the total population by that date. Nearly one in three US residents will be Latinos. (U.S. Census Bureau. “An Older and More Diverse Nation by Midcentury” 2008).

According to USDoJ, (2004 stats report) one in six females age 13 and older are victims of rape, attempted rape or sexual assaults.  If we then look at the U.S. Census projections, along with Latina population projections, and the one-in-six victimization estimate, by the year 2050, the number of Latinas who have experienced some form of sexual violence could reach 10.8 million.

Considering:  the levels of underreporting generally and then, perhaps more so) within this population, the various types of crimes committed against Latinos and Latinas as people of color and immigrants in particular (with the idea that the current trends of violence will continue), and with the anticipated Latino population growth there will logically be more victims of (all kinds of) crime.

While the Latino population grows across the nation, there become a rapidly increasing number of underserved Latina/o victims of sexual and domestic violence in the United States. This is due in part to limited funds, the lack of bilingual staff, Spanish language resources, and effective outreach programs.  Many communities lack the resources and bilingual victim advocates who can address the needs of Spanish-speaking victims. Limited funds have kept many victim service agencies in a state of overextension, with the demand exceeding limited service capabilities.  The majority of staff and volunteers do their best with what resources are available to meet the immediate service and needs of victims. Without a consolidated national effort to support and upgrade the bilingual human resource and program effectiveness of sexual assault agencies, many more individuals, families, and communities across the nation will continue to suffer the devastating impact of ongoing sexual violence, and sexual assault trauma and re-victimization.

Issues and barriers that impact the Latino/Hispanic communities.

Some barriers specific to the Latino community living in rural areas:  poverty, lack of public transportation systems, shortages of health care providers, under-insurance or lack of health insurance, and decreased access to many resources (such as advanced education, job opportunities and adequate child care).  These barriers make it more difficult to escape abusive relationships.  In addition, rural health care providers may be acquainted with or related to their patients and their families, creating a barrier to disclosing abuse confidentially and thus further isolating these women. Geographical isolation and cultural values, including strong allegiance to the land, kinship ties and traditional gender roles also increase the challenges faced by rural women when they attempt to end the abuse in their live. The increased availability of weapons (such as firearms and knives) common in rural households also increases both the risks and lethality of sexual violence and domestic attacks upon rural women.

Additional barriers faced by the Latino community are:  language barriers (not all Latinos speak the same language, some speak Portuguese and there are many South American dialects in the Latino community), fear of deportation (if the survivor is not a legal resident), fear of the legal system, and cultural issues (emphasis is placed on virginity in many Hispanic/Latino communities meaning that a woman or girl who loses her virginity to rape, incest, or molestation is seen as a “promiscuous” woman).

The Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance reports

  • 18% of Hispanic women/Latinas and nearly 23% of Hispanic men/Latinos in Virginia reported experiencing a sexual assault in their lifetimes. Prevalence of Sexual Assault in Virginia, Virginia Department of Health, April 2003.
  • Married Hispanics/Latinas are less likely than other women to immediately define their experiences of forced sex as rape and terminate their relationships; some view sex as a marital obligation. Bergen, R. K. 1996, Wife Rape.
  • 6% of victims served by Virginia’s Sexual and Domestic Violence Agencies in 2003 were Latino.
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