• In the United States, black girls, as a group, begin menstruating significantly earlier (12.1 years on average) than do white girls (12.6 years on average).
• Early puberty poses several risks for girls. It raises the risk for breast cancer and is associated with many high-risk behaviors in later adolescence—such as smoking, drinking, drugs, crime and unprotected sex—that have potential life-long consequences. Early-maturing girls are also more likely to suffer violent victimization and psychopathologies such as depression and anxiety.
• Possible causes for the declining age of puberty in U.S. girls include reduced fetal growth, obesity, low rates of breastfeeding, psychosocial stressors, television viewing and environmental exposures to endocrine disrupting chemicals.
• Pubertal activation caused by hormonally active personal care products may be of particular importance in African-American communities in which the use of estrogenic hair products is common. Greater use of estrogen- or placenta-containing hair preparations may partially explain the predominance of early sexual development among U.S. black girls (Tiwary, 1998).
• In 2005, the Associated Press found that people of color were 79% more likely than whites to be affected by pollution that results in significant health hazards. As a result, these hazards expose the vulnerable communities to additional harm in the form of conflict and violence.
• Health is impacted by one’s position on the socio-economic ladder. Greater consumption of fast food and less access to healthy food (which also costs more) are a factor. Poor eating habits set the stage for obesity, leading to a wide range of health issues. Those at the lower end of the ladder suffer from a great deal of health-damaging behavior.
• Poor communities have easy access to fast food and alcohol, but have difficulty finding supermarkets, pharmacies, full service restaurants and recreational facilities that help to encourage better health choices. The toxic stress inherent in financial difficulty can contribute to health damaging behavior.
• On average, African-Americans experience disability earlier in life and die sooner than others in society. Social conditions and lack of opportunity, not genetics, account for increased health and environmental risks.

Environmental information for crime victims and witnesses:

At the moment of violation, one is rendered powerless.To begin to regain power, it is important to be encouraged and supported in your decision making process.Education and knowledge is empowering.We feel that providing survivors with information about environmental issues and self-care is important to recovery. Identifying those self-care products or environmental factors, such as diet, that are helpful in recovery is essential.

Dietary Impacts:

After a traumatic incident, the two primary needs of sustenance and sleep can be difficult for an individual to maintain.You are encouraged to eat healthy food, refrain from alcohol and to engage in relaxation in an attempt to regulate sleeping patterns.This can be challenging if the environment you live in does not have local resources such as grocery stores. Shopping for groceries may involve leaving your neighborhood, taking public transportation, and requires trust and day-to-day functioning that as a result of victimization may feel unsafe and unpredictable. The food that is available or affordable is often toxic due to hormones and additives. We hope to increase your awareness about safe, local resources and information provided on labels that allow for environmentally-informed choices. The impact of an inadequate diet combined with toxic personal products contributes to poor health that leads to other traumatic results, including isolation, powerlessness, and self-medication that can lead to addiction.

Self Esteem:

Self esteem is negatively impacted after an assault or act of violence.It is not uncommon that survivors will attempt to alter aspects of their identity in an attempt to regain self esteem.For example, African-American women may turn to hair products that straighten and skin products that lighten, and both contain hormones that negatively impact health.We acknowledge this reaction as a response to trauma, and we hope to educate survivors about non-toxic choices that do not have such negative long-term health impacts.

The legacy of unresolved trauma, grief and loss, experienced as a result of being exposed to any form of violence often negatively impacts a person’s health and world view, inhibiting coping skills and reducing personal options, which increases that person’s likelihood of further exposure to violence as a victim or a perpetrator:

• Unresolved trauma and grief and chronic exposure to violence decreases ones ability to recognize appropriate setting of boundaries and the ability to self-advocate.
• Rules of acceptable behavior and expectations become distorted making one more vulnerable to victimization.
• Add to this reality young girls reaching early puberty due to hormones in hair and skin products and you have an especially volatile situation for sexual assault and abuse. It is the sexual equivalent of throwing a young child, who cannot swim, into the deep end of the pool and hoping for the best.Teaching youngsters and their significant others about this fact is powerful prevention as well.