Program Format

Video Orders and Taping Rights

• Before
  Orienting your classroom to the subject of violence against women
• During
  Encouraging stugents to become active viewers
• After
  Engaging in activities relative to information from the video presentation

Women learn early on that they must work at being safe. They know that there are some things they cannot -- or rather, should not -- do, some places they should not go. Women feel at risk because they are. They understand too well that there is no safe place, not even in the homes where they live. An alarming amount of violence is targeted at women. By U.S. Justice Department estimates, three out of four women will be the victims of some kind of violence in their lifetime. According to Senator Joseph Biden, "the single greatest danger to a woman's health is violence from men." When pushing for the law to punish violence aimed at women Biden said, "something is sick in our society."

No Safe Place: Violence Against Women, goes behind the headlines and statistics to explore the origins of violence against women. The vast majority of men do not hurt women, but almost all violence committed against women is at the hands of men. This documentary film includes interviews with the victims of rape, sexual assault, and domestic violence. It also includes interviews with perpetrators and with many nationally renowned experts who give insight into why some men are violent.

No Safe Place consists of one 60-minute program with an intermission included, so that the program may be shown over two class periods. The first segment tells women's stories and goes into the historical, biological, sociological and cultural origins of men's violence against women. The second segment tells the stories of men who hurt women, and examines what factors cause individual men to behave violently. It also looks at solutions to this kind of violence.

Before:
In advance of the video presentation, have students write down what they know or think about domestic violence and rape. Ask students to share their thoughts and feelings about domestic violence and rape. Provide the students background on domestic violence and sexual assault. (Resource materials are listed at the back of the booklet.) Stress that these are difficult problems that are not just private matters: they affect families, and communities and cross all social, economic, and racial lines. Have students make a list of what they are afraid of young men and as young women and what they can do to protect themselves.

During:
To help students get the most out of the video presentation, ask them to take notes as they watch it. Make the note taking task specific: ask them to write what ideas are new to them; ask them to identify some of the myths about rape and domestic violence; ask them to write any questions that occur to them.

• Ask the students to talk about the lists they made before the presentation of what they are afraid of as young men and as young women.
• Discuss how the lists differ for male and female students.
• Ask students to describe any changes in their initial responses to domestic violence and rape.
• Break them into small groups and have them share their thoughts and feelings with each other.
• Ask the groups to share their responses with the rest of the class. Have someone write these responses on the board.
• Have the class try to answer questions generated by the group discussions.
• Discuss what can be done to end violence against women, asking specifically what men can do and what women can do.
• How can students help themselves? Help others?

No Safe Place: Violence Against Women is made possible in part by a grant from the Albert and Elaine Borchard Foundation and the Dr. Ezekiel R. and Edna Wattis Dumke Foundation. The documentary is a production of public television station KUED in Salt Lake City, Utah.