Sexual Violence Prevention Network Quarterly Meeting, Friday, February 6th, 2015: Meeting Summary

On Friday, February 6th, 2015, the Sexual Violence Prevention Network hosted a forum for individuals to learn more about “Popular Culture’s Promotion of Sexual Violence Against Native Women.” The material was presented by Alexandra (Sandi) Pierce, PhD, of Othayonih Research. The discussion was facilitated by Patina Park, Executive Director of the MN Indian Women’s Resource Center.

Sandi Pierce provided a presentation on Popular Culture and the Sexual Targeting of American Indian Women from the colonial era through 2014, examining patterns over time using a series of quotes, art, and advertisements produced by non Natives that portrayed American Indian women as hypersexual and without morals. These depictions, imagery, and art served to dehumanize Native women and justify sexual violence against them. The image of the American Indian woman as a “sexual savage” continues in today’s imagery and advertisements.

Key Learnings:

·  Writings from key colonial figures conveyed and perpetuated the belief the belief that Native women were hypersexual beings, which contributed to the rape and sexual exploitation of Native women by male colonists.

·  Religious leaders colluded with these beliefs by describing Native women as aligned with the devil, which exempted male colonists from any social or religious stigma following sexual violence against them.

·  These beliefs grew to be widely held, and during the period of national expansion, brutal sexual violence and slaughter of Native women was commonplace and viewed as justified.

·  Characteristics of Native women in calendar art and images of the 1920s through the mid-1950s shown in the presentation included: alone in wilderness (often in or next to water), isolated, typically unaware of “the hunter’s gaze,” minimally clothed in buckskin with feathers and braids in provocative poses, at times flirtatious or challenging, light skinned, and in the company of wolves.

·  Characteristics of later advertisements shown in the presentation: non-Native women wearing stereotypically American Indian trappings, including buckskin bikinis and minidresses, with photos cropped to show only torsos and hips. Common offenders: bars and strip clubs, especially during Thanksgiving events.

·  These same patterns are seen in pornography websites, video games, Halloween costumes, and movies.

·  Some Native communities, like the Kahnawake Mohawk in Quebec, are working to counter the images by engaging their youth in recognizing sexualized cultural appropriation as damaging to Native peoples.

·  American Indian media are also sending the message that hypersexualized racism is still racism.

Patina Park facilitated a discussion about the material and about prevention possibilities. The discussion was rich with questions and ideas.

Key Discussion Points from Facilitator and Participants:

·  Today, women/girls of all races are sexualized and stereotyped by the media. What are the common threads and what are the unique threads for certain groups? All women are harmed by this hypersexualization, but Native women have been consistently sexualized consistently throughout history in these images and ads in a way that has had general public acceptance to imitate Native culture.

·  Traffickers will say they like Native girls in part because Native girls are viewed as exotic- they can be seen as Hispanic, as Italian, as whatever the buyer desires. Men play out such desires and fetishes at the strip clubs and other establishments that sell sexual services. That’s why the clubs advertise these stereotyped costumes on dancers, to try to draw the men in. The clubs in the cities have a repeated history if this; we need to be proactive in standing up against it and support the Native people fighting against the exploitation.

·  Seeing these images affects Native Americans. Imagine being bombarded with these images about your people group and how those messages become internalized in Native youth. Also think about how non-Natives learn messages from the art/advertisements; between 70-80% of sexual assaults against Native women are by non-Native men.

·  These sexualized images are perpetuated about Native Hawaiian cultures as well- the Hulu girl is used as a symbol of Hawaii.

·  Generational trauma: this is the term that tries to capture all of the loss and violence Natives have experienced: war, rape, loss of land, loss of language, loss of traditions and cultural practice, mass murder, allotments, forced into boarding schools, abused in every way at the schools, religious colonization, forced into foster care/adoption programs. We’re still only one generation from all of that. If even just one traumatic event can have a lifetime impact, generational trauma is the idea of the impacts caused by many successive traumas to an entire people group over time. Science of the brain is catching up to what we already knew. Trauma can change the genetic expression in individuals and these can be passed down from generation to generation. Trauma changes our biology.

·  Because of all of this historical trauma, ongoing poverty, etc., the core has become weakened, leading to greater vulnerability to chemical dependency, trafficking, etc. So healing is key. Healing includes culture, language, and tradition. We [MIWRC] also uses breathing techniques and visualizations to help clients focus internally and awaken their core. At MIWRC we help each client to connect with those pieces. Not that therapy isn’t important too, but through connection to culture, language, and tradition we connect people to their souls and strengthen their cores.

·  Non-native people have the responsibility to learn the full truth of history. Textbooks commonly do not show the full truth of history, so children continue to learn this. Suggested history resources from the facilitator include: https://zinnedproject.org/ , Lies my Teacher told Me , and even doing online searches can reveal good information. Need to re-examine Louis and Clark and the representation of Sacajawea through a new lens to see the exploitation that she likely was experiencing.

·  Use Native American or American Indian? Depends on the individual being asked. American Indian is a treaty-based term (also a racialized term) but not all tribes are treaty-based. In some parts of the country, tribes don’t have treaties with the government, so American Indian wouldn’t apply in the same way. Native American is an accurate term. However some people prefer American Indian. Some people prefer their tribal name. It varies. Ask people what they prefer.

·  Elders have an important role in teaching, modeling, calling out the harm, etc.

·  The history of violence against women girls back far on many continents, but not North America. Violence against women wasn’t a part of this area before settlers arrived. Given that, what can we learn from traditional Native cultures about keys to creating gender equity?

·  Are there connections between how we treat the environment and how we treat women/girls- the givers of life? Does destruction of the environment through fracking, etc., desensitize us to destruction of women/girls through trafficking in the “man camps”, etc.?

·  Dream that one day these hypersexualized representations will be gone, because we’ll finally understand as a society that they’re harmful.

·  Despite 500 years of loss, we’re [Native Americans] still here; we’re still thriving and resilient. There are many Native men across the country who are doing great work to end violence. Native women are taking leadership roles again in tribal government. Even the women we work with [at MIWRC], I’m amazed by their strength; they’re really good parents and are reclaiming the ability to care for their children. Tribal governments are becoming stronger now, and many new leaders are emerging.

Requests to arrange a presentation should be directed to the MN Indian Women’s Resource Center.