Articles in Child Abuse/Domestic Violence
Women as Enemy: A Film About Brutality Toward Our Global Sisters
For far too long in history, women have been perceived as chattel, disposable and expendable. This past year we witnessed uprisings in the Middle East during their Arab Spring. Women often fought along side men to oust oppressive regimes. In Bahrain, however, women are still at risk of torture and rape. Yemen women played activists roles in toppling President Saleh, …
An Epidemic of Child Molestation
William Butler Yeats wrote, “The innocent and the beautiful have no enemy but time.” Sadly, this is not the case for our youth today, nor it seems, has it been the case for our children for far too many years. Many of our children have not been allotted “time” to be innocent. The revelations and allegations about former Penn State …
Penn State Closes Insulated Door to Joe Paterno
As a resident of Pennsylvania, I always wanted to attend Penn State. My first foray there was to compete in a forensics tournament. I stayed at the Nittany Lion Inn and was completely awestruck by the beauty of the campus. Even then the name of Joe Paterno, JoePa, was synonymous with Penn State. I did my undergrad work at another …
Internet Pornography and Domestic Violence
There are conflicting interpretations about what constitutes pornography. Perhaps we should consider how former Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart defined obscenity, “…I know it when I see it.” The same can be said of pornography, whether it is soft porn or hard-core. And like it or not, it is pervasive on the Internet. Pornography has now become a complex and …
Fractured Ego and Finally an Amen
Almost two years ago the call came. My father, then 91, was in an assisted living home. He was dying. His lady friend of almost 25 years was there at his side, as were two of my children. My son spoke. I listened. “He wants to see you, Mom. He doesn’t have long. He said he wants to tell you …
The Cutter
The reasons behind cutting are many and often difficult to understand. Cutting is a way that some people, often teenagers, use to cope with the pain of intense emotions of abuse, rejection, desperation, grief, bullying, and sexual molestation. Their coping skills may be overpowered by emotions that are so strong, the only way they know to ease the pain is through self-inflicted wounds.
Interview: Christine Crowstaff, Founder of Women For A Change
Because I think there are very few women in the world who feel their voices are truly heard. We’ve only to look at the massive under-representation of women at major conferences, women involved in conflict resolution, women leaders.
School Bullies and Suicide of Victims
For this situation to end in the desperate act of suicide is achingly painful to think about. Children driving other children to end their lives so the taunting will stop is unacceptable.
Survival of the Unlovely
Through my childhood years, both parents became alcoholics and abusive to me verbally and physically. By default, I became their caretaker and my brother’s. “They give us crumbs for love,” my brother would say, and I would hug him through his stuttering speech brought about by the trauma of parents in the bottle.
Domestic Violence: A Global Terror in the Home
A startling number of “honor suicides” has emerged in Turkey. This is a process whereby a woman who ostensibly shamed her family, chooses to commit suicide under pressure from her family so they may avoid penalties for murdering her.
