Who’s your best friend?

When someone asks you this question, how do you usually answer? Do you mentally run through a list of friends deciding which one is really your favorite? Or perhaps you would answer immediately that your best friend is your spouse or partner. I’m hoping that you answered that your best friend was you! Are you a good friend to yourself? Sadly, most people are their own worst enemy. We are often especially hard on ourselves, reserving the harshest of criticisms and the highest demands upon ourselves: terms that we would never dream of applying to others. Why do we do … Continue reading →

Topical Whensday: When will you help a child with HIV/AIDS?

Worldwide, 2.7 million children are infected with HIV. According to The Child Health Site, 2,000 children are infected EVERY DAY with the incurable infection. Total world HIV population has now grossed at more than 40 million people. Since the beginning of the HIV epidemic, approximately five million children have died from AIDS worldwide. In 2001, 800,000 children were newly infected with AIDS and 580,000 children died from AIDS. In 2001, more than 6,000 young people worldwide aged 15-24 became infected with HIV every day. That’s about four every minute: 50% of all new HIV infections acquired after infancy. In the … Continue reading →

Reclaim the Night: An Electronic March for Women

This is an electronic march for ALL women (you do not have to be a survivor of sexual assault to participate) to safely Reclaim our Right to Take Back the Night. Rape and sexual assault is not our fault. Why should we have to curb our natural behaviors due to fear of being hurt. It is time for predators to take responsibility: for them to have to walk with others for protection, for them to have to stay indoors at nighttime, for them to stop raping our women and children. The twenty seventh of October 2006 marks the 30th anniversary … Continue reading →

Calling Non-Violent Men to Reclaim the Knight

Calling all Knights: We need your help to reach all men. It’s time to come out of your caves and draw a line in the sand with your sword. The silent majority are often taken as agreeing with an issue. Sexual violence against women and children is an issue surrounded in secrecy, dominance and re-perpetrations. Sexual violence is a gendered crime which means that far more men than women perpetrate atrocities against women and children. Does your silence mean you agree that sexual violence is an acceptable thing to have occur? If not, speak up. Men are part of the … Continue reading →

Topical Whensday: When Will Your Yes Mean Yes and Your No Mean No.

“Yes means yes, no means no,” has been a long trialed slogan, trotted out to raise awareness around rape and sexual assault. Yes, great. Is it working? No. Research supports that it can be difficult for many children and women to say no in risky situations because they are often scared and because they have seldom had the opportunity to have their “no” listened to and respected. Being assertive takes practice. Saying “no” when everyone else is saying “yes” can leave many people isolated and bullied. Desperate to fit in, to be liked, to be part of the crowd, many … Continue reading →

We’re all stars!

Do you believe you have little in common with a heroin-addicted mother of three? Or perhaps a professor of 19th century French literature from a prestigious Ivy League university? Or maybe you feel you are the exact opposite of your overbearing in-laws. Well, think again. The late astronomer Carl Sagan was famous for expounding that we were all made of “star-stuff.” In essence, he was trying to say that we, our surrounding, our planet, even the entire universe was made up of the same collection of atoms and molecules. In short, we are all just variations on the same theme. … Continue reading →

Recovery From a Rape. YOU Can Immediately Help.

Rape and sexual assault are life-changing occurrences. They violate a women’s soul because her essence has been attacked. The effects of the rape can last for many years, sometimes even a lifetime. Survivors may feel isolated and alone, different and unusual. They are none of these. Many women have been sexually assaulted but they do not feel comfortable in publicly discussing it. No matter what circumstance she was assaulted under, it is NEVER her fault and there is no shame attached to it. Her shame is self-designed because of a fear of being judged from you. Blame statements: Remarks from … Continue reading →

The Cycle of Violence: part 7, Stand Over.

This is the last part of the Cycle of Violence. It is the culmination of the insidious and convincing trick behaviors that have occurred during Explosion, Remorse, Buy Back, Honeymoon, Normal, and Tension Build Up. The tension in the air has become so great that the home is like a powder keg. Every waking minute, the household members live in fear of an explosion. People speak in hushed tones, they become hypervigilant and keep a check on where the perpetrator is, and they wait. The moment he enters the scene they know there’s going to be trouble. It may be … Continue reading →

The Cycle of Violence: part 6, Tension Build Up.

Yesterday in “Normal”, we saw the cyclic behavior beginning to slip back to old and habitual ways of operating. You may remember that the mother said nothing about her partner’s outburst at the children. She instead just thought that his behavior was a bit tough. He’d been trying so hard that she didn’t want to be negative and spoil the positive changes that he had made. However, his outburst is the first indicator that the behavior is on a downhill slide and that the household is beginning to become unsafe. During the Tension Build Up stage of the relationship, tensions … Continue reading →

Child Protection Week

Child Protection Week is an opportunity for community to reflect on their protection practices and to celebrate kids being kids. This week, Australian communities are celebrating their children, their commitments to keeping children safe, and our active involvement with families who are struggling. This morning’s launch encouraged people to consult with children to find out what they want to help keep them safe. Have a look at the NAPCAN site to see what some Australian children have already said. It’s interesting that the responses lack items like play stations or expensive trips away. Australian children are identifying love, peace and … Continue reading →