Femicide: Why Being a Woman Puts You in Danger 

Too often, women are murdered after reporting abuse. They tell their friends and families, file police reports, and beg for help, but are still killed by the very people they tried to escape. This isn’t an unfortunate coincidence. It is a systemic failure. It is the culmination of a long pattern of control, coercion, and violence. In over half of all intimate partner homicides, the victim had already reached out for help. Yet too often, those cries are dismissed. The systems meant to protect us too often side with abusers, judges restore gun rights, police minimize threats, shelters are underfunded, and restraining orders go unenforced. Despite the Lautenberg Amendment barring firearm access for domestic violence misdemeanants, it long excluded dating partners, creating the deadly “boyfriend loophole.” This loophole, which federal lawmakers failed to close for years under pressure from the NRA, has enabled abusers to keep access to guns. The presence of a firearm in a domestic violence situation increases the risk of death by 500%. We should be angry. In fact, we should be furious. Women die every day because warning signs are ignored, and cycles of violence are often treated like private matters. Until we recognize femicide as the crisis it is, nothing will change. 

Link to full story here.