From the category archives:

media

Age Old Victim-Blaming Myths Win Court Case for Girls Gone Wild

by Cara July 24, 2010

Trigger Warning for descriptions of sexual assault and explicit victim-blaming and sexual assault apologism. Earlier this week, a jury ruled against a woman who sued the Girls Gone Wild franchise on the grounds that they damaged her reputation when they included footage of her being forcibly disrobed in one of their DVDs (h/t). The woman, [...]

39 comments Read the full article →

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 [...]

3 comments Read the full article →

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 — [...]

36 comments Read the full article →

Anti-Domestic Violence Campaign Centers World Cup and Misses Its Mark

by Cara June 7, 2010

Trigger Warning for violent imagery, discussions of intimate partner violence, and victim-blaming. A new campaign against domestic violence has just been launched in West Yorkshire, England. According to police, domestic violence increased by 30% during the last World Cup in 2006. They’re looking to prevent that from happening again this year. Let me say, first [...]

5 comments Read the full article →

How Not to Critique Anti-Rape Campaigns

by Cara June 3, 2010

I’ve been known to critique quite a few government media campaigns against sexual and domestic violence. Usually, such critiques are incited by a focus on potential victims rather than perpetrators, which tells women it is their responsibility to keep themselves from being raped. And sometimes, anti-violence campaigns that are directed at men really just seem [...]

7 comments Read the full article →

Boys Aged 10 and 11 Convicted of Attempted Rape as Apologists Deny Assault Was Possible

by Cara May 25, 2010

Trigger Warning for rape apologism. Linked articles contain descriptions of sexual assault. Out of the U.K. comes an extremely disturbing case in which two young boys, aged 10 and 11, have been convicted of attempting to rape an 8-year-old girl. I’ll let that sink in for a moment. The case raises numerous ethical conundrums and [...]

26 comments Read the full article →

England and Wales Move to Grant Anonymity to Rape Defendants

by Cara May 21, 2010

In England and Wales, there’s a plan underway to grant anonymity to those who are accused of rape but have not been convicted. Yes, under this plan, the name of the alleged victim would not be the only one withheld from public knowledge for reasons of safety and privacy. And understandably, local anti-rape activists have [...]

8 comments Read the full article →

How to Write About Domestic Violence Without Actually Discussing Violence

by Cara April 13, 2010

The mayor of White Plains, NY has been arrested on charges of domestic violence. Adam T. Bradley, who has not yet resigned, is accused of slamming a door on his wife’s hand, screaming at her that she should kill herself, and then threatening and harassing her to drop the charges against him. This is obviously [...]

2 comments Read the full article →

Being a Male Victim of Domestic Violence: Like Having No Genitals?

by Cara March 30, 2010

In the UK, the National Centre for Domestic Violence has launched a new campaign focusing on men who are the victims of domestic violence. Sounds great, right? The fact that, while women are mostly the victims of intimate partner violence, they are not the only victims of intimate partner violence, is still an issue not [...]

18 comments Read the full article →

Convicted Rapist Hopes His Victims Will Learn to Lock Their Doors

by Cara March 29, 2010

Trigger Warning for rape apologism and victim-blaming. Convicted rapist Daniel Katsnelson (pictured above), who has changed his name to Daniel Kaye since his rapes, recently made some rather disgusting comments about his victims in a pre-sentencing statement. He said that they should learn to lock their doors. Katsnelson indicated he hoped his victims could take [...]

5 comments Read the full article →