Angelina Jolie speaks! And she’s not speaking about divorce or legal shenanigans. Angelina spoke to Marie Claire on behalf of the initiative she created with former UK Foreign Secretary William Hague, Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict. The PSVI initiative is UK-based, and it’s a multifaceted focus, everything from retraining peacekeepers and militaries about sexual violence, and advocating on behalf of funding more programs for survivors and a lot more. You can read the Marie Claire piece here. Some highlights:
On why the stigma against survivors of sexual violence still exists: “Sexual violence in conflict is still a taboo subject. Female and male survivors, and children born of this rape, are often treated as if they are the ones who have done something wrong. They are rejected and stigmatized, while their attackers go unpunished. That’s what has to change, and breaking the taboo is part of that.”
On why she uses her influence to shed light on this issue: “Our partners in this effort are victims speaking out, local NGOs and governments from around the world as well as militaries. We have to solve this comprehensively. We need to go to the heart of where there are abuses and make changes, and press for new practices and accountability. To take one example, 37 countries still exempt perpetrators of rape from prosecution if they are either married to their victims, or agree to marry them afterwards. Over 60 countries don’t include male survivors within the scope of their sexual violence legislation. So we have to change laws as well as attitudes.”
On how she speaks to her children about sexual violence: “I don’t just speak to my daughters. I speak to them with their brothers. That is maybe the first most important distinction. This is not just a problem for women, and the solution is working with women and men. And girls and boys. Not only are men and boys also victims of these crimes, but those who are perpetrating these crimes need to have other men remind them what it really is to be a man. A man with a healthy relationship to women. And all societies need to be clear about not tolerating this behavior.”
I’m often shocked by how a celebrity saying obvious, common-sense things – “the solution is working with women and men” or “we have to change laws as well as attitudes” – will often become huge news, or be seen as some major stance. I admire Angelina so much for what she’s doing, because while it is common sense, people still need to hear it and be reminded of it, because (as she said) there are still laws on the books in dozens of countries which refuse to punish rapists. There are still societies around the world which punish victims. There are still people in every single country who think that rape and sexual violence is a minor “women’s issue” and not a human rights issue.
Photos courtesy of ANDREW PARSONS / I-IMAGES FOR PSVI, sent from promotional Marie Claire email.
Such an important thing to discuss, and you’re right – it seems so obvious and like it wouldn’t be a big deal, but discussing these issues with boys does often get overlooked or swept aside.
Shallow note – her hair looks great in these photos.
I wouldn’t expect anything less from Angelina. If she didn’t discuss it with her boys is what would surprise me.
yeah, she’s doing it right and doing it well. KEEP IT UP, Ms. Jolie, you’re doing great work.
and yeah, I’ll be shallow too. she really looks great in these pics. SO MUCH BETTER since the split. I hope her (their) kids are doing better, too.
Is it me or does she look 10 years younger lately? I don’t think that marriage was doing much for her. You can always tell after it’s over.
She does – she looks happy and stress free. Once stress was removed from her life she gained some weight.
She looks like a ten-ton weight rolled off her. That marriage was destroying her. Thank God she got out of it.
Good for her. Lovely woman.
Angelina you are a Great Mum!
As a boy’s mother I wish more public people bring up this issue. I am already appalled at what I see at daycare almost everyday. It really dawned on me how we groom boys and girls since birth to be hunters and prey, kind of.
“If he’s mean to you, it means he likes you.”
Yep. And then we wonder why some women stay with violent or abusive men.
I always remember the opening scene from “He’s just not that into you” when they feature a mother telling their kid that “if he’s mean to you…” and then gennifer Goodwin narrates saying that’s where all the problems begin.
I had that EXACT discussion with my daughter last week. She’s in middle school and she will tell me stories about the rude comments the boys say to her. I explained that at this age, it means that they are awkwardly flirting with her. Because they are – immature boys ARE mean to the girls they like.
HOWEVER – and this was the conversation no one had with me at that age – she doesn’t need to put up with it or give these boys the time of day.
Truth! It is also appalling how many people dismiss or even joke/laugh about boys and men being victims. Every time a female teacher gets caught violating a male student or a male coach/role model gets busted for molesting boys, the general public’s first response is often neither genuine compassion nor concern. Many cases are not seriously pursued or prosecuted, and even when they are, the perpetrators usually seem to get off lightly. But the damage to the victims is not funny and can be lifelong, and sadly it can even lead to victims themselves becoming perpetrators.
I am glad Angelina Jolie is making it clear that sexual violence is an issue for ALL of us, not just a “women’s problem.” I hope that this initiative will succeed beyond our wildest dreams too.
Don’t teach your daughters to stay home, teach your sons not to rape.
I saw this posted in India once and it really says everything that needed to be said.
Angelina as always nails it both with her message and her audience.
Yes.
Teach them women are NOT commodities.
Yes. It’s good that you mentioned that, and that she brought this up. So many people think we can have it both ways. They think that the victim-blaming that gets pushed on girls and women is harmless as long as we also teach boys and men that rape, violence against women, and misogyny are wrong. But we don’t live in a world that’s segregated by gender (and we shouldn’t). So while girls and women are constantly being told not to do this or that if they want men and boys to respect them as human beings instead of abusing or harassing them, the message that’s being sent to boys and men is: “If any girls/women break those ‘rules’, it’s only natural if you or other guys disrespect or abuse them.”
And wasn’t there a story, maybe around spring, about how men are out populating women in India and the women there are prolonging marriage and LTR’s and men are upset about it.
Well, duh !!!!
The real story is the lack of girls being born in India, especially the Punjab reason. There are villages where virtually no girls have been born in over 10 years. Gendercide is a huge issue in India. Rape, sexual assault, and acid attacks are also very prevalent. I haven’t been to India in almost 10 years and it saddens me that this is what’s become of it.
Teach all your kids regardless of sex that committing sexual violence is wrong and anyone can be a victim. Unfortunately, India and Pakistan have many cases of young boys being sexually violated and even forced into prostitution to survive, but they do not garner the same publicity or outrage.
Good for Angelina!
So many people dismiss her bc of some events and behavior in her past, but I really appreciate what I see her doing now!
She consistently stands up for oppressed people and shines a light on important issues like this.
Yes, it’s common sense everyone should have, but it needs to said and promoted!
+1
She does look gorgeous here. People don’t believe it but being in that relationship did a lot of harm to her. You could see her dwindling at times. I think it was numerous reasons we probably won’t hear about.
Yet they complain about Kevin Hart’s past but people like Casey Affleck, Ben, Brad, Johnny, all get hall passes.
“people like Casey Affleck, Ben, Brad, Johnny, all get hall passes.”
not from commenters on THIS site, they don’t.
They are white so they get away with it.
I can’t believe she is so awesome!
I haven’t taken a ton of interest in her before (I knew she was a humanitarian)…but she is also an amazing parent! Go girl.
She sticks with it. Almost 20 years? Now she’s been focused on helping and using her voice for people who are suffering. She’s committed.
She’s one of the only celebrities I trust. LoL
A couple of weeks ago a report came on TV about the children of rape during the Bosnien war, what difficulties these kids were facing and their mothers saying that they could not touch the babies in the first three months. This is very damaging for a child and the children are not responsible for the rape. I understand the mothers as well and this is all so bad. So destructive. I could not watch the report, it would have killed me. I am very grateful that Angelina really wants to change this. Very grateful.
I hope whatever it is that is achieved from Conflict-derived sexual violence and rape can also be further applied/adjusted to help non-war/every day sexual violence and rape. Because it doesn’t happen only when people are at war, although wars do bring out the worst in people it seems.
I’m going to double down on my stance yesterday that Angie & Meghan could do amazing things with a shared global platform.
@bettyrose, I agree. I’m surprised they didn’t know each other actually b/c Meghan has done a lot of charitable work and some for the UNHCR. However, I don’t know how much Kate Middleton and/or the Queen would like it. A lot of reports have surfaced that Meghan isn’t getting along w/ Kate and isn’t Kate and Angie sort of friends, know each other well? I don’t believe that Meghan is all that bad especially the way the (British) media wants to imply it. I honestly think some of it is b/c she’s biracial, which is sad and plain wrong. But yeah it would be nice to have Angie work w/ Meghan.
On the vain side as well, Angie does look good. She gain some more weight like in her Tomb Raider days, then it is on. Angie’s getting her groove back y’all. Lol.
Also, I’ve noticed a lot of young people just love her. It’s like as soon as she’s in the room, young people just seems to gravitate to her. She really just knows how to listen, respect and treat them. That’s actually why her kids love her. She’s their Mom but also their Friend.
Agreed. Look at her body language in the bottom pic, she takes children seriously, when they talk to her.
Side, I remember it was a big deal for Kate to meet Angie on her first visit to LA, but I didn’t know they were friends. Seems like she and Meg have a lot more in common, beginning with their L.A. childhoods. More to the point, Angie seems to possess many of the qualities the tabs use to suggest Meg & Kate are incompatible. I don’t believe the tabs, but if it’s true Angie & Kate are chummy, I’d think the three of them could get along well. And they certainly all care about kids.
And yeah Angie is back to her stunning self.
I admire her because this isn’t just a fad for her. She’s dedicated to the cause and will be forever unlike her loser ex dumping Nola and the make it right foundation.
Yup, she could be on every cover, billboards, making tons of money from cr@p movies. Instead, she’d decided to use her voice to speak for those who have no voice. More celebrities should do that, instead of plugging detox teas of instagram and giving interviews about their cellulite fighting tips. Emily Ratajkowski – this is what a feminist looks like.
Emily Ratajkowski is a feminist too. It’s not a competition. You don’t see Angelina going around saying she’s the only True Feminist. Follow her example. #MoreInclusiveLessAbusive
Sexual violence is a weapon in wars. Trying to stop it is like trying to tell a party at war to stop using machine guns. It won’t stop until you stop the wars. I wonder what Angie thinks about that.
Pretty sure she doesn’t run around advocating for wars.
No, but she has a long history of promoting “humanitarian intervention” (for the military establishment), which, however well-phrased or framed or intended, actually usually turns into empire building whilst empowering terrorists through power vaccuums, along with creating refugee crises and massive “collateral damage” (what a horribly euphemistic term). Agree with almond biscuit: focus on promoting non-violence.
Almond Biscuit, major logical fallacy. Rape is a war crime. While it may seem bizarre that murdering enemy soldiers is not a crime, the fact is that any assault on unarmed civilians is outside the parameters of established warfare, and rape is especially egregious because it targets the most vulnerable populations in war ravaged regions. Thus, one can call for an end to war crimes without challenging the very existence of warfare.
Thank you.
Sexual violence is used to destroy both men and women both physically as well as morally and it is used as a weapon in wars. That is a matter of fact. According to Jolie. May I suggest you educate yourself about her point of view?
IF you ignore or deny the above you won’t ever get to resolving the problem.
Okay, so rape is indeed used as a weapon of war. It was used as such (by order from above) during the Balkan Wars, during the Rwandan Genocide, during the Congo wars, and so on and so forth. This has been deemed a war crime by the international community. So, there are acts that occur during war that are seen – by general agreement of the international community – as crossing the line. These acts include the use of chemical weapons (since the aftermath of WWI), torture and, more recently, rape. Therefore, those who engage in these crimes can be tried for war crimes by an international tribunal after the war. Unfortunately rape as a war crime is still not treated as seriously as it should be. Jolie is very much aware of all of this and has long advocated for all to strongly commit to not using rape as a weapon of war and for the international community to be firm in prosecuting rape as a war crime.
This is incredibly important to teach children of all genders and I’m glad someone is speaking about it in such a high profile way.
As usual, well done Ms Jolie.
After working for years with victims of domestic violence, my friend has been working with *perpetrators* of domestic violence. It’s even more emotionally draining, but she feels it’s so bneficial.
Tough gig.
This is why children these days have so much anxiety. Should she be taking to Maddox. Of course he is probably dating and having s#x by now. But for the young twins who should still be playing with dolls and trucks and enjoying life it should not be discussed. Children should not be burdened down by the large issues in life like rape and consent. This is just not Angie it’s all parents. Seriously let kids be kids make forts, eat mud pies, pet your dog, read good stories at night after your bath. Don’t worry about rape and war crimes at like 10 years old. This is why so many you g children are depressed and have anxiety.
Sorry completely disagree with you.
There are millions of children under the age of 10 being raped.
Unfortunately we live in a world where we have to tell our children as young as 3 how unsafe the world is.
The innocence of childhood we experienced is gone. We have to remain vigilant and teach our children how to protect themselves or where to get help if needed.
I don’t think she’s promoting graphic descriptions of rape to educate kids. Her youngins’ are plenty old enough to learn about respect and bodily autonomy.
She can talk to kids as young as 10 years old as long as she put the rape content in the language that they can understand at such age. Like violent acts against women I.e inappropriate touching against one’s will then it should be fine. You don’t have to spell it out in brutal details to make your point. Kids nowadays are very advanced, believe me. I have nephews and cousins that are aware about the birds and bees, lol.
The “think about the children” defense is an avoidance strategy. No one is thinking that 10 year olds need graphic descriptions of sex (even though I did hear on an NPR show the the average age of 1st exposure to internet porn is 9. Nine!!!! Think about how messed up that is!). But all kids, even 3 year olds, need age-appropriate discussions about bodily autonomy, and they need to have it reinforced that their bodies belong to them, and can’t be touched without their permission. So no, little Susie shouldn’t give Uncle Creep a kiss if she doesn’t want to! So many kids who are abused don’t tell because they’re afraid they’ll make someone upset, or they fear they will be blamed. Teaching respect is critical. If a boy likes you, he should be nice to you, not mean! He should get in trouble for being mean to a girl, not patted on the back and told it’s okay. It’s not up to women to stop rape culture. It will end when men (and any abuser, no matter what gender) understand it’s wrong to assault, rape, ignore someone else’s bodily autonomy! Just like POCs can’t end racism, women can’t end rape culture. Rape culture isn’t about our behavior, our dress, our words. It’s about someone else wanting to abuse power. And for people who are squeamish about talking about sex with kids, I used to say that if you don’t talk about sex, the kids will learn from the Kardashians. Would that were true. Now, if you don’t talk to kids about sex, they’ll learn about it from Internet porn instead.
You can (and should) be having age appropriate discussions with your kids pretty early on. Parents are advised to talk with their kids VERY early about good touch vs bad touch and what is appropriate with adults – for sure when kids start school, they know to tell mommy and daddy if anyone tries to touch them inappropriately.
When my kids were in 5th grade (so around 10 years old), they had a semester long group project about a topic of their choosing. My eldest chose “child soldiers” – some kids chose animal abuse and one group may have even selected child trafficking. I remember being really uncomfortable with the topics and thinking they were too adult for that age group. The school very tactfully, but firmly explained that our kids were more ready for these topics than we wanted to admit. At the end of the project, the kids presented their topics (I’ve now been to presentation night three times over the years) and the school was right – these kids really understood their topics and internalized their importance. More importantly, by studying and understanding these incredibly depressing issues, the kids started to feel like they could help be part of the solution. It was empowering for them.