The Dean and $BSTK Raise Awareness of Domestic Violence
October 5th, 2009 at 11:05 am Posted by The Dean
October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month and, like many groups trying to stop violence against women, $BSTK is on a mission to spread knowledge of self-defense for women and other at-risk groups all year round.
The Family Violence Prevention Fund has put together a thorough report that provides startling statistics about violence against women in the United States. The Dean was repulsed to find that 1,181 women were murdered by an intimate partner in 2005—not some stranger, someone the women actually knew and had a relationship with!
The Center for Disease Control reported that women report 2 million injuries from an intimate partner every year. Unfortunately, this does not come as a surprise for The Dean because nearly 25% of women in the United States will experience violence by a current or former boyfriend or spouse in their lifetime.
In 2007, there were 248,300 rapes and sexual assaults reported in the United States—that’s more than 500 a day. The United States Department of Justice Bureau of Statistics estimates that 3.4 million people said they were being stalked between 2005 and 2006. And for women 18 years of age and older, 2% of women experience stalker-type situations in their lifetime.
All of this amounts to women’s lives being changes in negative ways and, in the majority of instances, these situations affect children, families and can have long-lasting effects.
The Dean believes that all women should be made aware of the dangers they could possibly face, as well as methods of self-defense to protect themselves from abusive partners and complete strangers.
As The Dean has taught the CollegeStock Community, college aged women are the highest risk of becoming victims of rape or sexual assault. In addition, women ages 20 to 24 are at the greatest risk for experiencing non-fatal violence from an intimate partner or someone they know. And women ages 16 to 19 are also at risk, with 18 and 19 year olds reporting the highest percentage of stalking in the United States.
Due to the murder at Yale University last month, worker-on-worker violence has also been drawing a lot of attention. While this type of violence is less common, authorities claim that many incidents go unreported.
In 1995, workplace homicides totaled 444 according to government statistics—with many cases occurring in situations where the victim has been followed after getting into a taxi or on other forms of transportation.
While the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics reported 17,000 incidents in the workplace in 2005, a more thorough study of 7.3 million businesses throughout the country revealed 355,000 instances of workplace violence.
Although the scope is large and violence against women is a huge and serious problem, The Dean believes the first step for women is to educated themselves and become involved in Domestic Violence awareness programs. Such programs and groups such as $BSTK sponsored STOP A.O.W. (Assaults on Women) give women hope because they allow women to gain access to resources like $BSTK’s team with more than 40 years of combined law enforcement experience.
If you know of a community, university or organization in the Northeast that you feel could benefit from $BSTK’s person protection system and self-defense program, do your part and contact The Dean.
Be sure to register for Honors Class and make yourself eligible for The CollegeStock Scholarship Fund. The Dean will also be giving away ANY $BSTK PRODUCT to students who kick it up a notch and sign up for a FULL YEAR of TUITION at The Dean’s Honors Class. The deadline for The Dean’s $BSTK PRODUCT GIVEAWAY is December 31, 2009.
