h/t DigitusImpudicus
<big>Christina Nance, reported missing two weeks ago, found dead inside a police van </big> parked at law enforcement offices in Huntsville, Alabama. DK diary by DigitusImpudicus.
<big>Bystanders did nothing as Woman Raped on Philadelphia Train </big>
h/t officebss
With domestic violence, strangling is often the last danger sign before homicide . As with the Gabby Petitio case, police often mishandle it.
...Most women who are strangled by their husbands or boyfriends donât cooperate with law enforcement if they survive because it] frequently causes traumatic brain injuries ,[so they] sometimes canât speak in a way that seems plausible to the policeâŚ.
h/t Meteor Blades
<big>Char-Koosta News , the Official News Publication of the Flathead Indian Reservation: NCAI and NIWRC Call on the Senate to modernize, reauthorize, and strengthen Violence Against Women Act </big>
The National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and the National Indigenous Womenâs Resource Center (NIWRC) are encouraged by the bipartisan calls to modernize, reauthorize, and strengthen the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) made during the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciaryâs hearing yesterday.
A key component of VAWA reauthorization must be reaffirming Tribal Nationsâ jurisdiction to prosecute non-Indians who commit crimes of sexual violence, child abuse, elder abuse, stalking, sex trafficking, and assaults against law enforcement officers in Indian Country. Since VAWAâs reauthorization in 2013, Tribal Nations have successfully prosecuted non-Indian perpetrators in Indian Country, making their communities safer for American Indian and Alaska Native women, as well as the non-Indians who live among and with them.
However, Tribal Nations have identified jurisdictional gaps, which continue to leave many Native victims of violence vulnerable and without access to justice. To truly modernize and strengthen VAWA, we must build on the success of the 2013 VAWA tribal provisions by closing these gaps and increasing resources available to Tribal Nations to protect their communitiesâŚ..
h/t Joan McCarter
from Fortune magazine <big> Congress must reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act, and my company will help make it happen </big> By Shar Dubey
...Next week, in recognition of National Domestic Violence Awareness [and Prevention] Month , we will launch a two-pronged effort to push this over the finish line. Match Group will make a corporate donationâand will match any donations made by our employeesâto the National Network to End Domestic Violence (NNEDV), a key champion of this legislation that advocates for ending violence against women and other traditionally marginalized groups. We will also launch campaigns across our dating appsâincluding Tinder, OkCupid, and Plenty of Fishâasking our users to call their representatives and senators and demand they pass this vital legislation.
[The connection between this policy debate in Washington and our mission at Match Group is, for] 25 years, we have been in the business of connecting strangers online. ...billions of people, resulting in millions of relationships [so] we have an important part to play in this fight, which is why we are speaking out. This year alone, we will spend more than $100 million on technologies, programs, and resources dedicated to keeping our users safe from abusers. Effectively protecting user safety means constantly investing in new tools and technologies, which is why we are introducing background check and ID verification technology, both first-of-its-kind features in the industry. It is why we have developed leading A.I. tools such as Are You Sure? , which helps stop online harassment before it starts; and it is why we have built a new platform to better aid qualified law enforcement investigating crimes reported by our users.
But companies canât do this aloneâwe need a comprehensive, national approach that provides a foundation for our efforts and attacks domestic and sexual violence on every front. This means giving resources and tools to state and local governments to crack down on abusers and ensure they arenât allowed to pursue additional victimsâŚ.
I canât verify how ingenuous or self-serving or what this corporate statement might be, but the full article by Dubey âwho is CEO of Match Group , which owns and operates online dating products including Tinder, Match, Meetic, OkCupidâ Hinge, Pairs, PlentyOfFish, and OurTime, and serves on the Boards of Directors of Match Group and Fortive Corporationâ may clarify to other readers. Opinions welcome. At least they are giving and matching donations toNNEDV in support of the<big>2021 reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act </big>that the previous administration let lapse. Readers please put tweets in the thread from:#every1knowssome1 </big>
Model Mugging <big>Basic Women's Self-defense courses </big> open to enrollment for this fall and early winter in Denver, Los Angeles / Orange County, New York City, Philadelphia, San Francisco, San Diego, and Seattle. Classes capped at 12 women each and run 8:00am to 6:30pm both days of designated weekends. The organization is not without its controversies, of course, and there probably are other organizations that offer similar or comparable training. âModel Mugging attempts to turn the adrenaline reaction to an active response rather than a fear response through training and talk sessions.âwik
Unclear whether this training assists women and allies in becoming good active and proactive BYSTANDERS when they find themselves present in situations of violence and discrimination toward women and other marginalized persons, but formal bystander training is still not widely available either. And the below sidelights may illuminate:
from wik : ...In 1990, psychologist Albert Bandura and Elizabeth Ozer used ModelMugging for a psychology study testing the hypothesis that "perceived coping and cognitive control self-efficacy govern the effects of personal empowerment over physical threats" âŚ
Bandura was a leader in social cognitive theory , therapy , and personality psychology , if best known for 1962-â65 Bobo doll experiments in social observational learning . The experiments measured childrenâs abusive behavior toward a 3-ft inflatable clown-doll after seeing adults rewarded, punished, or go consequence-free for physically abusing the doll. The theory proposes that people learn behavior largely through seeing and imitating how others act, NOT only from being rewarded or punished themselves. And contrary to ancient-thruâ-modern beliefs, it also proposes that observing violence does NOT induce catharsis of violent feelings, it sustains them. All still controversial. Also whether peopleâs PERSISTENT behaviors/beliefs leading to real-world violence are influenced by violent media .
One among many possibilities about children and adults being actively âexposedâ to in-training and real-life examples of constructive conduct in the face of aggression toward others, might result in learning to move in society THAT way,
IOW, expert training in how to oppose aggression âin our communities, in politics, anywhereâ may confer greater ability to be the change we want to see.
AROUND THE NATION AND WORLD
h/t mabon
<big>The family of Henrietta Lacks is suing Thermo Fisher Scientific, the biotech company that acquired cells of the cervical cancer that soon killed her, from a 1951 biopsy while she was a Johns Hopkins patient.</big>Thermo Fisher still produces the HeLa immortal cell line âthe first ever discoveredâ over 50 million tons used across 70 years in over 60,000 scientific studies enriching every realm of medicine including polio vaccine, gene mapping, in-vitro fertilization, zero-gravity life science, and multitudes more. Background at â wikipedia â www.iflscience.com â TheGuardian â New York Times â Hollywood Reporter â Seattle Times â Lewis & Clark Law School â Daily Kos staffer Lauren Floyd â And of course, science journalist Rebecca Skloot extensively documented histories of both the cell line and the family, later working with Henrietta Lacksâ daughter Deborah to write The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks published in 2010. With her first royalty check, Skloot began a foundation for college education and medical needs of the family lost to Henrietta Lacks, a poor tobacco farmer who died age 31, far too late celebrated in books, television, film, a day in her honor in Atlanta, university buildings and research facilities, the naming of a planet, a place in womensâ halls of fame, a posthumous honorary doctorate in public service ⌠⌠for her contribution to science. Two from this year:
In 2021, the Henrietta Lacks Enhancing Cancer Research Act of 2019 became law; it [requires] the Government Accountability Office [to] complete a study about barriers to participation that exist in cancer clinical trials that are federally funded, for populations that have been underrepresented in such trials...
...In October 2021, the University of Bristol commissioned a statue of Lacks to be displayed on the campus. The sculpture was created by Helen Wilson-Roe and was the first statue of a black woman made by a black woman for a public space in the United Kingdom .[67]
<big>Divorced and Widowed Black Women Celebrate High Court Victory for equal community-property rights in South Africa. </big> Thanks to four brave women across years of great persistence of vision âElizabeth Gumede, Thokozani Maphumulo, Matodzi Ramuhovhi, and Agnes Sithole, together with Durbanâs Legal Resources Centre (LRC)â some 400,000 black women are safer from homeless-ness and impoverishment. Those law cases successfully challenged property laws from the apartheidt era that denied them equal rights to their homes and other marital property.
h/t dhonig
NewYorkTimes: Women who went to prison for killing their abusive partners, or being present by coercion at a partnerâs crime, are starting over at Home Free . a small pilot transitional apartment complex created by design volunteers in San Francisco, the first of more hoped for in the Bay area & L.A.
Let Her Finish : <big>Interruptions of female justices led to new Supreme Court rules </big>
Justice Sonia Sotomayor has revealed that changes have been made in the supreme courtâs structure of oral arguments following studies confirming what women on the court have long noticed â that female justices were more prone to being interrupted by male justices and attorneys...
h/t underwriter505
...âFor now I would say that it is wonderful that the court is taking this seriously and making efforts to change, but it is a process that requires repeated checking in on, to make sure that bad habits donât emerge even under new rules, as our 2019 results suggest they did,â [said researcher Tonja Jacobi]
from NPR âGoats&Sodaâ Stories of Life in a Changing World - WOMEN & GIRLS NEWS column (added to our news resource list ): <big>Afghan refugee girl became prize-winning doctor â with a little help from dad . </big> Growing up in refugee camps in Pakistan, Saleema Rehmanâs nickname was âDoctor Saleema.
...Today, Rehman, 29, is a gynecologist serving displaced Afghan [and local] women in the city of Attock, Pakistan ⌠the first female refugee doctor from Afghanistan's Turkmen ethnic group. Last week, she received UNHCR's regional Nansen Refugee Award , an annual prize for individuals doing outstanding work for displaced people.
"She's a trailblazer. She's beaten the odds by becoming the first female doctor in her community. By achieving her dream of offering health care to the most vulnerable â refugees and Pakistanis alike â Saleema is a living testament to how women can contribute to the socioeconomic development of their communities," said Noriko Yoshida, UNHCR's representative in Pakistan...
Her father, a saytime fruit-seller/nighttime carpet worker, provided for the family ârefugees to Pakistan from the 1979 Soviet Afghanistan Warâ and supported his daughterâs education, despite the high barriers even refugee boys face, and despite adverse local pressures fearing other girls would be âinfluenced â to study for better roles in life, too.
...more at the storyâs title-link about the achievements of a woman who prays that genuine peace and health will come to the homeland she has never known. But already herself has become the feared influence to âa whole generationâ of Afghan refugee girls and women who dare the irreplaceable âhard work and determinationâ for changing their communities and their own lives.
h/t officebss
<big>Afghan women have a long history of taking leadership and fighting for their rights </big> Two Afghan women scholars write about how Afghan womenâs groups have been defending and advancing human rights, both now and historically.
from Al-Monitor & Reuters/ <big>One quarter of the 328 Council of Representatives seats are reserved for women , with over 3,240 candidates, 950 of them women </big> in this 5th Iraqi General Election Oct 8-10 . since the 2003 toppling of Saddam Hussein. The Council eventually elects president and prime minister. 2018 saw under44.5% turnout. Early voting Oct 8 started with 1 million security forces members and over 120,000 displaced people all eligible out of the 25 million total voters, but by midday Oct 10 the turnout looked like 19% despite urging of leaders across 400 parties, and 83 constituencies created in response to widespread anti-government protests two years ago. (below bolding is mine):
...The established, Shi'ite Islamist dominated ruling elite whose most powerful parties have armed wings is expected to sweep the vote, with the movement [Sadrists, founded 2003 ] led by populist Shi'ite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr , who opposes all foreign interference and whose main rivals are Iran-allied Shi'ite groups, seen emerging as parliament's biggest faction.
[Experts say this wouldnât] dramatically alter the balance of power in Iraq or the wider Middle East⌠but for Iraqis it could mean that a former insurgency leader and conservative Islamist could increase his sway over the governmentâŚ.
...In Baghdad's Sadr City, a polling station set up in a girlsâ school saw a slow but steady trickle of voters. Election volunteer Hamid Majid, 24, said he had voted for his old school teacher, a candidate for the Sadrists. âShe educated many of us in the area so all the young people are voting for her . Itâs the time for the Sadrist Movement. The people are with them.â...
VIDEO : <big>Horror at Home: Chinaâs Domestic Violence Crisis</big>
Australia : <big>How Melbourneâs lockdown exposed the cityâs âgender gapâ</big>
India : <big>Dalit and tribal women among worst victimized by Indiaâs hunger crisis</big>
Texas and beyond : <big>Hooters employees pushing back against new uniforms with shorter "shorts" little more than underwear.</big> Some server-staffers took to TikTok this week with viral videos about the abbreviated uniform introduced at âselectâ Texas locations. âThe restaurant chain has long faced criticism for sexualization of women.â
h/t David Nir
Oklahoma : <big>Native American woman convicted of manslaughter for 2020 miscarriage of 15-17wk fetus. </big> UPDATE: jezebel.com reports that she was sentenced to 4 years in prison âafter less than three hours of jury deliberation, according to local media.â Because she had been unable to afford the $20,000 bond/bail, she has already spent over 18 months in custody awaiting trial delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic.â
National Advocates for Pregnant women.org BOLDING ADDED
Oklahomaâs murder and manslaughter laws do not apply to miscarriages, which are pregnancy losses that occur before 20 weeks, a point in pregnancy before a fetus is viable (able to survive outside of the womb). And, even when applied to later losses, Oklahoma law prohibits prosecution of the âmother of the unborn childâ unless she committed âa crime that caused the death of the unborn child.â
[Yet] Contrary to all medical science, the prosecutor blamed the miscarriage on Ms. Poolawâs alleged use of controlled substances. Not even the medical examinerâs report identifies use of controlled substances as the cause of the miscarriage. Even with this lack of evidence, the prosecutor moved forward with the chargeâŚ.
Ms. Poolawâs case is a tragedy. She has suffered the trauma of pregnancy loss, has been jailed for a year and half during a pandemic, and was charged and convicted of a crime without basis in law or science. We are supporting Ms. Poolaw as she explores her legal options, and we are working to ensure that this type of injustice does not happen again.
...Ms. Poolawâs case is just one example of the troubling trend we are documenting in Oklahoma that replaces compassion and respect with criminal prosecution. In recent years, Oklahoma prosecutors, especially in Comanche and Kay Counties but also in Craig, Garfield, Jackson, Pontotoc, Payne, Rogers, and Tulsa counties have been using the Stateâs felony child neglect law to police pregnant women and to seek severe penalties for those who experience pregnancy losses. This use of prosecutorial discretion directly conflicts with the recommendations of every major medical organization , including the American Academy of Pediatrics, all of which know that such prosecutions actually increase risks of harm to maternal and child health.
NAPW is mobilizing to stop these inhumane and abusive prosecutions of women for experiencing pregnancy lossâŚ
From CalMatters email&site (no paywall â sign up at this page ) 2 more items among the over 700 pieces of California legislation across the governorâs desk:<big>Signed into law: public colleges, universities and secondary schools required to provide free menstrual products on campus and large department stores required to maintain a gender-neutral section of toys and child care items.</big>
h/t Besame
Also: Debbie Chang of the Blue Shield of California Foundation and Jenya Cassidy of the California Work & Family Coalition argue that <big>California should provide paid leave for everyone , eliminating disparities across race, ethnicity, gender and socioeconomic status.</big>
And <big>First Ever Pair of Hispanic Sisters in State Legislature Recall the Obstacles </big>
As of this Wednesday, <big>UC-AFT , the union representing over 6,000 University of California lecturers and librarians, and their supporters, were holding informational protests at campuses across the state, </b> due to UC management intransigence in years-long negotiations over a new contract. The UCs increasingly rely on lecturers paid $32,000 on average, with about 25% arbitrarily dismissed without evaluation annually. Most are students themselves, struggling to complete their educations.
<big>Mia McIver, president of the lecturersâ union : </big> âThe UC often expects us to take the pride and prestige of teaching at the University of California as part of our compensation package, which it is not.â
h/t elfling
a CalMatters commentary: <big>Utilize knowledge of Indigenous people to prevent wildfires BY :</big>
<big><big>Chelsi Sparti [of] the Winnemem, Nomtipom and Nomsus bands of the Northern Wintu People . She is a CELI Fellow, Fulbright Scholar and graduate student in the Energy & Resources Group at the University of California, Berkeley. </big></big>
[and]
Chris Villarruel [of] the Ajumawi band of the Pit River Nation. He is an Indigenous forester and forest hydrology student at Humboldt State University [working mostly] with the Yurok, Hoopa and Ojibwe tribes in cultural burning, forestry and hydrology.
h/t Walter Einenkel
Daddy issues: <big>Republicans claim to be worried about "fatherless" homes, </big>but scorn men who take paternity leave to do the work of parenting.
h/t ?
ABORTION
<big>SCOTUS leaning toward letting Kentucky official defend abortion law </big>
Oct 12 (Reuters) - In another case stemming from a restrictive abortion law, U.S. Supreme Court justices on Tuesday signaled a willingness to let Kentucky's Republican attorney general defend his state's statute - struck down by lower courts - after its Democratic governor dropped the caseâŚ.
h/t ?
<big>Texas 6-week abortion ban to remain in force, federal appeals court says Thurs Oct 15 </big>
The vote of the panel was 2-1.
The Texas law bans abortions after fetal cardiac activity is detected, which usually happens about six weeks into a pregnancy and often before a woman knows she is pregnantâŚ.
h/t ?
<big>Texas Women are driving hours to Louisiana, other states for abortions after new law </big>
<big>from NPR Oct 14 : Remembering an Abortion Rights Activist Who Spurned the Spotlight </big> Audio.
<big>Pat Maginnis </big> [June 9, 1928 â August 30, 2021], who was 93 [NYT image at that link] when she died on August 30, may have been the first person to publicly call for abortion to be completely decriminalized in America. Despite her insistence on direct action on abortion-rights at a time when many were uncomfortable even saying the word "abortion," Maginnis is not a bold letter name of the movement. That may be because she ... cared more for action then self-presentation.
Guests [on the audio] include Lili Loofborow, who profiled Maginnis for Slate ; Professor Leslie J. Regan, who wrote the book When Abortion Was a Crime ; and the artist Andrea Bowers whose video piece, Letters to An Army of Three * recreated the messages people would send Maginnis when they were desperate to access abortion servicesâŚ. Special thanks to the Schlesinger Library, where the 1975 oral history of Pat Maginnis is housed.
* "Patricia Theresa "Pat" Maginnis (June 9, 1928 â August 30, 2021) was considered the first abortion rights activist in American history. She was one part of âArmy of Three" , the grass-roots collective that would eventually become NARAL Pro-Choice America and that founded the Society for Humane Abortion . [Maginnis] was also a political cartoonist, painter, and peace activist...â
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<big>From The National Domestic Violence Hotline thehotline.org : </big>
Three key things you can do right now to propel VAWA forward today:
âď¸ Call your Representative right now . If they havenât signed on as a co-sponsor of the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2018 (H.R. 6545), ask them to do so immediately. VAWA has always been bipartisan in the past, so it is particularly important to get support from Republican Representatives. If your Representative has signed on as a co-sponsor to H.R. 6545, please call them and thank them. Use THIS LINK to find your Representative, and then check out this list to see if they have signed on to support VAWA yet.
âď¸ Write an op-ed or letter to the editor for your local paper about the importance of reauthorizing VAWA . Members of Congress and their staff closely monitor local media, and if your Representative knows that there is community support for this, theyâre more likely to support VAWA. See our templates here , and check out this great resource from The Op-Ed Guide and Indivisible about how to write and submit a great op-ed on an issue that matters to you.
âď¸ Sign a letter of support . If youâre part of an organization that would care about this topic, such as a workplace or a local organizing group, you can sign on to our letter of support from organizations here . Weâll be delivering this to Congress next month as evidence of widespread support of reauthorizing VAWA.
If you want to learn more about VAWA and the critical enhancements in H.R. 6545 register for a webinar hosted by the NTF titled âVAWA Reauthorization: Whatâs in it, and what happens next.â
Letâs put the pressure on, and move VAWAâs passage forward today. With your help, we know we can do it! For more information, contact Dorian Karp at dkarp@jwi.org .
More Details
If your Member of congress is not a sponsor, please contact them with this message:
We need the Violence Against Women Act reauthorized now. Survivors canât wait for lifesaving responses to domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking. Representative Sheila Jackson Lee has introduced H.R. 6545, moderate legislation reauthorizing VAWA that Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle can support. Please co-sponsor this legislation today!
If a staff person acts like their Member might sponsor, please send their contact info to patreuss@verizon.net or your groupâs policy person working on VAWA (including name of their Member and state) and weâll get other groups to call in support. If they say âyes she/he will sponsor,â let Pat or organizational contact know but also advise them to contact Rep. Jackson Leeâs staff: Monalisa DuguĂŠ, (202) 225-6906 Monalisa.dugue@mail.house.gov
To learn more, visit the website