All people need to become feminists

In recent weeks the media focused on the violent acts of a few individuals -- all of them young men. Though these violent acts appeared random and arbitrary, a common theme existed: they were all angry, young men who chose to exert their dissatisfaction with (insert reason here) by enacting violence an another. And these are the very same men that injure and kill women through domestic and other forms of violence.

So why care? There are shelters, police programs and non-governmental programs -- I ask again: why care?

Because 51% of women have experienced at least one incident of sexual or physical violence. The scary fact is that these statistics, taken from StatCan, are over a decade old. The scary fact is the trend persists. In fact, close to 60% of these women have experienced more than one violent incident.

More statistics include:
*62% of the victims who reported being sexually assaulted were under age 18 (taken from a 1998 survey)
*In 2000, women made up the vast majority of victims of sexual assault -- 86%, and other types of sexual offences (78%).
*80% of sexual assaults occur at home
*49% occur in broad daylight
*In 80% of cases reported to police, the victims knew the abuser -- about 10% were assaulted by a friend, 41% were assaulted by an acquaintance, 28% were assaulted by a family member, the remaining 20% were assaulted by a stranger.
*82% of women seeking accommodation at a shelter were escaping abuse
*about 1 in 10 women seeking accommodation in a shelter are repeat visitors with over five stints per year in shelters
*the largest portion of women staying in shelters (just over one-third) are between 25 and 34 years old.

Violence against women persists and will continue to do so until violent men (and I pick my words carefully) are dealt with -- openly, publically and rationally. The punitive system we currently have does nothing to help rehabilitate a violent offender -- particulary one that receives a rather light sentence for assaulting a partner or spouse. The criminal system does not deem this offence to be serious enough to warrant tougher sentences or alternative treatment. Rather, the criminal system is reactive rather than proactive. It waits until the damage is done (death, dismemberment, etc) before treating the abuser. There is another option. We could become proactive in dealing with these issues. Since violence often escalates, we could provide rehabilitative services to offenders as opposed to light-weight punitive sentences.

As women, we can also become educated in the problem. One way to do this is to read. Another way is to engage. This is the impetus behind this week's Week Without Violence - held by YMCA's across the continent. The week-long awareness campaign is aimed at women, for women, in an effort to talk about, deal with and attempt to solve the persistent violence against women that continues to exist within our society.

One event worth noting is this Saturday's The Power of Being a Girl Conference!. This is a free event, running from 10am to 4pm at the YWCA Girls Centre and is intended to help educate and empower girls between the ages of 14 and 17. Workshops include: D.I.Y Spa, Law and Order, Fact/Fiction, Yo Gal Relax & Yoga, So You think You Can Dance?, Sex in the City, The "F" Word, Project Personality, CSI:Net. Lunch, snacks and funk goody bags included!

To register go to: abc@ywcatoronto.

*For an excellent article on the importance of feminism and the necessity with dealing with male violence go to:
http://www.nowtoronto.com/issues/2006-09-21/news_story3.php

*For more information on sexual assault statistics go to:
http://www.metrac.org/

*For more information on shelter statistics go to:
http://www.phac-aspc.gc.ca/ncfv-cnivf/familyviolence/
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