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  1. »  VAWA--Why Native Women Matter (Winona LaDuke)

    nitanahkohe:

    “A nation is not conquered until the hearts of its’ women are on the ground…” – Cheyenne proverb

    Last week’s debate on the Violence Against Women Act marks what may be a very important stage in improving relations between tribal governments, state and federal governments and the protection of women. The law has been up for re-authorization for five years, and has a few sticking points, mostly around the protection of Native and immigrant women, and gay and lesbian people. Republicans until [Tuesday, February 12], had proposed amendments to strip Native American rights and jurisdiction over non- Native perpetrators of violence on the reservation. In what appears to be a change of heart, Tuesday’s passage of SB 47 with tribal jurisdiction intact, was a step in recognizing that as Senator Patrick Leahy said, in debates, “… a victim is a victim is a victim…”

    Why is this particularly important? Presently, 34 percent of American Indian and Alaska Native women will be raped in their lifetimes; 39 percent will be subjected to domestic violence in their lifetimes; 67 percent of Native women victims of rape and sexual assault report their assailants as non-Native individuals, and, on some reservations, Native women are murdered at more than 10 times the national average. Not good. This set of facts is paired with unfortunately high declination rates: U.S. Attorneys declined to prosecute nearly 52 percent of violent crimes that occur in Indian country; and 67 percent of cases declined were sexual abuse related cases. This means, in the end, that Native women have been, in the words of Senator Maria Cantwell, “treated as second class citizens under the law…”

    I asked Lisa Brunner, Executive Director of Sacred Spirits, a national tribal organization working on the issues, her thoughts. “Some of the concern stems from a lack of understanding of tribal jurisdiction, in some cases, tribes are just implementing criminal codes in place which allow this legal
process. The answer is to fund the tribal justice system. As well, there are safeguards built into the provision which ensures that all rights guaranteed under the Constitution are given to non-Native defendants in tribal court.”

    To explain further: “… the special domestic violence jurisdiction is narrowly restricted to apply only to instances of domestic or dating violence where: 1) the victim is an Indian, 2) the conduct occurs on tribal lands; and 3) where the defendant either lives or works on the reservation, i.e., where the defendant has significant ties to the community,” the National Congress of American Indians, in their letter to Congress last week explained. NCAI also pointed out that, “Indian tribes are not a racial class, they are a political body – so the question is not whether non-Indians are subject to Indian court – the question is whether tribal governments, political entities, have the necessary jurisdiction to provide their citizens with the public safety protections every government has the inherent duty to provide… Indeed, placing more funding in the hands of state or federal authorities to administer this process, concerns tribes deeply as there has been little, to no action on most of these cases, with 62 percent of the cases being declined for prosecution.” The answer, as in many conflicts, may be education and effort. In this case, it’s a combined effort
 to support justice in the law, and the infrastructure for justice in Native America. The facts are very disturbing. As well, it may be time to understand what a justice system looks like that is multi- jurisdictional. Native people are subjected to both tribal and non-tribal law, and, unfortunately, make up a disproportionate segment of North Dakota’s prison population. That’s a different issue, but it does seem fair, that non-Native people committing crimes in Indian territory should not be sheltered by a lack of jurisdiction, or in some cases, interest. We will see how the House of Representatives debate goes.

    At some level, psychologically and beyond, this is of absolute importance to tribal nations. The ability of a tribal government to protect those who are most vulnerable is crucial to the dignity of a people. The folly of the Supreme Court’sOliphant v. Suquamish Indian Tribedecision that precluded tribal criminal jurisdiction over non-Indians on the reservation is apparent. The VAWA brings, frankly into the spotlight, the need to protect tribal citizens, and address protection and prosecution of non-Natives who have chosen to live within Indian country. At some level, if you live there, just as tribal citizens off reservation, it seems fair that jurisdiction should apply. It is also not logistically feasible for federal or
state governments to maintain the predominant criminal jurisdictional authority over Indian country. Non-Indian authorities are often situated far from reservations and do not have the manpower to thoroughly investigate and prosecute the high number of reservation crimes that fall under their jurisdiction post-Oliphant. And, as evidenced in the case of violence against Native women, follow through is nonexistent. Native nations have the absolute right and need to protect our citizens.

    As Cantwell testified, “The notion that this is somehow abrogating individual rights just because the crime takes place on a tribal reservation is incorrect. So I ask my colleagues, do you want to continue to have this unbelievable growth and petri dish of crime evolving? Because criminals know, when you have a porous border that is where they are going to go.”

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  3. »  Rape Crisis Center Promotes Rape Culture

    taleth:

    Today in utterly unsurprising, the Vancouver Rape Crisis centre, I have learned is for criminalizing all sex work (but not criminalizing sex workers), and is against trans women being counselled by their services.

    What’s that? Invalidating women’s rapes? Oh. Real upstanding there.

    ETA: As far as I can tell (I searched their main missives pages), they do not even once acknowledge that

    a) lesbians exist

    b) we can be abused by our partners.

    Great.

    I’m honesty not surprised and that is what’s infuriating and hurtful.

  4. »  BLAMING THE VICTIM 101: SUBWAY OFFICIALS SAY WOMEN’S “SCANTY CLOTHES” CAUSE HARASSMENT - By Amy Tennery

    Women in Shanghai held a mass subway protest over the weekend, after a blog entry from the Shanghai subway ordered its female customers to wear more conservative clothing. Miniskirts, low-cut tops and sheer fabrics were targeted in the post, which encouraged women to “cherish themselves” — presumably by wearing a turtleneck and knee-grazing burlap sack in 80-degree weather.

    Feeling dizzy on a hot July day? You’re not over-heating. You’re over-cherishing.

    But while pushing that whole “conservative clothing = self-respect” equation was bad enough, the Shanghai Subway Company’s blog post delivered an even more insidious message: It argued that women who wear (what is, by its estimation) inappropriate clothes are inviting sexual harassment, according to China Daily. Wearing something sexy? It means you want to be harassed, apparently. Because that’s what women do: We open our closets, look around and say, “Gosh! I wonder which shirt will get a guy to grope me on the way to work today!”

    Disturbingly, this isn’t the first time that Shanghai metro officials have blamed women’s penchant for wearing seasonally appropriate clothes (the nerve!) for subway harassment and molestation. Earlier this month, China Daily reported several cases of subway molestation — including a guy who took up-skirt shots of women without their knowledge, a guy who exposed himself on the subway and another guy who ejaculated on a woman’s leg. Basically, the Shanghai subway is a non-stop thrill-ride of awfulness, and everyone agrees someone needs to do something about that.

    But rather than open up a women’s-only car, which some passengers say could help the problem, Shanghai Metro decided to blame the victims. A spokesperson for the metro “explained” to China Daily:

    “Women should better protect themselves and avoid scanty clothes in summer.”

    Yea, ladies. Maybe if we weren’t all so whorish looking we wouldn’t be violated.

    Armed with this logic, we can put an end to lots of crimes! If rich people stopped looking so rich, they wouldn’t get robbed. And houses stopped looking so flammable, arsonists would disappear. Because, as we all know, if someone does something awful to you, it’s almost definitely your fault. (Sarcasm Meter: 1,000%!)

    I’m kidding, of course — but this sentiment is outrageously prevalent. And this tone-deaf inability to distinguish between welcome attention and harassment is staggering. The “Well, she was asking for it” argument doesn’t hold up because no one is ever asking for anything even remotely resembling any of the above things I described.

    But just in case there’s any confusion, I’ll happily clear the air for the fellas out there:

    Guys? Hi. Here’s the thing — no matter how short a skirt one of us ladies might be wearing, please do not take a photo of our crotch when we’re not looking. We don’t like that. Also — quick side note — please don’t expose your genitals in a public place. I know, that deep V-neck we had on made it look like we wanted you to do that! Super confusing. Our bad. But yea, don’t do that. Unless someone explicitly says, “Hey! Show me your genitals!” (maybe not those exact words, but you get what I’m saying), do not do that.

    Glad we cleared that up.

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