The five changes I’d like to see happen on International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women

Today, the 25th of November, is International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women. It is also the first of the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender-Based Violence. We know that the key to ending violence against women is establishing gender equality. In honour of the day, and the goal of eliminating all forms of violence against women, here are five social changes that I’d like to see:

1. A society that’s comfortable with ambitious, assertive, loud, confident, opinionated women.
   Women do not need to be demure, diminutive, self-effacing, softly spoken or modest in order to “earn” respect. In fact, women don’t need to do, or be, anything to deserve respect. Inalienable human rights mean that women, as human beings, are entitled to respect and freedom from violence no matter whether they abide by societal expectations of femininity or not, no matter whether you like, or approve, of their behaviour.
   Nonetheless, women continue to be persecuted and discriminated against for behaving in ways that are considered unfeminine such as being ambitious, assertive or opinionated. The enduring gender pay gap, the sexist response to  women leaders (here and here for just two of many, many examples of this) and the underrepresentation of women in parliaments, board rooms and positions of leadership are outcomes of an inability to accept the same qualities in women that we value in men.
   I want to see a world where we can embrace all women, the feminine and the not-so-feminine. A world where the women who are bold, loud, bawdy, crass, ambitious, assertive, confident and opinionated are celebrated. Where neither fitting the stereotype, nor bursting out of it, holds a woman back from being who she is and achieving what she’s capable of.
2. “Use it or lose it” Paid Parental Leave provisions for the non-birth partner
   Paid Parental Leave is a vital piece of social policy when looking at measures to increase gender equality.Women continue to outperform men when it comes to caring for children (and other forms of caring) at a rate exceeding 2:1. As a result, women experience myriad forms of financial inequality and discrimination: vast discrepancies in superannuation, the motherhood wage penalty, disincentives to return to the workforce embedded in the tax and welfare system. Any society that is serious about gender equality has to be serious about paid parental leave and childcare. We cannot continue to expect women to provide unpaid, unrecognised caring work and we cannot continue to exempt men from the responsibilities of caring.
   The Australian Government is currently considering changes to the Paid Parental Leave Act which will reduce the amount of paid leave available to Australian parents to spend at home caring for their newborn. The changes will result in a cap of 18 weeks of paid leave available to Australian parents. These changes are unacceptable.
   What Australia needs is a paid parental leave scheme that provides for a minimum of 26 weeks of paid leave to parents of newborns. A minimum of 12 weeks of this leave needs to be protected for the birth parent to ensure that time, without loss of income, is provided for the birth parent to recover from giving birth. Importantly, a proportion of this leave period must also be provided on a non-transferable, use-it-or-lose-it basis, to the secondary parent to promote the gender equitable sharing of work/family responsibilities. We need social policy that creates the expectation – for both employees and employers – that caring is a shared responsibility between women and men.
3. Mainstream cultural representations of enthusiastic consent
   I want to see representations of enthusiastic consent as the standard, expected precursor to every representation of a sexual encounter. Mutual, enthusiastic consent is what comes before – and throughout – any sexual encounter. Consent is not just an absence of no, consent is not assumed or expected or coerced, consent is not vague or uncertain. Consent is an unambiguous, enthusiastic and ongoing yes. Mainstream cultural representations of sex need to be representing this as an obvious, necessary, and fun part of any sexual encounter.
   Sex without consent is rape. A culture that represents sex without showing consent as a visible, audible, active and enthusiastic process is contributing to rape culture. It’s not too much to ask. In fact, it’s a crime not to.
4. Breakdown the gender binary – starting with children’s clothing and toys
   Why is there a boys section and a girls section? Why are toys and clothes divided by gender? Why do we remain so determined as a society to separate, distinguish and contain the two genders? Why are tired, old stereotypes so hard to ditch? Why is it that children’s clothing and toys continue to be such a stronghold for tired, rigid gender stereotypes?
   Children learn gender from the world around them and the world of children’s toys and clothing remains extraordinarily controlled by rigid gender stereotypes (in fact, gender stereotyping of toys has become more pervasive in recent years).  By the age of 5 children have formed strong ideas about what is masculine and what is feminine but prior to the age of 5 children have flexible ideas about gender. This means we have an extraordinary opportunity to promote and teach gender equality by exposing our children to a world free from rigid gender stereotypes and one open to diversity and freedom.
   What our children play with matters immensely. Play is how children learn and develop and limiting the types of toys our children have access to is limiting their opportunities to learn and develop. There is no excuse for holding back our girls or our boys by controlling their access to toys and clothing on the basis of gender.
   Let’s let toys be toys and children be children. Let’s let our children determine what interests them, what they want to play with and how they want to dress. Let’s abandon limiting, destructive stereotypes and let all children have access to all colours, activities, toys and clothes. Let’s ensure all our children are provided with  an equal opportunity to learn and develop.
5. Funding feminist organisations
   I want to see a commitment from government at all levels to fund feminist organisations. As a beginning, all violence against women funding should be provided to organisations on a feminist basis. In light of the fact that the prevention and elimination of violence against women requires gender equality it simply makes sense that any organisation seeking to address the issue of violence against women works within a feminist framework and is underpinned by feminist values. It should simply be a prerequisite. Any government that wants to walk the walk about preventing violence against women and not just talk the talk needs to be funding, supporting and learning from feminist organisations.

The International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women gives us an opportunity to reflect on how serious we are as as society about creating a world where girls and women live free from violence. Awareness raising is not enough. We all know the stats, we know that violence against women affects 1 in 3 women worldwide, we know how pervasive and destructive this problem is, and remains, despite decades of global campaigns and coloured ribbons. And we know how to prevent it. We’ve known that for decades, too. The time has come to act. What change do you want to see? What will you do to create gender equality in your world?

Victim Impact Statement

On Wednesday, the 21st of May, the man who raped me was sentenced. Four years, four months and four days after the assault took place. In the end, he did not face charges of rape – the two charges of rape were dropped and the Prosecution accepted a plea deal from the Defense for the accused to plead guilty to one charge of “indecent assault”.

At the plea hearing, I read a Victim Impact Statement to the court. I have posted my statement below.

A Victim Impact Statement is the sole space where the criminal justice system allows the victim of a crime – or the Crown Witness in Victoria’s criminal justice system – to speak of how the crime has affected them. Victims can choose to read their statement to the court themselves or have it read for them by the Prosecutor.

I chose to attend the court and read my statement myself. My family came with me for support and my mum also read a victim impact statement to the court – reflecting on the impacts she had noticed in me and also on the impacts the crime had on our entire family.

It was a distressing experience. Also present in the court were the accused, his legal team, the prosecution, the judge and her staff, journalists and my entire family. To stand up and speak of how my life has been ruined, how I have been crushed, by sexual assault before this group of people was one of the most intimidating and vulnerable things I have ever done. It is not often that we reveal our suffering plainly, explicitly before an audience. To do so publicly, and before the very person who caused that suffering, was distressing and somewhat humiliating.

However, I chose to speak my statement myself because I wanted my words to be my own. I didn’t want them coming out of someone else’s mouth. I didn’t want them spoken by someone who has not lived what I have, who has not been subject to sexual assault, who could not know what I am trying to convey. I wanted to claim this one paltry opportunity provided in the criminal justice system to be heard as a victim and to speak for myself.

It’s hard to know what the value of a Victim Impact Statement is, whether it makes any difference. But when the system has so little time or care for victims this is our one chance and I was grateful for the opportunity it provided, even if I am still reeling from the experience of delivering it.

---

 

The impacts of sexual assault for me have been devastating, profound and far-reaching. They have impacted every area of my life and every part of my self. 

Almost immediately after the sexual assault, the losses started and to this day I continue to be held back and limited in my life because of the impacts of sexual assault.

First of all I lost my home. Rae Street, my home, was also the place that the sexual assault took place and, to this day, that area remains a place of terror and distress to me. I managed to return to that house only a few times after the assault. Within days of the assault I knew that I would have to move out, leaving my friends, my housemates and an area I loved. My family had to move my belongings from the house because I could not manage even that, the associations were so negative and fearsome.

I lost my career. At first, I took 5 weeks off work. Then I tried to return part time. But it quickly became clear that I was in no state of mind to manage even that. The impacts of trauma were so invasive and so omnipresent that I could no longer carry out my job. As a manager my role entailed responsibility and high-level decision-making. It was a stressful and demanding position, full of challenges. I had thrived on those challenges. But now, trauma prevented me from accomplishing even the most basic tasks. I would jump if the phone rang. I would try to work but flashbacks and intrusive thoughts prevented me from concentrating. As a result, I felt I had no choice but to resign from my position while I sought help to heal my mind and my body.

That was only the beginning of my professional losses, however. About a month before the sexual assault I had applied for a scholarship with the French government for a teaching position in France. A few months after the assault I received notification that I had been awarded a scholarship. A teaching position in Paris. Had I not been assaulted this would have been a dream come true. Something I had long wanted to do. However, I was no longer in a position to take up such an exciting opportunity. I had to turn it down. All because I no longer believed I could be safe. All because, with the traumatised condition I was in, I knew I couldn’t survive without the constant loving support of my family. I needed the familiarity of my childhood home, the security of my family’s unwavering assistance and the relative safety of a country in which my extensive support networks could be constantly about me. There was no longer any way I could move to the other side of the world. Losing this opportunity still devastates me today and will remain a life-long disappointment for me.

To this day – nearly four and a half years since the assault – I have not been able to work full-time. The physical and psychological impacts of the assault continue to interfere in my daily life and prevent me from achieving what used to come so easily. I do not know when I will be in a position to return to full-time work. 

Not being able to work full-time for over four years now has had a significant financial impact – severely restricting my earning capacity and costing me tens of thousands of dollars in lost income. It has meant that at different times during the past four and a half years since the assault I have been dependent on family or on welfare to support me. However, it has also exacted a huge personal cost. Not being able to work full-time is humiliating and distressing. Full-time employment is not just a way to make a living, it is a way to participate in and contribute to the world. 

I see a psychiatrist every month for support with the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. The hyper-vigilance, the repetitive and intrusive thoughts, the flashbacks, sleeplessness, insomnia, nightmares, difficulties in concentration, memory problems – all of these are things I struggle with on a daily basis. I continue to rely on psychiatric medications to support me to manage these symptoms. The persistence and invasiveness of post-traumatic stress wears me down and consumes so much of my energy that full-time work is not a possibility. 

However, my career is not the only thing I have lost as a consequence of sexual assault and the symptoms of post-traumatic stress. I have also lost my social life. Before the assault I had an active and vibrant social life. Spending time with friends, going out, socialising – these were things I took completely for granted. They were a normal and completely unremarkable part of life. This is no longer the case. Since the assault, I have lost my social life and the inability to socialise freely and regularly has meant that in many ways I have lost my social networks. 

So much of my life revolves around negotiating the impacts of sexual assault, of coping with post-traumatic stress and of trying to keep myself safe and well. All this takes up time and energy – time and energy which, prior to the assault, would have gone to work and to my social life.

But it’s also more complicated than that. Sexual assault has robbed me of my confidence and my self-esteem. My dignity, my autonomy and my self-respect have all been compromised as a result of the crime carried out against me. My faith in myself and my faith in the world have been decimated. 

I struggle to believe I have anything to offer my friends anymore. I am not the person I was before the assault and I will never be the same as a result of what has been done to me. I struggle to remember what life was like when things like safety could be taken for granted. I am afraid I cannot live up to the expectations of those who knew me before. I struggle to connect to people in good faith and to trust them. I constantly wonder if the people around me mean well or mean me harm. I struggle to find the energy, on so many days, to fight through the difficulties sexual assault has created for me and reach out to others. Solitude and isolation too often seem like the safe option, the safest option and so, social isolation has become yet another reality of life for me since the assault. 

It has not all been bleak. I have found ways to cope and I have had the extraordinary good fortune to have a supportive and loving family who have unwaveringly stood by me. I have had excellent professional support, too. However, the impacts of sexual assault continue to affect me, years after the assault, on a daily basis. Not a day goes by when what was done to me does not interfere with my life or limit the life I lead in some way. Sexual assault has cost me profoundly, in many ways, and has set my life on a completely different course from the one it would have taken, had I not been assaulted. I have lost so much and many of those losses cut right to the core of who I am and can never be undone.

 

For information about Victim Impact Statements and services for victims of crime in Victoria you can go here

Disconnected, Or the difficulty of maintaining relationships after violence

One of the most insidious impacts of violence is the toll it exacts on your relationships, on your ability to connect to other people, to feel, to trust, to communicate, to believe in them and in yourself, to believe in the possibility of connection, to believe that you can have ‘normal’ relationships, ever again.

By relationships, I don’t just mean intimate, romantic or sexual relationships, although they’re part of it. I mean all relationships – from fleeting connections to committed, longterm ones, from family to friends to the workplace to just everyday interactions, relationships will never be something I take for granted anymore.

I’ve written before about the loneliness of being a victim and a survivor, and the isolation. But it’s not just that. Feeling severed from life, feeling disconnected and even exiled – cut off from what was mine, detached from what is ‘normal’ and the world around me, cleaved from all that I expected from life, these feelings persist. I continue to grieve for what the rapist stole from me, I continue to feel the loss, like a phantom limb amputated, ever-present and ever-absent simultaneously, of the life I had been planning when rape so brutally intervened and put an end to that set of expectations.

But, I have also, to a point, come to terms with my grief and my ‘lost’ life, despite the ache its presence-absence can still cause. But, what I struggle with is that along with my ‘lost’ life goes a ‘lost’ me. The person that I was (before the rape), is not the person that I am now (after the rape). My phantom limb is, in fact, a phantom me – a me that was only too real and active and known just a few years ago, but a me that I often cannot fathom anymore, a me I can’t quite believe in, a me that cannot be restored.

Trauma changes you, which is hardly surprising, but which can be hard to communicate to those who love you. Those who love you, more than anything, want to see you restored – they want you to ‘get over’ it, to ‘move on with your life’, to not ‘let this dictate’ the rest of your life. What they don’t understand is that none of these things are in my control. They are not simply decisions I can make. No matter how hard I try, or how much I wish it were so, I cannot just wish away the impacts of sexual assault.

I am not the person I was and I will not ever be the person I was in the process of becoming. This single event has radically intervened and rewritten so much of who I am and who I will be and, at the same time, determined an entirely different set of expectations for me. My understandings of trust and faith, of hope and confidence, of fear and danger, of what is possible and not possible have been completely reshaped by what happened to me. I will never see strangers the same way I did, I will never approach the unknown the same way I did, I will never conceive of the future the same way I did. The changes violence has forced upon me are incalculable, they are nuanced and profound, extending to every part of myself and my life, my world and my relationships. A labyrinthine network of effects and consequences that extends way beyond me and even those connected to me, but also right to the core of me: the change sexual assault has enacted upon me is not just a difference of degree, but a difference in kind.

Again, what is hardest is not how I feel about that change – now, nearly three years on I have found a way, haphazard and galling as it may be much of the time, to accept it – but what it does to my ability to connect to people. To the family and friends who have stayed by my side, how do I continue a relationship that allows them to let go of who they knew and to make sense of who I am now? When still so much of my life revolves around negotiating the impacts of sexual assault, of coping with the ongoing trauma of protracted legal proceedings, of simply keeping myself safe and well – something that takes far more effort and energy than it used to? My life is, in so many ways, boring, repetitive and even, at times, bleak. Socialising is often hard. My energy is limited and often does not extend beyond everyday activities.

I struggle to believe I have anything to offer my friends other than this bleak version of me. I struggle to remember who I was and I am afraid I cannot live up to the expectations of those who knew me before. I struggle to connect to people in good faith and to trust and I know this is because of what happened to me and not what is happening now, but how to overcome the solid barricade this presents? I struggle to hold onto confidence in myself or others, I cannot take safety for granted, and how to construct or maintain a relationship on such faltering foundations? I struggle to find the energy, on so many days, to even consider a way through or around the difficulties sexual assault has created for me when it comes to connecting with others and so, instead, I settle for the relative comfort of solitude and isolation.

I know this is hollow comfort. It doesn’t take long for solitude to become loneliness, for isolation to go from feeling safe to desolate. But I also know that the voice inside of me, the one that sexual assault created in me, will not go quietly. The voice of fear, of mistrust. It is part of me now, another ghost that has to be incorporated into this evermore fractured person I have become, another voice that cannot be silenced no matter how inconvenient or unpleasant its message. When its so hard for me to negotiate and manage these fractured realities, how can I ask it of anyone else?

Day 16. force: Upsetting Rape Culture

Last week a new, and rather surprising, Victoria’s Secret campaign was launched “PINK Nation”.  PINK Nation is a lingerie line that is all about good sex and what makes for good sex? CONSENT.

“PINK loves CONSENT is more than a style. It’s a revolution. PINK loves CONSENT is our newest collection of flirty, sexy and powerful statements that remind PINK panty-wearers and their partners to practice CONSENT.

CONSENT is a verbal agreement (say it out loud—no “body language”) about how and when people are comfortable having sex. “Ask first”, “No means no” and “Let’s talk about sex” remind us that communication is the key to good sex. Pick your favorite slogan or write your own. Whatever you do, remember to practice CONSENT.

Join the next sexual revolution: PINK loves CONSENT.”

This is more than a cute culture-jamming stunt. This is precisely what the next sexual revolution needs to be all about. And capitalism – companies with their heavy investment in a version and vision of sex that is coercive and one-directional (not to mention one-dimensional) – is exactly where the conversation needs to begin. Sex is everywhere, all around us, but this is a sex that has little interest in consent, in a complex conversation that values and respects difference, choice and freedom. Rather the culture of ‘sex’ that surrounds us constantly and deliberately blurs the distinction between sex and rape, reinforcing a violent and exploitative status quo that is reflected in the appalling statistics on the perpetration of sexual violence the world over.

FORCE: Upsetting Rape Culture are the group behind the campaign, a “creative activist effort” aimed at forcing a more difficult and honest conversation about the realities of sexual violence, and creating the momentum for a movement towards a world where sex is empowering and pleasurable rather than coercive and violent. FORCE were also responsible for the projections onto the White House of the slogan “RAPE IS RAPE” (below).

Within just 10 hours of being up, the PINK Nation campaign had received over 50,000 hits and enthusiastic outpourings of love from fans across social media platforms.  The following for a sexual revolution based on consent is there and raring to go, just waiting for an opportunity to engage in a real, meaningful and honest conversation about sex that is based on respect, understanding and communication.

We’re ready for this change. We’re prepared and willing for a culture that supports non-violence. We’re eager for a consensual and respectful sexual dialogue.

Rape culture isn’t just outdated, it’s dangerous and we know it. We’ve learnt – and everywhere more people are learning every day – the damage it has caused and the damage it will keep causing until we let it go. Consent is the way forward. It’s simple. It’s easy. And, it’s plenty doable. “No Vagina is a sure thing! Ask first!” Isn’t that something we can all commit to?

Day 15. Project Unbreakable

Project Unbreakable is a photography project by Grace Brown that gives survivors a voice. Survivors of sexual violence write words spoken by their attacker and then hold them up to be photographed. The photograph is then posted online.

Surviving sexual violence is more often than not an experience overwhelmed by silence and shame. Rarely do survivors get the opportunity to tell their story – in part or in full – on their own terms. Rarely do we get to take control over the process of telling. Rarely is there an opportunity to out the tactics of the abuser, to demonstrate how they did what they did and to hold them accountable for the words they spoke.

Project Unbreakable provides survivors with an opportunity. An opportunity to speak for themselves about what was done to them. An opportunity to out their attacker and the words used against them, to turn those words back upon the person responsible for them. An opportunity to hold their attacker accountable and to stand up for themselves, to publicly refuse shame and silence. An opportunity to have their abuse witnessed, to be seen and to be heard and to remain in control whilst doing so. To take control, to claim their voice and, thereby, begin the process of healing.

In providing survivors with these opportunities, Project Unbreakable shifts the tone that surrounds sexual violence. It lifts the burden of shame and silence. It creates a culture of belief, a place of control, a reflection of the strength that accompanies survival.

As hard as it can be to do, finding a way to speak what was done to you and being believed, is for many of us a necessary step to overcoming victimhood, to transcending the violence, to becoming ourselves once more. Project Unbreakable provides survivors with a simple way to do this. At the same time, Grace’s project also provides the rest of us with a remarkable chance to witness the reality and consequences of rampant sexual violence and to stand in solidarity with the victims. To witness their hurt and to share the burden of their story.

Descriptions don’t do the project justice. Check out the submissions from survivors here and the photos by Grace here. Details on how to contribute are also provided here.

Day 14. Take Back The Tech

Take Back The Tech is a collaborative campaign that happens each year for the 16 Days of Activism Against Gendered Violence. Take Back The Tech focusses its attentions on reclaiming IT – communications platforms and communications rights – for ending violence against women.

Technologies like the Internet, mobile phones, GPS – it’s easy to see how these can all be used to intimidate and threaten, to jeopardise safety, to commit harassment and violence. How they can be ready tools for perpetrators of violence against women. Yet, there’s no reason they can’t also be used to establish safety, to build confidence and provide spaces to speak out, to advocate for change and to strengthen networks and encourage solidarity.

Take Back The Tech collects stories from activists all over the world who are using the internet and other communications platforms to advocate for the rights of women, to share stories of overcoming violence and to create Tech spaces that cultivate “freedoms not fears”. They share strategies for keeping safe and strategies for speaking out. There are daily actions we can all take to part in and even a global map of violations and the actions victims have taken. From Pakistan to the Philippines, from Mexico to the Democratic Republic of Congo, women all over the world are taking control of their communications rights and platforms to advocate for freedom from gendered violence, and Take Back The Tech brings them together.

From North America, South America, Asia, Africa and Europe – there are Take Back The Tech campaigns taking place across five continents, in multiple languages. Why not take part? Share your stories of surviving violence. Join the Facebook and Twitter communities speaking out about violence against women. Find out what others are doing all over the world and pass on their work to your networks. Challenge a world in which gendered violence remains unspoken and unheard – just by speaking these stories, and by listening to them, a transformation is taking place, the power balance is shifting.

“Help us build a body of knowledge and document the experiences of violence that women and girls face online and through the use of internet and mobile technologies.

Collectively, we can make the invisible visible and demand for recognition and change. 

Stories can change the world. Take control of technology and share your story!”

Learn more about the role of technology in violence against women:

• ‘Violence Against Women Workers Turning Tech Tide‘, Mark Colvin, ABC, 6 December 2012

Day 13. See, Hear, Speak

One-third of women (33%) have been sexually harassed since the age of 15 in Australia. This is despite sexual harassment being outlawed and explicitly (publicly known to be) illegal for over 30 years. The Australian Human Rights Commission undertook a national survey into sexual harassment this year and the findings were, on the whole, cause for despair. Despite the Sex Discrimination Act being law since 1984, sexual harassment remains a common experience for Australians. Not just one-third of women, but 1 in 5 Australians have experienced sexual harassment since the age of 15. Perhaps, one of the most worrying findings was that only 20% of those experiencing sexual harassment report it and that, of those who do, 30% indicate that the outcome of reporting was negative.

Changing the law doesn’t change attitudes. Nor does it change understanding. Sexual harassment is not mutual flirting, not consensual interaction, not friendship. It is an abuse of power and an expression of outdated and sexist beliefs. It is a worrying indication of the potential for further violence and sexist behaviour. It is a clear indication that something is not right and that something needs to be done in response. It is a sign that it’s time to stand up and speak out.

In response to these findings, Jesse Street launched a campaign called ‘See, Hear, Speak‘ – encouraging people to know their rights and when they’ve been infringed, or outright disregarded, and to know when and how to speak out about it. It’s a simple concept:

• SEE: Know it when you SEE it. What is sexual harassment? [Sexual harassment is any unwanted or unwelcome sexual behaviour, which makes a person feel offended, humiliated or intimidated.]
• HEAR: Lets HEAR more about it. Let’s LEARN about something that’s affecting so many of us. It’s time we heard more about what’s happening to people.
• SPEAK: It’s time to SPEAK about it. What to do if you are sexually harassed. [You can lodge a complaint about sexual harassment with the AHRC or your state Equal Opportunity/Anti-Discrimination Commission. It’s your right. It’s our rights.]

See, Hear, Speak is a great summary of what needs to be done in regards to violence against women in all it’s forms. A lot needs to be done to improve the understanding and knowledge of the general public of the prevalence, persistence and preventability of violence against women. It’s happening all around us, all the time and we can all do something about that. But only if we SEE – if we know what to look for, how to spot the warning signs.

Then we need to HEAR – we need to know the facts, we need to listen to the testimony of those who’ve been affected, we need to hear what’s being done to challenge this behaviour, these attitudes, these cultures. We need to be aware of what’s happening – the good, the bad and the ugly.

And, of course, we need to SPEAK. We need to know how and when and to whom to speak out, to speak up. How to speak up for our own rights, and for those of others. How to engage in Bystander Prevention. Because we can all protest this behaviour. We can all challenge sexist, racist, discriminatory and criminal cultures. We can all be part of the shift to a safe and equal culture. In fact, this may be one of the few positive takeaways from the 2012 report by the AHRC – 51% of those who witnessed or learned about sexual harassment in the workplace (bystanders) took action to prevent or reduce harm. A bystander is a powerful person to be and knowing what to do, acting in support of the victim, speaking up may be one of the best things you ever do.

Also, check out Hollaback! – another great, international, campaign about countering sexual harassment, this time in the street, where laws don’t offer the same protection. Their concept of ‘I’ve got your back‘ is a powerful one. Knowing there’s a whole, ever increasing, international community out there who do not accept sexual harassment, who are prepared to document it and to speak out in support of each other is pretty brilliant. And reminds us that things won’t always be this way. These exploitative, unequal and unsafe cultures are dinosaurs – they won’t be around for ever, they won’t even be around all that much longer. The times are indeed a-changing. Check out their brilliant guide to being an (effective) bystander.

Day 12. Project Respect & Freedom Advocates: Ending slavery

Today’s slavery. Slavery in Australia. These should be anachronisms. But they’re not. Slavery, incredibly, remains a reality in Australia today. Human trafficking is a massive international crime, creating profit equal to the international trade in weapons. Globally, 21 million people are estimated to be currently living in slavery. People are trafficked for all sorts of purposes: sexual exploitation, labour exploitation, domestic servitude, marriage. 80 per cent of the victims trafficked across international borders are female and 70 per cent of those women are trafficked for sexual exploitation. It is estimated that there are about 1,000 women and children in Australia trafficked into debt-bonded prostitution at any one time and that this constitutes the major purpose of human trafficking in Australia. (See ACSSA research into Trafficking in women for sexual exploitation)

In 2011, the United Nations Special Rapporteur in Trafficking in Persons visited Australia to investigate the situation here and the responses to human trafficking by governments and services. Whilst the Rapporteur, Joy Ezeilo, commended Australia for its “strong leadership regionally and domestically” she also observed that “the scale of the problem appears to be underestimated and underreported” and that “a victim-centered approach is still lacking” in Australia. She reenforced that “a human rights based approach to trafficking requires the needs of all victims to be placed at the core of any response” and that “vulnerability to trafficking is exacerbated by lack of equal opportunity and gender inequalities”.

Human trafficking constitutes a massive international trade in violence against women, men and children. A human rights abuse that should be unimaginable in the 21st century.

There are many organisations working locally to end slavery, to support victims and to advocate for change to prevent human trafficking. Two of those who take to heart that human rights based response articulated above are:

Freedom Advocates, The Salvation Army

Freedom Advocates is a program run by the Salvation Army and is part of their response to victims of human trafficking which also includes a Safe House and case management. However, the innovative part of their program is what they call ‘Freedom Advocates‘. These are women and men who have been victims of human trafficking who then use their experience to advocate for the abolition of slavery. As they say: “it is not easy to trust anyone after our experience, so it is good to have other people who share the same experiences. Our goal is to reach out to other survivors internationally, and we invite you to join us in unity and strength.” This is advocacy with an appreciation for the power and value of experience, for the needs of the victims, for the value of learning from those who have been there, survived and emerged, at its heart.

Project Respect

Project Respect works with women in the sex industry, including those trafficked to Australia, providing practical help and support whilst advocating “to help prevent the exploitation and enslavement of women, by the industry”. Project Respect provides non-judgmental outreach and support to women to facilitate them to rebuild their lives outside the industry and, similarly to Freedom Advocates, promotes advocacy and activism based on the expertise of women in the sex industry, in order to tackle the discrimination and structural inequalities which support prostitution and trafficking.

You, too, can speak out to voice your support for the abolition of slavery.

The ILO is running a campaign called “End Slavery Now“. Download the poster and send in your photo of support. 21 million in slavery – perhaps, more than ever in history. It’s time it was abolished for good.

Learn more:

• The Gillard Government has recently released its fourth annual report on Commonwealth responses to human trafficking
• The United Nations Special Rapporteur in Trafficking in Persons report subsequent to her fact-finding mission to Australia in 2011
• Nicholas D Kristof’s piece in the New York Times, ‘The 21st century slave trade‘,  April 22, 2007

Day 11: A culture of belief

Attrition in sexual assault cases is a major cause for concern. Research shows that sexual violence, and violence against women, is vastly under-reported. Yet, of those crimes that are reported, successful prosecution rates remain very low. And this is despite substantial legal, procedural and policy reforms designed to make the system more accessible to victims of sexual violence and better resourced to effectively respond to crimes of sexual violence (for more on this see ALRC research on attrition in sexual offence cases).

What’s going on here? Why are these reforms not seeing the intended results? Recent research conducted by Professor Liz Kelly and brought to attention in Australia by the Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault highlights a key factor that continues to hijack chances for, not only successful prosecution in sexual violence offences, but equally for an experience of the legal system that is not newly traumatising for victims. Sexual violence is a gendered crime – a crime committed overwhelmingly by men. Sexual violence is also a crime accompanied by a ‘culture of skepticism’, as Professor Kelly calls it. Dating from at least the 17th century, with the influential judgments of Matthew Hale, the judicial response to allegations of rape has been preoccupied mostly with protecting the reputations of men and insuring them against the possibility of false accusation.

As such, rape has been considered to be a crime that is tarred by an intractable question of he-said vs. she-said. A fear of the supposed power of women to ruin a man’s reputation, an assumption that false allegations must be rife and an expectation that rape must be an impossible crime to prove. Women, who judicially have primarily been seen as solely the property of a man (be it father or husband), have long been considered doubtful as witnesses. The word of a woman has not been seen to be credible testimony. All of which adds up to a powerful ‘culture of skepticism’ heavily loaded against women, and in favour of men.

What’s interesting in Professor Liz Kelly’s research is the prevalence of assumptions of false accusations is rampant amongst both the police and prosecutors and yet their own statistics show very low rates of false accusations. So, why does the belief persist, even in the face of all the evidence to the contrary? Why, in the 21st century, do we still find it so hard to believe the word of a woman?

What her evidence shows is how readily stereotypes speak louder than real witnesses. How assumptions and expectations predetermine how a victim will be heard and how their case will be responded to. That the weight of this ‘culture of skepticism’, this fear for the reputations of men (and not for the livelihoods of victims) taints our ability, as a society, to hear the testimony of victims. Everything they say, everything they did or do, everything about them, will be held up to the stereotypes, the prejudgments, the assumptions to see whether it conforms or not. And so what we find, is that whilst the law has evolved in terms of sexual violence, the reception of victims has not. They continue to be subjected to biased, prejudicial stereotypes – to a system more invested in providing perpetrators with immunity from false accusations, than victims with restitution and societies with protection from criminals – that make it almost impossible to provide victims with the right to a fair-trial and far too easy for perpetrators to get off.

Professor Liz Kelly argues on the basis of her research that what is needed is a replacement of the ‘culture of skepticism’ with a ‘culture of belief’. I couldn’t agree more. As a society, as individuals, when abuse or assault is disclosed to us the only humane response is one of belief and support. Victims who are believed and supported will find themselves able to come forward to police. Victims who receive a fair and just response from those they disclose to will be able to pursue the crime, and the offender, through the justice system. And, if the police and the legal system, operate from a position of belief, from a culture of belief, whilst standing  by their usual principles of ‘innocent until proven guilty’ and ‘beyond reasonable doubt’ there is no need to fear false accusations. For too long, the gendered construction of sexual violence has been a cloak of impunity for perpetrators to hide behind. It’s time we abandoned these outdated and prejudicial stereotypes and invested instead in a ‘culture of belief’ and true justice for all.

Learn more:

• “The (In)credible words of a woman: false allegations in rape cases”, Professor Liz Kelly, ACSSA webinar, 21 September 2012
  
• “Sexual violence offenders:Prevention and intervention approaches”, ACSSA, Issue no.5, June 2006
• “Attrition in sexual assault cases”, ALRC

Day 10: In her shoes

Whilst the prevalence of violence against women traverses cultural, linguistic, racial, religious and socio-economic boundaries affecting 1 in 3 women no matter where they are in the world or with which culture they identify, a range of factors converge such that culturally and linguistically diverse women are often especially vulnerable to violence. The barriers CALD women experience include: racism and discrimination; a lack of proficiency or confidence in English combined with a limited provision of materials in languages other than English; family and community pressures; social isolation; a limited awareness of rights and where and how to seek help; uncertain residency and prohibitions to travel; lack of income and social support; fear of having their communities vilified and/or pathologised; and a limited provision, in the first place, of services willing or able to be of assistance.

On top of the barriers that come from being a part of ‘not the mainstream’ culture or language group, CALD women often have to overcome stereotypes, discrimination, racism and misplaced cultural sensitivity which can make it very hard, not just to come forward, but for their voices to be heard or understood when they do. Along with this comes fraught issues for women who choose to speak out against violence in their own communities: when they do, they are seen to be bringing their own community into disrepute and, too often, the response from the mainstream is to blame their culture (rather than holding the perpetrator accountable), while exempting our own culture (clearly far from true, as statistics only too readily affirm, not to mention far from helpful). The fear of their testimony providing further reinforcement to an already unjust and discriminatory stereotype of their culture creates a very significant, and distressing, barrier for CALD women.

One initiative run recently seeking to bring the experiences of CALD women into the mainstream, to provide a dialogue around the rights and needs of CALD women, in their own words is the In Her Shoes campaign, run by the Australian Immigrant and Refugee Women’s Alliance (AIRWA) – now Network of Immigrant & Refugee Women Australia (NIRWA). For International Women’s Day they produced a series of videos with Australian CALD women talking about a range of experiences and setting right, in their own words, the misrepresentations and misunderstandings that too often precede, and prevent us hearing, their own words. To see the full set of videos click here or here.

Undoubtedly much, much more needs to be done by Australian governments, services, communities and society to better support CALD women, broadly speaking, and when it comes to the experience of violence. This was an issue of particular interest for the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women during her recent study tour of Australia. You can read her report and recommendations here.

Learn more:

• On Her Way: Primary prevention of violence against immigrant and refugee women in Australia 2011, Multicultural Centre for Women’s Health
• Immigrant Women’s Speak Out
• Australian Study Tour Report, the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence Against Women, Dr Rashida Manjoo, 2012
• Supporting Women from CALD Backgrounds who are victim/survivors of sexual violence, Australian Centre for the Study of Sexual Assault