Since I will be discussing the issues of violence against women, my project will relate to subjects such as unequal power relations (domestic abuse, rape, assault, manipulation), discrimination, and double standards and how we feed into the cycle based on how we grow up (gender roles?). The different facets of my project concern contemporary events such as the #MeToo movement, the recent Harvey Weinstein trials and more.

My project intends to discuss the effects violence has on women as a unit not singling out a race, class, and/or sexuality; I may incorporate various instances where an identifier such as a women’s race becomes a key player in the issue being discussed. I will definitely involve historical events such as the feminist movement of the 60s and international and historical events such as how women from across Asia were used as “comfort women” during Imperial Japan and current issues where women are sold into sexual slavery. I may discuss how women are portrayed in the media and how they are expected to behave by general society (demure) as well as other cultural and sexual expectations such as having small feet (foot bindings in China).

Today, social media plays an exceptionally large part of how women and girls feel about themselves. Body shaming has become an issue and if you don’t have tan skin, wide hips, a skinny waist, and large busts then you are not attractive; this feeds into that toxic and violent cycle that a women’s body is the only thing that matters and not her mind which can lead to other detrimental health issues such as anorexia, bulimia nervosa, low self-esteem, suicide, and self -mutilation among others. *What’s seen as attractive varies by country. The example above is what’s largely accepted for American women and may vastly differ somewhere else*.

Each factor either stems from or leads to a violent act. To discuss each factor successfully, I will have to organize without going off tangent.