A steady diet of exploitative, sexually provocative depictions of women feeds a poisonous trend in women’s and girls’ perceptions of their bodies. A strategy to counter one’s own tendency to self-objectify is to make a point of buying products, watching programs and reading publications that promote more authentic women’s empowerment
Author: Caroline Heldman
Masculinity and Mass Shootings
While mass shooters typically share some of the same individual traits, we must name toxic masculinity as a factor that is often overlooked in many public discussions about these events.
Blowing the Whistle on Campus Rape
This March, for Women’s History Month, the Ms. Blog is profiling Wonder Women who have made history—and those who are making history right now. Join us each day as we bring you the stories of iconic and soon-to-be-famous feminist change-makers. The following, which highlights the work of campus anti-rape activists around the country, is excerpted from the […]
Why Are University Presidents Leaving Campus Rape Survivors Out in the Cold?
College administrators have known about the campus rape problem for three decades, and they have been mandated to address it for two decades. So why has so little been done? One major factor among many is failed leadership at the top of the academy. Karen Barrett first documented the campus rape problem in her 1982 […]
Why Schools—Not Law Enforcement—Should Investigate Campus Rapes
There’s one question about campus rape that comes up again and again: Why isn’t the crime handled exclusively by law enforcement? In a perfect world, the legal system would effectively arbitrate this crime, but given law enforcement’s dismal record on sex crimes, schools have no choice but to adjudicate campus rapes in order to comply […]
Why Colleges Won’t (Really) Address Rape Culture
One in five women and 6 percent of men will face sexual assault/rape during their time in college. But no college in the U.S. has come up with a plan to effectively shift rape culture on their campus. It’s not an impossible task, but it is fraught with competing political and economic pressures. Below, we […]
Sounding the Alarm on Campus Rape
Bloomberg News took the campus sexual assault backlash to a new low last week with a piece describing how “hook-up culture” is on the decline at elite colleges now that there’s a heightened awareness of sexual assault on campuses. The focus of the article is the “burden” male students carry as a result of new interest in the […]
The Second Wave of Backlash Against Anti-Rape Activism
In the past two years, anti-rape activists have put campus sexual assault on the national policy agenda—but in recent months, the backlash against these efforts has intensified. A band of political conservatives are now openly challenging the existence of the campus rape epidemic and denigrating survivors, including talk show hosts Glenn Beck and Laura Ingraham, columnists George […]
A Brief History of Sexual Violence Activism in the U.S.
In the past year, survivor-activists and allies have effectively put sexual violence on the national agenda, spurring White House, congressional, and state-level policy action. Movement leaders have worked tirelessly to make this happen, namely, Wendy Murphy, Alexandra Brodsky, Wagatwe Wanjuki, Annie E. Clark, Laura Dunn, Andrea Pino, S. Daniel Carter, and Dana Bolger. These leaders have created awareness and momentum through hands-on survivor assistance, lobbying, petitions and the creation of new […]
Blowing the Whistle on Campus Rape
Campus rape has recently become a mainstream issue. And there’s hope and evidence that this situation is changing, as a reinvigorated campus anti-rape movement is burgeoning across the country.