Today’s truth came to me rather late in the day. Just a few minutes ago, actually. (Thanks, Kate.)
Prior to receiving this article, I was likely going to write about the importance of looking after oneself (after yet another trip to the clinic about my wrist).
But this is far more important. Stats that made me sad, angry, and frustrated:
- a rape is reported every 6.2 minutes in the USA alone. What about the unreported ones? What about rapes in other countries? Tens of millions of rape victims. TENS OF MILLIONS.
- A woman is beaten every 9 seconds in the USA. Every nine seconds. Just in the USA alone.
- Every three years, the number of women killed by their husbands or partners is above and beyond 9/11 casualties. EVERY THREE YEARS. 9/11 was more than 11 years ago!
- Women are often killed because they refused sex or chose to break up with their partners. “It begins with this premise: I have the right to control you.”
- Spouses are the leading cause of death for pregnant women in the USA.
- Of 62 mass shootings in the USA over the last 30 years, only one was by a woman. ONE.
- “Women worldwide ages 15 through 44 are more likely to die or be maimed because of male violence than because of cancer, malaria, war and traffic accidents combined.”
- One in three Native American women will be raped in her lifetime (the national USA average is 1 in 5), and 88% percent of those on reservations are by non-Native men because they know the tribal government can’t press charges.
- Rapists who impregnate their victims have parental rights in 31 states — this is ASTONISHING.
If you do nothing else today, please read Rebecca Solnit’s article. It’s not new. This is the third time she’s written it. (The first was 30 years ago.) This is so important.
If we talked about crimes like these and why they are so common, we’d have to talk about what kinds of profound change this society, or this nation, or nearly every nation needs. If we talked about it, we’d be talking about masculinity, or male roles, or maybe patriarchy, and we don’t talk much about that.
Today’s truth is that the violence needs to stop.
Quite honestly, this is not a truth just for today. It is truly a quotidian truth. It is true EVERY DAY.
Until the violence stops.
I’ve joined One Billion Rising. I will wear red and black on February 14th. I will NOT STOP TALKING about these topics, no matter how uncomfortable it is for me or for others. It’s too important. This is my truth, and the truth of tens of millions of victims.
Break the chain.
(trigger warning: this video depicts scenes of violence and rape. I hope you can understand why I’ve chosen to post it here, but please know that it may be difficult to watch.)
