Reducing violence against women and girls
For too many women and girls, violence is a routine part of life. In 2004, California law enforcement reported receiving 186,439 domestic violence calls; 138 women in the state were killed by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends. Nearly 10,000 forcible rapes were reported to law enforcement in California in 2003. Women make the vast majority of calls about domestic violence, and although domestic violence is found throughout the state, some areas have a much higher incidence. In San Diego County, for example, there were 21,855 domestic violence incidents in 2002, averaging 2.5 incidents every hour of every day, more than double the number of aggravated assaults.
In 2003, there were 8,291 domestic violence-related calls for assistance in Fresno County. Fresno County ranked number one in the number of felony domestic violence arrests in California per capita. Throughout the state, Tour participants discussed the need to expand services and programs that address the root causes of violence, including poverty, cultural conditioning, and the proliferation of violent images in popular culture.
The intersection between images in popular culture and violent behavior
At each Tour stop, participants discussed the violence that has become ordinary fare in popular culture — on the Internet and television and in movies, music, music videos and video games. Since the 1950s, more than 3,500 research studies on the impact of media violence on behavior have been conducted in the US. All but 18 have shown a correlation between exposure to violent behavior in the media and violent behavior acted out in real life. Further, several studies have shown that violent video games desensitize children and adolescents to violence and increase their levels of aggressiveness and hostility toward others.
Tour participants echo the conclusions of these studies in their concern about the ways in which sexualized violence in particular contributes to the objectification of and violence against women and girls.
Response to victims of violence
Tour participants urged that local law enforcement agencies improve how they respond to women and children who are the victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. In addition, they recommend more outreach to undocumented residents about domestic and family violence services available to them. Regarding poor response by law enforcement, a report released in July 2005 by the California Attorney General’s Task Force on Criminal Justice Response to Domestic Violence identified myriad problems statewide and included frightening examples of local agencies that failed victims of domestic violence. Not only did agencies fail to enforce current laws, they were also shown to do little to hold abusers responsible for their actions.
For example, it is well recognized that a batterer can be prosecuted for violating a Family Court restraining order. Yet, according to a statewide database, in some counties up to 50 percent of these orders have never been served by law enforcement, leaving these batterers unaware that there are restraining orders against them. Even when served, these orders may be of little use; in all too many counties throughout the state such orders are rarely enforced. This lack of enforcement suggests that local law enforcement agencies do not take restraining orders seriously, and it provides little incentive for women to reach out to law enforcement agencies for assistance. Immigrant women face additional obstacles in accessing victim services or adequate assistance from authorities because of language and cultural barriers.
Preventive programs and services
Throughout the Tour, women and girls underscored the need for programs designed to prevent interpersonal and family violence and sexual assault. They highlighted the need for programs to begin in elementary school, when children are just beginning to learn about gender roles. Further, they emphasized the need to teach adolescents that domestic and sexual violence is not a women’s issue, but a societal problem that has grown out of a devaluation of girls and women alongside the distorted belief that it is acceptable for men to exert power and control over others.
