Tag Archives: violence against women

Tonight in NYC, Tomorrow in Amherst : The Revolution Starts at Home

  By Maegan La Mala | May 14, 2011 - 9:04 am |
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A book that should probably be used as a reference and jump off for critical conversations and growth, The Revolution Starts at Home : Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities, edited by Ching-In Chen, Jai Dulani and Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha is out and on tour.

The anthology took 7 years to pull together and even 7 years ago was long overdue as there are so many struggles within so-called activist spaces about how we treat each other.

“Was/is your abusive partner a high-profile activist? Does your abusive girlfriend’s best friend staff the domestic violence hotline? Have you successfully kicked an abuser out of your group? Did your anti-police brutality group fear retaliation if you went to the cops about another organizer’s assault? Have you found solutions where accountability didn’t mean isolation for either of you? Was the ‘healing circle’ a bunch of bullshit? Is the local trans community so small that you don’t want you or your partner to lose it?

“We wanted to hear about what worked and what didn’t, what survivors and their supporters learned, what they wish folks had done, what they never want to have happen again. We wanted to hear about folks’ experiences confronting abusers, both with cops and courts and with methods outside the criminal justice system.”

— The Revolution Starts at Home collective

Long demanded and urgently needed, The Revolution Starts at Home: Confronting Intimate Violence Within Activist Communities finally breaks the dangerous silence surrounding the secret of intimate violence within social justice circles. This watershed collection of stories and strategies tackles the multiple forms of violence encountered right where we live, love, and work for social change — and delves into the nitty-gritty on how we might create safety from abuse without relying on the state. Drawing on over a decade of community accountability work, along with its many hard lessons and unanswered questions, The Revolution Starts at Home offers potentially life-saving alternatives for creating survivor safety while building a movement where no one is left behind.

For more information:
http://southendpress.org/2010/items/87941
http://revolutionathome.tumblr.com/
revathome@gmail.com

 

For all of you Northeast Coasters, there are opportunities to meet some of the editors, hear from the book, and engage in conversation about why this book and where from here. Mala will be at the NYC release tonight so please stay tuned to our twitter account for live-tweets (as permitted). (more…)

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Mel Gibson…Jackass?

  By la Macha | July 8, 2010 - 3:05 pm |
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Well, Mel Gibson just can’t seem to back his magnificent bully sized asshole out of the public spot light these days, can he? After telling us a while ago about his dislike of Teh Jews, and then eventually letting us know he hoped a “pack of N*ggers” raped his wife, and then sharing with us the extra special secret of how he slaps his wife while she holds a fucking child in his hands…we *now* find out that he apparently is not all that fond of Teh Beaner either.

Witness:

Mel referred to one of his staffers as a “wetback,” Radaronline.com reports.

“I will report her to the f**king people that take f**king money from the wetbacks,” he said.

‘Wetbacks’ is a slur originally used to disparage Mexicans who swam across the Rio Grande to enter Texas illegally. It seems Mel was threatening to turn his staffer over to immigration authorities.

I honestly get kinda sick of the number of people in positions of power that have extra special names for the non-white, non-male, flaming queer amongst us, so usually I roll my eyes and move on. But…this case of extra special naming comes with a price: the threat to call ICE. Even if the woman he’s threatening this against is totally legal, just having ICE sniffing around can be traumatic and bring lots of expensive legal work that the woman may not have the money to deal with. I think it’s also important to point out that although this is *racism*–it is also sexism–the fact that he is threatening this against a woman when he already has a history of terrorizing women speaks to me of deeply held violent misogyny. It also makes me wonder in what other ways he’s threatened his wife (who is a Russian citizen living in the US). Unfortunatly, if you pay attention to most of the headlines–while Mel may be rightfully called a racist, the fact that he has beaten his wife and threatened to use the legal structure to terrorize another woman seems to be flying under the radar of “sexism” or “abusive.” Not sure why nobody has the guts to call him abusive, we didn’t seem to have much of a problem calling Chris Brown that did we?

Anyway. There isn’t much to do after being reminded of one’s wet back besides say, “Mel Gibson, you are a jackass.” And call it a day.

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NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade Controversy

  By BiancaLaureano | June 11, 2010 - 8:43 am |
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There’s been a lot of conversation around the NYC Puerto Rican Day Parade coming up this weekend. All the talk is about the assigned “godfather” for the Parade, model, actor and singer Osvaldo Rios, who has a history of violence against women. There has been an amazing response to his participation at the parade this year from community members and elected officials. The communal response to his violent acts gives me a lot of hope and I wanted to share a piece I wrote specifically about this topic that was published today. This also fits really well with how we may define and identify as survivors. You can read the full article here.

The most recent story that has been at the center of discussing the Parade this year is the chosen “godfather,” actor, singer and model Osvaldo Rios. Huge controversy surrounds his presence at the Parade because of his history of violence against women. This controversy began back in May of this year when the announcement was made. In 2004 Rios spent 3 months in a Puerto Rican prison for abusing his partner at the time. Part of the controversy that has begun was when council member in Spanish Harlem Melissa Mark-Viverito stated:

“It’s not a positive role model for my people, for my community and for our children. I personally will not march in the parade and I will ask other elected officials to consider doing the same thing.” Not everyone agreed with Mark-Viverito and believed that people “deserve second chances.”

Following Mark-Viverito’s statements, the Marshal for the Parade, Chicago Rep. Luis Gutierrez quit and Verizon pulled its sponsorship earlier this week, the first full week of June. This has resulted in Rios making a decision about his presence and participation at the Parade. Rios recently announced he has chosen to not attend the Parade. He is quoted in the NY Daily News as saying:

“After discussing this issue with my wife, my children and Congresswoman Nydia Velazquez, to whom I’m grateful for her wise words, my family and I have decided … not to attend the parade and promote the unity and the consensus between the Puerto Rican people at such a great event.”

I have to admit that I am one of the people who believe this is a good decision to not have Rios be the “godfather” at the Parade, this year or any year for that matter. I’m proud to have read that several representatives and sponsors recognize that women’s bodies, Latina bodies, Puerto Rican women’s bodies, Caribbean women’s bodies, LatiNegra bodies are important. That the abuses our bodies endure are not ones that can be easily rectified. That our bodies have endured so much already, physically, emotionally, mentally, spiritually and that our lives matter too. I hope this will be an opportunity for community members to consider a communal response to ending violence within our communities.  I know I will be using this story and other forms of media in my classroom this summer and next semester as I discuss rape, sexual assault, and violence.

It has been recently announced that singer Marc Anthony will be the new “godfather” of the Puerto Rican Day Parade.

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Confronting Citizenship in Sexual Assault

  By la Macha | May 13, 2010 - 2:13 pm |
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I got permission from my good friend, brownfemipower, to repost this essay here at VL…it originally appeared at the Incite! Blog! Here is the English version.

Alerta: Si ha tenido malas experiencias con violencia sexual o la ciudadanía, este articulo puede desenterrar esas emocione.

¿Qué significa ser ciudadan@? ¿Qué significa para ti ser ciudadan@ de cualquier país en que nasiste?

Como ciudadana del EE.UU., la constitución declara mis derechos. Tengo el derecho a votar, tener un arma, etcetera. Pero tambien tengo el derecho a una licencia de manejo, y por lo tanto un trabajo. Tengo el derecho a un numero de seguro social, y por lo tanto, otra vez, un trabajo. Tengo derecho a servicios de bienestar (“welfare”), de desability y de desempleo.

Y aun más conmovedoramente, tengo el derecho a manejar, a rentar una casa, a llamar a la policía.

Estoy segura que todos podemos pensar en mas derechos—pero el punto de esto no es hacer una lista de cada privilegio que nos da la ciudadanía, si no, exponer o sacar a luz una identidad sobre cual es rara vez hablada: ciudadanía.

Leí, no con poco asco, esta historia sobre una mujer joven que muy probable mente fue violada en una fiesta universitaria. Aunque había mucha evidencia que indicaba que hubo una violación, no le realizaron un examen para victimas de violación y no le hicieron un examen apropiado para tratar los obvios signos de envenenamiento (sea por alcohol o por drogas para asalto sexual no importa) o los dolores del recto y piernas de cuales ella hablo. El articulo correctamente nota del caso: “No eres victima de violación si no lo dice la policía que lo eres.”

No eres victima de violación si no lo dice la policía que lo eres.

Tomemos un minuto con las ramificaciones de esta oración. Significa algo enorme para tod@s sobrevivientes de violación—pero significa algo especifico en terminos de la ciudadanía. Si toma la nación/el estado para confirmar que sucedió una violación, ¿qué significa cuando requieren policía local verificar el estatus migratorio de cualquier persona quien parece “razonablemente” parece ser sospechoso de ser “ilegal”?

En una sociedad racista, heteropatriarcal, ¿quién “parece” ilegal? ¿Cuáles cuerpos son “ilegales” sólo por existir? ¿Y qué pasa cuando uno de esos cuerpos “ilegales” es violado?

La ciudadanía trae consigo muchas protecciones—no tenemos que preocuparnos de “parecer ilegal” en gran parte porque tenemos la protección de nuestras licencias de manejo. Simultaneamente, con un poco de examinación, es fácil ver cómo las “fronteras” de la ciudadanía son impermeables y flexibles. También veremos que la falta de solidez trae consigo consequencias desastrosas igaualmente para inmigrantes y ciudadan@s.

Las preguntas son interminables:

¿Cuánt@s sobrevivientes de violencia sexual no reportan sus abusadores a la policia o van al hospital—no porque tengan verguensa de sobrevivientes, se sientan culpables y tengan miedo—pero porque la nación/el estado lo ha hecho ilegal para que proveedores de atención médica ayuden a gente sin chequear su estatus? ¿Cuant@s sobrevivientes no están recibiendo ayuda porque saben que ir al gobierno significa no sólo la deportación—pero ser negad@ tratamiento (sólo ciudadan@s reciben eso) y/o ser violad@ de nuevo? ¿Cuánt@s sobrevivientes no están reportando violencia porque saben que reportarlo significa no sólo su encarcelamiento y deportación—pero también el encarcelamiento y deportación de sus seres queridos? (more…)

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Rihanna interview

  By la Macha | November 5, 2009 - 6:11 pm |
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This just broke my heart. Broke my heart.

From Huffington Post, a preview on the Rihanna interview:

“When I realized that my selfish decision for love could result in some young girl getting killed, I could not be easy with that part. I could not be held responsible for telling them, ‘Go back.’”

I think that it is really generous and loving of Rihanna to think about girls at a time in her life when she is hurting and confused and devastated and even humiliated. But that section quoted above–that part where she says, “her selfish decision to love”….Oh, how my heart breaks.

It is not Rihanna’s job to stop violence against women. It’s not any woman or girl’s job to stop violence against women and girls. Even if she stayed with Chris Brown forever–it would never be her fault that women are being killed by men. It is manipulative and even violent to say it is. It is not selfish for a woman or girl to love. Dear god, no.

It is selfish to beat a woman. It is selfish to scare and intimidate her. It is selfish to take her love and use it against her, it is selfish to beat a woman who loves you because you know you can.

It is Chris Brown’s job to stop violating women. It is men’s job to stop violating women. It is men’s job to stop twisting and FUCKING with love so freely and generously given. It is the job of men to grow the fuck up and get into some kind of healing/therapy so that they can teach *little boys* how to not beat the holy fuck out of a person who loves them.

And it’s media’s job to stop putting the lives of little girls onto the shoulders of survivors. They have enough shit to worry about. It’s time to start putting responsibility where it belongs. On the fists of men who make the choice to use them whenever they feel like it.

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Amnesty International Video About Femicides in Juarez

  By Maegan la Mamita Mala | October 18, 2009 - 2:38 pm |
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Women raped, murdered and disappeared in Juarez continues to be an ongoing situation. With over 400 cases reported and an unknown number not reported, the issue fades in and out of the public eye.

I would like to know of ways to support local organizations and local families in and around Juarez. Organizations without big budgets so that the mujeres of Juarez can live and rest in peace.

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Latin@ stars support child rapist

  By la Macha | October 1, 2009 - 11:50 am |
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romanRoman Polanski is a child rapist, right? He gave drugs and alcohol to a 13-year-old girl, and then molested and raped her vaginally and anally (trigger warning, transcript of court hearings at link).

And yet, even as he raped a little girl, Polanski can’t seem to get enough support from stars everywhere–including a whole slew of the top rung of Hollywood Latin@s. A petition of support of Polanski has been making the rounds the past few days:

On September 16th, 2009, Mr. Charles Rivkin, the US Ambassador to France, received French artists and intellectuals at the embassy. He presented to them the new Minister Counselor for Public Affairs at the embassy, Ms Judith Baroody. In perfect French she lauded the Franco-American friendship and recommended the development of cultural relations between our two countries.

If only in the name of this friendship between our two countries, we demand the immediate release of Roman Polanski.

And everyday, more Latin@s are signing on, including:

Pedro Almodovar (Spanish),
Penelope Cruz (Spanish),
Guillermo del Toro,
Gael Garcia Bernal,
Alejandro Gonzalez Inarritu
Richard Pena (who is the director of the NY film festival, which VL has promoted)
Harold Alvarado Tenorio

Now, technically, the point *could* be made that the petition is calling for international film festivals to be “neutral” sites that exist outside of legal jurisdictions:

Filmmakers in France, in Europe, in the United States and around the world are dismayed by this decision. It seems inadmissible to them that an international cultural event, paying homage to one of the greatest contemporary filmmakers, is used by the police to apprehend him.

By their extraterritorial nature, film festivals the world over have always permitted works to be shown and for filmmakers to present them freely and safely, even when certain States opposed this.

The arrest of Roman Polanski in a neutral country, where he assumed he could travel without hindrance, undermines this tradition: it opens the way for actions of which no-one can know the effects.

But there are two things that keep me from buying that:

This section:

His arrest follows an American arrest warrant dating from 1978 against the filmmaker, in a case of morals.

and this:

Filmmakers, actors, producers and technicians – everyone involved in international filmmaking – want him to know that he has their support and friendship.

Is drugging and raping a 13-year-old child really a case of morals? Does it show the best morals in the world to support and give friendship to a man who drugs and rapes a child? To advocate for that man’s freedom? Is a rapist’s freedom really more important than recognizing the crime of rape? Is friendship with a rapist really more important than standing in solidarity with women and girls (and men and boys) worldwide that are raped, have been raped and/or will be raped?

Do these “stars” have no responsibility at all to the young girls that watch their films?

On a different note, the girl that Polanski raped was also a worker–she was raped by him while on a shoot. Her career was finished the moment she told what happened–why is it more wrong to be arrested for a crime you admitted to committing while at a work party, than it is to be raped by your boss while at work? Why does Polanski have more right to a career than that girl did? Why do the careers of women seem predicated on their ability to keep their mouths shut about the violence and power male colleagues and bosses exert over them?

Do no workers owe their solidarity to a fellow worker who was assaulted and then blacklisted?

What is most disappointing about the list of Latin@ stars is that Gael Garcia Bernal is on it. Coming from a background of radical activism, and having appeared in several movies with leftist politics, I expected more of him.

But when has a belief in radical politics ever made men more inclined to stand against gender based violence?

Violence against women and girls, and sexual violence against children is endemic throughout the world. It is not progressive, radical or liberatory to stand in support of a rapist–it is the norm. It is saying it is ok for child rape to be a normal part of the world.

Latina women and children deserve more, and expect more.
The survivor of Roman Polanski’s assault deserves more.
These “stars” should be ashamed of themselves.

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Voices Against Violence Zine

  By Maegan la Mamita Mala | September 19, 2009 - 9:07 pm |
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Call out for Submissions

Voices Against Violence Zine is accepting submissions for our next issue. Please send in your essays, poetry, letters, personal accounts, artwork & photography to be included.

What is the Voices Against Violence Zine? A small zine-diy style, with work from people of color, indigenous folks, trans people & queer survivors of domestic violence, sexual violence and sexual assault. Included topics can be: healing from trauma, transformative words used as a healing mechanism, enabling healing, life after trauma, self-help guides/resources, self-healing, dancing as means to healing, healing through narration, forgiveness (do we need it?), & collective trauma.

Voices Against Violence zine is to be used as a community teaching tool, as a jump off for discussion and creative outlet and for conversations that need to happen.

Voices Against Violence is part of Café Revolución.

Send submissions in English, Spanish, tex-mex, spanglish or any combination* via email, either in text in the body of the email or attached in .txt format to noemi.mtz (at) gmail dot com.

In the subject enter voices against violence submission. Include a brief bio, your mailing address, website if any. Mention your zine or any upcoming projects you’d like. If you prefer to remain anonymous, let me know or include a pen name. Email any photos, artwork as an attachment.

deadline: Oct. 31st *translations would be cool but not necessary.

forward and repost! thx

Via / Hermana Resist

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How nationalism overrides and hides violence against women

  By la Macha | August 11, 2009 - 7:57 pm |
2 Comments

I started reading this article about a Mexican man who attempted to set his wife on fire with a sense of horror in my guts. Not because I can’t believe any man would send set his wife on fire, but because Jesus CHRIST, how many times is this shit going to happen?

I was so pleased to read that the woman managed to escape that horrible fate (the man couldn’t find a way to set her on fire after he poured gasoline on her, so he left the house)–but then I got to this part of the article:

The federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency was contacted. Police Chief James Horvath said he has been told by ICE that they only will become involved if the alien is being charged with a crime. He did not receive a response from ICE on Monday.

“We are finding more Mexicans living in the area,” Horvath said.

The arrest comes five years after North Strabane Township police arrested five Mexican nationals for assaulting a countryman. Three of those arrested also worked for Tatano Wire. The five did not face trial but were released to ICE.

Um…what? First off, what does “finding more Mexicans living in the area” have to do with spousal abuse? This could’ve been an article about how another woman was set on fire by a man claiming to care about her–but for the grace of god it’s not. But just because it’s not, that doesn’t mean that the spousal abuse then becomes not news worthy.

Secondly–since when do “non-biased” reporters use completely biased words like “countrymen?” That sentence very clearly assumes that all readers are “fellow countrymen” (aka good ol’ americans with good ol’ american birth certificates like you and me). Is that a valid assumption for reporters to have?

And if it is, why do I, a queer macha, have to be a countryman? Why can’t I be a cuntryboi?

All joking aside, this is what happens when people (more than likely men, although the author of that article was a woman), decide that “citizenship” and “questions of citizenship” are more important than understanding and dealing with violence against women. The women who are violated are completely erased from the story or become little more than the vessels that carry the more important story of “how are we going to catch us some alienz?”

article found via twitter

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