Media Portrayal of Intimate Partner Violence

This CSW parallel event Media Portrayal of Intimate Partner Violence was sponsored by the NGO Committee on Mental Health and co-sponsored by International Psychoanalytical Association, American Psychiatric Association and Dianova International. This session focused on mental health, especially for victims and survivors of Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). The session started with the experience of Alicia, a survivor of sexual and physical violence from both her father and first husband. Alicia, who had a childhood steeped in violence, poverty and neglect was raped at the age of 14 and became pregnant at the age of 15 by a forty- something year old man. Despite the abuse suffered at the hands of this man, she was forced into marriage with him and saw this as her escape from her sexually abusive father. During her first marriage, she was continually beaten, even when she was pregnant. A chance for escape presented itself after childbirth and she took it but was unfortunately unable to take her child with her and Alicia has not seen her son in 10 years. Alicia has been able to transform her narrative from victim to survivor with the support of friends, her social worker and psychiatric intervention. Alicia’s story is one of many that tells of the horrific effects of intimate partner violence on the victim, family and society as a whole.

Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) refers to any behavior within an intimate relationship that causes physical, psychological or sexual harm to anyone in a relationship. IPV is a global problem and this is addressed by a myriad of health organizations such as WHO and CDC. According to the CDC, in 2012, 1 in 2 homicides of women were by intimate partners or family members. More than 1 in 10 women have experienced forced sexual acts globally. 41 percent of women who were sexually violated experienced it before age 18 and there is a multitude of negative impacts such as feeling fearful (62%), concern for safety (57%) and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD, 52%).

IPV has adverse consequence on the individual, the family and society as a whole. With IPV comes psychological issues for the victim but also for the children who are exposed to a hostile home environment which could disrupt development. There are also economic costs of IPV. The costs are significantly severe in low-to-middle income countries.

Country estimates of IPV costs

US- $5.8- $12.6 billion

UK- ₤23 billion

France- €2.5 billion

Globally, IPV takes up 5.2% of the global GDP. This ranks it higher than civil war which takes up 0.25%. Therefore, IPV is a situation that needs to be addressed globally. This can be done through a variety of interventions and preventive measures such as inclusion of men and boys in the war against IPV, teaching healthy relationship skills, creating protective environments with zero-tolerance for violence, providing economic support for families and launching media awareness campaigns. With these measures in place, we can tackle risk factors for IPV.

Break the Silence!

The CSW parallel event- Break the Silence! MENA Media Platforms Negate Women’s Narratives was sponsored by Nazra for Feminist Studies and co-sponsored by The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa. This session focused on the violence and stereotypes perpetrated about women in the media in Middle East and North Africa (MENA) with a focus on North Africa. The panel consisted of three women who are involved in the media in North Africa- one from Morocco and two from Egypt. One consensus among all panelists was that to properly address the issue of gender-based violence in media, the most important question to answer is: “Are there female leaders in media?” To this question, all panelists answered NO. The panel members stated that it is difficult to get real issues concerning women into the media outlets because of a lack of female representation in leadership positions.

In Egypt, the only sections of the newspapers that are dedicated for women are for fashion, beauty, motherhood and cooking which often perpetuates untrue stereotypes and when real issues are addressed, it is called a corruption of the women’s section of the newspaper. This serves as a battle for the Women Human Rights defenders as they are not only up against the media and a patriarchal society but also against private companies who have a vested interest in continually perpetuating these demeaning stereotypes of women in order to keep up their sales of cosmetic, fashion and beauty products. In Morocco, women are championed as being equal and included but are portrayed in the media as commodity which is a paradoxical situation that reinforced patriarchy among the younger generation and shifts the focus away from gender based violence.

However a battle has been won with the aid of local, regional and international feminist activists who provide journalists with the data needed to compel editors-in-chief to publish these important issues as there are facts and figures to back up the need for this information. In Egypt, Ms. Raneem has taken it upon herself to create a safe space for Egyptian women, especially rural women who experience worse forms of violence to tell their stories from a different perspective than that of the traditional media outlets who blame the victims of sexual terrorism. She created this space because as a professional in the media, she had experienced firsthand how women were portrayed as commodity, the lack of female leadership in media and the portrayal of sexual violence in the media. She uses alternative media outlets to ensure that the voices of women are heard with the hope that these efforts in the media will serve as a tool to change the culture.

Female Genital Mutilation Survivors in Media

This CSW parallel event- Female Genital Mutilation Survivors in Media- Pictures that Empower” was sponsored by the Female Integrity/ RISK Uppsala and co-sponsored by Swedish Women’s Lobby. The session began with the introduction of Farma who is a Female Genital Mutilation (FGM) survivor originally from Ethiopia. She started campaigning against FGM in 1995 and has dedicated her life to ensuring that this human rights violation is eradicated in many societies. FGM is one of the few violations done against women by women. This introduction was followed by the presentation of Dr. Bita Eshraghi who is an Obstetrician-Gynecologist in Stockholm, Sweden where she works with Amel, an outpatient clinic that provides medical and surgical treatment as well as psychological support for survivors of FGM.

During her presentation, Dr Eshraghi identified the countries where this practice was prevalent and the major countries affected are in Africa, some parts of Asia and the Middle East. Presently, there are 26 African countries who have banned FGM and this proves to be a win in the battle against FGM. Across the world, more than 200 million women have undergone FGM and 3 million girls are at risk, which translates to 1 girl every 11 seconds. During her presentation, she outlined the types of FGM, the age range when girls are subjected to this which is 0-12 years and the people who perform the act of circumcision. This led to a bigger issue of the medicalization of FGM in Egypt where health care professionals carry out this practice. The reasons for FGM vary among cultures and contexts but the common ones are cultural and social acceptance, marital fidelity, control of women’s sexuality, incorrect interpretation of religious texts and myths surrounding FGM that it is necessary to make a woman clean, modest, feminine and beautiful. Dr. Eshraghi ended her presentation by outlining the medical issues caused by FGM and urged the audience not to think of women and girls who have gone through FGM as victims but as survivors.

In conclusion of the session, there was a photojournalist who told her story of how she got survivors of FGM to allow her tell their stories through pictures in a way that empowered them. During her presentation, she went through several slides of strong women who had survived this violation and are living normal healthy lives and those who have taken it upon themselves to ensure that no other girl-child goes through this violation. She ended the session by introducing the audience to a great NGO- The Whole Flower whose work focuses on the inclusion of girls and fighting the practice of FGM in their community.