So much wrong...

Coming out a Detroit is this terrible story. After being sexually assaulted, the 14 year old victim was then the target of bullying by both her perpetrator and other students at her school. Like so many other bullying cases, social media was used, making the bullying a non-stop experience. Sadly, the victim committed suicide. Following her death, prosecutors dropped the charges against the perpetrator.

What!

There is so much wrong here:

• High schoolers bullying a victim for being assaulted. Points out just how much we need education about sexual violence in schools.
• Once again we see social networking used to harass someone. The use of social networks to bully makes the bullying far more constant, invasive, and public.
• Dropping a case because the victim passed away? A crime was still committed. To add to that, even more charges could be pressed. Depriving someone of a civil right through creating an unsafe learning environment? Harassing someone to the point of bodily harm? Simply dropping the case illustrates a lack of concern for bringing rapists to justice.

What are your thoughts on this case?

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Rape in the United States

Here's a statement made before the Subcommittee on Crime and Drugs Committee on the Judiciary United States Senate by Susan Carbon, the director of the Office on Violence Against Women. The full title is "Rape in the United States: The Chronic Failure to Report and and Investigate Rape Cases". While we all know the severity of this problem, it is very exciting to see such a eloquent, passionate statement made before the Senate and to see some members of the Senate taking this problem seriously. Hopefully, we will see a shift in the treatment of rape cases by the justice system.

Read the statement here.

Viewing rapists as monsters?

Here's an interesting article out of South Africa. The writer considers the labeling of rapists as "monsters" troubling and makes a pretty decent case for why we as advocates should work to humanize rapists.Pretty much, he argues that rape is a product of extreme masculinity. And, since masculinity is a product of society- the dehumanizing of rapists prevent us from being able to really acknowledge the problem: the way boys are socialized to behave.

A couple interesting quotations:

• But seeing rapists as monsters, or as a separate category of people, means that we miss the very simple observation that rapists are men.

• To cut a long story short I would argue that the act of rape embodies much of what is associated with (a particular version of) masculinity: power, virility, domination, sexual prowess, control over women. 

Take a look at the article and share your thoughts in the comments sections!

Conference on Black Masculinity

The Conference on African American Culture and Experience will be focusing their conference on Black Masculinity.

When: Oct 14-16
Where: University of North Carolina, Greensboro
How Much: $ 175 (includes tour of the International Civil Rights Museum, which is pretty sweet!)
For more info visit: http://www.uncg.edu/ure/news/stories/2010/sep/CACE092210.htm

New training tool

Here's a new publication from the CDC. It focuses on training professionals to conduct intimate partner violence. Take a look- it has some pretty good ideas!

The Girl Effect

Here's a great video called "The Girl Effect". It's short, simple, and powerful. This could be a great, easy tool for explaining the importance of taking issues that face young girls seriously. All too often people forget about the needs of girls and the importance of the women those girls grow into.

The Girl Effect