Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Joran Van der Sloot & Violence Against Women

Joran Van der Sloot has finally been charged with murder. Five years after Natalie Holloway's disappearance, Van der Sloot was found to have murdered another woman, this time in Peru. I don't have much to say on the issue, except that this is an example of violence against women, of men exerting force against women and of women being killed. He is a serial killer, yes, and gender is so much a part of this. Shows like Law & Order SVU feature sexually-based offenses, and I'll admit, I watch them sometimes, but these shows do not always address the truth that while we have come a long way in stopping violence against women (the criminalization of domestic violence, for example, which used to be labeled a "private affair), violence against women continues in the same and in new, scary ways. That the victims of Van der Sloot are women is no coincidence; it is part of a larger system and phenomenon.

Info on the crime and charges:
http://www.cnn.com/2010/CRIME/06/08/peru.murder.case/index.html?hpt=T1

Van der Sloot's blog, which disgustingly positions him as a celebrity due to suspicions regarding the Holloway case: http://joranvandersloot.blogspot.com/


Some resources and info on violence against women:
http://www.ovw.usdoj.gov/
http://www.now.org/issues/violence/
http://www.womenshealth.gov/violence/

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