October 6, 2000

Domestic Violence Month observed at Loyola

by Angela Anthony, Assistant Director of Public Affairs, and Selena Spence, A'01, Intern in the Offices of Public Affairs and Publications

School of Law presents symposium on domestic violence

The numbers are staggering. By the most conservative estimate, each year 1,000,000 women suffer nonfatal violence by an intimate. By other estimates, each year 4,000,000 American women experience a serious assault by an intimate partner. Fifty-two percent of women murdered each year are killed by a current or former partner. Every 15 seconds a U.S. woman is brutally battered by her partner. As you read these words, a woman is being beaten.

To bring attention to this horrendous issue, October has been designated Domestic Violence Awareness Month. For years, Loyola has worked to heighten community consciousness with events such as the Clothesline Project and Women and Men Take Back the Night, which celebrates its 10^th anniversary this year. Women and Men Take Back the Night is a march to heighten awareness about domestic violence. The Clothesline Project allows survivors to share their experiences through personal and powerful messages on t-shirts.

These programs have been very successful in the past, and this year the law school has decided to address domestic violence by bringing together various professionals who deal with this issue daily. From October 26-28, Loyola's School of Law and the Women's Center will present Integrating Responses to Domestic Violence, a seminar funded by Mary Kay Inc. and Loyola's Gillis W. Long Poverty Law Center, and co-sponsored by the American Bar Association Commission on Domestic Violence. For three days, law enforcement officers, social workers, public defenders and prosecutors, and court personnel will combine their collective expertise and experience to fully explore the dynamics of domestic violence and barriers that prevent victims for escaping harmful situations.

Law Professor Isabel Medina organized this symposium to facilitate interdisciplinary responses in the community and to enhance teaching of domestic violence at the law school and explore how this issue arises in, and relates to, the rest of the law curriculum. All events are free and open to the public, except for a luncheon on Friday, October 27, with U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu. General sessions begin at 8:30 a.m. Friday and Saturday, October 27 and 28. Friday's session will be held in Nunemaker and Saturday's at the law school in the Gisevius Room 308.

Participants can get CLE and CEU credit at no charge for this informational program. The following professional groups have pre-approved this program for credit: Louisiana State Bar Association, Louisiana State Bar Family Law Specialization, Louisiana Counseling Association, and the National Association of Social Workers.

Keynote address by nationally-known photographer Donna Ferrato

One of the highlights of the symposium is a lecture by Donna Ferrato, a New York City-based photographer/journalist who has documented domestic violence through revealing pictures. In her keynote address "In the Name of Love," Ferrato will share wrenching photos of nearly two decades of capturing the intimate brutalities that shatter so many lives. Her discussion will be given on Thursday, October 26, at 7 p.m. in Roussel Hall. Ironically, Ferrato was doing a pictorial on love when she encountered a terrifying scene. "I was living with a wealthy Westchester couple and one night I was awakened by noise," recalls Ferrato. "I grabbed my camera and ran down the hall to find them arguing in the bathroom." As she snapped her camera, the husband struck his wife. Shocked and confused, Ferrato threw the film into a drawer. When she finally developed the film several months later and looked at the pictures, she resolved never to be silent again.

She has in fact become a determined witness, riding in police cars, visiting hospital emergency rooms, and living in women's shelters and prisons. Her book, Living with the Enemy, is a chilling chronicle from the frontlines of domestic warfare.

She also is battling abuse in other ways. She started the non-profit organization, Domestic Abuse Awareness, Inc. She has written a number of other books, including Eyes of Time and most recently Master Breasts. Ferrato received the Courage in Journalism Award from the International Women's Media Foundation, the Documentary Picture of the Year Awards, and the Robert F. Kennedy Humanistic Award.

TOVA Productions present real-life theater

On Friday, October 27, at 8 p.m. in Nunemaker Auditorium, TOVA Productions will present Some Life on These Bones. TOVA is a non-profit theater company comprised of men, women, and children committed to creating and performing artistic projects that address issues of social changes. Through theater, performers tell their own stories of abuse, homelessness, addiction, and domestic violence through spoken word, dance, and music. Some Life on These Bones is based on the real life stories of the seven extraordinary women performers.

Events for Domestic Violence Awareness Month

October 17: Clothesline Project display through October 24 in the Danna Center Lounge.

October 17: Health and Wellness Exposition from 4 ­ 7 p.m. in the Danna Center Lounge. Learn about self-defense, date rape drugs, cyberstalking, and more.

October 24: Women and Men Take Back the Night. Tenth annual march begins at 7 p.m. in Loyola's Horseshoe and ends at Tulane's Pocket Park.

October 26: Donna Ferrato gives her keynote speech for the Integrating Responses to Domestic Violence seminar in Roussel Hall at 7 p.m.

October 27: Integrating Responses to Domestic Violence seminar at the Law school, 9 a.m. ­ 9 p.m., Friday and Saturday.

Revealing statistics:

• Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury of women between the ages of 25 to 44, more common than automobile accidents, muggings, and rapes combined.
• 73% of domestic homicides occur after the victim has left the perpetrator.
• Nearly 1 in 3 U.S. women is assaulted by her partner.
• Only 17 states recognize domestic violence as affecting child custody.
• Over 500,000 women and almost 200,000 men are stalked by an intimate each year.
• 1 in 10 men have been sexually abused.

Signs to detect an abusive relationship:

• Begins as emotional abusepartner will ignore your feelings, withhold approval, ridicule and humiliate you, threaten you, or be consumed by jealousy.
• Some physical signs of violence are slash tires, pet abuse, harassing phone calls, any pushing or slapping, as well as threats becoming clearer/more specific
• The violence will always increase in intensity and frequency.
• There is a clear cycle of violence in abusive relationships. Tension builds from a situation where the abuser feels he has lost control and must regain it. Then, a violent outburst occurs where the abuser attempts to regain his control, followed by a honeymoon period where the abuser tries to reconcile for his outburst. The woman rationalizes the abuse and takes him back. Then, the cycle starts over and the honeymoon period becomes shorter and shorter, until the abuse consumes the relationship.

Ways to escape an abusive relationship:

• Tell someone. Make an ally that can help you out of the situation because it is very hard to go it alone.
• Document everything. Keep a calendar or take photos of every injury, this helps if the abused ever has to go to court.
• Have an escape plan. Get a cellular phone. Have hiding places where you can keep emergency phone numbers. Make an emergency escape plan.