In defense of the sanctimonious women's studies set || First feminist blog on the internet

Tag: Sexual Assault

Today in rape culture: Pre-college edition

Because we needed another reminder that a promising young athlete’s bright potential mustn’t be dimmed by the consequences of a rape conviction: 18-year-old rising collegian David Becker was charged with two counts of rape and one count of indecent assault and battery after sexually assaulting two unconscious classmates at a house party in 2015. The district attorney recommended two years in prison, but Palmer District Court Judge Estes ordered a continuation without finding for two years. During his two years of probation, Becker has to avoid drugs and alcohol, submit to evaluation for sex-offender treatment, and stay away from his two victims. He won’t have to register as a sex offender and won’t have a conviction on his record as long as he sticks to the terms of his probation, which is good for this community service-serving, college-bound, three-sport athlete, because, his lawyer said, “We all made mistakes when we were 17, 18, 19[.].”

Jian Ghomeshi, the CBC and Rape Culture

Guest Blogger: Andie from Inspiration Strikes. In The Kneecaps.

[Content Note: sexual abuse, harassment]

I’ve been wanting to get this guest post done and finished, but every time I turn around this story just keeps unravelling.

This week both my Twitter and Facebook feeds blew up with the news that the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation had quite suddenly cut ties with long-time radio host Jian Ghomeshi, citing information that had come to their attention which precluded their continued relationship.

Women, Vulnerability, Rational Precautions And The Men Who Refuse To Believe

[Content note: gendered violence, sexual assault, sexual harassment]

That it was not enough for Davies’ college roommate to know that their classmate had been murdered by an intruder to understand Davies’ fears [of walking home alone from work late at night] honestly terrifies me. That a woman had to get attacked right in front of him in order for that to sink in is horrifying. And as Davies points out, he was not some anomaly. This is common.

Should NYC Compensate the Wrongly Convicted Central Park Five?

The Central Park Five are the five men who were wrongfully convicted for the 1989 rape of a jogger in Central Park. A few weeks ago I wrote about the Central Park Five for the Guardian. It’s a heartbreaking case — the jogger barely survived the attack, and suffered enormous physical trauma. The city was enraged and hungry for a conviction. Donald Trump put out a “bring back the death penalty” ad in response to the crime. Five black and Latino boys were interrogated for hours and deprived of sleep until they confessed; once actually arrested and charged with the crime, they recanted. Racial tensions boiled, with racist caricatures of of-color youth going “wilding,” prowling the streets in a “wolf pack” for innocent white victims proliferating in the white-dominated media. While the woman was generally treated as an innocent victim, even she didn’t totally escape victim-blaming — writing about this case even 20 years later inevitably leads to many people asking, “Why was she jogging in Central Park late at night? What did she think was going to happen?”