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“VIOLENCE
AGAINST WOMEN: ©1999,
All Rights Reserved info(AT)idtonline.org My
heart is in anguish within me It is
not an enemy who taunts me— My
companion stretched out his hand against his friends,
Inanna LaFevre “This in turn requires of us that we risk the difficult task of continuing to speak vulnerably and personally about our own life and the lives of other women, while rejecting tendencies toward victimization, bitterness, self-pity, or self-indulgence. To unveil the damage caused by systemized cruelty, stultification, indifference, and daily denials of one’s humanity is itself a painful and dangerous act; to do so while refusing to become obsessed with the atrocities committed against one’s self and one’s people is an even more arduous challenge.”
The
Institute for Development Training INTRODUCTION Violence against women is a universal problem that daily affects millions of women of every age, race and class. The scope and severity of this gender violence is testament to the low status of women throughout the world. In almost every society on earth women live in fear of male violence, and limit and shape their lives according to this fear. The violence to which women are subjected includes overt physical acts such as murder, rape, battery, incest, and sexual abuse; psychological abuses such as harassment, intimidation, threats, belittling, and other verbal assaults; and institutional and social violence such as genital mutilation, wife burning, female infanticide, discrimination and neglect. Most of the violence to which women are subjected is socially, culturally and even legally condoned. But because gender violence is such an accepted part of the fabric of life in most countries there has been little concerted effort to honestly address the problem at national and international levels. According to Charlotte Bunch, “Gender violence is the most pervasive and insidious human rights abuse in the world....If any other group were so systematically tortured, battered, and killed, society would declare a civil emergency.”1 U.S. Senator Joseph Biden made this statement: “If the leading newspapers were to announce tomorrow a new disease that, over the past year had afflicted from 3 to 4 million citizens, few would fail to appreciate the seriousness of the illness. Yet when it comes to the 3 to 4 million women who are victimized by violence each year the alarms ring softly.”2 The disease Biden is referring to is domestic violence. In the United States a woman is beaten every fifteen seconds; and four women are killed by their batterers every day.3 According to former U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, domestic violence is a leading cause of injury to women. In a study among low income women in Philadelphia, domestic violence was found to be the leading cause of injury between the ages of fifteen and forty-four, more common than automobile accidents, muggings and cancer deaths combined.4 Gender violence is a global tragedy which has many faces. It is an international pandemic on the scope of AIDS. As health professionals, people of faith, or concerned citizens, we must demand that violence against women be treated as a human rights violation with major public health consequences. As Dr. Koop stated so clearly: “Violence
against females is everyone’s responsibility. It is the responsibility
of governments at the national, state and community levels. It is the
responsibility of legislators and parliamentarians, city and village
councils or panchayat leaders. It is the responsibility of the health
professionals, including doctors, nurses and other health professionals
as well as hospitals and clinics. It is the responsibility of
educational institutions and educators; the communications media; the
church and clergy." 5 This
guide expands on issues raised by women in the video, Violence
Against Women: A Violation of Human Rights. It places violence
against women in the context of a public health problem by addressing
the mental and physical health consequences women experience as a result
of violence. It also includes informational resources, ideas for action,
and organizations to contact. Our intent is to provide information and
ideas that will encourage and assist efforts to eliminate violence
against women at all levels around the world.
CONTENTS The many forms of violence against women are interrelated in complex cycles of cause and effect and do not fall into neat separate categories. However, for the sake of organization this guide is divided into four main themes: Domestic Violence, Rape and Other Sexual Crimes, Economic and Legal Discrimination, and Genital Mutilation. Appendices follow that provide information on organizations working to confront violence against women. Introduction ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 1. DOMESTIC VIOLENCE BATTERY/AGGRAVATED ASSAULT “Battery is the most significant cause of injury to women in this country. It is ironic that the first shelter for battered women was created 100 years after the congressional law to prevent cruelty to animals was passed.”
Today, animals in the United States are still given better protection than women. Although up to fifty percent of homeless women and children in this country are fleeing domestic violence, there are three times as many animal shelters as there are shelters for battered women.6 Abusing an animal is always considered a felony, however, even though “injuries that battered women receive are at least as serious as injuries suffered in 90% of violent felony crimes, under state laws they are almost always classified as misdemeanors.”7 The following example from Oklahoma clearly shows how laws reflect national attitudes. Police sergeant Wayne M. Hlinicky faces a possible five years in prison, a $5,000 fine, and discharge from the police force for allegedly kicking a cat. Meanwhile, Sergeant Aaron Watson may only face ninety days in jail for reportedly shoving his girlfriend’s head against a wall, kicking her, and dragging her by the hair. 8 It is difficult to categorize the types of violence women experience, because there is much crossover between them. Domestic violence, the subject of this chapter, is not limited to assault and battery. It can also include rape, verbal abuse and intimidation, and economic and psychological control, among other things. While all of these forms of violence take place within the domestic sphere, they are certainly not limited to that realm. Women can and do suffer these abuses at the hands of strangers as well as family members. The American Medical Association characterizes domestic violence as a “pattern of coercive behaviors that may include repeated battering and injury, psychological abuse, sexual assault, progressive social isolation, deprivation, and intimidation. These behaviors are perpetrated by someone who is or was involved in an intimate relationship with the victim. Although some women are successful in escaping a violent relationship after the first assault, most abuse is recurrent and escalates in both frequency and severity. In addition, a woman’s independence may be compromised by her partner’s need to dominate her and control many aspects of her life: He may restrict her access to food, clothing, money, friends, transportation, health care, social services or employment.”9 Probably the most common form of domestic violence is battering or “wife beating.” This is such a common occurrence worldwide that many people consider it normal or inevitable as the following comments reflect: “In some parts of our country wife beating is so common that women begin to worry if their husband doesn’t beat them. They think maybe he doesn’t love them anymore or he has another woman.”10 In Papua New Guinea during a parliamentary debate on wife beating a parliamentarian made this comment: “Wife beating is an accepted custom. We are wasting our time debating this issue.”11 Some men in the U.S. now proudly threaten their partners with this jeer: “I will O. J. you if you don’t watch out.”12 A man in the U.S. who admits to beating his wife made this comment: “Every once in a while you have to take her on a little trip to knuckle junction. When she comes back she is just like she was on the honeymoon.”13 These statistics from around the world give some indication of the scope of this problem: In Beijing a recent survey revealed that 23% of husbands have beaten their wives.14 In Uganda 46% of women are beaten by their partners.* In Tanzania 60% of women report physical abuse by their partners.* In Kenya 42% of women are “beaten regularly.”* In Sri Lanka 60% of women are beaten; 51% reported husband uses weapons.* In Papua New Guinea 67% of rural women, 56% of low income urban women and 62% of urban elite women are beaten.* In India 75% of scheduled caste women report being beaten “frequently.”* In Japan 58.8% of women report physical abuse by their partner, 65.7% emotional abuse, 59.4% sexual abuse.* In
Mexico 56.7% of urban women and 44.2% of rural women experienced
“interpersonal violence”* Most official statistics are taken from national crime surveys which largely rely on FBI, police and emergency room reports. However, many women never report their experiences except maybe to friends, family, clergy, etc. Even when reporting to hospitals and doctors for care, women often cite reasons other than domestic violence for their injuries out of shame or fear. In many cases they think they will not be believed, especially if the perpetrator is a well known and respected person in the community (i.e., Nicole Brown Simpson and other celebrity wives). The following statistics reflect the nature of domestic violence in the U.S.16 There are at least four million reported incidents of domestic violence against women every year. Almost 20% of these are aggravated assaults in the home. Women are six times more likely than men to be victims of violent crime in an intimate relationship. In 1991, more than 90 women were murdered every week. Nine out of ten were murdered by men. Weapons are used in 30% of domestic violence incidents. In 95% of all domestic violence assaults, crimes are committed by men against women. Although more than one million women seek medical treatment each year for injuries caused by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends, doctors correctly identify the injuries as resulting from battering only 4% of the time. Medical expenses from domestic violence total at least three to five billion dollars annually. Businesses forfeit another hundred million in lost wages, sick leave, absenteeism and non-productivity. Abusive husbands and lovers harass seventy-four percent of employed battered women at work, either in person or over the telephone causing 20% to leave their jobs. More than 53% of male abusers beat their children. Seven to 15% of pregnant women are battered in a study of poor inner city women in Baltimore17. As violence against women becomes more severe and more frequent in their homes, children very often experience an increase in physical violence by the male batterer. Some of the physical repercussions of violence to women are obvious just from these statistics, but many of the health impacts are often overlooked or dismissed. The health consequences of domestic violence are complex and extensive and include both physiological and psychological manifestations. “The reported clinical problems linked to domestic violence include homicide and repeated episodes of trauma, rape, substance abuse, attempted suicide, depression, child abuse, perinatal morbidity, chronic pain, and somatic complaints. Psychologically, the combination of ongoing assault and coercive control may evoke symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder, characterized by flashbacks, nightmares, hypervigilance, loss of boundaries, numbing, and chronic dread and anxiety.”18 The following AMA guidelines identify specific behaviors which can help survivors, health profes- sionals, and others to recognize and acknowledge that violence has occurred. PHYSICAL ABUSE: Physical abuse is usually recurrent and escalates in both frequency and severity. It may include the following: Pushing, shoving, slapping, punching, kicking, choking Assault with a weapon Holding, tying down, or restraining the woman Leaving the woman in a dangerous place Refusing to help when she is sick or injured
EMOTIONAL OR PSYCHOLOGICAL ABUSE may precede or accompany physical violence as a means of controlling through fear and degradation. It may include the following: Threats of harm Physical and social isolation Extreme jealousy and possessiveness Deprivation and/or intimidation Degradation and humiliation Calling her names and constantly criticizing, insulting and belittling her False accusations, blaming her for everything Ignoring, dismissing, or ridiculing her needs Lying, breaking promises, destroying trust Driving fast or recklessly to frighten and intimidate her SEXUAL ABUSE in violent relationships is often the most difficult aspect of abuse for women to discuss. It may include any form of forced sex or sexual degradation, such as: Trying to make her perform sexual acts against her will Pursuing sexual activity when she is not fully conscious or is not asked or is afraid to say no Hurting her physically during sex or assaulting her genitals, including use of objects or weapons intravaginally, orally, or anally Coercing her to have sex without protection against pregnancy or sexually transmissible diseases Criticizing her and calling her sexually degrading names Clinical studies underscore the prevalence of domestic violence and its relationship to continued or repeated trauma and consequent medical and psychiatric problems. More than half of all nonfatal assaults result in injury, and ten percent of the victims require hospitalization or emergency medical treatment. Seventy-five percent of battered women first identified in a medical setting will go on to suffer repeated abuse. According to various studies, battered women account for: Approximately 11% of women seeking care for any reason in emergency departments, the majority of whom are seen by medical or other nontrauma services 19-30% of injured women seen in emergency departments 14% of women seen in ambulatory-care internal medicine clinics (28% have been battered at some time) 25% of women who attempt suicide (50% of black women who attempt suicide) 25% of women utilizing a psychiatric emergency service 23% of pregnant women seeking prenatal care 45-59% of mothers of abused children 58% of women over 30 years old who have been raped 50% of all homeless women19
BATTERING DURING PREGNANCY Surveys of health care providers in four states indicated that between four and seventeen percent of pregnant women had experienced violence within the last twelve months.20 For many reasons, pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. Though pregnancy is often thought to be a time of joy and hope, women go through many difficult changes both physically and psychologically. At precisely the time when they need the most support, many women receive violent abuse instead. According to the National Organization for Obstetric, Gyneco- logical, and Neonatal Nurses, women who are battered often find that the violence increases during pregnancy. For many women the abuse begins during the first pregnancy. An NAACOG newsletter reports that approximately seven percent to fifteen percent of all pregnant women are physically abused. In the same article Jacquelyn Campbell, RN, states, “It’s hardly ever confined to pregnancy, though if it starts during pregnancy it will most likely continue after the child is born.” Campbell also noted, “Ironically, it is often the normal changes of pregnancy that trigger the first episodes of abuse or fuel recurring abuse. Some men feel threatened by the emotional changes a woman experiences during pregnancy and become jealous of her deepening bond with the baby.”21 Another article noted that “two out of three pregnant emergency room trauma patients were found to be victims of battering, often with the first physical abuse occurring shortly after the first pregnancy was apparent.” One woman described this reaction from her partner: “The first violence occurred when I told him I was pregnant. He was drinking his morning coffee. He threw the coffee cup on the floor, grabbed my arms, pinned me against the wall and punched me in the stomach. He never said anything.”22 According to one report: “One in 12 pregnant women experiences battering during pregnancy.” The report also states that “Battered women are four times more likely to deliver a low birthweight infant.”23 Since birthweight is the most critical factor in determining a child’s survival and later health and development, these facts have a tremendous impact on future generations as well as on the women being battered. Most sources agree that battering during pregnancy is probably greatly underreported, and more research needs to be done. An article in the Injury Prevention Network Newsletter reported that “as many as one-quarter to two thirds of battered women studied reported abuse during pregnancy.”24 “Since 25 to 35% of battered women are pregnant, battering results in increased neonatal care, increased likelihood of miscarriage, and increased risk of mental retardation and physical disability in children. Violent families use hospitals and doctors more than other families. Bellevue, Washington, for example, estimates that each domestic violence incident costs the city over $3,000.”25 MYTHS
AND FACTS ABOUT DOMESTIC VIOLENCE MYTH: Domestic violence affects only a small percentage of the population. REALITY: According
to a national survey conducted by Dr. Richard Gelles, violence occurs in
28% of all marriages. Dr. Gelles observes that this figure probably
underestimates the problem. MYTH: Middle class women and men do not experience domestic violence as frequently as poor women and men. REALITY: Abusers and victims come from every race, religion and socioeconomic background. Women have reported attacks by husbands who are doctors, judges, lawyers, legislators, police officers, teachers, social workers, clergy, factory workers, and laborers. Poor women are often over-represented in shelters for battered women because they have few resources. Wealthier women may have access to credit cards, bank accounts, and cash, and can purchase services. They may have more to lose in terms of status and economics if they report their abusers to police. MYTH: Alcohol abuse causes violence. REALITY: Alcohol is not the cause, but it is often a contributor. Studies reveal that 40-80% of the time alcohol is a factor in incidents of domestic violence. Drinking lowers one’s control or inhibitions and may be the excuse for letting down these restraints against violence.
MYTH: Abusers are psychopathic. Only sick, evil people abuse their partners. REALITY: Abusers may lead “normal” lives in all aspects except their inability to control aggressive impulses. While no one would dispute the evil of a vicious assault on another person, men who beat their wives or intimate partners are not always psychologically unbalanced. Studies have found that the male spouse abuser has a poor self-image, feels he is less than he ought to be, and feels he does not live up to society’s ideal of masculinity. A man takes out his feelings of inadequacy and frustration on his partner because he feels that other men would respond to his aggression in kind and she mostly likely will not. Abusers do show a tendency to use charm as a manipulative technique, and are usually described by their women as being very, very good or very, very horrid. Unlike the psychopath, however, the abuser does feel a sense of guilt and shame at his uncontrollable actions and this may contribute to his denial of the dire consequences of his actions. MYTH: Women who are domestic violence victims are masochistic, provoke the assaults, and enjoy the violence. REALITY: According to Murray Strauss in Sexual Inequality, Cultural Norms, and Wife Beating (1976), husbands provoke the violence eighty-five percent of the time. Women report being brutally assaulted for such things as: the baby was crying; the dishes weren’t done yet; the man wanted a dinner other than that which had been prepared; his or her wanting to have sex; his or her not wanting to have sex. The idea that anyone would enjoy violence — being punched in the face, kicked in the abdomen, thrown against a wall, having bones broken, eyes swollen shut and lips split open — is ludicrous.
MYTH: Some women need or deserve a beating to keep them in line. REALITY: Historically, laws have stated that men not only had the right but were obligated to keep their “children, cattle, and wives from transgressing.” Laws to this effect were made by both secular and religious bodies. Laws have changed, but attitudes prevail. Women are not the property of men. No one has the right to control another’s behavior by violent and brutal assaults. Studies have suggested that a victim’s behavior may have little correlation to an abuser’s violence. When the abuser is under stress, he will find reasons to assault the victim. MYTH: A strong faith will prevent battering. REALITY: The prevention of battering relies on the development and understanding of what it means to care for and love another. Religion, its scriptures and its community, has been used to accept or condone violence in relationships. These same resources can also provide restraints against violence and define healthy, safe relationships. It takes more than faith to prevent battering. MYTH: Shelters for victims of violence break up families. REALITY: “To suggest that shelters break up abusive families is like saying that hospitals cause auto accidents” (Working Together). Violence breaks up families. Women who have been abused must make their own decisions regarding their future and their children’s future. This is the philosophy of empowerment held by most shelter programs. Being a victim of domestic violence is a difficult experience and the decision to leave is not a simple one. About 75% of women who go to shelters return to abusive relationships and nearly that number will return to the shelter after another violent episode. 26
WHY
WOMEN DON’T LEAVE Both on an individual and a societal level we have created many excuses not to intervene in the problem of domestic violence, such as, “it’s a private issue,” “it’s too complicated,” and “women won’t prosecute anyway.” Perhaps the most irresponsible of all these excuses comes in the form of a question which blames the victim: “Why doesn’t she just leave?” There are many reasons that women don’t leave violent and abusive situations, a primary one being that it is often more dangerous to leave than to stay. The fact is that women are at greatest risk while trying to leave and after they have left an abusive relationship. The following statistics reveal some of the reasons women don’t “just leave”: Although divorced and separated women compose only 7% of the population in the United States, they account for 75% of all battered women and report being battered 14 times as often as women still living with their partners. Women who leave their batterers are at a 75% greater risk of being killed by the batterer than those who stay. After being sheltered, 31% of abused women in New York City returned to their batterers primarily because they could not locate longer-term housing. Abusers keep or destroy documentation like birth certificates and immunization records, thus preventing or seriously delaying the family’s receiving welfare benefits or housing assistance.27Women are often forced to remain in dangerous and degrading situations because they must first be concerned with basic survival for themselves and their children. WHAT
CAN I DO 1. Reassure her that she does not cause the beatings. A wife beater learned to use violence as a way of expressing anger or frustration long before he met her. 2. Physical safety is the first priority. Beatings usually get worse as time goes on. Ignoring a beating is dangerous. Explain this to your friend. 3. Tell her that she is not alone in her predicament. Wife assault happens to many women, in all income and education levels, in all social classes, in all religious and ethnic groups. 4. Explain to her that wife beating is not a sickness, it’s a crime. It is too widespread and occurs too frequently to be caused by mental illness. 5. Your friend needs your moral support; she needs your reassurance that she is not to blame. Help her to find the assistance she needs to live a life free from assault. 6. If she is not ready at this point to make major changes in her life, do not take away your friendship. Your support and advice may be what will make it possible for her to act at a later date.28 IS ANYTHING WORKING? Model Court Intervention Programs The fact is that when women are believed, supported, protected and given options, they very often leave a domestic situation in which they are being battered, and often press charges against their persecutors. Creating the circumstances which allow women to get out of violent situations requires political will and a concerted cooperative approach on the part of various institutions such as the police, courts and social service agencies. There are several model court programs around the country which are making significant progress in confronting domestic violence. These programs have not eliminated this type of violence against women, but they have shown that when a community is committed to addressing the problem, the severity and frequency of violence can be reduced. Each program is unique, but they share common features such as interagency cooperation, and a commitment to protect and support victims and to prosecute and treat batterers. For further information contact: Dick
Wuhrman Andrew
Klein Gwen
DeVasto Training
Coordinator
LEARNING
MORE Hofeller, Kathleen. Battered Women, Shattered Lives. Sarotaga, CA: R&E Publishers, 1987. Stories of three different women who endure the fear, pain and despair of being battered and brutalized by the very men who professed to love them. Jones, Ann and Schechter, Susan. When Love Goes Wrong: What to Do When You Can’t Do Anything Right. New York: Harper Collins, 1992. A must for women locked in unhappy relationships and professionals who wish to help them. Jones, Ann. Next Time She’ll be Dead; Battering & How to Stop It. Boston: Beacon Press, 1994. Statman, Jan Berliner. The Battered Woman’s Survival Guide: Breaking the Cycle. Dallas, TX: Taylor Publishing Co., 1995. Walker, Lenore E. Terrifying Love – Why Battered Women Kill and How Society Responds. New York: Harper & Row, 1989. An incredible resource for those who care about battered women and strong tool for equality and understanding. Walker, Lenore. The Battered Woman. New York: Harper & Row, 1979. Award winning book by one of the leading authorities on domestic violence. NiCarthy, Ginny. Getting Free: A Handbook for women in Abusive Relationships. Seattle: The Seal Press, 1982.
Films and videos The following two videos show the severity of the problem and how society punishes women who fight back. “Defending
Our Lives” Cambridge
Documentary Films, Inc. “They’ll
Find You Guilty” Carol
Jacobsen “Once
Were Warriors” “Crimes
Against the Future” Hollywood has also produced feature length films about the issue of domestic violence, among them: Sleeping With the Enemy The Burning Bed REACHING
OUT American
Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence Battered
Women’s Justice Project Department
of Justice – Violence Against Women Office Justice
Statistics Clearinghouse Family
Violence & Sexual Assault Institute Health
Resource Center on Domestic Violence National
Battered Women’s Law Project at the National Center on Women and
Family Law National
Clearinghouse on Child Abuse Information National
Clearinghouse for the Defense of Battered Women National
Coalition Against Domestic Violence National
Council on Child Abuse and Family Violence National
Domestic Violence Hotline National
Organization for Victim Assistance National
Resource Center on Domestic Violence Silent
Witness National Initiative Women’s
Rights Project
2. RAPE AND OTHER SEXUAL CRIMES “The boys never meant any harm against the girls. They just wanted to rape.”
Rape Poem There
is no difference between being raped
RAPE Rape is one of the most prevalent and brutal violent acts committed against women all over the world, and yet it is so veiled in myth and misconception that it is frequently diminished or even dismissed in the mind of the public. Myths and ingrained cultural attitudes are the biggest barriers to societies recognizing the scope and extent of the problem and taking serious measures to prevent it. There is really no place on Earth where women are safe from the possibility of rape. Women are raped by strangers in dark alleys and by their husbands in their own bedrooms. Many women experience rape and abuse while in confinement by police and military. Women are raped in time of war as an act of political revenge, threat or intimidation. They are also raped by their fathers, brothers and other male relatives, and by neighbors and acquaintances. According to researcher Lori Heise, “Six well designed studies suggest that between one in five and one in seven U.S. women will be the victim of a completed rape in her lifetime.” Studies in Canada, the U.K. and New Zealand reveal very similar rates in all of these countries.32 Many countries do not collect or report such information, and in virtually every country rape is under-reported. But it is a major problem the world over. A conference report by the Global Fund for Women included the following statistics: One out of every two women arrested by the military in the Philippines is forced to undress. Among those arrested, 14% were slapped, boxed, or severely mauled. Another 14% were harassed and threatened with rape or death. In Jamaica, where rape is not a criminal offense, 1,088 cases of rape and carnal abuse were reported in 1989. In Bolivia 79% of young prostitutes turn to prostitution out of economic need after running away from violent homes where they were victims of rape and incest by male relatives. While
only 1 in 20 rapes per year is reported in South Africa, statistics
indicate that a woman is raped every 90 seconds, totalling approximately
320,000 women raped each year.33 MYTHS AND FACTS ABOUT RAPE Because rape is so shrouded in myth and distortion, to stop this form of sexual violence we much first work to get accurate information and make that information widely available throughout our communities. Misinformation and myths endanger us all because they help perpetrate perceptions and circumstances that allow rape to continue. These are some common myths about rape and sexual assault: MYTH: Rape is caused by the victim. If a woman flirts or wears sexy clothing, she is “asking for it.” REALITY: Rape is a violation of body, mind, and spirit. It takes away a person’s control over her or his own body and choices. No one “asks for”or enjoys a violent physical attack which can result in injury, disease, pregnancy, or death. Rape is not an act of sexual passion; it is a violent crime in which sex is used as a weapon. MYTH: Only certain kinds of people get raped or sexually assaulted. It can’t happen to me. REALITY: Rapists act without considering their victims’ physical appearance, dress, age, race or social status. Rape victims have ranged in age from 1 to 92 years.
MYTH: Rape is an impulsive, uncontrollable act of sexual gratification. Most rapes are spontaneous (for example, a sexually frustrated man sees an attractive woman and just cannot control himself). REALITY: Rape is a premeditated act of violence, not a spontaneous act of passion. Seventy-one percent of rapes are planned in advance. Sixty percent of convicted rapists were married or had regular sex partners at the time of the assault. Men can control their sexual impulses. Rapists are motivated by power, anger, and control, not sexual gratification. MYTH: No woman can be raped against her will. Any woman could prevent rape if she really wanted to. REALITY: Many rapes involve the use of weapons. An even higher percent involve the use of force or the threat of force. Women are often physically weaker than men and are not taught to defend themselves or to be physically aggressive. In fact some women are not willing to hurt someone else, especially someone they know. MYTH: Most rapes occur when people are out alone at night. If people stay at home, they will be safe. REALITY: The victim’s home is where most sexual assaults take place. Also, many people are abducted, attacked and/or raped in broad daylight and in public places. MYTH: Rapists are strangers. If people avoid strangers, they will not be raped. REALITY: In a large percentage of rapes the assailant is known to the victim, and is often a family member. Official statistics only reflect reported rapes, not the actual number of acquaintance rapes since these are often not reported.
MYTH: Rapists are abnormal perverts; only “sick” or “insane” men are rapists. REALITY: In a study of 1300 convicted offenders, few were diagnosed as mentally or emotionally ill. Most were “well-adjusted,” but had a greater tendency to express their anger through violence and rage. MYTH: Women frequently “cry rape;” false reporting of rape is common. REALITY: Only 2% of rape calls are false reports. This is the same false report rate as for other felonies.34 Rape in the United States The U.S. has an alarming rate of rape, much higher than most other developed countries. “The United States has a rape rate thirteen times higher than Britain’s, nearly four times higher than Germany’s and more than twenty times higher than Japan’s.”35 For many reasons, some of which have already been addressed, violent acts against women are often under-reported. Rape, in particular, is generally assumed by most sources to be greatly under-reported. The statistics used in this guide come from a wide range of sources based on data from the past decade and primarily from the past five years. While these statistics indicate that forcible rape has declined in the U.S. in recent years, the frequency and scope of rape is still appalling. These are some statistics that characterize rape in the U.S.: According to the FBI, one woman is raped in the U.S. every five minutes. 97,464 forcible rapes were reported to law enforcement agencies across the nation during 1995. The FBI estimates that 72 of every 100,000 women in the U.S. were victims of forcible rape in 1995 (this was 6% less than in 1994 and 13% less than FBI statistics showed in 1991.36a According to a report compiled in 1992 using data from prior years, one out of every 8, or at least 12.1 million American women, has been the victim of forcible rape. More than 6 out of 10 rape cases (61%) occurred before victims reached the age of 18. 29% of all forcible rapes occurred when the victim was less than 11 years old, while another 32% occurred between the ages of 11 and 17.36b
Date Rape/Campus Rape An appalling number of rapes take place on college campuses, though a very small percentage are reported and even fewer are ever prosecuted. Many women coeds are raped by male students — often men they know or at least have agreed to date. Because the men are acquaintances or because they have willingly gone on a date, these young women often do not identify their experience as rape. Moreover, women often blame themselves for making bad choices or for not being strong enough or smart enough to prevent the assault, especially when drugs or alcohol were involved. The fact is that campus rapes are often pre-meditated, and many are carefully planned gang-rapes. According to an article in Ms. magazine, “Fraternities in particular seem to be breeding grounds for campus sexual aggression, from jeering verbal abuse to acquaintance rape.”37 Almost as disturbing as the frequency and nature of these assaults is the response of campus authorities— who often ignore or minimize the incident. The actions of many campus administrators across the country have made it clear that they are more concerned with preserving the image of the institution and the support of funders than in protecting women from rape or in prosecuting men who rape. Attorney Jeffrey Newman, an expert on campus sexual assault, calls it a “syndrome.”38 Very often when women are raped on a college campus they are pressured by the administration to handle the matter quietly within the university system. And the penalties imposed on student rapists are a reflection of how insignificant school administrators consider the crime: “On many campuses, the penalty for rape is identical to, or less severe than, the sanctions for plagiarism — one year’s suspension. Frequently, confessed rapists aren’t even removed from campus. They are placed on probation.”39a On the other hand, the victims’ lives are greatly impacted. They “drop out of classes they share with their assailants. Their grades go down. They experience chronic depression and have trouble concentrating. Many women leave school for a period of time or drop out altogether.”39b The clear message to young men is that it is their prerogative to rape and disregard the humanity of women, and that the system will protect them. Consequently, they continue raping and assaulting women. The same issue of Ms. carried the following statistics: 25% of college women in one survey experienced rape or attempted rape. Of these 84% knew their attackers. But only 5% notified the police. 15% of the college men in another study admitted they had forced a woman to have sex; 51% of college men in a third survey said they would rape if they were certain they could get away with it. 20% of all rapes by a single offender are committed by men under the age of twenty-one; in 62% of assaults involving multiple offenders, the rapists are under twenty-one.40
Rape As A Crime Of War Women are particularly vulnerable to rape and abuse in times of war. Today, there are wars being fought all over the world for ethnic, religious, economic, and political reasons. As a result of so much violent conflict, there are between eighteen and twenty million refugees fleeing the violence and devastation in their homelands. The vast majority of these refugees are women, who are subjected to abuse at every step of their flight—from men in their own countries, from border police and officials in countries they try to enter, and even from men within or responsible for refugee camps. Women are also targeted by men on either side of a conflict who rape, kidnap, kill, and torture the “enemy’s” women as an act of war. Women activists and insurgents in every part of the world who are captured and held as political prisoners are also sexually abused and tortured. This was the experience of thousands of women who were part of the struggle to oust military dictatorships from many of the countries in Central and South America during the 1970s and 80s. There are countless stories of the sexual atrocities in Hitler’s concentration camps during World War II. But only in recent years have the horrors committed by the Japanese army come to public light. From 1932 to 1945 approximately 200,000 women (mostly young girls under twenty years of age) were abducted and forced into sexual slavery for the Japanese army. The vast majority (eighty to ninety percent) of these women were from Korea, “but women were also taken from China, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and even European countries.”41a War prostitution has always existed, but in this case “the government itself systematically planned, ordered, established, and controlled the [Japanese] army brothels where conditions were brutal. The comfort women, as they were called, had to entertain thirty to forty soldiers a day, and generally more on weekends. Many of them were infected by venereal diseases and were treated with large doses of harmful drugs.” As a result of this abuse, it is estimated that only about ten percent survived. Many were killed or forced to commit suicide when the Japanese lost the war. Most of those who did survive were destroyed for life. “After returning home, these former comfort women could not marry, or failed in marriage because of their own sense of guilt, ill health, or the bias they suffered in society. They currently live alone under severe economic difficulties and many are in failing health.”41b The Japanese government has only recently been forced to acknowledge the plight of these women and is being pressured to make reparations. An especially brutal and devastating form of rape is mass gang rape as an act of war. “In recent years mass rape in war has been documented in Bosnia, Cambodia, Liberia, Peru, Somalia, and Uganda. A European Community fact-finding team estimates that more than 20,000 Muslim women were raped during the war in Bosnia in the early 1990s. Many have been held in ‘rape camps’ where they have been raped repeatedly and forced to bear Serbian children against their will.”42 Health Consequences of Rape Rape has many physical and emotional consequences for victims, the most extreme being death. Many rape victims are tortured, killed, and mutilated. Other obvious consequences of violent assault are broken bones, cuts, bruises, and abrasions. Not all rape involves violent assault and not all resulting health problems are obvious or even immediate. The specific manifestations and the severity of future problems depend on many variables, such as, the circumstances, severity and duration of the assault, the identity of the attacker, the way a woman views her role in the incident, and the kind of treatment and support she receives afterwards. Often, the initial reaction to rape is one of denial and emotional numbness followed later by recurring feelings of terror and helplessness. For a variety of reasons women do not report being raped: they don’t know where to go, who to trust, how to get help; they are ashamed, or fear retaliation or social stigma, or that the perpetrator still has power over them. All rape victims are subject to a psychological delayed trauma reaction called Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome. Women who receive no help immediately following rape often experience many future problems which do not even seem related to the initial incident. “For successful recovery, a victim needs to work through the realization of what happened, to know that it was not her fault, and to feel that her own worth hasn’t changed as a consequence. Seeking help at this point is a sign of strength, not weakness, and a way for a woman to increase her power. Also, the rape victim is usually not the only person affected by the crime; family, husband or lover, and others close to her may need to be involved, both to speed the victim’s process of recovery and to work through issues of their own.”43 The rape crisis movement has identified the physical and emotional trauma victims suffer during, immediately after, and in the long term after a rape, as Rape Trauma Syndrome. RAPE TRAUMA SYNDROME44 This syndrome has two phases: 1.Immediate/Acute phase — victim’s lifestyle is completely disrupted by the rape crisis. 2. Long-term process — victim must reorganize disrupted lifestyle.
The
Acute Phase: Disruption Victims describe an extremely wide range of emotions in the immediate hours following the rape. Two main styles of emotion are shown by victims. 1.Expressed - Victim demonstrates such feelings as anger, fear, anxiety 2. Controlled - Victim’s feelings are masked or hidden Physical reactions
Emotional reactions The primary feeling expressed is fear - fear of physical injury, mutilation, and death. The victim’s symptoms are an acute stress reaction to the threat of being killed. Other feelings can include:
Victims’ emotional reactions may also be expressed in irritation, anger, fear, or extreme caution in dealing with other people.
The
Long-term Reaction
Psychological Lifestyle
Social Lifestyle
Sexual Lifestyle
Rape can make other problems worse for a victim. For instance if a woman was already having physical, financial or psychological problems, the immediate trauma as well as the disruption of her life after the rape usually increases or complicates existing problems. Because the problem is so extensive and cuts across so many boundaries, there really is no “type” of woman most likely to be raped. The one common thread from recent research is that “women who are raped are more likely than average to have been sexually abused as children.” It is not known why this is so and clearly this is not a factor in all rapes.45
WHAT NOT TO SAY TO VICTIMS OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE Sadly, given the prevalence of sexual violence in today’s world, many may find themselves unexpectedly in the position of wanting to comfort or console someone who has been assaulted. While there are no easy responses, the following kinds of statements and questions must be avoided when dealing with victims of sexual assault.
That’s not so bad. You should hear what happened to... I don’t understand why you let it happen. You must forgive and forget. Just quit thinking about it. Don’t let it rule your life. Life goes on. Make the most of the situation. You should have... or Why didn’t you.... There is nothing you can do about it now. You didn’t fight hard enough. Why were you drinking? You’ve made your bed, now lie in it. It could have been worse. God must be preparing you for something through this.46
LEARNING MORE Selected Reading Kaufman, Doris; Morgan, Carol; Rudeen, Robert. Safe Within Yourself - A Woman’s Guide to Rape Prevention and Self-Defense. Alexandria, VA: Visage Press, Inc., 1980. Braswell, Linda. Quest for Respect - A Healing Guide for Survivors of Rape. Pathfinder Publishing of California, 1992. Healing strategies which respect every survivor’s unique recovery from victimization. Highly recommended. Allison, Julie and Wrightman, Lawrence. Rape - The Misunderstood Crime. Newbury Park, CA: Sage Publication, 1993. Excellent resource for dispelling rape myths - helps understand nature and dynamics of rapists and victims. Chapman, Jane Roberts and Gates, Margaret editors. Victimization of women. Beverly Hills, CA: Sage Publications, 1978. Rutter, Peter, MD. Sex in the Forbidden Zone - Why Men in Power - Therapists, Doctors, Clergy, Teachers & Others Betray Women’s Trust. L.A., CA: Jeremy Tarcher Inc.,1989. Kelly, Liz. Surviving Sexual Violence. University of Minnesota Press, 1988. Perhaps single best analysis published on coping with sexual violence - emphasizes defining, naming and labeling violence. Warshaw, Robin, I Never Called it Rape; the Ms. Report on Recognizing, Fighting and Surviving Date Rape, 1988. Essential information and strategies for prevention and healing. Brownmiller, Susan. Against our Will: Men, Women and Rape. New York: Bantam Books, 1975. Classic work on hidden currents in male-female relationships. Parrot, Andrea and Beckhofer, Laurie. Acquaintance Rape, The Hidden Crime. John Wiles and Sons, Inc., 1991. Rape in America - A Report to the Nation by Dean G. Kilpatrick, PhD, Christine N. Edmunds, B.S., Anne Seymour, B.S. Prepared by National Victim Center and Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center, 1992.
3. ECONOMIC AND LEGAL DISCRIMINATION “While women represent one half of the global population and one third of the labor force and are responsible for two thirds of all working hours they receive one tenth of world income and own less than one percent of world property.”47 On first glance one might wonder what relationship legal systems and economic structures have with the issue of violence against women, but laws and social customs reflect attitudes and beliefs. There is a direct connection between women’s legal and economic status and the amount of violence and hardship they suffer. Men abuse, batter and violate women, in part simply because they can. Men have the physical and economic power, and the legal and political protection which allows them to abuse women. Violence against women serves both to wield that power and to preserve it. Gail Omvadt gives the following description of women’s status in India: “On the one hand, the pervasive violence against women throughout society has an obvious economic function: in keeping women under control, in preventing them from going out of the home to take advantage of economic opportunities, it forces them into the most low-paid or unpaid forms of labor. Brutal suppression in fact keeps women in their propertyless and resourceless state....On the other hand, the basic economic dependence of women, their propertylessness and resourcelessness, renders them fearfully weak in standing up and challenging the violence and power that is used against them in society. Thus it appears that violence keeps women economically dependent and super-exploited, while economic dependence and exploitation render them unable to combat violence.”48 Though specifically referring to India, this is an apt portrayal of women’s status in many countries. Negative attitudes about women are so deeply ingrained in many Asian cultures that baby girls are killed and female fetuses are aborted. When they do survive, girl children are often given less food, health care, education, and certainly less love and attention. “A World Health Organization study reveals wherever food is in short supply, girl children are fed less, breast fed for a shorter time, and taken to doctors less often.” Many girls “are permanently maimed, both physically and mentally from chronic malnutrition.”49 The following statistics demonstrate this reality: Before birth, amniocentesis is used for sex selection leading to the abortion of female fetuses at rates as high as 99% in Bombay, India.50 Discrimination against girl children is so strong in the Punjab state of India that girl children aged 2-4 die at twice the rate of boys. Among 45 developing countries for which recent data are available, there are only two where mortality rates for girls ages 1-4 are not higher than that of boys.51 Based on global mortality patterns, some one hundred million Asian women are estimated to be missing, attributable largely to female infanticide and the abortion of female fetuses.52 One sixth of all female infant deaths in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh were due to neglect and discrimination (WHO 1986 figures). In a South Asian country, one study over a two and a half year period found that 58% of known female infanticide was committed by feeding babies the poisonous sap of a plant or by choking them by lodging rice hulls soaked in milk in their throats.53 In India in 1990, police officially recorded 4,835 dowry deaths in all India, but the Ahmedabad Women’s Action Group estimated that some 1,000 women may have been burned alive annually in Gujurat State alone.54 In the urban centers of Maharashtra State, 19% of all deaths among women 15 to 44 years old are due to “accidental burns.” By contrast, the same figure is less than 1% in Guatemala, Ecuador and Chile.55 Dowry Deaths One of the most demeaning forms of abuse of women is the custom of dowry, a practice in which the woman’s family pays the groom’s family to take her as a bride. Besides reducing women to an object to be disposed of, the custom often causes great hardship and poverty to the woman’s family. Though women’s groups have organized to oppose the custom, it is very hard to eradicate because of the power and opposition of those who make great financial gain from the practice. The instutitionalized custom of dowry was actually outlawed in India in 1961, and dowry harassment (the groom’s family threatening and abusing the bride until her family provides more dowry) has been considered a “punishable offense since the mid-eighties.”56 The problem is that the laws against dowry harassment are not enforced, so rather than disappearing, the practice is actually increasing for a variety of reasons, including increased commercialism and materialism in Indian society. In recent years the financial demands have grown to such an extent that many women are killed by their in-laws who want a larger dowry. This cruel practice has given rise to the phenomenon known as dowry deaths. “The practice of dowry has often led to a form of extortion where the husband and his family beat or torture a bride to extract increasing amounts of money from her family. In many instances the bride is actually killed. Usually, her death is in the form of a “kitchen accident” in which she is pushed into an open fire-stove after being doused with kerosene. The man is then free to remarry, in a different city or village, and accumulate more dowry.”57 Discrimination in Education One area of discrimination against women that seriously impacts all of society is education. Two-thirds of the world’s illiterates are women, and while the general global illiteracy rate is falling, the female illiteracy rate is rising.58 While this is slowly changing — the growing awareness of the need for universal education is becoming more ingrained — women are being taught to read at a much slower rate than men. In many countries where the economic crisis has caused price increases for school fees and books, parents must choose which children can go to school. Invariably, it is the girls who are left behind to help with household chores and younger siblings. Many cultures believe that education is wasted on girls anyway. This belief is counter to evidence which demonstrates that educating women is good for society based on improved family health and other indicators. “The 1990 Human Development Report underlines the high social dividend that comes with female literacy, as demonstrated by lower infant mortality rates, better family nutrition, reduced fertility and lower population growth.”59 In other societies, it is not just poverty but violence and the threat of violence that prevents women from getting an education. One of the most horrendous examples of violence against female students comes from Canada, which is a very prosperous and in many ways progressive country. On December 6, 1989 engineering students at the University of Montreal were brutally reminded that no country is safe for women. A 25 year old man, described as a “combat-video aficionado” had failed in his attempt to complete an application to the engineering school and blamed the female students for his failure. The man, Marc Lépine, stormed into a classroom where he separated the men from the women and ordered the men to leave the room. He then opened fire on the women shouting “you’re all fucking feminists.” In his rage he went on a killing spree which left 14 women dead and nine other women and four men wounded. He then killed himself. He left a suicide note which blamed women for all of his failures.60 Brutal Laws and Legal Murder Clearly, Marc Lépine’s rampage was the personal vendetta of a deeply troubled individual, not a result of university policy or a country’s laws. This incident would never happen in many countries simply because national laws, customs, and social mores limit or prohibit women’s participation in the social institutions and public life of that country. For instance, in many Muslim countries women are required to have a male guardian for their entire lives. Thus, women are subject to abuse and control not just by husbands but by other male relatives as well. This practice is often both socially acceptable and legally condoned. Under a code of “Honor,” women have been beaten, maimed and murdered for offending “Family Honor” in countries as diverse as Brazil, Pakistan, and Egypt. Nahid Toubia speaks of this tradition in Africa and the Middle East. “Taken to its extreme, women may be murdered as punishment for suspected extramarital affairs. In Southern Egypt, for example, one still finds the killing of “sexually deviant” daughters or sisters as a matter of honor for the men in the family. One man is assigned the task, but the whole family confers on the matter and sanctions the murder. The legal system has become increasingly critical of this behavior, but still to this day “honor homicides” are given more lenient sentences than other types of premeditated murder.”61 In Jordan, men rarely spend more than six months to two years in jail for a “Crime of Honor” which is killing a female relative for alleged sexual misconduct. Women cannot exercise the Honor defense even if they kill a man for the same crime. The minimum sentence for murder (of a man) is 15 years.62 In recent years, with fundamentalism on the rise around the world, many countries have passed even more regressive laws. Pakistan now has one of the most repressive anti-woman penal codes in the world. Women within Pakistan are greatly opposed to several laws which are now being strictly enforced. Three laws which particularly discriminate against Pakistani women are the Law of Evidence, the Offense of Zina (Enforcement of Hudood) Ordinance of 1979 and a Citizenship Act. As with laws in many countries, these laws “were introduced in the name of Islam, but were clearly used by the military rulers to get support from religious lobbyists.”63 Women in other Muslim countries fear that similar laws will be adopted by their governments as fundamentalist backlash sweeps through the Islamic world. The Law of Evidence states that women’s testimony or evidence is worth one half the evidence of a man. The Hudood (Islamic punishment) Ordinance is being used against rape victims. Under the new Hudood Laws:
The following case demonstrates some of the extremes within this system: A 13-year-old girl who was raped and then became pregnant was sentenced to three years in prison and one hundred lashes while the man who raped her was set free.65 Pakistani law allows for women convicted of extramarital sex to be given 25 year prison sentences or even to be stoned to death. ZINA, another law, is defined as the offense of “desiring and fornicating with other men’s women,”66a yet when these laws are enforced rarely if ever is the man’s role considered. Variations of the Pakistani zina laws have been passed in many other countries such as Iran, Iraq, and Algeria. As a result the female prison population has increased as much as 200 percent in some countries which has also resulted in a great increase in custodial violence and rape. Other elements of Islam which have state approval in many Moslem countries and which serve to oppress and abuse women are polygamy and repudiation. In many Muslim countries men can take up to four wives without even considering the needs or feelings of any of the women involved. According to Fatima Marnissi, “polygamy is a way for the man to humiliate the woman as a sexual being....Women are considered just sexual agents to satisfy the sexual needs of men.”66b “Repudiation is the Muslim phenomenon of verbal repudiation whose characteristic is the unconditional right of the male to break the marriage bond without any justification and without having his decisions reviewed by a court or a judge.”67 Essentially, many Muslim societies consider women less than human. Or as Marnissi states: “The Muslim order thus considers humanity to be constituted by males only, and women were considered as a threatening outside element.”68 There are many country variations in terms of interpretation and enforcement of Islamic laws. As with all religions, there is much dispute about interpretation. Progressive Islamic scholars disagree with the fundamentalist anti-woman interpretation of Islamic scriptures. Basically, the intent of many of these laws is to keep men and women segregated, and to keep women isolated, subservient to male guardians, and confined to the home. In Saudi Arabia women are not allowed to drive. In Iran women can be punished for “un-Islamic” behavior such as laughing or allowing a piece of hair to show outside their veil. In Kuwait women have access to advanced education and economic prosperity, but they are not allowed to vote.
ECONOMIC
EXPLOITATION: Structural Adjustment Policies The global economic crisis of the 1980s, and the subsequent neoliberal economic policies instituted in many countries, resulted in various circumstances which are exploitative of women and damaging to their health and we |
