rape culture
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The Culture of Male Silence: Men Treat Sexual Assault Like America Treats White Supremacy
I am not a religious man by any measure, but there are universal truths to which I adhere. I believe that love is a byproduct of love. I believe that hate made love to an orange, had a petty-ass baby, and that’s how we got the grapefruit. I believe that cats were put on earth…
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Judge Says ‘Overweight’ Teenage Sexual Assault Victim Was Probably ‘Flattered’ by the Attention From Her Assailant
If you have ever questioned why some women choose not to come forward when they have been sexually assaulted or harassed, here is an example that may help you understand it a little better. A judge in Quebec presiding over a sexual assault trial referred to the victim as being “overweight” and suggested that she…
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I Have Been Raped by Far Nicer Men Than You
One night when I was riding home to New York City’s Brooklyn borough on the C train, an older man started smiling, making kissy faces and, eventually, miming sexual acts at me. I pointedly tried to ignore him as my discomfort grew; there weren’t that many people on the train, and my stop was coming…
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Sending Unsolicited Pictures of Your Penis Is a Form of Sexual Harassment. Please Stop Doing This
The other day, I got a notification on Snapchat that a man I wasn’t sure I knew added me. It said that he had added me by my user name, and his user name looked somewhat familiar, so, thinking it was possible we were already connected via social media, I added him back. Yesterday morning,…
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On Rape Culture and Men’s Empathy
With days left of college, a close friend of mine was drugged at a party. What followed was a sequence of events about which my friends have praised and thanked me. Looking back, the minimal aid for which I was responsible was tinged with a tacit acceptance of rape culture from the onset. My apologies…
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‘Stealthing’ One Step Closer to Being a Form of Sexual Assault in Calif.
In May, California Assemblywoman Cristina Garcia (D-Bell Gardens) introduced a bill that would define “stealthing” as a form of sexual assault, and on Tuesday the state Senate Public Safety Committee advanced the bill while acknowledging that it was unclear whether or how such a law would be enforced. Stealthing is the act of intentionally tampering…
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Judge in Idaho High School Football Hanger Case Lashes Out, Says It Was Not ‘Rape’ or ‘Racial’
The Idaho judge who sentenced a former high school football player to just 300 hours of community service after he “more than likely” raped a developmentally disabled African-American teammate has accused the press (and public) of misrepresenting what happened. The judge says the case is not about “rape” or “sex” and that “people from the…
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‘Police Rapists’: Protests Erupt in Paris After Police Charged in Rape of Black Man
Editor’s note: Trigger warnings: rape, sexual violence, state violence, anti-blackness. Four police officers in a Paris suburb allegedly raped a 22-year-old black man, and protesters are seeking justice. So-called officers of the law “forced a 22-year-old man to the ground, beat him, and anally raped him with a baton at a housing estate in the…
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NYPD Captain Says Department Is More Focused on Rape by Strangers, Not Acquaintances
A New York City police captain has blamed the lack of arrests in sexual assault reports on the fact that most of the reported cases were “acquaintance rape.” Sexual attacks in the Greenpoint neighborhood of New York City’s Brooklyn borough went up by 62 percent over the last year, and according to DNAinfo, police statistics…
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Reclaiming My Body During the Month of My Rapist’s Birth
January is usually a time of celebration. It’s a time when people can revisit goals from the previous year, create new ones, craft vision boards and determine our course for the year, all while anticipating some unexpected hurdles along the way. I, too, can always appreciate how important celebrating the new year is—a time with…