rape

Happy May Day everyone! Here's what's on our radar.

• "Latina feminist," not just "feminist." On why today's modern, "mainstream" feminism has yet to prove its commitment to anti-racist projects and transnational movements. [The Feminist Wire]
• Five-year old girl in India is killed by rape. Trigger Warning.[The Guardian]
• For more extremely depressing news, read here about the recent murder of Ci Ci Dove, a trans women in Cleveland.[Advocate]
• Have you been looking for a body-positive magazine written by feminist, queer-friendly women who don't take themselves too seriously? Welcome to Ms. Fit. [Autostraddle]
• Ok, we're still talking about it cause it's so ridiculous. Female athletes have been out for decades: and here's a timeline to prove it. [BuzzFeed]
• The pursuit of more representation of diversity in comics - an admirable, intersectional attempt or just plain old tokenism? [Policymic]
• Help back this project and kickstart Assigned Sex, a documentary film tackling gender role stereotypes from trans perspectives. [Kickstarter]

This past year, rape has dominated the headlines. From front-page coverage of the Penn State trials to Todd Akin’s “legitimate rape” comment to international outcry about gang rape in India to national focus on Steubenville, talking about rape—a long-silenced topic—is finally a mainstream conversation. We are in a unique cultural moment where the ever-present epidemic of sexual violence is being recognized.

We need to not only recognize the reality of rape, but work to end it. We need a platform to honor survivors that will forever change the way the American public responds to their experiences. We need to create a national monument to survivors of rape and abuse.  

Personally, I was shocked when the Steubenville rapists were found guilty. I've gotten cynical about prosecution of rape—so few cases lead to punishment that I was excited and surprised to learn that, this time, the legal system worked. 

But yesterday another aspect of creating justice in the case fell short: The football team's coach, Reno Saccoccia, has been rehired for another two years at Steubenville High. 

Rise and shine! It's time to check out some of our favorite recent reads and wish a happy birthday to Dolores Huerta!

• Did you see that Miley Cyrus video and her quest to trend #MCTwerkTeam?  Here's a look into how privilege plays into the appropriation of twerking and ratchet. [YouTube, Racialicious]
• After another trans* woman applies to Smith College, she is denied admission as those before her. [Autostraddle]
• When Rosa Clemente and Talib Kweli debated about Rick Ross' rape lyrics, Kweli fell into the age-old habit of some serious mansplaining and masculine agression to assert his own ideas.  He claimed to be an "ally" of women in hip hop, but missed the mark.  Dr. Brittney Cooper lays out how five ways Kweli can become a better ally. [Huffington Post, Crunk Feminist Collective]
• Yesterday was Equal Pay Day.  Now, what's the exact cost that comes with being born female? A new study (and this infographic) say it's approximately $849,000. [Nerdy Feminist]
• Jamia Wilson talks about the "inevitable rite of passage" that is experiencing racism as a Black girl in the U.S. [Rookie]
• After being raped and relentlessly cyberbullied, a teenage girl is dead after tragically commiting suicide at the age of 17. [Gender Focus]
• In light of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that occured this past December, there's been a lot of talk about arming school officials with weapons.  Here's why having guns in school in a bad idea for children.  [Slate]
• When President Obama called California Attorney General Kamala Harris the "best looking attorney general by far," many were upset over the comment and its reduction of Harris to her physical appearance.  These are just three reasons to pay attention to Harris for her politics and not her looks. [Colorlines]

Good morning! Ready to start your weekend off right with a big bowl of healthy links from around the web?

• Tyler Perry's new movie, Temptation, looks to be a moralizing mess. But it's also dangerously cavalier about rape, according to Carolyn Edgar, who posits that the movie's larger message about "fallen" women getting what they deserve makes it even trickier to discuss the issue. [Carolyn Edgar]

• Earlier this week, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban caused a stir in the sports press by saying he's interested in drafting Brittney Griner, the star player for Baylor University's women's basketball team. But is it simply a "publicity stunt" on Cuban's part? Would drafting a woman into the NBA be terrible for women's basketball? Everybody's got an opinion. [ESPN, ThinkProgress, Business Insider]

• Elsewhere in basketball news, Rutgers men's basketball coach Mike Rice was fired this week after video surfaced of him physically and verbally abusing players during practice. At Autostraddle, a Rutgers alumna considers why Rice's apparently longstanding habit of using antigay slurs to bully (or, as he thought of it, "motivate") players was hush-hush for so long. [Autostraddle]

• In all the recent discussion about women leaning in and having it all, where's the discussion about what men can do? A paid paternity-leave quota in Quebec could be changing both how typically gendered work is valued as it allows mothers more freedom to continue working post-childbirth. [New York Times]

• It's Steubenville all over again: In the town of Torrington, Connecticut, two high-school football players have been charged with the rape of two 13-year-old girls—and the girls are on the receiving end of bullying and vitriol. [New York Times]

• Nevada assemplywoman Lucy Flores testified this week about the consequences of inadequate sex education, noting that her sister all gave birth as teenagers, and that she herself opted for an abortion. Cue the death threats, since as we all know, that's the pro-life way to do it! [ThinkProgress]

• If you're a Walking Dead fan who's been frustrated with how the show portrays women, well, get ready to be a little more frustrated: The comic series' author is on record as believing that women are weaker than men. "That's science." [Village Voice]

• Yesterday we lost Roger Ebert, a film critic who was so much more than just that. The Daily Beast rounds up some of his best reviews—as well as his most awesome burns. (Lookin' at you, Vinccent Gallo.) [Daily Beast]

As ever, let us know what you're reading in the comments!

Half-way through the week and here's what we've been reading up on for the day:

• Are you also upset about CNN's coverage of the Steubenville rape case?  Sign this petition and demand an apology. [Change.org]
• 50 years following Gideon v. Wainwright, the decision to allow defendants the right to council hasn't brought justice-for-all as some hoped it would. [Colorlines]
• Move over, Westboro Baptist Church.  There are some new neighbors in town, and their freshly painted, rainbow-colored house outshines yours. [Salon]

Today we finally have something to applaud in Steubenville: A guilty verdict. Many people were holding their breath in the high-profile rape case, expecting that despite clear evidence of the two defendants’ guilt, our legal system would fail the victim. We thought we’d once again be talking about how a star athlete escaped prosecution.

It’s sad, but finding these rapists guilty is exceptional. According to depressing statistics, only nine percent of rapes in America result in prosecution. Though incarceration is clearly not the sole solution to rape, the fact that these two small-town stars will spend at least a year in a juvenile detention facility sends an important message that people regardless of social status can be held accountable for committing sexual violence.

We're starting off the week with a big conversation about rape culture. Here's all the feminist news on our radar today.

• The Steubenville rape trial finally ended in a guilty verdict yesterday— CNN screwed up reporting on the verdict big time, spelling out how the guilty verdict would hurt the lives of the rapists and neglecting coverage of the rape surivor herself. [Jezebel, Women Under Siege]

• The guilty verdict is a good, major step—but as Maya Dusenberry points out, rapists are created, not born, and the culture that allows rapists to continue being created is alive and well. [Feministing]

• We get that people shouldn't be drinking underage, like in the Steubenville case, but that in no way exuses rape. [Mommyish]

• Another rape case is just getting underway: In India, five men have been arrested for a gang rape of a Swiss tourist. [TIME]

• Black lawmakers are demanding an end to the prison-to-deportation pipeline. [Colorlines]

• Here are 18 for-profit companies fighting to eliminate insurance coverage of birth control. [RH Reality Check]

• Conservative convention CPAC is still underway—what's the gender balance like there? [Guardian]

• Date night: A cisgender girl's guide to dating trans* women. [Autostraddle]

What did I miss? Add it to the comments.

• Survivors of military sexual assault testified this week in a Senate hearing to advocate for outside review of cases. Among the strongest voices for a chance in policy was that of New York senator Kristen Gillibrand, who told lawyers for the Defense Department, "I appreciate the work you're doing, but it's not enough." [L.A. Times, N.Y. Daily News]

• The Steubenville rape trial continues, with key evidence in the form of damning text messages and, today, testimony from eyewitnesses who took photographs and later erased them. [Huffington Post]

• The dismal 2012 numbers on gender equity in magazine bylines were released by VIDA last week. Flavorwire asked Granta and Tin House, two literary publications where women are published in equal (and sometimes greater) numbers than men, the secret to running a publication that actively courts and publishes female authors. Their answer is the piece's title: "It Isn't Rocket Science." [Flavorwire]

• Meet the new pope, same as the old pope—especially when it comes to LGBT rights. Salon has a roundup of Pope Francis's greatest hits on the subject, and by "hits" we mean "terrible, awful, heartwrenchingly bigoted statements SHUT UP MAN UGGHHH STOP TALKING." [Salon]

• In other pope news, the wags at Mother Jones compiled a handy "Pope Francis vs. Black Francis" chart for all you Pixies fans. [Mother Jones]

• It's Women's History Month, which you know. The Grio name-checks four black women activists you might not know. [The Grio]

• Alternet's Don Hazen, like us, has just about had it with the whole is-feminism-dead question, asking "Why is it that women who clearly need feminism less than most are debating whether the whole notion should get junked?" Why indeed. [AlterNet]

• Martha Stewart doesn't care who likes her—or more to the point, who doesn't. As Ann Friedman argues, that makes her a compelling, if problematic, example to women in business. [The Cut]

• Finally, we know this is a tough crowd when it comes to Lena Dunham, but her answer to Playboy's question about what she would do if she "woke up in the body of a Victoria's Secret model" was pretty damn on point. Also, don't you love how the interviewer used "Victoria's Secret model," like somehow that's just SO MUCH MORE NORMATIVE and male-gazey than, oh, "Playboy model"? [Playboy]

The Americans, a new FX Network spy show developed by ex-CIA agent Joe Weisberg and Joel Fields, illustrates the unique physical and psychological dangers that threaten women in espionage, the military, and law enforcement. In addition to the expected danger incurred in shoot-outs and international arms deals, the show's lead female character deals with the very real threat of rape.

On the show, as in real life, institutional sexism allows sexual assaults to persist the military. The Americans shows that unfortunately, for women, being in sexually hostile situations has for too long been a part of the job.