Aug
28
Bigoted security guard targets woman wearing “Lesbian.com” t-shirt
Filed Under Uncategorized | By Melissa Heald | 1 Comment
Via Feministing. A security guard forced Lapriss Gilbert to leave a Social Security building in Los Angeles because he found her shirt offensive. It advertised “Lesbian.com,” an educational and resource website for lesbian women. An eyewitness described the guard’s behavior as “loud, unreasonable, aggressive and angry,” whereas he described Gilbert as “peaceful and quiet.”
The fact that Lapriss was treated this way – simply for wearing a t-shirt saying that she is a lesbian, in a public government building, no less – demonstrates how much work is left to be done. The security guard threatened to have Gilbert arrested if she did not meet his demands, though she had done nothing wrong. He was apparently offended merely at the fact that she was a lesbian, and so he targeted her. The same rationale is used by people who commit hate crimes; physically or sexually assaulting people based on their actual or perceived sexual orientation.
Let me be clear that I am not saying that what this security guard did was as severe as a hate crime; I am only saying that homophobia leads people to commit a wide variety of discriminatory and predatory acts, so it must be confronted in all its forms.
Aug
26
What does “social justice” really mean?
Filed Under Uncategorized | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
A coworker sent me this opinion piece, When social justice is more than a catchphrase, from the Austin American Statesman that discusses the term “social justice” and its definition. The author focuses on various faith communities and how they interpret “social justice,” but the conversation has secular importance as well.
Last year, TAASA staff worked together to decide on an inclusive definition of social justice that worked for our organization. Here’s what we came up with:
Social justice is the process where we all actively work to challenge the power structure in order to challenge the roots of oppression; seek fair distribution of resources, opportunities and responsibilities; empower all people to exercise self-determination and realize their full potential; and build community capacity for collaborative action. The goal of social justice is full and equal participation of all groups in a society that is mutually shaped to meet their needs.
What types of conversation have you all been having about social justice in your organizations and personal life?
Click here to read the Statesman opinion piece.
Aug
25
Child marriages largely a consequence of poverty
Filed Under Uncategorized | By Melissa Heald | 1 Comment
Two young Yemeni girls, Arwa and Nujood, pictured left, made international headlines recently when they were granted divorces from the adult men they were forced to marry. The Christian Science Monitor ran an article about another Yemeni girl seeking a divorce, 12-year-old Reem, who was forced earlier this summer to marry her 30-year-old cousin. A judge ruled that Reem is too young to decide what is best for herself and she must wait until she is 15 to divorce. Her lawyer is appealing the decision.
Unlike some coverage I have seen on this issue, author Ginny Hill focuses much more on the widespread poverty in Yemen and how it influences child marriage rates, than on religion:
He explains that the phenomenon of child marriage transcends the urban-rural divide and cuts across economic categories. “Even powerful families arrange alliance marriages by bartering their daughters into the power structures at an early age, but girls from the poorest families are most at risk,” he says… More than a third of the population – 7 million people – are undernourished, according to the United Nation’s World Food Program. Yemen is heavily dependent on food imports, making its citizens especially vulnerable to global price shocks.
Many columnists and pundits blame Islam for human rights abuses of women and girls in Arab countries, but religious tradition is not the root cause. Rather, it is often used as justification for practices that are, for many families, desperate attempts at survival. This is not to say that traditional practices that degrade the status of women and girls and lead to physical and sexual abuse shouldn’t be challenged, but the pervasive poverty must be eliminated as well.
In order to end sexual violence, whether in the form of child marriage in Yemen or the sexual abuse of children in the United States, a holistic approach is vital. It won’t do to simply campaign against child marriages, or even to work toward raising the status of women and girls, if the persistent poverty in Yemen is ignored. All of the root causes must be addressed. It’s a long, slow process, but it’s the only way that true change can ever occur – it’s the only hope that children like Reem have.
Aug
22
SPIN lessons
Filed Under Uncategorized | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
Work has been a bit overwhelming this week since I returned from Walker Creek Ranch (pictured below), but I wanted to take some time to tell you about my experiences at the SPIN Academy.
The SPIN Academy is hosted by the SPIN Project, a program of the Communications Leadership Institute. The schedule consisted of four days of intensive training on a variety of strategic communications topics. And when I say intensive, I mean it! Thursday, Friday and Saturday were 12-hour days – exhausting, but well worth it. I attended workshops on developing strategic plans, framing, messaging, election advocacy, working with the media and developing relationships with reporters, to name a few. I learned so much invaluable information from the presenters, but the most powerful part of the trip, for me, was the people.
The Academy hosted 61 activists from organizations all over the country, and two from other countries (Canada and Israel). It was such an inspiring, refreshing experience to be in a space, for nearly five days, with so many other people who are working for social justice. There were people from organizations working on environmental issues, LGBTQI rights, HIV/AIDS awareness and prevention, health care, media justice and reform, racial justice, anti-violence, and so much more.
I have always connected the work that TAASA does and the work that I do to the larger movement for social justice, but in sort of an abstract way. Spending so much time getting to know the other participants and hear about their causes, and seeing how they share many of my professional struggles really solidified the connection for me. Sometimes it’s easy to get caught up in my own little anti-violence bubble, but I must remember all of the people in my city, state, country, and all over the world, who are all working toward our collective goal – an equitable society for all. Each of our individual causes is really a subset of the larger movement; we are all in this together.
Does anyone else have stories about experiences that reminded you why you’re part of this movement?
Aug
12
Sexual Assault News
Filed Under Uncategorized | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
ABC 7 Tyler – by Layron Livingston
Day Five Of ‘Booger Red’ Kelly Sees More Defense Motions
RedOrbit
Study Ties Bad Childhood Experiences To Early Drinking
The experiences specifically linked to early drinking were physical abuse, sexual abuse, living with a mentally ill family member, substance abuse in the home, and parents’ divorce or separation.
New York Times – by N. Bruce Duthu
Broken Justice in Indian Country
One in three American Indian women will be raped in their lifetimes, statistics gathered by the United States Department of Justice show. But the odds of the crimes against them ever being prosecuted are low, largely because of the complex jurisdictional rules that operate on Indian lands. Approximately 275 Indian tribes have their own court systems, but federal law forbids them to prosecute non-Indians. Cases involving non-Indian offenders must be referred to federal or state prosecutors, who often lack the time and resources to pursue them.
Austin American Statesman – by Angela K. Brown
Military tries various tactics to fight sex assault within ranks
Kilgore News Herald – by Lester Murray
KISD visitors must submit to sex offender scans
ABC 13 Houston – by Ted Oberg
Surviving a serial killer
Only one man walked away from Dean Corll’s torture chamber, and he’s never told his story. But now, for the first time, Tim Kerley is speaking out, hoping to bring peace to victims’ families and encourage young people to listen to loved ones about danger. / Three and a half decades ago, Kerley walked out of a Pasadena house with memories no one should have. He was tied to a torture board inside, and rescued just moments before he was sexually tortured and likely killed. Kerley’s never told his story publicly.
NBC 6 Waco
Child Sexual Assault Suspect Arrested
Kerrville Daily Times – by Alyson Chapman
Violent sex offender on the run
Aug
3
“Secret Life of the American Teenager” mocks attempted rape
Filed Under Uncategorized | By Melissa Heald | 1 Comment
Shakesville mentions a plotline on a recent episode of ABC Family’s The Secret Life of the American Teenager that minimizes an attempted rape and blames the victim. The episode begins with a teenage girl, Grace, waiting for a friend to pick her up in what appears to be an isolated location late at night. Two adult men pull up and start verbally threatening her, hinting that they intend to rape her, then one of them gets out and grabs her. Grace falls down, says a quick prayer, then breaks a beer bottle she finds on the ground and attempts to ward her attacker off with it. It works, and he backs off as her friend pulls up and chases the men away. Here’s where the story goes downhill: a security camera caught the events on tape and it shows up on the local news. The news anchors laugh and make fun of Grace- mocking her prayer and generally making light of the situation. One local man sees the broadcast and cracks up at the girl’s “problem child” behavior and basically says he is glad this happened to her because he does not like the girl’s parents. Grace’s parents initially react to their daughter angrily because she lied to them about where she was, showing no concern for the fact that she attacked. All of this happens within the first ten minutes of the show.
As I watched the rest of the episode (part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5), I hoped that the moral of the story would be that Grace shouldn’t have been blamed and mocked for protecting herself, but that wasn’t the case. In the end, Grace apologized on the local news for the trouble she caused everyone by making a poor choice (lying to her parents about where she was). As if victims of attempted or completed sexual assault aren’t blamed enough for NOT fighting back “hard enough” (as deemed by society), the character on this TV show is attacked for fighting back TOO hard.
You can contact ABC Family and let them know what you think about this episdode.
Aug
3
Protecting abortion and emergency contraception rights for rape victims
Filed Under Uncategorized | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
The Washington Post reports that a new rule has been proposed requiring recipients of aid under federal health programs to agree not to “discriminate” against doctors, nurses and other providers who object to abortion by refusing to hire them. It’s not even just abortion rights that are at stake, though…
Mary Jane Gallagher, president of the National Family Planning and Reproductive Health Association, which represents providers, said, “The proposed definition of abortion is so broad that it would cover many types of birth control, including oral contraceptives and emergency contraception.”
“We worry that under the proposal, contraceptive services would become less available to low-income and uninsured women,” Ms. Gallagher said.
Indeed, among other things the proposal expresses concern about state laws that require hospitals to provide emergency contraception to rape victims who request it.
I highly recommend reading the entire article to learn more about the proposed rule and potential consequences.
At NARAL Pro-Choice America’s website you can fill out a form to contact your legislators and let them know how you feel about this proposed regulation.