Tag Archives: violence against women

Fox News Lady Who Claimed Women Should “Expect” Rape In Military Blames Feminists, New York Times

Jessica WakemanFebruary 20, 2012 //

Liz Trotta of Fox News made a WTF comment. Read More »

Marine To Fox News

Sexual assault should not be part of her job. Read More »

Military Sister

My brother joined the armed forces. Read More »

Fox News contributer Liz Trotta would like to clear up a few things. First of all, when she spoke on the Pentagon’s decision to officially open up more combat positions to women and said women in the military should “expect” to be raped by their male comrades, she “certainly did not” mean all military men. Just most of them! Okay, okay, just some of them. Well, that part isn’t clear either. The point is, men have testosterone, “testosterone rules,” ipso facto, testosterone makes men rape-y. Whatcha gonna do?

But anyway, this discussion is all besides the point. The real focus of our ire here should not be on Liz Trotta, Liz Trotta says. It should be on feminists and The New York Times.

Oh, if only I were making this up. Keep reading »

Former Marine To Fox News: Sexual Assault Should Not Be Part Of My Job

Winona Dimeo-EdigerFebruary 17, 2012 //

Today's Lady News

Liz Trotta of Fox News made a WTF comment. Read More »

Military Sister

My brother joined the armed forces. Read More »

Women In Combat

Rick Santorum frets your ladylike "emotions" are bad for combat. Read More »

Violent sexual assaults in the military have increased by 64 percent since 2006, according to a recent Pentagon report. Let me repeat that number: 64 percent.

But few days ago, Fox News contributor Liz Trotta made it clear she doesn’t consider this to be a valid problem. “Now, what did they expect? These people are in close contact,” said Trotta, who also dismissed the Pentagon’s new support programs for sexual assault victims as a waste of money: “I thought the mission of the armed forces was to defend and protect us, not the people who are fighting the war.”

Ex-Marine Sarah Albertson is not having it. Albertson, who served as a Security, Governance, and Economics Analyst in the USMC from 2003 to 2008, wrote an open letter responding to Trotta’s inflammatory remarks and has created a Change.org petition calling for Fox News to fire her. Says Albertson: “Nowhere in my enlistment contract, not even in the fine print, did I agree to sexual assault as a part of the job.”

Click here to sign the petition, and read the full text of Albertson’s letter after the jump. Keep reading »

18-Year-Old Woman Raped & Beaten By As Many As 6 Men In Chicago

Jessica WakemanJanuary 3, 2012 //

An 18-year-old woman was raped and beaten by as many as six men on New Year’s Eve in Chicago. The young woman, described by the Chicago Sun-Times as a Highland Park High School senior from the suburbs, went to a concert by British DJ “Rusko” at the Congress Theater and was turned away because she had no ID. Security cameras caught the woman inside a Mexican restaurant walking away with six young men. The woman was found naked, beaten and bleeding at 9:30 p.m. that night. On Sunday morning, she was listed in critical condition and in a coma. Keep reading »

Facebook Pulls Some (But Not All) Rape Jokes

Jessica WakemanNovember 10, 2011 //

Rape Jokes On Facebook

Joking about raping women is cool with Facebook. Read More »

Penn State Abuse

Reactions to the Penn State sexual abuse against boys is galling. Read More »

Paterno Fired

The students who are protesting need a reality check. Read More »

On November 2, feminist activists organized together to protest Facebook’s refusal to remove pages that contained jokes about rape and violence against women from their site. Facebook’s Terms of Service bans language that is “hateful, threatening,” or contains “graphic or gratuitous violence” — which you will quickly find out if you make a “joke” about, say, dragging a black man behind a pickup truck. And if you post pics of yourself breastfeeding or anything just “too sexy,” like Courtney Stodden did, you’re in trouble. But Facebook rationalizes that their Terms of Service doesn’t include “jokes” of hate, threats, or gratuitous violence against women — because those are joke-jokes, right, bro?

The progressive web site Change.org collected 188,000 signatures asking Facebook to ban rape jokes and jokes about violence against women. Throughout the day on November 2, activists tweeted the names of offensive pages like “We’re gonna have sex tonight” “Why?” “Because im stronger than you are” to the @Facebook handle on Twitter. And finally — finally! — Facebook listened and responded.

Sort of. Keep reading »

Protest Today Against Facebook’s Rape Jokes

Jessica WakemanNovember 2, 2011 //

There’s a lot of dodginess on Facebook (status “updates” from your sister’s fetus, hello) but there’s one thing we cannot tacitly approve by ignoring — rape jokes such as:

“Kicking Sluts in the Vagina”
“Whats 10 inches and gets girls to have sex with me? my knife”
“I know a silly little bitch that needs a good slap”
“We’re gonna have sex tonight” “Why?” “Because im stronger than you are”

Yes, some immature, insensitive people post rape jokes or create pages with themes about raping, stabbing, or threatening their girlfriends and moms. That hate speech is bad enough, but alas, you are allowed under the First Amendment to be a douchebag.

The real question is, though, why is Facebook permitting jokes about sexual violence? Keep reading »

Quickies: Suri Cruise Has Better Shoes Than You Do & Kanye West’s Decapitated “Monster” Model Speaks

Jessica WakemanJune 10, 2011 //

In addition to these cutie-patootie galoshes, Star magazine claims Suri Cruise, age four, has a pair of mini Louboutin heels and several pairs of Marc Jacobs shoes. Let that sink in for a sec. [DListed]
Sean Penn allegedly told Scarlett Johansson she better go back to college, take a political science course, and better educate herself if she’s going to speak out about politics. That’s so douchey! I’ve never heard ScarJo say anything dumb about politics. She reportedly got dumped by him, but I’d be willing to bet it was the other way around. [Celebitchy]
Kanye West may have defiled the maidenhood of an Olsen twin. Rumor has it he was seen canoodling Mary-Kate Olsen, who is the “bad” one. This would be the weirdest couple ever. [Stuff NZ]
“The Undefeated,” a pro-Sarah Palin documentary, is getting a nationwide release. But first it has some salty language in it that needs to be cleaned up first. What would a hockey mom say? [NYMag.com]

Keep reading »

Sarah Palin Lashes Out At Media After Gabrielle Giffords Shooting In Tucson

Jessica WakemanJanuary 12, 2011 //

Sarah Palin has lashed out at critics who say her at-times violence-tinged political rhetoric influenced Jared Lee Loughner, the man who shot 14 people this weekend in Tuscon, Arizona, including Rep. Gabrielle Giffords. “After the shocking tragedy, I listened puzzled, then with concern, and now with sadness, to the irresponsible statements of those attempting to apportion blame for this terrible event,” Palin said. “President Reagan said we must reject the idea that every time a law is broken, society is guilty rather than the lawbreaker. It is time to restore the American precept that each individual is accountable for his actions. Acts of monstrous criminality stand on their own. They begin and end with the criminals who commit them, not collectively with all the citizens of a state, not with those who listen to talk radio, not with maps of swing district used by both sides of the aisle, not with law-abiding citizens who respectfully exercise their first amendment rights at campaign rallies, and not with those who proudly voted in the last election.” Keep reading »

Today’s Lady News: Remembering Christina Green, 9, Victim Of Tucson Shooting

Jessica WakemanJanuary 11, 2011 //

A remembrance of Tucson, Arizona shooting victim, nine-year-old Christina Green, who had recently won a seat on her student council and just wanted to meet her local politician, Gabrielle Giffords. (Randomly, Christina is the cousin of “One Tree Hill” actress Sophia Bush.) [Ms. Magazine]
Miss England beauty queen Katrina Hodge is deploying for her second tour in Afghanistan. [Styleite]
The abortion rate has stalled after 30 years in decline, according to a new study by the Guttmacher Institute, which collects data on reproductive rights. Also, drug-induced (i.e., medical) abortions with RU-486 are on the rise. [Reuters]

Keep reading »

Rep. Gabrielle Giffords Shot In The Head In Tucson, Arizona

Jessica WakemanJanuary 8, 2011 //

Gabrielle Giffords, a congresswoman from Arizona, was shot in the head this morning outside a Safeway grocery store in Tucson, Arizona, by a white male in his mid-20s. Witnesses said she and members of her staff were greeting the public when a gunman approached her from behind and shot into her head. He reportedly fired about 20 rounds; approximately 12 others were injured in the shooting. A staffer tackled the young gunman, who has been taken into custody. Rep. Giffords, 40, a Democrat, has been in office since January 2007. In March, her Tucson office had been vandalized right before the health care reform vote; her office spokesperson said she received “nasty and rude and hateful comments” at the time as well. She was recently elected to a third term. NPR and CNN have reported that Giffords died, but as of 3:20 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, her husband, an astronaut named Mark Kelly, had confirmed to a local TV station that she is still alive. Our thoughts go out to Gabrielle Giffords’ family and loved ones.

[New York Times]
[ABC News] Keep reading »

Kanye’s Leaked “Monster” Video: Sexy Dead Girls, Decapitated Heads, And Other Violence Against Women

Jessica WakemanDecember 30, 2010 //

Kanye West‘s unfinished video for “Monster” has leaked online and it’s a disgusting display of gratuitously sexy dead women. In the opening shot, dead women in lingerie hang from nooses made of chains; the camera lingers on one’s stiletto heels. In a later scene, Kanye lies in bed with two lifeless models, moving one’s hand to her crotch like a rag doll. Later, Jay-Z raps with a woman lying lifeless on a couch behind him, ass up, and the camera lingers on her red patent leather f**k-me heels. But the most disgusting part of the video is when Kanye raps while holding a dead woman’s severed head in his hand. Keep reading »