Violence Against Women: Ohio Kidnapping Case

This week on Monday, May 6, missing person Amanda Berry escaped from the house she had been living in since she had been kidnapped 10 years prior – with the daughter she conceived through rape by her captor as DNA tests confirm. After escaping, she ran to a neighbors house and called 911 to be rescued. For over 10 years, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight all lived in this house with accused kidnapper and rapist, Ariel Castro. While captive, the women report multiple pregnancies, one live birth and also multiple miscarriages. At times, the women were bound with chains and ropes and locked in the basement. On May 8, Castro was charged with 4 counts of kidnapping and 3 counts of rape. In video tapes of vigils held for the  young girls, the presence of Castro is noted. Not only did he attend the vigils for the girls, but he also participated in search parties and attempted to develop relationships with family members of the girls. Despite the contact Castro had with the families, and a $25,000 reward for information put out by the Police Department, these girls were kidnapped and living with Castro for 9-12 years.

Here is some information about the survivors:

• Michelle Knight disappeared on August 22, 2002, after leaving a cousin’s house and was 21 years old at the time. On the day of her disappearance, she was scheduled to appear in court for a custody hearing over a son she had previously lost to the state, but she never showed up. According to officers who helped rescue Knight this week, she had accepted a ride home from Ariel Castro, but he took her to his house instead where he locked her up with chains inside the basement and repeatedly beaten. Because of the beatings that she routinely received, she has to now receive facial reconstruction surgery and she also lost hearing in one of her ears. The physical abuse that Castro used against her had to have been horrific for these physical symptoms to appear.  She reportedly suffered the most abuse at the hands of Castro and told police that Castro had impregnated her at least five times, and had induced miscarriages each time through beatings and starvation
• Gina DeJesus went missing when she was just 14 years old. She was last seen at a pay phone at about 3 p.m. on April 2, 2004, on the way home from her middle school. DeJesus and her friend, Ariel Castro’s daughter Arlene, had called Castro’s ex-wife, Grimilda Figueroa, for permission to have a sleepover at DeJesus’ house, but Figueroa had said they could not, and the two girls parted ways. It is alleged that Castro offered DeJesus a ride to his home to see his daughter but instead took her captive. Because no one witnessed DeJesus’ abduction, an AMBER Alert was not issued, which angered her father. He said in 2006, “The Amber Alert should work for any missing child…Whether it’s an abduction or a runaway, a child needs to be found. We need to change this law.” The fact that DeJesus was victimized by her own friends’ father just goes to highlight the statistics that rapists are rarely ever men just hiding behind trees looking for opportunities. Feminist scholar Jessica Valenti highlights the fact that nearly 2/3 of all rapes are committed by someone the victim knows. DeJesus told law enforcement she was raped, but did not believe she was ever impregnated.
• Amanda Berry risked everything to get out of that house. She went missing on April 21, 2003, one day before her 17th birthday. Berry has told police she accepted Castro’s offer of a ride home from work after he had told her that he had a son who also worked at Burger King. After Berry entered Castro’s vehicle, he allegedly drove straight to his own home and imprisoned her. The FBI initially considered Berry a runaway, until a week after her disappearance, when an unidentified male used Berry’s cell phone to call her mother, saying “I have Amanda. She’s fine and will be coming home in a couple of days.” Though as we know, she never did show up in the next few days. In the next few years, she was reportedly raped by Castro and became pregnant. She escaped with her 6-year old daughter. According to police interviews with the victims, Amanda Berry gave birth to a daughter on December 25, 2006 in the home where the women were imprisoned. The birth took place in a plastic inflatable pool, with Knight assisting Berry. Castro threatened death to Knight if anything happened to the baby.

Unfortunately, it seems that there were some signs there. Castro has had contact with the law before and accused of the same crimes he has been charged with. He is known to be violent against women. He reportedly beat his wife, breaking her nose, ribs, and arms, and once threw her down a set of stairs, cracking her skull. After she finally moved out, he continued to threaten and attack her. His wife also accused him of repeatedly attempting to abduct his daughters from her, something he eventually did with his own daughters friend and two other random victims.

Thankfully, Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight now have the opportunity to rebuild their lives after the horrible destruction brought to them by Castro and he will now have to face the horrible things he has done to all of these young girls. According to police sources, he has admitted to everything and said that he chose the girls at random, because the opportunities struck. He supposedly referred to himself as a monster and explained that he was a sex addict. As Valenti explains, the perpetrators of these horrendous crimes against women are almost always by someone the people know. Though he chose 2 of these girls at random, we do know that one of them was his daughter’s best friend.

Violence Against Women: Are Protection Orders Enough?

Feminist scholar, Jessica Valenti, highlights the sobering fact that it’s not just strangers that are killing women, but rather of all the women murdered in the US, about a third are killed by a husband or partner. In 2005, more than 1000 women were killed by their partners. According to Valenti, a leading cause of death for pregnant women is murder by a partner.

For women that do try to get themselves protection, that is usually not enough. Tracy Connor on Rock Center with Brian Williams reporting on Are Protection Orders Enough? highlights the fact that Federal law requires anyone served with an order of protection to give up their guns, but it’s rarely enforced at the state level as funding is already being cut left and right, however, this greatly leaves domestic violence victims in jeopardy. However, there is a county here in California trying out a new approach. San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff John Kovach and his partner head a team that tracks down and confiscates these weapons one by one. According to Connor, last year, the San Mateo County Deputy Sheriff’s department collected 324 firearms and for the third year didn’t have a single gun-related domestic violence homicide.

According to the article, the department has collected an array of guns including shotguns, rifles and “pretty much any kind of gun you can imagine.” The article highlights the fact that the department confiscated a submachine gun during one of their protective order confiscations. A submachine gun! The case of a mother of 2 in Spokane, Washington highlights the fact that protection orders are not enough. After she told her ex that she was seeing someone new, he came to her house and told her that he would put a gun in her mouth and pull the trigger. Though she filed for an order of protection before that, they did not confiscate his weapons. After finding out about the protection order, he showed up at her house and had her on the floor with the gun to her head. The only reason she was able to survive was because she was able to secretly call 911 and police were able to rescue her. Her ex husband is now in jail.

This domestic violence incident could have easily turned more tragic. According to Kelly Starr of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence, domestic violence victims are five times more likely to be killed if there’s a gun around.

Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)

According to Jessica Valenti, the most important piece of legistlation in helping to end violence against women is the Violence Against Women Act, signed into law by President Bill Clinton in 1994. This act provides billions of dollars  to help survivors of rape, intimate partner violence and stalking. The bill has been re-authorized in 2000, 2005, 2006 and most recently President Obama reauthorized the bill for another 5 years, going into effect starting today, March 7, 2013. This reauthorization will provide another 5 years of support for survivors of rape, intimate partner violence and stalking. 

The Governmental Affairs Office describes the focus of the Violence Against Women Act. According to the GAO office website, VAWA focuses on nine specific areas of intervention: enhancing judicial and law enforcement tools to combat violence against women (Title I); improving services for victims (Title II); services, protection, and justice for young victims of violence (Title III); strengthening America’s families by preventing violence (Title IV); strengthening the healthcare system’s response (Title V); housing opportunities and safety for battered women and children (Title VI); providing economic security for victims (Title VII); protection of battered and trafficked immigrants (Title VIII); and safety for Indian women (Title IX).

 

According to the White House fact sheet on VAWA, the law has improved criminal justice to violence against women by:

• mandating that victims, no matter their income levels, are not forced to bear the expense of their own rape exams or for service of a protection order

• keeping victims safe by requiring that a victim’s protection order will be recognized and enforced in all state, tribal, and territorial jurisdictions within the United States

• increasing rates of prosecution, conviction, and sentencing of offenders by helping communities develop dedicated law enforcement and prosecution units and domestic violence dockets

The Violence Against Women Act has created positive change since being passed in 1994. According to the whitehouse.gov Fact Sheet on VAMA, between 1993 and 2010, the rate of intimate partner violence declined 67%. States are also doing their part to help end violence against women. Material provided from the whitehouse.gov Fact Sheet shows that all states have reformed laws that previously treated date or spousal rape as a lesser crime than stranger rape as well as passing laws that establish stalking as a crime.

Though progress has been made in the realm of legislation, thanks in large part to feminists and the passing of the Violence Against Women Act, Valenti warns that awareness is nowhere near where it needs to be. She also highlights the fact that many women are not even aware of the existence of VAWA. Because of this, greater awareness is necessary still.

Violence Against Women: Present in our everyday lives

Cover via Amazon

Jessica Valenti is a prominent feminist scholar. In her book Full Frontal Feminism, she approached the subject of violence against women. Valenti highlights some scary facts and statistics related to the violence that takes place everyday towards women. According to Valenti, violence against women is so common place that it has become part of our everyday lives. We see it on our television sets, in our movies and even in our own families. Though domestic violence is a well-known problem, we accept it as an inevitable part of life that can’t be controlled, rather than an epidemic problem that needs to be fought against on the large scale. In our everyday lives, there are several examples of how violence against women is accepted.

-The term “Wife Beater” in reference to a white tank top style shirt that men usually wear. This term is used by people of all kinds – men, women and children, with no significant thought given to the meaning of the term.

“Wife Beater” Tank Top

-The common saying “Rule of Thumb” also originates from violence against women. Though the exact origins of violence against women are unknown, it has been around, accepted and even condoned in some cases for many years. According to PBS.org, it is said that in the 18^th century, English common law gave permission to husbands to beat their wives and kids, as long as the instrument used, generally a stick or whip, was thinner, or no wider than their thumb. Hence the development of the “rule of thumb” law.

Grandville : Cent Proverbes (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

-There are also many examples in pop culture. The rap artist, Eminem wrote a song about abusing his ex-wife Kim, with the song aptly titled “Kim.” The song is especially violent with lyrics such as “Sit down, bitch, if you move again, I’ll beat the shit out of you!” and “Quit crying bitch, why do you always make me shout at you?” The website complex.com rates this #9 on Eminem’s best song. A song that is essentially a written and spoken fantasy about killing his ex wife is in the top 10 of his many songs. This rating speaks to the fact that violence is overlooked by our society, and in this case, the violence against his wife is even promoted. As Valenti explains, young men are brought up to look at woman as less than human. By dehumanizing each other, people are able to commit violence against each other.

Lyrics from Eminem’s “Kim”

Violence Against Women: Blaming the Victim

The Skirt is NO EXCUSE for Rape

This is what I was wearing. Tell me I asked for it. I DARE YOU.

As described by feminist scholar, Jessica Valenti, we live in a “rape culture” that essentially accepts and almost welcomes rapes against women. Our society has placed a requirement on women that takes away their right to move freely throughout the world without punishment. When a woman is victimized, the perpetrator generally has an argument placing fault on the victim, and blaming the victim for the violence that has happened to them. Valenti highlights several arguments used to blame the victim.

• One of these arguments introduced by Valenti includes the idea that if a woman is wearing something slutty, like a skirt, then that woman is asking to be raped. Because women would ask to be victims of sexual abuse? Women should be able to wear what they want without having to be in fear of rape.
• Another argument introduced by Valenti used to blame the victim for sexual crimes against them includes the idea that if a woman is really drunk and inebriated, they should have seen it coming. Of course women need to be aware of how alcohol and drugs can affect them and try to be as safe as possible. However, the focus here really needs to be on the perpetrator, not the women.
• According to Valenti, if you don’t fit into the good girl standard, or if people can at least convince others that you don’t, then the odds are against you. In a California legal case highlighted by Valenti, the defense team called the victim of the rape “trash” and a “slut who wanted to make a porn tape.” However, Valenti highlights the fact that this young girl was unconscious at the time the rape occurred.
• Ultimately, the arguments are saying that women should know better. Women should know better than to wear a skirt. Women should know better than to get drunk at a party. Women should know better than to walk home alone. This breeds a culture where the idea of rape happening to a woman is essentially inevitable.

Don’t tell us how to dress. Tell them NOT 2 RAPE

Women are supposed to be sexually pure, not active. These representations  of the sexualized female body being an object of desire are supposedly bad women. This can produce the image that all women are only sexual objects, unlike men who are sexual subjects. Whereas subjects act based on intellectual reasoning and individual  moral and ethical understanding, objects do not. There has been a long history of identifying  the female body as a sexual object,  as a way of redefining  the subject, the reasonable,  rational man in opposition to the other, the object, the sexualized, irrational, emotional woman. Men are subjects while women are the objects or the other.

Valenti suggests that there is NOTHING that you can do that warrants being raped by someone else. It doesn’t matter if you are drunk, naked, passed out or a prostitute, there is nothing that warrants the act of rape. In an article with thenation.com, Jessica Valenti discusses the concept of victim blaming. She highlights the fact that Americans bend over backwards to make excuses for male violence. According to Valenti, this refusal to place responsibility with the perpetrator means we need to place it somewhere else—most often, with the victim. “And while victim-blaming is nothing new, its pervasiveness serves as a stark reminder of women’s second class status—where we’re not actual people, just catalysts for men’s actions.”

Violence Against Women: Rape Culture

What exactly does “rape culture” mean? According to Jessica Valenti, is a term that can be used to describe the culture that we are currently living in that breeds guys who think rape is not only accepted, but also a reasonable and even cool behavior. Though rape is illegal, Valenti suggests that social and political conditions implicitly allow for rape to happen. What Valenti means by this is that perpetrators of rape are allowed to get away with their crimes. Also, many times, the victims of the rapes are accused and blamed for the rape. Unfortunately, in this type of society, it is up to the women to protect themselves from rape. Having to live on the previously mentioned ‘rape schedule’ and also take extra precautions in every way necessary, including taking self defense classes, carrying around pepper spray and walking briskly through parking lots. All in an effort to keep themselves safe. As Valenti noted, we should be able to walk the streets without fearing violence.

As can be see from the attached flyer , rape is all too common. Valenti also highlights the daunting statistic that at least 1 in 5 US women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape. This flyer also brings attention to some scary facts about rape. Rape cases are extremely underreported, as it is estimated that less than half of all rapes are actually reported. If the rapes aren’t being reported, then the rapists aren’t being sent to jail. According to the flyer, it is estimated that only 3% of rapists spend even a day in jail. An extremely frightening trend in rapes is that people think rape victims are making it all up. This can be attributed to the cause of the underreporting of the crimes as well. If the victim is going to have to try to get people to believe her, but they won’t, that is like being victimized all over again. While only 2-8% of rape charges may be false, some people have a false idea that up to 50% of rape reports are fabricated.

V-Day: Victory, Valentine and Vagina

As Jessica Valenti highlighted in her book, Full Frontal Feminism, V-Day is a reintrepretation of Valentine’s Day in which organizations bring attention to violence against women. This event takes place on Valentine’s Day. The organization website, www.vday.org has an influx of information relating to the subject and events. According to the website,  V-Day is a global movement to end violence against women and girls including rape, battery, incest, female genital mutilation and sex slavery. Through campaigns and local volunteers college students produce annual benefit performances of The Vagina Monologues and other productions to raise awareness and funds for anti-violence groups within their own communities. According to the V-Day website, in 2012, over 5,800 V-Day benefit events took place produced by volunteer activists in the U.S. and around the world, educating millions of people about the reality of violence against women and girls. According to the V-Day information page, the ‘V’ in V-Day stands for Victory, Valentine and Vagina.

V-Day is also involved in large-scale international projects helping to combat violence against women across the globe. The relationship between V-Day and The Vagina Monologues is not coincidental, as Eve Ensler, a playwrite and activist, broke ground with her play called The Vagina Monologues, originating in 1995. The play was based off of dozens of interviews that Ensler conducted with many different women and was meant to address women’s sexuality and the social stigma surrounding rape and abuse, creating a new conversation about and with women, according to the V-Day website. After every one of her beginning The Vagina Monologues performances, Ensler found many women waiting to tell her their own stories of survival. This inspired Ensler to launch V-Day and on Valentines Day, 1998, Ensler, with a group of women in New York City, established V-Day. According to the V-Day website, their mission is simple. It demands that violence against women and girls must end. To do this, once a year, in February, March, and April, Ensler allows groups around the world to produce a performance of the play, as well as other works created by V-Day, and use the proceeds for local individual projects and programs that work to end violence against women and girls, often shelters and rape crisis centers. What began as one event in New York City in 1998 today includes over 5,800 V-Day events annually.

Violence Against Women: Harassment

Harassment against women happens everyday in many different ways. Women are subjected to cat calls while walking down the street and sexual harassment in the workplace among others. Feminist scholar, Jessica Valenti, highlights a new type of harassment that women are facing, especially blogging women. As well as the everyday harassment that women faced mentioned above, women are also subjected to an increased prevalence of extreme instances of stalking, death threats and hate speech while using the internet for various reasons. Valenti suggests that on some online forums, the mixture of anonymity and misogyny can make for a gang-rape mentality among the harassers against the women.

Jessica Valenti (in grey sweater)

Valenti had her own run-in with hate bloggers after being invited to attend a lunch meeting with Bill Clinton. As the event was coming to a close, the bloggers took a picture with Clinton which rapidly circulated through the internet. The abusive comments and harassment of Valenti followed just as rapidly. She was criticized for the way she was standing, likened to being an intern, a la Clinton’s famous sex scandal – it was suggested she add a green beret and a blue dress to complete the look, the way her body looked, her perceived whorishness, and how she couldn’t possibly be a feminist because she showed up to an event with her breasts hanging out. Please keep in mind that Valenti was not flaunting anything, but rather the opposite in that she was wearing a Gap crew-neck sweater.  Valenti says that this experience of “boobgate” has been, without a doubt, the most humiliating of her life. Hundreds of blogs and websites linked to the controversy about her and it was all over the internet. All of this caused because of a decision to merely take a picture with a political figure.

Valenti highlights the fact that once again, women are being blamed for the harassment they are facing. Another case of blaming the victim can be seen in the response of the female blogger who attacked Valenti on her own blog. She argued that Valenti asked for it with the way she was posing and that this is expected, and even acceptable behavior. Valenti cites a study by the University of Maryland that highlights the fact that when the gender of an online username appears female, they are 25 times more likely to experience harassment, and that female user-names averaged 163 threatening and/or sexually explicit messages a day. Unfortunately the promises of an early utopian internet society have been overlapped with the reality of the current internet, one in which the default user is a white-male. Sounds eerily familiar.

Violence Against Women: Intimate Partner Violence (IPV)

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is another term for Intimate Partner Abuse (IPA), which we previously discussed. Feminist Jessica Valenti describes a classic cycle in which IPV happens. According to Valenti in her book Full Frontal Feminism, the cycle starts with the tension building phase where tension builds between the couple. When this tension reaches a climax, there is generally an incident of physical abuse on a larger scale. After this incidence of abuse, the couple will now enter the honeymoon stage where the abuser tries to make apologies and excuses for their behaviors while promising to change. Of course change rarely happens and in turn, the cycle then repeats itself, often becoming more violent as it does. One way in which you control another person’s behavior is to make them afraid or that you are more powerful than they are. Intimate Partner Violence and abuse are a form of social conditioning.

  According to Valenti, there is a pattern in the cycle of abuse and   there is also a pattern when it comes to those who abuse their partners, including warning signs. Valenti warns against guys that may seem perfect at first, are immediately superromantic and want to spend all of their time with you. As highlighted by Valenti, this is often the abusers’ setting the stage to take control of the relationship. By creating an atmosphere where they are the biggest thing in your life, it makes it harder to leave when the abuse does occur. Included in the signs of a potential abuser is isolation, jealousy and control. They say they don’t want you to spend time with your friends and family because they want to spend time with you. This behavior, just like the cycle of IPV, often develops into even worse behavior over time. According to Valenti, abusers get jealous very easily and even resent time spent with anybody but them – even the victim’s own family members. The main aspect of IPV is control. The abusers are trying to control their partner’s ability to come and go and make their own decisions, among many other aspects. Abusers try to control every aspect of their partners lives. There are also other signs including enforcing traditional gender roles, verbal abuse, being manipulative or forceful during sex and many others. According to Valenti, IPV is all about fear and control and violence is just used as a means to an end.

You may be asking yourself why women stay in relationships that are abusive. Valenti cites several reasons in her book. These reasons include, but are not limited to poverty, isolation, fear of increased violence and/or death and also cultural or religious beliefs. Because of the traditional gender roles generally enforced by abusers, many women do not work outside the home. The fact that women aren’t allowed to make their own income means that they lack the financial resources to leave the relationship. Valenti cites the statistic that 60% of welfare recipients have been victims of relationship violence. Also, because the abuser isolated their partner away from their family and friends, they are left with no support system if they do decide to leave. If women do decide to leave, they must make sure that their plans are perfect, or else they risk death. According to Valenti, most women who are killed by their partners are in the process of leaving or planning to leave. Lastly, religious or cultural beliefs may be against divorce, or even condone violence, causing a woman to stay in an abusive relationship for fear of being further excluded from the group. There are many reasons why many stay, but ultimately women deserve to be safe in their relationships.

Violence Against Women: Rape

English: Profile picture of author Jessica Valenti (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

In her book Full Frontal Feminism, Jessica Valenti stresses information relating to rapes against women. According to statistics highlighted by Valenti, a guy who you may think is otherwise a normal guy, may turn out to be a perpetrator of rape because if you happen to be a victim of rape, it is likely to be by someone that you know. According to the 2004 National Crime Victimization Survey, over 2/3 of rape were committed by someone that the victim knew. As Valenti highlights, what is even scarier is that young males in our generation have been brought up to think that they have open access to women’s bodies and sexuality because everything in American culture tells men that women are there for them. Valenti says that this type of attitude breeds a culture where rape is expected and practically obeyed.

Only Yes Means Yes Campaign (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

As a matter of fact, Valenti suggests the idea that women live on a rape schedule and that their lives revolve around  preventing rape and sexual crimes against them. Valenti highlights just a few of the routines women must go through to keep themselves safe. These routines include: only going out at certain times at night, avoiding certain areas of the city, always walking around with keys in hand, locking doors immediately after entering the room, etc. Valenti likens these routines to living in a prison and says that women cannot assume they are safe anywhere. The same survey mentioned above states that every two and half minutes, someone is sexually assaulted in the US and that at least 1 in 6 women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape. A scary trend is underreporting in rape cases, especially in the most victimized group, young women. Another common and also scary trend is the fact that many young women don’t even realize that they have been raped. Often thinking they “deserved it”  or they “owe” the guy for buying them something. According to Valenti, women excusing this behavior is because of women buying into the “whole guys-deserve-access-to-women” thing, which our culture has taught them from early on.