Sexual Assault

Prudie on “real” rape

Dear Prudence addresses every MRA’s straw-rape scenario:

Q. Friend Has Revised One-Night Stand Story: A friend recently called me and said she had a one-night stand after drinking too much. She was beating herself up over drinking too much and going home with a guy she met at a bar. I reassured her that everyone makes mistakes and didn’t think much more of the account. However, since then, she has told many people that she was a victim of date-rape—that the guy must have put something into her drink . She spoke to a rape crisis line, and they said even if she was drunk, she couldn’t have given consent so she was a victim of rape. She now wants to press charges—she has the guy’s business card. I have seen her very intoxicated on previous occasions, to the point she doesn’t remember anything the next day. I’m not sure on what my response should be at this point. Pretend she never told me the original story?

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Women refuses to give raped daughter EC, brags about it on internet.

Ah, the kindness of pro-lifers: [trigger warning]

My Dark-Haired Daughter, who suffers from bipolar disorder and limited cognitive abilities, went missing last Monday. For more than 48 hours, we had no idea where she was. Without all the gruesome details, after she was found, it came to light that she’d been brutally and repeatedly sexually assaulted. She’d been taken to the local women’s shelter, where (at least in our area) they do the exams in such cases.

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Santorum to Rape Victims: When Life Gives You Lemons, Make Lemonade!

In an interview with Piers Morgan, Rick Santorum clarified his view that abortion should be illegal even where the woman was raped. Why? It’s a gift from God, and don’t look a gift-god in the mouth:

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Why I Am Pro-Choice

Trigger warning for sexual assault, child abuse and violence.

I am a survivor of childhood incest, rape and kidnapping. It is for this reason that I understand what too many arrogant lawmakers cannot: A woman’s freedom to decide what happens to her body (and mind), especially after it has been violated, is crucial to her physical, mental and emotional survival.

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Hero of the Day

Samira Ibrahim.

When Samira Ibrahim makes a rare foray into the streets of her hometown of Sohag in Upper Egypt or to a demonstration on the streets of Cairo, she has the distinct feeling of being watched.

“I never feel comfortable,” she said during in an interview in a Cairo cafe. “The only place I can feel like myself is in my home with my family. Everywhere I go, I feel there are eyes on me. They want me to forget everything and just go away.”

Ms Ibrahim, 25, is taking on, under her own name, a battle against the powerful ruling generals. She is the only named plaintiff in several legal cases against the officers who conducted “virginity tests” on 17 women protesters detained by the military last year.

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On Change and Accountability: A Response to Clarisse Thorn

This is a guest post by Maia.

Dear Clarisse

Towards the end of your post On Change and Accountability you asked a question.

Did you expect your readers to answer no?

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Jerry Sandusky showered with boys to teach them “basic hygiene skills.”

Of course he did. And if that explanation isn’t offensive enough, the boys needed to be taught hygiene because they were poor. And poor people are dirty:

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Interview with a sex-positive feminist

Recently, I received an email from a student who is writing a paper about sex-positive feminism. He asked a bunch of questions; while I was reviewing those questions, I decided to just go ahead and post them plus my answers publicly (with the student’s consent, of course).

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Girl-on-Girl Victim-Blaming Action (or, The Most Terrible Time of the Year)

This is a guest-post from Jaclyn Friedman.
[trigger warning for the text and the embedded links]
What is it about December that inspires mass breakouts of victim-blaming? Is it the darkness encroaching on our days? Is it the way the holidays make us all want to drink? Whatever it is, it’s happening again.

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Frat at University of Vermont asks, “If you could rape anyone who would it be?”

Good question, guys. Very cool. Just normal questionnaire stuff, you know.

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Sex & Marriage

In the epic breastfeeding thread below, someone brought up another Dear Prudie letter from Tuesday’s column, so let’s discuss: Sex Is a stumbling block: My wife and I have been together for eight years. We regularly had sex until three years ago, when we got married. Almost immediately after we were married, my wife told [...]

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Schools Must Protect Students from Sexual Violence

This is a guest post by Katherine Greenier.
Sexual violence in schools and on campus is a pressing civil rights issue. When students suffer sexual assault and harassment, they are deprived of equal and free access to an education.

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