More Than A Magazine, A Movement
On Saturday, actress Laverne Cox announced that she and a friend had experienced a transphobic attack while walking in Griffith Park, Los Angeles.
The attack comes at the end of a year that has proved one of the deadliest on record for trans people, on the streets and in the courts and statehouses.
These milestones—key initiatives, events, court cases and more from the past two decades—brought about pivotal shifts in the public consciousness towards sexual assault and the experience of survivors, and how we as individuals and as a society can prevent it.
Under usual circumstances, risk factors for violence perpetration include job loss, economic stress, substance abuse, depression and feelings of isolation; all of these issues have worsened as the pandemic has continued. As a result, intimate partner violence and femicide have increased dramatically.
To end violence in society, we must address the drivers: the perpetrators of violence who are most often men and boys.
Have you seen someone being harassed and simply looked away because you don’t know what to do? Learn how to safely intervene through Hollaback!’s free online training.
Every October since 2017, we have celebrated the continued creativity from activist Tarana Burke, who founded the Me Too Movement back in 2006, and the courage of actor Alyssa Milano, who helped the hashtag go viral by sharing her own experience on Twitter.
As a survivor, I want to share what we have achieved in establishing sexual assault awareness and supporting survivors, while educating about the work we still need to do.
Every reporter reckons with the fact that chasing a certain story can make them a walking target and eventually put them in danger. For women journalists, this sort of a natural work-related risk is accompanied by enormous challenges and pressures strictly related to their gender.
Nineteen states have adopted new sexual harassment protections over the last three years—but we still have a long way to go, says a new report released by the National Women’s Law Center (NWLC).
“For too long in Hollywood, there have been ‘open secrets’ about the harassment perpetrated on workers by powerful people who are able to successfully evade accountability for their actions,” said Anita Hill, chair of The Hollywood Commission for Eliminating Harassment and Advancing Equality. “With this survey, we have identified the most vulnerable workers in Hollywood and the resources and systems that will provide support and a safety net for them. Our expectation is that these tools will be the foundation to build a new era of transparency and accountability for all workers in the entertainment industry.”
The goal of abusers is to silence the people they target and exclude them from the public sphere. Of course, in a world where our lives are conducted almost entirely online (especially now), this is an unacceptable outcome. So what can you do if you’re targeted with gender-based harassment or online sexual harassment? While there’s no single, prescriptive solution or response to these situations, here are a few suggestions and best practices.
Shot in Spain, Nepal, Mexico and the U.S., “Sands of Silence” explores the spectrum of sexual violence—from sex trafficking, to child molestation, to trusted adults sexualizing the young people in their care. journalist and filmmaker Chelo Avarez-Stehle delves into the devastating and long-lasting impact of this violence, showing how childhood experiences of abuse make women vulnerable to future violence, and the ways girls and women are silenced or encouraged to deny the impact of this violence.
