Full Frontal Feminism_ A Young Women's Guide to Why Feminism Matters - Jessica Valenti [25]
WHAT THEY DON’T TELL YOU
Too often, issues of violence against women are presented in a pretty universal way. The white woman being beat by her no-good, drunk husband. It’s got “movie of the week” written all over it. What’s shown less often in the media (or anywhere else, for that matter) is violence in the lives of women who aren’t white, middle-class, straight gals. Obviously these issues affect all women, regardless of their race, class, and sexual orientation—but some women are affected disproportionately.
For example, African American women are much less likely to report a rape. Native American women are most likely to be raped by a white offender. Sixty-one percent of female soldiers have said they have been sexually harassed in the army. Queer women are more likely to be attacked than straight women. Women on welfare are more likely to be victims of domestic violence.
Race, class, sexual orientation—or even the kind of job or career a woman has—influence how violence affects her.
THE LAWS THAT MAKE IT BETTER, THE LAWS THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO SCREAM
It’s amazing to me how the United States can simultaneously have great and shitty laws concerning violence against women.
Probably the most important piece of legislation is the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). It gives billions of dollars to help survivors of rape, intimate partner violence, and stalking. What’s weird is that more people don’t know about it. It passed in 1994 and was reauthorized in 2000, 2005, and 2006. This latest reauthorization extended VAWA for five more years and increased funding—VAWA now allocates $3.9 billion to related state and federal programs. Impressive, right? Unfortunately, there are folks who actually want it done away with. Bush has tried to cut VAWA funding substantially (shocker, I know), and other organizations that call themselves “men’s rights activists” speak out against the law, saying that it discriminates against men (not true—the law allows for funding for men as well). So while VAWA is doing great things, it’s still under attack.
There are other laws—mostly state laws—that seriously screw women over when it comes to violence. The gay marriage ban in Ohio, for example, is the perfect example of how all of our rights are interconnected. If one group is fucked, we’re all fucked. It’s actually getting abusers off the hook. Since the same-sex-marriage ban prohibits legal recognition of any relationship of “unmarried individuals that intends to approximate the design, qualities, significance, or effect of marriage,” judges have been ruling that the state domestic violence law doesn’t apply to unmarried couples. Yeah. So women who are being beaten by their live-in boyfriends are basically being told that if they want to press domestic violence charges, they’ll have to marry their abuser. Sweet, huh?
Fewer half of all rapes and sexual assauts are reported to the police.
Other politicians are trying to make it okay for Catholic hospitals to deny rape victims emergency contraception because it goes against their principles. Apparently, the principles of a woman who doesn’t want to get pregnant by her rapist don’t count.
In Tennessee, it’s not illegal for a man to rape his wife unless he “uses a weapon, causes her serious bodily injury, or they are separated or divorcing.” When spousal rape does qualify as a crime, it’s treated as a less serious crime than a rape of any other woman.
You see what I’m getting at. The fight is far from over.
Taking Action
Hearing all this stuff is really disheartening, I know. But just because culture at large isn’t doing all it can to combat violence against women, it doesn’t mean women aren’t. Women (and men) across the country work their asses off in organizations like the Family