Tag Archives: sexual assault

Evil Insurance Companies Are Dropping Coverage For Women Who’ve Been Raped

Kate Torgovnick/Kate-Book.comOctober 27, 2009 //


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 »

Real Panic At The Disco: 13-Year-Old Sexually Assaulted At A School Dance

Ami AngelowiczOctober 19, 2009 //

Faculty and students at Wellington College, a public boarding high school in the U.K., are doing anything but discoing after a school dance went terribly wrong last week. During the “Rumble in the Jungle” dance, two 15-year-old boys allegedly held down a 13-year-old girl (whose identity is being withheld) and performed a sex act on her while other students watched. Anyone else wondering where the chaperones were? Even more shocking to me: the parents of the girl are refusing to press charges, deciding to leave the incident for the school to take care of. What?!? Keep reading »

11 Rape Prevention Tips For Rapists

Jessica WakemanSeptember 18, 2009 //

Most of us who’ve lived in a college dormitory before have had that sexual assault prevention lecture from campus security that’s basically, like, “Women! Cross your legs!” I guess society thinks it’s easier to just make women protect themselves, rather than changing men’s behavior, hence, advice like “cover your drinks so you don’t get roofied” and “don’t walk walk home alone at night.”

You could just stay in your dorm room all year, girls.

Yeah, “rape prevention” advice that makes women have to be on the ball with our behavior all the time is damn annoying. So I’m thrilled a blogger at No, Not You, who did a college RA training last month, wrote up 11 handy-dandy sexual assault prevention tips FOR MEN. Keep reading »

Don’t Be This Guy: The Creepy “Georgetown Cuddler”

Jessica WakemanSeptember 2, 2009 //

Ew, this is every woman’s worst nightmare happening in real life: a creepy man dubbed “The Georgetown Cuddler” is going around D.C. college campuses, breaking into dorm rooms, and climbing on top of sleeping women. Last week, a female Georgetown student woke up at 4 a.m. to find a stranger in her home touching her inappropriately, just two days after another student woke up with a man believed to be the Cuddler lying next to her on the couch and covering her face. Apparently, this creep also likes to take a blanket from the victim’s bedroom, lay it on top of her, and then he lies on top of the blanket, too. Oh, and occasionally he tries to rape his victims “with varying success.” The Sexist blog, based in D.C., suggested more appropriate names for this creep could be “The Georgetown Entry-Gainer,” “The Georgetown Blanketlayer” or “The Georgetown Rapist.” Gross. Hopefully, some girl bonks this guy on the head with her vibe so police can catch the perv.

Alas, I know exactly how freaky this is, because the weirdo-in-my-bed thing actually happened to me once. Not with the Georgetown Cuddler, though. More, after the jump… Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Attorneys Want Woman To Reenact Alleged Rape In The Courtroom

Jessica WakemanAugust 25, 2009 //
  • Attorneys for a man accused of raping an Ohio woman have asked the victim to reenact the alleged rape on the bed she was allegedly raped on. In the courtroom. In front of the jury. The attorneys say they believe semen stains on the bed would not match up with the physical positions the victim says her body was in when she was raped. Instead, sheet stains would prove Charles H. Nguyen and his alleged victim had consensual sex several times and the jury could use a visual aid to drive the point home. [Athens News] — Oh, this just makes me want to scream.

    • Keep reading »

    Today’s Lady News: Magician David Copperfield Accused Of Rape

    Jessica WakemanAugust 20, 2009 //
  • A 22-year-old woman claims that magician David Copperfield raped her, sexually assaulted her repeatedly, and threatened her on his private island in Musha Cay, Bahamas in 2007. The alleged victim said one of his assistants brought her backstage at a magic show and she was then invited to Copperfield’s private island for work that might lead to “modeling opportunities.” She allegedly was then trapped in Musha Cay for two days with Copperfield while she was sexually assaulted and threatened with death unless she kept quiet. Copperfield’s lawyers say he is innocent and called the lawsuit extortion. [NY Post] — How long before a tabloid newspaper makes the obvious, “Can David Copperfield Make Those Rape Accusations Disappear?” joke?

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    Lady News: Hotel Says Woman Was Negligent In Her Own Rape

    Jessica WakemanAugust 14, 2009 //
    • After a 40-year-old woman was sexually assaulted at gunpoint in the hotel’s parking garage in front of her two kids, Marriott Hotel & Spa in Stamford, CT, has responded to a lawsuit by the victim by saying she “failed to exercise due care for her own safety and the safety of her children and proper use of her senses and facilities.” The victim claimed her attacker, Gary Fricker, 56, had acted suspiciously in the hotel and garage for days prior to the attack, but the hotel says they had not been warned about any suspicious behavior by the man. [Greenwich Time]—This is an all-too-familiar story.

      • Keep reading »

    Woman Faked Her Own Kidnapping To Cheat

    Jessica WakemanAugust 13, 2009 //

    A cheating Guatemalan woman faked her own kidnapping in Barcelona, so she could keep cheating with her Spanish lover. Ay carumba! Mark Sanford, are you taking notes? A woman in Spain texted her hubby in Guatemala that she’d been kidnapped, sexually assaulted, and held against her will with other kidnappees. In truth, the two-timer was boning a guy she met online. Her worried hubby alerted the Embassy of Spain in Guatemala, who called cops in Spain. Police found her in Barcelona, where she claimed she’d escaped her captors. However, when a medical examination found she had no injuries befitting a rape or kidnapping, the woman admitted the whole charade. And she did it all for a little nookie on the side. [Barcelona Reporter, Euro Weekly] Keep reading »

    Christina Hendricks Of “Mad Men” Is Surprised, Saddened, By Responses To Joan’s Rape

    Jessica WakemanAugust 4, 2009 //

    If there’s one thing Mad Men fans know about the show, it is that nothing happens by accident. So I’m sure creator Matt Weiner intended Joan Holloway‘s rape at the hands of her douche-y doctor fiancé to make a point: in the 1960s, the concept of “date rape” did not exist and people scarcely spoke openly about rape.

    But even though it’s 2009 now, Christina Hendricks, the actress who plays Joan, has noticed the point still appears to be lost on people. Hendricks told New York magazine:

    “What’s astounding is when people say things like, ‘Well, you know that episode where Joan sort of got raped?’ Or they say rape and use quotation marks with their fingers. ‘I’m like, ‘What is that you are doing? Joan got raped!’ It illustrates how similar people are today, because we’re still questioning whether it’s a rape. It’s almost like, ‘Why didn’t you just say bad date?’ ”

    “Sort of got raped”? How does one “sort of” get raped? Is that like being a little pregnant?
    Keep reading »

    Today’s Lady News: Pittsburgh Steelers QB Accused Of Sexual Assault

    Jessica WakemanJuly 21, 2009 //
    • “Big Ben” Ben Roethlisberger, the Pittsburgh Steelers QB and Super Bowl-winner, has been accused of sexual assault by a woman in Nevada. The accuser is a casino employee who says he assaulted her last year after she came upstairs to fix a TV in his hotel suite. [NY Post] — Uh, oh. Will this be the Kobe circus redux?
    • A female construction worker in New York City is suing JP Morgan Chance and others for sexual harassment to the tune of $20 million. She says they did not adequately respond to her when she complained about being groped and propositioned by a coworker. [NY Daily News]
    • The vote on Sonia Sotomayor‘s confirmation to the Supreme Court is expected to take place on July 28, and she would be confirmed shortly afterward. The court is supposed to reconvene in early September. [Washington Post]

    Keep reading »

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