Sexual Violence

Sexual violence is any kind of sexual act without consent for one or more persons involved, including sexual assault, rape, sexual abuse and trafficking. Anyone can be a victim of sexual violence.

Keeping Score: Voters Disapprove of Kristi Noem and ICE; Winter Olympics Nears Gender Parity; Challenges to State Abortion Bans Continue

PUBLISHED 2/25/2026 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—“Kristi Noem sees immigrants like me as subhuman,” says Santiago Mayer, executive director of Voters of Tomorrow.
—A majority of U.S. voters think DHS Secretary Kristi Noem should be removed, and disagree with how ICE is operating.
—Women are 47 percent of athletes at the Winter Olympics in Milan.
—California Gov. Gavin Newsom fired back at threats from Louisiana over abortion protections.
—President Trump appointed no women of color to federal judgeships in his first year in office.
—A new Kansas law introduces a “bounty hunter” aspect to transphobic bathroom bills.
—Some ICE detention facilities and prisons refuse to provide appropriate menstrual products.
—A Kentucky couple was arrested over a year after seeking care for a miscarriage.
—A wave of “common sense” candidates, more than half women, recently won competitive school board races in swing states. Sixty-two percent of “extremist” candidates lost their elections, showing that culture war tactics like book bans may no longer resonate with local voters.

… and more.

The Missing Voices in the Epstein Files’ Media Commentary: Sexual Assault Prevention Educators

PUBLISHED 2/19/2026 by

The Epstein files scandal has all the elements of a gigantic media spectacle. It encompasses everything from true crime to political intrigue, and offers a peak behind closed doors into the lifestyles of the rich and famous. It has more than a little sex and violence. 

It’s a conspiracy theory come to life.

Media commentary has explored seemingly every angle. Or has it? On closer examination, something has been missing.

The Pathetic Price of Entry to Epstein’s World

PUBLISHED 2/12/2026 by

The latest batch of Epstein files—over 3 million documents, only around half of what the Department of Justice reports to have amassed—has unleashed a new cast of characters, a list that includes tech titans, health influencers, litigation rainmakers, university leaders, sports executives, Hollywood moguls and international royalty. None of the those named in the latest tranche of Epstein files strike me as people I ever assumed possessed particularly stellar moral character, and their collective fall from grace doesn’t shock me.

But what does turn my stomach is how pathetically small the price of entry into Epstein’s world appears to have been.

The expressions of regret now surfacing—I am ashamed, this is not who I am!—read less like moral reckonings and more like the lament of those who simply got caught.

The emails reveal a tawdry economy of access: absurd favors, crude jokes, dating advice, shared handwringing about #MeToo, and giddy acceptance of gifts—Apple Watches, Prada bags, monogrammed sweatshirts—that these already powerful figures could easily have bought themselves.

Whether any individual named in the files participated in or witnessed Epstein’s crimes is only part of the story. Just as telling is the desperate desire to remain in his orbit—often long after his 2008 guilty plea for soliciting prostitution from girls.

That eagerness to maintain proximity, for so little in return, speaks volumes about how power protects itself—and what too many were willing to overlook to stay connected to it.

In Serbia, Women Journalists Say Death Threats Have Become Routine

PUBLISHED 2/12/2026 by

In 2019, Jovana Gligorijević wrote a damning profile of a Serbian influencer who had connections to political power players and alleged criminal networks. 

Gligorijević works at Vreme, an independent news magazine founded in 1990 by intellectuals and activists fighting state censorship. Aside from her political reportage, she’s covered stories on sexual violence and, specifically, how Serbia’s judiciary treats rape victims. She notes wryly that in her experience, “when you report on politics and human rights, sooner or later you come across the far right as the root cause of the problem.” 

Other independent women journalists like Gligorijević that are critical of the Serbian government face sexual insults, threats of lawsuits, surveillance, smear campaigns and online rage.

Sundance 2026: Documentary ‘Silenced’ Exposes How Defamation Suits Muzzle Survivors and Journalists

PUBLISHED 2/6/2026 by

Featuring the cases of Amber Heard, Gisèle Pelicot, Brittany Higgins, Colombian journalists at Volcánicas and others, Silenced traces a global pattern of defamation suits used to punish survivors and the reporters who amplify their stories.

It’s a fitting but frustrating coda that Silenced itself faced legal threats right after its festival premiere.

(This is one in a series of film reviews from the 2026 Sundance Film Festival, focused on films by women, trans or nonbinary directors that tell compelling stories about the lives of women and girls.)

‘We Will Not Be Sidelined Again’: Survivors Respond After DOJ Releases Epstein Files With Unredacted Names and Personal Details

PUBLISHED 2/5/2026 by and

The Department of Justice has released more than 3 million pages of records related to Jeffrey Epstein. For decades, survivors have begged for answers and accountability. But they say the latest tranche of documents—many containing unredacted names, contact information and identifying details—have left them retraumatized, exposed and furious.

Some describe the release as careless. Others call it deliberate. Many say it confirms what they have long believed: that survivors are still not being centered, protected or heard.

Read survivors’ reactions, in their own words.

“My sister Maria Farmer filed a lawsuit against the government for negligence in this case, and really as I see it this is just further examples of that—of the ways that we have not been protected and that DOJ has not done their job.”

“I can’t help but wonder why the DOJ has once again failed us. Again. It feels like they’re ignoring our need for protection, especially when they’ve taken the time to redact the names of powerful individuals … but not ours. This double standard makes it even harder for us to trust them.”

Resistance, From the Red Carpet to the Courts: Grammy Winners Denounce ICE, Immigrant Families Challenge Trump’s Visa Ban

PUBLISHED 2/5/2026 by

In every issue of Ms., we track research on our progress in the fight for equality, catalogue can’t-miss quotes from feminist voices and keep tabs on the feminist movement’s many milestones. We’re Keeping Score online, too—in this biweekly roundup.

This week:
—For the first time, more Americans support than oppose abolishing ICE.
—Senate Democrats refused to pass a DHS bill that would fund ICE for this fiscal year. Instead they passed a two-week continuing resolution to give them time to negotiate reforms designed to prevent further brutality from ICE and CBP agents. 
—Artists use Grammy acceptance speeches to denounce Trump and ICE: “Our voices matter,” urged Billie Eilish. “We are humans and we are Americans,” said Bad Bunny.
—Organizations raise alarms about Grok AI spreading nonconsensual intimate images on Twitter.
—Virtual reality may be a tool to change opinions about catcalling.
—Access to IVF has led to more unmarried women in their 40s choosing to have babies.

… and more.

Raped, Recorded, Shared—Then Abandoned by the System: ‘Once It’s on the Internet, It’s Out There’

PUBLISHED 2/3/2026 by and

Survivors of online sexual exploitation and abuse are not just confronting individual perpetrators—they are up against systems that were never designed to protect them.

A new report by Equality Now and the Sexual Violence Prevention Association documents how survivors who report tech-facilitated sexual abuse routinely encounter jurisdictional dead ends, outdated laws and opaque platform policies that leave harmful material circulating indefinitely. For many, the abuse does not end with the assault itself, but continues through repeated viewing, sharing and threats—often with devastating financial, professional and psychological consequences.

The report also makes clear that this harm is not inevitable. Survivors point to concrete policy solutions that could meaningfully change outcomes: consent-based laws governing the online distribution of sexual material, clear and enforceable takedown obligations for tech companies, survivor-centered reporting systems and access to free legal and mental health support.

Accountability is possible, but only if lawmakers and platforms choose to act.

War on Women Report: Meta Removes Abortion-Related Accounts; Louisiana Tries to Extradite California Abortion Provider; Fatal ICE Shootings

PUBLISHED 1/30/2026 by

MAGA Republicans are back in the White House, and Project 2025 is their guide—the right-wing plan to turn back the clock on women’s rights, remove abortion access, and force women into roles as wives and mothers in the “ideal, natural family structure.” We know an empowered female electorate is essential to democracy. That’s why day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.

Since our last report:
—Kentucky Attorney General Russell Coleman has tried to remove pro-abortion ads from Mayday Health, an organization that shares information about abortion pills, birth control and gender-affirming care.
—The FDA withdrew a rule requiring cosmetics companies to test their products made with talc for asbestos, alarming public health advocates.
—Two Pennsylvania hospitals told the state they may not provide emergency contraception to sexual assault survivors because of religious objections.
—Some good news out of Wyoming: The state’s supreme court started the new year by striking down Wyoming’s two abortion bans.

… and more.

Massachusetts Could Be the Next State to Give Abuse Survivors a Pathway Out of Prison

PUBLISHED 1/30/2026 by | UPDATED 2/2/2026 at 1:28 P.M. PT

In June, Karen Edwards testified via video from MCI Framingham, Massachusetts’ only women’s prison, where she is serving a sentence of 15 years to life for the death of her abusive husband. Speaking through tears, Edwards described years of isolation, surveillance and threats—how her husband controlled her movements, cut her off from loved ones and warned that if she left, he would kill her and her children. She urged legislators to pass the Massachusetts Survivors Act, a bill that would allow judges to reduce sentences or offer alternatives to incarceration when a person’s conviction is directly tied to their experience of abuse.

The proposed legislation mirrors resentencing reforms adopted in a handful of other states and could dramatically change Edwards’ future, potentially reducing her life sentence to a term she has already served. Advocates say the bill would offer a long-overdue pathway home for survivors whose actions were shaped by violence, coercion and survival.

As lawmakers consider the measure during the current legislative session, formerly incarcerated survivors and those still behind bars are watching closely—some, for the first time, allowing themselves to imagine a future beyond prison walls.