From left: Leandra Peloquin, Director, YWCA Silicon Valley; Sabrina Sadler, Survivor; Assemblymember Das Williams, California’s 35th Assembly District; Sandra Henriquez, Executive Director, CALCASA; Rhonda James, Executive Director, Community Violence Solutions

This morning, Assemblymember Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) discussed the importance of supporting AB 2441, which would tax strip clubs and distribute such funds toward vital services at California’s rape crisis centers. He, along with the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, executive directors from local rape crisis centers and a survivor of sexual violence, addressed the current status and needs of sexual assault services in California.

“We … want to implore the legislature and members of the legislature to stand with victims of sexual assault, domestic violence and sex trafficking,” said Assemblymember Williams, “to support AB 2441 because without the necessary funding, these victims will not have the support that they need.”

During the last 40 years, California’s rape crisis centers have worked tirelessly to provide services to survivors of rape while concurrently extending efforts toward changing the cultural norms that cause sexual violence to happen in the first place. Due to the lack of funding for rape crisis programs, the efforts to serve survivors of sexual assault, incest, molestation and rape are in jeopardy. Rape crisis centers and other anti-violence programs need financial support to help create communities that are free from violence.

For information about the bill, please download this FAQ document.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — On May 21 at 10 a.m., Assemblymember Das Williams (D-Santa Barbara) will discuss the importance of supporting AB 2441, which would tax strip clubs and distribute such funds toward vital services at California’s rape crisis centers. He, along with the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, executive directors from local rape crisis centers and a survivor of sexual violence, will address the current status and needs of sexual assault services in California.

This web conference is sponsored by Ms. Foundation for Women.

This web conference is the second in a series of nine web conferences on Ending Child Sexual Abuse. This is a collaboration between PreventConnect and Ms. Foundation for Women. Please see the materials and recordings of the previous web conference “Including Efforts to End Child Sexual Abuse within the Sexual Violence Prevention Movement.”

The second web conference on June 7, 2012, is titled “Working with the Media to End Child Sexual Abuse.” Media plays a powerful role in the public and policy leaders understanding of the problem and of potential solutions. Studies related to the coverage of child sexual abuse and its prevention from both Berkley Media Studies Group and Frameworks Institute will be discussed along with the implications for prevention strategies. This session is a must see for anyone who is frustrated with the way the media portrays child sexual abuse and wants to know how we can do this differently.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

Please register as these sessions fill quickly.

Sponsor: Ms. Foundation for Women

Hosts: Joan Tabachnick and Cordelia Anderson

Speakers:

• Pam Mejia, M.S., M.P.H., Research Associate, Berkeley Media Studies Group
• Moira O’Neil, Ph.D., Senior Researcher and Manager, Frameworks Institute

Pam Mejia

Moira O’Neil

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe how the media affects perceptions of the problem and solutions.
2. Describe key points of research on media from BMSG & Frameworks.
3. Identify three actions organizations can take to integrate strategies identified.

CALCASA has been following the Violence Against Women Act, both the Senate version and the House version. The Senate version passed April 26. This version included provisions for immigrant, LGBTQ, and tribal communities, advancing the work that we as advocates do to protect survivors of intimate partner and domestic violence. The House version of VAWA, also called H.R. 4970, weakened provisions written into the Senate version and completely eliminated provisions for vulnerable communities (including immigrants, LGBTQ populations, and tribal communities). We at CALCASA, along with the National Task Force on  advocated with representatives from California and throughout the country to vote no on H.R. 4970 but it passed yesterday, 222 “Yes” to 205 “No” votes. CALCASA will continue to partner with our national colleagues to fight for the provisions highlighted in the Senate version and will keep you updated as we move forward.

For more information on the vote yesterday, I’ve included the National Task Force’s Statement on the Passage of H.R. 4970.

National Task Force Statement on Passage of H.R. 4970
May 16, 2012

The National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women is a diverse coalition of thousands of national, state and local organizations and individuals across the country unified by our commitment to end violence against women. Today, we express our deep disappointment over the House of Representatives’ passage of H.R. 4970. This legislation weakens or deletes entirely some of the vital improvements in the “real VAWA” passed by the Senate last month by a resounding bipartisan vote of 68-31. Grace Huang, Public Policy Director of the Washington State Coalition Against Domestic Violence said, “We are devastated that provisions that will endanger vulnerable immigrant victims passed in the House today. For the first time in nearly 20 years, this bill would weaken crucial protections in VAWA for battered immigrants, putting them at risk of retaliation by their abusers and undermining law enforcement and public safety.”  “Today’s vote ignored the reality of LGBT survivors of violence and would deny them the support and services that every survivor needs,” said Sharon Stapel, Executive Director of the New York City Anti-Violence Project, which coordinates the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Programs (NCAVP). “Native women aren’t safer as a result of the passage of  H.R. 4970. In fact, the tribal provisions included in this bill create additional hurdles for Indian women seeking protection from violence on tribal lands, and that is unacceptable,” said Juana Majel-Dixon, 1st Vice President of the National Congress of American Indians (NCAI) and co-chair of the NCAI Task Force on Violence Against Women.

The House bill passed ignores the needs of vulnerable communities, rolls back years of progress aimed at protecting victim safety, weakens provisions in the Senate bill to protect victims in public housing and on college campuses, and strips the rights of community stakeholders to give input on VAWA programs.  The bill has been soundly rejected as dangerous to victims by more than 325 diverse organizations and leaders representing millions of constituents throughout the country. Rita Smith, Executive Director of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, said “The passage of H.R. 4970 ignores the expertise of hundreds of organizations working to end violence against women.”  Moreover, the President issued a statement saying if presented with the bill, his senior advisors would recommend a veto.

Despite today’s 222-205 vote, we applaud the courage of the Republicans who crossed party lines to vote against this dangerous bill and the Democrats who stood with all victims of violence.  The outcry from advocates from across the country resulted in significant bipartisan opposition to the bill and this swell of support will continue as the House and Senate meet in conference to reconcile the two bills. “On behalf of advocates and rape crisis centers, the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence commits to working with all members of Congress to finalize VAWA legislation this year that upholds provisions in the Senate bill that ensure community stakeholders have a voice in the funding process and protect vulnerable populations while maintaining criminal justice improvements for victims of sexual assault,” commented Monika Johnson Hostler, National Alliance to End Sexual Violence President. The National Task Force will continue to work towards a strong, bipartisan final bill that builds on VAWA’s successes and strengthens protections for all victims of violence. “The best post-Mother’s Day gift that Members of Congress can give to their neighbors, daughters, sisters, mothers and grandmothers is to support a bipartisan VAWA that protects women from all backgrounds,” said Gloria Lau, YWCA USA CEO.

For updates from the National Task Force, please follow us on Twitter @NTFVAWA, on Facebook or visit 4vawa.org.

Virginia's Building Healthy Futures Fund will create prevention funding

On May 7-8, 2012, representatives from 38 state domestic violence coalitions, national resource centers and the CDC gathered at the National Prevention Symposium to strengthen domestic violence prevention efforts, and highlight the work of the DELTA and DELTA PREP programs.

One of the most exiting workshops was the DELTA Countdown that shared resources and tools developed by DELTA grantees to support prevention efforts. These resources are also helpful for sexual violence prevention.

I recommend you check out these great resources to support building capacity to develop, implement and evaluate prevention programs.

1. All the great work that coalitions are doing to promote social change that will lead to prevent domestic violence
2. Virginia’s Building Healthy Futures Fund to raise funds for prevention
3. The Red Flag Campaign to prevent violence on campus
4. Alaska Youth Leadership program Stand Up Speak Out
5. EVE’s PEACE Toolkit: ending violence with policies to enhance & create equity (for Faith Leaders)
6. Safe and Respectful Relationships for All, Delaware Model Unit for schools on healthy relationships
7. Domestic Violence Prevention Organizational Capacity Assessment from the Rhode Island Coalition Against Domestic Violence
8. High School Evaluation: “plug and use” tool to analyze pre- and post-test data from the Florida Coalition Against Domestic Violence
9. Empowerment Evaluation Toolkit (listen to the Ohio Domestic Violence Network discuss this resource on a PreventConnect podcast)
10. Guidelines for the Primary Prevention of Sexual Violence & Intimate Partner Violence from (listen to the Virginia Sexual and Domestic Violence Action Alliance discuss this resource on a PreventConnect podcast)

Check out the newest edition of the Virginia Sexual & Domestic Violence Action Alliance’s prevention newsletter Moving Upstream. They will continue to share insights about prevention practice while coordinating with other national prevention efforts.

In an attempt to pool resources and create a national primary prevention community around sexual and intimate partner violence issues, much of our content will now reference the impressive repository of information at PreventConnect. If you’re not already familiar with them, PreventConnect is a national project of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) with funding from the CDC.

Glad to continue to support this great resource. The newest issue has articles about prevention work on college campuses.

Here is a guest blog by Cordelia Anderson and Joan Tabachnick, co-hosts of the Ending Child Sexual Abuse (ECSA) Web Conference Series that CALCASA’s national project PreventConnect is co-sponsoring with Ms. Foundation for Women.

This web conference series is sponsored by Ms. Foundation for Women.

With over 60 years of experience across the three eloquent speakers, the Ms. Foundation for Women (MFW) launched the new web conference series “Ending Sexual Abuse” to a sold out crowd.

The first web conference focused on highlighting Efforts to End Child Sexual Abuse within the Sexual Violence Prevention Movement. The three speakers, Gina Scaramella, Executive Director, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center, Donna Dunn, Executive Director, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Sally J. Laskey, Director Special Projects, National Sexual Violence Resource Center all agreed that ending child sexual abuse was essential to their own work to stopping sexual violence across the lifespan of women.

Together, the speakers pointed to ways child sexual abuse has been addressed throughout the history of their organizations—from early speak outs, to advocacy with adult survivors, to collaborative work for social change.

Gina talked about BARCC’s work with early childhood education and how their own research showed that 70% of the early education and care workers saw some sexual behavior, but few of them any idea how to respond. The curriculum BARCC developed provides information about healthy sexual development and addresses practical questions such as how to deal with sexual behaviors in these settings.

Donna pointed to their statewide policy work to garner attention for prevention. MNCASA has been able to mobilize a broader community through engaging Voices of Experience and over 50 partners to Demand the Change for Children.

Sally highlighted the ways NSVRC learns from local efforts to develop ground breaking national resources based on collected knowledge, such as, research on bystanders, research on healthy sexuality and involvement in the National Coalition to Prevention to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation.

Together, each of the speakers sent a clear message that:

• Child sexual abuse is a foundational component of the sexual violence prevention movement
• There are many new ways of pushing for substantive change when we focus on ending child sexual abuse
• Finding the right partners can lift our work into the minds and hearts of our communities

The web conference ended with a long listing of prevention actions. What can you do? Here are just a few ideas:

• Attend or listen to a recording of a MFW Web Conference
• Read the blogs and tell us what you are doing – post your own ideas and programs
• Learn more from the links listed in each webinar and in this blog
• Tell someone about the work you are doing or the work you are reading about
• Know you can make a difference and be part of an inspiring, urgent, and effective movement

Click here to download the slides from this web conference and view the full presentation online (you will be asked to enter your email address in order to sign-on).

Sign-up to learn more about upcoming sessions.

We hope you will join us for one of the future web conferences or look in the archives for one you missed. For more information visit the MFW and PreventConnect websites.

Here is a guest blog by Cordelia Anderson and Joan Tabachnick, co-hosts of the Ending Child Sexual Abuse (ECSA) Web Conference Series that CALCASA’s national project PreventConnect is co-sponsoring with Ms. Foundation for Women.

This web conference series is sponsored by Ms. Foundation for Women.

The Ms. Foundation for Women (MFW) has made the courageous decision to direct a significant portion of its resources towards ending child sexual abuse. Monique Hoeflinger, Senior Program Officer, Safety at the Ms. Foundation laid the ground work for why MFW chose this issue as one of its priorities by saying,

“Ending child sexual abuse is one of the most strategic things we can do to improve the lives of women and communities.”

Given the frequency of sexual abuse against children and the life-long impact of that abuse, focusing on child sexual abuse prevention makes sense. Among the approaches that MFW supports are those that move beyond traditional child-focused strategies and instead, engage adults and communities in prevention efforts.

As just one part of their broad efforts, the Ending Child Sexual Abuse (ECSA) Web Conference Series is designed to bring the best thinking, programs, and insights they have seen to a larger community of stakeholders. Through this exciting new partnership with us (Cordelia and Joan), Prevent-Connect, and most importantly – all of you – we hope to build a stronger and more effective movement to end child sexual abuse. The goals of this series are to:

• Raise visibility and dialogue within prevention community
• Engage new communities in this movement
• Increase knowledge, resources and strategic action on child sexual abuse

Over the next nine months, we plan to cover the following exciting topics:

• Including Child Sexual Abuse in the Sexual Violence Prevention Movement
• Media and Prevention
• Preventing the Perpetration of Child Sexual Abuse
• Voices of Experience: the role of direct experiences in social change
• Healthy Sexuality and Caring Connections: Foundations for Prevention
• Policies Promoting and Derailing Prevention
• Depictions of Children in Media and Pornography: Implications for Prevention
• Activism in Prevention
• Using Art as a Catalyst for Social Change and Social Action

Look on the MFW or the PreventConnect websites for dates and time and more details. And if you miss one of them, don’t worry! Both the slides and audio are available to anyone.

We hope you will join us for one of these future web conferences. Sign-up to learn more about upcoming sessions.

Over the last several years, DELTA PREP, a national collaborative effort funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and CDC Foundation, has provided support to 19 domestic violence state coalitions to build capacity for primary prevention. This week, the effort is culminating with a National Prevention Symposium in Atlanta. DELTA PREP has been summarized in this project summary, which describes efforts from the 19 DELTA PREP grantees. Last December, PreventConnect released six podcasts from DELTA PREP. Below is an additional podcast describing efforts to prevent domestic violence.

(17 mins) Tess Cody of the Iowa Coalition Against Domestic Violence (ICADV) and Michael Shaw of Waypoint describe the work of the Iowa Men’s Action Network. Through ICADV’s involvement in DELTA PREP, they decided to engage men to support preventing domestic violence.

Listen: Tess Cody & Michael Shaw

Over the last several years, DELTA PREP, a national collaborative effort funded by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and CDC Foundation, has provided support to 19 domestic violence state coalitions to build capacity for primary prevention. This week, the effort is culminating with a National Prevention Symposium in Atlanta. DELTA PREP has been summarized in this project summary, which describes efforts from the 19 DELTA PREP grantees. Last December, PreventConnect released six podcasts from DELTA PREP. Below is an additional podcast describing efforts to prevent domestic violence.

(10 mins) Andrea Gleaves and Lynea Woody of the D.C. Coalition Against Domestic Violence speak about how they use Twitter to advance prevention efforts. Purple Thursday and a flash mob were among the activities that were advanced through social media. DCCADV is a part of DELTA PREP to support domestic violence coalitions to integrate primary prevention into their activities.

Listen: Andrea Gleaves and Lynea Woody

More and more the field of sexual and domestic violence is using social change models as part of their prevention strategies. The commitment to social change and understanding sexual and domestic violence in the context of oppression is not without challenges. Learn from others whose approaches compliment or collaborate with a social justice approach in order to change the norms that support sexual and domestic violence.

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

11 AM to 12:30 PM Pacific Time (2 PM to 3:30 PM Eastern)

Host:David Lee, CALCASA, PreventConnect

Aparna Bhattacharyya

Tony Porter

Guest Speakers:

• Tony Porter, Co-Founder, A CALL TO MEN
• Aparna Bhattacharyya, Executive Director, Raksha

Learning Objectives:

1. Engage in a candid discussion about the challenges and opportunities in developing partnerships and dynamic collaboration.
2. Provide examples of lessons learned from people and agencies with experience.
3. Identify opportunities to incorporate population-based efforts such as organizational practice and policy change within the collaboration.
4. Identify potential indicators for measuring the impact and outcomes of efforts.

Tonya Lovelace

Clara Lindstrom, Alison Smith & Pheng Thao

(24 mins) Tonya Lovelace of the Women of Color Network, Clara Lindstrom of La Mariposa Enterprises, Alison Smith of the Georgia Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Pheng Thao of A CALL TO MEN describe the upcoming National Call to Action Institute and Conference to be held July 9-13, 2012, in St. Paul, Minn. This institute and conference will bring together hundreds of women of color, white women, aspired allies and men of all races to build “Collective Empowerment and Collective Liberation.”

(13 mins) Kelly Miller and Brandy Sutherland of the Center for Healthy Teen Relationships, a project of the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence, describe how they engaged young people to discuss gender equity at the opening of the popular move “The Hunger Games.” The Center for Healthy Teen Relationships conducted a survey and have released a lesson guide for teachers.

Listen here: Interview with Kelly Miller and Brandy Sutherland

David S. Lee

(15 mins) David S. Lee of PreventConnect and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault spoke at Peace Over Violence‘s Violence-Free Teen Conference on Feb. 17, 2012 in Los Angeles. He spoke about Innovations in Prevention: National Overview of Trends in Teen Dating Violence Prevention. Watch his PowerPoint presentation below.

We need to tell more stories on what prevention look like. In recognition of the CDC Injury Center’s 20th Anniversary, the Injury Center is conducting a nationwide video contest to help raise awareness of injury and violence prevention. They are inviting people to participate in the video contest by submitting a short, creative video that answers the question “What does Injury and Violence Prevention Look Like in My Community?” The video should highlight real-life stories and examples of how injuries and violence are being prevented in your community.

Winners will be selected in the following three categories: General Public View, Injury and Violence Professional View, or Student View. The winning video in each category will receive a $500 cash prize and will be featured on the CDC’s Injury Center Website for thousands to see. The Contest runs now through July 31, 2012. Follow the contest and get the contest guidelines, rules and submission information at www.SaferLens.challenge.gov.

I hope to see many CALCASA rape crisis center sharing what their prevention work looks like.

On Wednesday April 18^th, 2012, CALCASA hosted a web conference, “Engaging Campuses and Communities for Sexual Assault Awarness Month.”  This web conference was part of the Campus Web Conference Series and had presentations from The University of Oregon and The New School who produced campaigns to saturate their campuses with messages about consent. 

Joining us to talk about the University of Oregon campaign was Abigail Leeder, Director, Sexual Violence Prevention & Education, University of Oregon.  From The New School the members of the sexual assault awareness and response team spoke about their development of the “Yes Means Yes” campaign:

• Rhiannon Auriemma, undergraduate student, Feminist Collective founder, Health Promotion Specialist – Wellness and Health Promotion
• Tracy Robin, Assistant Vice President, Student Health and Support Service
• Maureen Sheridan, Director, Student Support and Crisis Management
• Hannah Stravers, graduate student, Head Resident – Stuyvesant Park Residence Hall, Graduate Assistant – Student Support Office

Topics covered were how their campaigns were developed, barriers they faced, and how they worked with their campus community to spread awareness.

In addition, the web conference highlighted how campuses can collaborate with local Rape Crisis Centers to engage the broader community for Sexual Assault Awareness Month.  Jessica Renee Napier, CALCASA’s Media & Communication Specialist, shared the collaborative events being done around the country between campuses and their Rape Crisis Centers.

To download the PowerPoint from the web conference click here: http://calcasa.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/04/CALCASA-APRIL-SAAM-PowerPoint-2.pdf

To view the recording from the web conference go to: https://calcasa.ilinc.com/join/hpjyztk

Upcoming web conferences for the Campus Web Conference Series:

• Tuesday May 8, 2012  (12:30 pm – 2:00 pm) “Working with Queer Identified Students Who Have Experienced Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence or Stalking on Campus”
• To register go to: https://calcasa.ilinc.com/register/wsfmkky

Starting in May 2012, CALCASA will be offering trainings at Prevention topics at CALCASA regional meetings. These free trainings are 1-2 hours to develop specific skills for prevention. The first training will be on the topic of “Using Youth as Prevention Volunteers” on May 8 in Visalia (Valley region).  Other trainings will be held on the topics of “Bystander Intervention” (June 19 in San Pablo (Bay Region)  and “Community Mobilization and Engagement.”  Look for future announcements dates of additional trainings that will be provided in all regions.

California Rape Crisis Centers that receive RPE funding are encouraged to attend the training in your region and are invited to attend the trainings outside of your region.  Here are the trainings that are currently scheduled:

• Valley Region – May 8, 2012: Using Youth as Prevention Volunteers, 2-4pm (after the CalEMA Regional Training 10am-noon and Valley Region meeting 1-2pm) , at Central Valley Regional Center (CVRC) , 5441 W. Cypress , Visalia.
• Bay Region – June 19, 2012: Bystander Training, 11 am – 1 pm  (followed by the Bay Region meeting form 1pm-2pm) at Community Violence Solutions, 2101 Van Ness Street, San Pablo.
• South Region- August 24, 2012: Using Youth as Prevention Volunteers (location and time to be announced), at Peace Over Violence, 1015 Wilshire Blvd.,
  Los Angeles.

The following topics will be offered at the regional trainings:

• Bystander Intervention: This training will provide an overview of the principles of bystander intervention for primary prevention efforts. Participants will explore the potential benefits of integrating these concepts into existing prevention programs. CALCASA’s Alexis Marbach will lead this session using concepts from leading bystander intervention program throughout the country.
• Community Mobilization and Engagement: This training will provide an overview of community mobilization strategies to support rape crisis centers to integrate these strategies into their prevention programming. CALCASA’s Alexis Marbach will lead this training using many of the concepts from Project ENVISION, a community mobilization sexual violence prevention efforts in New York City that was highlighted in the National Sexual Violence Resource Center’s Innovation in Prevention report released in January 2012.
• Using Youth as Prevention Volunteers: This training will provide an overview of strategies to use youth as prevention volunteers examining what volunteer roles youth can take, recruitment, training needs and organizational issues. CALCASA’s Leona L. Smith Di Faustino will lead this training drawing from her experience in working with youth as volunteers.

Please contact David Lee or Alexis Marbach if you have any questions.

Today the Senate voted 68 to 31 to pass the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). To see how each Senator voted, click here. We are happy to report that both Senator Feinstein and Senator Boxer voted in favor of this reauthorization of VAWA. The next step for this bill is moving on to the House of Representatives.

This iteration of the Violence Against Women Act is the ”first to include access to law enforcement and services for Native American women, better access for immigrant women who fear deportation if they report violence, and better access for LGBT victims” (Ms. Magazine). Senator Harry Reid released this statement about today’s historic vote:

“More than a third of women in this country have been victims of violence, sexual assault or stalking by a partner. Today’s strong bipartisan vote will give law enforcement agencies the tools they need to prosecute and convict the perpetrators of these heinous crimes, and will help victims get the protection and support they need.

I urge my colleagues in the House to quickly approve the Senate’s bipartisan bill… One case of abuse is one too many, and every day that law enforcement agencies lack all of the tools they need to combat domestic abuse is one day too many.”

We will continue to bring you updates as VAWA progresses in the House of Representatives!

Karen Cooper's husband & daughter accept the Visionary Voice Award, which was presented by Senator Jean Fuller & Assemblymember Connie Conway

In observance of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) highlights individuals throughout the country whose outstanding prevention work is making a significant impact in their communities. For the 2012 Visionary Voice Award, the NSVRC posthumously awarded Karen Cooper, Executive Director of Family Services of Tulare County, as the Californian recipient for this award.

Karen was nominated by the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault for her life’s work to foster a community of healthy people in supportive relationships and safe environments.

“Karen will be greatly missed,” said CALCASA’s Executive Director Sandra Henriquez. “Her dedication and influence reached rape crisis centers and by extension, rape victims throughout the state. Karen’s efforts will continue in Tulare County and across California as we carry on her legacy.”

Karen Cooper

Karen is recognized for her outstanding work in the sexual violence field for the following accomplishments:

• She had been with the Family Services of Tulare County for 21 years.
• Growing an agency that includes a domestic violence shelter and a transitional housing program; operates the Rape Crisis program for all of Tulare County; provides domestic violence awareness programs; offers services for those affected by HIV/AIDS; has adult and children’s counseling centers; and offers classes in anger management and parenting.
• Her leadership in the field led to an appointment by Gov. Schwarzenegger to the California Domestic Violence Advisory Council, and she also served as chair of the California Partnership to End Domestic Violence.
• Her efforts have been rewarded with many awards over the years, including the Chamber’s Woman of the Year, Assembly District 34 Woman of the Year in 2008, the Ruiz Foods Danza Award in 2011, and the Soroptimist International Sierra Pacific Regional Women Helping Women Award.

Yesterday, CALCASA was pleased to be present this award to Karen’s family during its Denim Day event on April 25, 2012. We are grateful for Karen’s leadership in making changes across California and her community.

Yesterday, legislators from across the state joined sexual assault advocates in recognizing Denim Day California, an event in which participants wear denim to “break the dress code and speak out against sexual violence.” CALCASA hosted the annual Denim Day rally on the West steps of the state Capitol.

There were about 100 participants taking part in the rally, with more inside and outside of the capitol sporting denim to speak out against sexual violence. More than one dozen California Legislators and others from the California Emergency Management Agency and California rape crisis centers joined the rally. Speaking at the event were:

• Associate Director Ellen Yin-Wycoff, CALCASA
• Assemblymember Katcho Achadjian, California’s 33rd Assembly District
• Assemblymember Marty Block, California’s 78th Senate District
• Assemblymember Betsy Butler, California’s 50th Assembly District
• Assemblymember Connie Conway, California’s 34th Assembly District
• Senator Ellen Corbett, California 10th Senate District
• Assemblymember Roger Dickinson, California’s 9th Assembly District
• Senator Noreen Evans, California’s 2nd Senate District
• Assemblymember Paul Fong, California’s 22nd Assembly District
• Senator Jean Fuller, California’s 18th Senate District
• Senator Doug LaMalfa, California’s 4th Senate District
• Senator Mark Leno, California’s 3rd Senate District
• Assemblymember Bonnie Lowenthal, California’s 54th Assembly District
• Assemblymember Fiona Ma, California’s 12th Assembly District
• Assemblymember Holly J. Mitchell, California’s 54th Assembly District
• Assemblymember Anthony Portantino, California’s 44th Assembly District
• Assemblymember Das Williams, California’s 35th Assembly District
• Senator Roderick D. Wright, California’s 25th Senate District
• Assemblymember Mariko Yamada, California’s 8th Assembly District
• Undersecretary Mike Dayton, California Emergency Management Agency

The event was sponsored in part by the California Legislative Women’s Caucus.

WHY DENIM?
In 1999, the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction because the victim was wearing tight jeans. The Judge argued, “because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them,” concluding “it was no longer rape but consensual sex.” Wearing jeans is a symbol of protest against destructive attitudes about sexual assault.

April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and throughout the state, rape crisis centers are hosting activities to organize their communities to address rape and sexual assault.

Photos of the event can be found here.

Transforming Communities has released its newest edition of its newsletter Catalyst Connections titled Disability, Disability Justice & Shared Values with Prevention. This newsletter raises many important issues for domestic violence and sexual violence prevention:

As prevention advocates, our commitment to meeting diverse needs is ongoing and complex. Both Disability Justice and Universal Design frameworks have much to offer our field in preventing violence across all communities. Activists in these communities have paid particular attention to intersectionality and are uniquely positioned to offer rich insights for our anti-violence work. What we do to address ableism and be inclusive of disability has an amazing ripple effect across other communities and issues as well.

Articles include a A Peer Dialogue on “Advancing Domestic & Sexual Violence Prevention Efforts through Disability Justice,” two sample activities, resources and a note on language. I recommend you check this out.

Wear denim as a symbol of protest against destructive attitudes about sexual assault.

Today is Denim Day, an event across California and the nation in which participants wear denim to “speak out against sexual violence.” Today CALCASA will host the annual Denim Day rally at the California state Capitol. Legislators and victim advocates will have an opportunity to speak at the event and sign a pledge to work together to prevent and end sexual violence.

In recognition of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Denim Day is a an opportunity for rape crisis centers and rape prevention programs across the state to engage their communities, public officials and stakeholders, and shine the light on the issue of sexual assault.

In the 13 years that it has existed, Denim Day has galvanized public and private business, students, legislature, funders and the public at-large. It has symbolically helped this movement to build awareness, momentum and to engage new allies in the work of eliminating sexual violence.

Denim day was born in 1999, when the Italian Supreme Court overturned a rape conviction because the victim was wearing tight jeans. The Judge argued, “because the victim wore very, very tight jeans, she had to help him remove them,” concluding “it was no longer rape but consensual sex.”

Please join the CALCASA staff and rape crisis centers across California and the nation and those committed to eliminating sexual violence, by wearing jeans as a symbol of protest against destructive attitudes about sexual assault.

Willie Mays, Sergio Martinez, and Joe Torre at the Y Factor Summit © Futures Without Violence

CALCASA’s Chad Sniffen was happy to be part of a pannel about using “Social Media for Social Good” at Futures Without Violence‘s recent Y Factor Summit. As described by Futures Without Violence:

Our first-ever national summit, called the Y Factor: Men Leading By Example, launched on Thursday, April 12, and was a day filled with all-American heroes, unconventional advocates, committed public figures and journalists who helped us probe topics ranging from social media to the rise of sexual assault on college campuses. It was a day to salute the attendees – men throughout the world who are leading programs that teach youth about respecting women and girls, and ending gender-based violence. And it was the perfect occasion to thank Cindy Waitt (Waitt Institute for Violence Prevention) for the tremendous leadership support she has given to a movement that is teaching men and boys that violence does not equal strength.

Held in the new Futures Without Violence international conference and education center in the Presidio of San Francisco, the event was built around panel discussions, one-on-one interviews, and an all-star luncheon that paid tribute to baseball legends Willie Mays and Joe Torre.

Social Media for Social Good Panel © Futures Without Violence

The Summit was a wonderful opportunity to meet people from around the country (and Todd Minerson from Canada) who are engaging men and boys to prevent violence and abuse in their communities. Many projects and topics were highlighted during the day, including:

• Futures Without Violence’s Coaching Boys Into Men program and supporting research
• The short film “A New Kind of Strength: The Men’s Movement to End Domestic Violence” produced by Private Violence – a film and media project documenting domestic violence in America.
• Half the Sky – a transmedia project based on the book by Nicholas Kristof
• Using social media to accomplish social change work
• Critical issues of safety and social norms change for Colleges and Universities
• Building a global movement to engage men in gender based violence prevention

The full agenda for the day can be viewed here.

VAWA ACTION ALERT

Please share widely!

From our colleagues at the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women.

Urge Senator Reid to schedule a vote THIS WEEK! VAWA (S. 1925) has 61 sponsors –and Senate Majority Leader Reid has still not called the bill to the floor!  In the meantime, victims and survivors of violence are being ignored and those who oppose VAWA are developing alternative bills that would undercut VAWA.  Tell Senator Reid that victims and survivors do not have time to wait and he must call the bill to the floor this week.   Tell your Senators to support S. 1925, the real VAWA!

TAKE ACTION:
1. Urge Senator Reid to schedule VAWA for a vote THIS WEEK.
2. Write a letter to the editor to get the real VAWA to the Senate floor (sample below!).

Action 1: S. 1925 has enough sponsors to go to the Senate floor for a vote without a filibuster.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has the power to schedule VAWA for a vote.  Ask him to schedule a vote THIS WEEK. 

Suggested message: “Senator Reid, you have 61 co-sponsors. You can get a vote for cloture now. In the meantime, those who oppose VAWA are developing a bill that will undercut everything VAWA stands for.Please schedule a date in April so that S.1925, the real VAWA, will be heard on the Senate floor.”

If you are not from Nevada, call 202-224-3542 (D.C. office).
If you are from Nevada, call 775-686-5750 (Reno office).

Action 2: Write a letter to the editor to get VAWA to the Senate Floor!  Find suggested language below which you should feel free to edit and personalize.  Find media contacts in your area:http://capwiz.com/fconl/dbq/media

To The Editor:
The Violence Against Women Act, S. 1925,  is a strong, bipartisan, filibuster-proof bill that will reauthorize essential laws and programs for another five years and build on effective, existing programs to meet the changing needs of victims of domestic and sexual violence.  This legislation, introduced by Senator Leahy (D-VT) and Senator Crapo (R-ID), currently has 61 co-sponsors, including eight Republicans.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) has yet to call the bill to the Senate floor for a vote that would demonstrate Congress’ commitment to end this violence.  Delaying this vote  threatens the progress our country has made toward ending domestic and sexual violence and building safer communities.

VAWA saves lives and money –  $12.6 billion in its first 6 years alone.  Approximately $400 million in annual funding supports local law enforcement, prosecution, courts, and victim services.  Since its passage in 1994, all states have strengthened rape laws and the number of individuals killed by an intimate partner has decreased by 34% for women and 57% for men.

Critics of the Leahy-Crapo bill fear that the bill will help “too many” victims.  Critics say S. 1925 gives immigrants a “new” way to enter the U.S., while in reality, provisions to protect abused immigrants have been in place since 1994.  They also claim S. 1925 would force all domestic violence and sexual assault programs to serve lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered (LGBT) victims or be charged with discrimination.  In reality, S. 1925 has a provision that allows states to fund services specifically targeted to LGBT victims, who are often  turned away or denied services because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity.  They say S. 1925 violates the Constitution by giving tribal courts the authority to punish non-Indians for committing domestic violence on tribal lands where 1 in 3 American Indian women will be raped in their lifetime.  In fact, S. 1925 requires  tribal courts  to provide the same  Constitutional protections afforded to defendants in state criminal courts.

Senate leadership must move quickly to bring S. 1925 to the floor.  A vote for the Leahy-Crapo bill says, unequivocally, to all victims of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking, “We will help you wherever and whenever you need help.” The time has come for Senator Reid to call this bill to the floor and once again reauthorize this critical legislation.

Sincerely,
[Name, Title, Organization, Contact Info]

***

Thank you for all your great work!!

Photo from http://jezebel.com/5902031/military-may-be-gaslighting-sexual-assault-victims

Yesterday, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta announced the implementation of  new steps and sanctions to address sexual assault in the military. In recent weeks, attention has been drawn to increased rates of sexual violence in the military, especially at military academies:

The Defense Department’s “Annual Report on Sexual Harassment and Violence at the Military Service Academies” for academic year 2010-2011 found there were 65 reports of sexual assault involving cadets and midshipmen at the U.S. Naval Academy, the U.S. Military Academy and the U.S. Air Force Academy. That was up from 41 reports of sexual assaults in the prior academic year. – CBS News

Additionally, a recent CNN report exposed how the military has been inappropriately addressing victims who come forward, labeling them with “personality disorders”, leading to their immediate discharge from the military.

In the military’s eyes, a personality disorder diagnosis is a pre-existing condition and does not constitute a service-related disability. That means sexual assault victims with personality disorder discharges don’t receive benefits from the Department of Veterans Affairs to help with their trauma. They can still apply for benefits, but it’s considered an uphill battle. – CNN

This is not the first time the military has been accused of inadequate responses to victims. In November 2011, MSNBC reported the 14 current and former members of the U.S. military bringing a lawsuit forward filed stating that the Pentagon turned a “blind eye” when they reported being sexually harassed, assaulted and raped by fellow service members.

Panetta’s latest comment on the re-energized effort to handle military sexual assault:

“This is a strong package. It is essential, we believe, to being able to prevent and respond to the crime of sexual assault,” Panetta said. “There’s no silver bullet when it comes to this issue. But what is required is that everyone, from the secretary to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs all the way down, every command level, be sensitive to this issue, be aware that they bear the responsibility to take action on these cases. The most important thing we can do is prosecute the offenders.” – CBS News

In addition to supporting victims, there seems to be a huge opportunity to do primary prevention and systems change work to create a culture shift within the military. There are some programs that have been implemented but are not frequently talked about, such as the I.AM.STRONG campaign and Hurts One. Affects All. 

What strategies have you used or seen on military bases to prevent sexual assault?

From L-R: Dr. Richard McCleary, CALCASA Executive Director Sandra Henriquez, and Asm. Das Williams

Today, AB 2441 (Williams) was heard on the floor of the Assembly Revenue & Taxation Committee. During the hearing, CALCASA’s Executive Director Sandra Henriquez provided a testimony along with Assemblymember Williams. Williams provided an overview of the legislation and I gave information about sexual assault, and statistics for the state of California.

Two witnesses presented in support of AB 2441, including Dr. Richard McCleary who is a professor at the University of California, Irvine who studies the secondary impacts of sexually oriented businesses. His experience with adult entertainment businesses in California began in the late 1980s with a study that found neighborhood crime rates rose whenever an adult business opened. Furthermore, the study found that the effect was aggravated by proximity to a bar or tavern. He testified that AB 2441, which only affects live adult entertainment businesses that serve alcohol, assumes that the businesses’ activities play a causal role in the victimization risk and that the organizations’ activities can mitigate the risk.

Additionally, a survivor of sexual assault spoke during the committee hearing. She said that she will never forget the advocate who met her at the hospital and how valuable the services were that she received from her local rape crisis center.

In the legislation analysis of AB 2441 (available here), there are 116 listed supporters and three businesses in opposition.

The Committee did not vote on the issue today, moving to vote on the issue to Monday, April 23. We are hopeful that AB 2441 will pass through the Rev & Tax Committee, and continue to progress through the legislative process into the Appropriations Committee.

Again, thank you for your support thus far — we’ll continue to need letters, calls and efforts in the coming weeks! Please contact Alexis Marbach, Public Policy Advocate at alexis@calcasa.org to learn how to get more involved.

David Lee of California Coalition Against Sexual Assault, Courtney-Christie Paul and Pamela Jacobs of SCCADVASA at the End Sexual Violence Conference in Columbia SC

Last week I had the opportunity to speak at the South Carolina Coalition Against Domestic Violence and Sexual Assault’s Annual Sexual Violence Conference in Columbia. Over hundred people gathered for two days of presentations and workshops. My opening plenary session was titled “Our mission is to end the violence” where I described why primary prevention is an essential element of the work in creating change so sexual violence will no longer take place.

By weaving together stories such as Surgeon General Koop declaring violence to be a public health issue, recognizing the need to create news (drawing from Berkeley Media Studies Group analysis of media coverage of child sexual abuse at Penn State, and Hollaback‘s development of its I’ve Got your Back campaign to engage bystanders to prevention street harassment, I see great hope in our efforts to prevent sexual violence.

Click here to see the notes from my presentations.

When I think of capacity building, I think of resources: number of staff, funding, office space, printed materials, etc. When I read the March 2012 Technical Assistance Memo from the Missouri Coalition Against Domestic and Sexual Violence, I started to reframe my thinking about “capacity” not as physical stuff we need to provide prevention education to the community but as a systems change within our agency.

“Embracing Prevention as Social Change” defines organizational capacity for primary prevention as “the agency’s ability to support and implement domestic and sexual violence prevention efforts”. When the agency fully embraces primary prevention, the work becomes part of the organizational culture, existing in all departments, volunteers, board members, and administrators.

What is the benefit of creating an organizational culture that supports primary prevention? “Primary prevention work can be an energizing social change endeavor that rekindles a spark of hope in the movement to end domestic and sexual violence. By incorporating prevention into all aspects of an organization’s work, the daunting task of changing the world will become more realistic and attainable”.

Read the full text of the article here: Embracing Prevention as Social Change- How to Build Organizational Capacity for Prevention

This web conference is sponsored by Ms. Foundation for Women.

PreventConnect is pleased to partner with the Ms. Foundation for Women to host a new web conference series on ending child sexual abuse. During 2012 there will be 9 web conferences to explore themes of how to end child sexual abuse and build the network of those committed to addressing this issue.

The first web conference on May 3, 2012, is titled “Including Efforts to End Child Sexual Abuse within the Sexual Violence Prevention Movement.” This session focuses on the power and possibilities of local, statewide and national strategies to highlight child sexual abuse prevention as foundational to sexual violence prevention efforts throughout the lifespan.

Thursday, May 03, 2012

This ninety-minute (90 min) session will start at 2 PM Eastern Time (1 PM Central, Noon Mountain, 11 AM Pacific, 10 AM Alaska, 8 AM Hawai’i).

Registration: The session is full. Please click here to join the wait list.

Sponsor: Ms. Foundation for Women

Web Conference Facilitators: Joan Tabachnick and Cordelia Anderson

Speakers:

• Sally J. Laskey, Director Special Projects, National Sexual Violence Resource Center
• Donna Dunn, Executive Director, Minnesota Coalition Against Sexual Assault
• Gina Scaramella, Executive Director, Boston Area Rape Crisis Center

Sally Laskey

Donna Dunn

Gina Scaramella

Cost: Free

Learning Objectives:

1. Increased understanding of how ending child sexual abuse is relevant to sexual violence prevention efforts throughout the lifespan.
2. Expanded knowledge of local, state and national efforts to end child sexual abuse.
3. Ability to identify three actions that organizations can take to integrate prevention across the lifespan.

What is a Web Conference?
A web conference is an opportunity to attend an online workshop by watching a presentation on your computer screen (using your internet connection) and hearing presenters through your telephone. Prevent Connect web conferences feature an opportunity to participate in online question & answer sessions and live text chat between participants. If for some reason you are unable to join on your computer, you can download the presentation slides from our website and listen on your phone.

Real-Time Captioning Available: Instructions for accessing captioning during this web conference will be provided with your registration confirmation.

Compatibility: The iLinc web conference software used by Prevent Connect is compatible with both Microsoft® Windows® and Apple® Macintosh® computers. Click here for detailed system requirements.

“A Prospective Study of Sexual Assault and Alcohol Use Among First-Year College Women”, a study recently published in the journal Violence and Victims, examined the relationship between frequent binge drinking, frequent drinking, and sexual assault victimization. The authors hypothesized that: “a) frequency of alcohol use would predict sexual assaults, b) frequency of heavy episodic drinking would predict sexual assaults, and c) prior alcohol consumption would be a strong predictor of later alcohol consumption, whereas experiencing a sexual assault would be, at best, a week predictor.”

The study found that alcohol increased the perceived “suitability” of women as victims of sexual aggression :

 First, women who have been drinking are perceived as more vulnerable because of the cognitive and physiological effects of alcohol…Second, the consumption of alcohol has been theorized to result in a ‘focusing’ or ‘myopia’ effect (Steele & Josephs, 1990), such that alcohol consumption limits the individual’s ability to focus on all but the most salient cues in a given situation…Third, women who have been drinking are also perceived as more sexually uninhibited and available than sober women (pg 89-90).

As a prevention educator, I cannot ignore that there is some relationship between alcohol and sexual assault (as this study examined) but I wonder what the best way to talk about alcohol and its impact on sexual violence without traveling down the path of victim blaming. I worry about walking the fine line between delivering primary prevention and giving a “10 ways to prevent yourself from being sexual assaulted” talk.

For me the answer always comes back to culture change and social norms change. Is there a culture that promotes both frequent binge drinking and sexual assault perpetration and if so, how can we start our education there, at the root cause of the problems? What experiences have you had addressing this topic?

A Prospective Study of Sexual Assault and Alcohol Use Among First-Year College Women

Emily R. Mouilso, MS, Sarah Fischer, PhD, and Karen S. Calhoun, PhD. Violence and Victims, Volume 27, Number 1, 2012 , pp. 78-94(17)

Abstract:

This study prospectively examined the relation between alcohol use and sexual assault in a sample (N = 319) of first-year college women. Both frequency of drinking and frequency of binge drinking were measured. Over the course of their freshman year, 19.3% reported experiencing at least one sexual assault. Frequent binge drinking and frequent drinking predicted a subsequent sexual assault; however, experiencing a sexual assault did not predict changes in alcohol use. Frequent binge drinking demonstrated a stronger association with sexual assault than did frequent drinking. Findings help clarify the relation between alcohol use and sexual assault in college women and call for continued differentiation in assessment of alcohol use.

(54 mins) At the beginning of November, PreventConnect attended the 2011 Roots of Change Conference in Portland, Oreg., which was sponsored by the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force and Men Can Stop Rape. PreventConnect’s Chad Sniffen presented during this conference. Speakers and workshops addressed the primary prevention of sexual violence with a strong focus on media, entertainment and pop culture. Themes regarding men and masculinity were woven throughout the conference proceedings.

Keynote speaker Jaclyn Friedman, Executive Director of Women, Action & the Media, the editor of Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape and the author of What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl’s Shame-Free Guide to Sex & Safety, discusses how building a stronger relationship with our authentic sexuality is a powerful act of resistance.

Listen: Keynote address — Jaclyn Friedman

(37 mins) At the beginning of November, PreventConnect attended the 2011 Roots of Change Conference in Portland, Oreg., which was sponsored by the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force and Men Can Stop Rape. PreventConnect’s Chad Sniffen presented during this conference. Speakers and workshops addressed the primary prevention of sexual violence with a strong focus on media, entertainment and pop culture. Themes regarding men and masculinity were woven throughout the conference proceedings.

Keynote speaker Dr. Pat McGann, Men Can Stop Rape‘s Director of Strategy & Planning, talks about his journeys with masculinity through childhood, adulthood, marriage and his feminist transformation.

Listen: Keynote address — Pat McGann

(61 mins) At the beginning of November, PreventConnect attended the 2011 Roots of Change Conference in Portland, Oreg., which was sponsored by the Oregon Attorney General’s Sexual Assault Task Force and Men Can Stop Rape. PreventConnect’s Chad Sniffen presented during this conference. Speakers and workshops addressed the primary prevention of sexual violence with a strong focus on media, entertainment and pop culture. Themes regarding men and masculinity were woven throughout the conference proceedings.

Keynote speaker Dr. Rachael Griffin, Assistant Professor of Speech Communication at Southern Illinois University Carbondale, reflects on the intersection of her experience as a black feminist survivor and Tyler Perry’s film For Colored Girls.

Listen: Keynote address — Dr. Rachael Griffin

The OVW FY 2012 Grants to Reduce Sexual Assault, Domestic Violence, Dating Violence, and Stalking on Campus Program solicitation is now open and available on Grants.gov and the OVW website.  Applications are due by May 22, 2012. 

Thanks for School and College Organization for Prevention Educators (SCOPE) for sharing great ideas about prevention in their series of Thought Pieces on challenges and lessons learned. The third question they explore is What are the cutting-edge prevention best practices that you would recommend?

I especially like this point from Jane Stapleton from University of New Hampshire’s Prevention Innovations:

Our work has demonstrated that prevention is strengthened by a multi-dimensional application. Thus, prevention strategies that are one-time events are less effective than strategies that include a comprehensive approach to prevention, in-person prevention programs and passive social marketing campaigns.

To me the best practice is not really cutting-edge but is about being intentional and well planned. I do not see prevention programs as solutions-in-a-box where one size fits all. Instead, the best way is to carefully assess what you community needs and, more importantly, assess what are the strengths of your community that you can leverage to prevent sexual violence and domestic violence.I prefer to build prevention on a catalog of assets then a litany of deficits.

Here are a few examples. Mentors in Violence Prevention recognizes that athletes have influence so they work with them. In Men Can Stop Rape’s work in the Department of Defense, they appeal to service members sense of duty to prevent violence. Jerry Tello’s collection of curriculum for the Latino Community build upon the wisdom and resources from within the community.

And be creative. I do not see prevention as merely a curriculum. Prevention requires shifting social norms that will foster new behaviors. We need to take advantage of opportunities and new technologies to build that change. Later today I will be talking to the Idaho Coalition Against Sexual & Domestic Violence about how they are using the book and movie of Hunger Games to prevent teen dating violence. Check out PreventConnect for this podcast soon and see the great work they did using the Twilight movies and books.)

Transforming Communities‘ newest issue of “Catalyst Connections” provides excellent tools and resources about using evaluation to support communities to be empowered to take action. Participatory action research concepts such as collaboration and cooperation, democratization of knowledge, and participants are the experts guide evaluation efforts that support community-led change.

I found the discussion between Alisa Del Tufo of the Threshold Collaborative, Miho Kim of the DataCenter; Mimi Kim from Creative Interventions; Aimee Thompson-Aravelo of Close to Home, and Maria Elena Torre from The Public Science Project to be very helpful. For example, Miho Kim states

Our mission is to unlock power of knowledge for community change. We utilize a research justice framework to understand how the democratizing of research can strengthen grassroots organizing. Historically evaluation has not supported social justice frameworks so we need to re-define past models into one that becomes useful, powerful and liberating for communities.

And there are two activities (Five Questions in Five Minutes! and Values Leading to Positive Change) that provide concrete tools to use.

Click here to see this valuable resource.

Guest post from Holly Kearl, the lead organizer of International Anti-Street Harassment Week.

Thousands of people worldwide collectively spoke out against street harassment during the first ever International Anti-Street Harassment Week in March. During the week, the Internet, the streets, and classrooms swelled with discussions, messages, stories, and reclamations of public spaces. It was powerful to see so many people talk about the issue at once, amplifying each other’s voices, and bringing global attention to the unwanted sexual harassment that occurs in public places between strangers.

1. Read the thank you and wrap-up blog post
2. See the list of events that took place
3. View nearly 300 photos from events worldwide
4. Watch videos of events and messages from participants
5. See the list of media coverage

12 of the Anti-Street Harassment Week Initiatives:

1. In Canada, Women in Cities International released a report called Tackling Gender Exclusion: Experiences from the Gender Inclusive Cities Programme.
2. In India, Breakthrough launched a bystander poster campaign against street harassment, and groups like Let’s Talk and Safe Delhi Campaign organized rallies and activities to advocate for safe public spaces.
3. In Belgium, women walked to areas where they’d been harassed and reclaimed the spaces with sidewalk chalk messages.
4. In Yemen, across three days there were a series of discussions and seminars on different aspects of the issue of street harassment.
5. Women and men in New York City, USA, created a short video about responses men can have to men who are street harassers. It was viewed 200,000 times in just one week.
6. In Germany, women addressed street harassment by handing out 2,000 “red cards” against sexism and “pink cards” against homophobia.
7. In Norway, B Safe created a translation of the Stop Street Harassment website in Norwegian
8. College students at a university called SZABIST in Karachi, Pakistan, created a video PSA about street harassment as part of a class project and then held a discussion on the topic during the week of activism.
9. Film screenings took place in Turkey, Croatia, Canada, and the USA

10. Rallies, marches, sidewalk chalking, art exhibits, mud art, and flyer-ing took place in many places across the USA, including Arizona, California, Illinois, Maryland, New York, Pennsylvania, South Dakota, and Washington, DC

11. Lots of activism and campaigning happened online. For example, the Women’s Media Center made their Wednesday Twitter #SheParty discussion about street harassment.

12. Hollaback, which is based in the USA and has chapters all over the world, launched a bystander “I’ve got your back” campaign.

Next year will be even bigger! I hope you can join in.

Each month, our partners at vawnet.org put out a resource guide for a “TA Question of the Month”. This month, vawnet.org is providing tips on the relationship between healthy sexuality and sexual assault with their guide “How Can I Talk About Sexuality to Prevent Sexual Violence”:

The 2012 Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) Campaign centers on the theme of healthy sexuality, letting everyone know “It’s time…to talk about it.” Healthy sexuality means having the knowledge and power to express sexuality in ways that enrich our lives (NSVRC, 2012). It means more than sex. Healthy sexuality includes building safe relationships, developing skills to communicate, positive and respectful behaviors and interactions, awareness of media and cultural messages, and it is always free from violence and coercion (NSVRC, 2012).

Sexuality can be viewed as an ongoing journey, something that grows and changes throughout our lives (NSVRC, 2012). It is important that information and resources on developing healthy sexuality be available to all people, from children to people in later life. Healthy sexuality relates directly to our work to prevent and respond to sexual violence. The ongoing process of active and informed consent is a key part of healthy sexuality and safe sexual relationships. Educating communities about consent and providing models for negotiating consent in relationships can enrich our lives in many areas.

As we work toward the primary prevention of sexual violence, some of our efforts include changing social norms. Gender norms, the “rules” or ideas about how a person should act based on gender, contribute to a culture of violence. Social expectations related to a person’s gender influence behaviors and sexuality (NSVRC, 2012). For example, gender norms suggest that men should aggressively pursue sex. Healthy sexuality counters this idea by promoting equal power and balance in relationships. Less restrictive norms can lead to healthier sexual interactions for all people (NSVRC, 2012). Gender norms can also support discrimination against anyone who doesn’t fit within the norm. People who identify as LGBTQ often face discrimination and violence as a result. To learn more, consider reading The Gendered Dimensions of Harassment and Bullying.

A successful SAAM campaign will reach out to both new and existing partners in the community. To begin building these connections, consider who can assist you in your community. Educating parents and caregivers about how to talk to their children may help you reach youth outside of the school day. Healthcare providers communicate with people of all ages, and may be a good source for expanding knowledge about healthy sexuality. Healthy sexuality and sexual violence prevention and response are not single-gender issues. Consider some helpful tips on partnering with men’s organizations, like emphasizing positive ways men can be involved.

Many resources are available to help you expand your knowledge and craft a great campaign.Resource kits include guides on various topics and a glossary of terms related to healthy sexuality. Many resources are available in Spanish (recursos en Español). With so many links to our work, starting the conversation on healthy sexuality can be a positive and exciting new adventure.

What are you doing to promote healthy sexuality?

Research on many issues show risk factors common to many different issue. Even more importantly, many have common protective factors. We will explore this theme in the upcoming PreventConnect web conference titled A Good Solution Solves Multiple Problems.

Here is a great example of recent action being taken to address the links between different topics Last week, President Obama issues a memorandum establishing a Working Group on the Intersection of HIV/AIDS, Violence Against Women and Girls, and Gender-related Health Disparities. This is an important opportunity to find common solutions to many related problems. You can learn more about this during the White House’s Open Office on this topic on April 4 at 11am Pacific (2pm Eastern) Time where Lynn Rosenthal, the White House Advisor on Violence Against Women and Dr. Grant Colfax, the Director of the Office of National AIDS Policy, will respond to your questions in real-time via Twitter. Use the hashtag #WHChat and follow @WHLive.

Implementing strategies with collaborative partners outside of the sexual and domestic violence field is a hallmark of innovative efforts. Learn how organizations are meeting their goals to prevent sexual and domestic violence by actively collaborating with community partners on efforts with shared outcomes such as health equity, youth leadership and mobilized communities.

Tuesday, April 24, 2012	Thursday, April 26, 2012

This ninety-minute (90 min) session will start at 11 AM Pacific Time (2 PM Eastern, 1 PM Central, Noon Mountain, 10 AM Alaska, 8 AM Hawai’i).

Host: David Lee, CALCASA, PreventConnect

Sahra Abdi

Christine Gilfillan

Guest Speakers: Christine Gilfillan, Director of Education & Community Outreach, Berks Women in Crisis; Sahra Abdi, Director, United Women of East Africa Support Team

Cost: Free

Learning Objectives:

1. Engage in a candid discussion about the challenges and opportunities in developing partnerships and dynamic collaboration.
2. Provide examples of lessons learned from people and agencies with experience.
3. Identify opportunities to incorporate population-based efforts such as organizational practice and policy change within the collaboration.
4. Identify potential indicators for measuring the impact and outcomes of efforts.

What is a Web Conference?
A web conference is an opportunity to attend an online workshop by watching a presentation on your computer screen (using your internet connection) and hearing presenters through your telephone. Prevent Connect web conferences feature an opportunity to participate in online question & answer sessions and live text chat between participants. If for some reason you are unable to join on your computer, you can download the presentation slides from our website and listen on your phone.

Real-Time Captioning Available: Instructions for accessing captioning during this web conference will be provided with your registration confirmation.

Compatibility: The iLinc web conference software used by Prevent Connect is compatible with both Microsoft® Windows® and Apple® Macintosh® computers. Click here for detailed system requirements.

Today is the national SAAM Day of Action. Our partners at the National Sexual Violence Resource Center have 4 ideas for how to participate in the SAAM Day of Action!

1.       It’s time… to talk about it! Get the conversation started 

Start the conversation about healthy sexuality and sexual violence prevention with your friends, family, neighbors, co-workers, classmates & others. By opening the lines of communication, we can raise awareness and help others learn about prevention!

There are resources to help you start the conversation here. Or get a little inspiration from how we talk about it in our SAAM video.

2.       It’s… time to connect! Raise awareness online

Change your profile picture to a photo of yourself holding a clock to represent “It’s time!”

Use tweets, posts and status updates to spread the word about SAAM 2012.

Post a SAAM or healthy sexuality-related video to the NSVRC YouTube channel.

Tweet about it Tuesdays! Join us on Twitter for an hour-long chats starting on the Day of Action and each Tuesday in April using #TweetAboutIt.

Add a teal ribbon graphic, banner or background to your profile, website, etc

3.       It’s time… to get involved! Get active for SAAM

Find and support a SAAM event in your area.

Connect with the organizations in your state, community and campus to participate in events, volunteer or donate.
Can’t find something in your region? Host your own SAAM event – gather friends over tea and teal cupcakes. Share SAAM with your book club, trivia night, yoga or zumba class, faith group, etc. There are so many ways to get the conversation started.

4.       It’s time.. to prevent! Be an advocate for prevention

Healthy sexuality skills and characteristics enrich our lives with relationships that are consensual, respectful & safe. Learn more about these skills!

Share information about healthy sexuality, sexual violence prevention and the importance of SAAM with you community!

Be an active bystander by engaging and responding when you hear comments or notice behaviors that are unhealthy and represent negative attitudes and stereotypes. Talking about it means standing up to injustice, educating others, and creating dialogue.

The National Alliance Against Sexual Violence has recently released updated fact sheets on key funding issues for sexual assault intervention and prevention work. These fact sheets include national facts and figures, including the FY 2012 appropriation made to the funding stream and the goal for the FY 2013 appropriation.

The fact sheets are an excellent resource when talking to your community and local media outlets about your funding needs during Sexual Assault Awareness Month. For more resources on how to connect with local media during SAAM, please visit the CALCASA SAAM Resources Page.

Victims of Crime Act (VOCA) Fund

Sexual Asault Services Program (SASP)

Sex Offense Set Aside in the Preventive Health and Health Services Block Grant

Rape Prevention Education Program (RPE)

Yesterday, President Barack Obama released a proclamation to “urge all Americans to support survivors of sexual assault and work together to prevent these crimes in their communities.”

The proclamation says that April is a time to rededicate ourselves to breaking the cycle of violence that threatens lives, erodes communities and weakens our country. It includes information about additional resources for service members and military families through www.SafeHelpline.org. The proclamation also lists the White House’s 1 is 2 Many website, which includes information about Vice President Biden’s efforts to end violence against women.

As we reflect on the progress we have made and the distance we have yet to go,” the proclamation reads, “let us recommit to empowering survivors and fighting for a safer future for every American.”

To read the full proclamation, visit WhiteHouse.gov.

CALCASA Staff at our 2011 Denim Day event

Although sexual assault happens all year long, this month is a time to educate people about sexual violence. It is a month that we, at CALCASA, not only promote sexual assault awareness, but also remember those who are survivors. We strive to support, promote and contribute to strengthening the resources, access and continual health services to survivors.

Throughout their lifetimes, survivors re-experience the trauma they endured. Whether the re-vicitmization happens through the judicial process, questions from family and friends, or exposure to pop culture, the public doesn’t see the invisibility of the trauma and a survivor’s emotional scars. Let’s expand support and provide stronger responses. No one should face trauma alone, and as families, friends and mentors, we can empower survivors to seek the assistance they need.

Together — rape crisis centers, coalitions, and groups and communities around the world — are observing April by hosting events and speaking out about:

• how to end sexual violence;
• how to raise awareness about sexual assault; and
• how to take to away the blanket of silence, shame and secrecy that are endured by the survivors.

Sexual assault happens every day, everywhere around the world and to every background. It happens to everyone — children, men and women. It happens in different communities, colleges campuses and among people with disabilities and those living in senior care homes. Nearly 1 in 2 women (44.6%) and 1 in 5 men (22.2%) experience sexual violence other than rape throughout their lifetime. There are more than 2 million people in the California who are survivors of rape. Most of these go unreported.

We can help change insensitive attitudes and build stronger relationships when advocates come together to bring awareness to this very important issue. Encourage people to wear teal throughout the month of April. For more information and resources, visit CALCASA’s SAAM page.

By Army Sgt. 1st Class Tyrone C. Marshall Jr.
American Forces Press Service

WASHINGTON, April 2, 2012 – The Defense Department has refined new methods to aid sexual assault victims whether reporting a crime or seeking assistance as they transition from service, the director of the Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office said here March 30.

“We have several new options for victims of sexual assault,” said Air Force Maj. Gen. Mary Kay Hertog. “First, if you’ve been a victim of sexual assault in the military you now have the option of requesting an expedited transfer. We signed that into effect in December.”

“If you find it untenable or unbearable in the organization that you’re at … you can request to be transferred,” she added.

Hertog said a service member’s local commander has 72 hours to respond to the request for transfer, and if denied there is an option to take it to the first flag or general officer in the chain of command who also has 72 hours to respond.

“We also have a new document retention initiative,” she said. “We heard loud and clear from our veterans that present themselves at the [Department of Veterans Affairs] years later that there was no documentation that they had ever been sexually assaulted [during] their military service.”

The issue arose, Hertog said, because varying standards of retention had existed among all of the services but has since been resolved.

“We now have one standard of retention so those individuals that file unrestricted reports will have their documents retained for 50 years,” she said.

“And those that file restricted reports will have their documents retained for five years,” Hertog said. “And of course our victims of sexual assault who file restricted reports have that option to convert over to unrestricted reports at any time and then we will retain their documents for that 50-year period.”

The director also discussed other innovations such as expanding legal assistance to encourage victims to participate in the military justice system “in order to hold that perpetrator accountable.”

And as of January, DOD civilians and contractors deployed abroad, and military dependents over 18 years old are now eligible to access sexual assault response services, Hertog said.

Hertog noted other changes implemented include new training for investigators of sexual assault crimes within the services.

“Some of our new training initiatives concern our investigators such as our [Naval Criminal Investigative Service] agents, Air Force [Office of Special Investigations], and Army [Criminal Investigation Division],” she said. “We think we have found the gold standard course … to send many of the agents to, to build a sexual assault subject expertise cadre of our agents to get them very familiar with these cases.”

Hertog said training frequency will increase, more seats will be offered and the training has expanded to include Judge Advocate Generals “because these are some of the toughest cases to investigate as well as prosecute.”

Perhaps the most useful option has been established for about a year, Hertog noted.

“You have the option of contacting our DOD Safe helpline,” she said. “We stood up a 24/7 crisis hotline — it’s operated by RAINN, the Rape Abuse and Incest National Network — who have been trained by us so they’re very familiar with military terminology.”

“If you don’t want to go through your chain of command you can contact them and they will tell you where your nearest rape crisis center is in your community outside your installation gates,” Hertog said.

Hertog said the hotline has been “extremely successful” with about 30,000 unique visits to the site and about 2,500 referrals for counseling services.

She emphasized the Defense Department’s commitment to “eradicating” sexual assault in the military “from the Secretary [of Defense] on down.

“We have to eliminate this problem from our ranks,” Hertog added. “The American public gives us what’s most dear to them and that’s their sons and daughters. And they trust us that we’re going to take care of them [which] is a commander’s job.”

This is a guest post from Becki Cohn-Vargas, director of Not In Our Schools.

Positive behaviors, like negative behaviors are contagious and can spread through social networks. This is a hopeful sign in the wake of the urgency to address the growing trend of sexual harassment, bullying and intolerance. If we are going to find sustained solutions to these issues that have devastating consequences, students themselves need to be in the driver’s seat.

We need to turn bystanders into upstanders who stand up for themselves and others. Students can learn to reject comments such as “that’s so gay” and “you throw like a girl” and speak up instead of egging on a fight. They can learn to refuse to participate in spreading a hurtful video or text with words such as slut or ho.

Not In Our School (NIOS) is a growing network of schools that mobilizes students to be upstanders who take action to create a climate that reflects the values of safety, tolerance and inclusion in these ways:

• Identification of problems of intolerance and bullying. We focus on problems that result from students bullying, harassing, or being exclusionary and hateful. Often students who are perceived to be gay are the target. In other cases, harassment is based on gender, race, religion and disability. The first step is to start with dialogue.
• Solutions defined by students and peer-to-peer actions. We believe that students need to define the problems and identify how to address them. Solutions need to incorporate peer-to-peer actions to make their schools safe and to help bystanders get the courage to become upstanders. When they are heard, youth are more likely to feel engaged and take ownership in solutions to resolve problems.
• Collective voice: The whole school community needs to come together to say NOT IN OUR SCHOOL. This could take many forms — buttons, banners, slogans, T-shirts, pledges, assemblies  and schoolwide activities — but it needs to grow out of authentic discussion and efforts to create a safe and welcoming environment for students of all backgrounds and gender identities.

Where does the urgency come from? In three horrifying hate crimes, high school students murdered a transgender Latina youth in Newark, Calif., in 2005; a Latino man in Patchogue, New York, in 2008; and an African-American man in Mississippi in 2011. As many as 20 people were involved or stood and watched the gang rape of a 15-year-old girl outside a Richmond, Calif., high school homecoming dance in 2009. Every day, news outlets report cases of youth who are bullied because they are perceived to be gay. Young people report that relentless bullying can lead to serious emotional problems, multiple school absences and higher risk factors for suicide.

These incidents have raised national awareness of the need to address unsafe school environments and bullying. New anti-bullying laws in 48 states require schools to take immediate action regarding bullying. While it is significant that society-at-large and school leaders are taking the issue seriously, recent meta-studies have found that many anti-bullying programs are ineffective in alleviating bullying. In many cases, the programs are implemented in one-shot campaigns with a superficial approach that demonizes bullies and oversimplifies the problem.

From Bystander to Upstander
New research from sociologists Robert Faris and Diane Felmlee from UC Davis found that approaches to bullying and harassment have a better chance of success if bystanders, who make up the vast majority, are the focus of efforts to shift social norms. They found that the most popular and least popular students are not the main bullies. Rather, students seeking to move up the social ladder engage in acts of social cruelty, believing that it will increase their status. These researchers also found that, contrary to what students believe, bullying does not improve popularity.

This new research has important implications on how bullying and intolerance are addressed. Attention needs to be focused on the 85% who stand by, providing effective responses when they see someone getting bullied or teased. They need to be taught why and how to speak up.

Addressing the Links Between Bullying and Sexual Violence and Risk Factors for Suicide
According to the Center for Disease Control & Prevention, researchers are studying a new theory, the Bully-Sexual Violence Pathway, which examines the possibility that the perpetrators of bullying and anti-gay bigotry could eventually escalate to sexual violence. Although there is a difference between bullying and anti-LGBTQ teasing, an anti-bullying curriculum could include both, thereby addressing the small acts of hate that can escalate into more serious acts of hate, harassment and sexual violence. Changing attitudes that condone abusive and demeaning treatment of women can also be incorporated.

Not In Our School: Models for Change
The Not In Our School website provides interactive tools and films that showcase inspiring examples of students taking the lead in standing up to intolerance. Short films such as What Do You Say to That’s So Gay? and Students Take on Cyberbullying address gender-based bullying. These films are coupled with lesson plans for opening dialogue and taking action. The entire set of NIOS resources is also available in the NIOS Video Action Kit.

In our newest PBS film Not In Our Town: Class Actions, a middle school student described what had changed for her after the NIOS anti-bullying initiative that reached 50,000 students following two suicides of local youth in Lancaster, Calif., “The phrase ‘not in our school’ means a lot more now, sometimes people could be bullying some other people and the people around them will say ‘not in our school, not in our school.’ And they’ll just be like, ‘What?’ And then they will just stop. The phrase has really helped out a lot.”

In the film Class Actions, Superintendent Regina Rossall of the Westside Union School District reported that, prior to the anti-bullying program, 62% of the students said they felt safe at school. A survey taken subsequently showed 92% of the students felt safe at school.

A simple starting point can be identifying teaching students ways to intervene to stop the use of hurtful language like fag, ho, slut and racial epithets. Efforts to build empathy and involve students in the change process can shift the school culture to one where it is not seen as cool to offend or hurt another either in person or online.

To quote researcher Robert Faris, “Not In Our Town documents the good that can happen when people face the problems in their communities. Research has long shown that the more people who witness an incident, the less likely any one of them is to intervene. These stories provide powerful counterexamples to that tendency, and demonstrate that these seemingly intractable problems of intolerance and cruelty can be solved when people have the courage to stand up.”

School and College Organization for Prevention Educators (SCOPE) has continued its series of Thought Pieces with the question What have we learned to date in our prevention efforts that practitioners should know about? Beth DeRicco noted how the field has learned that prevention is a process, not a simple set of activities. Brett Sokolow recognized the value of centralized coordinated prevention efforts and Jane Stapleton highlighted the importance of understanding the target audience.

Theare are all important lessons. What I have learned from prevention efforts is that the solution needs to be nested within the community. We cannot rely solely on increasing individual knowledge, but need to unleash our creativity to make community-wide change. Yesterday I heard representatives of the Start Strong Teen Dating Violence Prevention Initiative share how they used online strategies to enhance the reach and impact of their prevention efforts. This is an excellent example of focusing on community wide engagement in order to change the paradigm of how this issue is seen.

What lessons have you learned about prevention?

On Wednesday, Rep. Gwen Moore (D-Wis) spoke on the floor of the House of Representatives about her personal experience with sexual violence and her support for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

We are excited to join domestic violence and sexual assault organizations from around the country in celebrating the launch of NOMORE.org. NO MORE is “the first unifying symbol to express support for ending domestic violence and sexual assault”, drawing attention to these two forms of violence and highlighting the ways in which we as service providers, advocates, and community members can unite to achieve a common goal.

NO MORE provides a single visual image and logo that can be used to promote awareness and generate conversation around sexual and domestic violence. The logo is designed for use by and integration with your logos. How can you get involved and utilize the NOMORE.org site?

kNOW the warning signs of domestic violence and sexual assault (link to: http://www.nomore.org/2012/03/recognize-the-signs-of-child-teen-and-relationship-abuse/)

Say NO MORE by signing on here (link to: http://www.nomore.org/take-action/)

Share NO MORE by using facebook, twitter, and other social media sites (link: http://www.nomore.org/2012/03/share-no-more/)

Join the We Say NO MORE Photo Gallery (link: http://www.nomore.org/2012/03/join-the-gallery/)

Last week a New York Times article “Online Sex Trade is Flourishing Despite Efforts to Curb It” brought renewed attention to the role that technology plays in human trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation. Under the Trafficking Victims Protection Act of 2000, “sex trafficking” is the “recruitment, harboring, transportation, provision, or obtaining of a person for the purpose of a commercial sex act”. The article highlights the how technology has had both a deleterious and a positiv effect on attempts end sex trafficking:

The sites display ads for sex services, and they also serve as online communities where customers, pimps and prostitutes can arrange business deals, share police sightings and swap tips. Law enforcement officials said the online trade has, in some ways, made sex trafficking and solicitation easier, while giving the police new insight into a historically hidden, underground culture.

“It’s a great tool for us, to be honest,” said Detective Jeremy Martinez of the San Jose Police Human Trafficking Task Force. “I know there was a lot of applause when Craigslist’s erotic services got brought down, but for us it was a fishing pond we could go to.”

Casey Bates, who supervises the Alameda County district attorney’s human trafficking unit, said law enforcement officials have “a love-hate relationship” with online sex sites. “It’s despicable, what’s going on,” Mr. Bates said, “but they allow us to show a jury in very graphic terms what’s going on between provider and john.”

What are the trending ways in which technology is being used to promote sex trafficking? According to “Human Trafficking Online: The Role of Social Networking Sites and Online Classifieds”, published by the USC Annenberg School of Communication and Journalism in 2011, certain patterns begin to emerge:

1) Online classified sites are used to post advertisements of victims
2) social networking sites are used in the recruitment of victims
3) investigations may begin with a picture of what appears to be an underage girl in an online classified ad, and
4) a number of victims have been identified as runaways

The Annenberg report also includes information on how companies like Microsoft and Facebook are joining the fight to identify victims through natural language processing, facial recognition, and mapping technologies and cooperate with law enforcement professionals to seek justice for victims.

What can you do to use technology to support victims? You can visit the California Attorney General’s Human Trafficking widget’s page, which hosts images that you can place on your website and social media sites. Here’s a sample:

What are other ways that you or your agency can use technology to support victims of trafficking and the prosecution of their traffickers?

This web conference will explore the findings from the recent article “Coaching Boys into Men:” A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Dating Violence Prevention Program, which was featured in the Journal of Adolescent Health. Speakers will share insights about implementation of this evidence-based prevention program with coaches serving as messengers for prevention. Coaching Boys into Men equips coaches with the tools to help young athletes build respectful, nonviolent relationships.

Host/Presenter: David Lee, CALCASA, PreventConnect

Elizabeth Miller

Brian O'Connor

Guest Speakers: Brian O’Connor, Director of Public Education Campaigns & Programs, Futures Without Violence; Elizabeth Miller, Chief, Division of Adolescent Medicine, Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh, University of Pittsburgh Medical Center

Cost: Free

Learning Objectives:

1. Describe the findings of the article “Coaching Boys into Men:” A Cluster-Randomized Controlled Trial of a Dating Violence Prevention Program.
2. Describe the value of utilizing coaches as messengers for violence prevention.
3. Identify opportunities to apply lessons learned from Coaching Boys into Men for participants’ communities.

What is a Web Conference?
A web conference is an opportunity to attend an online workshop by watching a presentation on your computer screen (using your internet connection) and hearing presenters through your telephone. Prevent Connect web conferences feature an opportunity to participate in online question & answer sessions and live text chat between participants. If for some reason you are unable to join on your computer, you can download the presentation slides from our website and listen on your phone.

Real-Time Captioning Available: Instructions for accessing captioning during this web conference will be provided with your registration confirmation.

Compatibility: The iLinc web conference software used by Prevent Connect is compatible with both Microsoft® Windows® and Apple® Macintosh® computers. Click here for detailed system requirements.

PreventConnect is pleased to announce its 2012 web conference series titled “Connect for Success: Enhancing impact through innovative partnerships.” Success in the field of sexual and domestic violence prevention has always required partnerships. This year we will focus on innovative relationships or “connections” that enhance the reach and impact of sexual and domestic violence prevention efforts. Five types of opportunities will be examined with regard to their distinct challenges, success and potential for collaborative work. During the web conference participants will learn and share via candid discussion with peers and national experts. Join us as we explore the connect in Prevent Connect.

PreventConnect web conferences are free online interactive events for prevention practitioners, researchers and funders to explore how to advance the prevention of sexual violence, domestic violence and teen dating violence. Each session has presenters and practitioner guests (to be announced) along with hundreds of members of the PreventConnect community.

At the bottom are dates and topics for PreventConnect web conferences. Registration opens three weeks prior to each session. You must subscribe to PreventConnect to receive notice when registration opens. Many web conferences fill quickly. Click here to subscribe. All web conferences take place at 2pm Eastern, 1pm Central, noon Mountain, 11am Pacific, 10am Alaska and 8am Hawai’i.

• April 24 & 26, 2012: A Good Solution Solves Multiple Problems
  Annie Lyles & Carolina Guzman, Prevention Institute
• May 22 & 23, 2012: Social Change and Social Justice: Building Bridges Between Movements
  Annie Lyles & Carolina Guzman, Prevention Institute
• June 13 & 14, 2012: Don’t Let Prevention Stand Alone: Integrating Prevention Efforts in Your Agency and Community
  Annie Lyles & Menaka Mohan, Prevention Institute
• June 18 & 20, 2012: Expanding the Evidence Dialogue I: Exploring Research, Community Context and the Experiences of Practitioners to determine What Works.
  Sally Thigpen, Helen Singer and Natalie Wilkins, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention
• July 31, 2012: How Can We Help? Developing Shared Goals For Diverse Community Priorities
  Annie Lyles and Larry Cohen, Prevention Institute
• August 15 & 16, 2012: When Place is the Focus: Connecting Prevention Approaches to Place Based Initiatives
  Annie Lyles & Menaka Mohan, Prevention Institute
• September 18 & 19, 2012: Expanding the Evidence Dialogue II: Balancing Research, Community Context and the Experiences of Practitioners to determine What Works.
  Sally Thigpen, Helen Singer and Natalie Wilkins, Division of Violence Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

You can find recordings and materials from web conferences PreventConnect hosted earlier in 2012.

• Links between Bullying & Sexual Violence: Possibilities for Prevention
• Findings from the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey: Implications for Prevention
• Web Conferences from previous years

See you online!

So often when I go to a training or web conference, the presenter goes through a Powerpoint presentation with too many words and just provides information on top of information. While there is content, this is not very conducive to actually learning.

I am impressed with this graphic of Adult Learning Principles from Nicole Legault’s blog Flirting w/ eLearning. As we are developing and implementing sexual and domestic violence prevention efforts, Adult learning principles provide useful guidance to creating interactions that are meaningful and are more likely to lead to change.

And adult learning principles do not apply only to adults. These are helpful in our work with youth.

During PreventConnect web conferences we try to build on the knowledge of our audience and create opportunities to interact. That is why we have such a vibrant chat. I believe the best learning takes place as we are engaged, not when we are merely taking in information.

I tried to incorporate these concepts when I speak publicly, but it is easy to fall back on just providing information.

How do you use adult learning principles in your training and prevention work?

Stacy F. Everson

CALCASA is pleased to announce a training opportunity through our Advocacy Caucus for Persons with Disabilities.  We are fortunate to have Stacy F. Everson, Executive Director of SEEDS Educational Services, Inc. on Serving People with Cognitive Disabilities.  This training will focus on increasing your knowledge about people with cognitive disabilities, their strengths, and the barriers they face in our community as well as helping to build your skills to effectively advocate for survivors with care and respect.

This training is scheduled on March 27^th from 2:00-4:00pm

Staff and volunteers of CALCASA member agencies can register using the following link: https://calcasa.ilinc.com/register/hptzvzv

Materials and Recording:

• Slides [PDF]

Some additional information about Stacy and SEEDS: 

SEEDS Educational Services, Inc. is a not-for-profit organization, founded in 1987 by Stacy F. Everson.  Our mission is to assist exceptional learners to build meaningful and safe relationships and to relate effectively with others in their community.  SEEDS staff and volunteers conduct classes in social skills and appropriate behavior, and host social events for people who have cognitive disabilities.

Stacy F. Everson is a Registered Nurse with a Bachelors Degree in Nursing and Public Health.  She has national certification in developmental disabilities and family life education.  She is the Founder & Executive Director of SEEDS Educational Services, Inc.  She specializes in social-sexual education,  speaking/trainings, work-shops & conferences,  coordinating and collaboration with other agencies in creating effective educational tools and opportunities for people with intellectual disabilities.

Learn more about SEEDS at their website, http://www.seedseducation.org

CALCASA’s national project PreventConnect has been named the partner spotlight for March 2012 by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention on its VetoViolence Facebook page. PreventConnect is an online community dedicated to advance the primary prevention of sexual assault and domestic violence. CDC supports this project and is a valuable partner to strengthen our prevention efforts.

Please make sure you like PreventConnect and VetoViolence on Facebook (as well as CALCASA).

Last night, Sarah Harper of VoiceTool Productions organized a rally to celebrate Anti-Street Harassment at the 16th Street BART station in San Francisco, to raise awareness and offer people resources to fight street harassment in public spaces. Why BART? A recent New York Times article “Sex Crimes Pass Under the Radar on Public Transit” stated:

Bay Area public transit riders, especially women, said in interviews that they often face unwanted sexual advances

from strangers in the form of masturbating and groping on buses, on trains and in stations. Rider advocates and others who study such behavior on mass transit say the crimes are vastly underreported and so police statistics understate the problem.

Sarah made the following comments about the event:

Meet Us on the Street San Francisco met its goal:  to make it clear that street harassment exists, is a problem, and can and should be addressed.  Our crew of activists, students, and community members spoke with a variety of passersby at the 16th St. BART station on the issue of harassment.  We engaged many in dialogue about the effects of harassment as a reality in many women’s daily lives.  We also provided fliers for passersby (in English and Spanish) so that they may share the information with others.

The fliers included quick “how to’s” for dealing with harassment in-the-moment:  effective body posturing and phrases victims and witnesses may use to remain empowered while keeping themselves safe.  The fliers also detailed what constitutes harassment, so that potential harassers may begin to identify and change their harassing behavior.

This event was a seed-planting opportunity; we are already planning upcoming events to nourish that seed.  Follow our work and get involved!  Together, we can stop street harassment.

As someone dedicated to advancing prevention, I was very interested reading the responses to this the question “What are the critical challenges facing the prevention field?” in the Thought Piece released today by School and College Organization for Prevention Educators (SCOPE). Thoughts on this topics were shared from leaders in the prevention field like Alan Berkowitz (check out this PreventConnect interview with him) and Jane Stapleton from University of New Hampshire.

I think the panelists raised interesting points about challenges from resources, using evidence effectively and finding support. For me, I think prevention efforts need to leverage the linkages and connections between different issues. There are too many prevention efforts that are treated as separate problems with separate solutions. By breaking down the silos, we can build stronger prevention efforts. This is a theme that the PreventConnect community will explore in their 2012 Web Conference series that will be announced next week.

I also think prevention has to figure out how to go beyond being a set of services. To create the change necessary to prevent sexual and domestic violence require more than prevention programs. To effectively change our norms we must be engaged in efforts that catalyze a movement for change. That is why I am excited by efforts like Move to End Violence and SPARK Summit – these are not just programs but are opportunities to advance a movement dedicated to social change.

What do you think are the critical challenges facing sexual violence, domestic violence and teen dating violence prevention?

Graphic created by Wordle.net

As we continue to celebrate Anti-Street Harassment week, we have more and more opportunities to explain the importance of sexual harassment and street harassment. As “Stop Street Harassment” states,

Street harassment is any action or comment between strangers in public places that is disrespectful, unwelcome, threatening and/or harassing and is motivated by gender. In countries like India and

Bangladesh, it’s termed “eve teasing,” and in countries like Egypt, it’s called “public sexual harassment.” Street harassment is a human rights issue because it limits women’s ability to be in public as often or as comfortably as most men. The mobility of  all members of the LGBQT community is often restricted as well because of harassment and hateful violence motivated by the person’s actual or perceived gender expression or sexual orientation.

Here are 3 Ideas for collective action that you along with your community can take to end street harassment:

1. Engage your community. Hold an awareness-raising event, march, or create street team activism (including organizing people to hand out fliers). Show a relevant documentary or hold a speak-out at the event to generate awareness and a discussion. [Idea Guide]

2. Evaluate your community. Conduct a survey, community safety audit, or create a mapping project to document where street harassment occurs. [Idea Guide]

3. Educate your community. Teachers/coaches/mentors/leaders talk to students about street harassment.

Please share your ideas for taking collective action!

Emily May, Executive Director of Hollaback!

(8 min) Hollaback! is a global, grassroots effort to end street harassment. In this interview with Emily May, Hollaback’s Executive Director, we talk about the development and launch of Hollaback! “I’ve Got Your Back” campaign to encourage bystanders to intervene in street harassment, and Hollaback’s partnership with Green Dot, etc.

Listen

Why should we care about street harassment? Thembi Ford at Clutch magazine writes: 

Whistles, arm-grabs, flashing, random sexual comments and insults, thrown objects, or even just what pretends to be an innocent “hollla” that turns into physical assault…the list of what young women (and

for that matter old women and some men) can face while simply walking down the street is endless. It’s happened to almost everyone, and anyone who’s experienced it knows that street harassment isn’t just “boys being boys.” These interactions leave victims feeling powerless, unwelcome, and wear at feelings of safety and self-esteem over time. And it happens everywhere, every day.

Here are 3 ideas for personal level participation:

1. Talk about street harassment with friends/family/coworkers/classmates/neighbors. Share your stories with them. Think about what a safe community would look and share that vision with them.

2. Raise awareness online.

* Change your Facebook profile picture to be the Anti-Street Harassment Week logo (see example on the right, or visit the tools page to access logos in 12 languages)

* Write and post a street harassment story on a blog, Tumblr, twitter, or Facebook.

* Tweet about street harassment using #NoSHWeek.

* Write an article, op-ed, or blog post about street harassment. [Idea Guide + special offer from the Op-Ed Project]

3. Raise awareness with the arts. Tackle the issue of street harassment in an entertaining, compelling way.  Post it online or offline, use it to generate discussions about street harassment and public safety. [Idea Guide]

How are you planning to fight street harassment?

What does a year of international grassroots work against street harassment look like from inside an organization? Hollaback! gives us a look in their first annual “State of the Streets” report released in December 2011. It includes Hollaback’s impact, their model, and profiles of thirteen of Hollaback’s sites internationally.

Anti-Street Harassment Week is here! As I posted last week, CALCASA is joining multiple national, state, and local partners to celebrate March 18-24. In her article, “International Anti-Street Harassment Week: 10 Thing You Can Do To Stop Street Harassment”, Soraya Chemaly interviewed organizer Holly Kearl who states:

“Harassment restricts girls’ and women’s access to public places,” explains Holly Kearl, author of “Stop Street Harassment” and founder of the week long project. “This is not what we want for the next generation of girls. This is a time for people to raise awareness about the issue and create community-based solutions to make public places safer for everyone.”

Curious about ways to get involved?

One idea: Request a free DVD copy of the award-winning four-minute film “Walking Home” as well as a Discussion Guide, created by the filmmaker Nuala Cabral, who writes:

Screening WALKING HOME for young people in high schools, middle schools and community programs has led to some necessary dialogue about street harassment and the issues it brings up, such as self-esteem, gender, sexuality, violence and community.

Use both the 4 min video and the discussion guide to generate a conversation with the class. Ask students to create their own 1 minute video about their vision of a safe community and upload it to our YouTube Channel.

Request a free DVD (censored version) by emailing Lauren Domino at Media That Matters, lauren AT artsengine DOT net

To learn more about the video, visit Media That Matters.

The National Coalition to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation has released its new and updated National Plan to Prevent Child Sexual Abuse and Exploitation. The National Plan provides practical steps that individuals, organizations, businesses and policymakers can implement to promote positive youth development and prevent child sexual abuse and exploitation.

CALCASA has been glad to be part of this coalition for many years. By focusing on prevention of child sexual abuse and exploitation, the Coalition has brought together many important partners committed to creating change.

Click here to see the National Plan.

Last Thursday, Senator Diane Feinstein joined her colleagues, Senators Klobuchar, Murray, Hagen, Murkowski, and Shaheen to show support for the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act.

The bill is encountering some staunch resistance. Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D.-Calif.) said she was “stunned” by the delay [in bringing reauthorization to a vote] during a Thursday speech on the Senate floor. “Never before had there been any controversy in all of more than a decade and a half, in all of this time about this bill,” she continued. “This act is the centerpiece of the federal government’s effort to combat domestic violence and sexual assault. -from International Business Times

To watch their remarks on CSPAN, click here. We at CALCASA are deeply appreciative of Senator Feinstein’s ongoing support for VAWA and for her work to move this important piece of legislation forward in Washington, at a time where attacking women’s health, reproductive rights, and safety seems to be the topic de’jour.

Both the New York Times and the Gothamist weighed in on the intensely partisan debate over reauthorization, with support and votes falling strictly along party lines. The latest Senate version of the bill does have five Republican co-sponsors (including co-author Michael D. Crapo of Idaho) but in the Judiciary Committee hearing last month, the bill failed to get a single republican vote.

What’s the hang up? A lot of the debate around reauthorization is centered around marginalized communities such as LGBT, male, and Native American survivors. The Huffington Post published a piece by Nancy K. Kaufman. In her article “The Struggle to End Violence Against Women Encounters a Road Block”, Kaufman writes:

LGBTQ people encounter domestic violence at the same rate as the general population, yet a survey by the New York City Anti-Violence Project reported that in 2010 nearly half were turned away from domestic violence shelters and more than half of LGBTQ survivors were denied orders of protection. Few victim services and law enforcement agencies reported specific services for LGBTQ victims. Perhaps it is no wonder that less than one in ten of all LGBTQ victims reported the violence committed against them to police.

Immigrant women without legal status are especially vulnerable to abuse, since going to the authorities carries with it the risk of deportation while the abuser may go free. Since 2000, VAWA has offered victims of domestic violence and sexual assault protection against deportation when they aid in the investigation and prosecution of crimes. Immigrant victims can apply for a special visa, but only if law enforcement certifies that they have been cooperative. This new version of VAWA seeks to renew this very successful program, at the request of law enforcement agencies and advocates across the country.

Finally, the bill would increase access to justice for Native women living on tribal lands. The numbers are stunning. Native women are 2.5 times more likely than other U.S. women to be battered or raped. One-third of Native women will be raped in their lifetimes. Two-fifths will experience the tragedy of domestic violence. And, their legal situation greatly complicates their access to justice. Currently, criminal authority is limited to federal law enforcement agencies that can only prosecute misdemeanor crimes by non-Indians against Indians on tribal land. Sadly, U.S. attorneys declined to prosecute 67 percent of sexual abuse and related matters that occurred in Indian country from 2005-2009. VAWA reauthorization would give tribes the authority to prosecute misdemeanor domestic violence-related crimes when the abuser lives or works in the jurisdiction of the tribe, or is the spouse or intimate partner of a tribe member. It is time to close the gaps in the law to ensure that rapists and abusers cannot commit crimes against Native women with impunity.

CALCASA is working with the Nation Alliance to End Sexual Violence and Senator Feinstein’s office on this vital piece of legislation. If you’d like to get involved, visit the National Alliance Toolkit to sign letters, get updated information, and express your support!

Yesterday’s Feministing blog covered the issue of sexual abuse and foreign exchange students:

On Wednesday night on Rock Center with Brian Williams, reporter Kate Snow covered the disturbing problem of foreign exchange host parents who sexually abuse the teenagers who come to stay with them.

The story was broken by Anna Schecter, the same woman who recently uncovered sexual assault and abuse cover-ups in the Peace Corps. Schecter discovered that the abuse of exchange students by their hosts is widespread, and has been consistently mishandled; one host father was not fired by the exchange organization he worked with, even when allegations of sexual abuse came to light.

Click here to see the whole video from Rock Center.

I recently came upon a healing medium for sexual trauma survivors called Project Unbreakable: The beginning of healing through art. Grace Brown, a photographer that uses her craft to help survivors heal from sexual trauma, photographs survivors holding up posters with quotes from their attackers. The pictures are shocking and so poignant that I’m compelled to provide a caveat for those that may click on the link provided because the power of these words may just “hurt” you.

When I was first learning the ropes of prevention work a colleague and dear friend of mine that I often shadowed during presentations would start off with discussing the power of words. She’d ask the group what they thought about the old nursery rhyme about stick and stones and words never hurting anyone. It was rare to have some one say words never hurt, in fact audience members would go on in great detail about the power of words and both the positive and negative effects they have on individuals.

It was during my clinical work with clients that I really discovered how powerful words can be for an individual. Those words of reassurance and validation I provided during sessions when they were at their lowest in their process. The little spoken words of epiphany they often experienced when as one client remarked, she was able to connect the dots of how it really wasn’t “her fault”. Yet there were still words that could halt the process of healing, stop a survivor in her/his proverbial tracks if you will, and send her/him spiraling back to that moment in time when another chose to harm them.

Those words were ones of rage, lust, and at the most heartbreakingly hurtful, ones of a perverted love. The, “Don’t worry you’ll like this”, “This is how we show love”, or “Sluts like you deserve this” words that haunted survivor’s each day to the next. As a clinician I could sit there and point out the fallacy of such statements until I was blue in the face but the words often still hung there between us, permeating the healing process until the survivor learned not necessarily how to make the words never hurt them, but to deconstruct the power they held over them. This type of deconstruction can have many facets and manifest itself in a variety of ways for survivors. Project Unbreakable happens to be one of the most visually compelling of them.

Grace will be coming to California, making stops in San Francisco and Sacramento. We will keep you posted as we learn more about her trip. To learn more, visit her website:

http://projectunbreakable.tumblr.com/

And her Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/projectunbreakable

National Women and Girls HIV/AIDS Awareness Day is a nationwide observance that encourages people to take action in the fight against HIV/AIDS and raise awareness of its impact on women and girls coordinated by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Office on Women’s Health (OWH). On Wednesday, March 14, from 8:30 AM to 10:45 AM Eastern Time, the White House will host a special event that will highlight linkages between gender-based violence and HIV/AIDS. You can follow the conversation from @PEPFAR and @AIDSgov on Twitter – just use the hashtag #NWGHAAD. You can also check it out on www.whitehouse.gov/live.

(From https://www.facebook.com/VetoViolence)

There is a movement happening on twitter in the last two days – women throughout the world are posting their stories of sexual harassment and sexual assault and why they chose to not report. There are thousands of tweets from survivors as well as people who are dismayed to find that there are such a high number of survivors who have not reported. As a preventionist, my hope is that the high volume of survivors telling their stories on twitter generates conversation about the need for prevention and cultural change to generate a climate where survivors feel supported, valued, and heard.

You can follow the convo with the hashtag #ididnotreport or go to https://twitter.com/#!/search/%23ididnotreport to read responses in real time.

Here is a sample of what I’ve been seeing online:

cate cate ? @birdgehrl #ididnotreport the man who would not listen to me when I said no, even though I was drunk.

Vicky Kapoor ? @hrsyofgrmnghst #ididnotreport because I have no faith in our justice system where so few rapists are jailed + victims are treated like perpetrators

Nicole Sullivan ? @stubbornella #ididnotreport because I was too little to know I had any right to my own body… to say no.

aimee ? @moewytchdog #ididnotreport because he was a police officer.

Rae Leaver ? @raethepain So much respect for those contributing to the #ididnotreport tag. I can’t, because I *did* report it and the police told me I had no case.

RopesToInfinity ? @RopesToInfinity The #ididnotreport hashtag makes for some pretty sobering reading. We have a depressingly long way to go.

David Aaronovitch ? @DAaronovitch #ididnotreport is an extraordinary hashtag. Saddening. Enraging.

witch of Angmar @gwrthryfel If you want to understand why feminism and feminist movements are still vitally important–> #ididnotreport

John Allsopp ? @JAScarb #Ididnotreport the 3 people in my school class (35 yrs ago) who got girl unconscious at party & screwed her & denied when she vistd in morn

Over the several years I have been a member of the Prevention Committee of the Association for the Treatment of Sexual Abusers (ATSA) where I appreciate learning about the contributions to prevention from those who work in the treatment of sexual abusers.

At ATSA’s 30th Annual Research and Treatment Conference held in Toronto November 2011, several ATSA members shared about their work in prevention.

ATSA is dedicated to preventing sexual abuse before an offense is ever perpetrated. Although the majority of ATSA’s prevention work has focused on research, treatment and management of those individuals who have already abused, many ATSA members are also active in primary prevention activities. I applaud ATSA’s commitment to advance primary prevention. As we learned in previous PreventConnect podcasts, ATSA along with survivors and advocates provide a perspective that helps us fully understand prevention strategies.

Also, check out this slideshow about prevention that was shown at the ATSA conference in Toronto.

Attention PreventConnect community!

We are very interested in your assessment of our activities.

If you or your primary prevention organization participate in PreventConnect (i.e., web conferences, podcasts, blog, e-mail group, Twitter, Facebook, etc.), we are launching a survey to gather information about your experiences with these activities. PreventConnect is a national online project of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault.

Your feedback will help us better understand the impact of PreventConnect as well as how we can improve our services and resources to better meet your needs.

All completed surveys will be entered into a raffle to win a new iPad!

Click here to complete the survey by March 27, 2012 so you can enter to win.

CALCASA is joining multiple national, state, and local partners to celebrate Anti-Street Harassment week this March 18-24.

We appreciate the hard work of “Meet Us On the Street” and the core team of activists lead by Holly Kearl. Here’s what they have to say about street harassment and the goal of this awareness building and action week:

What’s the Problem?
Catcalls, sexist comments, public masturbation, groping, stalking, and assault: gender-based street harassment makes public places unfriendly and even scary for many girls, women, and LGBQT folks.

What Will Happen? 
Meet Us On the Street: International Anti-Street Harassment Week is an opportunity to collectively raise awareness that street harassment happens and that it’s not okay.

There are 6 options for how people can participate.
We hope you will sign up and get involved!

Why a Week?
Amazing activists and ordinary individuals around the world work hard year-round to make public places safer…but there is strength in numbers. During the third week of March, everyone will join forces to collectively raise awareness that street harassment is a global problem and work toward solutions. March 24 will be the biggest day of activism.

What Happened to International Anti-Street Harassment Day?
On March 20, 2011, after only a month of planning, more than 2,000 people from at least 13 countries participated in International Anti-Street Harassment Day. Read an article by founder Holly Kearl about how it went. Due to feedback from participants, in 2012, the day of activism will be expanded to run a full week.

Why Hold it in March?
The third week of March is the beginning of spring in the Northern Hemisphere. While street harassment occurs year-round, spring is a time when there is an increase in the harassment because of the increased daylight hours and warmer weather that brings people outside. Street harassment is often seen as an inevitable part of the change in seasons, but it shouldn’t be. Spring is no excuse for street harassment.

How can you get involved?

This past week CALCASA members had the unique opportunity to bring their united voices to their elected officials during Legislative Action Day. Over 85 Executive Directors and staff of CALCASA member agencies participated in Legislative Action Day, visiting 80 Assembly Members and 40 State Senators on Tuesday, March 6. Over the course of their visits, members discussed three key pieces of CALCASA’s 2012 Legislative Agenda, focusing their discussion on the ways in which Assembly Members and Senators could support the needs of both rape crisis centers and sexual assault survivors across the state. These face-to-face meetings allowed members to connect with the elected officials who drive the policies that shape daily direct services throughout the state, impacting the scope and breadth of our work in ending sexual violence and supporting survivors. Members discussed the current funding climate, both within the state and on a national level, as well as two pieces of legislation that would increase a district attorney’s ability to prosecute rape cases and would protect sexually exploited minors from being charged as criminals, instead providing them with social services and resources.

This year we were pleased to honor Asm. Paul Fong with the CALCASA Leadership Award (pictured above with Leandra Peloquin, Director of the Rape Crisis Center at the YWCA of Silicon Valley). Asm Fong has long been a champion of CALCASA supported legislation, voting in favor of all three key legislative issues in 2011 and carrying the first ever Campus Safety Month Proclamation. Asm. Fong continues to support CALCASA legislation and sexual violence survivors throughout the state by, again in 2012, carrying the Campus Safety Month resolution, reinstating March as a month where we bring attention to and celebrate the successes of prevention and intervention efforts on college campuses throughout California.

We appreciate the efforts of all of our members who attended Legislative Action Day as well as those who work throughout the legislative session to write letters, make phone calls, and visit their representatives in their districts. All of these actions combined reflect the unified voice of California’s rape crisis centers, strengthening our individual and collective efforts to end sexual violence in California.

Young people are speaking out against teen dating violence through dance. Here is a video of a flash mob at Peace Over Violence’s Violence-Free Teens conference held last month.

Across the country, young people organized flash mobs to prevent teen dating violence. Here is news coverage of Start Strong Oakland‘s Relationship Remix Flash Mob from February 25, 2012 in San Francisco’s Union Square.

“A Journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.”
– Lao Tzu, Chinese Philosopher (604BC – 531BC)

Check out this blog from Pixel Project about 16 easy ideas on how someone can start to take action to end sexual violence and domestic. Here are the ideas:

Idea 1: Tweet It. If you are on Twitter, make it a habit of tweeting or retweeting a piece of news about violence against women each time you log on to tweet. It’s an easy way to help raise awareness about the issue. Not sure what to tweet? Follow us on Twitter where we tweet VAW news and info 24/7 365 days a year as @pixelproject and start retweeting!

Idea 2: Blog about it. Pay attention to the headlines to catch any major news about violence against women and write a blog post about it. It doesn’t matter if it is a short blog post – what matters is that you are speaking out against violence against women.

Idea 3: Facebook It. Join groups and pages on Facebook that are campaigning to end violence against women. Join in the discussions or start one. Post news about violence against women on your profile page to raise awareness amongst your friends and family.

Idea 4: Get volunteering. Are you able to spare a couple of hours or more each week? Consider giving your local battered women’s shelter or rape crisis center a hand. If you have less time or have unpredictable hours due to work, you can try virtual volunteering or seasonal volunteering during holidays.

Idea 5: Sign a petition. The next time you hear about a petition to stop a woman from being stoned or to protest against a gender violence atrocity such as wartime rape, step up to sign it.

Idea 6: Write a letter. If you see a movie, a magazine, a song or any other high-profile pop culture item that trivialises violence against women, write a letter to the producer/the editor/the artiste/the director to protest and tell them why you are protesting. Remember: Keep it civil – abrasive and foul language never got anyone anywhere.

Idea 7: Set a good example. If you have children and young people in your life, start setting a good example by opting for non-violent solutions when resolving interpersonal problems. Show them that it is possible to both respect and disagree with another person without resorting to sexism, degradation or violence.

Idea 8: Listen. If you know someone who is facing gender-based violence in her life such as domestic abuse, female genital mutilation, forced marriage etc, start by being a good listener for them. Don’t judge – just listen. Victims frequently feel isolated and helpless and having someone listen to them is the first step towards getting help for themselves.

Idea 9: Be an upstander. If you see a woman or girl being attacked in any way, step in to help. It could be dialling 911 immediately if the situation is too dangerous. It could be stepping in to stand up to the perpetrator to get them to back down and stop the abuse. Whatever you do – do not walk away. It may cost someone her life.

Idea 10: Mark your calender (and take action). Whenever occasions such as International Women’s Day, Domestic Violence Awareness Month or International Day of Elimination of Violence Against Women happens, find a campaign that is happening online or near you and participate!

Idea 11: Give what you can. Find a reputable local or global nonprofit working to end violence against women and make a small donation – even just US$5 or US$10 helps. Every single penny/cent counts and the best nonprofits make every penny stretch.

Idea 12: Hobbies that help. Good at knitting? Fabulous at baking? Consider starting a small fundraiser or awareness-raising effort involving your local community with the proceeds donated to your local battered women’s shelter or rape crisis centre.

Idea 13: Gift ideas. If you are getting married or celebrating your birthday, ditch the gifts. Instead, ask your friends and family to donate their money or volunteer time to your choice of nonprofit organization working to end violence against women.

Idea 14: Forward it on. If you have received a call-to-action for any campaign to stop violence against women via email, don’t delete it. Forward it on to 5 or 10 of your friends whom you know would be interested or open to learning about the issue.

Idea 15: Wear it well. Wear the purple, white or purple-and-white ribbons that are associated with the cause to end violence against women. More often than not, seeing the ribbon would spark conversation, giving you an opening to help raise awareness about the issue.

Idea 16: Nip it in the bud. If you are witness or any conversation or interaction that trivializes, reinforces or urges violence against women, step up and speak up. Don’t remain silent because it is not okay to denigrate women and to trivialize violence.

What are you going to do?

Photo from Howzey.

CALCASA has been working with Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) on legislation to support minors who are victims of trafficking and prostitution. SB 1349 will amend the current California penal code to state that a person under 18 years of age who has been exploited through prostitution, loitering for the purpose of prostitution, or engaged in commercial sex acts shall be treated as a victim of sexual abuse if it is the first conviction. A person 18 years old or under cannot consent to sex. However, the current California State law supports a perception that prostituted children are delinquent youth who have willfully committed a crime.

If SB 1349 is passed, the minor may be adjudged as a dependent child of the court as those minors who have been neglected, physically harmed or sexually abused. Instead of being arrested and detained, a minor engaged in prostitution will receive social services and counseling. Continue reading to see the full press release from Senator Yee’s office.

Yee Announces Bill to Help Kids Who Are Exploited Through Trafficking and Prostitution

Bill will ensure children exploited through prostitution receive victim services for sexual abuse

SACRAMENTO – Despite the fact that children cannot legally consent to sexual acts, when children are engaged in prostitution or sex trafficked, they are often misidentified and charged as criminals rather than victims of sexual abuse or statutory rape.

Along with several child advocates, Senator Leland Yee (D-San Francisco/San Mateo) today announced legislation that would treat children as victims, rather than criminals, when they are exploited through prostitution, sex trafficking, or commercial sex.

“Our laws rightfully protect children from sexual abuse and recognize that child brain development doesn’t allow minors the ability to legally consent,” said Yee. “Yet the minute there is money involved, California law treats those same kids as criminals. Those kids should also be considered victims – in fact, they are often the most vulnerable – and they deserve the same services and treatment as other survivors of child sex abuse.”

Most of California’s prostitution laws treat children the same as adults, with the first conviction punishable by up to 6 months in jail and/or a fine. The second convictions are subject to a mandatory minimum of 45 days in a county jail, and subsequent convictions a mandatory minimum of 90 days.

Under Yee’s bill, children in such situations for the first time will be treated the same as other child victims of sexual assault – assessed to see if it is appropriate for them to be released to their parent or guardian, or otherwise referred to the county welfare department.

Sandra Henriquez, the Executive Director of the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA), said, “CALCASA is committed to support legislation, like SB 1349, that protects California’s children from sexual exploitation. People who are under the age of 18 are not able to consent to sexual acts, and therefore, the law must see this population as victims of sexual abuse rather than criminals.”

“As an agency with over 15 years of experience working with sexually exploited minors in the Bay Area, the SAGE Project is proud to be represented by leaders such as Senator Leland Yee who work tirelessly to bring attention to this often overlooked and vulnerable population,” said Antonia Balkanska Lavine, Vice President of the SAGE Project Board of Directors. “Legislative efforts to ensure that sexually exploited minors are treated as crime victims are critical for safeguarding our children’s futures.”

Several states have already defined children as victims in such cases of commercial sex and prostitution, including Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Iowa, Alabama, and others. SB 1349 would finally allow California to join these other states in defining children as victims in these cases.

In 2004, Yee successfully passed AB 3042 provide added an additional year of prison for those convicted of a sexual offense with a minor when the crime was committed for money or other consideration. Despite change in law, many children are continuing to be prosecuted as criminals on their first offense.

“In 2004, we tried to send a very clear message to prosecutors that they should treat these children differently than adults,” said Yee. “And while DAs have utilized the 1-year enhancement to go after pimps and johns, many still prosecute the kids as well. SB 1349 will ensure we give all kids a chance and provide these victims with the help they so desperately need.”

###

ADAM J. KEIGWIN | ?? | CHIEF OF STAFF

OFFICE OF SENATOR LELAND YEE, PH. D.

(916) 651-4008   |   WWW.SENATE.CA.GOV/YEE

Alexis Marbach

Jessica Renee Napier

On Feb. 28, 2012, more than 40 people attended the CALCASA web conference “SAAM 2012 Media Campaign.”  In this web conference, CALCASA prepared members to talk to media about: how your center has been affected by budgetary cuts/constraints; legislation supported by rape crisis centers; and new data about sexual assault.

As momentum starts to build around Sexual Assault Awareness Month, CALCASA would like to use media opportunities to not only highlight the events and work at California Rape Crisis Centers, but also to make sexual assault a priority issue for the media and those who are watching — funders, policymakers and general public. CALCASA’s focus for SAAM 2012 is to capitalize on the coverage of SAAM by raising issues that rape crisis centers are currently facing.

Host/Presenter: Jessica Renee Napier & Alexis Marbach

Resources from this web conference:

• Web Conference Audio Recording
• Web Conference PowerPoint
• Handout: How to foster a relationship with your local media
• Handout: Have media cover your SAAM event
• Handout: Press Release Template
• Handout: Tips for talking to the media
• Handout: Developing talking points
• Video: CALCASA Interview Tips

For media support, email Jessica. For policy support, email Alexis.

On Friday February 24^th, the CALCASA Board hosted a web conference to unveil the proposed change to the existing structure. The issue has been slated for a vote at the upcoming Annual Meeting to be Held at the California District Attorneys Association’s conference room, 921 – 11th Street, 3rd Floor, Sacramento, CA 9814 on March 6, 2012 from 4:30 – 6:15 pm.

The Board has listened to the input received from the region and caucus representatives, and has conducted significant research with Coalitions around the nation, in order to present the best possible model for our state Coalition. The CALCASA Board is very much looking forward to presenting to the membership its proposal to strengthen the existing structure and ensure that the needs of the regions and caucuses, as well as the emerging needs of the board are met.

Please click here in order to access slides from the web conference. Regions and caucuses are encouraged to facilitate discussions and answer questions before the meeting if possible. Each of you should also have received the Annual Meeting packet that was sent out via email on February 24^th.

This month the Journal of Interpersonal Violence published “Predicting Perceptions of Date Rape: An Examination of Perpetrator Motivation, Relationship Length, and Gender Role Beliefs”, a study conducted by David Angelone, PhD, Damon Mitchell PhD, and Lauren Lucente, BA. As many of us who work in the field of sexual violence prevention and intervention know, rape victims are often scrutinized by their peers, families, friends, and the criminal justice system. This study carefully examined how knowledge of the perpetrator’s motivation and the previous relationship between the victim and the perpetrator would influence the way that male and female college student’s viewed both the victim and the perpetrator. The current study “suggests that knowledge of the offender motivation legitimized the victim as the aggrieved party rather than excusing the perpetrator’s behavior”. 

The study looked at both situational and observational variables. Situational variables refer to the personal characteristics of the victim and perpetrator and the environmental context in which the sexual assault occurred. The authors state, “In general, the closer the relationship between the victim and the perpetrator (e.g., marital vs. acquaintance vs. stranger) the more likely observers are to perceived the assault as consensual and the less likely they are to view the incident as a serious concern (Monson, Byrd, & Langhinrichesen-Rohling, 1996).” Observer variables are personal characteristics of the study participants, such as gender and gender role attitudes.

To learn more, visit the Journal of Intimate Partner Violence.

“Predicting Perceptions of Date Rape: An Examination of Perpetrator Motivation, Relationship Length, and Gender Role Beliefs”

David J. Angelone, PhD, Damon Mitchell, PhD, Lauren Lucente, BA

Published online before print, on February 10, 2012, doi:10.1177/0886260512436385

Abstract: The purpose of the current study is to examine the influence of multiple offender motivations (including no indication of a motivation), relationship length, and gender role beliefs on perceptions of a male-on-female date rape. A sample of 348 U.S. college students read a brief vignette depicting a date rape and completed a questionnaire regarding their attributions about the victim (culpability, credibility, trauma, pleasure) and perpetrator (culpability, guilt, sentencing recommendations). Results indicate that providing observers with information about the perpetrator’s motivation was associated with lower victim blame. Relationship length is not predictive of rape attributions. Egalitarian gender role attitudes are associated with lower levels of victim blame. Overall, gender role attitudes exert a more significant influence on rape attributions than participant gender. The findings suggest that knowledge of an offender’s motivation as well as observers’ gender role attitudes can influence attributions about the culpability of victims and perpetrators of date rape.

(6 mins) Jeff O’Brien, National Director of Mentors in Violence Prevention, describes the upcoming national conference “Bystander Intervention: From Its Roots to the Road Ahead” to be held in Boston, Mass., May 31 to June 1, 2012. This conference will explore bystander intervention to prevent gender-based violence.

Listen: Interview with Jeff O’Brien about conference on bystander intervention

Today, George Huguely V was found guilty of second-degree murder for killing his former girlfriend Yeardly Love in 2010. Victim advocates believe that this verdict will support other sexual assault and domestic violence survivors in coming forward and reporting the crimes perpetrated against them.

“Anytime offenders are clearly and seriously held accountable, that sends a very strong message to the community and to victims that these are crimes our nation takes seriously,” said Terri Poore, policy chair of the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence, a Washington advocacy group. “It will have a chilling effect on offenders and we think more victims will come forward.” Quoted in Business Week.

This case also brought the importance of bystander intervention to light. After Love’s death, peers and teammates stated that they had known that Huguely had problems with alcohol and violence but they never told a coach, a teacher, or a counselor to intervene. They didn’t him that they were concerned about his behavior or tell her that they were worried for her safety. There is a lot that we can do as bystanders, and we encourage everyone to learn more about curricula and programs that are available to support healthy and safe bystander behavior.

To learn more about the impact of this verdict and the case, you can visit Business Week’s article “UVA Murder Verdict Will Embolden Crime Victims to Come Forward”, The New York Times article “Former u.Va. Lacrosse Player Faces 26 years”, or the Huffington Post’s coverage and timeline.

When I am wrong, I admit it. I feel like most people I know do the same. Most others I know just never bring up the conversation / topic ever again, hoping that if we don’t talk about the controversial issue, at some point all will be forgotten. Not Liz Trotta.

I blogged about Trotta’s original comments about rape in the military  last week. Over the weekend, Trotta was given an opportunity to set the record straight, and explain her extraordinarily offensive comments regarding the issue of sexual assault perpetrated against female soldiers. Instead of backpedaling, Trotta doubled down.

 “Male troops are now encumbered with the realities of feminist biology…the environment of combat by definition sets up a situation where basic instincts rule. The niceties of male, female interaction fade in this arena and any scientist will tell you that testosterone rules.”

You can watch the video here. Protect Our Defenders, a group who seeks “to fix the military training, investigation and adjudication systems related to sexual violence” and reduce the re-victimization of survivors, has started a petition  that calls for Trotta to issue a formal apology to all women in the armed services. You can sign the petition here and join over 10,000 other people from around the country who recognize that there is no justification for rape.

Another Green Dot guest post! Today Nick King from Verity in Sonoma County has provided an update on the Green Dot program that he and the Verity team are rolling out at El Molino High School. Great work Nick!

In August of 2011, Daniela Bravo and myself (Nick King) met with Doria Trombetta to discuss the overview of the program. She introduced us to Matt Dunkle, the Vice- Principal of the school since he would be my consistent contact to the school. Over the next couple of months (September – December), I spent a couple days out of the week meeting students during their lunch break building relationships, and identifying the existing resources that school already had for us to build on. I was also attempting to identify early adopters. As of now I think I’ve probably identified about 8-10 potential people. The great thing about this school is that they already have a program called Safe School Ambassador’s, which is a bystander intervention program that has approximately, 30 students in it. We plan on training at least half of those students since they are already doing the work. Green Dot will simply add to their tool kit regarding bystander intervention.

In moving forward with our implementation, I’m working with the Vice Principal to start scheduling Overview Speeches for February and March. Once we have completed our rounds of speeches, we are planning to recruit early adopters for 2 separate trainings that will take place in March and April, possibly May depending on the timeline of our speeches. We are also planning on having at least one booster activity after our trainings and also one after summer is over for the fall to keep them engaged in the philosophy.

Over 200 people gathered at last week’s Violence-Free Teens Conference organized by Peace Over Violence.  In its fourth year, this conference brings together prevention educators, teachers, parents, and especially youth, to share ideas and resources to prevent teen dating violence and promote healthy relationships and communities. Through theater, flash mobs, presentations, policy and networking I saw some of the best work in prevention.

Keynote speaker Lyn Mikel Brown described the work done to combat the sexualization of girls through effort like Healthy Girls Hearty Women, SPARK Summit and Powered by Girl.  She described each of these efforts as demonstrating how “fighting like a girl” means being an activist to promote change.  I especially liked the Projection Project as a creative way to use the arts to build a movement.

We learned about the exciting work done by Start Strong Los Angeles and the 13 other Start Strong sites.  By hearing the voices of youth, I am reminded how much their work will take prevention to the next level.

Soon I will share my presentation on trends in teen dating violence prevention.  Thanks Peace Over Violence for this event.

This week we have a guest post from Della Duncan and Stacey Carlotta of the YWCA of Silicon Valley (both pictured at left)! They have been busy, getting their community excited about Green Dot and inspired to take action. Read on to hear about how they did it…

Green Dot YWCA Silicon Valley has officially launched! We had our big launch event on campus a few weeks ago when we attended De Anza Club Day. We spent the afternoon at De Anza talking to club leaders, students, faculty advisors, etc. getting the word out about Green Dot, networking, and identifying interested students. We also recently connected with the Department of Human Sexuality and had the opportunity to do two overview speeches to their classes. We currently have three more presentations in our calendar with other classes on February 21 and 22nd. We are collaborating with various club leaders to do overview speeches for Women’s History Month, the International Students Volunteer Club, and the Occupy De Anza Movement. Additionally, we are in contact with the faculty advisor of De Anza clubs to work out an opportunity to present a 3-5 min speech about Green Dot to all of the club leaders. Also part of our launch, we have connected with the newspaper at De Anza, La Voz to coordinate an interview. In the meanwhile, we are also still conducting research about De Anza and have just finalized a survey for students and alumni alike to continue to flesh out our understanding of De Anza and how to best implement Green Dot on their campus. These are exciting times as the movement to reduce violence in our community continues to spread. Stay tuned for more Green Dot updates to come!

© International Monetary Fund's photostream

Former International Monetary Fund Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was held for questioning today by French police investigating a suspected hotel prostitution ring. Investigators questioned a number of prostitutes who have admit to having sex with him.

This is — at least — the second time in the last year that Strauss-Kahn has made headline news regarding crimes related to violence against women. What proved to be true the first time is that the wider the gap between gender and races, the greater the latitude of injustice.

Last May, Strauss-Kahn faced charges of sexually assaulting and attempting to rape a maid at a Manhattan hotel. The case was later dropped.

In this separate inquiry, the one-time French presidential hopeful said that he did not know that the women at several orgies were prostitutes.

“I challenge you to distinguish a naked prostitute from any other naked woman,” his lawyer Henri Leclerc has told French television.

It’s difficult to buy that a seemingly high-positioned man also posses such naivety.

Investigators are seeking to discover if prostitutes were paid using corporate funds from a large French construction company. Although consorting with prostitutes is legal in France, supplying them to others and misusing company funds to pay for them are not.

PETA, you missed the mark — big time. Shock for the sake of attention isn’t a great strategy. If you have to explain why it’s funny, then it’s not.

The female character in the ad does not look as if she’s enjoying herself. The video captures pain and injury linked to sex — something that should be an enthusiastically consensual act. Lisa Lange, a senior vice president for PETA, told Yahoo News that the clip is meant to be humorous.

“The piece is tongue-in-cheek,” she said. “People who watch the ad all the way through see the woman has a mischievous smile. She’s happy to go back with him. It’s playful.”

I get it, you want viewers to associate vegetables with hot sex, but do you think that women are happy when sex ends in a neck brace? Try again.

I’m a carnivore who has not eaten meat for nearly one month as I was considering the switch. After watching this, I want to eat a huge steak — just to spite, you,  PETA, which means this ad created one more meat eater in the world. Bravo.

Fox news correspondent Liz Trotta has left me speechless. Literally. I have been sitting staring at this screen for 30 minutes, typing insightful introductions to this blog. For example: “AAAHHH!!”, “AARGGG…”, “REALLY?!?!?!”. Liz Trotta recently joined Fox news host Eric Shawn to discuss the recently released report addressing high rates of victimization perpetrated against women in the armed forces. Trotta seemed surprised by the interest in this report, saying, “Now, what did they expect? These people are in close contact…”. If that alone made you as upset as it made me, you might want to take a deep breath before reading the rest of her statement. [Click to continue reading Trotta's statement and our commentary].

TROTTA: But while all of this is going on, just a few weeks ago, Defense Secretary Leon Panetta commented on a new Pentagon report on sexual abuse in the military. I think they have actually discovered there is a difference between men and women. And the sexual abuse report says that there has been, since 2006, a 64% increase in violent sexual assaults. Now, what did they expect? These people are in close contact, the whole airing of this issue has never been done by Congress, it’s strictly been a question of pressure from the feminist.

And the feminists have also directed them, really, to spend a lot of money. They have sexual counselors all over the place, victims’ advocates, sexual response coordinators. … So, you have this whole bureaucracy upon bureaucracy being built up with all kinds of levels of people to support women in the military who are now being raped too much. [Text found here]

What did they expect? Most likely they expected that while they were working to protect their country, that the military would be working to protect them. They probably expected that being in close contact with people wouldn’t translate into increased opportunity for them to be sexually assaulted and raped. Can you imagine if we told that to someone who was raped on a busy subway car? “There were lots of people on that subway car, what did you expect”. I bet these victims also expected that their perpetrators would be held accountable, instead of given a free pass, like the one Trotta has offered.

I’m interested to know how many times someone needs to be raped to be raped too much. I think one time is too much. One time, for one person in a community. One person anywhere. Recently the Center for Disease Control released the National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) which reported that there are over 2 million female victims of rape who live in California. Just rape victims, just in one state. I think that this is 2 million more than should ever occur.

Trotta also addresses all of these feminists who have encouraged the government to spend all of this money on sexual assault services. Two problems here. First, the government isn’t readily pouring money into this field. The President’s budget proposal completely removes the Public Health Block Grant, which would eliminate millions of dollars in funding for sexual assault prevention and intervention, commonly referred to as the Rape Set Aside. Rape Prevention Education (RPE) money has been in jeopardy, experiencing over 40%in cuts in the last year. In California, the state budget only allots $45,000 to all rape crisis centers in the state. 30,000 survivors accessed intervention services last year, which means the state only allocated $1.50 per victim served.

Second, she may be down on the feminists, and all of the work they are doing to bring this issue to the forefront and to get victims the help that they need. I, on the other hand, am proud to stand alongside my colleagues, peers, advocates, and CALCASA member agencies as we work to advance our valuable social justice work. Liz Trotta has only reminded me that we have more work to do, and that our voice in advocating for victims, enlisted and civilians, is more important than ever.

The National Resource Center on Domestic Violence is hosting three events in recognition of Teen Dating Violence Prevention and Awareness Month. The first will share strategies for advocates to engage youth through social media, and the second and third will highlight the critical role of parents and caregivers in preventing and responding to teen dating violence. Check them out!

• Twit Chat – Engaging Youth Through Social Media – Wednesday, February 15, 2012 ~ 1pm Eastern, 12pm Central, 10am Pacific
• Webinar – Helping Youth Develop Healthy Relationships: The Role of Parents & Caregivers – Thursday, February 16, 2012 ~ 1pm Eastern, 12pm Central, 10am Pacific
• BlogTalkRadio Program – Helping Youth Develop Healthy Relationships: The Role of Parents & Caregivers – Thursday, February 23, 2012 ~ 2pm Eastern, 1pm Central, 11pm Pacific

This morning, the New York Times published an insightful editorial titled, “Republicans Retreat on Domestic Violence” regarding the partisan support that the Violence Against Women Act reauthorization has received. VAWA reauthorization votes have been right along party lines, even though there are bi-partisan co-sponsors. Last week CALCASA blogged about its work with the National Alliance to End Sexual Violence Senator Feinstein’s office and the Senate Judiciary Committee hearing where not a single republican voted for reauthorization.

Previous VAWA reauthorizations were approved by unanimous consent. Why has it become such a partisan issue this year? Republicans have identified their opposition on certain pieces of the legislation that would serve to support LGBTQ and immigrant populations. Unfortunately, this philosophy targets underserved populations and loses sight of the overall goals of the Violence Against Women Act, and the extraordinary impact that this piece of legislation has had on survivors as well as the advocates and law enforcement that support them.

What has VAWA achieved since it first passed in 1994?

-Stats from 4vawa.org

Even if the lives, health, and wellbeing of survivors of sexual assault and domestic violence are not sufficient to change your vote on VAWA reauthorization, hopefully an analysis of fiscal impact will.

- Stats from 4vawa.org

Maybe it’s an issue of volume, how many survivors are living in the United States.

According to the recently released National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, nearly 1 in 2 women (44.6%) and 1 in 5 men (22.2%) experience sexual violence other than rape throughout their lifetime. This may include behaviors such as sexual coercion, unwanted sexual touch and non-contact forms of sexual violence. In contrast, rape represents times when the victim, herself or himself, was sexually penetrated or there was an attempt to do so. The survey results show that 1 in 5 women have been raped in their lifetime. Additionally, approximately 1.3 million women reported being raped in the 12 months prior to taking the survey.

Additionally, NISVS reported that 1 in 4 women have been the victim of severe physical violence by an intimate partner while 1 in 7 men experienced severe physical violence by an intimate partner.

It’s time to set aside party affiliations and agendas and focus on protecting the rights of and services to survivors of sexual and domestic violence. When our legislators acknowledge that the victims of sexual and domestic violence are their mothers, sisters, brothers, children, employees, friends and partners, they are more likely to understand the need to provide bipartisan support to reenact VAWA.  Only when our republican or democratic leaders jointly embrace the notion that the responsibility to intervene in and prevent sexual and domestic violence lays with each of us, will we have a real chance at creating a society free from violence. 

To learn more about how support VAWA reauthorization, visit http://4vawa.org/,

as well as the mobilization page: http://4vawa.org/pages/mobilize-with-the-vawa-tool-kit-82885

To learn more about the National Intimate Partner Violence Survey, please visit:

http://calcasa.org/nisvs/ and http://preventconnect.org/2012/01/web-conference-findings-nisvs/

Dr. Dorothy Espelage

Join Dr. Dorothy Espelage and Dr. Kathleen Basile as they discuss their recent Journal of Adolescent Health article, “Bullying Perpetration and Subsequent Sexual Violence Perpetration Among Middle School Students.” Heather Carter of the Youth Suicide Prevention Program in Seattle, Wash., will join the conversation as she will describe efforts to prevent LGBT-based bullying and harassment. In this interactive web conference, we will explore the potential implications for sexual violence and other prevention efforts.

Monday, February 27, and repeated on Friday, March 2, 2012

This ninety-minute (90 min) session will start at 11 AM Pacific Standard Time (2 PM Eastern, 1 PM Central, Noon Mountain, 10 AM Alaska, 8 AM Hawai’i).

Click here to register and get materials on the PreventConnect web site for this web conference.

Host/Presenter: David Lee, CALCASA, PreventConnect

Guest Speakers:

• Dorothy Espelage, Ph.D., University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign;
• Kathleen Basile, Ph.D., Division of Violence Prevention, CDC
• Heather Carter, MA, OUTLoud Project Manager, Youth Suicide Prevention Program

Cost: Free

Learning Objectives:

1. Participants will describe the findings of a the study “Bullying Perpetration and Subsequent Sexual Violence Perpetration Among Middle School Students.”
2. Participants will explore a potential bullying sexual violence pathway.
3. Participants will identify potential implications for prevention efforts.

What is a Web Conference?
A web conference is an opportunity to attend an online workshop by watching a presentation on your computer screen (using your internet connection) and hearing presenters through your telephone. Prevent Connect web conferences feature an opportunity to participate in online question & answer sessions and live text chat between participants. If for some reason you are unable to join on your computer, you can download the presentation slides from our website and listen on your phone.

Real-Time Captioning Available
Instructions for accessing captioning during this web conference will be provided with your registration confirmation.

Compatibility
The iLinc web conference software used by Prevent Connect is compatible with both Microsoft® Windows® and Apple® Macintosh® computers. Click here for detailed system requirements.

CALCASA loves this SAAM toolkit! For Sexual Assault Awareness & Prevention Month (SAAPM), the Texas Association Against Sexual Assault (TAASA) has a national campaign that will employ both traditional and non-traditional methods through the use of social media, social marketing and social change.

Rose Luna writes on the agency blog,

The theme of TAASA’s 2012 SAAPM packet is “Get Social”. The intention behind this theme is to emphasize the connection between community, it’s stakeholders and our agency. It also represents the importance of collaboration and building of relationships in creating awareness and change.

The comprehensive 32-page packet includes information about social media; how it can be used at your agency; social media activities; how social marketing differs from social media; and ideas that rape crisis centers can use during April and the rest of the year to raise awareness about sexual violence. For agencies that are new to social media, this packet is a great starting place with plenty of supportive content.

CALCASA will be using parts of this great resource during our SAAM 2012 activities!

Download the “Get Social” SAAPM packet.

The Invisible War recently premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, drawing new attention to sexual assault in the military. The Invisible War “Focus[es] on the powerfully emotional stories of several young women, the film reveals the systemic cover up of the crimes against them and follows their struggles to rebuild their lives and fight for justice”.

Did you know:

• Military women are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier then killed by enemy fire?
• Only 8% if sexual assault cases are prosecuted in the military and only 2% of those result in convictions?

The California Coalition Against Sexual Assault Rape Crisis Capacity Building (RCCB) Series will be holding a webinar on survivors of military sexual trauma on Thursday, February 9, 2012 from 11 am – 1 pm PST. Participants will learn to develop and/or increase their skills related to advocacy, service-provision and organizational readiness for these underserved, high-risk populations.

Rape Crisis Capacity Building Series: “Understanding Military Sexual Trauma”

Date: Thursday, February 9th, 2012

Time: 11:00 AM-1:00 PM (PST)

Registration Link: https://calcasa.ilinc.com/register/krhhjsc

Presenter:

Lori Katz, PHD

Psychologist

Military Sexual Trauma Coordinator

VA Long Beach Health Care System

Working with Veteran Survivors requires advocates to understand the experiences of sexual violence many veterans encounter while enlisted.  Dr. Lori Katz, PhD is an expert in the area of Military Sexual Trauma and working with survivors.  In this web conference she will provide important information about how to work with survivors who have experienced sexual violence in the military and will discuss resources available for advocates whose agency may be serving veterans with MST.

***RCCB webinars are open to CalEMA funded CALCASA member programs only.  We do not have the capacity to accommodate non-member programs or individuals at this time.*

During the Super Bowl last night, I was not watching the game but following the Twitter hashtag #notbuyingit where people were protesting about the many sexist ads, such as those by Kia, Telefora, Fiat and GoDaddy. Today’s Mother Jones article Twitter Talks Back to Sexist Super Bowl Ads described how this campaign started by Miss Representation is taking off.

Do online petitions actually make a difference? After looking at recent events, I have to say the online activism can and does make a difference. Several articles in the last few days documented the role online activists have to make change. The AltanticWire article 2012 Is the Year of the Virtual Protest and Nickolas Kristof’s Sunday New York Times column After Recess: Change the World both highlight the impact online efforts using services such as Change.org have. As Kristof wrote about these successes:

And therein lies a story of how new Internet tools are allowing very ordinary people to defeat some of the most powerful corporate and political interests around — by threatening the titans with the online equivalent of a tarring and feathering.

Our efforts to change the culture can start with online efforts. How will you use our new technology to promote a world free of sexual violence and domestic violence?

This morning the Senate Judiciary Committee passed the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, a major step forward in the process towards renewing a piece of legislation which has transformed the work of victim advocates as well as the lives of sexual and domestic violence survivors. First passed in 1994 (and later reauthorized in 2006), this ground breaking piece of legislation,

“…recognizes the insidious and pervasive nature of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and supports comprehensive, effective and cost saving responses to these crimes. VAWA programs, administered by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, give law enforcement, prosecutors and judges the tools they need to hold offenders accountable and keep communities safe while supporting victims.” (Quote from the National Alliance to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women website)

The next step for this bill will be to move forward into a full Senate vote and then on to the House of Representatives. CALCASA has been working closely with the National Alliance to advance this legislation and would like to thank Senator Diane Feinstein (D-CA) for her support of sexual and domestic violence survivors and for co-sponsoring the bill. We will continue to provide updates as this piece of legislation moves through the Senate.

To learn more, please visit the National Alliance website by clicking here.

If you are interested in working more closely with CALCASA on the reauthorization of the Violence Against Women Act, please contact Alexis Marbach, CALCASA’s Public Policy Advocate at alexis.marbach@calcasa.org

Yesterday, Men Can Stop Rape launched their new bystander intervention campaign geared towards addressing sexual violence on college campuses. “Where Do You Stand?” uses a number of tools such as trainings, posters, and media materials to encourage young men to become active bystanders to end sexual violence.

According to Men Can Stop Rape’s press release, “Where Do You Stand? continues Men Can Stop Rape’s commitment to primary prevention by creating everyday solutions to prevent men’s violence against women and girls,” said Men Can Stop Rape Executive Director, Neil Irvin. “This campaign builds on young men’s ability, desire, and commitment to being strong without being violent.”

Continue reading to view the full text of the press release.

PRESS CONTACT: Amy Terpeluk
Tel: (212) 593-2792
Cell: (917) 826-2326
amy@finnpartners.com

COLLEGE MEN LAUNCH WHERE DO YOU STAND?, A NEW NATIONAL INTERVENTION PROGRAM TO STOP SEXUAL ASSAULT ON CAMPUSES

Leading men’s prevention organization, Men Can Stop Rape, collaborates with American Association of University Women to increase the number of men on campus who intervene to prevent dating violence and sexual assault

WASHINGTON, D.C. – January 31, 2012 – Today, Men Can Stop Rape, a leading national organization mobilizing boys and young men to prevent violence against women, is launching a new nationwide intervention movement to empower college men to speak up and prevent violence on campus.

This new push to build safer college campuses is a direct result of the many recent incidents of rape, sexual assault and dating violence that have occurred on campuses. Sixty two percent of undergraduate students say they have encountered some type of sexual harassment⁽¹⁾, and a recent survey shows that nearly half (43 percent) of all dating college women report having ever experienced violent or abusive dating behaviors ⁽²⁾.

Men Can Stop Rape is taking an entirely new approach to preventing these incidents. For the first time, they are focusing on male bystanders who witness potentially violent situations and teaching them how to step in before situations escalate into actual physical or sexual violence.

This initiative involves several elements including the launch of an innovative public awareness campaign called Where Do You Stand?. This campaign uses a variety of media materials including billboards, posters and t-shirts, displaying provocative visuals and messages that illustrate how easy it can be for men to speak up and prevent violence.Where Do You Stand? also uses bystander intervention trainings and peer-education sessions that equip them with the necessary skills and tools to intervene.

“Where Do You Stand? continues Men Can Stop Rape’s commitment to primary prevention by creating everyday solutions to prevent men’s violence against women and girls,” said Men Can Stop Rape Executive Director, Neil Irvin. “This campaign builds on young men’s ability, desire, and commitment to being strong without being violent. We look forward to using Where Do You Stand? to deepen existing relationships and build new partnerships with college campuses across the country.”

The collaboration with the American Association of University Women’s 100,000 members nationwide, illustrates the spirit of teamwork that Men Can Stop Rape aims to incorporate onto every campus where this new campaign will take root. Men Can Stop Rape hopes to continue to build these powerful collaborations with women’s groups to help support existing rape and violence prevention programs on campuses and to increase these groups’ resources by bringing men and women together around these important issues.

“It’s crucial that both women and men address sexual harassment and violence on campus. This is not just a women’s issue,” said AAUW Program Manager, Holly Kearl. “By joining forces, we can work together to challenge the culture that fosters those dangerous behaviors, involve more men and give all students nationwide the tools they need to be part of the solution.”

The initiative will also seek to increase the presence of Men Can Stop Rape student leaders on college campuses by building more student-led chapters of their Campus Men Of Strength (MOST) Clubs. MOST Club members serve as activists for violence prevention on campus. They facilitate trainings, plan events and partner with other community and campus organizations to educate men about stereotypes that perpetuate violence, different ways to approach potentially dangerous situations and how to overcome men’s reluctance to confront their peers when they see unhealthy interactions they suspect could become dangerous.

Today, college men from Georgetown, American University and George Washington University, along with area high school students, will come together at Georgetown with collaborators from the American Association of University Women (AAUW), and the School and College Organization of Prevention Educators (SCOPE, www.wearescope.org) to launch this new violence intervention movement at a meeting of Men Can Stop Rape student leaders.

“Intervening in the presence of disrespect toward a woman can be easier said than done,” said Matt Scott, sophomore at George Washington University and Campus MOST Club member. “Everybody faces challenges in life where women, and men for that matter, are being degraded in front of them. It is tough to know how to handle it but Men Can Stop Rape makes it easier for men to challenge stereotypes and take a stand.”

Universities across the country have already requested the new Where Do You Stand?intervention materials and programs and are highly anticipating the opportunity to introduce this national campus movement to their students. Additionally, partners from the District of Columbia Office of Victim Services have joined with Men Can Stop Rape with the goal of distributing Where Do You Stand? materials to campuses city wide. The college men leading this movement are working to ensure every campus has violence and sexual assault prevention and intervention programs in place.

The Where Do You Stand? materials, trainings and programs and the Campus MOST Club programming are available to be activated on campuses nationwide. For more information about Men Can Stop Rape, visit www.mencanstoprape.org.

About Men Can Stop Rape
Men Can Stop Rape is the leading national organization mobilizing boys and men to prevent violence against women. The program has reached over 2 million boys and men in the past 10 years with a message of “strength without violence.” Men Can Stop Rape’s cutting-edge prevention programs are grounded in the social ecological model which recognizes that individual actions profoundly affect entire communities and ultimately all of society. Utilizing a proven curriculum, awareness campaigns, prevention and intervention trainings and programming, Men Can Stop Rape is engaging men and boys to build safer and healthier communities. For more information about Men Can Stop Rape, visit www.mencanstoprape.org.

¹ Harris Interactive® online survey conducted on behalf of the AAUW Educational Foundation, 2005

² Liz Claiborne Inc.’s Love Is Not Abuse 2011 College Dating Violence and Abuse Poll, 2011

April 2012 has been designated as Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) and the California Coalition Against Sexual Assault (CALCASA) is excited to partner with public officials, college campuses, law enforcement, victim advocates and communities across California to raise awareness.

To view CALCASA’s SAAM 2012 webpage, click here.

As momentum starts to build around SAAM, CALCASA would like to use media opportunities to not only highlight the events and work at your agencies, but also to make sexual assault a priority issue for the media and those who are watching — funders, policymakers and general public.

CALCASA is providing materials that will support your media outreach, interviewing skills, relationships with press and community presence. CALCASA is asking you to get in touch with your local media, invite media to your events and advocate for the issues that are affecting your center and this movement. The hope is for all centers across the state to be communicating with media so that we can collectively bring the issue of sexual assault to the forefront.

SAAM is a month focused on raising awareness and informing the public about what individuals can do to change the culture and to join the movement to end sexual violence in this nation and around the world. Throughout April, advocates and volunteers will canvass neighborhoods, produce public service announcements, reach out to local media, and ask public officials to end violence at college campuses, on the streets and in homes. California’s rape crisis centers serve more than 30,000 survivors of sexual violence and trafficking. National studies suggest nearly 1 in 2 women and 1 in 5 men experience an act of sexual violence other than rape in their lifetime, many before the age of 18 and increasingly in elderly populations. From the streets of Los Angeles to the rolling hills of the Sierra Nevadas, every community has been affected by sexual violence.

During the month of April, CALCASA observes Denim Day California. This day protest an Italian Supreme Court decision that overturned a rape conviction. The Court decided the female plaintiff could not have possibly been raped because she was wearing tight jean pants, and the defendant could not have removed her pants without her assistance and thus consent. After the ruling, female Italian parliamentarians wore jeans in protest, and in solidarity, this protest was followed by California’s Senate and Assembly. Since the 1990s, Denim Day California has sent a message that there is never a reason or excuse to sexually assault someone. This year’s Denim Day CA event will take place on Wednesday April 25, 2012 on the West Steps of the State Capitol. (For information about the national Denim Day, please visit the Denim Day in USA website.)

According to government reports, sexual assaults are the lowest reported violent crime with only a small percentage of brave survivors stepping forward to report their assault and participate in the criminal justice process. Rape crisis centers, advocates and volunteers are asked to do more, during a time when the state and federal governments are assisting less. For these reasons, we ask Californians to stand unified with those individuals who step forward in the aftermath of violence.

To view CALCASA’s SAAM 2012 webpage, click here.

Today marks the beginning of Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month.  In February, there will be activities throughout the country addressing violence in young people’s relationships.  I appreciate that this month is not only about awareness, but includes a focus on prevention.  This is a time to take action.  During this month there will be rallies, forums, media campaigns and flash mobs to mobilize young people to prevent teen dating violence.

In his Presidential Proclamation on National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month, 2012, President Obama said

Reducing violence against teens and young adults is an important task for all of us.  This month, we renew our commitment to breaking the silence about dating abuse and fostering a culture of respect in our neighborhoods, our schools, and our homes.

Check out some of PreventConnect’s archived materials about teen dating violence, including

• Healthy Break-Ups and Why They Matter
• Prepare for National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month with That’s Not Cool
• Campaign for the third choice: dating violence prevention and Eclipse
• Understanding teen dating violence prevention: CDC’s Dating Matters
• Respect WORKS!: a comprehensive teen dating violence prevention model

The recently released findings from the Center for Disease Control & Prevention’s (CDC) National Intimate Partner & Sexual Violence Survey (NISVS) recognized that almost 1 in 5 American women have been raped in their lifetime. This is a wake up call to recognize how sexual violence is widespread. However, last week, in a Washington Post opinion column, Christina Hoff Sommers claims this report is comprised of “inflated statistics and sensationalism.”

Sommers, a resident scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, has a long history of criticizing information about violence against women in her articles and books such as “Who Stole Feminism?” In the Washington Post article, she argues the validity of the CDC’s research in comparison to the number rapes reported to the F.B.I. (which used a definition that recently changed because it was too restrictive) and those reported on the Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey. Sommers writes,

The [CDC's] figures are wildly at odds with official crime statistics. The FBI found that 84,767 rapes were reported to law enforcement authorities in 2010. The Bureau of Justice Statistics’ National Crime Victimization Survey, the gold standard in crime research, reports 188,380 rapes and sexual assaults on females and males in 2010. Granted, not all assaults are reported to authorities. But where did the CDC find 13.7 million victims of sexual crimes that the professional criminologists had overlooked?

The CDC survey finds so many more victims than the criminal justice-based statistics because it asks about people’s actual experiences. It is a strength of this survey that it asks behavior-specific questions and includes many types of unwanted sexual violence experiences, in addition to rape. The FBI — until this month — only recorded statistics of vaginal rape that are voluntarily reported by the police departments. The National Crime Victimization Survey asks only about rape as part of series of questions regarding various crimes. The CDC has developed a survey that recognizes sexual violence is not only a crime, but it is also a public health problem.

At the same time as these crimes are continuing to occur, funding is in jeopardy for rape crisis centers across the nation. There are already more survivors than social service agencies have the ability to serve. In order to provide services to more survivors — and also to do the primary prevention work to stop violence before it occurs — the rape crisis centers need to increase funding.

Whether your rape statistic is 84,767 or 188,380, sexual violence is still happening, which should make this a priority issue for rape crisis centers, media, funders and other social service agencies. This survey suggests that the problem is even bigger and requires more attention.

Instead using energy that minimizes the prevalence of sexual violence, let’s put our energy toward creating more programs to prevent sexual violence and opportunities to support survivors in their healing.

Posted by Lynn Rosenthal, White House Advisor on Violence Against Women, on The White House Blog.

January is Stalking Awareness Month, and it’s an important to highlight a crime that is often invisible. According to the latest data from the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), 1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men will be stalked in their lifetimes. Young women ages 18-19 experience the highest rates of stalking. The fears, threats and intimidation endured by victims is often felt by family members as well.

To mark this important month, this week we hosted the first ever White House stalking roundtable with survivors, law enforcement officers, victim advocates, and researchers. We learned from law enforcement experts that while many victims are stalked by ex-partners, others can be stalked by acquaintances and even strangers. Stalkers often track their victims’ daily lives and make themselves known in ways that are scary and unpredictable. Stalking can force victims to change everything about their lives in order to be safe.

I commend the bravery of two survivors who shared their stories. One woman was stalked by an ex-husband while another was stalked over a long period of time by someone she barely knew. Both were terrorized through cyber stalking and a range of strategies designed to keep them on constant edge and make them feel afraid every day. The stalking extended to family members and children, making it even more terrifying. Their stories put a human face on the statistics and helped us understand the true personal cost of stalking.

We are taking steps across the federal government to combat stalking as well as dating violence and sexual assault. The Apps Against Abuse challenge sponsored by the Department of Health and Human Services resulted in two mobile apps that can help protect against dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking. These Apps can be used to stay in touch with your friends and call for help if you need it. The next step is to improve research on stalking and learn more about what victims need to be safe. Most importantly, we need to raise awareness about this hidden crime.

See the National Stalking Awareness Month Proclamation here.