On Valentine’s Day, expect ONE BILLION WOMEN and like-minded men to rise up and DANCE.

On 14 February 2013, we are invited to join ONE BILLION women and those who love them to WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to violence against women.

ONE BILLION RISING will move the earth, activating women and men across every country. Why?

ONE IN THREE WOMEN ON THE PLANET WILL BE RAPED OR BEATEN IN HER LIFETIME.

ONE BILLION WOMEN VIOLATED IS AN ATROCITY.

ONE BILLION WOMEN & MEN DANCING IS A REVOLUTION!

VIOLENCE AGAINST U.S. WOMEN

U.S. statistics? Did you know that the arrest rate for rape in the U.S. is 24% — a rate that hasn’t changed since the 1970′s? ( http://www.thedailybeast.com/newsweek/2012/04/09/a-needed-revolution-rape-and-u-s-justice.html )

A few more facts:

Fact #1 : 22 million women in the United States have been raped in their lifetime. 63.84% of women who reported being raped, physically assaulted, and/or stalked since age 18 were victimized by a current or former husband, cohabiting partner, boyfriend, or date. (National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2010)

Fact #2 : Less than half of domestic violence incidents are reported to police. African-American women are more likely than others to report their victimization to police. Lawrence A. Greenfeld et al. (1998). (Violence by Intimates: Analysis of Data on Crimes by Current or Former Spouses, Boyfriends, and Girlfriends. Bureau of Justice Statistics Factbook. Washington DC: U.S. Department of Justice. NCJ #167237. Available from National Criminal Justice Reference Service)

Fact #3 : Every two minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted. (Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) calculation based on 2000 National Crime Victimization Survey. Bureau of Justice Statistics, U.S. Department of Justice)

Fact #4: One out of every five American women have been the victims of an attempted or completed rape in their lifetime. (The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey 2010)

Fact #5: Sexual violence and gender based violence is associated with a host of short- and long-term problems, including physical injury and illness, psychological symptoms, economic costs, and death. (Lifetime Prevalence of Gender-Based Violence in Women and the Relationship with Mental Disorders and Psychosocial Function, Journal of American Medical Association 2011)

Fact #6: About 67.9% of rape victims are white; 11.9% are black; 14% are hispanic and 6% are of other races. (National Crime Victimization Survey, Department of Justice 2010)

Fact #7: According to the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey (YRBSS), a national survey of high school students, 7.4% of students had been forced to have sexual intercourse when they did not want to. Female students (10.5%) were significantly more likely than male students (4.5%) to have been forced to have sexual intercourse. Overall, black students (12%) were significantly more likely than white students (10%) to have been forced to have sexual intercourse. (CDC 2010)

Fact #8: The costs of intimate partner violence against women exceed an estimated $5.8 billion. These costs include nearly $4.1 billion in the direct costs of medical care and mental health care and nearly $1.8 billion in the indirect costs of lost productivity and present value of lifetime earnings. (Costs of Intimate Partner Violence Against Women in the United States, Department of Health and Human Services, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, National Center for Injury Prevention and Control, Atlanta, Georgia, March 2003)

Fact: Two Mainstreet Women interviewees boldly left their violently abusive husbands. Talk about COURAGE!

HERE IN AMERICA

What year did this happened? In Arizona, Judge Jacqueline Hatch told a women who had been sexually assaulted in a bar, “If you wouldn’t have been there that night, none of this would have happened to you.” Police officer Robb Gary Evans was convicted of sexual abuse. The felony carries a two and half year maximum prison sentence but Judge Hatch instead reduced the sentence to probation and 100 hours of community service.

Answer:  2012

Where did this happen in 2012? The national Army and Navy cancelled New Year’s celebrations out of respect for a student who was gang raped. Men and women took to the streets to protester and politician called for tougher rape laws, major police reforms, and a transformation in the way the country treats its women.

Answer:  India.

Also in 2012, in Steubenville, Ohio, the rape of a 16-year-old girl – allegedly by members of the high-school football team — caused football-crazy townsfolk to blame the victim for being drunk and dragged from party to party where she was sexually assaulted.

It took a blogger, Alexandria Goddard, who is now being sued, to get national attention when the New York Times did a follow-up piece four months after the crime: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/17/sports/high-school-football-rape-case-unfolds-online-and-divides-steubenville-ohio.html?pagewanted=all&_r=2

The sexual assault of our 16-year girl which was tweeted, photographs texted, videos posted on YouTube, etc. The town’s Big Red football season went on, without the two primary (alleged) perpetrators; court date set in February. (Stuebenville, OH, picture right, where town residents say they have a main drag and ‘everyone knows everyone’ like most “Main Streets.”)

NOT A WOMAN’S ISSUE

This is a human rights issues, a public health crisis, a family issue, an issue for Moms and Dads, Sisters and Brothers… T his is NOT a “woman’s” issue.

ONE BILLION RISING IS…

A global strike. An invitation to dance. A call to men and women to refuse to participate in the status quo until rape and rape culture ends. An act of solidarity, demonstrating to women the commonality of their struggles and their power in numbers.

A refusal to accept violence against women and girls as a given — by both women and men — who see collective strength and solidarity as a way to demand greater attention and action,  across the globe.

Get inspiration (loved the video of tips for dancing from chairs) at http://www.onebillionrising.org/pages/about-one-billion-rising .

HERE’S YOUR CHANCE – MAY YOU DANCE!

P.S. Want Congress to pass the Violence Against Women Act? There are many petitions you can sign, here’s one: http://www.change.org/petitions/petitioning-congress-pass-a-better-violence-against-women-act-vawa-now