Photos from demonstrations against sexual assault in Cairo

This collection is dedicated to our white male "allies" who chivalrously try to rescue the women they orientalize. 

Sexual abuse is the abuse of power - Rape and age difference

Excerpted from, "I Was 12, He Was 20 -- So Why Did Everyone Blame Me for Our Sexual Relationship?" by Jillian Lauren

I realized that regardless of what this girl asked for, if someone eight years her senior touched her, I would unreservedly call it sexual abuse. In that case my politics and my emotions would have no quarrel at all. 

So that is what I will call it. Feelings around abusive dynamics are often complex and ambiguous, but that doesn’t lessen the impact in the lives of the victims. I was abused. And I liked it, some of the time. I loved him, certainly. But that doesn’t change the fact that I have lived with it for the rest of my life and I couldn’t possibly have foreseen the extent of the reverberations. That is meant to be the job of the adults in the equation.

Rape is not a sex act, rape is an exercise of power and domination.

In memory of Black girls killed for not submitting to rape culture

Adilah Gaither - wouldn't give out her phone number, shot

Mildred Beaubrun - wouldn't give out her phone number, shot

Tanganika Stanton - wouldn't give away her food demanded by a stranger, shot

Sakia Gunn - rejected harassers in a car, stabbed

From the blog "What About Our Daughters"

Sexual violence, toxic masculinities, and el movimiento: The hidden injuries and fears that suffocate us

Excerpt from the blog "mexmigration: History and Politics of Mexican Immigration".

The ugly, reactionary, brutal, and thoroughly machista response to the NACCS letter of inquiry set in motion a wave of other vicious attacks and threats against NACCS– including personal hate mail directed at me, and a threat to sue our organization for libel and slander. Such a lawsuit, had it gone through and regardless of the outcome, would have pushed NACCS into turmoil and could have been the end of the organization as we know it. We were advised by volunteer legal counsel not to pursue the matter any further until and only if the young woman who was raped made the this violence public and filed a police report and complaint. We were effectively silenced by the threats posed by this system of institutional violence. The legal apparatus had shackled us. I am still enraged by this course of events. 

[...]

Shortly after the NACCS letter was leaked, the lawyer for Ari Palos sent us a letter threatening a lawsuit for libel, slander, and actual and compensatory damages. He alleged that we were jeopardizing his client’s prospects and profits. In that letter Mr. Palos showed absolutely no concern for the women in his film. He appeared completely dedicated to his own self-interest and pecuniary advantages. Our view was that he had usurped the voices and experiences of the Arizona youth at the heart of our movement and then simply abandoned them to the turmoil you will read about in the following passages and posts. Sinvergüenzas.

Rapists Are Serial Predators

Excerpts from "Understanding the Predatory Nature of Sexual Violence"
David Lisak, Ph.D.

[...]

When compared to men who do not rape, these undetected rapists are measurably more angry at women, more motivated by the need to dominate and control women, more  impulsive and disinhibited in their behavior, more hyper-masculine in their beliefs and attitudes, less empathic and more antisocial.

These undetected rapists:

• are extremely adept at identifying “likely” victims, and testing prospective victims’ boundaries;
• plan and premeditate their attacks, using sophisticated strategies to groom their victims for attack, and to isolate them physically;
• use “instrumental” not gratuitous violence; they exhibit strong impulse control and use only as much violence as is needed to terrify and coerce their victims into submission;
• use psychological weapons – power, control, manipulation, and threats – backed up by physical force, and almost never resort to weapons such as knives or guns;
• use alcohol deliberately to render victims more vulnerable to attack, or completely unconscious.

[...]

In a study of 1,882 university men conducted in the Boston area, 120 rapists were identified. These 120 undetected rapists were responsible for 483 rapes. Of the 120 rapists, 44 had committed a single rape, while 76 (63% of them) were serial rapists who accounted for 439 of the 483 rapes. These 76 serial rapists had also committed more than 1,000 other crimes of violence, from nonpenetrating acts of sexual assault, to physical and sexual abuse of children, to battery of domestic partners. None of these undetected rapists had been prosecuted for these crimes.

The implications of the research on undetected rapists – research that has largely focused on men in college environments – point to the similarity of these offenders to incarcerated rapists. They share the same motivational matrix of hostility, anger, dominance, hyper-masculinity, impulsiveness and antisocial attitudes. They have many of the same developmental antecedents. They tend to be serial offenders, and most of them commit a variety of different interpersonal offenses. They are accurately and appropriately labeled as predators.

This picture conflicts sharply with the widely-held view that rapes committed on university campuses are typically the result of a basically “decent” young man who, were it not for too much alcohol and too little communication, would never do such a thing. While some campus rapes do fit this more benign view, the evidence points to a far less benign reality, in which the vast majority of rapes are committed by serial, violent predators.

This less benign reality has potentially significant implications for how universities deal with sexual violence within their community. Prevention efforts geared toward persuading men not to rape are very unlikely to be effective. Lessons can be drawn from many decades of experience in sex offender  treatment, which have demonstrated that it is extremely difficult to change the behavior of a serial predator even when you incarcerate him and subject him to an intensive, multi-year program. Rather than focusing prevention efforts on the rapists, it would seem far more effective to focus those efforts on the far more numerous bystanders – men and women who are part of the social and cultural milieu in which rapes are spawned and who can be mobilized to identify perpetrators and intervene in high-risk situations.  [Emphasis added -C.S.]

Amherst College students fight back

Beautiful photos of survivors confronting rape at Amherst College.

Solidarity and love for "It Happens Here", rape fighters at Amherst.

At a university of 20,000 students, approximately one woman will be raped by a classmate each day.

University of California student activists and union organizers won't remain silent

UC activists and student-worker union members call for an end to sexual violence and rape culture in organizing spaces: http://notremainsilent.wordpress.com/

"When groups shield those who are called out this sends a message to all people in the group that perpetrators of sexual violence will face no consequences and that they will be able to freely continue their lives without interruption. This message makes the group especially hostile to women, LGBT people, and survivors, who will likely be more afraid of coming forward with their own stories. When groups shield those called out it also signals to perpetrators of sexual violence that their actions are tacitly endorsed by the group, which normalizes and promotes further sexual violence. When groups protect those called out, they prioritize the comfort, freedom, and work of the perpetrator over all others’. In doing so, they act in contradiction with their stated commitment to justice and liberation. We do not see any possibility of building labor movements or movements for social emancipation with groups that refuse to fully address and respond to accusations of sexual violence; that do not actively oppose gender and sexual oppression; and that push to the margins women, LGBT people, and survivors of sexual violence. The stakes are too high; we will not remain silent."

Please sign using the above link if you agree.

UCLA Frat Boy Assaults and Attempts to Murder Woman (Just Another Friday)

Reposted from Radio Rahim

UCLA Sigma Chi Fraternity archive photo

This is an old photo from UCLA fraternity Sigma Chi, which is just up the street from where a UCLA fraternity member attempted to rape a woman at a party on Friday, March 9th (International Women’s Day, no less). Though the fraternities will insist that this as an unfortunate one-time occurrence, and the university will reiterate its principles of community and commitment to safety until it is blue and gold in the face, the reality is that the fraternity system is a factory of misogyny, which will continue to devalue and commit violence against women until it is made to stop. Of course, misogyny is not restricted to the fraternity system, but it must be pointed out that the ideas championed in this photo serve as the pretext for the violence that occurred Friday night.

UCLA student arrested on suspicion of assault with intent to commit rape at Theta Chi fraternity house

A UCLA student will face charges of assault with intent to commit rape and false imprisonment, after he allegedly tried to choke another student during a party at the Theta Chi fraternity house early Friday morning. He is being held at the Inmate Reception Center in downtown Los Angeles on $200,000 bail, according to university police.

Paul Meyer, a 20-year old student who lives in the Theta Chi fraternity house at 663 Gayley Ave., is scheduled to appear in court for a formal reading of his charges on Tuesday, according to Los Angeles Sheriff’s Department records. He can plead guilty, not guilty or no contest to the charges during the arraignment.

About 2:30 a.m. Friday, Meyer allegedly attempted to choke a female UCLA student who was also attending the party, said Nancy Greenstein, a UCPD spokeswoman. She added that alcohol was available at the party, but police are still investigating whether Meyer or the victim were drinking.

Meyer and the woman knew each other before the incident took place, Greenstein said.

The female student was taken to the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center and has since been released, Greenstein said.

Immediately following the incident, Meyer was arrested without a struggle at the house on suspicion of attempted murder, according to a UCLA statement. Meyer is being held on charges of assault with intent to commit rape and false imprisonment, which is unlawful violation of another person’s personal liberty.

Theta Chi officials declined to comment on Friday’s incident. The police investigation is still ongoing and no further details are available at this time, according to a UCLA statement.

http://dailybruin.com/2013/03/09/ucla-student-charged-with-felony-after-allegedly-attempting-to-assault-a-fellow-student/

Woman beheads rapist

On August 28, at least five months pregnant by a man who she said continued to rape her, Yildirim said she decided she had had enough. Gider was climbing up the back wall of her house. "I knew he was going to rape me again," she said at her preliminary hearing August 30.

She said she grabbed her father-in-law's rifle that was hanging on the wall and she shot him. He tried to draw his gun and she fired again.

"I chased him," she said. "He fell on the ground. He started cussing. I shot his sexual organ this time. He became quiet. I knew he was dead. I then cut his head off."

Witnesses described Yildirim walking into the village square, carrying the man's head by his hair, blood dripping on the ground.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/05/world/europe/turkey-rape-beheading