Girl Project: The Final Product

This is Naneli. :)

Here's the prezi for our project!

Gender Art Project Analysis

Statistic: 150 million girls a year are victims of sexual violence.

1) What is sexual violence?
Sexual violence is unwanted sexual contact or attempted sexual acts through violence. It happens to anyone at anywhere during anytime. Anyone can be a perpetrator and anyone can be a victim. 

2) Art inspirations: We were inspired by Basotho people's daily apparel. The girl we made has a bucket  balanced on her head and is dressed in brightly colored clothing, a trend we noticed in many of the clothing they wore. Also, the "Before I Die" interactive art in New Orleans inspired us to make note paper and wooden clips for a simple game of "Guess the Statistic" at the bottom of her dress. The two teal strings (the international color for sexual violence) hanging from her hands symbolizes how she is burdened by the issue of sexual violence, being a sexual violence victim herself. 

3) The girl’s name is Nanali, meaning "star" in Sesotho. She is from Lesotho because Lesotho has the highest rate of sexual violence for women and children in the world, due to reasons such as their patriarchal culture (mainly Basotho culture), high rights of poverty, and so on.

4) Personal influences on statistic:
-is a learnt behaviour from parents, if the child is also abused or unloved
-reporting sexual violence might harm family honor or sexual purity
-alcohol and other drugs also plays a role in certain types of sexual assault
-psychological factors: more likely to consider victims responsible for their rape, less knowledgeable about the impact of rape on victims, impulsive and having antisocial tendencies, having an exaggerated sense of masculinity, having a low opinion on women
Structural influences on statistic:
-patriarchal societies generally have more sexual violence violators
-unreported sexual violence cases,
-subjected to violence (including honor killings) by their families, being prosecuted for sex outside marriage, or being forced to marry their rapist might occur if sexual violence was to be reported
-Major disasters and lack of infrastructure can play a key role in increasing rates of sexual violence. (Haitian women and girls living in the IDP camps after January 2010)

5) Personal solutions to statistic:
-Support organizations that already exist by donating money and time
-Help spread the word! 

-Talk to an authority when you see signs of sexual violence
Structural solutions to statistic:
-Educate the all potential victims of how to react towards sexual violence, including,

• allowing them to understand that it is not their fault and should report it, despite their cultures that might say otherwise
• preserve physical evidence
• get to a safe place
• provide them with self-defense lessons

-Set up a support system for perpetrators in order for them to understand that sexual violence is NOT okay
-Enhancing public awareness by creating campaigns
-Provide medical and emotional support free of charge to victims such as:

• telephone help-lines
• centers providing comprehensive care towards victims of sexual violence (One-Stop Crisis Centre is a unit in the Kuala Lumpur Hospital, which is in Malaysia does this. Canada also has a similar system)

-Forging new policies with more severe convictions to violators
-Encourage nations to ratify to international treaties such as the Convention Against Transnational Organized Crime (2000) and its supplemental Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children (2000)

6) How does it relate to prior class discussions?
- patriarchal societies: Patriarchal societies normally have more victims of sexual violence. Societies set the norms for people. If these societies have a low opinion on women, then the people are more likely to reflect the values it promotes, resulting in sexual violence cases.
 - culture: In some cultures, girls are subjected to violence (such as honor killlings, being prosecuted for sex outside marraige, or being forced to marry their rapist), if sexual violence was to be reported in order to retain family honor and sexual purity. These type of cultures encourages sexual violence in a way that prosecutors do not get punished.
- gender inequity: Our statistic also relates to gender inequity. There are more victims of sexual violence for girls than of boys, demonstrating how generally girls are treated more unequally.
- Education: Education can do miracles for empowering women. Giving a women education can reduce the sexual violence that's out there. Take the girls in the documentary film, Girl Rising, as an example. Suma from Nepal took night lessons after a day of work and managed to free herself from her master.

- LEDCs: LEDCs usually lack infrastructure, which can lead a higher possibility of sexual violence. For example, many Haitian women and girls living in IDP camps after January 2010 were victims of sexual violence (mentioned in 4).