"Put an End to Violence Against Women"

Rev. Bruce Russell-Jayne
February 21, 2010

Reading: Ending Widespread Violence Against Women United Nations Population Fund
Around the world, as many as one in every three women has been beaten, coerced into sex, or abused in some other way - most often by someone she knows, including by her husband or another male family member; one woman in four has been abused during pregnancy.
"Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms... In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse that cuts across lines of income, class and culture."
—Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, paragraph 112
Gender-based violence both reflects and reinforces inequities between men and women and compromises the health, dignity, security and autonomy of its victims. It encompasses a wide range of human rights violations, including sexual abuse of children, rape, domestic violence, sexual assault and harassment, trafficking of women and girls and several harmful traditional practices. Any one of these abuses can leave deep psychological scars, damage the health of women and girls in general, including their reproductive and sexual health, and in some instances, results in death.
Violence against women has been called "the most pervasive yet least recognized human rights  abuse in the world." Accordingly, the Vienna Human Rights Conference and the Fourth World Conference on Women gave priority to this issue, which jeopardizes women's lives, bodies, psychological integrity and freedom. Violence may have profound effects – direct and indirect – on a woman's reproductive health, including:

1. Unwanted pregnancies and restricted access to family planning information and contraceptives
2. Unsafe abortion or injuries sustained during a legal abortion after an unwanted pregnancy
3. Complications from frequent, high-risk pregnancies and lack of follow-up care
4. Sexually transmitted infections, including HIV
5. Persistent gynecological problems
6. Psychological problems

Gender-based violence also serves – by intention or effect – to perpetuate male power and control. It is sustained by a culture of silence and denial of the seriousness of the health consequences of abuse. In addition to the harm they exact on the individual level, these consequences also exact a social toll and place a heavy and unnecessary burden on health services.
The United Nations Population Fund recognizes that violence against women is inextricably linked to gender-based inequalities. When women and girls are expected to be generally subservient, their behavior in relation to their health, including reproductive health, is negatively affected at all stages of the life cycle.
The United Nations Population Fund puts every effort into breaking the silence and ensuring that the voices of women are heard. At the same time, the Fund works to change the paradigm of masculinity that allows for the resolution of conflict through violence. One strategy is to engage men - policy makers, parents and young boys — in discourse about the dynamics and consequences of violence.         

Sermon            Put an End to Violence Against Women    Rev. Bruce Russell-Jayne
How can we talk about this loathsome topic - violence perpetrated on women?   It’s certainly not anyone’s favorite subject.  The horrible things done to women are said to be “unspeakable.”  As I began to put together this service I was worried about who would be in the audience - It’s bad enough many young children have to witness first hand frightful things happening to women and girls; I wouldn’t want our children to hear about them in a worship service.  But they have left the sanctuary, so the rest of us can talk about it like adults, right?  But even adults tend to sweep it under the rug.   Violence toward women is a shameful subject, and we don’t like being reminded about it.

By hiding it, by encouraging women to keep silent about their abuse, by not telling the “family secret”, covering it over with veils of cloth or even facades of wealth and success - we strengthen the effects of shame.  Fear of being abused and the shame after it happens keep the victims quiet, and the perpetrators surely don’t want others to butt in.  So we learn to think of it as a private problem, one to be resolved within the family, which protects perpetrators and allows the our society not to think about it too much.  When a celebrity commits domestic violence it is sensational news for a day or two, and then fodder for late night comedians.  But, if a problem doesn’t stay at the top of the news cycle in this country, we tend to think it must not be all that important.  Therefore breaking the silence about violence toward women is a necessary step toward reducing and eventually eliminating it.  So, I have to give credit to you who were brave enough to come out to address this topic.

Our reading gave just a few of the shocking statistics that frame violence against women as much more than a private problem.  I could continue the list of examples of horrible practices until we were all sick to our stomachs and fighting mad enough to want to stop it, but I want to take a different approach this morning.  I will refer you to Amnesty International’s or the UU Service Committee’s publications for more information on abuses of women going on all over the world and what they are doing in specific countries to stop them.  Today, I want to use one of the sad stories found in the Hebrew Scriptures which tell a tale of terror with women as victims.  The Hebrew prophets told these stories to try to change bad behaviors which were present in their culture, and they can still have that effect on us today.  However, almost all of the narratives are written from a male point of view, and the voices of the women, the victims, are seldom heard.  So, I will use the traditional sermon technique of starting with a biblical text followed by my interpretation, but I will add a woman’s voice to the narrative as we go along.  In this way, we can not only break the silence about violence toward women, but maybe we can feel the consequences of it from the victim’s point of view.

The text is from the book of Judges, chapter 19.  For help with my interpretation I am indebted to Phyllis Trible and her book entitled Texts of Terror: Literary Feminist Readings of Biblical Narratives.  The story in Judges 19 does not name the woman; she is known only as a concubine or a daughter.  The woman has no voice in the text, so I am using the imagination of Dorri Sherrill to give the concubine the power of speech.

Judges Chapter 19
1 And it came to pass in those days, when there was no king in Israel, that there was a certain Levite sojourning on the farther side of the hill-country of Ephraim, who took to him a concubine out of Beth-lehem in Judah.
2 And his concubine played the harlot against him, and went away from him unto her father's house to Beth-lehem in Judah, and was there the space of four months.

Now the woman’s prayer: “You, oh Yahweh, know how painful my life has been.  I was bought-purchased, I was purchased-as a concubine, and the man who ‘owns’ me does not honor me.  At best, I am as any other of his possessions.  My life at home with my father certainly wasn’t great, but it will be better there than here with one who ignores me.  I will return home to my father, for there the pain and shame of being ignored is so familiar that maybe I won’t even feel it.”

The narrator of Judges tells us there was no king in Israel in reference to an anarchic time when every man could do as he pleased.  He introduces the main characters -the man as a Levite, an honored position, and the woman as a concubine, a position legally and socially not equivalent to a wife, literally a slave that he controls and can use for his own purposes.  The phrase “played the harlot against him has also been interpreted, “became angry with him.”  We hear the man’s voice in the 1st; the woman’s in the 2nd.  We know from the stories of battered women today that the time of leaving an abusive situation is the most dangerous time, a time when she faces the greatest threat of violence, even death.  Because the consequences can be so severe, as much as we want to tell a woman to leave, we can’t tell her to leave.   The decision to leave takes great courage and must be her own choice.
:::
The Prophet continues the story:  “3 And he arose, and went after her, to speak kindly unto her, to bring her back, having his servant with him, and a couple of asses; and she brought him into her father's house; and when the father ... saw him, he rejoiced to meet him.
4 And the damsel's father, retained him; and he abode with him three days; so they did eat and drink...
5 And on the fourth day... he rose up to depart; and the damsel's father said ...: 'Stay thy heart with a morsel of bread, and afterward ye shall go your way.'
6 So they sat down, and did eat and drink, both of them together; and the damsel's father said unto the man: 'Be content, I pray thee, and tarry all night, and let thy heart be merry.'”  The father prevailed on the master to stay a few more nights before he left with his concubine and travelled out into a dangerous stretch of land controlled by another tribe, the Benjaminites.

Now the woman’s version of things: “My God, no!  He’s here-and my father is delighted!  He came today, and Father and he are sharing the best of our food and wine.  I thought I was free from him and his arrogance and disrespect and abusiveness.  But he has come for me.  And I don’t want to go!  I know my father, though, and he won’t even ask me what I want.  He will give me back and not think twice about it.  Why did I think I could get away?  O God, why did I think it would get better?  And where are you?  Why does my life continue to be so unfair?  I’m afraid.  Don’t abandon me...”

The father treats the master with deference and hosts him for days of feasting.  As the two men party, the woman can’t participate and fades from the scene.  The journey “to speak to her heart” turned into a conversation between men in which she had no voice at all.   The master put her life at risk on the journey with no concern for her fears.
:::
The small band of travelers has trouble finding a place to stay until an old farmer:
 21 brought them into his house, and gave the asses fodder; and they washed their feet, and did eat and drink.
22 As they were making their hearts merry... certain base fellows beset the house beating at the door; and they spoke to...the old man, saying: 'Bring forth the man that came into thy house, that we may know him.'
23 And...the master of the house...said: 'Nay, my brethren, I pray you, do not so wickedly; seeing that this man is come into my house, do not this wanton deed.
24 Behold, here is my daughter a virgin, and his concubine; I will bring them out now, and humble ye them, and do with them what seems good to you; but unto this man do not so wanton a thing.'
25 ...so the man laid hold on his concubine, and brought her...to them; and they knew her, and abused her all the night...and when the day began to spring, they let her go.

Again, the concubine’s distressed thoughts: “There is some kind of commotion outside.  I hear voices, lots of men’s voices.  What is it these men want?  What...-O God, he’s coming for me!.  My husband, he has my arm, he’s dragging me out-out to these men!  I hear the man of the house say, “Ravish her, do with her what seems good to you.’  what is happening?  Why are you doing this, my husband?  I don’t like being your property, but even so-protect me-I am your property!  Oh, my God...it hurts!...O God, where are you?..”

How does it make you feel that no one did anything for these women?  The poor concubine must go into the heart of terror alone.  When the wicked men of the town threaten the men of the house - male power confronts male power, and the women are offered by the old man - to show his power over them and to show he understands and can satisfy the base instincts of the brutish men outside.  No males were to be violated; all males were to be granted their wishes.  In context, “to Know” loses all ambiguity.  They raped her and tortured her.

And the conclusion of the Prophet’s story:
26 Then came the woman in the dawning of the day, and fell down at the door of the man's house where her lord was, till it was light.
27 And her lord rose up in the morning, and opened the doors of the house, and went out to go his way; and, behold, the woman, his concubine, was fallen down at the door of the house, with her hands upon the threshold.
28 And he said unto her. 'Up, and let us be going'; but none answered; then he took her [body] upon the ass; and the man rose up, and got him unto his place.
29 And when he was come into his house, he took a knife, and laid hold on his concubine, and divided her, limb by limb, into twelve pieces, and sent her throughout all the borders of Israel.
30 And it was so, that all that saw it said: 'Such a thing hath not happened nor been seen from the day that the children of Israel came up out of the land of Egypt unto this day; direct your heart to her, take counsel, and speak.'

Now her final words:
“Where am I?  Oh, I hurt!  I can’t walk-what did they do to me?  Am I safe now?...Where can I go?  the house where he is-the one who gave me over to these men-it’s over there...if I can just make it to the door...It’s not all that far-I had no idea we were so close to the house.  That means he must have heard what was going on!...Just a bit farther...Just a few more feet...Let them hear me knocking!...my body-how it aches!  I’m feeling strange-God, are you here?  God, if you can, take care of me! O God...”

Raped, tortured and released, she died, in anguish-her hands on the threshold.  In an unfamiliar place, she went to the only place she knew - hoping for a touch perhaps, some final mercy - but to no avail.  Only the men can pass thru the doorway in safety; the women are pushed thru the doorway to deal by themselves with the dangers that lie outside.   When the man, her master finally speaks to her, she cannot answer.

But this is not the end of her tale of terror.  Even in death her master holds power over her.  Expecting no retribution for his act, he dismembers her body and sends fragments throughout the land as a call to revenge for the atrocity perpetrated by the Benjaminites.  Later, when the master is confronted, he obscures his part in the crime, and is never really questioned about it.  His ruse works, and a great war between the other tribes of Israel and the Benjaminites follows.

First captured, then abused, betrayed, raped, tortured, murdered, dismembered and scattered, through this entire tale of terror, the woman is the least powerful character.   The last line of the prophet’s story implores us to direct our hearts to her, take counsel and speak! - but no one speaks for the woman.  Silence in the face of such evil protects the perpetrator, allows the story to be forgotten, encourages abusers to continue and makes those who are aware complicit in the terror.  “When we direct our hearts to her, what counsel can we take?  What word can we speak?”   First of all, if we take this ancient tale to heart, we must open our eyes to the facts that show the same kinds of things happening today, in our supposedly modern societies.  Then we must speak these stories out loud - as horrible as they are, and as unladylike the telling of them may be judged to be.  The old story is still alive, and all is not well.  And most of all we must go beyond exposing the truth, we must each and every one of us take a vow.
Never Again!
Never Again!
I leave you with this blessing:
Blessed are you who remember the ancient wounds, for through your remembering, broken bodies and broken stories will receive new life.