Content warning: this article contains mention of rape, rape culture and legal proceedings involving the two Jaws drop in living rooms across the city. Commuters, reading newspapers and getting their news on smart phones, shake their heads in disgust: How did he get away with it? What was the jury thinking? Why did the judge…
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Content Warning: this article contains mention of rape, rape culture and victim blaming ‘… we should not make the mistake that law can provide the solution to the oppression that it celebrates and sustains’ – Carol Smart in Feminism and the power of law This quote from Carol Smart has been banging around in my…
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Content warning: this article contains discussion of sexual assault and rape culture. There is a man following me. In order to make sense of this, I’ve decided to ornately frame it in the context of killing pill. Because it seems a lot of power comes with having a female form. And reopening the part…
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Despite societal pressure to break down traditional gender roles, there’s a large chunk of the population that still disapproves of women drinking anything more than a moderate amount of alcohol. Of course, this is a ridiculous double standard, as men are free to drink to their hearts’ content – without fear of judgement. Regardless of…
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Spike Lee has come up with a solution to America’s college rape epidemic – or so he thinks. The film director recently spoke with Stephen Colbert, and argued that ending sexual assault begins with women denying men sex, stating, ‘I think a sex strike could really work on college campuses where there’s an abundance of…
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The seduction community, also known as the pick-up artist or PUA community, is a movement of men whose goal is seduction and sexual success with – or access to – women. Members of the community often call themselves pickup artists (PUA). It doesn’t take very much to realise that this kind of “artistry” is not…
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Trigger Warning: Rape and Violence Against Women On Monday, Los Angeles rapper Tyler, the Creator – real name Tyler Okonma – took to his twitter to tell his 2.48 million followers, ‘T IS NOW BANNED FROM AUSTRALIA, YOU WON @CoralieAlison IM HAPPY FOR YOU <3 [sic]’. Coralie Alison is the Director of Operations at Collective…
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Last week shocking and shameful statistics emerged from a survey conducted by VicHealth. The results showed that one in five Australians believe that if a woman is raped while drunk or under the influence of drugs, she is partly to blame. One in Five. Duck, duck, duck, duck… Goose. Although the majority of those 17,500…
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Late last month, police in Thunder Bay, a small city in northwestern Ontario, Canada charged two students from the University of Ottawa hockey team with sexual assault. Both men, David Foucher, 25, and Guillaume Donovan, 24, were in Thunder Bay for an away game against Lakehead University when they allegedly assaulted a 21-year-old woman. The…
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The short-lived meme, ‘Is this feminist?’ was perfect for two reasons: 1) it proved the feminists can have a sense of humour about themselves, despite what a vocal minority might think and 2) like Community’s Britta Perry, it managed to parody of third-wave, feminism without relying on lazy and misogynist stereotypes. That is, the academic,…
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**Trigger warning: discussion of rape and rape culture** This just makes me incredibly angry. In an open, anonymous letter to Harvard, a student has shared her story of sexual abuse by a fellow schoolmate that has, at this stage, been ignored by the school itself. The student, who has been diagnosed with depression and has…
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‘Let the catcalling commence’ is the latest ploy for sales by moisturiser manufacturer, Güd, a subsidiary of Burt’s Bees. The manufacturers are under scrutiny for the Vanilla Flame body butter’s label assuming that women want to be sexually harassed by strangers. As the manufacturer proclaims: ‘Our products are designed to make women feel good on…
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It’s the kind of thing nightmares are made of: a group of young men who go around raping women just for fun. They call themselves the ‘Roast Busters.’ They seek out girls as young as 13, fill them with alcohol and take advantage of them. Then, they post their exploits on Facebook for all to…
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When a poem begins with the line: ‘To the man on the bus I overheard in conversation tell a woman, presumably a friend, “You are too ugly to be raped”’ you cannot simply close your ears and move onto the next thing on your agenda. I was shocked to hear that someone actually said that…
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