It’s been widely reported that followers of Daryush Valizadeh, the anti-feminist, homophobic and misogynistic writer behind Return of Kings—who has also advocated for the legalization of rape on private property—would be gathering in secret locations around the globe for a series of meetups. On Wednesday, however, Valizadeh, also known as Roosh V or Roosh Vorek, announced on the Return of Kings […]
Justice & Law
The Truth About “Gang Girls” and Women’s Violence
A 1992 murder still haunts John Hagedorn. The criminal justice professor has spent more than nine hours interviewing the convicted killer, Jacqueline Montanez, and nearly half his life researching other women like her: women who turned to gang life after years of abuse at home. Convicted of first-degree murder, Montanez killed rival gang member Hector […]
Domestic Violence Is a Human Rights Issue
I spent more than a decade of my life, nights and days, thinking and writing about violence against women. It all started in the late ‘70s in Lima, Peru. We, the inexperienced but resolute primeval feminists in the group Alimuper (acronym for Alliance for the Liberation of Peruvian Women), had been battling to stop, punish […]
Former Police Officer Found Guilty of Sexually Assaulting 13 Black Women
After 45 hours of deliberations, a jury found former Oklahoma City police officer Daniel Holtzclaw guilty on 18 charges, including rape and sexual battery, for assaulting 13 Black women over the course of seven months while on duty. Holtzclaw was found guilty on five counts of first- and second-degree rape, six counts of sexual battery, […]
Hollywood, the Sexual Violence Factory
“The statement that the primary function of movies is entertainment is clearly not the end of the question. All entertainment is education in some way, many times more effective than schools because of the appeal to the emotions rather than to the intellect.” — Hortense Powdermaker, Hollywood, the Dream Factory As of this writing, more […]
Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Case on Texas Anti-Abortion Law
The Supreme Court announced today that it will review a Texas anti-abortion law that threatens to close more than 75 percent of abortion clinics in the state and deny millions of women access to safe, legal abortion. “Today, my heart is filled with hope,” said Amy Hagstrom Miller, founder and president of Whole Woman’s Health, […]
The Institutionalization of Rape on Campus
Editors’ note: We wanted to address the controversy surrounding the op-ed below, and note that we have changed the title and one asterisk-marked sentence in order to more accurately represent the position of the author. We are extremely concerned about the horrors of ISIS’ terrorist campaign of rape, grotesque violence and murder and want to […]
Houston Voters Reject Anti-Discrimination Ordinance
A non-discrimination measure endorsed by President Barack Obama and Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton failed to garner support from voters in Houston yesterday, winning just 39 percent approval from the city’s electorate. Dubbed Houston’s Equal Rights Ordinance (HERO) by supporters, Prop 1 would have extended anti-discrimination protections to LGBT individuals—protections not yet enshrined in federal law—”in city employment, city services, […]
On Spring Valley High, Police Violence, Rape Culture and the School-to-Prison Pipeline
When video surfaced recently of Deputy Ben Fields assaulting a young Black female student at Spring Valley High School in South Carolina, I was still absorbing the details of a disturbing conversation I’d had with young, Black, college-age women about rape culture and campus sexual violence. Despite the traumatic experiences relating to sexual assault that they […]