Post 4- Domestic Violence and the Coverage by Alternative Media Outlets By Jarett Zackman

I chose to focus on an issue that has been rampant the past few months.  The issue is sexual and physical abuse against women and how alternative media organizations cover this issue.  I am interested in the different approaches and campaigns that are used to focus on this global issue.  In my research I have found websites, newspapers, magazines and ad campaigns devoted to shedding light on this issue.  I have been reading recently about the increase in rape and sexual assaults against women in foreign countries, specifically India, and it motivated me to focus on an organization whose sole purpose is to eradicate all physical and sexual abuse against women.  In addition, the Ray Rice incident and the overwhelming increase in domestic abuse cases in the news today is hard to ignore.  What is even more disturbing is the increase in cases among professional athletes.  Alternative website www.fivethirtyeight.com recently wrote about the problem in Domestic Abuse in Professional Athletes.  The coverage of this issue by alternative media sites is interesting and I feel it is important to shed light on the method's that these sites view and cover domestic violence.

Domestic violence statistics:

• 1 in 4 women will experience domestic violence during her lifetime.
• Women experience more than 4 million physical assaults and rapes because of their partners, and men are victims of nearly 3 million physical assaults.
• Women are more likely to be killed by an intimate partner than men
• Women ages 20 to 24 are at greatest risk of becoming victims of domestic violence.
• Every year, 1 in 3 women who is a victim of homicide is murdered by her current or former partner.
• Every year, more than 3 million children witness domestic violence in their homes.
• Children who live in homes where there is domestic violence also suffer abuse or neglect at high rates (30% to 60%).
• A 2005 Michigan study found that children exposed to domestic violence at home are more likely to have health problems, including becoming sick more often, having frequent headaches or stomachaches, and being more tired and lethargic.
• A 2003 study found that children are more likely to intervene when they witness severe violence against a parent – which can place a child at great risk for injury or even death.

More statistic can be found at: Domestic Violence Statistics

An interesting and in very in depth organization I found on the web was the National Sexual Violence Resource center. "The NSVRC’s Mission is to provide leadership in preventing and responding to sexual violence through collaboration, sharing and creating resources, and promoting research."  Its primary mission is to recognize and prevent sexual violence against women.  It recognizes sexual abuse as any situation that renders a victim powerless against his/her aggressor.   The NSVRC's main mission is to accomplish the complete eradication of sexual violence against women through recognition, prevention and collaboration. Some of the projects in which the NSRVC is currently involved is listed here: NSRVC Projects.  The NSRVC also has a wealth of publications on this issue and is helpful in researching deeper into the issue of domestic violence.  A list of the publications can be found here NSRVC Publications.

Another piece of social media that caught my attention is, "It's On Us", which is a recent campaign set up by President Obama. This campaign sheds light on domestic abuse by receiving pledges from individuals who vow not to be bystanders if they see domestic abuse occurring. In a speech promoting this campaign, Barak Obama said the following:

"For anybody whose once-normal, everyday life was suddenly shattered by an act of sexual violence, the trauma, the terror can shadow you long after one horrible attack.  It lingers when you don’t know where to go or who to turn to.  It’s there when you’re forced to sit in the same class or stay in the same dorm with the person who raped you; when people are more suspicious of what you were wearing or what you were drinking, as if it’s your fault, not the fault of the person who assaulted you.  It’s a haunting presence when the very people entrusted with your welfare fail to protect you. "

The following clip made headlines this past year.  It shows Baltimore Ravens star running back punching his fiance in the face in an elevator in Atlantic City.  After the punch knocked his fiance out cold, he proceeded to drag her unconscious body across the floor out of the elevator.  The video sent shock waves through news media outlets mainly due to the fame of the abuser and the traumatic footage that showed the brutal abuse. This video was extremely successful in gaining national attention because of the rawness of it; nothing was hidden from the viewers. Since media these days is so uncensored, viewers can hear and see what happens so clearly. When my girlfriend and I watched the video, she said she could almost feel his fiance's pain.  Seeing her collapse onto the floor was horrifying, but even more horrific was his dragging her lifeless corpse on the floor. I believe seeing the uncensored video caused viewers to really feel her pain, which in turn, created a campaign to bring awareness toward domestic violence situations in the NFL and other professional sports associations.  

One piece of media I found gives men a different gender role. While watching or reading most of the media pieces on physical and sexual violence, unfortunately since men are usually the aggressors, the pieces have a critical tone toward the men. However, in this talk, Jackson Katz bravely states that domestic violence issues are, in fact, men's issues. In this moving piece, he explains that men can be a catalyst for change and men need to come together to show the world they understand women's views on this topic. Gender violence has been perceived as "women's issues", but Katz says it is both gender's issues, and men have been erased from the equation. Particularly, battered women have identified themselves as battered victims, and the men who have committed these acts are not discussed further. Katz was not minimizing how a battered woman feels, he was only emphasizing how men need to be included in the conversation so men can learn how to prevent abuse. He went on to explain that the frameworks of national institutions, such as the NFL and the Catholic Church, need to be questioned, since several of the perpetrators continue to belong to these institutions.

Questions were raised in the fall of 2014, and in August and September, the public truly desired some answers. The NFL commissioner was pressured by the public to make some sweeping policy changes. The public was hopeful that the violence and aggression that pervades the NFL would somehow diminish a bit. Even if it did not change on the football field, maybe off the field the players would understand how their aggression and violence affects their wives, partners, children, and the public. However, that movement toward change seems to have ceased. I do not see domestic violence stories in the media as much as they were being shown in August and September. Sadly, once again, the public does not care as much and the NFL policy changes that were promised have not been delivered. I am hopeful that this blog will help raise awareness again.  


Works Cited:

Article on domestic violence from:
http://fivethirtyeight.com/datalab/the-rate-of-domestic-violence-arrests-among-nfl-players/

Jackson Katz's presentation on domestic violence from TED Talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/jackson_katz_violence_against_women_it_s_a_men_s_issue?language=en

Information on current projects for the NRVC:
http://www.nsvrc.org/projects

Information on "Its on Us" Initiative:
http://itsonus.org/

Video of the Ray Rice Incident was found here:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbwTMJroTbI

Statistics Found on Domestic Violence:
http://www.safehorizon.org/page/domestic-violence-statistics--facts-52.html#sthash.meKcS0jY.dpuf