UA, community educate to stop domestic abuse

Jennifer Etsitty Arizona Daily Wildcat Irene Anderson, Director of UA Oasis Center for Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence, conducts a discussion group for Domestic Violence Awareness Day on the UA Mall yesterday. The Oasis Center offers information and resources about violence and assault.

Advocacy and counseling organizations took advantage of the gathering on the University of Arizona Mall to recognize Domestic Violence Awareness Day, exchange philosophies and discuss their work.

"I think it's essential to work in collaboration with as many people as possible," said Irene Anderson, director of the UA Oasis Center for Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence. "The rippling affect of domestic violence is huge - it affects all of us."

The Oasis Center works with women's shelters, such as the Tucson Centers for Women and Children and the Brewster Center, advocating projects and counseling those involved with domestic abuse.

Victims of abuse, those who support them, and perpetrators of violence all use the counseling services provided by the organizations. Representatives emphasized that relationship violence is not just a woman's problem.

"This is not strictly a gender issue," Anderson said. "It's a power and control issue."

She said statistics show that incidences of relationship violence are as high among same-sex couples as in heterosexual relationships.

Both abusers and victims need to shed long-held beliefs about the roles of men and women, Anderson said.

While most abusers in heterosexual relationships are male, one in six men will be sexually assaulted in his lifetime, according to Matt Sanders, assistant director of the Oasis Center.

Sanders works with men who have been victims of, or witnesses to, sexual violence. Men who were assaulted at a young age sometimes adopt risky behavior such as excessive drinking or drug abuse later in life, Sanders said.

"Being able to work on that prior assault is really important," he said.

Counselors on the Mall were generally positive about their work.

"You're stepping into someone's life who is in complete crisis and doesn't know where to turn, and you can reach out and say 'you can turn here,'" said Roberta Moore, an Americorps member who volunteers at Oasis.

Norma Magdaleno is working with Moore on contacting the Latin American community in Tucson and hopes to establish a shelter focused on serving that population.

The duo are members of the Arizona Americorps Sexual Assault Advocacy Program. Magdaleno said program members in Tucson and Phoenix function as a team to end domestic violence.

"We try to reach victims throughout the state," she said.

Because domestic violence is a criminal offense, Oasis and other centers frequently refer people to the Tucson and UA police departments, Anderson said. Women living in situations of domestic violence use the legal system more often than rape victims.

Because many victims are in ongoing relationships, they must seek ways to get out safely, she said.

The UA Domestic Violence Law Clinic takes referrals from the counseling organizations. Clinic Director Zelda Harris teaches a class on the law as it relates to relationship violence. Her students, with the supervision of an attorney, help women seek legal sanctions such as restraining orders or divorce.

Harris said women turn to the law clinic after removing themselves from situations of immediate violence.

"We're successful in keeping the abusers away from them (abused women)," Harris said.

Women can only get orders of protection for six months at a time.

But in January, there will be some legal changes for the better in Arizona, including increasing the amount of time abusers will have to stay away from their victims, Harris said.

"I think there are some huge gaps in how the law is currently structured," she said.

There is no legal protection available for people in same-sex relationships or for minors, Harris said.

"You might have a 17-year-old woman in an abusive relationship who, for whatever reason, doesn't want to tell her parents," she said.

A young woman in that situation would be prevented from acquiring legal aid.

Carol Ekstrom of the Tucson Centers for Women and Children said that as a counselor, she has the opportunity to meet brave women.

"It's a really courageous act just to leave (an abusive relationship)," she said.

Ekstrom said it's not uncommon for her to see university students come in for relationship violence counseling.

"I know it exists on campus," she said. "It's not at all infrequent that I get students in."

Sanders said students, especially freshmen, sometimes don't know how to deal with independence.

"People are constantly testing their boundaries around alcohol use, drug use - they're testing their sexual boundaries, both men and women," Sanders said.

He works with men who have been accused of abuse. Some of them come to him after realizing their behavior is damaging, but many are in denial about the harm they inflict on their partners.

About 85 percent of abusive men don't recognize they have done anything wrong, Sanders said. He helps men who think they have been wrongly accused to understand the behavior they need to change.

"Being a man isn't forcing or pushing or even being able to persuade or coerce," he said. "It's about being an equal and a partner in a relationship."

Sanders works to make people realize that "consent can be very erotic."

Sarah Spivack can be reached via e-mail at Sarah.Spivack@wildcat.arizona.edu.