Feminists have long been sounding the alarm on the use of rape as a weapon of war—and firsthand accounts of what happened in Israel on Oct. 7 are spurring an urgent conversation once again, reminding us that the battle to secure justice for the victims of rape through war crimes prosecutions continues to this day. Below, we’ve curated some Ms. reporting from the last decade, to help readers better understand the feminist fight to designate rape as a war crime and a crime against humanity.
Tag: Violence Against Women
The Next Generation of Men in Gender Justice
The pro-feminist future needs more publications like Ms.—especially in light of the recent uncertainty around Jezebel in the U.S. and the cessation of Shameless in Canada.
We believe Voice Male magazine is one of them. Its preservation and growth are essential to putting forth a narrative that counters the troubling undertow of Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate and points to answers within the tearing down of patriarchy, not the rebuilding of it.
The Constitution as a Homicide Pact
The facts of U.S. v. Rahimi reveal the gendered and destructive reality of gun use behind the illusion of abstract, idealized self-defense.
Every 14 hours in the U.S., a man uses a gun to kill his intimate partner. Pregnant women are particularly vulnerable. But the Supreme Court’s conservative commitment to “life” is highly selective, to put it mildly, and tends to value women’s lives—including those of domestic violence victims—very little. We can expect the Court’s ruling to come down in June or July of 2024.
War on Women Report: New White House Research on Women’s Health; N.J. Prison Closed After Sexual Abuse by Guards
U.S. patriarchal authoritarianism is on the rise, and democracy is on the decline. But day after day, we stay vigilant in our goals to dismantle patriarchy at every turn. The fight is far from over. We are watching, and we refuse to go back. This is the War on Women Report.
This week: Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women shuttered after years of documented physical and sexual abuses by guards; a new White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research; Trump-appointed judges deal blow to Voting Rights Act; and more.
Keeping Score: Voting Rights Act Weakened; Fighting Back Against Abortion Bans; Remembering Rosalynn Carter
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: Federal judge weakens the Voting Rights Act; Congress fails to fully fund WIC; Attorney General Merrick Garland defends women traveling to receive abortion care; Jill Biden launches an Initiative of Women’s Health Research; American women are living six years longer than men.
Ms. Magazine’s Prison and Domestic Violence Shelter Program: Let Women on the Inside Know They Are Not Alone
Women in prison often spend 17 hours a day isolated in their cells, with no reading material except the Bible, or with only books and magazines they must share with hundreds of other women. And this past year has seen reading bans inside prisons grow at a more concerning rate than those in public schools and libraries.
If you would like the deep satisfaction of knowing you’re a part of letting women know they’re not alone, please make a tax-deductible contribution to the Ms. Prison and Domestic Violence Shelter Program.
Caring for Ethiopian Women in Conflict-Affected Communities
For two years, Tigray in northern Ethiopia was wracked by a brutal civil war that claimed 600,000 lives and left 2.7 million people internally displaced. During the fighting, rape was used as a weapon of war, and one in 10 women and girls of reproductive age experienced physical, psychological and sexual violence. One year on, sexual violence continues to be used to intimidate and terrorize women and girls who have been displaced by the conflict.
MSI was the only organization providing sexual and reproductive care in Tigray during the conflict. Without more funding, the contraception, safe abortion and post-abortion care services that our outreach teams provide are at risk—and so are the health, lives and futures of the women of Tigray.
Breaking the Silence Around Sexual Abuse: The Ms. Q&A With Maya Golden About New Memoir ‘The Return Trip’
Award-winning multimedia journalist Maya Golden’s searing but redemptive memoir, The Return Trip, takes readers on a harrowing journey. The book offers a no-holds-barred look into the sexual abuse that began when Golden was 5 and charts her course through a troubled adolescence and young adulthood. Along the way, she probes the long-term impact of repeated sexual violation and zeroes in on the ways religious institutions, educational systems, and familial denial continue to intersect and allow the perpetuation of violence.
Golden spoke to Ms. reporter Eleanor J. Bader before The Return Trip’s Nov. 14 release. Their wide-ranging conversation touched on the book as well as the work of the 1 in 3 Foundation, a group Golden founded to support survivors of sexual assault.
Women’s Voices Are Essential to Global Democracy. We Need Your Help Saving Them.
Journalists face attacks on every beat, at every level of their careers, online and off. Government authorities, criminal groups and even the public target journalists with one common goal: to silence their voices.
And it works. A third of women journalists the IWMF surveyed in 2018 said they’d considered leaving the profession due to online attacks and threats. When women and nonbinary journalists’ reporting gets squashed or they exit the field, the public loses out. The access, nuance and perspective these journalists bring to the table is vital to a more diverse, free press—without their stories, democracy suffers.
(This essay is part of the “Feminist Journalism is Essential to Democracy” project—Ms. magazine’s latest installment of Women & Democracy, presented in partnership with the International Women’s Media Foundation.)
Israel-Gaza War: Threats and Attacks Against Women Journalists Covering the Conflict
Since the start of the Israel-Gaza War, a chilling tally of 40 journalists have been confirmed dead, with others either missing, detained or grievously injured. The Coalition For Women In Journalism is closely monitoring the situation on the frontlines and documenting violations against women journalists covering the conflict.
In the face of the growing threats and attacks against women journalists covering the war, it is imperative that we unite and take a stand for press freedom.
(This essay is part of the “Feminist Journalism is Essential to Democracy” project—Ms. magazine’s latest installment of Women & Democracy, presented in partnership with the International Women’s Media Foundation.)