Today is V-Day, and we’re celebrating people who work to end violence against all people. Chicago is lucky to have a strong community of people who care deeply about the causes of violence and are working to stop them. To that end, CAASE is sponsoring a mayoral forum tomorrow with other organizations who also address these very issues—it’s free and open to the public, and starts at 6 p.m. at Chicago-Kent College of Law in the Loop. Learn more about the event here.
On a day that’s also about showing your love for the people and causes you care about, we’d like to extend a word of support to a rape crisis center in Iowa called Riverview Center. Their innovative ad campaign is working to prevent rape, but they’re using a message that many people don’t want to hear: "You’re not born to be a rapist, you're not born to beat up your husband or wife, you learn it," said Josh Jasper, the head of the center, which helps domestic violence and rape survivors in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. Check it out:
This ad is completely right-on, but it's making a lot of people mad. I think it’s making viewers uncomfortable because it addresses key misconceptions about rape. We need to stop blaming victims and start holding rapists accountable. When I was in college, they taught self-defense to women and encouraged us to carry pepper spray or a rape whistle. There was no discussion about what consent really means and the role that men and boys have in stopping rape. More than 80% of sexual assaults happen between acquaintances—women don’t expect to be raped by their boyfriends, their family members, their friends. Unless we start talking to boys at a young age about rape a violence, and how they can stop it, we aren’t addressing the real problem. There are, however, many organizations across the country that are led by men and are working to end violence against women. CAASE has compiled a list of these wonderful groups here, let us know if you know of other organizations that should be listed.
In local news, there’s going to be a report on Fox 32 tonight at 9 p.m. about the issue of rape in Chicago and how it’s reported and prosecuted. We’ll be tuning in, and look for more on the topic this week.
-Kristin Claes is the communications manager for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation
Monday, February 14, 2011
Monday, February 7, 2011
Wired and Venkatesh Perpetuate Prostitution Myths
The connection between people who buy sex (usually men) and trafficked victims still seems to be a tough one for some members of the media.
We were furious after reading Wired magazine’s latest issue has a piece from Sudhir Venkatesh, “How Tech Tools Transformed New York’s Sex Trade.” The piece glamorizes high-end prostitution, ignores the violent reality faced by many prostituted people and downplays the harm caused by people who buy sex. Venkatesh has many things wrong in this article, so I have addressed just a couple below. I’m sure our readers are going to spot plenty more. Please chime in in the comments here, and over on Wired, and let the world know that we won’t stand for the glamorization of the sex trade.
Venkatesh asserts that women who are high-end escorts experience less violence than women whose bodies are sold on the street. Other studies have shown that the relative rates of physical violence in indoor prostitution are on par with street-based activity. Some studies have actually found that those who engaged in indoor prostitution suffer from higher rates of mental health disorders, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, from their trauma than those who engaged in outdoor prostitution.
Venkatesh portrays prostitution as a lucrative “business” for the women he’s interviewed. Most women in prostitution are under the control of a pimp or trafficker and keep very little of the money they make, if they get to keep any at all. Pimps exact control and make money by taking cash from women and providing the minimal amount of support necessary to keep women in the trade.
Make sure to leave a comment here, and over at Wired. Thanks.
P.S. I’ll be using the #trafficking and #wired tags to get people engaged in the issue on Twitter. Check us out @TheCAASE
Photo by Cory Piña, Creative Commons License
Friday, February 4, 2011
Are We Ready to Satirize Rape Myths?
| The Daily Show With Jon Stewart | Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c | |||
| Rape Victim Abortion Funding | ||||
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Are we ready to laugh about rape? When so many people don’t comprehend the realities of sexual assault in the United States, I wonder if we’re ready to chuckle all-knowingly at a satirization of pervasive myths about rape. Well, ready or not, the Daily Show tackled the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” with scathing satire from comedian Kristen Schaal. With a straight face and Jon Stewart as her foil, she takes on the alarming concept of “forcible rape” being different from “regular rape-rape” and highlights how essential (and yet quite rare) it is that federal funding is available for abortion. When Kristin describes something as “rape-ish”, I wonder how many people laughed just because they were uncomfortable, not because they understood the absurdity of what she was saying. Do you think it was clear? Some are crediting Schaal with victory after the bill’s sponsors removed “forcible” from the bill. If you haven’t told your representative how you feel about this bill, take a minute now to do so.
Monday, January 31, 2011
“No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act"
Last week, New Jersey Republican Chris Smith introduced the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”, a bill which aims to severely restrict a woman’s right to choose by denying federal assistance for abortions except in the case of “forcible rape”.
What does this mean?
Smith’s bill will prevent many women who are victims of rape or incest, including statutory rape and date rape, from seeking federal assistance for an abortion. Women and even girls under the age of 18 who become pregnant as a result of rape or incest, as well as high-risk pregnancies that endanger the life of the woman, can be denied insurance coverage if they choose to have an abortion. The “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act”, if passed into law, would take away health insurance benefits from women and girls, many of whom will be unable to pay for an abortion if it isn’t covered by Medicaid or private insurance.
One of the most outrageous provisions of this bill is limiting federal assistance for abortions to instances of “forcible rape”, which is a term that suggests that rape is not inherently a violation of a woman’s body, but is only a violation in certain instances. Will a victim of sexual assault be required under this law to provide evidence of the type of rape prior to getting federal assistance?
This bill is important to our work here at CAASE because we advocate for women who have been victims of sexual assault and strongly believe that these women should have access to safe and affordable abortions and health care services.
Unfortunately, the bill has strong Republican support in the House, including House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) who has declared that a ban of federal funding for abortions is one of the GOP’s top legislative priorities.
Want to know more?
Pro-Choice advocates have expressed their outrage about this bill. This is what Cecile Richards, president of Planned Parenthood Federation of America, had to say about the bill
Read the Mother Jones Article: “The House GOP’s Plan to Redefine Rape”
Friday, January 21, 2011
CNN Covers Child Sex Trafficking
Child sex trafficking happens here in Chicago every single day. Many of the survivors who have escaped from their pimps and traffickers are brave enough to tell their stories and to help fight for changes in laws to help others escape the trade.
This Sunday night, Jan. 23 at 7 p.m. CST, CNN will be airing a story about the commercial sexual exploitation of children. They will focus on the story of “Selena”, a 13-year-old from a middle class family who ran away from home and was pimped—she was forced to have sex with strangers for money. A person did this to her, and yet she is the one struggling to fund the resources to recover. It’s called “Selling the Girl Next Door” and you can read a preview here.
As we’re bombarded by these images of young girls, it’s critical to think about what’s not being represented—the faces of the people (mostly men) who are buying sex. These “johns” face little to no consequence for their actions, and they know what they’re doing is wrong. CNN reports:
We posted our own ad, using a photo of CNN correspondent Amber Lyon when she was 14 years old. She told the men who called that she was underage; most didn't care.
CAASE is proud of our End Demand Illinois campaign, which advocates for laws and practices to protect survivors of prostitution. We want harsher penalties for the people who buy sex, and more resources for women to exit the sex trade. To learn more, visit www.enddemandillinois.org.
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Ask the Next Mayor: How Will You Prevent Violence in Our City?
What questions would you ask the next mayor of Chicago? Now’s your chance to ask!
We’re collecting questions about violence against women, girls and LGBTQ people to use at a nonpartisan public forum with the Chicago mayoral candidates on February 15.
Send your questions to Chicago2011MayorForum@gmail.com, or share them with us on social media: post to our Facebook wall, tweet us @TheCAASE or leave a comment on this blog entry. If you’d like, let us know your age, profession and what neighborhood you live in, so we can share this information with the candidates.
The deadline for questions is Tuesday, February 1. We hope you can join us at our forum on February 15 at Chicago Kent College of Law.
For more details visit http://www.caase.org/event.aspx.
Photo by Tom Carroll.
Tuesday, January 11, 2011
CAASE is on Groupon!
**Update as of 1/13/2011: The Groupon is closed and it was a BIG success! You helped us raise more than $1,500 for our curriculum. Thank you very, very much!
Today is Human Trafficking Awareness Day. You can help fight trafficking here in Chicago by giving to CAASE via Groupon today and tomorrow! Help us take this opportunity to raise funds for our high school curriculum for boys. Log on and give $12, and tell your friends:
The money raised via Groupon will help us teach young men how they can fight sexual exploitation. Our teachers use the CAASE curriculum, the first of its kind in the coutnry, to teach boys the realities of prostitution and human trafficking and empower them to end it in their own communities.
Your $12 gift via Groupon helps us to expand our classes so we can reach more young men, like those at the Cook County Juvenile Detention Center.
Our goal is to reach some of the most vulnerable members of society who could become the next generation of leaders in the fight against sexual exploitation.
Thank
To give via Groupon, click here.
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