For a domestic violence victim, whether her partner owns a gun can be the difference between life and death. Putting a gun in the hands of an abuser is not only irresponsible; it literally risks the lives of countless women across the nation.
Domestic Violence
Domestic violence (DV), or intimate partner violence (IPV) involves any kind of repeated physical, sexual, emotional, psychological or economic actions to control, coerce, humiliate or threaten a romantic partner. DV or IPV can happen to people of all genders or backgrounds at any stage of a relationship.
Peace Bound: Two Students’ Quest for Non-Violence
Although women make up the majority of victims of domestic violence, it’s everyone’s problem. Domestic violence occurs across all races, genders and socioeconomic levels, and within all communities. And yet there is a shocking amount of silence surrounding the issue. Not only is domestic violence celebrated in popular culture, but often it’s the victims are […]
First Anti-Domestic Violence Campaigns From Saudi Arabia
“Treat her like a queen, not a punching bag.” “He who hits a woman is a coward.” These are some of the tweets featured in a recent social media campaign from Saudi Arabia. In an effort to call attention to the country’s alarming rates of domestic violence, young people of Saudi Arabia have been asked to […]
Reproductive Coercion, Domestic Violence and Anti-Choice Laws
As Martha Kempner recently reported, Roman Polanski—admitted rapist and all-around creep—doesn’t like it when women can control their own fertility. “I think that the Pill has changed greatly the woman of our times, ‘masculinizing’ her,” he said, firmly characterizing the ability to control your own body as a male-only privilege. “I think that it chases […]
British Study Shows False Rape Claims are Complicated Matters
The United Kingdom’s Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) recently released a report highlighting the complexity—and scarcity—of false rape allegations. The report was issued in response to a 2010 court appeal in which a woman pleaded guilty to falsely retracting true allegations of rape that she had made against her husband, and was then sentenced to eight months imprisonment for […]
Tunisia Opens Its First Domestic Violence Shelter
Sihem Badi, Tunisia’s minister of women’s affairs, admits there’s something wrong, at this date, in talking about the country’s first public shelter for victims of domestic violence. “We’re late,” she says. “Look at Morocco. They have tens of shelters for women. Here it’s the civil society who used to deal with victims and it’s the […]
VAWA Passes!
In a comfortable vote of 286-138, the House of Representatives passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act today, which the Senate had already approved. President Obama is now expected to sign it into law. The latest version of VAWA contains much-needed additional protections for LGBT persons, Native Americans and immigrants. A Republican-sponsored bill […]
UPDATE: Senate to Vote on Re-Authorizing VAWA
UPDATE: The Senate has voted down a GOP amendment to the Violence Against Women Act, 65 to 34, that would have removed language covering LGBT victims of domestic violence. The body is still set to vote on Monday on whether to pass the final bill–which has 62 cosponsors, a good sign that it will finally […]
Why Won’t We Talk About Violence and Masculinity in America?
As I listened along with the rest of the world to the unfolding horror of what transpired at Sandy Hook Elementary School, I was struck by the persistent lack of commentary and analysis discussing the fact that mass shooters are almost all angry, male and white. What will it take for us to have widespread, […]