Transitioning Times

The holiday season is upon us with Christmas music, decorations, buying presents, giving to the less fortunate, and spending quality time with family and friends. Even though the holiday season tends to bring out the best in people, it is important to keep in mind that domestic violence, sexual assault, and other serious crimes unfortunately never take a day off. However, the National Domestic Violence Hotline reports a decrease in calls, nearly 53 percent fewer on or around Christmas day. This could be due to survivors wanting to “keep the peace” for the holidays; it could also be because they don’t want to disturb Christmas for their children or more importantly, survivors may not be able to find a safe and private place to make a call to a hotline number during this busy season. Whatever the reasoning, although hotline calls may seem to decrease around Christmas time, the holiday season doesn’t last forever, and victims will always be in need of services such as emergency she...

College can be a great experience and learning opportunity for students. There are always many activities on campuses and plenty of studying to be done at the library. Nobody would think that 25% of women that go to U.S. college campuses are sexually assaulted during their time on campus (Koss, Gidycz & Wisniewski, 1987). Through the decades there have been many approaches to spread awareness about sexual assault on college campuses. However, not all schools have the funding to acquire proper professionals and services for victims. Some of these approaches include health services, counseling services, prevention programs, consciousness-raising programs, law enforcement responses, and target hardening strategies.                                     Health services on college campuses usually offer prevention ...

With one in six women in the U.S. having experienced sexual assault 1 , the first question that springs to my mind is: Why aren’t there more abundant resources for shaping boys’ and young men’s perspectives on healthy sexuality and relationships? Our boys need clear information and guidance on growing into responsible young men who reject pervasive cultural influences of macho violence, domination/subjugation of females, and glamorization of violence against women in pop culture. We have to start with the basics: How do we talk about women’s and girls’ bodies? What does consent for any kind of touching look like? While the resources for parents and mentors may seem lacking at first glance, there are books and websites as well as education programs available specifically for youth ages 12-19, ranging from PSA campaigns to year-long interactive courses to prevent attitudes and behaviors that lead to sexual assault and dating violence. One recent review by the Sexual Violence Researc...

Originally published in 1996, with a second edition printed in 2003, Uncle Willy’s Tickles, by Marcie Aboff teaches children about their personal boundaries, or body sovereignty, a term used by professionals in the field of child safety.  Recognized by the American Psychological Association as a “wonderful way to address the important issue of a child’s right to own his own body and say no,” this book is one of five books chosen by the Care for Kids curriculum – an early childhood sexuality and abuse prevention program designed for kids from PreK through second grade.  Taking a different approach from other books that address sexual touching, this book features Kyle who is tickled by a beloved uncle named Willy.  Uncle Willy is a wonderful uncle who lets Kyle sit behind the wheel of his pickup truck and pretend to drive.  He takes Kyle ice cream sundaes and can do all sorts of magic tricks that make Kyle and his whole family laughs and has fun.  Kyle eviden...

Calling violence against women a "woman’s problem" is part of the problem. It is misleading and in some cases dishonest.  It gives men an excuse to not pay attention to the situation. Another thing that makes this a problem is because "women's issues" are personal for men as well. Men need to confront each other about the violence that men cause against women. Most of the time men are the primary perpetrators, which if it was only a "woman's issue," why would men be the ones that cause the problems? One of the biggest problems is that if men never join the fight against men's violence against women, then there is no possible chance that the violence will dramatically drop. Every single problem that affects any woman, daughter, girlfriend or even mother, is the men's problem too. Why aren’t people talking about the social factors that contribute to violence against women? Why aren’t men’s attitudes and behaviors toward women the focus of ...

Growing up, I always had a wonderful childhood.  My parents never fought, never hit us or did anything of that nature. Once I got into Middle School, I started to realize that not everyone was that lucky. I’ll never forget when a woman from Transitions came into my classroom and explained to us what had happened to her related to domestic violence and why she now does what she does working with Transitions. Domestic Violence (DV) and Sexual Assault (SA) are major things that happen in our world today and something that can be reduced or possibly stopped if there were more education and treatments for it. I am a student at McCann School of Business and Technology currently doing my externship with Transitions of PA. After being here, I have a better understanding of what DV and SA are and how to help the people who are going through it. During my time here I have gotten to sit in on 1-1 counseling sessions which have really been eye opening experiences for me. I never thought that ...

In today’s culture and society, there seems to be a reoccurring question that comes up regarding victims/survivors of domestic violence. The question I’m referring to is “Why does she stay in an abusive relationship”? Or “Why doesn’t she just leave”? From an outsiders’ perspective, it probably looks like the easiest solution to the issues the woman is currently facing. Just leave, and it’ll all be over with, but we as advocates for domestic violence know far better than that. The society we live in has a lack of knowledge about the true dangers that come with actually leaving an abusive relationship. According to domesticabuseshelter.org, about 4,000 women die each year due to domestic violence. Of the total domestic violence homicides, about 75% of the victims were killed as they attempted to leave the relationship or after the relationship had ended. People stay in abusive relationships for many reasons. Some of those reasons include but are not limited to; fear, lack of finan...