On April 28, David Beckmann, 64, of Roselle, Illinois was booked on a host of horrifying charges, including battery and attempted indecent solicitation of a child. But his most bizarre crime? Sexually assaulting a peacock. Before we get into the particulars, can I just start out by saying what everyone is probably thinking: how in the fuck do you sexually abuse a peacock? The bird, named Phyl, was seen alive by neighbors the night before its body was discovered while police were investigating another crime. The exact nature of the sexual abuse has not been revealed by police, as it also allegedly involved the indecent solicitation of a child estimated to be between the ages of 13 and 17. In any case, we now have something new to have nightmares about. [Daily Herald]
Tag Archives: sexual abuse
Lawyer Wants Age Of Consent Lowered To 13 To Stop “Persecution Of Old Men”
Yup, you read that headline right: a British lawyer has called for the age of consent to be lowered to 13 because a dirty old man touching 8th graders’ boobs should be totally OK.
London lawyer Barbara Hewson penned an impassioned piece for a contrarian British publication called Spiked in which she wrote about the Jimmy Savile trial, or Operation Yewtree. Simply put, Yewtree investigated multiple allegations that a late British TV host had sexually abused many, many underage girls and boys. The whole trial has reignited concerns in the UK about adult sexual abuse of children and young adults
But now Hewson — A WOMAN!— is concerned that the UK is conducting its own witch hunt, falsely accusing adult men of being sexual predators. ”[T]he goings-on at the BBC in past decades are not a patch on what Stead exposed. Taking girls to one’s dressing room, bottom pinching and groping in cars hardly rank in the annals of depravity with flogging and rape in padded rooms,” she wites. “Touching a 17-year-old’s breast, kissing a 13-year-old, or putting one’s hand up a 16-year-old’s skirt, are not remotely comparable” to rape or gang rapes. And since that’s supposedly the only really bad way a young woman can be violated, she now advocates that they “remove complainant anonymity; introduce a strict statute of limitations for criminal prosecutions and civil actions; and reduce the age of consent to 13.” Keep reading »
Facebook Page Run By Active Marines Mocks Violence Against Female Troops
Rape In Military
Defense Secretary vows to take sexual assault in the military seriously. Read More »
A Facebook page run by active Marines mocking violence against female troops has been taken down after it was publicly outed by a Congresswoman. Rep. Jackie Speier (D-CA) penned a letter to the Secretary of Defense and the commander of the Marine Corps asking them to take action on the page, F’N Wook, which showed pictures of women with disrespectful, sexist, and violent captions. “Many of the pictures imply women only advance professionally by performing sexual favors,” Rep. Speier wrote in her letter. “And otherwise promote the idea that women are inferior and only useful as sexual objects and sandwich makers.” One showed a picture of three female Marines with the caption, “Lesbian … still goes down on gunny for promotion.” Another showed a servicewoman with a black eye and the caption, “She burned the bacon only once.” Keep reading »
Donald Trump Helpfully Reminds Us All Men Are Rapists, Always
Just in case you thought that men should be expected to obtain consent from women before engaging in sexual behavior with them, bigoted blowhard Donald Trump is here to remind you all men are rapists, always. Why else would 26,000 service members have reported experiencing [second item] “unwanted sexual contact” last year? It’s because, Trump tweeted, men and women have never, ever worked alongside each other in coed workplaces without men raping their colleagues. In a followup tweet Trump — who, correct me if I’m wrong, attended a military high school but has never served a day in the actual military, unlike actual women in combat — said “top military brass” didn’t want “a mixer.” But “dumb politicians” just had to endanger these vulnerable women at the hands of all the rapists in uniform. Sorry, ladies. Rape away, dudes — I know you can’t help yourselves. [Examiner]
Elizabeth Smart Felt Like “Chewed Up Piece Of Gum” After Rapes
“I thought, ‘Oh, my gosh, I’m that chewed up piece of gum, nobody re-chews a piece of gum, you throw it away.’ And that’s how easy it is to feel like you no longer have worth, you no longer have value. Why would it even be worth screaming out? Why would it even make a difference if you are rescued? Your life still has no value. … [Kids should know] you will always have value and nothing can change that.”
– Elizabeth Smart, who was kidnapped at 14, held captive and raped for nine months, spoke recently at Johns Hopkins University on a forum about human trafficking. Here she is explaining why she didn’t run after her captor raped her, which he did daily during her entire ordeal. As the now-25-year-old told Johns Hopkins, she was raised in a religious family and had learned from abstinence-only education that a person whose virginity has been ‘sullied’ is worthless. Her mention of chewing gum is not random: A popular teaching in abstinence-only education, “the gum game,” is to compare people to chewing gum: a person who has had multiple partners is just like dirty, grimy gum that’s been chewed over and over again by multiple people. It’s a way of teaching children to feel ashamed and guilty about sex. And while positing sex before marriage as “slutty” could mess up anyone, for rape victims like Elizabeth Smart, it’s enough to make someone feel like worthless trash. [Christian Science Monitor] [Photo: Getty]
Serial Groper Gets Off Scot-Free, Because That’s How We Do
Legs Filmed On Subway
Some creep is filming videos of your legs on the subway for YouTube. Read More »
Oh, FFS, America. Last year, New York City was captivated by the tale of the good-looking, really well-dressed, white man — totally the kind of guy who want to bring home to your bubbe — who was sexually assaulting women in public. The man the tabloids called the “Gentleman Groper” was later fingered as a lawyer named Paul Kraft, who plead guilty to groping or taking crotch shots of numerous women in wealthy neighborhoods like the Upper East Side or the Financial District. Here are some creepy examples of stuff he did. Gross, right? Well, you’ll be … surprised … to hear he’s gotten off without jail time. Keep reading »
Michigan High School Covers Up Sexual Assault To Protect Star Basketball Player
In yet another case of a school valuing athletic prowess over student safety and justice, a Michigan high school has just been sued by the National Women’s Law Center for failing to respond to a sexual attack on school grounds–because the perpetrator happened to be a star player on the basketball team.
The chilling story goes like this: in 2010, a female student (Jane Doe) was sexually assaulted in Forest Hills Central High School’s soundproof band room by a well-known member of the boy’s basketball team. Jane reported the attack to a teacher, who alerted the school principal. The principal held a meeting with Jane and her parents, not to offer the school’s help in bringing Jane’s attacker to justice, but to discourage them from pressing charges. Why? To protect the young man’s chances of getting recruited to a top college team, of course! (Because if Steubenville taught us anything, it’s that there’s nothing more important than protecting the promising futures of young rapists.) Keep reading »
Guy Accused Of Sexual Misconduct At College, So His Mom Pens Victim-Blaming Wall Street Journal Op-Ed
CDC Sex Assault Data
Adolescent girls and preteen boys are at the highest risk for sexual assault. Read More »
The Wall Street Journal is about as publicity stunt-y as The New York Times’ Style section in terms of publishing articles guaranteed to kick up a fuss. But the WSJ, being owned by Rupert Murdoch’s NewsCorp (Fox News, etc.), leads with a conservative slant. This week’s case-in-point is an op-ed by lawyer Judith Grossman, whose son was accused of vaguely stated sexual misconduct by an ex-girlfriend at his college and subjected to a messy campus tribunal process.
You can read the entire piece here, but the summarized version is that her son was accused by an ex-girlfriend of “nonconsensual sex,” as Grossman puts it, “that supposedly occurred during the course of their relationship a few years earlier.” She then describes the “nightmare” her son and family endured through the college’s tribunal process. Her son was given written notice of the charges against him from the campus Title IX officer, listed in “a barrage of vague statements.” Writes Grossman, “The letter lacked even the most basic information about the acts alleged to have happened years before. Nor were the allegations supported by any evidence other than the word of the ex-girlfriend.” During the two-hour tribunal process, her son was grilled by the campus. Eventually the charges against him were dismissed — an outcome, Grossman implies, attributed to the fact he has a lawyer for a mother who was able to advise him on how to handle it. Keep reading »
Today’s Lady News: Three Teen Boys Arrested, Charged With Rape, After Suicide Of Audrie Pott
- Three teen boys in California have been arrested and charged with the sexual assault of Audrie Pott, a 15-year-old girl, who committed suicide after pictures of the rape were posted online. Audrie was raped while passed out at a party in September 2012. The images were posted online and she killed herself eight days later. When will it end??? [People]
- An editorial in USA Today suggested that the “left-wing” media has completely ignored the case of Philadelphia abortion provider Kermit Gosnell, who abused his patients. The reality, though, is that the media hasn’t ignored the story at all. [Salon]
- Rep. Paul Ryan, a former Republican vice presidential nominee in the 2012 campaign, said he wants a country where abortion is “outlawed,” continuing, “We want a country where it isn’t even considered.” [Huffington Post] Keep reading »
True Story: I Worked As A High-End Stripper
Mom Hired Strippers
World's best/worst mom hired strippers for her son's 16th birthday party. Read More »
“What do you feel about going topless?” he asked me over the phone. I hesitantly replied, “Well, I guess I’m okay with it. But will they be able to touch my boobs?” There was an awkward pause on the other end of the line. “Yes, but you’ll never have to do anything more. I promise.”
A few days earlier, I’d been scanning Craigslist for part-time gigs and came across an ad that seemed too good to be true: “Beautiful college girls sought for nightclub modeling. Receive up to $1000/night. Email pics.” I answered and said that I was a 21-year-old student and attached some cheesy iPhoto shots.
It was January of my senior year of college in New York, and I was completely and utterly broke. I had been doing freelance work to keep me afloat, but things started to go downhill in December, when I only made $600 for the entire month — not even enough to cover my rent. On a cold night I huddled in the school’s library, answered every student job posting I could find and scanned Craigslist. Five minutes after answering the nightclub post, I received a response from a guy named Bob. He wanted me to call him. I ducked outside and dialed the number he sent me. Keep reading »
