Pre Contact to Aboriginal Woman Abuse and After Pre Contact Woman Abuse
Before pre contact to Europeans, the influence and respect
that Aboriginal women held in their communities not only gave them a voice, but
kept them safe from woman abuse, sexual assault and stalking. Aboriginal
women’s responsibilities included providing for themselves, their children,
relatives, the sick, elderly, disabled and the community at large. Women are
seen as the creators of life and involved in all things that dealt with
creativity, from planting and harvesting, to giving birth and raising children.
Married couples stayed with the woman’s family, and if abuse has occurred then
the family resides with their daughter. Historically, woman abuse was present
in Aboriginal society prior to European contact, but not nearly in the same
intensity or frequency it is today (as recently as 2002 it has been reported that
between seven and nine out of every 10 Aboriginal women in some communities had
been abused in the past two or three years). Traditionally, when an abuse
occurred, the abuser was confronted immediately by his male relatives or those
of his victim. If the abuse continued, punishment could be severe, including
banishment, from the community or castration and death. But because woman were highly respected abuse
hardly ever occurred.
-
rape is a common and widespread experience
-
rape extends back many generations, such as
Residential Schools
-
people treat rape as a personal, private pain
and do not talk about it unless there is an unavoidable crisis
-
the individual who is raped come to view
violence as the norm.
Thanks,
Amanda
References:
Women went from being respected and being the backbone of their families and communities, to being disrespected, subjected to many forms of abuse, and having their spiritual foundation attacked.
ReplyDeleteI see that you used Kanawaytowin as one of your resources. I worked with this program in my last position in the Aboriginal community and found it to be a very educational and empowering program for women. It highlights the many forms of abuse and explains them in detail so people can understand just what those forms of abuse look like.
Being a holistic model, Kanawaytowin also provides teachings and resources for men. A very helpful tool is the 12 key community determinants (as identified by the Aboriginal Healing Foundation) that enable abuse and family violence to continue, as well as making it difficult to stop. This speaks to the correlation of the community's strength and its capacity to address abuse against women and family violence. The healing must take place at a much deeper level than just addressing the perpetrators of the abuse. It is my belief that only by acting together as a community can we gather strength and strategies for ending abuse against our women.
Thank you for you post Amanada! You are bringing attention to a very important topic.
Lisa
Hello in reading this post I am to say the least appauled, it is horific for people to be abused and i agree worse for women of any nation or cultural background. We create life, contain life and work hard to keep that life flickering. There is way too many people who look the otehr way and refuse to help put these things into proper perspective and help to stop it once and for all. I think women should unite as a whole no matter the colour of our skin or the backgrounds we come from. Together we are stronger, together we are a force to be recond with and together we are more than just one!
ReplyDeleteWhen I was in High school, we learned a lot about abuse within the aboriginal community. I really think it needs to stop, I feel for these women who suffer. I wish that i had it in myself to do more and maybe one day I will!
ReplyDelete- Elysha
While I was reading your post I was painfully reminded of one of the biggest reasons that I have chosen to work in this field. There is so much mind control involved in abusive relationships and women often get brainwashed into thinking that they deserve to be treated poorly or that there is nothing that they can do right. It can be a life long process in retraining your brain to think healthy and constructive thought about yourself and your abilities after you have been traumatized, especially if it happened while your brain was still developing as a child or teenager. Thanks for helping me in keeping my fire alive, Amanda. You have inspired me to work hard so that these women can know that they are worthy.
ReplyDeleteTara
Great Blog Post. Its really disheartening to read about this social issue and find that cycle of violence continues. I have read other blogs throughout our class that discusses this very same issue, just goes to show that this way to much a common issue of concern.
ReplyDeleteThanks Allison