“..rape is not aggressive sexuality, it is sexualized aggression.”
Audre Lorde; Age, Race, Class and Sex: Women Redefining Difference (via geometricpoop)
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But women can never be careful enough, can we? If we take naked pictures of ourselves, we’re asking for it. If someone can manage to hack into our accounts, we’re asking for it. If we’re not wearing anti-rape nail polish, we’re asking for it. If we don’t take self-defence classes, we’re asking for it. If we get drunk, we’re asking for it. If our skirts are too short, we’re asking for it. If we pass out at a party, we’re asking for it. If we are not hyper-vigilant every single fucking second of every single fucking day, we are asking for it. Even when we are hyper-vigilant, we’re still asking for it. The fact that we exist is asking for it.
This is what rape culture looks like.
This is what misogyny looks like.
”from What Happened to Jennifer Lawrence Was Sexual Assault (via catagator)
“While most students at Columbia University will spend the first day of classes carrying backpacks and books, Emma Sulkowicz will start her semester on Tuesday with a far heavier burden. The senior plans on carrying an extra-long, twin-size mattress across the quad and through each New York City building – to every class, every day – until the man she says raped her moves off campus.
‘I was raped in my own bed,’ Sulkowicz told me the other day, as she was gearing up to head back to school in this, the year American colleges are finally, supposedly, ready to do something about sexual assault. ‘I could have taken my pillow, but I want people to see how it weighs down a person to be ignored by the school administration and harassed by police.’”
Jessica Valenti: Beyond ‘no means no’: the future of campus rape prevention is ‘yes means yes’ (via guardian)
“I want to ask parents when your daughter turns 10 or 12 years old, you ask, ‘Where are you going? When will you return?’ Do the parents dare to ask their sons, ‘Where are you going? Why are you going? Who are your friends?’ After all, the rapist is also someone’s son. If only parents decide to put as many restrictions on their sons as they do on their own daughters.”
India’s Modi takes on rape issue in his first Independence Day speech. (via washingtonpost)
This video shows Frankie, Caleb, Cody, Christine, and Derrick joking around about RAPING and hurting Victoria. This is not only a violation of their Big Brother contracts but also a violation of federal law, as it is a crime to even talk about inflicting violence or harm on another person. I don’t care who you want to win Big Brother, I don’t care who you’re a fan of. Talking about women this way is WRONG and something has to be done about it. You can play Big Brother as kindly, cruelly, dirty, or clean as you’d like, but you cannot play Big Brother threatening to take someone’s virginity against their will after getting them drunk, get “blood everywhere”, and then laugh about it. At least not without getting put on blast on the internet.
Please spread this around on Tumblr, Twitter, any other social media you have, and pass it on to any blogs you follow that are relevant. We can’t let comments like this go unnoticed.
Here’s some fantastic news for your Friday: On Thursday, the California Senate unanimously approved a new bill that defines sexual consent as a firm “yes” rather than a lack of “no.”
This is a big win for anti-rape activists, many of whom have been touting the necessity of an “affirmative consent” standard for years. California Gov. Jerry Brown (D) has the next month to sign the bill into law. If he does, schools across the state would be required to define consent before engaging in sexual activity as an “affirmative, conscious, and voluntary agreement” or risk losing state financial aid funding.
He called on parents to take responsibility for their sons’ actions, saying parents must teach their sons the difference between right and wrong.
“When we hear about these rapes our heads hang in shame,” Mr Modi said.
“Young girls are always asked so many questions by their parents, like ‘where are you going?’. But do parents dare to ask their sons where they are going?” he asked.
“Those who commit rape are also someone’s sons. It’s the responsibility of the parents to stop them before they take the wrong path,” he added.
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Okay, say what you want about him, but this is a big deal. This is Prime Minister Modi’s first Independence Day address since being elected. And instead of using this time to talk about Pakistan, like every other Independence Day speech in the past, he stood up there and talked about INDIA’s need for improvement. And amongst his topics, he talked about rape.
And he didn’t describe it as “accidental” or “boys making mistakes”, and he didn’t state that women need to “dress more dignified”, all of which have been said by other Indian politicians. For once, we’re hearing someone put the blame on the rapist, and actually calling out parents to raise their sons properly. Like everyone else, I’m still hoping Modi isn’t another PM who is all talk.
A feminist group based in Guangzhou, China staged an online protest against the sexual exploitation of women in the workplace, revealing a photograph with a message boldly written in red on a whiteboard behind them: “My vagina does not come free with my labor.” More words were written on the women’s thighs, reiterating: “Not freebies.”
The campaign was in response to a recent fatal rape case involving a 20-year-old woman at a state-owned company who was asked by her boss to a dinner. She was sexually assaulted by her boss’s friend and died as a result of her injuries.“Don’t ask your staff to provide part-time escort services. Women should only be asked to provide knowledge or technical skills in the workplace, but not other things,” says Ye Haiyan, an advocate of women’s and children’s rights.
Read more via The New York Times.