media

Don Cornelius: 1936 – 2012

by Cara February 1, 2012

With my infrequent writing here, I’ve neglected the opportunity to previously mention over the last 18 months my obsession with and love of 1960s and 70s soul music (particularly though not exclusively Motown). And there is no such thing as 1970s soul (or 1970s style!) without the phenomenon that was Soul Train. This morning I [...]

0 comments Read the full article →

Book Review: The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander

by Cara December 6, 2011

Few find it surprising that Jim Crow arose following the collapse of slavery. The development is described in history books as regrettable but predictable given the virulent racism that gripped the South and the political dynamics of the time. What is remarkable is that hardly anyone seems to imagine that similar political dynamics may have [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Rape or “Bondage Session Gone Haywire”? Rape Apologists Speculate.

by Cara July 20, 2011

Trigger Warning on post and links for graphic descriptions of sexual violence against sex workers, including sexual torture; rape apologism This past April, a woman who was doing sex work was picked up by one John Hauff and driven to his home to engage in a pre-negotiated sexual encounter. Hauff requested some bondage elements in [...]

13 comments Read the full article →

What A Bastard The World Is: The Feminist Politics of Yoko Ono’s Personal Song

by Cara July 6, 2011

When I began listening to Yoko Ono’s music and learned that it wasn’t at all what I’d been led to believe, one of the first songs I was strongly drawn to was a track from the second side of her landmark 1973 double album Approximately Infinite Universe, titled What A Bastard The World Is. Her [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

New Congo Rape Statistics Inspire Competitive Headlines, Not Much Else

by Cara May 12, 2011

A new study about the ongoing rape epidemic in the Congo has some rather terrifying statistics to offer. According to USA Today, 420,000 women are raped in the DRC every year. Or, if you ask the Boston Globe, 1,152 women are raped every day. The Guardian reports that 48 women are raped every hour. And [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

Book Review: The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot

by Cara January 5, 2011

Trigger Warning for sometimes graphic descriptions of human experimentation and medical research on non-consenting individuals There’s a photo on my wall of a woman I’ve never met, its left corner torn and patched together with tape. She looks straight into the camera and smiles, hands on hips, dress suit neatly pressed, lips painted deep red. [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

Study: Too Many Fat Women Don’t Even Know They’re Fat

by Cara November 23, 2010

So there’s a fascinating new study out about how women perceive their weight, with the results being that a significant proportion of women who were deemed “overweight” by the BMI did not view themselves as such. Cue the body-shaming, junk reporting, and photographs of fat1 people with their heads cut off. In the most neutral [...]

10 comments Read the full article →

Study on Rape of Youth Age 12 and Younger Responded to With Victim-Blaming Rhetoric

by Cara November 16, 2010

Trigger Warning for discussions of sexual violence against children and adolescents, as well as victim-blaming and rape apologism. A new study out of B.C., Canada (pdf) on whether age of sexual consent laws are actually doing anything to prevent the sexual abuse of young people by adults has acted as an opportunity to engage in [...]

6 comments Read the full article →

Rape Charges Dropped After 14-Year-Old Accuser Commits Suicide

by Cara November 11, 2010

Trigger Warning for discussions of suicide, sexual violence, rape apologism, victim-blaming, and bullying. Near Detroit, rape charges have been dropped against 18-year-old Joseph Tarnopolski, following the suicide of his 14-year-old alleged victim Samantha Kelly. A 34th District Court judge dismissed a rape case against an 18-year-old man who was charged with having sex with a [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Media Employ Tabloid Tactics to Report on Rape Allegations Against Candidate

by Cara October 30, 2010

Trigger Warning for descriptions of sexual violence, rape apologism, and homophobia David King, the Republican candidate for Wisconsin Secretary of State, has been accused of raping an unconscious woman and impregnating her, days before Tuesday’s election. It’s no big surprise that the media has run with such a story in a salacious and gossipy manner, [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

← Previous Entries