Is sexual violence against indigenous women in the USA more widespread?

Native American and Alaska Native women are more than 2.5 times more likely to be raped or sexually assaulted than other women in the USA?





http://takeaction.amnestyusa.org/siteapp...

Is sexual violence against indigenous women in the USA more widespread?
I think these men's "fixation on social chains of command" is a part of the problem, but the root of the issue is far more complicated than that. And what's worse, it's a vicious cycle.





Indigenous people in American society have been marginalized, stereotyped, and stripped of the land and power that they once held. The poverty rate among Native American people is 25.9%, compared to the national rate of 11.3%. Along with this of course comes lack of decent healthcare, lack of affordable housing, substandard education, etc. Add in an American society where Native American men are marginalized and stereotyped, and their heritage is either mocked or glamorized, and what you get is a large group of people who feel helpless and demoralized.





And then if you add in the fact that this society demands that a man provide for and protect his family, you've created a situation of desperation, frustration, and ultimately violence.





So some men take their anger out on their wives' or other women's heads, and then when their sons grow up in the same culture, under the same demands, and having seen their own father figures abusing women? It's self-perpetuating, and the only way to stop it is to overcome our stereotypes of what Native American culture is, and to lift these people out of the poverty that our society bestowed upon them.





Fixing these problems isn't about taking responsibility for other people's offenses from so long ago. It's about validating and then remedying the fact that these offenses occurred in the first place, especially in light of the fact that some of us are still feeling the aftermath, sometimes quite physically.





Thank you for the action links, and for initiating this discussion.
Reply:idk


but is sexual asult like when ur bf starts pulling ur hair while ur doin it?
Reply:I know nothing about this so have no right to comment, but it would be in character for males anywhere - with their fixation on social chains of command. They arbitrarily decide on human values, and bully those with a lower status, but grovel before the powerful with sickening routine.





Native Indian women have no Police prepared to protect them or imprison those who abuse them as a result it's open season on anyone unprotected. A cowardly plundering of the helpless. Nothing new there.
Reply:In those parts of the world there is more abundance of men then women ergo Rape, which should not be permitted and something should be done about it
Reply:If that's true, then that's a problem all over the world, i wouldn't be sorprised if that same situation happens in Mexico with indigenous women.


But an important problem here is that many of this women are so marginated that they even don't report those cases.
Reply:This is native peoples, both on and off the reservation. That is the problem, really.





From the summary:


"The Federal Government has also undermined the authority of tribal governments to respond to crimes committed on tribal land. Women who come forward to report sexual violence are caught in a jurisdictional maze that federal, state and tribal police often cannot quickly sort out. Three justice systems -- tribal, state and federal -- are potentially involved in responding to sexual violence against Indigenous women. Three main factors determine which of these justice systems has authority to prosecute such crimes:


- whether the victim is a member of a federally recognized tribe or not;


- whether the accused is a member of a federally recognized tribe or not; and


- whether the offence took place on tribal land or not.





The answers to these questions are often not self-evident and there can be significant delays while police, lawyers and courts establish who has jurisdiction over a particular crime. The result can be such confusion and uncertainty that no one intervenes and survivors of sexual violence are denied access to justice.





Tribal prosecutors cannot prosecute crimes committed by non-Native perpetrators. Tribal courts are also prohibited from passing custodial sentences that are in keeping with the seriousness of the crimes of rape or other forms of sexual violence. The maximum prison sentence tribal courts can impose for crimes, including rape, is one year. At the same time, the majority of rape cases on tribal lands that are referred to the federal courts are reportedly never brought to trial.





As a consequence Indigenous women are being denied justice. And the perpetrators are going unpunished.





In failing to protect Indigenous women from sexual violence, the USA is violating these women’s human rights. Indigenous women’s organizations and tribal authorities have brought forward concrete proposals to help stop sexual violence against Indigenous women – but the federal government has failed to act. "





So rapists get off because the Res doesn't have authority to take action, and the Fed does not persecute. And because the punishment is light, if it happens AT ALL, native women are victimized at higher rates then that of non-native women.





I heard this on NPR a while back, and I cried when I heard about Pretty Bird Woman house.





The idea of one of the few shelters available for these women, one named in honor of a woman who was killed like an animal through this injustice, was so terrible.





I hated that Amnesty International was taking our nation to task for such a shameful practice.





You can still donate to the shelter for native women and children here:





http://prettybirdwomanhouse.chipin.com/p...
Reply:we have to ask them only
Reply:Violence against indigenous peoples around the world is higher than that toward other populations. You have the issues of isolation, substance abuse, poverty, poor educations, unemployment, cultural confusion and so on that are rampant in such cultures. I grew up in a largely native area, and I can tell you that it is like a war zone there. All people currently living on reservations (in Canada, at least) are suffering. The housing is substandard, the drinking water is poison, the fish are toxic--there are very few things that are positive in those communities. Young Native men in Canada have the highest suicide and murder rate in the world. Domestic abuse is extremely prevalent--children are having children in these communities, and rape is a fact of life. Violence against indigenous people is an enormous problem, but I don't see the rape of these cultures as being a male/female issue. Yes, native girls and women are routinely abused sexually and otherwise. I grew up seeing things like 3 men goading 1 woman with alcohol, and demanding certain sexual acts in return for a drink. This was during the day, in public. There are definite problems there, but I truly do not see it as being an issue for women only. Native men are suffering a great deal, and they are killing each other daily. There are a lot of deeply rooted problems within indigenous communities, with sexual violence being very widespread, but with violence in general being even more widespread. In my opinion, the UN will always be a farce as long as nothing continues to be done for an entire group of people that is systematically being destroyed through neglect based in discrimination. These are human beings living in the richest continent in the world, and they are living in third-world conditions. It is wrong, and the UN needs to step in and try to rectify what has been done to these people.
Reply:Can you be more specific? Is this violence on or off the reservation? Is it native on native or other race on native violence?

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