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Rape Is a Lifelong Condition โ But It No Longer Defines Me
Read More: Rape Is a Lifelong Condition โ But It No Longer Defines MeApril is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I was a 22-year-old record label manager with siren-red dyed hair the night I was attacked at knifepoint in front of my New York City apartment door. The stranger bound, blindfolded and brutally raped me for hours. I did not float above my body and watch the events from…
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Good Sex with Emily Jamea: Healing After Sexual Assault
Read More: Good Sex with Emily Jamea: Healing After Sexual AssaultEmily Jamea, Ph.D., is a sex therapist, author and podcast host. You can find her here each month to share her latest thoughts about sex. April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. My 2 oโclock client, Nicola, sat across from me on the sofa, her legs tucked under her. She glanced out the window at the…
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What Is Considered Sexual Assault?
Read More: What Is Considered Sexual Assault?April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. I was a carefree 11-year-old walking down the street when a man approached me, swiftly grabbing my breast before running off. While I didnโt have the words for it then, it was sexual assault, and it wouldnโt be my only experience. There was the time when a man on…
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I Was Stalked for 2 Decades Before It Was a Crime
Read More: I Was Stalked for 2 Decades Before It Was a CrimeAs told to Marnie Goodfriend During my Thanksgiving break from college in 1982, I received a strange phone call from a person I didnโt know. He asked me if I was still driving a yellow Capri and dating my last high school boyfriend. I told him I didnโt know who he was, and he hung…
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Marital Rape Is Still Legal
Read More: Marital Rape Is Still LegalIn the summer of 2017, Jenny Teeson made a horrifying discovery. Teeson, who had begun divorce proceedings from her husband of 12 years in Minnesota, was looking through files from their shared laptop when she discovered photos and videos of her husband raping her while she was unconscious. Teeson’s husband had been drugging her with…
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Domestic Violence Isnโt About Just Physical Violence โ and State Laws Are Beginning to Recognize That
Read More: Domestic Violence Isnโt About Just Physical Violence โ and State Laws Are Beginning to Recognize ThatThe Conversation By Lisa Aronson Fontes, University of Massachusetts Amherst Three or more U.S. women are murdered every day by their current or former intimate partner. That may in part be due to a failure of state laws to capture the full range of behavior that constitutes domestic abuse. The law continues to treat intimate…
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Hospitals Are Allowing Medical Students to Perform Pelvic Exams on Unconscious Women โ Without Their Consent
Read More: Hospitals Are Allowing Medical Students to Perform Pelvic Exams on Unconscious Women โ Without Their ConsentApril is Sexual Assault Awareness Month. When patients go to the hospital, they expect to receive medical attention โ not to be subjected to nonconsensual examinations. In 2007, Ashley Weitz, a 37-year-old mother in Utah, went to the emergency room seeking treatment for nausea and vomiting. Weitz was sedated with promethazine to stop the vomiting.…
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Abuse, Anxiety, Coronavirus, COVID-19, Depression, Domestic violence, Health disparities, mental health, Pandemic, Relationships, Research
Domestic Violence Calls for Help Increased During the Pandemic โ but the Answers Havenโt Gotten Any Easier
Read More: Domestic Violence Calls for Help Increased During the Pandemic โ but the Answers Havenโt Gotten Any EasierBy Tara N. Richards, University of Nebraska Omaha and Justin Nix, University of Nebraska Omaha Domestic violence rose globally in 2020 โ so much so that doctors have called it โa pandemic within a pandemic.” The National Commission on COVID-19 and Criminal Justice, a team of national experts tasked with assessing the impact of COVID-19…
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US Has a Long History of Violence Against Asian Women
Read More: US Has a Long History of Violence Against Asian WomenBy Karen Leong, Arizona State University and Karen Kuo, Arizona State University Asian American women understand that the alleged murderer of eight people in Atlanta was acting in keeping with a culture filled with racialized and sexualized views of Asian women. Of the people murdered, four women were of Korean descent and two of Chinese…
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Domestic Violence Hurts People With Disabilities, Too
Read More: Domestic Violence Hurts People With Disabilities, TooSince 2015, Shannon, a 40-year-old New York native, has lived in a domestic violence shelter for people with disabilities: Barrier Free Living (BFL), which has services in Manhattan and the Bronx. BFL is one of the few programs nationwide dedicated exclusively to serving survivors of domestic violence with disabilities. Her real name will not be…
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Abuse, Depression, Eating disorders, mental health, Obesity, Parenting, Real women real stories, Self-Care
I Recovered from Obesity and Bulimia Triggered by Sexual Abuse Once. And I Can Do It Again.
Read More: I Recovered from Obesity and Bulimia Triggered by Sexual Abuse Once. And I Can Do It Again.As told to Gila Lyons I’ve dealt with weight issues and bulimia since I was 16 years old. My weight’s gone up and down throughout my life, and today โ at 55 years old โ I’m 5’3″ and weigh 190 pounds. At times, I feel depressed and humiliated by my weight, but I have hope…
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Older Women Get Stalked, Too
Read More: Older Women Get Stalked, TooJanuary is National Stalking Awareness Month. “I can see you.” That’s the text Grace Alexander remembers most โ because it was chilling. The words that followed complimented the pink floral top she was wearing as she bowled with her family. This message from her ex-husband was just one of many, along with phone calls filled…
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If You Live with Domestic Violence, Home May Be the Last Place that Feels Safe During COVID-19
Read More: If You Live with Domestic Violence, Home May Be the Last Place that Feels Safe During COVID-19COVID-19 has forced millions of Americans to practice social distancing and work or learn remotely from home. Unfortunately, for many who live with domestic violence, home is the last place that feels safe, as abusers often isolate their victims from friends, family and coworkers as a control tactic. Stacey*, a stay-at-home mom, didn’t realize the…
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Abuse, Alcoholism, Eating disorders, mental health, Real women real stories, Self-Care, Substance abuse
You Can’t Put a Band-Aid Over a Bullet Hole: How I Healed From Sexual Trauma and Substance Abuse
Read More: You Can’t Put a Band-Aid Over a Bullet Hole: How I Healed From Sexual Trauma and Substance AbuseI was raped when I was 12 years old and then twice more as a teenager. Those experiences, combined with other personal traumas, led me to turn to alcohol, marijuana and eventually crack in an attempt to escape. I tried to find control in self-harm, disordered eating and partying until I blacked out. I had…
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Family and Friends Can Be Key to Helping End Domestic Violence, Study Suggests
Read More: Family and Friends Can Be Key to Helping End Domestic Violence, Study SuggestsBy Krista M. Chronister, University of Oregon The COVID-19 pandemic and strategies to prevent its spread, such as self-quarantine and travel restrictions, have isolated families and intensified conditions that place people at greater risk for domestic violence. Reports of domestic violence are increasing around the world. Domestic violence is harm inflicted by a romantic partner…
