bemusedlybespectacled:

albinwonderland:

TRIGGER WARNING: DISCUSSION OF RAPE/VICTIM BLAMING IN RESPONSE TO JENNA MARBLES’ VIDEO ABOUT “SLUTS”

realhayleyghoover:

Once again, chescaleigh tells it like it is and saves the world.

(If you don’t already watch her, she makes awesome and super funny videos about race and gender and self-respect and everything worth discussing ever. Go.)

This woman is brave, amazing, and incredibly human. Let’s all go comment and send her lots of love, okay? Because there are already a hoard of victim-blaming arseholes in the comments.  It’s hard for women to share in this day and age, especially to discuss an experience as difficult as this, on a forum as open and unmoderated as youtube. So spread the positivity my darlings ♡

She is a beautiful person and I love her, and she is so brave for speaking out like this.

32,101

The number of pregnancies that result from rape every year in the United States

Relevant to both Todd Akin and every pro-lifer who says pregnancies from rape “aren’t that common” or “don’t happen enough to matter.”

Hey, Tumblr, can we get this post liked and/or reblogged at least 32,101 times? 

(via heidi8)

Reblog

(via searchingforknowledge)

So a Girl Walks into a Comedy Club…. (tw: rape)

professorowenaravenclaw:

breakfastcookie:

This is something that happened to a friend of mine in her own words.

“So, on Friday night my friend and I were at her house and wanted to get out and do something for the evening. We brainstormed ideas and she brought up the idea of seeing a show at the Laugh Factory. I’d never been, I thought it sounded fun, so we went. We saw that Dane Cook, along some other names we didn’t recognize we’re playing, and while we both agree that Cook’s style is not really our taste we were opened-minded about what the others had to offer. And we figured even good ol’ Dane can be funny sometimes, even if it’s not really our thing. Anyhoo, his act was actually fine, but then when his was done, some other guy I didn’t recognize took the stage. Of course, I would find out later this was Daniel Tosh, but at the time I thought he was just some yahoo who somehow got a gig going on after Cook. I honestly thought he was an amateur because he didn’t seem that comfortable on stage and seemed to have a really awkward presence. 

So Tosh then starts making some very generalizing, declarative statements about rape jokes always being funny, how can a rape joke not be funny, rape is hilarious, etc. I don’t know why he was so repetitive about it but I felt provoked because I, for one, DON’T find them funny and never have. So I didnt appreciate Daniel Tosh (or anyone!) telling me I should find them funny. So I yelled out, “Actually, rape jokes are never funny!”

I did it because, even though being “disruptive” is against my nature, I felt that sitting there and saying nothing, or leaving quietly, would have been against my values as a person and as a woman. I don’t sit there while someone tells me how I should feel about something as profound and damaging as rape. 

After I called out to him, Tosh paused for a moment. Then, he says, “Wouldn’t it be funny if that girl got raped by like, 5 guys right now? Like right now? What if a bunch of guys just raped her…” and I, completely stunned and finding it hard to process what was happening but knowing i needed to get out of there, immediately nudged my friend, who was also completely stunned, and we high-tailed it out of there. It was humiliating, of course, especially as the audience guffawed in response to Tosh, their eyes following us as we made our way out of there. I didn’t hear the rest of what he said about me.

Now in the lobby, I spoke with the girl at the will-call desk, and demanded to see the manager. The manager on duty quickly came out to speak with me, and she was profusely apologetic, and seemed genuinely sorry about what had happened, but of course we received no refund for our tickets, but instead a comped pair of tickets, although she admitted she understood if we never wanted to come back. I can imagine the Laugh Factory doesn’t really have a policy in place for what happens when a woman has to leave in a hurry because the person onstage is hurling violent words about sexual violence at her. Although maybe I’m not the first girl to have that happen to her. 

I should probably add that having to basically flee while Tosh was enthusing about how hilarious it would be if I was gang-raped in that small, claustrophic room was pretty viscerally terrifying and threatening all the same, even if the actual scenario was unlikely to take place. The suggestion of it is violent enough and was meant to put me in my place.”

Please reblog and spread the word.

I already hated Daniel Tosh for being an unfunny idiot, but holy fucking shit. That is so beyond not okay. Oh my god, I feel sick.

dmab trans* person of color assaulted by asher bauer of tranarchsim. spread the word and give jamie the support she deserves.

Not being assaulted is not a privilege to be earned through the judicious application of personal safety strategies. A woman should be able to walk down the street at 4 in the morning in nothing but her socks, blind drunk, without being assaulted, and I, for one, am not going to do anything to imply that she is in any way responsible for her own assault if she fails to Adequately Protect Herself. Men aren’t helpless dick-driven maniacs who can’t help raping a vulnerable woman. It disrespects EVERYONE.

Emily Nagoski.  (via rapeisnotajoke)

This quote is awesome.

(via magesmagesmages)

#Oh my God #THIS #FUCKING THIS #I would like to print this out #and staple it to the forehead of every guy who’s tried to tell me that women ‘just need to be careful about where they go/how they dress/how they act/who they flirt with’ #because no #the only deciding factor on whether or not someone gets raped #is the presence of a rapist #and guess what #they are EVERYWHERE #including but not limited the local bar #your high school #your college dorm building #your workplace #your group of friend #your family #and if you’re telling me that laughing at a guy’s jokes is the equivalent of telling him I’ve given up my right to say no #then you are the problem #not me #YOU

(via madeofglass)

[TRIGGER WARNING: Rape] Fat women are treated as utterly undesirable in our culture [and] are often turned into a ‘bizarre’ fetish object. The result is that fat women are told to be grateful for any sexual attention they receive from anyone, whether they themselves find that person sexually appealing or not. In other words, even more than your average women, fat women are only allowed to be occasional objects of desire and are regularly denied their right to have and pursue sexual desires of their own.

That way of thinking becomes very dangerous when sexual violence is mixed in. When fat women are raped, they’re often told they should be grateful that anyone wanted them, or, alternatively, disbelieved because it doesn’t seem plausible that anyone would want them ‘enough to rape them.’ These arguments not only rely on the dangerous myth that rape is about uncontrollable sexual desire (it’s not), but also propagate the message that fat women’s bodies aren’t valuable enough to the culture for their violation to be taken seriously.

Jaclyn Friedman, What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl’s Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety (via khaleesi)

I may have reblogged this before, but it bears repeating.

(via bigfatfeminist)

feel kind of weird about the “even more than your average women, fat women”etc etc since this applies to many other groups of women (and other people) as well, but it’s still good and summarizes this concept very well!

(via stalebis)

^^ yeah that. BUT STILL this feels bad man to read bc of how true it is :(

mylifeasafeminista:

Sonya Renee Taylor, “What Women Deserve”

Culturally-diversified biracial girl with
a small diamond nose ring and a pretty smile
poses besides the words 
“Women Deserve Better”. 

and I almost let her non-threatening grin
begin to infiltrate my psyche 
until I read the unlikely small print
at the bottom of the ad: 
Sponsored by the US Secretariat for Pro-Life Activities 
and the Knights of Columbus 

On a bus 
in a city 
with a population of 553,000, 
4 teenage mothers on the bus with me,
1 Latina woman with 3 children under 3 
and no signs of a daddy. 

One sixteen year old black girl 
standing in 22-degree weather 
with only a sweater 
a book bag 
and a bassinette,
with an infant that ain’t even four weeks yet
tell me that Yes …. 

Women do deserve better. 

Women deserve better 
than public transportation rhetoric 
from the same people who 
won’t give that teenage mother 
a ride to the next transit. 
Won’t let you talk to their kids about safer sex
Have never had to listen as the door SLAMS 
behind the man who adamantly says,
“That shit” ain’t his 
leaving her to wonder how she’ll raise this kid. 

Women deserve better 
than the 300 dollars TANF and AFC 
will provide that family of three
or the 6 dollar an hour job at KFC
with no benefits for her new baby
or the college degree she may never see
because you can’t have infants at the university 

Women deserve better 
than lip service paid for by politicians 
who have no alternatives to abortion 
though I am sure 
right this moment one of their seventeen year old daughters 
is sitting in a clinic lobby 
sobbing quietly and anonymously
praying parents don’t find out
or will be waiting for mom to pick her up because research shows 
that out-of-wedlock childbirth doesn’t look good on political polls and 
Daddy ain’t having that. 

Women deserve better 
than backwards governmental policies 
that don’t want to pay 
for welfare for kids
or health care for kids 
or child care for kids
Don’t want to pay living wages to working mothers, 
Don’t want to make men who only want to be last night’s lovers 
responsible for the semen they lay. 

Flat out don’t want to pay for SHIT
but want to control the woman who’s having it.
Acting outraged at abortion.
Well I’m outraged 
that they want us to believe 
that they believe 
that women deserve better. 

The Vatican won’t prosecute pedophile priests
But I decide I’m not ready for motherhood
and it’s condemnation for me
These are the same people who won’t support 
national condom distribution to prevent teenage pregnancy.
But women deserve better. 

Women deserve better 
than back-alley surgeries 
that leave our wombs barren and empty.
Deserve better 
than organizations bearing the name 
of land-stealing racist rapists 
funding million dollar campaigns on subway trains
with no money to give these women
while balding middle-aged white men
tell us what to do with our bodies
while they wage wars and kill other people’s babies 

So maybe women deserve better 
than propaganda and lies
to get into office
Propaganda and lies 
to get into panties
to get out of court
to get out of paying child support 

Get the hell out of our decisions
and give us back our voice
Women do deserve better
Women deserve choice

This spectre of rape that cis lesbian “radfems” habitually raise, centered around the supposed inherent threat of the phallus, minimizes the appalling rates of physical and sexual violence committed against trans women, particularly trans women of color and sex workers. It also twists the picture of systemic violence to make it look like trans women are a huge, systemic threat to cis lesbians when in fact trans women as a group face incredible systemic barriers in almost every aspect of life.

Queer Feminism (via transfeminism) —

Ecuador: Shut Down Illegal 'Cure the Gay' Clinics

robbicide:

[TW: abuse/rape/torture/homophobia]

psychophilia:

Right now, hundreds of illegal clinics in Ecuador are holding young women captive to be raped, tortured, starved and beaten by so-called “health care professionals”. Why? The clinics claim that lesbians are “sick” and they offer a brutal cure. 

While the government of Ecuador made a show of shutting down nearly 30 clinics this summer, our friends there are saying that over 200 still exist across the country — holding young women against their will. Hundreds of young people are still at risk, but we can shut down these clinics for good.  

Will you add your name to the global call to shut down the clinics? We’ll deliver our demand directly to the Ecuadorian president, as well as the president of the the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights — and make sure these illegal clinics are shut down once and for all. If President Correa, a leader who’s staked his reputation on a series of progressive positions, knows the international community is watching closely, he’ll be pushed to act:

These “cure the gay away” clinics persist all over the world, despite the fact that all major international psychiatric and medical associations have discredited them, and even called them damaging to people’s health.  Only a few weeks ago, a young woman in Ecuador told the press she was held in one of the facilities for months where she was sexually abused and humiliated, with guards throwing water and urine on her. Thankfully, with the help of her mother, she was freed.  But many women have not been able to get out.

Some confused parents are forcing young people to be “quarantined” in these dangerous clinics, but a fact remains: they are illegal.  Voters in Ecuador approved a progressive constitution supporting gays rights — including federal civil unions for same sex couples. The country also has strong laws to punish violence against women. But despite the legal protections on the books, these dangerous clinics are falling through the cracks. 

Activists in Ecuador, and their partners at Change.org and Credo have been petitioning the Health Minister to shut down these clinics. But the responsibility to take action also rests with the man Ecuadorian voters elected to uphold the rule of law - President Rafael Correa. Sign this urgent letter to the Ecuadorian president, and we’ll deliver it to him with our partners in Ecuador - demanding these illegal clinics are shut down once and for all. President Correa needs to know that international pressure is building right now, and that ignoring this issue won’t make it go away:

Click here or the link above to sign a petition to the President of Ecuador. The petition is organised by All Out, an online organisation that aims to build a global community that responds quickly to moments of crisis and opportunity, to advance the freedom of LGBT people across the globe.

Please reblog and spread the word.

(Source: ohmisterfahrenheit)

downlo:

A useful rape analogy