SEXUALT ASSAULT IN RURAL AMERICA

December 26, 2005

The morning after a party hosted in her home by her abusive husband, “Jane” was given the task of driving the male guests home. After dropping one of them off, she was left in the car with her husband’s cousin who offered to show her a shortcut to his house. Tired, and wanting to get rid of him as quickly as possible, Jane agreed. The shortcut did not go to his house but rather to a strip-mining site far from anything else. The man forced Jane into the back seat of the car where he forcibly raped her. Afterward he threw her out of the car and physically assaulted her. On instinct, Jane ran. Being in the middle of nowhere, she ran toward the sound of equipment running. She finally came upon a man driving heavy equipment, approximately one mile from the site of her assault. The man called 911 in an effort to get some help for Jane. Because the site was in such a remote area, the police responding to the call got lost on their way.

Jane now faces the ensuing police investigation and prosecution with little or no support from family and friends. She experiences a legal system that may place the blame for the incident on her, the victim. She lives in a community that does not want to believe “it” happens here – and if it does the woman must have asked for it. Jane is also facing the memory of childhood sexual abuse stirred up by this recent assault. Fortunately for her, however, there is a small rape crisis center that is able to provide her with support and advocacy. The center, which is under-funded, under-staffed and relies heavily on volunteers, will be there for Jane 24-hours a day for as long as it takes. In essence Jane and the center will struggle together in the face of isolation and lack of resources.

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Introduction
In this booklet, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) considers sexual assault from a rural perspective, a viewpoint that is rarely presented. Social scientists and researchers who have looked at sexual assault have often considered diverse cultures and populations and asked how these cultures may confound reporting, accountability and service delivery, but they have virtually ignored the fact that rural America may also have deep-seated cultural and geographic characteristics that carry similar difficulties.

Service providers generally view sexual assault victims in rural areas as an underserved population, mostly because of a well-recognized, low rate of reporting and because of the often dispersed nature of services. In a sense, underserved means underreported and not very well understood, if at all. To varying degrees, rural
populations are often marginalized from the mainstream power structure, which holds the opportunities for assistance and services through resources and policy
initiatives.

Many questions come to mind, for example: How prevalent is sexual assault in rural areas of America? Is the rate higher or lower than in urban America? How do rural conditions impact the work of service providers? Which characteristics present the greatest barriers to reporting and services? There are few clear answers to such questions because crime statistics are not very revealing with regard to sexual assault, and especially with regard to rural sexual assault, and few practitioners have written on the topic. This means that we know little about the extent, unique characteristics or predictors of sexual victimization of rural populations.

This booklet considers rural characteristics that deter reporting and helps explain why sexual assaults in rural areas are often unspoken crimes. Importantly, it will also review some of the data on the prevalence of rural sexual assault because although rural sexual victimizations may be unspoken and unreported, it does not mean that they are not occurring. The booklet also reviews many of the difficulties encountered by advocates and offers insight and best practices of rural advocates.

Although this booklet discusses various issues of rural sexual assault for the entire nation, the NSVRC acknowledges the limitations of broad generalizations. In an attempt to be more specific, it examined the situation for rural populations in several states somewhat more closely. The NSVRC conducted phone interviews with some rural advocates. Regretfully, this project could not examine all states with rural populations, but this booklet represents a preliminary foray into the rural perspective. The NSVRC expects that other research and resources will This booklet examines sexual assault from a rural perspective. Its goal is to present service providers with a better sense of the unique characteristics that are so often a part of rural regions. It considers the issue of prevalence of rural sexual assault by examining national data as well as information from several states. In general, it suggests that rural sexual assault may be more prevalent than indicated by national data, and that in order to provide effective services in rural areas we must adopt a culturally sensitive approach. Finally, we offer comments, insights and some best practices as expressed by rural advocates.

The Meaning of Rural
In general, low population density makes an area, county or region rural. Picture approximately 80 percent of the population crowded on 20 percent of the land; this leaves the rest of the population spread across a large area, often in isolated situations. In fact, according to 1997 data, more than 20 percent of the nation’s population lives in non-metropolitan areas (Beale, 1999).

Rural counties account for nearly 75 percent of all counties and 83 percent of the nation’s land. Seventy-four percent of the 3,040 counties in the US have a
population of less than 50,000 and 24 percent have a population of less than 10,000. Poverty levels are generally higher in rural areas. “As a whole, rural areas tend to be more racially homogenous than urban areas. However, there is a great variation between sub-regions of the nation” (Nord, 1997).

Measurements of “rural” vary, often making it difficult to compare data. For example, the US Census demarks rural as “places with less than 2,500 and not in places incorporated or in census designated places or rural portions of extended cities.” The Office of Management and Budget uses county figures as the basis for defining metropolitan and non-metropolitan areas. Researchers often use demarcations that include demographic characteristics.

A wide variety of rural situations means that it is difficult to generalize about rural characteristics or to adopt a universal, concise definition. Rural can mean many things in terms of living configurations. For example, it can mean a single family living on a farm miles from the next building or person, a small dispersed community with limited community services, pockets of families and ethnic groupings, or a small town that has experienced economic and population decline, just to name a few.

Rural also suggests a kind of cultural uniqueness that has led some to see “rurality” as a concept more than a specific region. One researcher suggests “(p)erhaps rurality exists more as a state of mind and attitude than as an area on a map or a ratio of persons per square mile. Rurality may be best defined subjectively” (Sims, 1988).

Others have explained rural areas essentially as a culture. “A rural area is not simply a physical place but a social place as well” (Weisheit, Wells & Falcone, 1994). This idea carries implications for service delivery because it suggests that we may need to adopt an approach that is sensitive to the cultural characteristics of rural
populations.

Various ethnic, racial or religious groups living in rural areas may experience certain reinforcing or mitigating effects to the rural culture’s social and insular characteristics. Later in this text, the discussion of rural Alaska suggests just such an effect among the rural Alaskan Native populations.

In general, low population density makes an area, county or region rural. Beyond that, however, rural cannot be concisely or simply defined. Various organizations and researchers use different demarcations. Low population density means that people living in a rural area have a high degree of familiarity with each other. This has led many observers to speak about rural as a subjective situation, attitude or culture.

Sexual Assault: A Rural Perspective

DOMESTIC VIOLENCE

December 18, 2005

You and I have heard stories of domestic violence. What have we done about it ?
Are we concerned? Do we have a batterer intervention program in place? Where can the victims go? To the police, the hospital, the community clinic, the office human resources department, The Haven for Women, our relatives, our friends, the barangay and or the courts. Possibly to a doctor, a psychologist or a lawyer may be approached.
In the Philippines, within the last year, the courts and the barangay have helped enforce the protective order directed against the batterer not to come close to his or her victim, otherwise the batterer goes to jail, under Republic Act 9262.

In the Minnesota experiment, it is shown that arresting the batterer is the most effective deterent, then a commitment to a court mandated batterer intervention program lessens the recedivism. In Turkey, there were wives who went on television
exposing the abuse by their spouses (husbands in this instance) and parents. This has
created an uproar in Turkey. In at least two instances the woman who went on television with the expose were subsequently murdered. One was murdered by her own father, as her father resented that he was exposed to have forced her to marry a man not of her choice.

There should be a mandated batterer intervention program in place soon in the Philippines.
The batterers are mostly men. There are some men who are battered. In the US, they comprise at least 5 percent of the victims. A recent statistic shows that 18 percent of relationships in the courtship or getting to know each other stage there is some form of violence or other.
This violence could be verbal, mental, emotional, physical or economic in nature.
Yes lack of support for dependents is economic control.

Seek help if you are one of them, do not allow that ypou be made a punching bag nor wait until you suffer from the battered woman syndrome which is considered a self-defense. Go to your closest Department of Social Welfare office for assistance.
attysison2020@yahoo.com

EFFECT OF VIDEO VIOLENCE

Video Violence: Kids See, Kids Do (from ZENIT.ORG)
Studies Track the Negative Effects of Media Exposure

NEW YORK, DEC. 10, 2005 (Zenit.org).- For the young and not-so-young who expect to receive new video games this Christmas, \’tis the season for a rising concern: problems of exposure to excessive violence in the media.

These concerns will likely be augmented by the new Xbox 360 video-game console, the New York Times reported Dec. 4. The new console has improved graphics and video capacity, allowing even more vivid depictions. The video-games business is now a $10 billion industry, the newspaper noted, with more being spent on consoles and games than on movies.

And the games themselves are becoming more violent. An annual report issued by the National Institute on Media and the Family noted that some video games now feature graphic scenes of cannibalism, the Associated Press reported Nov. 30.

\”It\’s something we\’ve never seen before,\” said institute president David Walsh. He warned that today\’s games are more extreme and more easily available to underage children than ever before.

A secret shopper survey carried out by the institute also found that 44% of child buyers were able to buy M-rated games with sexual and violent content intended only for those aged 17 and over.

Most studies done on violence and video games support the argument that there is a link between aggressive behavior in children and violent games, according to the American Psychological Association. An APA press release published Aug. 17 announced that it adopted a resolution recommending that violence be reduced in video games marketed to children and youth. The APA also encouraged parents and educators to help young people make more informed choices about which games to play.

The decision by the APA Council of Representatives was adopted at the recommendation of the association\’s special Committee on Violence in Video Games and Interactive Media of the Media Psychology Division. The committee reviewed the research indicating that exposure to violence in video games increases aggression in thoughts, behavior and feelings.

Intensive learning

The APA committee\’s study showed that the perpetrators of violence in the games go unpunished 73% of the time. \”Showing violent acts without consequences teach youth that violence is an effective means of resolving conflict, whereas seeing pain and suffering as a consequence can inhibit aggressive behavior,\” said psychologist Elizabeth Carll, co-chair of the committee.

Violence in video games is more of a problem than in other forms of media, due to its interactive nature. \”Playing video games involves practice, repetition and being rewarded for numerous acts of violence, which may intensify the learning,\” explained Carll.

Another committee member, Dorothy Singer, a senior research scientist at Yale University and co-director of the Yale Family Television Research and Consultation Center, said that children need to be taught how to view television critically. Such instruction would help youngsters to differentiate between fantasy and reality, and to identify less with aggressive characters, she said.

The APA\’s concerns were reinforced by a new study carried out by Michigan State University. Researchers monitored the brain activity of volunteers as they played violent games, according to an Oct. 16 report in the British newspaper Telegraph.

One of those involved in the study, René Weber, explained that there was a link between playing a first-person shooting game and brain activity that was considered characteristic of aggressive cognitions.

\”Violent video games frequently have been criticized for enhancing aggressive reactions such as aggressive cognitions, aggressive affects or aggressive behavior,\” Weber noted. \”On a neurobiological level we have shown the link exists.\”

Sex content

Another perennial concern regarding the media is its level of sexual content. Researchers at the Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that more than three-quarters of prime-time TV shows contain some sexual material, the Washington Times reported Nov. 10.

The study commented that, unlike violence, the impact of pervasive sexual messages on youths has not been studied in depth. One study, however, carried out in 2004 by RAND Corporation, found that high exposure to TV sex may hasten the start of sexual activity among teens. It also found that teens were just as affected by TV \”sex talk\” as by the actual depiction of sex scenes.

U.S. government authorities, meanwhile, seem to be taking a more relaxed view toward indecency in the media, the Wall Street Journal reported Nov. 16. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) levied a record $7.9 million in indecency-related fines last year. This led to programming changes by some TV and radio channels.

This year, however, the FCC has received, through September, more than 189,000 indecency complaints against radio and television programs, but so far it hasn\’t issued any fines.

The number of complaints is below last year\’s level, but the number of shows drawing complaints has soared. By June, more than 500 television and radio shows had drawn complaints, compared with the 314 shows that drew complaints for all of 2004.

More in less time

The sheer quantity of time spent by children and adolescents in media activity also raises worries. The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation found that youths are using more than one media source at a time and packing 8 1/2 hours of media content into just under 6 1/2 hours each day, the Chicago Tribune reported March 10.

The 8 1/2 hours do not include exposure at school and are up an hour from five years ago, with the biggest increase coming from video games (now at 49 minutes a day) and computer use (slightly more than an hour).

The study also found that two-thirds of children\’s bedrooms have a television. Another 54% have a videocassette recorder or DVD players in their rooms, up from 36% five years ago. And 37% have cable or satellite television. Outside the bedroom, nearly two-thirds of the children surveyed said the television is usually on during meals.

Another study, carried out by researchers at Stanford and Johns Hopkins universities, found that children who watch a lot of television and have a set in their bedroom do significantly worse at school. The study, along with another carried out in New Zealand and one from the University of Washington in Seattle, were published in July in the journal Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

A report on the studies, in the London-based Times on July 5, noted that all three found that excessive use of television impaired academic results. Thomas Robinson, of the Lucile Packard Children\’s Hospital at Stanford, said: \”This study provides even more evidence that parents should take the television out of their child\’s room, or not put it there in the first place.\”

Concerns over the impact of media usage on children have led some unlikely figures to favor restraint, the Sunday Times reported Oct. 16. \”Television is poison,\” said one mother, whose children are banned from watching it, apart from one video on Sundays. This rule was set by none other than pop star Madonna. Advice that parents might heed as they decide what to give their children this Christmas.

ZE05121002 THANKS TO MILLET SISON CASTRO FOR THIS E-MAIL

ABORTION IN AUSTRALIA

December 14, 2005

One in four pregnancies terminated
From: By Clara Pirani and Patricia Karvelas
December 14, 2005

THE first national abortion figures show more than 84,000 pregnancies are terminated each year, or one in four pregnancies.

The 2003 figure shows the rate of abortion is less than the controversial figure of 100,000 used by anti-abortion Health Minister Tony Abbott.
And young women aged 20-24 have more than one abortion for every two live births, according to the figures provided by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

The report analysed the data from public and private hospitals and some private clinics.

Late-term abortions, performed after 20 weeks, were uncommon, the report found, with only 325 recorded. Almost 95 per cent were performed within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy.

Women in their early 20s were most likely to have an abortion, with 32 in every 1000 between the age of 20-24 having an abortion compared with six in every 1000 in the 40-44 age group.

Advertisement:
Women’s Forum Australia spokeswoman Melinda Tankard Reist said too many women underwent terminations without prior advice, accusing abortion clinics of failing to inform women about the physical and psychological risks of the procedure.
Ms Tankard Reist welcomed the Howard Government’s decision to provide Medicare funding for abortion counselling.

“There is significant evidence that women often feel rushed into a quick decision to terminate, without having fully explored other options,” she said. “Professional, objective counselling, independent of the vested interests of abortion providers, is essential.

“These figures, which are unacceptably high, point to the urgent need to address the conditions that often compel women to have terminations.”

However, Cait Calcutt, co-ordinator of pro-choice counselling service Children by Choice, said counselling should not be used to pressure women into continuing with an unwanted pregnancy.

“Counselling should not be used as a method to try and reduce the abortion rate,” Ms Calcutt said. “That’s an inappropriate and ineffective approach.”

Ms Calcutt said extra medicare funding was unnecessary. “We don’t think there needs to be a specific Medicare rebate for pregnancy counselling,” she said.

“GPs are already able to provide counselling and information within their standard consultations with women. “However, the federal Government should provide funding to organisations who will provide non-directive counselling on all options.”

Parliamentary Finance Secretary Sharman Stone said abortion statistics should not be manipulated to try to reduce women’s access to abortion.

Ms Stone said it was a “sad statistic” that so many women needed to have abortions but said the rate would be lowered only through education about sexual health and contraception.

She has warned that the Government could not set targets for the reduction of abortions.

“Statistics can be used to push any agenda anyone wants,” Ms Stone said.

“No woman wants to have an abortion,” she said. “Behind those statistics there are 84,000 women who have had a traumatic and stressful decision to make.

“We have to think about how we could have helped these women who had unwanted pregnancies to avoid coming to that crossroad in their life”.

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STAYING MARRIED

Marie who is one of our website readers proposed that couples be involved in Couples for Christ to stay married as what has happened to her parents.
Yes, we all need a spiritual life to stay married or some couple activity like couples for Christ or the Christian Family Movement to enhance married and family life.
We must pray together and pray for each other. A marriage without spirituality
is difficult to keep, as temptation is real. Read Memories of a Fool in this blog and you will see the regret of a man who left his wife.

We are collating materials on the intervention of batterers, so that batterers in the Philippines may change their cycle of violence. Please send the materials
addressed to Adrian Sison c/o DWBR Broadcasters Bureau 4th floor PIA bldg
Visayas Avenue, Quezon City 1100 Philippines.

Ask St. Padre Pio to intercede in your married life.
We offer to you Lord the married persons reading this blog and those who visit it.
Thank you. Adrian