Weekly Round-Up* – 7 June
US rapper, Tyler-the-Creator has been in Australia this week giving concerts; his song lyrics promote violence against women, so should we really be giving him a platform to do this? We can’t excuse songs about rape, genital mutilation, raping corpses and burying bodies, as ‘entertainment’ or ‘free speech’. A resolution in the Philippines was filed this week aimed at celebrities and entertainment personalities “observing the utmost sensitivity to victims of violence against women during their public performances, given their position of influence.” Violence Against Women is preventable if we challenge and change attitudes that condone it – that means not giving a rapper who promotes violence against women an audience.
Around the country
- Read this Human Rights Defender article ‘Rising up’ to end violence against women – how far have we come in twenty years? by Women’s Legal Service NSW, which highlights the “primary challenge for our community is to hold our government accountable for its international commitments to a society free of violence so that this becomes a lived reality for women.”
- This article in the Courier Mail gives more details about the US hip-hop singer, Tyler-The-Creator and the granting of his visa by the Federal Government
- This Age opinion piece questions why efforts to reduce family violence aren’t the funding priority (including Family Violence Death Reviews) when it accounts for 84% of the rise in recorded assaults in Victoria
- $3 million will be spent on services in WA and across The Kimberley to cater particularly for victims of domestic violence, to provide educational resources, culturally appropriate counselling and to support and increase community awareness
- Listen to Ludo McFerran speak about Safe at Home, Safe at Work
Around the world
- Lakshmi Puri, Acting Head of UN Women and Assistant Secretary-General says that ending violence against women and girls must be a priority in the post-2015 development agenda
- Read Soraya Chemaly’s response to the assertion that the Facebook campaign challenges freedom of speech and is feminists censoring the Internet: Facebook “with more than a billion users, is an influential force. It is both a mirror and a microcosm of a global culture. As such, it is no more or less sexist or misogynistic than any other company or aspect of media. However, by creating a review process it became an arbiter of norms and provided a way to challenge those that encourage and perpetuate gross and easily demonstrable prejudices against girls and women.”
- Women, Action and The Media have issued guidelines for reporting content on Facebook that glorifies, promotes or makes light of gendered violence:
- First, report it to Facebook using their standard reporting guidelines
- If the content has been reported and Facebook has declined to remove it, email WAM, and they will take further action. Please include any information you have about when and how you reported the content, and what response(s) you’ve received from Facebook
- In the Philippines, a resolution has been filed directed at media and entertainment personalities: one way “society can change its anti-women views and attitude toward rape victims is to hold media and entertainment celebrities/personalities to the highest standards of responsibility”
- Experts and technologists will come together in Kathmandu on 16 June, 2013 to address the challenges of violence against women by finding innovative technological solutions to issues surrounding prevention, response and awareness at the Violence Against Women Hackathon
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The August edition of Parity is dedicated to Preventing Homelessness.
Section 1: Conceptualising Homelessness Prevention
Section 2: Homelessness Prevention Policies and Strategies
Section 3: Preventing Homelessness in Practice
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Resources and Reports
- Read the latest Report of the Special Rapporteur, Professor Rashida Manjoo, on violence against women, its causes and consequences
- The Australian Domestic and Family Violence Clearinghouse latest fast facts on Domestic Violence and Mental Health is out
- Women’s Health, Goulburn North have developed downloadable resources raising awareness of financial abuse as a form of family violence. Six postcards were developed as part of the Keeping Your Boat Afloat project each detailing a young women’s experience of financial abuse. Helplines available are listed on the back of the cards. The postcards were developed in consultation with young women.
- Ethnic Communities’ Council of Victoria’s Women Surviving Violence Cultural Competence in Critical Services highlights that, while there is no evidence that family violence is more endemic, or profound, in CALD communities, when it does occur, the Australian justice and protection services are not adequately accounting for the additional complexity that can be embedded within CALD women’s experiences of violence. These service gaps have led to lower rates of reporting and disadvantage in access.
- A report published by the Office of the Children’s Commissioner in England: A Rapid Evidence Assessment on the Effects that Access and Exposure to Pornography has on Children and Young People found:
“…compelling evidence that too many boys believe that they have an absolute entitlement to sex at any time, in any place, in any way and with whomever they wish. Equally worryingly, we heard that too often girls feel they have no alternative but to submit to boys’ demands, regardless of their own wishes.” - NUS Scotland Women’s Campaign have teamed up with White Ribbon Scotland, to create a series of postcards for women’s officers, women’s groups, equality committees and volunteers to use as conversation starters for feminist campaigns on campuses.
**Articles published do not necessarily reflect the views of AWAVA and are included as items of interest only