Women who are murdered by men are almost always killed by someone they know. The number of women shot and killed by their husband or intimate acquaintance was more than three and a half times the total number murdered by male strangers using all weapons combined. And Black women are at a significantly higher risk of homicide victimization than white women.
Tag: Violence Against Women Act (VAWA)
A Devastating Supreme Court Decision on Sexual Assault Shows Why the U.S. Needs the ERA Now
When she was a college freshman in 1994, Christy Brzonkala was gang-raped by two students at Virginia Tech. Brzonkala turned to a law newly passed called the Violence Against Women Act—and her case made it to the Supreme Court, where women’s right to equal protection from violence ultimately died.
When passed, the Equal Rights Amendment would spark Congress to enact new laws on gender violence, including redrafting the Violence Against Women Act civil rights remedy, and chart a path to overturn Brzonkala’s devastating decision.
Femicide: The Need To Name Gender-Based Killing of Women in the United States
The U.S. downplays the growing issue of gender-based killings and violence by failing to call it what it is: femicide.
Recent high-profile murders have received immense media coverage, but the reality is they aren’t rare events. Femicide is a global issue that disproportionately impacts BIPOC women and requires urgent action to prevent. The U.S. needs to adopt a language of femicide that recognizes the gendered nature of ongoing murders of women in the nation, as well as the larger social patterns connecting them.
“Respect Us, or Expect Us”: Indigenous Women Continue to Fight Against Pipeline 3
On October 1, Pipeline 3 became operational in Minnesota, despite resistance efforts led by Indigenous women and two-spirit individuals, who are seeking to hold President Biden accountable for promises made and broken.
The construction of the pipeline endangers local women and girls and infringes upon the rights of the rice, the land, the water, the nonhuman beings and the people.
Criminalizing “Revenge Porn” Could Save Women’s Lives
At long last, Congress is on the verge of passing the first federal law to criminalize revenge porn. This will aid in prosecuting offenders and those who facilitate them, serve to deter future offenses, and signal to victims that we are finally taking this abhorrent crime seriously.
Federal Policy Has Failed To Protect Indigenous Women
On Indian reservations, Indigenous victims of physical violence by acquaintances or strangers, and all victims of sexual assault and stalking, have little recourse other than to rely on a federal criminal justice system that has consistently failed to prosecute their attackers.
One way to remedy this longstanding problem is for the reauthorization of VAWA to expand tribal jurisdiction to cover all crimes of violence against women committed on Indian reservations, irrespective of the race or the relationship of the victim and perpetrator.
Over Two-Thirds of Mass Shooters Are Domestic Violence Perpetrators
New research reveals strong links between domestic violence and mass shootings.
“Gun violence has many forms, but it is clear that a history of interpersonal violence should be a deciding factor in whether or not an individual should continue to have access to a gun.”
Now Should We Speak Femicide?
Men sometimes kill women because they are women. Sometimes, as is likely the case with the horrific killings in Atlanta, men kill women because they are women and because of other aspects of their identity—race, sexual orientation, disabilities. But still, because they’re women. This gendered killing of women has a name: femicide, coined by Diana Russell almost 30 years ago.
Feminists’ Goals of Ratifying ERA and Ending Violence Against Women Are Inextricably Linked
“In Women’s History Month 2021, we celebrated extraordinary legislative victories for women’s rights—and, at the same time, suffered a profound tragedy. … Our message is simple: We will not give up our dream to live in a world without violence and with full equality under the law.”
(This letter from the editors originally appears in the Spring 2021 issue of Ms.)
After Atlanta: Four Steps to Building a Future Free of Racism and Gender-Based Violence
“The violence our communities experience every day won’t be solved by more police. It won’t be solved by more people crowding our prisons. Those structures have failed us, time and time again, and they are rooted in and upheld by the same white supremacy that fuels these attacks.”
In the wake of the horrific anti-Asian racism and hate crimes in Atlanta, we need to fight for community-led solutions to help us heal. Here are four.