Reading about bullying is at once reassuring and liberating, and bloody horrible, as all the old nausea and dread comes rushing out. I've parked so much information about the subject here there's probably not a whole lot of value in my adding much more, but I may take some notes and add further info and/or insights at some point. In the meantime, ( Read more... )

Given his feminist cred, I wonder if Neil Gaiman remarking that "George R. R. Martin is not your bitch" can be read not as a misogynist slip, but a use of the culture's current popular metaphor for exploitation and abuse. In which case, the insult is not directed at the targets of abuse, but at the abusers, with the sense of "stop treating other ( Read more... )

Frustratingly, migrating to the new puter has somehow resurrected a bunch of deleted bookmarks. It's a real jumble. So apologies for any duplicates which get posted as I try to sort them out.

Doctors' fears mean woman is sent to Darwin for abortion: "Queensland Health is paying for a woman to be sent to Darwin for an abortion because doctors fear ( Read more... )

GOP senators who voted against anti-rape law refuse to explain why

Survivors of boat explosion granted refugee status

Surely it's up to a court to determine whether Roman Polanski ought to face punishment, not up to his powerful friends nor public opinion. If he deserves leniency for one reason or another, then a sentencing judge will take that into consideration.

A couple more statistics:

• In the Australian state of Victoria, from 2000-2003, police classified only 2.1% of reported rapes as false reports. (Statewide Steering Committee to Reduce Sexual Assault. Study of reported rapes in Victoria. Office of Women's Policy, Department for Victorian Communities, Melbourne, July 2006.)
  
  
• In 1991, the San ( Read more... )

Although it's a common belief that women frequently falsely report rape, there is no evidence that this is the case, and some evidence that women do not often make false reports. In 2007 I made a series of postings in which I outlined some of the research. I'd like to follow those up now with some more facts and figures specifically about false ( Read more... )

Via silverblue and hnpcc: Some US health insurances companies count domestic violence as a pre-existing condition.

Via mrteufel: Sexual Assault Prevention Tips Guaranteed to Work!

And in another kind of violence... Queensland women cannot currently obtain abortions while a question mark hangs over the legality in the state.

From AOL UK News:


( Read more... )

Australian judge: it's OK to rape an unconscious woman. SMH columnist defends him against mean old feminists. Peachy.

Let's have some cheering crap:

Advice on finding a lost cat

Via fritters, here's a baby deer washing a very happy cat.

The exact link between obesity and diabetes may have been found - a protein secreted by fat cells ( Read more... )