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What will it take to end sexual assault?

What will it take to end sexual assault?

Anuradha Dugal2016-05-12T12:15:44+00:00May 12, 2016|Gender-based violence, Sexual abuse|

This article was originally published on the Huffington Post.

What will it take to end sexual assault? Sexual assault is one of the violent crimes in Canada where we have seen little improvement in the last few years. In a 2014 Statistics Canada report on violent victimization, we can see that the numbers are going down for all violent crimes – murder, battery, physical assault, even domestic violence. But the numbers for sexual assault have stayed the same for over a decade.

A recent survey by Canadian Women’s Foundation found that two thirds of Canadians believe that the majority of women are telling the truth when they say they have been sexually assaulted. This same survey asked why perpetrators commit this crime. People said they thought perpetrators must think that sexual assault is no big deal (61%), that they have the right to the victim’s body (54%) or that they could get away with it (47%).

Intimate Justice in the Yukon: A New Approach to Sexualized Violence Prevention

Intimate Justice in the Yukon: A New Approach to Sexualized Violence Prevention

Hillary Aitken2017-12-19T17:07:10+00:00May 10, 2016|Gender-based violence, Guest bloggers, Sexual abuse|

After many years of organizing sexualized violence prevention in Yukon, sometimes we learn that we need to try something new.

Every year, we talk about the statistics (rates of sexualized violence are nearly 4 times greater in Yukon than the provincial average), we talk about the offenders (more than 85% of offenders of sexualized violence are male), we talk about the unique Yukon realities (women are often sexually assaulted when they are sleeping or passed out), and we talk about how the community needs to step up to end this injustice. Still. Argh.

The Power of Words

The Power of Words

Jill Andrew2016-05-05T13:04:15+00:00May 5, 2016|Gender-based violence, Guest bloggers|

“Sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.”

Words hurt badly. Words can be violent. They can entice violence—violent actions, violent thoughts, violent assumptions. Verbal abuse can be a severe form of domestic violence. Words can be violating.

When someone has had violent words hurled at them whether in person or online it’s an instant trauma—whether we know it or not. Although the psychic or physiological impact may not present itself immediately, without a doubt some part of our core instantly absorbs that shock. Sadly, we live in a society where the shock value has seriously eroded - it’s wearing off at speeds faster than light. When too many of us get to, or have been in, a place where we ask ourselves not “if” we will be verbally assaulted today but “when” this highlights the pervasiveness of the issue.

The Price We Pay for Domestic Violence

The Price We Pay for Domestic Violence

Diane Hill2016-05-04T20:04:57+00:00May 4, 2016|Gender-based violence, SHE Magazine|

Every hour of every day, a woman in Alberta will experience some form of interpersonal violence from an ex-partner or ex-spouse.* That’s one of the chilling facts discovered by Lana Wells, the Brenda Strafford Chair at the University of Calgary, in her groundbreaking report “Preventing Domestic Violence in Alberta: A Cost Savings Perspective.” Her research was funded by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and coauthored by Casey Boodt and Dr. Herb Emery.

“We didn’t know the full economic costs of domestic violence,” Wells says. “I wanted to build a business case so government would have strong data to make better decisions on funding and policy.” Her findings were startling enough to convince the Province of Alberta to make a significant investment in additional research and to spend the next two years developing a new policy framework designed to prevent family violence.

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