When the news was announced yesterday that four men in India would be hanged for the brutal rape of a young woman there were intense responses from all over the world. But far too many of them – because even one would be too many – were cheering for the capital sentence these young men […]
Archives for rape
Everyone has something to come out about
Happy National Coming Out Day! This day has been set aside to increase awareness of people who are open about their LGBTQ identity. This year in particular, with the election right around the corner, the Human Rights Campaign and others are encouraging people to call their elected officials and “come out” as LGBTQ or an […]
It is not your fault
One of my best friends is named Alice. She is an amazingly strong, beautiful woman. Years ago – just out of college – she was in an abusive relationship. Part of Alice’s healing process has included ongoing writing about her experience. The following is something she wrote recently, and gave me permission to post here. […]
Teaching about rape
Rape is one topic that I have a harder time covering than most. Part of the issue is that I’m never quite sure how the class is going to react. Here are two extreme examples from my college classes: Last semester one of my college classes on rape was dramatic and emotional. Every single woman […]
Sexual bullying is not okay, even when it’s your sister
Welcome back from the holidays! But more on that later, because I’m too worked up on this topic to be able to concentrate on returning-from-holidays-niceties. There is a recent meme floating around in the flotsam of the great wide Internet that seems to be causing much inappropriate hilarity. Here’s the basic gist: A teenage girl […]
Reporting sexual assualt/abuse/harassment
There is a middle school here in the Austin Independent School District that is making the news because of a report of sexual assault. While taking the case seriously, the news reporters, at least, are comforted that this is an unusual report. I have had too many AISD graduates crying in my classrooms and my […]
The pain we cause
Gang rape, pulling a train, gang bang, serial sex. These painful words that hurt, following or preceding or completely apart and separate from the acts they describe. And then that one word that looms so large: SLUT. And the smaller ones words that follow: she wanted it, she asked for it, dresses like a whore, […]
Gender and sexual assault education
Last week my attention was mostly elsewhere. Some of that attention was on writing a piece for RH Reality Check about creating and implementing effective sex education programs about sexual assault and rape. A recent New York Times piece mulling over whether it is more appropriate to target education in gender-specific ways (i.e., for men […]
When maybe means…?
Last March I wrote a post about preventing rape through sex education. It just got a new comment, so I went back and read my way through it again. I recently used the story I described in that post of a date rape told from two very different perspectives in a college classroom. We had […]
FLDS in Texas: How to assess?
Yesterday I put forward what I have been able to gather about the FLDS events in San Angelo, Texas. I asked for readers’ opinions about the events, and the comments were particularly impassioned and came from radically different points of view. I said I would write today about my opinions and interpretations of the events. […]
