VAWA

Although this is not new news anymore, I think it's important to talk about the new inclusive Violence Against Women Act. VAWA was originally enforced in 1994 as part of Title IV to protect victims of domestic violence, stalking, and sexual violence. This was an incredible progression for women's rights, but it failed to include members of the LGBT community. In 2012, VAWA was up for reauthorization and this resulted in a lot of political wars on what should and should not be included and funded. After much debate, it passed including rights for the LGBT community, Native Americans, and immigrants. VAWA has done wonders for victims of these crimes, and since it was enforced it has sparked a revolution of women's rights becoming human rights.

As a Gender Studies major, I find myself a humanist as well as a feminist because I find it necessary that everyone be treated equally. Violence should not occur in anyone's lives, and if we can provide advocacy and services to one group of people, we should provide it to all people. Without getting too political or analytical, I want to stress the importance of these human rights issues in our society as priorities.

I think our country took a great stride when they approved the inclusive VAWA that now protects the LGBT community as well as Native Americans and immigrants. I have said it before and I will say it again: it doesn't matter how different the experiences are or who is experiencing the abuse...abuse is abuse no matter what, and it hurts.

As well as providing services for victims of these crimes, VAWA has been able to fund programs in preventative efforts by engaging men and bystanders. Since I am going to pursue a career in prevention of these crimes I think this is fantastic. Ending the abuse (whether it is dating abuse or sexual assault or stalking) requires two independent but equally necessary parts:
1: We need to provide services and resources to victims of these crimes
2: We need to engage all members of the community in work to prevent these crimes

Obviously those are very broad expectations, but in essence these are the two primary focuses of ending abuse. In part 1, we are intervening when necessary to help those in need. In part 2, we educate the public about abuse as well as provide information to help prevent abuse. VAWA covers both of these parts by providing services for the victims as well as engaging bystanders and men in prevention efforts.

For those who are concerned with the money that funds VAWA...if we can decrease the number of victims of these crimes, our country would save billions of dollars. I'd hope that money would not be the most influential factor in wanting to stop violence against women, but it may help people better understand the impact domestic violence has on society (which means it includes all of us, not just those directly affected by the crimes!). Domestic violence alone costs the US over $5 BILLION in healthcare, medical costs, legal services, housing and shelters, and more. Healthcare and medical costs are the most detrimental, costing the US over $4.1 billion annually according to the CDC. So, it is worth funding VAWA if we can not only eliminate these heinous crimes but to save our country billions of dollars. Not so bad for a country in billions of dollars of debt.

If you would like to learn more about the costs of DV in the US, here is where I found my source of information: http://www.stopvaw.org/community_costs_of_domestic_violence

I hope you found this interesting as well as informative, and stay tuned for most posts about sexual assault since April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month! Please spread the word, and share Stop the Hurt's Facebook page!

Do your part and stop the hurt.