From the category archives:

International

U.S. Continues to Discriminate Against Sex Workers, Deny HIV Prevention Funding

by Cara July 27, 2010

Last Friday, Titania Kumeh wrote an excellent blog post at Mother Jones about the International AIDS Conference in Vienna, and the over 100 sex workers and advocates who protested outside. The protest was about how U.S. funding to fight HIV transmission explicitly and deliberately excludes sex workers, even though they are one of the groups [...]

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New Report Details Police Abuses Against Cambodian Sex Workers

by Cara July 20, 2010

Trigger Warning for discussions of sexual violence and police violence, specifically including violence against sex workers and transphobic violence. Earlier this year, I wrote about an Amnesty International report about sexual violence against women in Cambodia, and the judicial response (or more accurately, lack of judicial response) to sexual violence. A section of that report [...]

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South African Sea Cadet Found Dead Hours After Rape Allegations Were Filed

by Cara July 19, 2010

Trigger Warning for descriptions of sexual violence, poor responses to rape allegations, and discussion of a possible murder, possible suicide. Last month, Akhona Geveza (above), a young South African woman who was participating as a cadet in the Transnet National Ports Authority’s Maritime Studies Programme, was found dead, floating overboard. Only a few hours before [...]

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Brazilian Football Star Charged in Gruesome Murder of Eliza Samudio

by Cara July 13, 2010

STRONG TRIGGER WARNING for very graphic, very disturbing descriptions of intimate partner murder. PLEASE PROCEED WITH CAUTION. Making the rounds is a horrifying story about the murder of Eliza Samudio, a Brazilian woman who has been missing for a month. Charged in the case is football goalkeeper Bruno Fernandes Das Dores de Souza. Her association [...]

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For Some Kenyan Women, Toilet Use Means Sexual Violence

by Cara July 12, 2010

Trigger Warning for discussion/descriptions of sexual violence. Last week, Amnesty International released a report about how women in some areas of Nairobi, Kenya are afraid to leave their homes at night to use the bathroom, due to the persistent threat of sexual violence. The report, Insecurity and indignity: Women’s experiences in the slums of Nairobi, [...]

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Scotland Anti-Rape Ad Tackles “She Was Asking For It” Myth

by Cara June 29, 2010

Trigger Warning for rape apologism. A few months back, I wrote an article for the Guardian’s Comment is Free about a U.K. study, which showed a significant number of respondents thought that some rape victims were at least partially to blame for their attacks. The various reasons that respondents blamed women were the unsurprising — [...]

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On Dismissing Sexual Violence Against Some Women As “Cultural”

by Cara June 25, 2010

Strong Trigger Warning for discussions and descriptions of sexual violence, rape apologism, war, murder, and racism. This morning, an incredible op-ed by Lisa Shannon was published in the New York Times, entitled “No, Sexual Violence is Not ‘Cultural.’” Of course, those of us here know that rape culture is very, very real. But the context [...]

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UK Health Group Wants to Test All Pregnant Women for Smoking

by Cara June 24, 2010

Just last week, I was defending the National Institute of Clinical Excellence (NICE) in the UK for its recommendations regarding age-appropriate sex education. This week, I find myself needing to ask what in the hell they’re thinking. NICE has recommended that all pregnant women should be given carbon monoxide tests in order to determine whether [...]

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Former Detective Tells of Intimidation to Drop Rape Charges Against Football Players

by Cara June 21, 2010

Trigger Warning for descriptions of sexual violence and rape apologism. Late last week, I wrote about how the tendency for police forces to engage in rape apologism or even sexual violence is not just an issue of individual officers engaging in bad behavior, but of a system that encourages police rape apologism and sexual violence [...]

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On Police Violence and “Rotten Apples”

by Cara June 18, 2010

In the U.K., a traffic police officer was just sentenced to time in jail for repeatedly contacting women he had pulled over for traffic offenses and harassing and coercing them into sexual activities in exchange for not pursuing their infringements. In total, the trial encompassed the victimization of eight different women: Jamie Slater, 33, of [...]

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