Power, Privilege and Prevention

In order to prevent sexual and domestic violence, we must change the conditions that contribute to sexual and domestic violence. Today I spoke at the New York State Coalition Against Domestic Violence’s Prevention Summit on strategies to how to change those conditions.  It is necessary to create systematic change to prevent violence.  The title of the presentation, “Power, Privilege and Prevention” involes the need to address power relationships  in culture, society and institutions as central to prevention efforts.

One way to change the conditions is to use public health concepts such as reducing health inequities and address the social determinants of health.  Many public health tools demonstrate approaches and strategies that change the conditions.  The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Technical Packets on Sexual Violence and Intimate Partner Violence highlight strategies to create protective environments and  strength economic support for women and families.

Since sexual and domestic violence are directly linked to oppression in our society, I discussed the importance of working to end white supremacy as essential to ending violence. As a movement dedicated to ending sexual and domestic violence, we need to work with other social justice movements, including racial justice, economic justice, labor, immigration rights, human rights and reproductive rights.

Click here to see a handout with the key resources from the presentation. [PDF]