This Saturday, a group of protesters in Detroit will rally in Grand Circus Park and march to the Doubletree Hotel, demanding that the hotel cancel the upcoming Conference for Men’s Issues. The conference, hosted by well-known men’s right’s organization A Voice For Men (AVfM) is set to take place at the hotel from June 26th-28th, […]
Author: Angi Becker Stevens
Angi Becker Stevens is a fiction writer whose work has appeared in many print and online literary magazines, in addition to being anthologized in Best of the Web 2010 and nominated for a Pushcart Prize. Her non-fiction has appeared online RH Reality Check, AlterNet, Common Dreams, and Socialist Worker. As a member of The Organization for a Free Society, she participates in a variety of activist work for social justice.
Dear Onion Writers: Sexual Abuse Isn’t Funny
TRIGGER WARNING: SEXUAL ABUSE DISCUSSION I’m a long-time fan of The Onion. I generally find it both intelligent and hilarious, their social and political commentary being more spot-on than that of many serious news sources. That said, I find it especially disappointing when The Onion takes an all-too-common turn into misogyny. In February, they sparked […]
Should Feminists Be Critical of Compulsory Monogamy?
In 1980, Adrienne Rich broke new ground in her essay “On Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence,” in which she argued that feminism need not merely include lesbian voices but actively critique compulsory heterosexuality as a patriarchal institution. More than 30 years later, feminist support for gay and lesbian rights has become commonplace, and is frequently […]
Beyond Consent: Opening Up a Dialogue About the Reality of Women’s Sexual Experiences
When reading and writing about what was arguably a rape scene in this season of Girls, I’ve been struck by how many of the comments from readers fixate on the debate over what does and what does not qualify as consent. This is a debate worth having, and I stand by my use of the word “rape” […]
Did “Girls” Romanticize a Rapist?
Like many of us who have been following the show, I’ve had lukewarm feelings about Girls’ contribution to feminism. Though many commentators have raised valid criticisms about the show’s handling of race and class, it’s been refreshing to see a female lead with an “imperfect” body, and I’ve praised the show for focusing on young […]
17-Year-Old Imprisoned for Failing To Testify Against Her Alleged Rapist
Update 4/17/12: After more than three weeks in juvenile detention, the victim has been released with a GPS ankle bracelet. She is scheduled to appear in court on April 23. In Sacramento, a county judge has taken “victim-blaming” to a whole new level, ordering that a rape victim be jailed while awaiting the trial of […]
In Absence of Firm Policy, Facebook “Rape-Joke” Pages Spring Back Up
Several new rape-humor pages have already popped up on Facebook in the days since the original pages were removed. Several more were never taken down in the first place, reports the Huffington Post. The newly created pages include such “jokes” as “you know she is playing hard to get when she resists the chloroform” and […]
Without Comment or Apology, Facebook Quietly Removes Rape-Joke Pages
After more than three months of complaints from users, a grand total of over 200,000 petition signatures (186,000 of them on a single Change.org petition), a Twitter campaign, the withdrawal of several major advertisers and an outpouring of harsh criticism from a multitude of feminist activists and writers, Facebook has finally removed rape-humor pages from the […]
#NotFunnyFacebook: Day of Action Against Facebook’s Rape-Joke Pages
About six weeks ago now, I blogged here about the proliferation of rape-joke pages on Facebook and the company’s refusal to remove them. Though Facebook has policies against hate-speech and threats of violence, a statement issued by Facebook to the BBC compared the rape humor to lewd pub jokes, stating: “Just as telling a rude […]
We Are the 99%, Too: Creating a Feminist Space Within Occupy Wall Street
As most people know by now, something big is happening on the streets of New York City. It began on September 17, where a growing number of protestors began occupying Wall Street, many of them camping out in Liberty Plaza. Though first largely ignored by the media, Occupy Wall Street has gained steadily increasing attention—especially […]