"[Maryland's] highest court ruled yesterday that a man can be charged with rape if he ignores a woman's calls to stop - even if she had previously consented to sex."The court's decision is a positive step, but I'm a bit horrified that this was legally in question, let alone that it had to be referred all the way to the state's highest court. "No" ( Read more... )

As a follow-up to this post from the 16th, here's a pretty rad video courtesy of

Pardon me while I gag. That the woman in question is a minor makes this whole thing that much more appalling.

This story breaks my heart and fills me with hope at the same time. No one EVER should have to go through what that little girl went through. That she had the strength and self-worth at eight years old to seek justice on her own is phenomenal. What a hero!

If you read the Inside Out series last April, you already know that portrayal of sexual violence in fiction is something I feel strongly about. So, apparently, does Naamenblog, who has written an incisive post on the use of rape as a catalyst on female characters in sci-fi and fantasy (thanks to Revena at I Read the Internets).

It came out three years ago, but MOTHER JONES's special report on domestic violence remains a good and, sadly, timely read. There's a lot of material there, and some of it's pretty intense, so I'd recommend spacing it out over a few days and making sure you're somewhere safe when you sit down to read it.

Another two-fer, although I'm combining them into one post.

Take Back the Night is one of the original movements in opposition to violence against women; years later, it's still going strong.

Take Back The News confronts the misrepresentation and underrepresentation of sexual assault in mainstream media with the goal of improving both the ( Read more... )

Another link today--go read what Tamora Pierce has to say about the LDS compound in West Texas here.

Just a link today: http://www.stopmilitaryrape.org/

Since this is sexual assault awareness month, I'm going to try to devote a fair amount of time and space to cases and situations that don't get a lot of mainstream press--to try to raise awareness of issues that may be unfamiliar even to those of you who are generally aware of sexual assault ( Read more... )