We can't excuse violence against women

From JOANNE L. TOSTI-VASEY, Ph.D., President of Pennsylvania NOW


AS I SEE IT JOANNE L. TOSTI-VASEY
We can't excuse violence against women
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
On Sept. 27, a man in Colo rado took several girls hostage in a high school and sexually assaulted them before shooting one. Then on Oct. 2, a 32-year old man walked into an Amish schoolhouse in Pennsylvania and shot and wounded 10 girls; at least five have died.

In one instance, young girls were sexually assaulted; in the other, the shooter spoke about wanting to molest girls. In both, girls were the targets of the shootings. And again in both instances, reports indicate that the men perpetrating the violence against these girls may have been mentally ill.

These two instances also show evidence of two major social problems. First, we live in a culture of violence. Women and girls are often the target. Second, there is a lack of comprehensive mental health care and mental health insurance coverage. This denies people with mental illness the needed care and services that might have prevented such attacks as the ones on these young girls as well as the deaths of the female victims and of the alleged mentally ill perpetrators.

Attitudes, behaviors and policies need to be changed to help prevent future tragedies such as these. Attitudes toward violence, particularly violence against women, need to be critically examined. People need to speak out, tolerance needs to be taught and people need to be trained at the local level on how to deal with potential violence. Better training and coordination of services related to both mental health and domestic violence in all communities would help reduce these types of events. And the public at large needs to have information on local services so that they can immediately call the appropriate professionals whenever they believe that there may be a potential problem.

As a community, we each need to watch out and care for our neighbors. Polices to provide health care coverage, including mental health care, for everyone needs to be reviewed and implemented. Programs that track people with a history of violence across jurisdictions would also help in determining if a person's level of violence is escalating.

We cannot excuse this violent, negative behavior. Nor can we continue to avoid addressing the challenges of those afflicted with mental illness. And we have an equally important, moral obligation to provide a safe and nurturing environment for our young boys and girls. Until we address these issues of health care coverage and attitudes toward women and girls, this will not happen. SPEAK OUT. Learn what's available to assist your community. And teach your children tolerance.

Pennsylvania NOW extends our sympathy and condolences to everyone in West Nickel Mines and Bailey, Colo.

JOANNE L. TOSTI-VASEY, Ph.D., is President of Pennsylvania NOW, Inc., Bellefonte.



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