White water (association)

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The Wildwasser Association, Association against Sexual Abuse of Girls e. V. with the official abbreviation Wildwasser e. V. is a non-profit specialist organization against sexual violence against girls and women in Germany, based in Berlin . The association, founded in 1983, is considered the first such institution in Germany and has received several awards for its work.

Following the example of the Berlin association, associations were founded in many cities across Germany under the name Wildwasser , which act independently but networked. They operate regional socio-educational support services by professionally trained specialists for girls and women affected by sexual abuse and their caregivers. According to Section 75 of Book VIII of the Social Code, there is a recognition of registered associations recognized as non-profit as providers of free youth welfare . The majority of the associations are networked with the Federal Working Group of Feminist Organizations against Sexual Violence and the Paritätischer Wohlfahrtsverband of the respective federal state. The associations understand their approach to work as partisan, which means that the employees see themselves on the side of the girls and women affected and view the experience of violence from their point of view.

In the 1990s, Whitewater Worms came under fire in connection with allegations of sexual abuse that were later found to be inaccurate.

aims

The whitewater clubs offer advice for

  • victims of sexual abuse
  • Mothers / parents of sexually abused children
  • Teachers, educators, social workers, etc. who are in contact with an affected child
  • Partner of sexually abused women
  • Girls and women with eating disorders .

The whitewater counseling centers have in-depth knowledge of working against sexualised violence and work on the basis of a feminist-partisan concept. Feminism is a political stance that opposes structural violence and discrimination against girls and women in our society. The living situation of girls and women with different cultural backgrounds in our society is taken into account. In the spirit of partisan work, the self-determination of girls and women is at the center of the political debate and the work of the specialist advice center.

history

The first whitewater association is the oldest special facility for those affected in Germany. It was founded in 1983 in West Berlin from a self-help group made up of women who were victims of abuse themselves as children. Its roots are in the women's self-help movement. The founding of the association was intended to take account of the lack of socio-educational assistance for those affected and for specialists, which was discussed in special expert groups. The Berlin association has received several awards, including the Louise Schroeder Medal in 2014 .

Today there are whitewater clubs in many larger cities nationwide. The whitewater advice centers emerged from various self-help projects that women - those affected by sexual abuse - founded "in order to work through their experiences together and to support one another". The association also served to strengthen each other, to make the crimes public and society aware of them. In many cities, project groups emerged from which the - independent - whitewater associations were later founded. Affected women usually did not find a suitable contact point for them because they were rarely believed and often blamed for the sexual violence that had happened to them.

Initially, self-help group work served to strengthen and develop each other, but over time the extent of male sexual violence against girls has made it clear how important and urgently political public relations and prevention work is. Because of this need, whitewater self-help groups and advice centers have been founded in many places in Germany since 1983, which work independently but networked.

Definition of sexual violence

As a rule, there is a power imbalance between perpetrator and victim in sexual violence. This is one of the reasons that the perpetrators mostly come from within the family or social environment of the victim (95%), as there is greater dependence on the perpetrator. Sexual violence is always a planned act and does not happen by chance. The acts of violence are accompanied by threats, targeted lies, persuasion, coercion and physical violence, but also by means of pressure such as gifts, affection and attention, which the child can initially perceive as positive and beautiful, but which gradually increase the dependence on the perpetrator. Conflicts of loyalty and feelings of powerlessness that result from the relationship context lead to children feeling guilty and responsible and fearful of punishment. Detection is thus made more difficult.

Ursula Enders , co-founder and head of Zartbitter, describes the definition of sexual violence against girls and boys as follows: “Sexual violence is always given when a girl or boy is used by an adult or older adolescent as an object of their own sexual needs. Due to their cognitive and emotional development, children and adolescents are unable to knowingly consent to sexual relationships with adults and older adolescents. The perpetrator almost always exploits a power or dependency relationship. Even if a girl or boy is actively involved, the responsibility for the sexual abuse always rests with the adult. "

target group

A fundamental goal of whitewater work is the protection of girls and boys. The counseling service is primarily aimed at girls and women who experienced sexual violence in their youth and at all those who support them.

More precisely differentiated this means:

  • Girls aged 12 and over who suffer or have suffered sexual violence
  • Women who suffered sexual violence in their childhood
  • Women and men who want to support affected girls and boys
  • Specialists in the social field who are confronted with sexual violence in their work
  • People who want to find out more about sexual violence and prevention
  • Skilled workers who would like to take advantage of training and further education or supervision

Content framework

In terms of content, the specialist advice centers offer the following:

Intervention and counseling

The aim of intervention and counseling is to strengthen the self-determined, self-reliant options for action and decision-making of girls and women. Information on the subject of sexual abuse is given and options for action are developed for supportive persons. The specialist advice center also offers help in finding suitable therapists, clinics, doctors and lawyers.
The consultations themselves can take place by telephone, email or in person. In principle, the employees of the specialist advice center are subject to confidentiality and offer, among other things, to provide advice anonymously. Support in this case is the open consultation hour, which enables those affected to come to counseling without registering.

There is also the offer of specialist advice, which is aimed at professional specialists and institutions who want advice on a case-by-case basis.

It is also important to support the process as well as to advise on the previous decision as to whether and what should be displayed. Four elements can be identified within the process support, which offer continuous support throughout the entire process: 1. "Decision phase", 2. "Preparation phase", 3. "During the court hearing" and 4. "After the hearing". If there is a complaint and, as a result, a process, the advisors are mainly concerned with advising girls and women during the process. The aim of the support in criminal proceedings, the "process accompaniment", is to reduce the risk of retraumatisation and to reduce the stress factors. You will receive help with filing reports, taking statements and with the trial itself. In addition, contacts are made with specialized lawyers and rights and obligations, such as B. the filing of an accessory suit.
Another aim of the process support is to guarantee the rights of victims and the protection of children and young people from further harmful influences. (Vlg. Wildwasser Darmstadt eV, Renée Escosura (2010): Advice, accompaniment and support in criminal proceedings - information for specialists.)

Prevention

Prevention encompasses advanced and advanced training for specialists, parenting and supervision. It is about learning to take measures to prevent or end sexual violence, because the responsibility for the well-being of children rests with adults! Ongoing supervision groups for professionals from all possible work areas who work directly or indirectly with those who may be affected serve to reflect on specialist work on site. In addition to concrete measures to prevent and hinder sexual violence, it is essentially about the attitude that is respectful and mindful towards others. Meaningful prevention includes oneself, recognizes the extent of sexualised violence and is based on knowledge, self-reflection, the ability to deal with conflict and teamwork. Its target groups are adults first, because they are responsible, then social institutions and only then girls and boys.

Some of the specialist counseling centers publish an annual program at the beginning of the year, which provides information on the annual training offers, seminars, case supervision offers, news, the speakers and the institutional framework.

Public relations and networking

Further areas of responsibility are public relations and networking. The public relations work is aimed at society as well as the local people and politics. Its aim is to provide information and educate people. This includes e.g. B. also organizing plays and looking after an information table at larger events, as well as subject-specific lectures and (panel) discussions.
Networking is helpful in public relations work, as it helps to establish contacts with other aid organizations, politicians and the police and to exchange information regularly. Regular exchanges take place here in networks such as the violence protection network and working groups and sub-working groups.
In the state of Hesse, a network of whitewater advice centers and some other help facilities was also set up in the form of a state working group.

Self help

Group work can be another form of support that helps to process experiences of violence. Self-help groups are approached by affected women or by mothers of affected children and serve to make contact with other affected persons, to experience a place of cohesion and to share feelings such as shame, stigmatization and isolation.

criticism

In 1992 Katharina Rutschky , known for offensive theming of the complex " Abuse of Abuse ", sharply criticized the work of Whitewater. She accused the association that an information rally organized by her and other scientists on the subject of pedophilia at a scientific congress had been prevented by whitewater activists using physical force against the individual speakers. In a polemical way, Wiglaf Droste questioned in his text Der Schokoladenonkel the way in which the association addressed the issue of abuse, which, in his view, created a paranoid climate in society.

Worms processes

In 1993, Wildwasser Worms got involved in the Worms Trials scandal . Due to serious medical findings and allegations from the environment of the children concerned, the Worms Youth Welfare Office ordered regular medical checks on the children and recommended contacting the Wildwasser advice center. A whitewater employee assumed z. B. using games with anatomical dolls, which are used diagnostically in suspected cases of sexual abuse as a means of communication, or through surveys of the children that were subsequently assessed as interrogative-like to have found indications of the sexual abuse of 25 adults on 16 children. In cooperation with dubious pediatricians, unprofessionally recognized psychological reports and an uncritically acting judiciary, 25 people were arrested on suspicion of sexual abuse of 16 children. The proceedings, known as the Worms Trials, which ended in 1997 with the acquittal of all defendants, met with great media coverage. Despite the acquittals, those involved were subsequently socially and financially ruined. Most of the children affected never returned to their families.

In the recent past, too, the club has been the target of criticism due to similar cases. In 2004 a man was sentenced to ten years in prison by the Halle regional court for allegedly raping his daughter. Although the girl herself had wanted to move away from this portrayal, she was influenced by a whitewater employee so that she stayed with her false statement. In 2010 the man was acquitted in the retrial.

Act

In October 2011 the Wildwasser Wiesbaden association organized a symposium in response to the widely discussed cases of abuse in institutions, attended by 120 employees from institutions in the Frankfurt region. The aim of the conference was to provide information on the topic of sexual violence and to discuss preventive measures in institutions to prevent sexual assault.

The Wildwasser Nürnberg association developed the prevention project The small 1x1 in math plus, the large 1x1 for protection against sexual abuse . The six-week project is aimed at girls and boys between the ages of 8 and 10. The aim is to enable an age-appropriate approach to the topic of "sexual violence". The State Education Authority in Nuremberg endorsed the overall concept and the associated materials and approved it for use in lessons. In 1999 the project received the Hänsel & Gretel Foundation Prize .

Wildwasser Berlin is a signatory of the Transparent Civil Society Initiative .

Awards

Berlin

  • In 2004 the girls' emergency service Wildwasser e. V. awarded the integration prize from the Berlin Commissioner for Integration and Migration.
  • In 2007, the crisis apartment project was awarded the special prize of the Berlin State Prevention Prize for intercultural work with parents.
  • 2014: Louise Schroeder Medal

Other cities

  • In January 2003 the city of Marburg awarded the Wildwasser Marburg association its city seal for “outstanding social merits”. This recognized the work of the association against sexual abuse in childhood.
  • In 2003, Wildwasser Munich received the Anita Augspurg Prize from the City of Munich .

literature

swell

  • Conception Wildwasser Darmstadt eV (2009)
  • Information brochure Wildwasser Darmstadt eV (2009)
  • çağlar su (1993): Whitewater Documentation. Pp. 18-19.
  • Braun (2011): Annual Wildwasser Darmstadt eV program
  • Escosura (2010): Advice, accompaniment and support in criminal proceedings - information for professionals. Brochure.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ List of members of the Federal Working Group of Feminist Organizations against Sexual Violence against Girls and Women
  2. ^ Website of the Wildwasser Nürnberg eV
  3. ↑ Luise Hartwig, Gregor Hensen: Sexual abuse and youth welfare: Possibilities and limits of socio-educational action in child protection (basic texts for social professions). Beltz Juventa, 2008, ISBN 978-3-7799-0735-0 , p. 76.
  4. ↑ See çağlar see below: Whitewater Documentation.
  5. ↑ Sexual Abuse- False Child Friends. In: EMMA . September / October 1993.
  6. ↑ Jan Schwarzmeier: The Autonomous Between Subculture and Social Movement. Dissertation. Book on Demand, Göttingen 1999, quoted from a radio interview in Radio Z, Nuremberg, ISBN 3-8311-1098-0 , p. 193.
  7. ↑ The case breaks the boundaries . In: Der Spiegel . No. 7 , 1994, pp. 75-78 ( online ).
  8. ↑ Educator is banned from the profession due to child abuse. on: tagesspiegel.de , August 22, 2008.
  9. ↑ That should be right? In: Die Zeit 47/2015.
  10. ↑ Elisabeth Böker: Association provides information on protection against sexual violence. ( Memento from February 20, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) In: Frankfurter Rundschau. October 25, 2011.
  11. ↑ IAG Report 2/2011: School and extracurricular prevention programs against sexual abuse (PDF; 971 kB)
  12. ↑ http://www.wildwasser-berlin.de/transparente-zivilgesellschaft.htm
  13. ↑ Girls' emergency service of the Wildwasser eV - 10 years are 3652 days of laughing, crying, working and partying. (PDF; 1.7 MB) In: Paritätischer Rundbrief April 2011. P. 28.
  14. ^ Louise Schroeder Medal ( Memento from March 12, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) on berlin.de, accessed on May 13, 2015.
  15. ↑ Bag Forsa: Updates from January 23, 2003.

Web links