Comments on: Column: Effort aims to reduce violence against women http://saportareport.com/blog/2009/10/effort-aims-to-reduce-violence-against-women/ Maria Saporta is a longtime Atlanta business, civic and urban affairs journalist with a deep knowledge of our city, our region and state. Tue, 22 May 2012 04:51:50 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.2 By: Suzee2253 http://saportareport.com/blog/2009/10/effort-aims-to-reduce-violence-against-women/comment-page-1/#comment-2335 Suzee2253 Tue, 20 Oct 2009 22:18:52 +0000 http://saportareport.com/blog/?p=2211#comment-2335 According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which includes crimes that were not reported to the police, 232,960 women in the U.S. were raped or sexually assaulted in 2006. That's more than 600 women every day! There are many factors that contribute to the increasing numbers of women being violently assaulted. The economic decline, foreclosures, and the highest unemployment rates in years have all triggered an atmosphere of anger, desperation and hopelessness. Prevention of violence against women needs to start within the family. Parents must take the time in educating their sons to respect the opposite sex as well as teaching them that equality is true across all cultures, races, and religions. In turn, female members of a family unit need to be taught self-respect and that they have the power to control the destiny of their lives without fear of intimidation and violence. Women and girls need to be taught how to protect themselves whether it is through self-defense classes or carrying a personal protection device such as a stun gun, pepper spray, mace, or TASER. At the end of the day, violence against women is not going away anytime soon, at least until there is tough law reform on how predators are prosecuted and sentenced. The ignorance from cultural beliefs, prejudice and in some respect media images of women as being the inferior sex all are contributing factors to the victimization of women on a global level. We also need to realize that there is not one factor to blame but a collective response from hundreds of years of intolerance, discrimination and chauvinism. Susan Fredricks is co-founder for www.stingergirlz.com, a woman-owned business which is the largest supplier in of personal protection and home security products in the San Diego, CA area. According to the National Crime Victimization Survey, which includes crimes that were not reported to the police, 232,960 women in the U.S. were raped or sexually assaulted in 2006. That’s more than 600 women every day! There are many factors that contribute to the increasing numbers of women being violently assaulted. The economic decline, foreclosures, and the highest unemployment rates in years have all triggered an atmosphere of anger, desperation and hopelessness.

Prevention of violence against women needs to start within the family. Parents must take the time in educating their sons to respect the opposite sex as well as teaching them that equality is true across all cultures, races, and religions. In turn, female members of a family unit need to be taught self-respect and that they have the power to control the destiny of their lives without fear of intimidation and violence. Women and girls need to be taught how to protect themselves whether it is through self-defense classes or carrying a personal protection device such as a stun gun, pepper spray, mace, or TASER.

At the end of the day, violence against women is not going away anytime soon, at least until there is tough law reform on how predators are prosecuted and sentenced. The ignorance from cultural beliefs, prejudice and in some respect media images of women as being the inferior sex all are contributing factors to the victimization of women on a global level. We also need to realize that there is not one factor to blame but a collective response from hundreds of years of intolerance, discrimination and chauvinism.

Susan Fredricks is co-founder for http://www.stingergirlz.com, a woman-owned business which is the largest supplier in of personal protection and home security products in the San Diego, CA area.

]]>