WHEN AN ANTI-CHOICER CLAIMS THAT ALL WOMEN REGRET THEIR ABORTIONS
One simple thing you can do to make Stalking Awareness Month count
January is Stalking Awareness Month. A few quick facts about stalking, from the Stalking Resource Center:
- 6.6 million people are stalked in one year in the United States.
- 1 in 6 women and 1 in 19 men have experienced stalking victimization at some point during their lifetime in which they felt very fearful or believed that they or someone close to them would be harmed or killed.
- The majority of stalking victims are stalked by someone they know. 66% of female victims and 41% of male victims of stalking are stalked by a current or former intimate partner.
So, stalking is pretty serious. You know what stalking isn’t? Perusing someone’s Facebook profile. Googling them. Reading their Twitter feed regularly. But those are all instances that you might, during the month of January, hear described in passing as “stalking.”
“Stalking” has a very specific meaning: “a course of conduct directed at a specific person that would cause a reasonable person to feel fear.” We use the word a lot,. but with very little awareness of what it means. And that can diminish the seriousness with which we treat the problem of stalking, which is widespread and real.
So this Stalking Awareness Month, there’s one thing – one hard, little thing – you can do to change that: call people out when they misuse the word. A simple, “surely there’s a better word for it than that?” will do. Keep your ears pricked for the word, and you’ll be surprised at how often you hear it. Quietly and politely call people out on misusing it, and you’ll be pleased at how easy it is to make awareness – and understanding – contagious.
Documentary about military sexual assault gets Oscar nod
**Trigger warning**
If you haven’t seen The Invisible War yet, you really should. It’s about the staggering number of women who have been sexually assaulted by their comrades while serving in the United States Armed Forces. It’s about how those sexual assaults are denied and ignored and explained away and how the women who report them are punished rather than the men who perpetrate them. It’s about what that experience will do to a woman: post traumatic stress disorder, suicidal tendencies, an overwhelmingly sense of betrayal.
Yesterday, the Academy Award nominations were announced, and I’m so pleased to say that The Invisible War is in the running for Best Documentary. It’s a crucial piece of film making, so powerful that within two days of watching it, Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta decided to change the military’s policy for investigating sexual assault. And it’s really hard to watch. It’s brutal, at times. But if you can watch it, you should. It’s available on Netflix and for purchase on Youtube.
Todd Akin had a point, says man entrusted with drawing up the laws of this country
Were you hoping that the end of 2012 would bring with it the end of Republicans saying ridiculous shit about rape? Oh my god, me too! Unfortunately, today’s not our day.
Phil Gingrey, a Republican Congressman from Georgia, thinks that Todd Akin had a point. And he is willing to say so. Out loud, and on the record.
Here’s how that went down, in an interview with the Marietta Daily Journal:
And in Missouri, Todd Akin … was asked by a local news source about rape and he said, ‘Look, in a legitimate rape situation’ — and what he meant by legitimate rape was just look, someone can say I was raped: a scared-to-death 15-year-old that becomes impregnated by her boyfriend and then has to tell her parents, that’s pretty tough and might on some occasion say, ‘Hey, I was raped.’ That’s what he meant when he said legitimate rape versus non-legitimate rape. I don’t find anything so horrible about that. But then he went on and said that in a situation of rape, of a legitimate rape, a woman’s body has a way of shutting down so the pregnancy would not occur. He’s partly right on that…
I’ve delivered lots of babies, and I know about these things. It is true. We tell infertile couples all the time that are having trouble conceiving because of the woman not ovulating, ‘Just relax. Drink a glass of wine. And don’t be so tense and uptight because all that adrenaline can cause you not to ovulate.’ So he was partially right wasn’t he?
So, basically, Gingrey thinks, what Akin was saying is that there’s legitimate rape, and then there’s the rape that women invent so they can get Super Fun For Shits and Giggles Abortions. And Gingrey doesn’t find anything so horrible about that. Read More
Tagged legitimate rape, Rape, Todd Akin 1 Comment
Daily Feminist Cheat Sheet
“There’s a lot of work to be done to dismantle rape culture—but a simple first step is to stop focusing on making the world more comfortable for men, and instead make it safer for women.” Jessica talks rape culture.
A series of Brooklyn billboards is putting racial inequity on display by advising you to “stop being black” to avoid unfair treatment. Colorlines has the scoop.
It’s unfortunately way too easy to get away with shooting three people when those three people are trans.
The New York City medical examiner’s office is undertaking a review of more than 800 rape cases in which critical DNA evidence may have been mishandled or overlooked by a lab technician.
And for those who are emotionally exhausted from hearing horrible news about rape, California lawmakers have introduced a bill to close a dangerous loophole in rape cases.