Christina Turner feared that she might have been sexually assaulted after two men slipped her a knockout drug. She thought she was taking proper precautions when her doctor prescribed a month’s worth of anti-AIDS medicine.
Only later did she learn that she had made herself all but uninsurable.
The Health Insurance Industry’s assault on women’s lives needs to stop right now.
Jaclyn Friedman, who along with Jessica Valenti is the co-author of the excellent book, Yes Means Yes, has written several pieces in the last week examining the devastating damage done by sports apologists who are, “an essential ingredient in the modern sports culture that protects and lionizes male athletes at all costs.” In examining cases like accusations of attempts to cover up rape charges against Ben Roethlisberger, the treatment of Erin Andrews and other cases, Friedman makes it very clear that these aren’t isolated incidents, but a result of very ingrained cultural context,
The apologists drink from a potent cocktail of hero-worship, almost military levels of team solidarity, and old-fashioned “boys will be boys” gender essentialism. And they would just be offensive if they weren’t such an integral part of the larger culture of misogyny in sports — a culture that makes it possible for there to be so many heinous acts to defend, minimize and deny in the first place. As is, they’re downright dangerous, writing a blank check for athletes’ behavior that too many athletes are happy to cash.
The result of this is that,
This kind of public blowback isn’t just re-traumatizing for the victim — it impacts our ability to bring rapists to justice. After all, judges and juries live in the same sports culture we do — and participate in it themselves to varying degrees. So it’s not hard to guess why a study by USA Today in the wake of the Kobe Bryant rape trial found that athletes charged with rape were far less likely to be convicted or even agree to a plea deal than non-athletes. And the more athletes get away with rape, the more likely they are to rape again, and the more likely other athletes are to see it as an appealing act with few consequences.
Not only has Friedman added much needed analysis of this issue itself, she then found herself in the position that I’ve been in many times, namely what to do with all the inappropriate feedback that has been heaped on her since addressing this topic. The first time this sort of stuff rolled my way I was truly shocked, I just didn’t have a clue, but any time you address issues such as rape or porn, it is inevitable that you will be barraged with all manner of poorly written, off-topic, rude, obscene, etc. comments by folks who insist that you are violating their rights to free speech if you don’t print them. Friedman addresses that on the Yes Means Yes blog. Read it. What she said applies to this blog too.
Press Release from the Family Violence Prevention Fund:
Teen Dating Violence – Teachers Can Make a DifferenceInnovative New Resource Helps English Teachers
Use Existing Texts to Encourage Teens to Say ‘No’ to Violence
SAN FRANCISCO – One of the nation’s violence prevention leaders and a national educational organization that promotes student achievement today unveiled an innovative new resource designed to help teachers incorporate violence prevention lessons into existing curricula. The Family Violence Prevention Fund (FVPF) and the National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE) released Lessons from Literature, a free online resource that gives English teachers a framework to use the novels, poems, plays and stories they’re already teaching to help their students build healthy, non-violent relationships.
Its website is the central hub of the program, where teachers can download a Classroom Manual and access other resources. The Lessons from Literature program includes:
- Lesson plans aligned with National Standards for the English Language Arts that address themes of abuse, violence, inequality, family/interpersonal issues, and more;
A Lesson Template that serves as a guide for teachers to create or modify their own lessons;- Materials, including handouts and fact sheets on teen dating abuse, to prepare teachers and students to discuss abuse;
- An online resource library of books, poems, songs, movies and more to help build creative and meaningful exercises into pre-existing lessons; and
- Opportunities for teachers to share lesson plans, ideas, resources and experiences with each other and to identify professional development opportunities through this work.
“Teachers are powerful influencers, motivators and leaders,” said FVPF President Esta Soler. “Lessons from Literature is a groundbreaking tool that will make it easy for teachers to help students develop the skills to recognize and avoid dating violence so they can build healthy relationships. We are so proud to partner with the National Council of Teachers of English. Its reach will do so much to position educators to increase awareness about the damaging effects of physical, sexual and verbal abuse.”
The Family Violence Prevention Fund, in partnership with the Advertising Council and the Department of Justice’s Office on Violence against Women, today announced the launch of a national public service advertising (PSA) campaign designed to helps teens recognize digital dating abuse and take steps to prevent it.
Digital communication is an integral part of teens’ lives. According to Pew Research conducted in 2007, approximately 70 percent of teens talk daily with friends on a cell phone, 60 percent send text messages daily, 54 percent send instant messages, 47 percent send email messages daily over social networking sites, and many teens are blogging. With the benefit of these new technologies comes the risk of digital abuse, which can include unwanted, repeated calls or text messages, breaking into email or social networking accounts, or being pressured to send private or embarrassing pictures or videos. Though this issue has gone largely undetected by most adults, it is prevalent in teen life.
“Our research confirms that teens often don’t know how to connect the dots and recognize when controlling behavior becomes abuse,” said Family Violence Prevention Fund President Esta Soler. “The That’s Not Cool campaign is designed to help start a conversation about textual harassment and digital abuse, give teens the tools to recognize and talk about it, and encourage them to define what is and isn’t okay.”
According to Technology and Teen Dating Abuse Survey, 2007 (conducted by Teen Research Unlimited), one in three teens say they have been text messaged 10, 20 or 30 times an hour by a partner wanting to know where they are, what they’re doing, or who they’re with. One in four teens in a relationship have been called names, harassed or put down by a partner through cell phones and texting. More than half of teen girls (51 percent) say pressure from a guy is a reason girls send sexy messages or images, and 18 percent of teen boys say pressure from a girl is a reason (Sex and Tech Survey, conducted by the National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2008).
Created pro bono by R/GA, the new multimedia campaign includes an interactive web site, mobile component, television, radio, posters in schools and malls, and Web ads all designed to help teens recognize digital dating abuse and give them the tools to initiate conversations about it. The PSAs direct audiences to visit www.ThatsNotCool.com where teens can find tools to “draw their own digital line” and a forum to discuss this form of abuse and seek help. The site launched in January and was promoted through an exclusive with Google across its search, display and YouTube properties to measure the impact each element has had on direct traffic to the site.
