There is an important backstory to the fight for protecting students from sexual violence. It dates back to 1986, when 19-year-old student Jeanne Clery was raped and murdered in her dormitory room at Lehigh University.
Ensler’s hope and goal is for each individual girl to “empower her authentic self.”
StJohn is very clear that emotional issues around military service must be resolved before women can move forward. “We acknowledge the impact of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), Military Sexual Trauma (MST), and Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI).
A sexual attack is a trigger for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). Susan McCutcheon, The Director of Family Services, Women’s Mental Health and Military Sexual Trauma, Veterans Health Administration (VHA) stated, “MST is an experience, not a diagnosis. PTSD is the diagnosis.”
Most of the local news stories gave little to no insight to the aspects of human trafficking apparent in this case, nor the prevalence of this activity on New York City streets.
Madeleine Albright’s most arresting comment was the analogy, “Women in a country are like the canary in the coal mine.”
October 12th-16th was Military Rape Awareness Week, and several organizations were on board for the implementation of activities. Data was put out to the media including: 1 in 3 women in the military have been raped or assaulted; 37 percent of victims are raped multiple times; 14 percent are gang raped.
On July 17, 2009, The National Council of Resistance of Iran headlined the story, “Iran: The burnt corpse of of female demonstrator found after a month of captivity.”
Augmenting McCain’s commitment to overturn Roe v. Wade, Palin ratcheted up the discourse with her position of no abortion exceptions in the case of rape or incest. “She can’t keep the women’s vote if they actually know what she is suggesting,” was the popular wisdom. Yet, there were a lot of female voters who weren’t clear about her record. That’s when a core group of women, using new media and an approach that has defined the 2008 election, jumped in to present another point of view.
"The Jump Rope Line" by Marcia G. Yerman is included in the Seal Press anthology Dancing at the Shame Prom.
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