Here Are Two Stories I Happened to Read Back-to-Back

[Content Note: Domestic violence; rape; murder.]

1. Bryce Covert at Think Progress: Domestic Violence Programs Brace for End of Federal Funds after Friday.

Domestic violence programs across the country say they have received letters from federal offices that dole out grant money informing them that after Friday, if the government is not reopened, they will cease operations and the programs won't be able to draw down the funds they normally rely on. While some may be able to weather the storm, small, rural programs and those that rely heavily on federal money are looking at layoffs and disruptions in service.

...Other programs confirmed they had gotten similar letters from OJP and other agencies. "The whole country has been told the same thing by the Office on Violence Against Women," Kim Gandy, president and CEO of the National Network to End Domestic Violence, told ThinkProgress. "We also have coalitions across the country that have been unable to draw down their reimbursements from FVPSA [Family Violence Prevention and Services Act] for funds already expended, which means they don't have operating funds going forward. Some are already discussing layoffs."

...But more and more women have been seeking help as the same economic troubles caused by the recession and stagnant recovery have increased and intensified abuse. Eight in 10 shelters report an increase in women seeking help and nearly 60 percent say the abuse is more violent than before the crisis.

Soraya Chemaly at Salon: "I'm an Instrument That Will Avenge": The Stories of Women Who Fight Back.

The ongoing case of Marissa Alexander demonstrates that even when danger is imminent a woman cannot count on the justice system, especially if she's not white. Alexander was sentenced to 20 years in prison for firing what she says was a warning shot at her abusive husband. She thought that Stand Your Ground laws applied to her. Perhaps the only good thing to come out of the abhorrent Zimmerman case is an upcoming retrial for Alexander. The question is, does Stand Your Ground apply to domestic violence, especially women of color who defend themselves against abusive spouses?

The documentary "The Perfect Victim" explores the cases of three women who either killed their husbands or had their husbands killed by others after years of violent abuse. It follows the Missouri Battered Women Clemency Coalition's attempts to navigate the legal system and have the women freed after decades of incarceration. Most of the women were denied the right to present their histories of torture and abuse at trial. Two of these women, raped, beaten, trafficked and tortured for years prior to killing their husbands, spent more than a total of eighty-five years in state prison. Even after clemency was granted to one of the women, the parole board did not release her for more than two years because they decided it "would not be in society's" interest to let her free.

Differing punishment dolled out for killing an intimate partner is telling. Vastly more men than women are in jail for murdering spouses, but women who kill abusive husbands serve disproportionately long sentences if found guilty. According to the Michigan Women's Justice and Clemency Project, men who kill their intimate partners get an average sentence of 2 to 6 years whereas women are sentenced, on average, to 15 years. If you find yourself saying, as so many do, "why don't women leave instead of committing murder," it's important to note that a woman is actually at 75% greater risk of harm from her abuser after she leaves.

So, here's the shape of things at the moment: Domestic violence programs, which help women safely leave abusive relationships and provide refuge during a time of escalating violence, are being defunded, forced in many places to reduce services and provide less help for fewer women. Meanwhile, women who are forced to defend themselves from violent partners, because they lack community support and resources, are more likely to be convicted of defending themselves and serve disproportionately long sentences.

The Republicans get super pissed when people accuse them of waging a war on women, but no one can argue that domestic abusers (disproportionately straight men who abuse their female partners) are waging a war on women—and the Republican Party is happy to facilitate that war.