{"id":400,"date":"2013-03-22T18:01:53","date_gmt":"2013-03-22T23:01:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/?p=400"},"modified":"2025-05-27T14:15:12","modified_gmt":"2025-05-27T19:15:12","slug":"400","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/400\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s to changing community perceptions of sexual exploitation and domestic violence"},"content":{"rendered":"

People who know me are aware that I’ve been working on research for a book addressed to teens that focuses on trafficking, sexual exploitation and the\u00a0domestic violence issues that come with the territory. My goal is to educate my young adult audiences so that they can protect themselves and to encourage their advocacy and activism.<\/p>\n

You might not be aware that\u00a0I’m also involved with a program at Mount Mary, the college where I teach, that focuses on helping survivors use writing as testimony to change law and cultural perspectives about sexual exploitation and domestic violence.<\/p>\n

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\"untold<\/a><\/p>\n

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Untold Stories was begun by the college’s criminal justice chair, Rachel Monaco-Wilcox,\u00a0<\/a>and it has grown to partner with the Illinois-based Voices and Faces project.\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0The Untold Stories series which has been running for about a year has included lectures on how the arts can heal, a two day writing workshop\u00a0which led to the development of smaller writing groups focused on healing throughout the campus and beyond and yesterday’s luncheon, lecture and panel discussion about efforts to change laws and awareness in Wisconsin.<\/p>\n

Yesterday, I volunteered at\u00a0the luncheon. The lecture and panel discussion brought information about relief and legal efforts to\u00a0community members and to members of community organizations. For instance, did you know that the FBI is working to\u00a0get teens involved in\u00a0soliciting off the streets and to treat them as victims rather than criminals? They are.<\/p>\n

But there was so much more to hear and see at this event. We\u00a0displayed some of the survivor writing from workshops coupled with\u00a0illustrations by\u00a0Mount Mary’s graphic design students and\u00a0by Wauwatosa East art students. The writing was\u00a0also projected on\u00a0a screen and set to music. If I can get permission I’ll post some of this because it was so incredibly powerful to see and to experience.\u00a0A\u00a0Tosa East teacher, Elaina Meier,\u00a0 worked unbelievably hard to make this collaboration between the ages\u00a0happen and I couldn’t help wonder if bringing survivor poetry to her students helped her students understand the scope of acceptance of violence in our communities. Did it encourage them to rethink their own responses? I hope so. Untold Stories, I realized has wings that reach out and educate.<\/p>\n

As people came in for the Untold Stories event, they tended to wander from one essay\u00a0or poem coupled with art to the next. There was a constant murmur as people took in the meanings, the layers, the honesty of each survivor’s story. People were engaged and energized in a way that will carry them into their communities to raise their voices against violence and exploitation. Wow!<\/p>\n

In that spirit today,\u00a0I posted on facebook asking people to petition the New York Police Department to stop doing warrant and background checks on victims who call\u00a0in Domestic Violence reports. This is what I wrote when I called on people to respond to the petition:<\/p>\n

Dear Friends, \u00a0 Most of us know all too well, especially after this violent year in Wisconsin where an estranged husband gunned down his wife and clients in a local hair salon and spa, that victims of domestic violence risk their lives in th…e process of trying to leave violent marriages. Please consider the following situation in which the NYPD runs warrant and background checks on victims who call them in these situations. Let’s help make it easier, not harder, to take that first step to get out of a violent situation. Because I believe we need to help victims get out quickly, I just signed the petition “NYPD: Stop running warrant and background checks on victims of domestic violence” on Change.org. It’s important. Will you sign it too? Here’s the link: http:\/\/www.change.org\/petitions\/nypd-stop-running-warrant-and-background-checks-on-victims-of-domestic-violence<\/a><\/p>\n

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Thanks!<\/div>\n
Ann<\/div>\n

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People who know me are aware that I’ve been working on research for a book addressed to teens that focuses on trafficking, sexual exploitation and the\u00a0domestic violence issues that come with the territory. My goal is to educate my young adult audiences so that they can protect themselves and to encourage their advocacy and activism. … Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":40,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"iawp_total_views":2,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[56,52,50,53,51,55,20,54],"class_list":["post-400","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-art-as-healing","tag-domestic-violence","tag-sexual-exploitation","tag-survivor-programs","tag-teen-sexuality","tag-testimony","tag-untold-stories","tag-writing-to-heal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/40"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=400"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1340,"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/400\/revisions\/1340"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=400"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=400"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/annangelwriter.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=400"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}