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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Victim blaming: it’s not something mass media should do. On Wednesday, Channel Seven’s Sunrise breakfast show did just that as it published a Facebook post about Australian women’s nude photos being uploaded to an American revenge porn website. The post, detailing a story affecting 500 women, had the caption: ‘What’s it going to take for…
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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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I want to start this article with a Serious Trigger Warning. If trigger warnings are something you watch out for, then this article is likely not for you. Otherwise, I would encourage you to follow this link. But be warned it will leave you feeling deeply uncomfortable. That’s how I felt afterwards.When you’ve finished with that…
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An 89-year-old woman from Edgewood nursing home in Minnesota has been through a horrifying ordeal after being raped by one of her carers. Her nursing assistant, Andrew Scott Merzwski, sexually assaulted the woman after giving her narcotics that he knew would render her mentally incapacitated. The victim notified her daughter the next morning, who then…
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Should we tell women to stop binge drinking in order to protect them from being sexually assaulted? Emily Yoffe, who writes the Dear Prudence column at Slate thinks so, and has attracted the ire of the Internet since having her piece published. Yoffe makes the case that binge drinking is closely related to sexual assault…
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Shifting the blame from perpetrator to victim in cases of sexual assault is so deeply ingrained in our society that it is difficult at times to maintain the energy to confront those perpetuating victim-blaming myths. I’ve had to challenge close friends and family members who have sworn they’re ‘not victim blaming’ but why the hell…
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The Steubenville rape case of August 2012 was given international attention and exposed many of the darker elements of America’s – and the world’s – reaction to and further creation of rape culture. The well–documented incident involved sixteen-year-old students and budding football stars Ma’lik Richmond and Trent Mays, and the repeated rape and sexual…
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Last week, former British television presenter, Nick Ross, sparked controversy when an excerpt of his upcoming book, Crime, was published in the Daily Mail. In the piece, heavily edited from a chapter focusing on crime and sex, Ross argues that ‘it has become sacrilege to suggest that there can be any gradation’ when it comes…
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Minding one’s lovely lady lumps isn’t usually the kind of advice stored under the heading “Safety Tips for Ladies”. But that’s exactly what the latest Twitter trend is. #safetytipsforladies was trending on Twitter on Tuesday 26 March, attracting a variety of hilarious, attention-grabbing tips strung together in less than 140 characters. The hashtag, coined by…
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Last week I was unlucky enough to come across an article in the Daily Telegraph entitled ‘More women are getting drunk on Sydney streets than ever before’. It was the usual article about women and sexual assault, i.e. how women can avoid getting assaulted if they simply stop being so darn silly and reckless…
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Young vulnerable women are sometimes told that we shouldn’t have our hair tied back in a ponytail in public. Not for any aesthetic purpose, but for safety reasons. If a man – it’s always the threat of a shadowy man looming over you – wants to assault you, you will make it so much easier…
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