Help Pass the International Violence Against Women Act

In college, I was very much into activism against violence against women. (I still am, only now I’m so domesticated that my presence is largely in the form of emails and phone calls rather than marches and protests.) Of all of the causes that I support and believe in, this has been the closest to my heart since I read about female genital mutilation in Marie Claire while I was in high school.

For years, it was my personal mission to inform people about young girls and teens having their clitorises cut off and sewn shut so that only a small opening was left for urination, sex, and childbirth (all made painful from the process)—an opening that usually had to be re-sewn several times because of these acts—an opening that was inflicted on over 130 million women and girls worldwide, from most continents and many, many countries, including our own.

You know that grossed-out wince of sheer pain guys get when even thinking about a Frisbee, bowling ball, or knee coming into contact with their groin? That’s the look I got from young women in over half of the speeches I gave.

Aside from this violence, there’s rape (and not just the rape that happens on a college campus every 24 hours, the sexual violence that 1 in 3 women will experience in her lifetime, or the incest that results in hundreds of thousands of homeless youth—but also the rape that’s used as a weapon of war every day in Congo, Sudan, and many other areas).

There’s domestic violence, ritual sati (widow burning—since, you know, her husband’s not around to care for her and she’s useless; the eldest son is supposed to toss his mother into the flames, alive, if she protests), honor killings (women are stoned for dishonoring their families for being raped in some countries; others may be killed for sleeping with a man they’re not married to or other “lesser” offenses) and acid attacks (most of which are from men women refuse to sleep with—and who can blame them, if the punishment is being stoned to death).

There’s human trafficking, real modern-day slavery, the world’s third-largest market—which involves a kidnapped 2.5 million people a year working as domestic servants or sex slaves—many of them children. Again, many of these are also in the United States—either trafficked in or out.

With this many horrors facing women on a daily basis, it’s no wonder that so many live in constant fear. To combat the problem of international violence against women, a bipartisan piece of legislature, the International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA), has recently been introduced. If passed, the landmark piece of legislation will help prevent violence from happening—and treat women who have already become victims. This will include medical services, educational and work support, and counseling, as well as legal support.

To learn more about this important piece of legislation—and to please send a letter in favor of its passing—click here. Women’s lives around the world literally depend on this.