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Ms Wolf-
I recently ran across your article, Why is Rape Different?, in which you argue that allowing rape survivors to remain anonymous when we don’t do the same for any other crime victim infantilizes women and makes rape prosecutions more difficult. Although you wrote this some months ago, it’s still bouncing around on twitter, so I feel moved to respond.
You make the claim that:
It is wrong – and sexist – to treat female sex-crime accusers as if they were children, and it is wrong to try anyone, male or female, in the court of public opinion on the basis of anonymous accusations. Anonymity for rape accusers is long overdue for retirement.
So let me explain to you, Ms Wolf, why rape …
Continue reading An Open Letter to Naomi Wolf: Why Rape is Different
About a month ago, Kitty Stryker wrote a piece for the Good Vibrations Magazine, I Never Called it Rape: Addressing Abuse in BDSM Communities, in which she opened up a really important topic. It’s one that’s been simmering for a while and now that it’s come up in such a public way, there’s been a lot of different responses. There’s been the predictable set of comments, both on the Good Vibrations Magazine and on Fetlife (a social networking site for the BDSM crowd).
Some folks are making excuses for doms who assault their subs, some people are asking why people who have been assaulted don’t report it, and a few are trying to find ways to make room for both BDSM and rape …
Continue reading BDSM & Rape: What Now?
As you may have heard, SlutWalk started in response to a Toronto police officer saying that women should avoid dressing like sluts in order to avoid harassment or rape. And what was originally intended to be a local rally has inspired dozens of similar marches around the world.
The word “slut” has a rather difficult and complex history. Some folks embrace it and reclaim it, while others argue that there isn’t any way for women to reclaim a word that has been so loaded with sexist messages. There has also been some really great discussion about the different impact the word has on women of color and the different relationships they may have with both the term and the notion of reclaiming it…
Continue reading Slut-Shaming Enables Rape
Via Salon.com
There’s an interesting court case going on in Ottawa. The case revolves around the question of consent when someone is passed out.
According to the Ottawa Citizen (article taken down as of 3/9/11), a male-female couple negotiated an erotic asphyxiation scene in which he would choke her to the point of unconsciousness. When she awoke, it was to discover that he had inserted a dildo into her anus. And two of the core issues here are whether she consented in advance to whatever he decided to do while she was unconscious, and whether it’s possible to consent in advance.
Without knowing more details, I’m not willing to come down on whether I think that this …
Continue reading Can You Consent to Sex in Advance?
This post also appeared on the Good Vibrations Magazine.
For years, safer sex advocates have been saying that self-esteem has a huge effect on how much people engage in risk-reduction and harm-reduction behaviors. That’s why many of the most effective intervention programs & organizations, whether online like Scarleteen.com or in-person like the StopAIDS Project, offer counseling and support, in addition to information.
So I was really interested to read this post on ScienceDaily.com about research showing that among the 1,000 HIV-positive and negative gay and bisexual men surveyed:
Almost 10 percent of the participants reported that they had been victims of childhood sexual abuse and nearly 30 percent had experienced gay-related victimization between the ages of 12 and 14, including verbal insults, bullying,
…
Continue reading Shame as a Public Health Issue
This has been floating around the internet for a few weeks- I’ve received links to at least 5 different sites posting it. But I still want to post it here becuse I think it’s that important.
When discussing tips for preventing sexual assault, almost all of the ideas are about changing people’s behavior so they won’t get attacked. Don’t walk home alone. Make sure you keep an eye on your drink to make sure nobody puts drugs in it. And those sorts of tips, while helpful at reducing risk, don’t place any responsibility on the people who are committing sexual assault, which really limits how effective they are on a larger scale.
So I’m really glad that somebody has put together a list of suggestions …
Continue reading Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!
I just received a link to a really important article on the topic of sexual violence against women and how it can affect sexual health behaviors. Some people find the topic of sexual assault triggering, so I ask you to take care of yourself around that before reading this.
The paper “Sexual Violence Against Women: Impact on High-Risk Health Behaviors and Reproductive Health” (click on the title for a brief overview and links to the html and pdf versions of the full article) summarizes the current research on the ways in which sexual assault affects a range of sexual health behaviors and outcomes for women. Having been a rape crisis intervention counselor with Bay Area Women Against Rape, none of the information …
Continue reading The Effects of Sexual Violence Against Women
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