Essay here. Excerpt:

'You rape the soil. You rape conquests of war. You rape women. You sew rape. You snog-rape. You rape with your eyes. You date rape. The press rape you. Simulated rape-fucks. S&M porn stars accusing each other of rape. You Frape.

Does ‘rape’ really have the impact it used to have?

Rape is a word that women use a lot. Men don’t use the word as much outside of jocular jest, extreme insult and agriculture/logging. When women tend to use the word rape, it seldom refers to the definition of rape. Few women know what rape actually feels like. Yet women repeatedly refer to any annoyance or intrusion in their life as the feeling of being raped.

Charlize Theron reported feeling raped by the press. This was surprising, since having played the role of a rape victim in a film and won an Oscar for the role, Charlize still did not comprehend the difference between an actual violent sexual assault and a story in the press about her.'

Apparently, Lands' End has become a feminist catalog as their CEO interviewed Gloria Steinem. Excerpt:

'Clothing retailer Lands' End is in hot water after it published an interview with political activist Gloria Steinem in its spring catalog, prompting outrage from some customers.

Steinem, a feminist icon, was interviewed by Lands' End CEO Federica Marchionni for the company's "Legend Series," which it says features people "who have made a difference in both their respective industries and the world at large."

The interview was removed from the Lands' End website after customers overwhelmed the company's Facebook page with complaints about interviewing an abortion rights supporter.

"Those of us who love family, love children, are completely puzzled why you would promote a very vocal pro abortion celebrity," one customer wrote. "Are you anti-child? You want to kill off possible future customers?"

Story here. Excerpt:

'But authorities now say there's no evidence any of that happened and that the women were the aggressors in the fracas, which was captured by cameras on the bus and other cameras in the hands of bus riders. All three defendants are charged with misdemeanor assault and are facing campus disciplinary proceedings.

The actual victim, police said, was a 19-year-old white woman from Congers, Rockland County, who also was a passenger on the late-night route known to students as the "drunk bus."

"The evidence shows that, contrary to how the defendants originally portrayed things, these three individuals were not the victims of a crime," University Police Chief Frank Wiley said in a statement. "Rather, we allege that they are the perpetrators."'

Story here. Excerpt:

'Dr. Jamie Naughright, the former University of Tennessee trainer who accused quarterback Peyton Manning of sexually assaulting her in 1996, made a series of bizarre and unfounded complaints to a Florida sheriff’s department in 2014, according to police records obtained by The Daily Caller.

Naughright, who resides in Lakeland, Fla., made numerous calls to the Polk County sheriff’s department between March and November of 2014, claiming that she was being stalked and threatened by various men that she knew. She also claimed that an associate and caretaker of hers had made a pornographic website with her pictures on it.

The Washington Post’s Sally Jenkins first reported on the existence of the documents in a column on Thursday.

Article here. Excerpt:

'Vice President Joe Biden will introduce Lady Gaga this Sunday at the 88th Academy Awards.

The Los Angeles Times reports Biden, who will be in attendance for the ceremony with his wife Jill, will introduce the singer for a performance of her song “Til It Happens to You,” which will include a presentation aimed a combating sexual violence.

After introducing the singer, the vice president will reportedly ask viewers and members of the audience to visit ItsOnUs.org and take a pledge to intervene in cases of sexual assault.

Biden, who was main author of the 1994 Violence Against Women Act while he was in the Senate, has called for college presidents to help end campus sexual violence.

Lady Gaga’s song “Til It Happens to You” and an accompanying PSA aimed at warning young women of the dangers of campus sexual assault, was released last September.'

---

It's On Us PSA

Article here. Excerpt:

'Traditional gender roles are passed down through generations -- but a new commercial is proving that cycle can be broken if men step up.

Created by Indian detergent company Ariel, a video campaign called #ShareTheLoad highlights how traditional gender roles are passed down from generation to generation in households around the world. The campaign, which launched in 2015, shows the impact parents' behaviors and actions in the house have on their children and how men's participation in day-to-day chores can break down larger and problematic gender stereotypes.

Published on Feb. 19, the latest #ShareTheLoad commercial features a young Indian woman coming home from work to her husband on the couch and her father and her young son playing. The woman is on a work call while she gets dinner ready and cleans up the house. The father of the young mom sits and watches as his daughter runs her house, alone.

Story here. Excerpt:

'Police fear a trio of female 'sperm collectors' are on the loose in Zimbabwe after they picked up a hitchhiker on a highway and raped him in order to 'harvest' his sperm.

The women, believed to be driving a white Toyota Cresta, offered him a lift along a main road in the city of Bulawayo, in the country's southwest.

But partway through the journey the women attacked him - forcing him to have sex with them and making off with his semen.
...
These attacks were fueled by a demand for men's semen in traditional luck-enhancing 'juju' rituals.

According to reports, victims of the freeway femme fatales are drugged or subdued at gun or knife-point - one man was even forced to perform at 'snake-point' when his rapists brandished a live snake.

The male victims are then given a sexual stimulant and forced to have sex repeatedly before being dumped on the side of the road.'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Last semester, Spectator reported on data suggesting that one in every five women on campus has experienced “sexual assault” since enrolling at Columbia. This statistic was derived from results of a survey conducted by the Association of American Universities, and was propagated alongside calls for additional support services for victims of rape.

In the wake of the Emma Sulkowicz mattress protest, this statistic seems to corroborate popular sentiments that Columbia is indeed a bastion of rape. But is it really?

Article here. Excerpt:

Kesha Sebert [link added] said in a 2011 deposition that her producer never made sexual advances toward her or drugged her, which contradicts what she alleged in a 2014 lawsuit.

TMZ obtained a video of the deposition.

The 28-year-old singer, known simply as Kesha, accused her producer Lukasz Gottwald of emotional and sexual abuse, but a judge recently denied her request to break her contract with Sony that requires her to make four more albums with the label. Kesha alleged Gottwald drugged and raped her 10 years ago.

During a deposition in 2011, however, the singer swore under oath that her producer had never touched her.'

Story here. Excerpt:

'The University of Missouri Board of Curators on Thursday fired a communications professor who was captured on video scrapping with a police officer and a student journalist during campus protests last year.

The board voted 4-2 in favor of firing Assistant Professor of Communication Melissa Click, who had been suspended with pay from the school since Jan. 27.

Click has the right to appeal the termination.

“The board respects Dr. Click’s right to express her views and does not base this decision on her support for students engaged in protest or their views,” said Chairwoman Pam Henrickson, who voted against Click’s termination, in a statement viewed by The Columbia Tribune. “However, Dr. Click was not entitled to interfere with the rights of others, to confront members of law enforcement or to encourage potential physical intimidation against a student.”'

Article here. Excerpt:

'The University of Cincinnati can discriminate against students accused of sexual assault because high schools can punish young men for growing long hair.

That’s one of the claims the public university is making to dismiss an Oct. 19 lawsuit brought by two former students who say they were prejudged in separate proceedings that didn’t follow UC’s own policies.

The lawsuit by the anonymous students – one an undergraduate who has since transferred and the other a recently graduated law student – claims they suffered “sanctions” by the university before investigations even took place, under accuser-friendly “interim measures.”

Article here. Excerpt:

'New York is one of the three states — along with California and Michigan — that have passed these new consent laws. The law requires a clear, affirmative agreement between partners. By stating the consent, it creates a victim’s bill of rights and boosts training for law enforcement, faculty and students.

However, students expressed concern that the new policy is ambiguous and makes it more difficult for those accused of sexual assault to defend themselves. While the legislation may have caused confusion among college campuses, experts say the increase in sexual assault reports reflect an increase in reporting incidents rather than a vague policy.

Article here. Excerpt:

'By a 23 - 15 margin, the Florida Senate has passed Senate Bill 250 that would establish the presumption that equal parenting time is in a child’s best interests. The bill, sponsored by Senator Tom Lee, allows deviation from the equal time standard in a number of different situations, including when parents agree to a different arrangement. Read about it here (Tampa Bay Times, 2/23/16).

"Under current law, judges are supposed to consider 20 criteria and “the best interests of the child” when they write an order. But Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, who sponsored the legislation (SB 250) says the child’s wellbeing is an end goal and that to accomplish that, it’s in the best interests of kids to split time evenly with both parents whenever possible...

“As we look at other child welfare policies that we enact, we always start with the assumption that if it’s in best interest of the child, we want both parents involved and that we want both parents to take responsibility,” said Sen. Don Gaetz, R-Niceville."'

Article here. Excerpt:

'Catharine Lhamon, Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights at the U.S. Department of Education, told a group of college administrators Monday that she would have no reservations about pulling a university's funding if it showed a pattern of mishandling cases of sexual violence on campus.

Lhamon was speaking at a summit on sexual assault hosted at Dartmouth College, one of the 67 colleges and universities currently under investigation by Lhamon's agency over concerns that they did not properly handle sexual violence cases. Colleges are required under the gender equity law Title IX to address sexual assault and harassment on campus. The ultimate punishment for a school violating Title IX is a complete loss of federal funding. No disciplinary procedure has ever gone that far, but Lhamon emphasized that the option is always on the table.

Article here. Excerpt:

'An upcoming comedy festival in New York City is charging different rates for attendees in an apparent effort to check the privilege of straight white men.

The Cinderblock Comedy Festival will be held Sept. 15-18 in the hipster stronghold of Williamsburg, Brooklyn. With the festivities just seven months away, organizers are already urging potential performers to apply to perform.

But the festival has one very notable policy: Currently, only women, non-whites and those who identify as LGBT are allowed to apply for an early-bird price of $19.25. Straight white men, on the other hand, will only be allowed to apply starting March 15, and they’ll have to pay $25 to do so.

Festival director Coree Spencer said the discount was intended to closely match the oft-quoted and oft-criticized statistic that women earn just 77 percent of what men earn.'