The people of the world, especially women and girls, are experiencing lives they never knew before with an uncertain future ahead of them through it all, despite efforts to manage or reverse climate change. Where once we saw important social improvements, climate change has created a sea change that will resist movement and may turn the clock back on too many people’s lives.

One of the many repercussions of climate change on society is the potential for greater violence against women. Several studies have already identified the connection between climate change and the interaction between the two aspects.

People frequently leave their homes and migrate as a result of natural disasters brought on by climate change, such as hurricanes, floods, and droughts. In these situations, women suffer from displacement disproportionately and they are more likely to be the victims of violence, exploitation, and abuse. According to a UN study, gender-based violence, such as sexual assault against women, might rise as a result of displacement.

And climate change may have an impact on the heavily reliant agriculture systems in rural communities. Studies show that when a woman’s source of income is threatened or removed, it is one factor that may make her more vulnerable and leave her open to violence. According to the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), it is then that the economic consequences of climate change could result in a rise in violence against women.

Social repercussions from climate change could include the breakdown of social networks and societal cohesion. Such disruptions increase the risk of violence against women. According to the Women’s Environment and Development Organization, women’s access to safety nets during climate-related crises is essential for their well-being.

Insightful information about how climate change raises the risk of violence against women is essential to acknowledge and tackle these issues in order to advance gender equality, protect women’s rights, and boost resilience in the face of climate change.

Climate change may have a disproportionately negative impact on the mental health of women and girls, which makes them more vulnerable to violence.

Natural disasters, displacement, and resource shortages that are linked to climate change can cause psychological distress and trauma among women and girls. According to the Women’s Refugee Commission, women and girls are particularly vulnerable to violence after climate-related disasters, including sexual assault.

Extreme weather events and environmental degradation brought on by climate change might lead to or aggravate existing mental health issues in women and girls. They might be less able to defend themselves from harm and to seek help as a result of these disorders, which include despair and anxiety. The Lancet Countdown on Health and Climate Change has extensive research on how climate change affects mental health.

Violence and intergenerational trauma can also result be a result of traumatic climate change conditions. Disruptions brought on by climate change can lead to this type of trauma, in which the effects of violence and mental health problems are passed down through generations. This cycle can result in continued violence against women and girls. Pain and violence caused by climate change have received particular attention from the International Organization for Migration (IOM).

Because climate change puts pressure on the current healthcare system, it can be increasingly difficult to get mental health therapies. Due to their lack of resources and their restricted access to support and treatment for mental health disorders, women and girls may suffer more violence.

Women may be more susceptible to experiencing different types of violence, such as domestic abuse, sexual assault, and exploitation when there are fewer services accessible, there is social instability and resource shortages.

Frequently, women and girls experience specific hazards in post-disaster settings, including forced marriages, human trafficking, and sexual assault. The United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA) underlines the heightened risk of violence women must contend with in light of these changes.

Climate change-related disruptions could lead to financial hardship and the loss of a source of income, which would disproportionately affect women. In these situations, women may be coerced or exploited into engaging in risky and damaging forms of labor, like unpaid domestic work, human trafficking, and commercial sexual exploitation. The International Labour Organization, too, stresses the connection between climate change, precarious employment, and increased risks of violence against women.

While seeking justice and aid for abuse occurrences brought on by climate change, women confront other obstacles. Social shame, ignorance of the services offered, and limited access to legal remedies are a few of these obstacles. Discrimination, inadequate response mechanisms, and weak institutions further impede women’s access to justice and support systems. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) underscores the necessity of removing these obstacles in order to increase women’s safety and empowerment.

To combat the violence and mental health pressures that women endure as a result of climate change, comprehensive activities that address gender inequity, build legal institutions, provide access to support services, and enhance women’s empowerment are required.

It is crucial to acknowledge and address the particular regions that climate change is negatively affecting in order to create egalitarian communities. And mental health must not be put on the back burner in these situations.

The post Climate Change Raises the Danger of Violence Toward Women appeared first on Medika Life.

Twitch is a platform that provides content creators the opportunity to livestream video games, cooking, political commentary, travel, or anything else that the creator chooses, so long as it falls within the platform’s terms and conditions.

Twitch enters into an agreement with each of its partnered content creators, allowing them to monetize their channels and splitting the revenue received from subscribers who pay up to $24.99 per month to support their favorite streamers. This arrangement has been lucrative for Twitch, and content creators with large followings can make well into the high six figures annually, with the very top echelon pushing into seven figures in earnings. Many leverage their fame and reach into other lucrative opportunities for sponsorships or content creation on other platforms.

Cracking the Façade to Find an Ugly Reality

One of those enormously successful streamers is a 28-year-old named Kaitlyn Siragusa, better known by her Twitch handle, Amouranth. She’s one of several young women who have attracted vitriol and blowback from some corners of the internet and media for leveraging their appearance, sexuality, and charm as part of their online personality to make a living. Whether you agree with her persona and presentation or not, you can’t argue with her success. Siragusa pulls in a reported seven figures per month, Twitch being her primary platform.

But the reality is much darker.

Beyond the standard harassment that any woman in the public eye, particularly in the historically male-dominated world of gaming and streaming – sadly experiences, Ms. Siragusa revealed on a live stream on October 16^th that she’s not actually single, as she’s represented in the past. In fact, she’s married to her trafficker.

She’s alleged she’s a victim of labor trafficking, her husband forcing her to stream and create content – some of it risqué – against her will. Live on stream she showed text messages from her husband in which he threatens her with financial abuse and her pets with physical harm if she doesn’t comply and keep up the facade. She claimed he’s taken control of her finances and bank accounts and has physically broken the door to the room in which she streams so she can’t lock him out.

“I’m basically living in a fancy prison,” she said.

The recording of the stream has since been deleted.

Toxicity, Misogyny, and Liability

Fellow prominent Twitch streamers broadcast their support for Ms. Siragusa across their own social channels, but a vocal contingent of her community and other streamers, some with enormous reach, had a different perspective.

The issue, they said, wasn’t that she had been forced to entertain them against her will. The issue was that she pretended to be single when she wasn’t and because they’d been duped, they deserved refunds for all the money they’d spent supporting her.

Twitch is no stranger to controversy, but this time feels different. The company has banked millions of dollars from its partnership with Amouranth, but it seems clear that those profits were the direct result of exploitation and forced labor. Does Twitch, or any organization for that matter, have an obligation to the people from whose efforts the company profits?

I’m not an attorney, but it seems unlikely that there’s any legal exposure for Twitch or Amazon in this case. Siragusa is an independent contractor and thus has none of the myriad worker protections that those with employee status enjoy. Further, there’s been no indication that she told anyone at the company about her situation before she came forward publicly on her stream. The moral argument is more crucial in this case.

Twitch boasts up to 8 million unique streams every month. More than 31 million people visit the site or use the app every day. They employ more than 1800 people globally. It a dominant player in the streaming space.

What do you do as an industry leader when such an ugly situation comes to light on your platform and the response from certain corners of your customer base and creator community isn’t sympathy or support, but anger, misogyny, and victim-blaming? This is a question that cuts to the core of the kind of company Twitch wants to be, who they want to serve, and who they want to partner with as a business.

What Comes Next?

The easiest thing that Twitch, and by extension Amazon, could do would be to ignore the situation entirely, to put the onus on Ms. Siragusa to manage the crisis on her own. That’s not how a responsible organization behaves, but it wouldn’t be entirely unexpected.

Though there may not be a legal obligation for Twitch to investigate whether this is an isolated incident, could a conscientious organization really fail to do so? Can a company live with itself, and what price will it pay in the court of public opinion, if it does nothing or stays silent when entangled in something as ugly as this that its directly profited from?

If you’re a woman who works at Twitch, or who streams on the platform, how would you feel about an organization that’s historically done relatively little to stem harassment and toxicity and is now silent after this revelation by one of their partners? I might find myself questioning how many other prominent young women on the platform are being forced to work against their will.

I would argue that the time is now for some introspection, and an evaluation of how the platform incentivizes content creators and protects potentially vulnerable individuals. Children as young as 13 can stream on the platform, after all. Is there more that Twitch could be doing? Almost certainly.

These are uncomfortable questions that should concern an organization if they’re being asked by employees or business partners, and even if the microscope of public scrutiny hasn’t found Twitch or Amazon yet, it’s only a matter of time should other content creators on the platform come forward, inspired by Ms. Siragusa’s bravery.

You can’t be dedicated to responsible business practices only when it’s convenient. It requires getting your hands dirty when things get complex and messy, taking ownership, and showing leadership. You don’t need to have all the answers, but people know the difference between right and wrong. Make sure they know that your company does too.

Neither Twitch nor its parent company, Amazon, have to this point issued a statement on the matter.

Ms. Siragusa published a recent video announcing that her husband is “getting help” and that she has regained access to all her finances and accounts and is “seeking legal and emotional counsel.”

The post Amouranth, Twitch, Amazon, and the Unraveling of Compassion and Common Sense appeared first on Medika Life.

The memory of this tragic loss of life haunted Assistant Police Chief Ronnie Morris for the last two decades. Morris decided to use his expertise in criminal justice to do something about the teen dating violence problem. 

Morris worked with Dallas Democratic Sen. Royce West to craft legislation called The Christine Blubaugh Act. This bill required Texas students to receive four to six hours of education about dating violence in junior high and high school. 

Both Republicans and Democrats supported the efforts to protect Texas children and increase awareness of dating violence. The Christine Blubaugh Act, Senate Bill 1109, coasted through Congress passing with bipartisan support. 

Unfortunately, this bipartisan bill designed to help prevent teen dating violence did not make it past Governor Abbott’s desk.

In his official veto, Governor Abbott stated that the bill “fails to recognize the right of parents to opt their children out of the instruction.”

The Christine Blubaugh Act, Senate Bill 1109, was titled, “Relating to requiring public schools to provide instruction and materials and adopt policies relating to the prevention of child abuse, family violence, and dating violence.”

A bipartisan group of Texas legislators sponsored the bill. 

1. Senator Royce West, Democrat District 23, Dallas 
2. Representative Rafael Anchia, Democrat District 103, Dallas 
3. Senator Carol Alvarado, Democrat District 6, Houston 
4. Senator Kelly Hancock, Republican District 9, Fort Worth
5. Senator José Menéndez, Democrat, Distric 23, San Antonio
6. Senator Charles Perry, Republican, District 28, South Texas

How big a problem is teen dating violence?

As an Obstetrician-Gynecologist in Irving, Texas, I often see victims of unhealthy relationships and dating violence. For 22 years, I have worked with teenagers and the local school districts to help empower young women. 

There is scientific data to support my anecdotal experience. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention tracks intimate partner and sexual violence in the Youth Risk Behavior Survey. Data shows:

• Nearly 1 in 11 female and approximately 1 in 14 male high school students report having experienced physical dating violence in the last year.
• About 1 in 8 female and 1 in 26 male high school students report having experienced sexual dating violence in the last year.
• 26% of women and 15% of men experienced sexual violence, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner before age 18.

Dating violence can take many forms. In my experience, some patients recognize when they are in an abusive situation, but many fail to see the red flags until it is too late.

Abuse may occur in person, but many teens find themselves in dangerous situations online and through social media platforms like Snapchat. For example, the 2019 YRBSS shows 14% of teens have sent nude photos through sexting. These photos can be shared across the internet. 

CDC categorizes dating violence into four categories:

• Physical violence
• Sexual violence
• Psychological aggression
• Stalking

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention tracks data regarding adolescent health risks through school-based surveys. This data set, the Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey, contains national analytics and local data. 

The data shows 8.2% of US high school students experienced sexual dating violence. 

Dating violence is trending downward in Texas, but 5.4% of teens report sexual dating violence. 

The Christine Blubaugh Act SB 1109 asks school districts to educate students about warning signs of dating violence. Students would have learned how common it is and what to do if they are victims of physical or sexual abuse. 

Published evidence from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention demonstrates that intervention and education starting in middle school can reduce the incidence of dating violence. 

The CDC tested a project called Dating Matters in school districts in Baltimore, Chicago, Oakland, and Ft. Lauderdale. 

Students in grades 6–8 performed an annual survey to track the impact of the Dating Matters program. 

The data shows a middle school educational program can have a dramatic impact on students. The students reported lower levels of dating violence and victimization. 

The CDC data also showed the junior high students participating in Dating Matters reported a lower level of other at-risk behaviors such as: 

• Bullying 
• Cyberbullying 
• Physical violence perpetration
• Weapon carrying
• Alcohol and substance use
• Delinquency
• Sexual violence perpetration and sexual violence victimization (females only), and
• Sexual harassment within and outside of dating relationship

The Christine Blubaugh Act, Senate Bill 1109, did not mandate Texas to use the CDC Dating Matters program. Still, this scientific evidence demonstrates how early intervention and education can impact student outcomes. 

Governor Abbott vetoed the bill because it lacked an option for parents to opt their children out of learning about healthy relationships, abuse, and violence. 

But all young people deserve the chance to learn the red flags of unhealthy relationships. In my experience in my medical practice, unhealthy relationships, physical violence, and sexual violence transcend religious, socioeconomic, and racial disparities. We screen every patient for signs of abuse. 

Increasing public awareness of the prevalence of dating violence can help protect young people from becoming future victims. 

After her abusive boyfriend murdered Christine Blubaugh, South Grand Prairie High School named a tennis tournament in her honor. Texas could have honored her memory through The Christine Blubaugh Act. 

This bipartisan public health education program could have saved lives and prevented future tragedies.

The post Teen Dating Violence Is a Problem, but Texas Governor Vetos Bill to Stop It appeared first on Medika Life.