Together these sums accounted for nearly a quarter of all awards made in EEOC proceedings the previous year.
These are costs corporate America cannot continue to incur. For that reason, we turn to guest blogger, Brooke Axtell to learn why the way we talk about sexual violence prevents us from eradicating it.
The National Institute of Justice states that one out of six women in the U.S. is a victim of an attempted or completed rape. It would be more accurate to say that a significant number of American men rape (or attempt to rape) one out of every six American women.
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Why does this distinction matter? It matters how we talk about rape because we cannot resolve an injustice that we cannot clearly define and understand. Men who rape do not lose control of their lust, just as men who beat their partners do not lose control of their anger. They intentionally use violence to control others.
There are men of every race, religion and socioeconomic status who choose to rape women, but in news coverage women are often blamed for the assault. The appearance and sexual history of the victim are called into question, instead of the actions of the perpetrator.
From the Toronto police officer who said that if women don’t want to be raped they should avoid “dressing like sluts” to the journalist at The New York Times who blamed an 11-year-old girl for being gang-raped in Cleveland, Tex., victim-blaming is rampant in public discourse around sexual assault.
Philadelphia’s Broad Street Review editor, Dan Rottenberg, suggested (and later apologized for doing so) that if journalist Laura Logan didn’t want to be gang-raped in Egypt, she shouldn’t have posed for pictures that reveal her cleavage.
In a spectacular twist of logic, English lawyer Nick Freeman claimed that women who dress provocatively “victimize men.” He surpassed the usual victim-blaming by asserting that perpetrators are actually victims of female sexuality.
Language is political.
Erasing male agency in acts of violence against women keeps us from deconstructing the messages of harmful masculinity. In mass media, masculinity is inextricably tied to violence, sexual entitlement and power over others. To heal the cultural wound of sexual assault, we have to change the way we define both power and gender. True power is not the capacity for violence, but the capacity to create social justice.
I am a survivor of rape.
I am also an advocate for women recovering from gender violence. As the founder of Survivor Healing and Empowerment (SHE), a healing community for survivors of rape, abuse and sex-trafficking, I am deeply aware of the emotional cost of violence against women.
I devote my life to helping survivors voice their truth, embrace their worth and reclaim their power to initiate social change. When a woman reaches out for help and shares her story, I am one of those honored to be a part of her healing journey. But personal recovery is not enough. We deserve nothing less than complete gender equality in every sphere of social, political and economic power.
If sexism is the ideology, gender violence is the practice.
Male allies have a crucial part to play in raising awareness and offering positive examples of compassion and courage. To remedy gender violence we need a partnership of feminist leadership by both men and women who value women’s lives. As a community, we need to offer role models of powerful, non-violent masculinity and we must be able to openly address the relationship between sexism and gender violence.
Jackson Katz, author of The Macho Paradox: Why Some Men Hurt Women and How All Men Can Help, has developed Mentors in Violence Prevention (MVP), a gender violence, bullying and school violence prevention program. Katz says:…while the issues of sexual assault, domestic violence, intimate partner violence, and sexual harassment have been considered ‘women’s issues’ that ‘good guys’ sometimes help out with, I’m arguing that they’re basically men’s issues.
Fundamentally, the problems of sexual and domestic violence are problems of boys’ and men’s attitudes and behaviors, and white, male-dominated power structures that either produce, perpetuate or condone these behaviors.
Victims of sexual assault should not have to fight so hard for their birthright as human beings, a birthright of freedom, equality and respect. Women’s rights are human rights. This includes bodily autonomy and personal sovereignty.If a woman does not have the power to make choices concerning her own body, how can she participate as an equal partner in democracy? Self-determination must include both reproductive choice and freedom from all forms of violence.
If we want to prevent sexual assault, we have to boldly challenge the beliefs and cultural norms that perpetuate a mindset of sexual violence, including anything that objectifies or devalues the life of a woman.We also need to be clear about who is responsible for rape. No matter what the circumstances may be, the victim is never to blame. Women do not “put themselves in the position” to be raped. Rapists do.
Guest Blogger Brooke Axtell is a passionate advocate for survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence. She works with Women’s and Children’s Alliance and Rape, Abuse, Incest National Network (RAINN), the largest anti-sexual assault organization in the United States. Brooke is the Creator of SHE: Survivor Healing and Empowerment, a new healing community for survivors of rape, abuse and sex-trafficking, as well as their allies. She is also a member of the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual and Domestic Violence and regularly gives interviews on top 40 radio stations.