Reflection
Because of the society in which we live, in some sense we have become numbed to violence toward women. We seem to accept it in movies, on TV, in the control attempted in the political arena and when opinions diverge. Without stopping to reflect on what such violence does throughout the world and to our own human spirit, we are able to move on. Rather than being appalled or outraged, we sometimes accept it as part of the “way things” are. Think of how patriarchy still affects our cultures worldwide. We see resistance met with force, Violence toward women and girls assaults our senses daily and it still happened here in subtle and overt ways. We can take a first step in changing attitudes in the training, education, and example we give our children.
Prayer
Give us the courage to help stop the cycle of violence.
Action
Examine your own attitudes on violence toward women and girls. Have you become numbed and lost your sense of outrage at what is done to the human spirit for profit or power? Do you accept it?
Suggested Reading
He straightened up and said to her, “Where are they? Is there no one left to condemn you?”“No one, sir,” she answered. “Well, then,” Jesus said, “I do not condemn you either.
John 53:10
The number of women who are beaten and abused in their homes, even by their husbands, is very, very high. The problem is that, for me, it is almost satanic because it is taking advantage of a person who cannot defend herself, who can only [try to] block the blows.
Pope Francis
We must unite. Violence against women cannot be tolerated, in any form, in any context, in any circumstance, by any political leader or by any government.
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon
Nowhere in the world is a woman safe from violence. The strengthening of global commitment to counteract this plague is a movement whose time has come.
Deputy Secretary-General Asha-Rose Migiro
One in three women may suffer from abuse and violence in her lifetime. This is an appalling human rights violation, yet it remains one of the invisible and under-recognized pandemics of our time.
Nicole Kidman
Sexual violence, intimidation and control—including clothing codes, public sexual humiliation and trafficking—are part of the patriarchal structures and systems that have oppressed women for most of history.
Global Fund for Women
In movies, television shows, cartoons, music videos, and even comic books — it is clear that women are presented as half-human and objectified. If a woman is looked upon as an object, without feelings, life, soul, or thoughts, then it is easy to ingest images of her that defy her humanity.
Marina DelVecchio
We are unalterably opposed to the presentation of the female body being stripped, bound, raped, tortured, mutilated, and murdered in the name of commercial entertainment and free speech.
Susan Brownmiller
For most of recorded history, parental violence against children and men’s violence against wives was explicitly or implicitly condoned. Those who had the power to prevent and/or punish this violence through religion, law, or custom, openly or tacitly approved it. …..The reason violence against women and children is finally out in the open is that activists have brought it to global attention.
Riane Eisler