Welcome to the 116th edition of The Pixel Project’s VAW e-News Digest!
This month, countries around the world are stunned by misogynistic and violent actions that have seized headlines: A woman is murdered in Korea for ‘being a woman’; the brutal rape of a 14-year old girl in Indonesia demands that the nation examine its relationship with gender violence; a pop idol in Japan was stabbed repeatedly for returning a gift from a stalker; and Saudi Arabia has tabled a law that will punish women physically for checking their husbands’ phones.
In spite of the depressing headlines, individuals around the world are continuing to push on with stopping VAW within their community: from a young girl who is fighting child marriage among Syrian refugees, to victims of FGM who are speaking up about the experience and its after effects (including on sex), survivors of violence against women are breaking taboos of silence and shame.
Finally, in this edition, we have also included two articles that show how the epidemic of violence against women in intrinsically linked with other global issues: climate change may exacerbate violence against women, and renowned feminist thinker and activist Gloria Steinem associates problems of violence against women with global instability.
Every contribution matters. If you have any news you’d like to share about violence against women, please email The Pixel Project at info@thepixelproject.net. If you prefer to receive up-to-the-minute news concerning violence against women, follow us on Twitter.
It’s time to stop violence against women. Together.
Best regards,
The Pixel Project Team
General Violence Against Women
- WORLD: How climate change is fueling violence against women
- WORLD: Gloria Steinem links violence against women with global instability
- WORLD: Cyberbullying and online harassment – why it isn’t as simple as ‘just walk away from the screen’
- FIJI: Violence against women workshop for senior police officers
- JAPAN: Female idol repeatedly stabbed in Tokyo after refusing gift from fan
- MEXICO: Making noise about machismo in Mexico
- PARAGUAY: Paraguay looks to combat surge in femicides
- SAUDI ARABIA: Women face flogging and jail for checking husband’s phone
- SOUTH KOREA: Gangnam murder case triggers debate on misogyny and mental illness in South Korea
- UNITED STATES: Women are getting harassed in bathrooms because of anti-transgender hysteria
Domestic Violence
- WORLD: [Editorial] Blaming victims for domestic violence – how psychology taught us to be helpless
- WORLD: [Editorial] ‘We are the men of a childhood where the monsters of family violence were real’
- CANADA and SYRIA: Syrian refugee women coming forward with domestic violence allegations
- CHINA: Domestic abuse is thriving in China’s culture of silence
- EGPYT: UN Women Egypt produces PSA to end violence against women
- MALAYSIA: Rocker Awie only fined RM 2000 (USD 490) for causing hurt to ex-wife
- NEW ZEALAND: March for Moko brings together all sides of the domestic violence debate
- PAPUA NEW GUINEA: Papua New Guinea’s struggle with domestic and sexual violence
- UNITED STATES: How domestic violence feeds the mass shooting epidemic in America
- ZIMBABWE: Zimbabwe’s failing economy crippling fight against domestic violence
Rape and Sexual Assault
- WORLD: Rape, murder and forced marriage – what girls in conflict zones get instead of education
- DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: The actual state of sexualized violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo
- GERMANY: Germany begins reforming sex crime law after Cologne
- INDIA: Sexual violence and the culture of impunity in Nagaland
- INDONESIA: How a rape that was ignored angered Indonesia’s women
- JAPAN: ‘It keeps happening,’ rape survivor says as activists protest abuse by US military in Japan
- MALAYSIA: [Editorial] Rape and sexual assault – does the Malaysian rape law need amendment?
- SOUTH AFRICA: In South Africa, rape crisis reaches boiling point on campus
- SOUTH KOREA: Let’s talk about the toxic way South Korea is handling its rape problem
- UNITED STATES: Many incidents of sexual assault at US colleges go unreported
Sex Trafficking
- EUROPE: Migrant crisis – child trafficking on the rise in Europe
- SOUTH ASIA: South Asian nations unite over anti-child trafficking drive, helpline planned
- CHINA and VIETNAM: The sex trafficking of Vietnamese women to China is going to grow
- INDONESIA: Indonesia’s sex trade ‘impossible’ to shut down
- LEBANON: Dozens of Syrians forced into sexual slavery in derelict Lebanon house
- NIGERIA: Human trafficking – I have sex with 4 men daily for N500 – 22-year old victim
- SOUTH AFRICA: How South Africa could become the first African country to decriminalize sex work
- UNITED KINGDOM: Britain’s modern slave trade
- UNITED STATES: How thousands of truck drivers are combating human trafficking, one stop at a time
- VIETNAM: Trafficking of Vietnamese women for sex and marriage expands across region – expert
Female Genital Mutilation
- WORLD: New guidelines on improving care for female genital mutilation issued by UN health agency
- WORLD: “I’m a survivor of female genital cutting and I’m speaking out – as others must too.” – Maryum Saifee
- WORLD: What it’s like to have sex after female genital mutilation – Mariya Karimjee
- AUSTRALIA: Three convicted of female genital mutilation should go to jail, court told
- EGYPT: Top religious leaders start outreach program in Egypt to end female genital mutilation
- INDIA: FBI wants leads to prevent female genital mutilation
- KENYA: Kenyan parents fearing ban on female genital mutilation secretly get girls cut at night
- NIGERIA: Oyo Assembly to pass bill on female genital mutilation
- SOMALIA: ‘This is what it is like to pee after female genital mutilation’ – survivor Hido Wardere
- UNITED STATES: FBI investigating female genital mutilation in the US, over 500,000 women at risk
Honour Killing and Forced Marriage
- WORLD: Child marriage increases after natural disasters. Here’s how to prevent it
- WORLD: In pictures – teenage mothers tell their stories
- INDIA: 47,000 tent dealers in Rajasthan refuse to supply tents for child marriage ceremonies
- LEBANON: Lebanon’s KAFA wins Facebook award for child marriage stunt
- PAKISTAN: ‘Honour killings’ – why Pakistan must act against this brutality
- MALAWI: Forced marriage HIV victim and politician speaks out
- MALAYSIA: Child marriage used to cover up rape
- NEPAL: “I just got trapped” – Nepal tries to expand girls’ horizons beyond marriage
- SYRIA: This Malala-inspired Syrian refugee is waging a campaign against child marriage in Zaatari Camp
- TRINIDAD: Trinidad government says time for review of child marriage laws
Activism
- WORLD: ActionAid launches the Safe Cities for Women project
- WORLD: At the World Humanitarian Summit in Istanbul, UN Women is leading preparations for the High Level Leaders’ Roundtable on Women and Girls
- EUROPE: EU announces €19 million new support for women and girls’ empowerment at ‘Women Deliver’ conference
- BURKINA FASO: Girls’ football tackle forced marriage in Burkina Faso
- DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO: Traditional leaders celebrate women’s economic empowerment in rural DRC
- MEXICO: Mexico City artists Las Hijas de Violencia fight street harassment with punk and confetti
- PAKISTAN: In Pakistan, women combat gender violence through art
- SOMALIA: Former refugee fights for her dream to abolish female genital mutilation
- UNITED KINGDOM: Project supporting disadvantaged women given grant of more than £240,000
- UNITED STATES: Middle school girls combat sex trafficking with new app