Dec
22
Have a safe and happy holiday!
Filed Under Announcement | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
The TAASA office will close beginning Wednesday, December 24 and will re-open on Monday, January 5. We wish you happy holidays and a happy new year!
Dec
18
Sexual violence in TYC
Filed Under News | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
It seems that Texas Youth Commission authorities equate sexual assault with consensual sexual behavior. The Houston Chronicle reports that five inmates at TYC have “either engaged in sexual activity or were sexually assaulted by other inmates.” TYC spokesman Jim Hurley said that TYC has “a zero tolerance policy for any type of sexual behavior in our facility, whether actual sexual assault or a consensual sexual relationship.”
This attitude is likely to make the inmates at TYC much less safe. It minimizes sexual violence by failing to differentiate it from consensual sex, and ignores the fact that sexual violence is about power and control over someone else, more than it is about lust. Classifying sexual assault as sexual behavior rather than violent behavior sends a dangerous message to both victims and perpetrators.
Dec
15
Speaking Out Against Homophobia: Next Steps
Filed Under Social Justice, LGBTQI | By Morgan J Curtis | Leave a Comment
by Tim Love and Morgan J Curtis
We promised to do a follow-up to the anti-homophobia pledge, and just when you were probably starting to give up on us, we are finally making good on our word.
So, we tried really diligently to come up with a nice round list of ten. And then, we thought to ourselves “Selves, why are we trying to adhere to some externally-imposed norm that lists like this have to be in tens or fives?” Forget that. Below are the six ideas that seemed important to use at this time as a follow-up to the resolution poster earlier. And if you are still hung up on the externally-imposed idea that lists should be in multiples of five, then please feel free to send us four or nine or fourteen (you get the idea) more ideas that really speak to you. It’s obviously not an exhaustive list, but it’s a good start.
- Notice your language – Does your language suggest an assumption that everyone is heterosexual? Do you ask women about boyfriends and husbands or men about wives and girlfriends without knowing their sexual orientation? For example, an instructor in a class Morgan was taking always said, “when you go home to your kids or your spouse…” Using terms like “spouse” are meant to cover both men and women who might be married, however, when marriage is only available to a certain segment of the population, it also inherently leaves out people who might be in committed relationships without the option of marriage, or who have chosen not to get married (and we can talk about that in a different blog post). In contrast, a different instructor would refer instead to people’s “partners” when discussing romantic relationships. These two different approaches set a very different tone in interactions and can be the difference between making people feel welcome or making them feel alienated. It might seem like a small issue, but language is a very strong component in setting and perpetuating norms. What kind of language do you use? Also, some heterosexual individuals have chosen to use the term “partner” to refer to the person they are in a romantic relationship with, rather than referring to the person as their wife, husband, boyfriend or girlfriend. (Note: If you make the choice to use the term “partner”, resist the urge to correct people if they assume you are not heterosexual. Use the opportunity, instead, to talk to the person about why they shouldn’t make assumptions.) Read more
Dec
11
The Price of Pleasure
Filed Under Media Commentary, Social Justice, Feminism, Gender, Pop Culture | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
Here at the office we screened The Price of Pleasure, a documentary that explores the sexism and racism in pornography. Often, the debate over pornography centers on “pro-sex” and “anti-sex” arguments. The problem with pornography, though, isn’t the sexuality, but how that sexuality is expressed: through demeaning and humiliating women and people of color. One issue the film addresses is the argument that the women who work in the field do so willingly (and make a lot of money doing it), therefore it isn’t exploitive. This is an issue with which I have personally struggled, but there are some interesting points brought up in the film:
First, women who work in the industry do make money, and some of them make a lot of money, but that isn’t the norm. It is the porn producers and distributers that make the most profit, and those people are overwhelmingly men (who get rich by profiting off women’s bodies). Second, as one woman who previously worked in the porn industry pointed out, there’s a real problem with the labor system when a woman’s best economic choice is to take off her clothes. Finally, though the women who perform in pornography do choose to do so (the issue of choice here is the topic of another post), all women are impacted and affected by our increasingly pornographic culture and the commodification of women’s bodies, whether we buy into it or not.
What do you think? Can one be pro-sex but anti-pornography? Who is to blame for the increasing “pornification” of our culture?
Dec
9
Abuse of people with disabilities
Filed Under Social Justice | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
Texas is considering closing some of the state’s schools for the disabled due to wide-ranging civil rights violations at the schools. At the center of the debate is how to best meet the needs of people with mental disabilities and severe physical disabilities that require extensive care. Are state-run schools the best option, or would people’s needs be better served with community-run care?
Advocates for closing the schools say community options are the answer, because they allow for more freedom and personalized care. Opponents insist that the schools provide the constant care and structure that residents need and that the answer is increased funding to the schools to improve care.
I’m not going to pretend to know the best solution, but I do know that it is vital for decision makers to remember that the residents of the state facilities are people, and their voices and input should be considered when making decisions that affect their lives. People with profound disabilities, whether physical or mental, are often treated as less than human, and their opinions and desires are ignored by caretakers and lawmakers alike. This mentality is the same one that allows those who abuse people with disabilities – physically, sexually, emotionally – to justify their actions to themselves. If someone is less than human, then it isn’t really abuse, is it? I sincerely hope that before schools are closed and people are displaced, lawmakers and other decision makers will take the time to get to know some of the residents and listen to their needs.
Having someone’s best interest at heart isn’t good enough if you don’t take the time to learn it from them, or when that isn’t possible (as is the case with people who are unable to communicate due to their disability), those closest to them.
Dec
5
The Soundtrack of Justice
Filed Under Powerful Women | By Tim Love | Leave a Comment
Injustice is a difficult thing to talk about. Sometimes we feel it all around us, but can’t point at any one event or characteristic of our world and say, “There it is.” It can deeply affect how we feel inside, and yet because we can’t always name it or explain the feeling, it can get stuck inside of us and feed destructive anger and paralyzing despair.
In the history of social movements, music has often been the one vehicle that can accomplish the complete expression of injustice – put to words our thoughts and emotions and release and express the anger, pain and despair that sits within our stomachs, allowing our very souls a voice so often silenced. This release and expression allows our spirits to be uplifted and often helps us find a clear path for action. For me, it has been singers like Pete Seeger, whom I saw perform at a protest in Fort Benning, Ga., Ani Difranco, Rage Against the Machine and, recently, the Flobots and Eliza Gilkyson. For many of those who struggled for civil rights in the 1960’s, that voice was that of Odetta, who passed away in New York yesterday at the age of 77. A Reuter’s story quotes “The Times” as saying that Rosa Parks was once asked which songs meant the most to her. Rosa’s reply was, “All the songs that Odetta sings.” The poet Maya Angelou once said “If only one could be sure that every 50 years a voice and a soul like Odetta’s would come along, the centuries would pass so quickly and painlessly we would hardly recognize time.”
To find out more about the amazing voice, message and life of Odetta please check out the Reuter’s story above or simply google “Odetta.” Also, you can listen to some of her music, including “O Freedom” which she sang at the Civil Rights March in 1963.
Have you discovered a song or singer who gives full expression to the injustice, or the good, you feel and see in the world around you?
Nov
17
Visitors from Ukraine
Filed Under Human Trafficking, Crime | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
Friday, four people who work for the Ministry of Interior in Ukraine visited TAASA as part of a four-city journey to learn about combating child exploitation and trafficking in the United States. They visited as part of the U.S. Department of State’s International Visitor Leadership Program. The group already visited Washington, D.C. and San Diego, and after they leave Austin they are heading to Louisville before returning home. Before coming to TAASA, the delegation met with representatives from the Office of the Attorney General, Texas Rio Grande Legal Aid, the child abuse division of the Austin Police Department and the Texas Department of State Health Services.The goals of the project include identifying potential partners and NGOs that have interest in collaborating to prevent future occurrences of child exploitation. We talked with them about various topics, including our interactions with law enforcement and our challenges in doing so, our public awareness campaign materials, the topics we offer training on, our relationship with government entities and how we collaborate with universities.
Nov
12
Speaking Out Against Homophobia
Filed Under Social Justice, LGBTQI | By Morgan J Curtis | 2 Comments
written by Tim Love and Morgan J Curtis
TAASA has recommitted itself to social justice work, thus moving our anti-oppression work to the forefront of our efforts. As we have taken our anti-oppression approach to sexual violence prevention out into the communities and rape crisis centers across the state, we’ve discovered many programs and communities struggling with both oppression in their community and ways to get their organizations to support social justice work in concrete ways. Inspired by the TAASA membership resolution process, we decided to create a personal resolution to address two interrelated forms of oppression that are closely linked to sexual violence – heterosexism and homophobia. We hope you will find the resolution a useful tool as you work to address homophobia in your life, within the organizations you work with and in your community as a whole.
The following resolution highlights some key problems with homophobia and heterosexism, including its impact on all people, regardless of sexual orientation. There are a variety of ways this resolution could be used. Hanging it up in your office could spark conversations with co-workers and community partners. Sharing it with people during your anti-oppression and prevention trainings gives them an opportunity to take action in a meaningful way, something that people often seek after attending such trainings.
How else can you envision using this resolution? Are there any key points that you think were not included in the resolution?
Stay tuned for a follow-up post on additional ways the resolution can be used as well as tips for how to carry out your commitment to ending homophobia and heterosexism. Please indicate in the comments section if you post this commitment and where you post it.
You can download a pdf of the resolution here.
My Commitment
Whereas homophobia is a contributing factor to sexual violence, and
Whereas homophobia contributes to the strict gender norm socialization that leads to violence in many forms, including sexual violence, and
Whereas the oppression of any group of people contributes to the oppression of all people, and
Whereas homophobia hinders the full expression of all peoples’ humanity, and
Whereas homophobia impedes the formation of healthy bonds between people of all genders, and
Whereas homophobia and heterosexism stifle the formation and expression of healthy sexuality for all people, and
Whereas fighting homophobia is consistent with my commitment to actively confront and respond to all forms of oppression as they relate to sexual violence,
Therefore, be it resolved that I will actively support the rights of all people, regardless of sexual orientation and actively oppose homophobia and heterosexism in all its forms.
Nov
7
Violent websites linked to violent behavior
Filed Under Prevention | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
The “Washington Post” reports that new research published in Pedriatrics has found that young people exposed to violent websites are more likely to commit serious violent crimes themselves. Dr. Michele L. Ybarra of Internet Solutions for Kids in Santa Ana, Calif., said “Our findings add to the growing evidence that violence in the media is related to aggressive behavior, including seriously violent behavior among youths… Reduction in youths’ exposure to violent media should be viewed as an important aspect of violence prevention.”
More research is still necessary, however, to establish causality. The study only shows that violent websites and violent acts are linked, not that one causes the other, as the article points out.
But the current study doesn’t answer the question of whether violent media is turning kids violent, whether violence-prone youth are more likely to seek out violence on the Internet, or “more probably,” whether a bit of both is going on, the researchers say.
Nov
6
She’s a person, not a “rape girl”
Filed Under Media Commentary | By Melissa Heald | Leave a Comment
Via SAFER’s blog, I read about this appalling CNN headline:
It doesn’t get much more de-humanizing than that.