This is a short of a full length documentary will represent the plight of Indigenous survivors of sexual assault in the United States as well as give a platform to those who take action against these acts of violence. The work will highlight the systematic failure of law enforcement to provide protection for Native women or to prosecute their assailants. Through interviews with experts, counselors, and survivors of sexual assault, the effects of this violence against Native communities will be detailed. Acknowledgment and support will be paid to the organizations, communities and leaders that work to protect the rights of Native women.

The teen-focused website thatsnotcool.com provides much-needed awareness and action around abuse that starts through social networking.  Is someone being inappropriate?  Maybe crossing the line of privacy?  Clever callout cards send a snarky message to the offender.  Videos and exercises define abuse and point to resources for help.  Great idea.

Jessica Buchanan and Medallio Green created The Glass Breaking Project to break the cycles of and silence about violence within relationships.  You write a message about what you want to “break” on a piece of glass, climb to the top of a ladder and smash the glass on the ground below.  It’s so visceral and satisfying!

I’m excited about this project because it is SUCH a great idea and because I witnessed these two dynamic young women hatch the concept in a Shenandoah University Women’s Studies class in Winchester, Virginia two years ago.   This is great activity for 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence which is ongoing from November 25 – December 10.

Jessica and Medallio are graduating and creating a non-profit company to take the show on the road.  Click here to contact these visionary young women.

Medallio Green and Jessica Buchanan - Founders of The Glass Breaking Project

Dr. Amy Sarch, Director of Shenandoah University Women's Studies Program

16 Days of Activism to End Gender-Based Violence continues and today here are a few quotes to remind us of the why we need sustained focus on gender violence.

Violence against women is perhaps the most shameful human rights violation. And it is perhaps the most pervasive. It knows no boundaries of geography, culture or wealth. As long as it continues, we cannot claim to be making real progress towards equality, development and peace.

–Kofi Annan, former Secretary-General of the United Nations

Violence against women has become as much a pandemic as HIV/AIDS or malaria. But is generally downplayed by the public at large and by policy makers who fail to create and fund programs to eradicate it.

–United Nations Development Fund for Women

Restorative Justice pioneer Howard Zehr points to paths for each of us to begin to stem the violence in our lives and others in his recent blog post Ten Ways to Live Restoratively.   Restorative Justice focuses on repairing the harm caused by and revealed by crime and wrongdoing.

1.    Take relationships seriously, envisioning yourself in an interconnected web of people, institutions and the environment.

2.    Try to be aware of the impact – potential as well as actual – of your actions on others and the environment.

3.    When your actions negatively impact others, take responsibility by acknowledging and seeking to repair the harm – even when you could probably get away with avoiding or denying it.  (To craft a letter of apology, see the Apology Letter website developed by Loreen Walker and Ben Furman.)

4.    Treat everyone respectfully, even those you don’t expect to encounter again, even those you feel don’t deserve it, even those who have harmed or offended you or others.

5.    Involve those affected by a decision, as much as possible, in the decision-making process.

6.    View the conflicts and harms in your life as opportunities.

7.    Listen, deeply and compassionately, to others, seeking to understand even if you don’t agree with them. (Think about who you want to be in the latter situation rather than just being right.)

8.    Engage in dialogue with others, even when what is being said is difficult, remaining open to learning from them and the encounter.

9.    Be cautious about imposing your “truths” and views on other people and situations.

10.  Sensitively confront everyday injustices including sexism, racism and classicism.

Creative Commons License – Mckaysavage Flickr photostream

As 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence continues – this event from UNHCR headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland is led by UNHCR High Commissioner Antonio Guterres.  The “Get Cross” gesture represents a campaign of UN Action Against Sexual Violence in Conflict.  UN Action unites 12 UN system entities, including UNHCR, with the aim of ending rape as a tactic of war in response to Security Council Resolutions 1820 and 1888.  

Researching Refugee Health, edited by the La Trobe Refugee Research Centre, provides regular updates on a vast array of refugee issues in Australia. In the October 2009 issue you’ll learn more about the findings of the SettleMEN project (which conducts research on health needs and settlement experiences of male  refugees in Southeast Queensland), or about the recently passed Migration Amendment Bill, which finally abolishes the charges imposed upon  immigration detainees and waives all existing debts for current and former detainees. For this and more, just click here.

We’ve just finished the Thanksgiving holiday in the U.S.  and while I spend much of my time fretting and ranting about gender injustice and all else that we need to fix,  I realized over the weekend that I’m thankful to also be surrounded by unexpected moments of inspiration.

My friends’ four-year-old son nicked his finger on a scissors while we worked on a Wizard of Oz art project together on Thanksgiving Day.  He stopped himself from crying at the wound, but made sure I understood:  ”I’d still be brave, even if I did cry.”  he said.   “It would just mean I was taking a moment.”

A powerful statement and counter to society’s prevailing rules of masculinity which don’t allow signs of vulnerability in our men.  Think of  how President Obama has been trounced just for bowing to foreign leaders!  We bandaged his finger and finished the art project with me giving thanks that my friends teach their children well.

The Association for Progressive Communications Women’s Networking Support Program proposes a tech-focus for the ongoing 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Based Violence campaign.  APC’s Women’s Programme calls on users of the radio, television, internet, emails and mobile phones to Take Back the Tech.

It is our right to shape, define, participate, use and share knowledge, information and technology, and to create digital spaces that are safe and equal. Take Back the Tech! calls all users of information and communications technologies (ICTs) to take control of technology and consciously use it to change unequal power relations.

Take Back the Tech! will be happening all over the world, including in Argentina, Brazil, Colombia, Cambodia, Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), Republic of Congo, Malaysia, Mexico, Pakistan, Philippines, South Africa, Uganda as part of APC WNSP’s efforts to achieve Millenium development Goal 3 to promote gender equality and empower women.

Click here for more info on the Millenium development Goal 3.

Click here for the TechNet website.

Here’s what we’re reading during 16 Days of Activism to End Violence Against Women.

I’ve just cracked open  “Yes Means Yes!  Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape” – the 2009 Publishers Weekly best book edited  by writers and activists Jaclyn Friedman and Jessica Valenti.  I’m just through the first few chapters and already this book is changing my discourse around a culture of rape.  Chapter 2 is particularly insightful  -  ”Toward a Performance Model of Sex” by Thomas MacAulay Millar (the pen-name of a New York litigator) discusses the destructive ways Western culture models sex.

Millar says those who rape acquire a “social license to operate” from the model of sex as a commodity.  ”We live in a culture where sex is not so much an act as a thing; a substance that can be given, bought, sold or stolen, that has value in a supply and demand curve.”  says Millar.  This has all kinds of implications – especially since women are expected to be gatekeepers of sex while men are generally viewed as the owners of the “property”, and therefore entitled to it in the end – even if by force.  Sex as property is something that gets used up, worn out, discarded over time.   Wow.

Millar proposes a performance model of sex.  Think of sex as a musical interaction between highly practiced, experienced performers.  What a beautiful thought.  The performance gets better and better over time.  This avoids power imbalance and exploitation of young and vulnerable. It avoids the shame and secrecy in using it.  And it enables a spiritual, intellectual and physical joy in the engagement.   Why would you want to engage in a musical performance with someone who has no experience?  I like this.  And I’m looking forward to more insight from this book.

I also like the title of the book – powerful.  Thanks to these authors who are shifting our thinking and the dialogue in such interesting ways.

Check out Valenti’s excellent blog feministing.com.

And click here to find UNHCR activities during the 16 Days.