Call Me...Miss!

Get the Facts:

One in six American women has been the victim of an attempted or completed rape, and 10% of sexual assault victims are men. (2004 National Crime Victimization Survey)

Nearly 20% of women in New Hampshire say they have been raped.

Nearly three in four family violence victims are female – 73%. 

More than 50% of women in New Hampshire state they have experienced abuse. 

Domestic violence is the major cause of death and disability for European women aged 16 to 44 and accounts for more death and ill-health than cancer or traffic accidents. (reported by Amnesty International)

Over 90% of women in prison have experienced violence in their lives.

 An estimated 56% of the abused women in prison said that their abuse had included a rape, and another 13% reported an attempted rape.

An estimated 10 million prostitutes in India. Around 160,000 Nepalese women are held in India's brothels.
 At least 650,000 prostitutes in Indonesia; 30% are children.

An estimated 5,000 children are currently involved in prostitution, pornography and sex-tourism in Mexico.

These are just some of the facts I obtained from the V-Day website. V-Day is a global movement to help stop violence against women and girls. Many college campuses are involved in the program and raise awareness about it during the month of February. I am so excited to be involved with this year's V-Day committee. This year we are putting on a documentary to raise awareness about this issue, a women's self-defense class, man day where we will ask the men on campus to pledge to never hit a woman, as well as other events. It is interesting to reflect on my self from last year when I attended one of the events with a friend of mine. I had never heard of this movement before then nor of the event the committee was putting on, The Vagina Monologues. I admit I was quite shocked at the name and slightly uncomfortable attending the event. I saved the program for a little while because I had enjoyed it but eventually threw it away for fear of keeping something with that title on it. This year I am so glad we are using out of the box methods to get people's attention and give us all a reality check because this is happening around the world and in the United States right now. It is happening in our own towns, in our own backyards and it needs to be stopped. So check out the V-Day website, get informed, learn how to get involved, and learn about a new passion of mine!