Link Roundup: 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

Welcome to this week’s installment of Lilith’s Link Roundup. Each week we post Jewish and feminist highlights from around the web. If there’s anything you want to be sure we know about, email us or leave a message in the comments section below.

16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence

To mark 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence, Lilith shared some of our articles on domestic violence in the Jewish community, including “He Beat Me Black and Blue: Yiddish Songs of Family Violence” from the Spring 2011 issue and “Wife Abuse, Drugs, and Silence” from the Summer 1998 issue.

Yesterday, U.S. Senators Patrick Leahy and Mike Crapo introduced a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA). Though the new bill cuts the current law’s funding by 19%, it features new measures to reduce violence against women, including “improved training for law enforcement, victim service providers and court personnel; strengthening of tribal jurisdiction over crimes committed on Native land; expansion of federal housing protections and improved means of tracking funds.” [Ms. Magazine]

A new study, conducted by the Tel Aviv-Jaffa Municipality’s committee for advancing the status of women, revealed that 83% of Tel Aviv women report being sexually harassed at least once in their lifetimes. In addition, the Association of Rape Crisis Centers in Israel reported a dramatic increase in sexual assault complaints following former President Moshe Katsav’s rape trial. [Haaretz] & [Ynet]