rape and sexual assault

A Crime of Opportunity

by Cara August 20, 2009

Trigger Warning Three years ago in B.C., Canada, a woman woke up in the bed of the man in the image to the left. She was bleeding and bruised, and though she remembered going out for a night on town, she didn’t remember how she got in this bed, or what had happened to her. [...]

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Despite Improvements, Rape Kit Billing Problems Persist

by Cara August 10, 2009

The issue of rape victims being charged for their own rape kits — which are a form of crime scene evidence — received a fair amount of attention during the 2008 presidential race, due to the revelation that while Sarah Palin was mayor of Wasilla, rape victims were billed the $1,200 fee that should have [...]

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Cis Supremacy, Feminism and Women’s Shelters

by Cara May 2, 2009

I’m a few weeks behind on this, but I really just couldn’t let it pass without comment. It deserves comment, and it needs comment. Recently, Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter, a group that provides rape crisis relief, counseling and shelter to battered women and their children, won a court case declaring the right for [...]

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Defense Attorney Argues That No Doesn’t Always Mean No

by Cara April 22, 2009

Via the Hand Mirror (h/t Lauredhel), I came across a story this morning about a line of questioning used by a New Zealand defense attorney in cross-examining a woman who alleged that a taxi driver attempted to rape her: After a long cross-examination, the taxi driver’s lawyer, Letizea Ord, put it to the complainant [that [...]

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British Prosecutors to Challenge Rape Myths in Court

by Cara April 21, 2009

I am seriously a month behind on this story out of Britain, but the news is interesting enough that I still think it’s worth our time to take a look at. It has apparently been made an official part of policy in rape cases for prosecutors to “robustly challenge” rape myths in court: Prosecutors have [...]

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In Which I Refuse to Put the “Sex Ed War” to Rest

by Cara April 10, 2009

A few weeks back, my friend KaeLyn sent me this article from Time called “How to Bring An End to the War Over Sex Ed,” and because I’m always behind on my emails, I just finally got around to reading it. Now, you all know that Time Magazine is not my friend.  But, this article [...]

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Missing the Point on Teen “Sexting” Cases

by Cara April 9, 2009

You’ve probably seen a lot of media coverage lately around the phenomenon of teenagers sending nude or otherwise sexual pictures of themselves to each other, and the fact that a lot of parents, and more notably law enforcement officials, are really freaking out about it. It wasn’t so long ago that I wrote about an [...]

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Thoughts on Castration for Sex Offenders

by Cara March 12, 2009

The NY Times has a story on debates raging in Europe over whether is ethical and/or smart to castrate sex offenders as a form of punishment or rehabilitation. Whether castration can help rehabilitate violent sex offenders has come under new scrutiny after the Council of Europe’s anti-torture committee last month called surgical castration “invasive, irreversible [...]

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Kansas Law Allows Anonymous Rape Kits for Those Who Don’t Immediately Report

by Cara March 11, 2009

A recent change in Kansas law allows rape victims to undergo anonymous rape kit testing that will be held by the hospital and can be used to file a police report up to five years after the rape is committed: The victim arrives at a hospital for treatment. She is traumatized. She is stressed. The [...]

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“If Only?” I Think Not.

by Cara February 9, 2009

Trigger Warning Like Lauredhel, I think that the Adults Surviving Child Abuse (ASCA) almost certainly meant well by this PSA.  I don’t know how else they could have meant.  But somehow, that doesn’t really matter to me while I’m watching it, at all. (For those unable to view video, Lauredhel has a transcript.) The commenters [...]

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