Comments on: TNA speaks out on beheading of Aasiya Hassan….

By: Carolyn

Carolyn — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 20:03:03 +0000

I never heard about the other killings mentioned here either. Guess I was busy being bombarded by IMPORTANT news, like the latest football player spraining his big toe or something.

By: Anna Belle

Anna Belle — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:59:16 +0000

This discussion is all good and well, and I agree it’s necessary, but the solution is quite simple. Demand blind justice. Physical crimes are crimes no matter who perpetrates them or upon whom they are perpetrated. There should be no discussion of family or otherwise routine relations between victim and perpetrator in a court of law period. Any time such a question comes up in court, a feminist lawyer needs to object on the basis of equal protection.

Meanwhile, feminist groups like The New Agenda need to make this a legislative priority in every state. State laws or state constitutions, whatever the route, enshrine it in law that relations do not matter. Assault is assault is assault, so on and so forth. I could see combining this effort with the hate law approach.

By: marille

marille — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 18:35:28 +0000

yttik, I am with you.
I like the comparison with lynching ( I saw the comparison on one of. murphy’s pumapac posts), because society was able to stop lynching and execute appropriate responses.
there is absolutely no excuse that we still have violence and hate crimes against women ranging from verbal abuse to honor killings and beheading in a society who considers itself civil. the lesson from lynching is that there is nothing natural about it and it can be stopped completely, not just reduced. A society where 1 in 4 women was raped and 1 in 3 girls experienced fear for her safety in dating is barbaric.

ER, interesting studies. I am not sure whether any of these studies at this stage are helpful in fighting against violence against women.
For sure somebody finds fault in the studies and instead of exposing violence against women the discussion would be let to study details.

By: ER

ER — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:59:28 +0000

SCIENTIFIC EVIDENCE THAT VIOLENCE MUST BE PREVENTED AND TAKEN SERIOUSLY:

To use in Press Releases and Everywhere:

A new study shows that traumatic childhood experiences such as child abuse can alter the structure and function of genes that control stress, which could increase the risk of suicide in adult survivors. This study, from McGill University, is the first to show a link between psychological trauma and genetic function in humans. This work supports earlier studies showing abuse can alter DNA function. They also found that these genetic changes occur in adults.

Quoting from one article:

It suggests that experience in childhood when the brain is developing, can have a long-term impact on how someone responds to stressful situations.

But study leader Professor Michael Meaney said they believe these biochemical effects could also occur later in life.

“If you’re a public health individual or a child psychologist you could say this shows you nothing you didn’t already know.

“But until you show the biological process, many people in government and policy-makers are reluctant to believe it’s real. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/7901337.stm

Another quote:

”But they also found that these epigenetic marks can be changed in adulthood with treatments that change the DNA coating: the treatment is called DNA methylation and it reverses the change to the stress response.”
http://www.medicalnewstoday.co.....139938.php

The original article citation: “Epigenetic regulation of the glucocorticoid receptor in human brain associates with childhood abuse.” Patrick O McGowan, Aya Sasaki, Ana C D’Alessio, Sergiy Dymov, Benoit Labonté, Moshe Szyf, Gustavo Turecki & Michael J Meaney. Nature Neuroscience Published online: 22 February 2009. doi:10.1038/nn.2270

I’m posting this as it gives us more ammunition in our fight (and press releases) regarding violence against women (and children and men).

By: ER

ER — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:33:12 +0000

TO THE MODERATOR: please delete my post just above. I’ll submit it again below with better formatting. Thanks!

By: ER

ER — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 16:28:09 +0000

Thank you, Amy, for the op-ed piece and keeping the issue of Violence Against Women in the media. Ali, I agree with keeping up continued coverage.

I’d call it Violence Against Women; when people see the phrase “domestic violence”, they often disregard it as a ‘personal matter’ in the home that doesn’t have implications for them.

Keep up the fight!

By: Ali

Ali — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 15:19:32 +0000

One thing that I would like to see on TNA is continued coverage of domestic violence crimes in the United States. By doing this we are showing that domestic violence isn’t “domestic” and it isn’t personal. Violence against women is a widespread problem in this country and the world. By doing this we can also show the many faces, sizes, colors, ethnicities, social classes, etc. of victims and their abusers.

By: purity1

purity1 — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 06:06:38 +0000

Lynn, I did not hear about the spree killer. But I did read about the murder of a young woman in Hartford CT by her ex-boyfriend. There was a restraining order and she had left the police station five hours before she was murdered by him in her parking garage on Valentine’s Day. Her name was Tania Notice.
I don’t think this post is leaving out these women. I think the post is giving one incident wide exposure for the readers to talk about DV in general. Which is exactly what you did. Thank you.
I am glad you mentioned the spree killer. This is good for me to know.

By: yttik

yttik — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:47:57 +0000

Oh, and I do believe honor killings are worse then domestic violence, because they involve a group of people, a systematic condoning of murder that a large segment of the population supports. They send a message to all women within the community. Just as “crimes of passion” in South America are worse because they became culturally condoned violent acts supported by the state, the culture.

It’s hard enough for women to deal with one lunatic in their lives and a system that is not always helpful, but it’s quite another thing when the system blatantly starts condoning the crime and it becomes a culturally supported idea among your friends, family, and community.

The US is just barely out of this stage, I don’t want us to go backwards.

By: Lynn Ellingwood

Lynn Ellingwood — Mon, 23 Feb 2009 02:25:05 +0000

How about speaking out about the spree killer who shot 5 people and killed four because he’d been fired from two jobs for sexual harassment? Isn’t this case for comment? The women he killed might have been the women who accused him. Isn’t there something you can say? It happened on Valentine’s Day. http://www.13wham.com/content/.....fault.aspx