rape

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.

The National Mall got a new memorial yesterday, if only briefly. As part of One Billion Rising, Baltimore-based feminist group FORCE installed a temporary memorial recognizing survivors of sexual assault. The group greated giant letters out of a statement from a rape survivor and floated the eight-foot-tall words onto the reflecting pool in front of the Lincoln Memorial. 

Read our full interview here with the activists behind the action!

Baltimore feminist group FORCE took the world by surprise last December when they launched a line of fake Victoria's Secret, dropping underwear emblazoned with phrases like "Consent is Sexy" and "Ask First" at Victoria's Secrets around the US and promoting the fake Pink Loves Consent line on the internet. The spoof came off brilliantly, using a well-coordinated "feminist Facebook army" to hijack Victoria Secret's social media and broadcast the a discussion of consent to millions of mainstream shoppers. Last week, I talked with FORCE organizers Rebecca Nagle and Hannah Brancato about what they learned from the Pink Loves Consent campaign, how Facebook and Twitter have censored their spoof, and the details on their next action, a Valentine's Day protest that will install a temporary monument to rape survivors in Washington DC. 

BITCH: What choices did you make while planning Pink Loves Consent that made it so wildly successful? 

HANNAH BRANCATO:  The big decision was that we couldn't sell the underwear. This is a spoof, we're using Victoria's Secret's trademark, so we couldn't legally sell anything. There was all of this intense energy around the project when it first launched but the only thing people could think of doing was buying the underwear. 

REBECCA NAGLE: The first thing they asked was, 'Where can I buy this?" And I think it was powerful to come back and say, "You can't buy it, it's an idea." Instead of sending people to a checkout cart, we're sending people to resources, to saying, "Here's a zine you can make." 

It's hard to talk about and even harder to film. In this exclusive Bitch Q&A, feminist poet and writer Katha Pollitt talks with filmmaker Jennifer Baumgardner about her powerful new film, It Was Rape. 

KATHA POLLITT: Your new film "It Was Rape" consists almost entirely of 8 women, telling the story of their rape and its aftermath in great detail. I found it simultaneously compelling and unbearable to watch.  How did you find women willing to identify themselves as rape survivors?

JENNIFER BAUMGARDNER: Sadly, it was incredibly easy finding people who had been raped. I lecture frequently on college campuses and each time I mentioned that I was working on this film and project, at least two people would approach me after the talk to tell me about their story. I somewhat randomly chose the stories that ended up in the film. Going into the interviews, I didn't know the stories beyond the barest sketch. 

Most of the women in the film were not out in public about being raped—often they had discussed it with just a few people in their lives—but they were hungry for a venue in which they could talk about this really huge, life-altering event and be listened to respectfully and openly. I had no problem getting people to talk. That said, many were scared to see their interviews when the film was finished. The prospect of being in the public opened up the possibility of being not believed (again) or blamed (again). 

Unless you've been living under a rock, you've heard something or other in the past month about a horrifying gang-rape case out of Steubenville, Ohio, involving two of the town's star football players, an inebriated out-of-town girl, and an alarming number of adults willing to defend the boys and blame the girl. (Because: football! Is there anything more important?)

Actually, if you have been living under a rock, consider yourself lucky, because this case just gets uglier with every new bit of information. With the juvenile-court date approaching in early February and online activists (both masked and not) stepping up to protest the city's handling of the case, there's going to be even more to parse in the coming weeks. So here's a primer on the events.

This week has unfortunately been filled with tragedy.  When we weren't reading the news, we were reading up on some of this week's other big issues.  Here's what we found:

• Jenni Rivera died in a plane crash in Mexico this past weekend.  Here's an excellent article on Rivera's legacy and the work she did for women, immigrants, and LGBT youth. [Colorlines]
• Although the 16 Days of Activism Against Gender Violence finished up a few days ago, it's never too late to learn about the cause and create awareness. [US Aid]
• Sarah Jaffe gets shouted at and berated far too often -- here's a piece she's written about the many trolls she's encountered. [Jezebel]
• And here's some more misogyny to chew on.  If someone writes racist shit, the sensible thing to do is respond intelligently, right?  Apparently wrong.  Rhonda A. Lee, meteorologist at KTBS-TV, was fired after she gave a harassing commenter a piece of her mind.  [Clutch]
• Speaking of racism (and sexism,) have you seen the latest tennis star to "mimic" Serena Williams and her body?  It's Caroline Wozniacki, using towels to plump up her boobs and behind. [scATX]
• Though mental illness is no laughing matter, it's something that certain comedians must deal with.  This write-up is about the relationship between the two.  [Splitsider]
• Sex and disability are often unexplored in films.  Stephanie Rogers examines how The Sessions addresses both. [Bitch Flicks]

Is there something we missed?  Let us know in the comments.  Our thoughts go out to all those affected by the shootings.