Tag Archives: rape
Today’s Lady News: 15-Year-Old Girl Gang Raped After Homecoming Dance
Are Date-Rape Drugs An Urban Myth?
“Date-rape drugs are largely an urban myth used as an excuse by women who booze themselves into a stupor, it has been claimed.”
That’s the first line from an article in today’s Daily Mail, about a new study out of the University of Kent that suggests many women mistake being drunk for being drugged. Of course, there’s more to this story than the “journalists” at the Daily Mail would have you believe. For starters, it’s not that women are using “I was drugged!” as a way of excusing bad drunken behavior, but rather than they may be confusing the side effects of being intoxicated — nausea, dizziness, etc. — with those associated with being roofied. Additionally, a far more comprehensive article in the Telegraph quotes Adam Burgess, of Kent’s School of Social Policy, Sociology and Social Research, as saying, “Young women appear to be displacing their anxieties about the consequences of consuming what is in the bottle on to rumors of what could be put there by someone else.” Keep reading »
Evil Insurance Companies Are Dropping Coverage For Women Who’ve Been Raped
Last week, the Huffington Post made our blood boil when they reported on a horrifying trend—that insurance companies are denying benefits for women who’ve been raped, and even dropping their coverage altogether. How can they get away with such a thing? Because, when a woman is raped and it’s unknown whether the assailant used a condom, doctors typically prescribe a month’s worth of an anti-HIV medication (which, uh, I didn’t even know existed) as a precaution. It’s extremely rare that a woman actually contracts HIV this way, but insurance companies view this as a morbid done deal. Susan Pisano, a spokeswoman for the health insurance industry’s largest trade group, America’s Health Insurance Plans, explains, “If you put down on a form that you are or were taking anti-HIV drugs at any time, [insurance companies] are going to understand that you are or were in treatment for HIV, period. That could be a factor in determining whether you get coverage.” Keep reading »
New York State Rape Kits Get DNA Upgrade
We’re definitely in the DNA age, people. You only need to tune into the paternity-testing “The Maury Show” or a crime show marathon to know that. So it’s about time New York state gives its rape testing kits, which were first introduced in emergency rooms 20 years ago, a DNA upgrade. Today, state officials are slated to reveal the new kits, which also include instructions on collecting evidence from male victims and a training video narrated by Mariska Hargitay (because her role as a detective on “Law & Order: SVU” has made her an expert). Developers from St. Luke’s and Roosevelt Hospitals in NYC say they have learned what works and what doesn’t over the years and the new kit is more comprehensive. Now, the kits provide special envelopes and swabs to collect an attacker’s bodily fluids or other evidence left behind that might contain DNA. The kits also provide information for health professionals to deal with male victims, which is a good thing since the ratio of male sexual assault victims in New York is much higher than the national ratio of one in eight. [NY Post]
I have to say I’m slightly shocked the old rape kits weren’t this comprehensive. I thought the whole point of a rape kit was to collect DNA. Keep reading »
Is Rape Still A Crime If The Rapist Was Sleepwalking?
OK, this story is literally a nightmare. Nick Walker, a 21-year-old student at The Royal Academy of Dramatic Arts in London, went out drinking with some friends, including a 21-year-old girl who was visiting for the weekend. As the night wound down, they all passed out at the friend’s apartment where she was staying. This poor girl woke up in the middle of the night when she felt a “weird sensation.” She found that all of her clothes had been removed and that Nick was on top of her. Nick has no physical memory of any of this—he left the next morning without a word to the victim and later friend-requested her on Facebook, as if nothing happened. When she pressed charges, he was shocked and says that if he did rape her, he must have been sleepwalking. He admitted that this has happened to him before with his own girlfriend. Ack! How awful for everyone involved. Still, whether it was a conscious act or not, the fact remains that this poor girl was raped. Who pays for the crime? Is it fair that this guy should have been cleared of the rape charges? [Daily Mail] Keep reading »
Today’s Lady News: Roman Polanski Isn’t So Into This “Jail” Thing
Cell Phone Photos Of Guinea Soldiers Raping Women Go Viral
Depressing story alert! An ultra disturbing article in today’s New York Times looks at how military officers in Conakry, Guinea attacked unarmed demonstrators last week. Their main order of business seemed to be sexually assaulting the group’s women. Sadly, experts say this is business as usual in Africa. But what is new is that in Guinea, where cell phones are rapidly outnumbering land line phones, the protesters-turned-victims sent out cell phone photos of rapes in progress by uniformed soldiers. The atrocities were broadcast around Guinea, and then around the world—possibly before the violence even ended. Keep reading »
Chris Rock On Polanski: “It’s Rape!”
I’ve been getting increasingly pissy about the lack of celebrities speaking out against Roman Polanski compared to those — like Whoopi Goldberg — who’ve been making lame excuses for him raping a 13-year-old girl and evading jail time. But not Chris Rock! The comic was on “Jay Leno” last night, promoting his new movie, “Good Hair,” and he let his mouth run on the subject. Clip above! Keep reading »
What The Hell Is “Rape-Rape”?
We’ve already posted about Roman Polanski being arrested this weekend for that decades-old “sex with a minor” conviction, but after watching the ladies of “The View” argue over the issue this morning, I felt compelled to write more. For starters, in the clip above, Whoopi Goldberg, who I never expected to be a rape apologist, coins a term I’ve never heard before — “rape-rape.” Apparently “rape-rape” is NOT when you drug a 13-year-old girl with alcohol and a Quaalude and then have anal sex with her. That’s something else that’s, apparently, not as bad. WTF? Keep reading »
Should Roman Polanski Have Been Arrested For A Crime That Happened 32 Years Ago?
In 1977, director Roman Polanski was at Jack Nicholson’s house in Hollywood during a photo shoot. He met a young model named Samantha Geimer, who was only 13 at the time, gave her champagne and half a Quaalude and then allegedly raped her. Polanski was arrested and plead guilty to having sex with a minor, and served 42 days in state prison for what a judge termed “pre-sentencing diagnostic testing.” When he was released, he fled to France to avoid facing charges and potential further sentencing. He’s lived in France for the past 32 years, where he is a citizen and cannot be extradited, and has continued to direct films—including “The Pianist” which won him an Academy Award for Best Director and Best Picture. Polanski has never returned to the U.S., and has mostly avoided traveling to countries where he could be arrested. But on Saturday, as he arrived in Switzerland to speak at the Zurich Film Festival, he was picked up by Swiss officials bearing a U.S. arrest warrant.
Keep reading »
