Escape Abuse!

http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/

The Department of Justice and the Office on Violence Against Women joins advocates, survivors , and communities around the country to observe October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month. This is a moment to elevate the conversation so the majority of Americans will understand that violence against women and girls is unacceptable.

Violence against women is the seed to so many other forms of violence. This shift in our conversation must happen because violence against women continues to have devastating effects on entire communities. When children witness violence in the home, those children are impacted by what they have seen and often experienced themselves. If we want to tackle violence in our country, in our communities, then we must address the violence that occurs in so many homes. And all members of the community must be engaged to end the violence.

Join us in pledging to raise awareness about this tragic crime, hold offenders accountable, and provide survivors with the services and tools to begin their journey of rebuilding and healing. Join us in pledging to end violence in our homes and our communities.

Read Presidential Proclamation for Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Press Release: Department of Justice Observes October as Domestic Violence Awareness Month

Download OVW’s Domestic Violence Awareness Month Poster

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Commemorating 15 Years of the Violence Against Women Act

“This bipartisan accomplishment has ushered in a new era of responsibility in the fight to end violence against women. In the 15 years since VAWA became law, our Nation’s response to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking has strengthened. Communities recognize the special needs of victims and appreciate the benefits of collaboration among professionals in the civil and criminal justice system, victim advocates, and other service providers. With the support of VAWA funds, dedicated units of law enforcement officers and specialized prosecutors have grown more numerous than ever before. Most importantly, victims are more likely to have a place to turn for help — for emergency shelter and crisis services, and also for legal assistance, transitional housing, and services for their children.”

President Barack Obama
September 14, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — Women’s groups gathered at Vice President Joe Biden’s home Tuesday night to toast the 15th anniversary of landmark legislation aimed at eliminating violence against women.

“You’ve helped so many women step out of the darkness. You’ve helped so many young girls expect a different future, expect different treatment,” Biden said as he commemorated the 1994 Violence Against Women Act. “This is a day to celebrate. We have so much to be proud of.”

The National Women’s Law Center, FaithTrust Institute, National Network to End Domestic Violence and AAUW (formerly the American Association of University Women) were among the groups invited to the vice president’s residence, located on the grounds of the U.S. Naval Observatory in northwest Washington.

Biden recalled how domestic violence was once regarded as a private matter. “It wasn’t the business of the government. It’s a family matter,” he told about 100 guests. Advocates for women inspired a different attitude, he said.

The Violence Against Women Act, crafted by Biden while he served on the Senate Judiciary Committee as a senator from Delaware, led to more money for women’s shelters and law-enforcement training.

Domestic violence rates fell sharply between 1993 and 2004. The Bureau of Justice Statistics said that “intimate partner violence” rates fell by more than 50 percent, which some experts attributed to key elements of the 1994 law.

Biden joined advocates from women’s groups in saying that more needed to be done. “We cannot let this slip from the consciousness,” he said.

MORE at link:

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_DOMESTIC_VIOLENCE?SITE=CONGRA&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Think verbal abuse isn’t as “bad” as physical abuse?  Think again. It can be worse. The emotional and psychological effects of VA can take MUCH longer to recover from than PA. When BOTH are present, it amounts to nothing less than domestic TERRORISM.  This is a video (click on the image below) you can share via Facebook or email with family, friends, counselors to help them understand what you may be (or might have been) going through when you were being verbally and emotionally abused by your partner.

Got this in email today from a friend of mine:

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It’s hard to lower my opinion of  the practice of denying coverage based on pre-existing conditions, but this bit of news managed it. It’s from a press release on the Service Employees International Union website, with links to the supporting documents. Domestic violence is considered “a pre-existing condition” and a basis for denial of care. Makes me want to weep. 

“But, in DC and nine other states, including Arkansas, Idaho, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oklahoma, South Carolina, South Dakota, and Wyoming, insurance companies have gone too far, claiming that “domestic violence victim” is also a pre-existing condition.

Words cannot describe the sheer inhumanity of this claim. It serves as yet further proof that our insurance system is broken, destroyed by the profit-mongering of the very companies who’s sole purpose should be to provide Americans with access to care when they need it most. In 1994, an informal survey conducted by the Subcommittee on Crime and Criminal Justice of the United States Senate Judiciary Committee revealed that 8 of the 16 largest insurers in the country used domestic violence as a factor when decided whether to extend coverage and how much to charge if coverage was extended”.

SOURCE:

http://www.seiu.org/2009/09/domestic-violence-victims-have-a-pre-existing-condition.php
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My God this is awful.  Unbelievable, in fact.  As a person who grew up around DV it’s  DESPICABLE.  DV as a pre-existing condition? It’s actually a worldwide epidemic, but since women still generally aren’t considered human, only
property, it’s never considered as such. So while they’re grossly  minimizing the problem, they’re simultaneously using it as an horribly cruel and inhumane excuse to deny coverage on the basis of its  existence.

This just underscores the extent to which for-profit insurance companies are psychopathic entities.  Conscienceless.

In October of 2006, Gary Fricker raped a woman (known only as Jane Doe) at gunpoint in the parking garage of the Stamford Marriott in Stamford, CT, in front of her two young children. He also pointed his gun at those children and threatened to sexually assault one of them. The one positive part of this story is that Fricker was captured by police three days later and is currently serving a 20-year prison sentence; if there was any victim-blaming in the criminal trial, at least it didn’t sway the jury. Now, however, Jane Doe is suing the Stamford Marriott for failing to secure the building or notice when a violent crime took place there — and in its defense, the hotel stops just short of arguing that she asked for it.

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It’s tempting to highlight the details here — she was raped by a stranger, at gunpoint, in front of her children — to underscore the horrible absurdity of trying to hold this woman responsible for being the victim of a violent crime. But the fact is, most rapes are not committed by strangers with weapons, and that’s part of why victim-blaming so often works. Why did she go home with him? Why was she wearing that? Why was she drinking so much? How can we be sure she didn’t want it? A good woman jumped by a gun-wielding stranger is one thing, but a woman who merely claims she didn’t consent to sex, well, that’s a different story! Except it’s not. And the routine attempts to discredit victims of more typical rapes — committed by someone they’ve met, who was not threatening them with a weapon other than his own body — actually pave the way for a “special defense” of “She should have been more careful” when we are talking about a stranger with a gun. The reason that has potential as a legal strategy — the reason it’s not ultimately laughable — is because people in this culture are already so used to questioning whether women do enough to protect themselves from any man who might decide to rape them.

The insidiousness of victim-blaming goes far beyond people saying, “Why was she wearing that?” It’s also saying, “Why did she go where a rapist might be?” — like, you know, a parking garage, or a city street, or her own apartment. It’s the inevitable arguments that all women should take self-defense classes to stop rape. It’s the assumption that every woman is responsible for preventing the actions of violent criminals when it comes to this one particular violent crime, and any arguable lapse in judgment can be seized upon as evidence that she just wasn’t trying hard enough not to be attacked. In a nutshell, it’s rape culture. As long as we constantly question all of the decisions women make prior to a man’s decision to rape them, victim-blaming will remain a viable legal strategy, no matter the circumstances.

http://www.salon.com/mwt/broadsheet/?last_story=/mwt/broadsheet/feature/2009/08/14/victim_blaming