Weekly Media Update

Local News

STAR’s Executive Director appointed to LA Women’s State Commission 

RACHEAL Hebert, our Executive Director here at STAR, was appointed to the Louisiana Women’s Policy and Research Commission on Thursday, November 7, 2013.  In the past, the Commission’s Report to the Governor has not reported on the impact of sexual violence on Louisiana women because the Commission lacks statewide data on the issue.

According to Racheal Hebert, “My goal is to change that.” She states, “Sexual violence is an issue that is more prevalent in Louisiana than we know. Without statewide data, we have little understanding of how this issue impacts our state economically, not to mention the effects on individual survivors and the communities in which they live.”  Click here and here to read more.

Baton Rouge

A 65 year old man was arrested Friday, November 15th on aggravated rape charges of a 6 year old.  See more here and here.

DNA evidence implicated a man in an aggravated rape cold case 5 years ago.  Click here for more.

National News

George Zimmerman

George Zimmerman was arrested Monday, November 18th, for aggravated assault of his girlfriend.  Click here for more.

Educational

Breaking the Silence!

Educating Our Youth

“Access to comprehensive and age-appropriate sex education is critical to adolescents and the well-being of young people,” said Laura Deitsch, program manager with Planned Parenthood of Southern Nevada. “Putting up dialogue about consent and what healthy relationships look like can prevent those tragedies.”

“Healthy sexuality encompasses many elements,” said Elisa Cafferata, the president and CEO of Nevada Advocates for Planned Parenthood Affiliates. “It should include learning about consent and communicating about boundaries.”

Click here to read more!

Author: Catherine Thurmond

I am a Master of Liberal Arts student minoring in Women's and Gender Studies at LSU. During the Fall 2014 semester, I will begin to write her thesis on queer oppression through a philosophical Marxist feminist lens. My academic interests include second wave feminism, queer theory, queer Marxist feminism, feminist philosophy, Simone de Beauvoir, and Monique Wittig. I have been politically active since 2010, fighting for an end to oppression under capitalism. I was involved in Occupy NOLA, bringing in members of The Kasama Project, a national communist project in the United States. I was also active in student organizations at Southeastern Louisiana University where I organized many speaker events for activists such as Jordan Flaherty, Richard Becker, The Beehive Design Collective, Jed Brandt and Eric Ribellarsi, and Malik Rahim. More recently, I began volunteering for STAR, Sexual Trauma Awareness & Response, in 2013 as a hospital advocate where I supported sexual assault survivors. I later joined the Louisiana Delta Service Corps, often described as the Domestic Peace Corps, where I interviewed to be placed at STAR as their Outreach Coordinator. I am also the founder of a Feminist Consciousness Raising Group in Baton Rouge which uses feminist theory to discuss personal experiences under patriarchal oppression. Check it out here for more info about the group: http://brfeminist.wix.com/consciousnessraising View all posts by Catherine Thurmond