Best of 2019 at NFF
This past year has been full of change. The #MeToo movement has continued gaining momentum, giving courage to many women to come forward, and helping to give voices to those who are unable to speak out loud on these important issues. At Neighbours, Friends and Families, we have continued to focus on educating the general public about domestic abuse while also discussing issues that are becoming more mainstream or need to be at the forefront of issues, especially through our blog.
We also published a new documentary – Fatal Silence – and highlighted the 16 Days of Action on Violence Against Women. Lastly, our Healthy Talks for Young Adults series was always at the forefront of our work, with a new and engaging speaker talking about issues relevant to young adults.
We’ve outlined some of our most popular blog posts below and included links to our Healthy Talks. Thank you, as always, for your support of the work we do and the importance of involving everyone in ending violence against women and children. Don’t forget to join us on Facebook and Twitter to keep up to date on news, events and our own content.
World Health Day: Let’s talk About an issue Often Ignored
Domestic violence needs to be at the forefront of world health discussions. We chat about this issue and give excellent tips for ways every single one of us can help to end help violence against women and children. Yes, we all have a role to play!
A new way of thinking about masculinity when it comes to dads and father’s day
Why do images of fathers need to be focused around superhero characters? What about gifts for dads that also promote the mainstream images of what it means to be a man? i.e. Beer, steak, barbecue flippers, and other macho portrayals of men. Instead of continuing this dated and erred vision of “typical” dads, we need to be focusing on healthy ideals of a new masculinity and ensuring men feel free to express emotions, such as empathy, gentleness and caring. As our guest blogger Matthew Sereda writes, the greatest gift we can give to our children is our presence and our commitment to creating a just and loving world for them to grow up in.
Reflections on National Indigenous Day
Our guest blogger Candace Brunette-Debassige writes about how, for her, this annual international day is not about government recognition for her but is instead about celebrating tremendous Indigenous resilience and survival against great odds.
Fatal Silence
In 2019, CREVAWC published a moving documentary featuring Maha El Birani, the daughter of Sonia El Birani, who was a mother of three and murdered by her husband. We discussed the three most moving moments in the film. You can view the full film for free here.
Epidemic of Abuse Against Female Politicians
World-wide, female politicians face threats and digital violence at much greater rates than men. In Canada alone, there have been numerous instances of threats of abuse, both in person and online. We discuss the rising epidemic in a blog post.
16 Days of Action on Violence Against Women
With the goal of opening these discussions and talking about sexual abuse in particular, we produced a series of video clips from our Healthy Talks series and one final montage video – we hope you’ll help by sharing some of these resources!
Healthy Talks
From Rachel Ettinger’s (Here for Her) talk about the importance of community and menstrual equity, to identifying unhealthy relationships and how to help friends, to cyber violence, and artificial intelligence undressing women, we covered a wide range of bases specifically relating to youth (15-30) over this past year. These talks are all a great way of teaching today’s youth basic ideas of healthy vs toxic/potentially abusive relationships, how to support friends, and crucial information about living in a digital age (safety and dangers). You can find all of our previous Healthy Talks for Young Adults here.
