A Story That’s Not as Bizarre as it Should Be
Last week, the New York Times printed an article describing the horrific and startlingly strange experience of a young woman who was held captive, sexually assaulted, stabbed, beaten and burned for over a week by a former boyfriend, a rag-tag group of his friends, and (this is where it turns truly bizarre) his mother. This young woman’s story belongs in a horror flick script more than it does in a newspaper—yet stories of torture, assault and abuse are far more prevalent than we think.
Violence against women knows no boundaries, be it class, ethnicity, religion or geography. At this very moment it is happening across the globe and around the corner. According to a DOJ study, nearly one fifth of all women in America have been raped in their lifetimes and, on average, over 360,000 women are raped each year. And these statistics do not encompass the wider variety of violence against women, including physical assault, abuse, stalking and emotional abuse.
Women are being attacked all around us, yet so little clamor is being made. Last year there were two widely publicized school shootings, but the deluge of news coverage glossed over the fact that the shooters deliberately targeted young girls. As Kim Gandy, president of NOW, pointed out in the aftermath, “Had students from a specific racial or religious group been targeted for murder, it seems likely that the killings would have been deemed hate crimes immediately and vigorously. Not so when gender is the target.”
When one considers the abundance of violence at home, along with the litany of abuses suffered by women abroad—including the use of rape as a terror tactic in conflict-torn regions like Sudan—it would seem that an all-out war on women is being waged. Combine that with the long- and short-term effects violence against women has on all areas of life and society, and it is impossible to understand why there isn’t greater outrage from the populace. Survivors experience much higher rates of depression, post traumatic stress disorder and drug and alcohol abuse as a result of their attacks; a Department of Justice study shows that 90% of the children of survivors of domestic violence witnessed the attacks against their mothers and these children display higher rates of depression and of becoming abusers themselves. It is imperative to remember that these girls and women are not “others,” but members of our communities, often our mothers, sisters, daughters and friends. Violence against women is pervasive, even in the Jewish community, and demands a response from everybody.
This October is Violence Against Women Awareness Month, a perfect opportunity to reach out to the women around us to ensure that they are protected and living the peaceful lives they deserve, as well as to talk to the men and boys we love to guarantee that they learn to respect and cherish the women in their lives.