Although technology was, on one hand, a tool maliciously used for prolonging the harm done by the now-infamous Steubenville, Ohio, rape (via texts, tweets and shared photos), it was, on the other hand, also where public outcry fueled the case that ultimately saw the two teenage perpetrators convicted in March. And, once again, frustrated justice-seekers [...]
You never know what to expect entering a school bathroom, but one of the last things I expected was to be told that my school had a rapist. Maybe I shouldn’t have been so surprised. Someone in the U.S. is sexually assaulted every two minutes, and an estimated 350 women per college campus of 10,000 [...]
“The one thing a violent rapist deserves to face is a good woman with a gun.” When the NRA’s Wayne La Pierre made this statement at the recent CPAC conference, the women in the room stood up and cheered. You might think that, as a rape survivor, I would share their enthusiasm. But instead, I was [...]
If you’ve spent any time on social media today, you’ll have heard about the dreadful coverage of the Steubenville rape verdict by some news outlets and TV networks. The prime target of ire has been CNN, which focused attention right away on the two perpetrators who were found guilty of raping a 16-year-old young woman [...]
University of North Carolina (UNC) sophomore Landen Gambill may be kicked out of school for speaking to the press about her rape. Gambill was one of five women (including the former assistant dean of students) who filed a complaint against the university in January calling for an investigation into what they described as a hostile [...]
One in three women will be raped or beaten in her lifetime. Half of the seven billion global population are women—which means that one billion women alive now will be, or have been, raped or beaten. These are the statistics behind the creation of One Billion Rising. February 14 is the 15th anniversary of V-Day, [...]
In an overwhelming 78 to 22 bipartisan vote, the Senate passed the Violence Against Women Act, a piece of legislation that has protected millions from domestic abuse and reduced the country’s rate of domestic violence. It was basically ensured the bill would pass since it had 62 cosponsors plus additional support from a few Republicans. [...]
(Trigger warning for descriptions of abuse.) The amazing folks at the National Domestic Violence Awareness Month Tumblr are featuring a blog a day for Teen Dating Violence Awareness Month (February). I was inspired by the post from February 1, authored by “Anonymous, 31″ to offer my own response. Here are both: Dear 17-year-old me, Yes, [...]
The brutal gang rape of a 16-year-old girl by members of the Steubenville, Ohio football team has rightly shocked the nation – a nation, by the way, which is routinely shocked by gang rapes committed by athletes in the same way that Claude Rains was “shocked” to find that gambling was going on at Rick’s [...]
My son was born in November and, like most parents, questions about his future ran through my mind: Who would he love? What would he do? How long would his head be the shape of a traffic cone? There was one question that never traveled through my mind in those first few weeks: How do [...]
