February 2014 - Save - Leading The Policy Movement For Fairness and Due Process On Campus

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard
Telephone: 301-801-0608
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

White House Dating Violence Proclamation Mocks the Truth, SAVE Charges

WASHINGTON / February 21, 2014 – A leading victim-advocacy group charges a recent White House Proclamation provides a misleading and dishonest portrayal of the dating violence problem. Stop Abusive and Violent Environments calls on the Obama Administration to revise its flawed Proclamation and reaffirm its commitment to evidence-based policies.

February is National Teen Dating Violence Awareness and Prevention Month. In observance of the event, the White House issued a Proclamation on Dating Violence that states, “girls and young women ages 16 to 24 are at the highest risk” for dating violence. http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2014/01/31/presidential-proclamation-national-teen-dating-violence-awareness-month-

This statement is false. It’s young boys who are at decidedly greater risk, says the Centers for Disease Control. According to the CDC Youth Risk Behavior Survey, high school boys were more likely than girls to have experienced dating violence during the past 12 months. This gender disparity was found when the survey was administered in 2007, 2009, and 2011: http://apps.nccd.cdc.gov/youthonline/App/Default.aspx

A second CDC-funded study interviewed young adults aged 18 to 28 years. The survey found the sex disparity was even more pronounced in this older group: “women were the perpetrators in more than 70% of the cases,” the researchers concluded: http://ajph.aphapublications.org/doi/abs/10.2105/AJPH.2005.079020

The cases of Jodi Arias of Arizona and Crystal Mangum, notorious false accuser in the Duke U. lacrosse case, reveal that female-perpetrated partner violence is a serious problem in the United States. Both Arias and Mangum were convicted in 2013 for the brutal slayings of their intimate partners.

“President Obama promised his Administration would base its policies on science, not ideology,” notes SAVE spokesperson Sheryle Hutter. “But repeatedly, we have seen White House pronouncements on domestic violence that reveal at best a dubious relationship to truth or verifiable fact.”

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to domestic violence and sexual assault: www.saveservices.org

PRESS RELEASE

Contact: Teri Stoddard
Telephone: 301-801-0608
Email: tstoddard@saveservices.org

SAVE Commends Groups for Debunking Super Bowl Abuse Myths

WASHINGTON / February 7, 2014 – A leading victims-rights group is commending groups for speaking out to counter Super Bowl myths. Stop Abusive and Violent Environments – SAVE – believes misleading claims can promote faulty policies and divert scarce resources away from the very victims who need help the most.

SAVE highlights these groups for taking a public stand against Super Bowl abuse myths:

National Network to End Domestic Violence: The claim that Super Bowl Sunday is the “biggest day of the year for violence against women” has surfaced over the years. But NNEDV’s Cindy Southworth flatly dismisses the claim: “The Super Bowl does not cause domestic violence, and it doesn’t increase domestic violence.” http://keepingscore.blogs.time.com/2014/01/30/super-bowl-2014-myths-facts-legends/#ixzz2sTj7lNnK

Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women: Cindy McCain, wife of the Arizona senator, has labeled the Super Bowl “the largest human-trafficking venue on the planet.” But the Global Alliance Against Traffic in Women has examined the record on sex trafficking related to the Super Bowl and other sporting events. The Alliance concludes, “despite massive media attention, law enforcement measures and efforts by prostitution abolitionist groups, there is no empirical evidence that trafficking for prostitution increases around large sporting events.” http://maggiemcneill.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/whats_the_cost_of_a_rumour-gaatw2011.pdf

Abuse myths have real-world consequences. Writing in the New York Times, Kate Mogulescujan explains that misleading the public is harmful “because it creates bad policy. In the days leading up to Sunday’s game, local law enforcement dedicated tremendous resources to targeting everyone engaged in prostitution.” http://www.nytimes.com/2014/02/01/opinion/the-super-bowl-of-sex-trafficking.html

Fact Checker Joe Carter, who has also found the sex-trafficking claims to be false, notes, “when we exaggerate the problem it causes people to trivialize it as concern.” http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2014/01/30/factchecker-super-bowl-sex-trafficking-and-other-myths/

Despite these positive efforts, false domestic violence “factoids” are still commonplace. According to research by Dr. Denise Hines presented in the current issue of Partner Abuse, 27% of domestic violence agencies’ fact sheets include this claim: “Domestic violence is the leading cause of injury to women between the ages of 15 and 44.” But domestic violence does not appear among the top five leading causes of injury for women in this age group: http://webappa.cdc.gov/sasweb/ncipc/nfilead2000.html

“Abuse is a serious problem,” notes SAVE spokesperson Sheryle Hutter. “But wildly inflating the numbers, stereotyping persons as abusers, and misrepresenting the problem ends up doing a grave disservice to victims.”

A SAVE report documents that domestic violence myths have become widespread: http://www.saveservices.org/downloads/SAVE-DV-Educational-Programs

Stop Abusive and Violent Environments is a victim-advocacy organization working for evidence-based solutions to domestic violence and sexual assault: www.saveservices.org