16 Days of Activism - Day 6

Gendercide is gender-selective mass killing. The term was first used by Mary Anne Warren in her 1985 book, Gendercide: The Implications of Sex Selection.

Link on gender-based genocide:

http://www.gendercide.org/what_is_gendercide.html

"Honour" killings of women can be defined as acts of murder in which "a woman is killed for her actual or perceived immoral behavior."  More information about this practice:

http://www.gendercide.org/case_honour.html

In all cases, specifically female infanticide reflects the low status accorded to women in most parts of the world; it is arguably the most brutal and destructive manifestation of the anti-female bias that pervades "patriarchal" societies. It is closely linked to the phenomena of sex-selective abortion, which targets female fetuses almost exclusively, and neglect of girl children.

On China/India female infanticide:
http://www.gendercide.org/case_infanticide.html

More information concerning the millions of Latina and Indigenous women and girl children trapped by criminal sexual exploitation today:

http://www.libertadlatina.org/Index.htm 

16 Days of Activism - Day 5

According to Human Rights Watch, as many as 3,000 women in Central Kivu in the Democratic Republic of the Congo were raped between 1999 and mid-2001, demonstrating the extent to which rape is used as a method of warfare in the Congo’s ongoing conflict.

This photo journal from BBC, titled Tales of Rape in the DR Congo, gives accounts of two girls who have been affected by this conflict. I felt that it was a particularly strong and emotionally hard-hitting piece, and a valuable insight into the situation of ongoing gender violence.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/05/africa_tales_of_rape_in_dr_congo/html/1.stm

Also, follow the link below to learn more about this conflict and how gender violence is being used as a tool of war.
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/01/11/60minutes/main3701249.shtml?tag=currentVideoInfo;segmentTitle


Neda Said
Social Justice Peer Educator

16 Days of Activism - Day 4

I approach violence against women of color in a transnational feminist lens. Particularly analyzing how discourses of victimization creep into discussions of immigrant women seeking domestic violence assistance. This discussion does not delve into detailed accounts and examples, but rather searches for tools of better approaching domestic violence away from victimizing and savior approaches concerning women of color in domestic violence situations. The goal is to find tools to flip the lens and analyze regimes of power existing in the framing of certain narratives of domestic violence. Kimberle Williams Crenshaw addresses such an analysis in her piece, “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence against Women of Color.” Crenshaw addreses the realm of identity politics, mobility behind feminist and anti-racist organizations and argues that the women of color experience accounts both race and gender and such specification, although historically specific, cannot work in separate boxes as these organizations come to approach women of color experiences. Such refusal to think of these identities as “boxed” has everything to do with how violence is experienced and how violence within communities of color is spoken about. Crenshaw touches on two significant frames in her work: intersectional subordination confronted in the notion of structural intersectionality, and political intersectionality. Intersectional subordination addresses the multiplicities of power dynamics in the lives of women pertaining to their location in the intersections of race and gender, structural intersectionality. In addressing this concept and the theories of domestic violence legislation in Congress such as the Violence Against Women Act of the 1990s and the 1990s revision of the marriage fraud policy under the Immigration Act of 1990 to allow a waiver of hardship gathered through evidence from police reports to social service agencies. In this topic of immigration and domestic violence she address that not considering the disparities of the bilingual resources and personnel in the U.S. in women of color accessing these documents, often compromises the “equal distribution” logic that is falsely promoted for these reforms. Such intention rather addresses policy and legislation as it soothes government consciousness and validates power-reinforcing colorblind legislation. In this case of governmental, or Congressional handling of domestic violence, she states intersectional subordination, it “need not be intentionally produced…the consequence of the imposition of one burden interacting with pre-existing vulnerabilities to create yet another dimension of disempowerment” (495). In connection, this insight connects to the last frame of political intersectionality, most relevant in political approaches of anti-racist and feminist organization. In discussing political intersectionality, women of color often find themselves in the “conflicting political agendas,” separately addressed” faced in their position in multiple politically subordinated groups. For one,this makes us rethink how women of color experience in racism is “different from men of color and sexism in ways not always parallel to experiences of white women” (496). I encourage our fellow readers to pick up this valuable Crenshaw piece and explore her examples from immigrant women and domestic violence shelter accessibility and a re-reading of the media portrayal of women of color who have experienced domestic violence and refuse to report or cooperate. The reader will further explore how notions of accessibility, the lack of bilingual resources and personnel provided for non-English speaker, and specificities of identities of women of color as not just an identity as “woman” or an identity as “person of color,” and I would add as a “queer” person complicates for further analysis of regimes of power.  TO end, we must always keep a critical lens on identity categories and identity politics that structure various organization. To have a critical lens is not to invalidate the good brought by these organization, but recognizing that how specific identity politics can often be detrimental by reinforcing multiple invisibilities and erasures of narratives that work to validate the U.S. colorblind agenda.


In particular, I want to challenge you to to begin thinking of the relationship of immigration and the U.S. and checking our own incarnations of savior mentality and such an approach in U.S. human rights discourse.


Here's a link to an informative blog that approaches feminism through a transnational lens :) http://www.genderacrossborders.com


Jasmine Herrera
Gender Buffet and Programming Intern

Crenshaw, Kimberle W. “Mapping the Margins: Intersectionality, Identity Politics, and Violence Against Women of Color.” The Feminist Philosophy Reader. Ed. Alison Bailey and Chris Cuomo. New York: McGraw-Hill, 2008. 279-309.

16 Days of Activism - Day 3

Gender violence affects us all, making it all the more important to examine these issues and how they concern women globally. I invite you to peruse these images and think about the emotions in each portrait. These images were taken from National Geographic. I have included excerpts from the websites to offer some context, but encourage you to use the links to see other photos included in the galleries.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photos/windows-soul-gallery/
Here, an August 1994 photo shows a Palestinian girl holding a dove on the roof of her home in the Shati Refugee Camp in Gaza.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2002/04/afghan-girl/index-text (google afghan girl national geographic, cause this link doesn’t always work)
The portrait by Steve McCurry turned out to be one of those images that sears the heart, and in June 1985 it ran on the cover of this magazine. Her eyes are sea green. They are haunted and haunting, and in them you can read the tragedy of a land drained by war. She became known around National Geographic as the "Afghan girl," and for 17 years no one knew her name.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2009/09/somalia/maitre-photography (this is a gallery, so just have the link)
Mogadishu is ground zero for the failed state of Somalia, a place where pirates and terrorists rule. Yet to the north, the breakaway region of Somaliland is stable and at peace. What happened?

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/photo-of-the-day/sudanese-women-olson.html
Women carry bundles of firewood on their heads in the Sudanese desert. In rural African cultures, the responsibility of foraging for firewood usually falls to the women. In Sudan's brutally dry desert, where little vegetation grows, it can take several hours each day to collect enough wood to cook with.

http://photography.nationalgeographic.com/photography/enlarge/padaung-women_pod_image.html
Some women of the Padaung people are fitted with brass neck rings at a young age to ward off evil spirits. The weight and pressure of the added rings crush the collar bones and sometimes the ribs of these women.


Neda Said
Social Justice Peer Educator

16 Days of Activism - Day 2

Sexual Violence in Our Communities


I am currently interning at the Sexual Assault & Violence Prevention Resource Center (SARC). In the past 3 months I have learned more about sexual and gender violence than I have ever noticed before. I began by reading various articles and reports on sexual violence specifically in communities of color. The international theme for 16 days of Activism Against Gender Violence is “Structure of Violence: Defining the Intersections of Militarism and Violence Against Women”. The phenomenon of the soaring rates of sexual violence particularly against Native women and Black women in the U.S. cannot be separated from the history of genocidal violence against both populations by white Europeans and Americans. The U.S. histories of conquest of indigenous peoples and chattel slavery of Africans both required extreme violence in all its forms including sexual violence perpetrated predominantly against women (i.e. rape as a weapon of war, rape as a tool for “breeding” slaves). Knowing this, I was not that surprised by my initial readings on sexual violence. The numbers were as I expected: women of color experienced higher instances of sexual violence than that of white women. I did not know, however, the magnitude in difference as well as the lack of services offered and low rates of reporting these crimes in communities of color. Black women are 35 times more likely to be domestically abused than white women. Forty percent of Black women report coercive sexual contact by the age of 18 (National Black women’s Health Project). I find this issue very disturbing not just in its blatant racial inequity but also that there is an extreme lack of education, awareness, and preventative efforts available to protect and empower women of color. As I presented some of this very information to the members of the Black Student Union at UCSD, the issue was brought up that most women of color and poor women only receive birth control and pregnancy tips in their sexual education. This embedded racism in our healthcare and education systems produces an environment which silences the plight of women of color who suffer from heightened sexual violence at the hands of men of color and white men. Language barriers, institutional and individual racism, and economic disenfranchisement all inhibit women from reporting sexual violence, seeking professional healthcare, and utilizing mental health services. In the U.S., the most invisible victims of sexual violence are Native women. Native women experience rape at a rate of 33%, that’s 1 in 3. Overall, 34% of Native women report rape in their lifetime. Because of the political disenfranchisement in place on reservations, there are often many restrictions that make it difficult to take legal action against perpetrators of sexual violence. There are constant contradictions and inconsistencies regarding tribal, state, and federal jurisdiction depending on the status of the victim, perpetrator, and the location of the sexual crime. A series of federal and state acts have limited the power of tribal authorities and court systems so that there is less ability to prosecute and punish serious crimes such as rape. Furthermore, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in 1978 in the Oliphant vs. Suquamish case that tribal courts have no jurisdiction over non-Indian U.S. citizens. This denies the rights to equal protection and due process for victims especially since 9 out of 10 Indian victims of sexual assault have  assailants that were non-Indians (Greenfiel et al ,1997). “Sexual violence against women is not only a criminal or social issue, it is a human rights abuse. All women have the right to be safe and free from violence and the authorities have a responsibility to ensure that women can enjoy that right” (Amnesty International USA 2007 report Maze of injustice: The failure to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence in the USA).  To combat these issues we must stop perpetuating this violence amongst ourselves as people of color. Our communities must begin to take the stance that sexual violence and violence against women are absolutely unacceptable. We must begin to have these difficult conversations about why these high rates occur and start offering more support and validation to victims. We must act together to create a safe community where everyone is respected and does not have to fear any form of violence. We must empower victims to locate services, report crimes, and to seek justice in order to break the cycle of silence that is created by structures that render our issues invisible.


If you are interested in learning more, receiving support services, or working with SARC please contact sarc@ucsd.edu or call 858-534-5793.


Allyssa Villanueva

16 Days of Activism - Day 1

Welcome to the first post in our series on 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. We will continue to post everyday, even through the holiday, so stay tuned for more.

I had the opportunity to connect with Jessica Bomyea, a grad student who is doing research on the occurrence of mental trauma after sexual assault. I found her knowledge valuable in my regard of gender violence and its impact on women. The following is a Q&A between us via email. I hope you find this as interesting of a read as I did! In addition, Jessica is still conducting her research. For more information, please contact the Anxiety and Traumatic Stress Disorders Program at jbomyea@ucsd.edu.

Women’s Center: Tell us a little bit about yourself and how you got into this work. Why do you feel sexual assault and its impact on women needs to be explored?

I am a third year student in the SDSU/UCSD Joint Doctoral Program in Clinical Psychology. My research interests are in studying treatments for Posttraumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Sexual assault is unfortunately all too common (estimated prevalence rates for sexual assault in adult women range from about 13 to 25 %; Elliot, Mok, & Briere, 2004) and can have a long-lasting detrimental effect on the victim, including development of PTSD. Although there are effective treatments for PTSD, they do not always work for every person. I think it is important to continue looking for new approaches to treatment, and to better understand what interventions are most effective for specific individuals, including women who have experienced sexual trauma.

WC: Please define PTSD and how it can occur after sexual assault.

PTSD is an anxiety disorder that occurs in some individuals following experiencing or witnessing a life-threatening event where the person experienced intense fear, helplessness, or horror (Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders-IV; APA, 2000). Examples of such an event include sexual assault, as well as motor vehicle accidents, combat, and natural disasters, among others. Symptoms of PTSD are organized into three “clusters”. The first is re-experiencing symptoms, such as having nightmares, intrusive distressing memories about the event, acting or feeling as though the event is happening again, and intense distress and physiological reactivity when one encounters cues that resemble the traumatic event. The second cluster is “avoidance and numbing”, which includes efforts to avoid reminders of the trauma, inability to recall parts of the traumatic event, diminished interest in activities, feeling detached from others, restricted affect, and a sense of foreshortened future. The third cluster is “hyperarousal”. These include symptoms like sleep disturbances, difficulty concentrating, irritability, and exaggerated startle reflex. However, an individual does not need to have all of these symptoms to have PTSD.

Immediately after an event like a sexual assault, most people have symptoms like these. For many people, the symptoms resolve over time. If these types of symptom persist for more than a month after the assault and are distressing or impairing to the affected individual, I would recommend seeking professional help.

WC: What is your framework in the research you are doing with sexual assault and PTSD? Please tell me a little bit about the angle you are taking in your work.

In my current research I am specifically looking at a computer-based intervention for the disorder. It is very different from what someone would typically think of as therapy. This intervention is based on research indicating that PTSD is maintained by specific types of “cognitive processing,” which is a term for the way that our brain manages information. One example is that PTSD may be fueled by difficulty in putting aside thoughts about the trauma. My computer program trains the user to put aside certain kinds of information in order to better remember other information. Our hope is that this skill will generalize to putting aside thoughts about trauma and, therefore, help facilitate the individual’s recovery from PTSD.

WC:  Tell me a little bit about the recovery process after sexual assault. Are there things people can do to make the process easier?

After a traumatic event of any kind many individuals experience PTSD-like symptoms, such as nightmares or intrusive thoughts about the event, or feeling jumpy and anxious. These are normal reactions to experiencing something that is life threatening or extremely distressing. People should remember this and not feel that they are “abnormal” or “weak.” If these symptoms are very upsetting or continue for more than a month, the individual may want to consider seeking professional psychotherapy. Research suggests that trauma-focused Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), such as Prolonged Exposure or Cognitive Processing Therapy, effectively treats PTSD. A number of website list local providers that specialize in CBT, including the Association for Behavioral and Cognitive Therapies (www.abct.org) and the Anxiety Disorders Association of America (www. Adaa.org). UCSD students can contact the Counseling and Psychological Services center is also available ((858)534-3755, http://psychservices.ucsd.edu/#students) as well as the Sexual Assault and Violence Prevention Resource Center (Student Services Center, 5th floor, Room 555; (858) 534-5793; sarc@ucsd.edu). In addition, the International Society for Traumatic Stress Studies (www.istss.org) has a good deal of information on the website about the effects of trauma, including PTSD. If you feel you are in a crisis, including having thoughts about hurting yourself of committing suicide, contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-TALK(8255) or the San Diego crisis line at 1-800-479-3339.

Neda Said
Social Justice Peer Educator

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

Join the Women's Center as we participate in the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence. We'll be posting to this blog everyday starting from the International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women on November 25th to the International Human Rights Day on December 10th, which make up the 16 Days. This campaign reinforces that eliminating all forms of violence against women is a human rights issue and that the act of perpetuating violence against women is a human rights violation. This year, the 16 Days Campaign's theme is Militarism and Violence Against Women. The Campaign's global call to action seeks to challenge militarism and end violence against women, strengthen women's leadership to promote peace, realize human rights for all to achieve genuine security, and recognize and prevent gender violence in our own communities.


In solidarity, the UCSD Women's Center will be participating in this international effort. Our posts will range from articles written about gender violence issues, to ways that you can get involved. For more information on the 16 Days and how to get involved, visit our Facebook page, which you can find in the left column.


A full calendar of the events and more information:

Welcome!

Welcome to the official, brand-new blog for the UCSD Women's Center!

We're so excited to venture into the virtual space and use this blog as a launch pad to explore more of the issues that we can't always cover in the Women's Center. Through the blog we hope to cover current issues or developments and take advantage of multiple forms of media, from text to video to music, and more!

If you have any ideas for topics you'd like to see us cover, feel free to share it in the comments or email us at women@ucsd.edu.