Violence Against Women

It is a welcome change that as we begin Women's History Month, world leaders are giving attention to violence against women. Gender-based violence is rampant across the globe, and yet governments' responses remain appallingly inadequate. Violence against women is a public health issue and a human rights issue affecting society as a whole. Progress is visible on a variety of fronts. Representatives from U.N. member states and civil-society organizations are meeting in New York this week and next to discuss "the elimination of all forms of discrimination and violence against the girl child" - the theme of this year's Commission on the Status of Women.

I'm writing you to express concern over how the media has covered the death of South African Reeva Steenkamp ("Pistorius breaks down in first court appearance," Feb. 16). She has been sexually objectified, and her loss of life has been trivialized. I ask that you please avoid sexualizing her in this publication, avoid glorifying the man who stands accused of her murder, and be more acutely aware of how you report violence against women generally - an issue that impacts at least a billion women worldwide every year.

WASHINGTON - Putting strict new limits on Congress' power to protect civil rights and crime victims, the Supreme Court struck down yesterday a key provision of a federal law that gave women who have been raped the right to sue their attackers. The court ruled, by a 5-4 vote, that the 1994 law intruded too deeply into the state and local domain. "The Constitution," Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist wrote, "requires a distinction between what is truly national and what is truly local." The court rejected the theory of the law's supporters that sexual violence against women costs the economy billions of dollars, making it a national issue for Congress to address.

The 1994 Violence Against Women Act has done tremendous good in stepping up prosecution of domestic violence, aiding victims and increasing awareness of a too-often silent threat to our society. But the act was allowed to lapse in 2011 amid partisan bickering. On Tuesday, the Senate sent a strong signal by voting to reauthorize the law by an overwhelming 78-22 vote, but its survival in the Republican-controlled House of Representatives is, sadly, far from certain. VAWA, as the law is called, aids in the investigation and prosecution of violent crimes against women and allows for civil redress in cases that prosecutors choose to leave unprosecuted.

Every five years, the number of American women who die due to family violence equals the 48,000 U.S. men who were killed in battle during the nine-year long Vietnam War, says Dr. Antonia C. Novello, the U.S. surgeon general.The degree of violence against women is so broad now that "it's unbelievable," the nation's top doctor said yesterday in an interview. "Women have to learn to talk about it and to bring it up to their doctors," she said.And, Novello is confident that doctors across the land will be willing to listen because she and the American Medical Association have just launched a nationwide campaign to heighten awareness of the problem.

Howard County Police Chief William J. McMahon has been chosen to join law enforcement leaders from around the nation this week at a national seminar on violence against women. McMahon is one of 23 participants selected to attend the National Law Enforcement Leadership Institute on Violence Against Women, sponsored by the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The program is a three-day seminar to be held this week in Atlanta, according to the Police Department. The participants will explore approaches to investigating domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking and human trafficking crimes.

Remember CBS' short-lived "Women of the House"? It was Linda Bloodworth-Thomason's misguided satire on the D.C. political scene starring Delta Burke as Congresswoman Suzanne Sugarbaker. It now appears that there were three episodes that never made the air (the show was canceled) and that dealt with violence to women. In an unusual deal with Lifetime, those episodes -- plus a "censored" fourth one -- will air on the cable channel Sept. 8.This must be great news for Ms. Bloodworth-Thomason, whose three shows hit the cutting-room floor because they were "message" programs decrying violence against women in television and at the movies.

The local chapter of the National Organization for Women will hold a candlelight vigil at 5:30 p.m. tomorrow to display the Baltimore Clothesline Project, a number of T-shirts decorated by women who have survived incidents of violence.The T-shirts are displayed on a clothesline and are intended to raise awareness of the problem of violence against women. The vigil, to last about 30 minutes, will be held at Friends Stony Run Meeting House, 5116 N. Charles St.

Violence against women may currently preoccupy America's attention, due to the O.J. Simpson trial, but female artists have used the theme in their work for decades.That's the contention of a University of Maryland Baltimore County professor who has organized a three-day colloquium at the Catonsville campus to explore such works."I hope we won't mention too much about it [the trial] during our discussions," says Renate Fischetti, a professor of German in the Department of Modern Languages and Linguistics.

In celebration of the 10th anniversary of "V-Day," a global movement to stop violence against women and girls, Howard Community College will host two benefit screenings of the film Until the Violence Stops, at noon and 7 p.m. today in the Kittleman Room (ELB-100). The Domestic Violence Center and Specialized Trauma Treatment and Recovery Center are co-sponsors of the screening. Admission is free for students and $8 for general admission. Tickets are available in the HCC bookstore and at the door before each screening.

Regarding the recent Senate renewal of the Violence Against Women Act ("Showdowns loom on Capitol Hill," April 26), it's important to remember the tragic life and death of Yeardley Love, who was left battered, bruised and bleeding alone in her room by an abusive ex-boyfriend. I went to the same high school as Yeardley. Notre Dame Preparatory School. We wore the same uniform, walked the same halls, wore the same ring and experienced everything else NDP had to offer. Although I didn't know her personally, I still feel connected to her. What happened to her could easily have happened to me or any other NDP girl.

The Towson University Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Committee will host Walk a Mile in Her Shoes, a men's march to raise awareness about rape, sexual assault and gender violence, April 20, at 11:30 a.m. The event marks April as National Sexual Assault Awareness Month, and invites men to walk a mile on the campus in a pair of women's shoes. Participating in the Towson walk will be several individuals from the athletics department, including Director of Athletics Mike Waddell, players from the football, men's soccer and men's golf teams and coaches from the football team, men's and women's soccer, volleyball and women's track and field.

The audience peers in at the world of "Ruined" as if through the chinks of a boarded-up window. Our eyes adjust gradually to the light inside Mama Nadi's brothel in the Belgian Congo. We notice that though the paint is chipped and worn, the furniture still contains traces of once-vibrant reds and peacock blues. (Alexander V. Nichols designed the evocative set.) We notice that a prostitute so brutalized by soldiers that she walks with a limp still dresses in breezy chintzes that drape sinuously over her lovely limbs.

According to the Department of Justice, every year about 1.3 million women in the United States are assaulted by an intimate partner, 1 in every 6 women are victims of rape, and there is an incidence of abuse against women in nearly 80 percent of intimate partner homicides. This pattern of violence against women is on exhibition in our psychiatric hospitals where over 80 percent of the residents have experienced sexual or physical abuse. Victims of abuse must receive treatment that focuses on trauma and recovery.

I never met my grandmother. She was burned alive with kerosene doused on her sari and lit on fire. Some think it was suicide. Others say it was a dowry murder, given her mother in-law's displeasure with the dowry. I cannot imagine her shock, grief and pain in the moments before she died. It makes me sick to even think about it. Regrettably, her story is not uncommon. Millions of women all over the world suffer acid attacks, rape, forced marriage and other horrendous forms of violence.

The Sun investigation into police "unfounding" of rape cases in the city has brought an important issue to the forefront. As a pediatrician, I became aware of this practice two years ago when I received a call from the mother of a 14-year-old patient who wanted to bring her daughter to see me for a pregnancy test. Two weeks earlier, her daughter had been taken to an emergency department after she reported being forced to have intercourse by another teenager. When the police arrived after being called by physicians, the patient was questioned and told that her case was not rape because she did not fight back enough.

LONDON -- Sara Thornton entered the 12th day of her hunger strike in the Holloway prison here yesterday, and her woeful face is bothering Britain's conscience. It poses the question whether men and women are equal before the law.She is 36 years old and a murderer. She put a knife into her husband, Malcolm, while he was drunk. He had abused her during the 10 months of their marriage: On one occasion he knocked her unconscious; on another he broke a glass over her head. He was forever taunting her; he called her a whore.

Lt. Gov. Kathleen Kennedy Townsend has announced $1.2 million in grants from the federal Violence Against Women Act that will fund 43 programs for victims of sexual assault and domestic violence in Maryland.The grants were announced Tuesday at the Maryland Transportation Authority Police Academy in Dundalk, where Townsend introduced a statewide sexual assault training curriculum to more than 100 law enforcement officers and victims' advocates.Those at the seminar learned the new standards for proper police response to incidents of sexual violence.