http://cache.jezebel.com/assets/base/img/thumbs140x140/jezebel.com.png http://jezebel.com/tag/abuse http://jezebel.com/tag/abuse

Okay, Patrick Stewart probably doesn't like being typecast as Star Trek: The Next Generation's captain. He's also an anti-domestic violence advocate, and he's written a powerful piece in the Guardian protesting budget cuts to women's shelters in the UK. He says, More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5882742&view=rss&microfeed=true

News that Mark Berndt, a teacher at Miramonte Elementary School in Florence-Firestone California, was arrested after allegedly spoon-feeding semen to at least 23 students between 2005 and 2010 has been improbably exacerbated with the arrest of yet another Miramonte teacher on allegations of sexual abuse. Police are holding 49-year-old Martin Bernard Springer — a second grade teacher at Miramonte — in lieu of $2 million bail after two former students accused him of improperly touching them within the last three years. Captain Mike Parker of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department has said that the investigation is ongoing and that the girls "were allegedly fondled in the the classroom at the Miramonte school by suspect Springer." They were both only 7-years-old when the abuse allegedly took place. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5882498&view=rss&microfeed=true

It's been a bad week for sick child abuse "games" in California. First came news of the teacher who played the terrible "lollypop game" with a student, and now Mark Berndt, a teacher at Miramonte Elementary School in Florence-Firestone, California, has been arrested for playing the "tasting game," in which he got sexual pleasure from spoon-feeding his semen to his students. What's even more horrifying is that he is believed to have abused at least 23 students, both boys and girls, between the ages of seven and ten. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5881176&view=rss&microfeed=true

Today in terrible ideas: a new pair of bills proposed by New Hampshire Republicans would seek to put fresh red tape between police and their ability to arrest domestic abusers in the state. There's no way this could possibly go wrong! More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5879716&view=rss&microfeed=true

The new issue of Us Magazine contains an excerpt of Hiding From Reality, the new book written by Real Housewives Of Beverly Hills cast member Taylor Armstrong. Reading about her late husband's cruelty, abuse, and assaults in Taylor's own words is absolutely heartbreaking. In fact, the Us story is titled, "I Thought He Might Kill Me." More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5879508&view=rss&microfeed=true

You might think that when looking for more information on a man accused of molesting multiple children, investigators would skim through the man's suspiciously-named autobiography, or at least be aware of its existence. Police working on the Jerry Sandusky case spent nearly a year trying to corroborate the first accuser's story before finding a 1998 Penn State campus police report about a boy being forced to shower with the coach. When police tracked down that boy, dubbed "Victim 6" in the grand jury report, his mother asked police if they'd checked out Sandusky's book. While flipping through the pages of Touched with the boy's sister, they were able to identify other boys who'd attended football games together. Consulting the book, which was available in Penn State's book store, helped police identify another four victims. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5874686&view=rss&microfeed=true

Sahar Gul was so horrifically abused that two weeks after she was rescued from her in-laws' basement, photos of her injuries are still hard to look at. The 15-year-old's hair and fingernails are missing, her face is swollen, and she looks weak and malnourished. Yet, her husband's parents and his sister, who've been arrested, all insist that they didn't do anything to her. Gul isn't doing very well in the hospital, but she briefly spoke out, insisting that her in-laws are the ones who hurt her, and she wants them to be punished. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5874225&view=rss&microfeed=true

Afghan officials claimed to be shocked and appalled like the rest of the world when they learned that 15-year-old Sahar Gul was held in her in-laws' basement for the past seven months while they starved and tortured her. However, sources now say that Gul actually managed to escape the house at one point, but she was returned to the home by local authorities, who are accustomed to looking the other way when it comes to crimes against women. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5872856&view=rss&microfeed=true

As if the recent report that an Afghan rape victim was jailed for adultery and pressured to marry her attacker wasn't awful enough, now there's another horrifying story drawing attention to the plight of women in the country. Afghan authorities say they've rescued a 15-year-old girl who was kept in her in-laws basement for the past six months and severely tortured because she resisted when they tried to force her into prostitution. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5872534&view=rss&microfeed=true

Career blogger Penelope Trunk was already a little bit infamous when she tweeted about her miscarriage during a board meeting. Now, she's written an astonishingly raw post about her abusive marriage, complete with a photo of her bruised body. Yet this is the same blogger who routinely issues tidy, didactic lists about how to live one's life. Who is Penelope Trunk, anyway? More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5871929&view=rss&microfeed=true

Finally a bit of positive news on the treatment of women protesters in Egypt: today a court issued an order banning those awful virginity tests that were being performed on female detainees after the March 9th protests in Cairo's Tahrir Square. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5871296&view=rss&microfeed=true

Two weeks after being pardoned by Afghan President Hamid Karzai, Gulnaz, who was convicted of adultery after being raped, has been released from jail. It was initially reported that Gulnaz would have to marry her attacker as a condition of her release, but now it seems she won't be forced to go through with it. Though, she's still under tremendous pressure to marry the man to legitimize their daughter and prevent violence from their families. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5868310&view=rss&microfeed=true

A men's rights group is protesting a recent anti-domestic violence PSA sponsored by Verizon. And for once, I kind of agree with them. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5865167&view=rss&microfeed=true

You've probably heard more than you can handle about child molestation in the past few months — too bad, there's still more. In a case that proves the effects of the Sandusky scandal go far beyond the world of sports or even education, a Hollywood manager who specialized in child actors has been charged with sexually assaulting one of his young clients. However, he says he's nothing like all the other pedophiles we've been hearing about recently. You see, his victim was into it. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5864438&view=rss&microfeed=true

After lobbying from international groups, an Afghan woman who was raped by a relative and given a 12-year jail sentence has been pardoned by President Hamid Karzai. The idea that rape victims are being jailed for adultery is already sickening, but brace yourself because it gets worse: She's only being released because she's agreed to marry the man who raped her. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5864405&view=rss&microfeed=true

Sweden became the first country to outlaw physical punishment of children in 1979. Now, the first generation of Swedish young adults to have been raised in a spanking-free society is in its thirties. Contrary to what your cantankerous, defensive grandpa might suggest, the entire country hasn't turned into a bunch of spoiled namby pamby brats. But would similar anti-spanking laws ever fly stateside? More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5858549&view=rss&microfeed=true

What the fuck, Family Guy. Personally, I'm way beyond being offended by the show — I've long been numbed to shock-value offensiveness — and had stopped watching years ago anyhow. But being a sucker for a Halloween-themed episodes, I tuned in to Fox's "animation domination" comedy block last night. What I saw was seriously awful. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5854810&view=rss&microfeed=true

If there's one parenting certainty I've absorbed, it's that no one outside me, my husband and our pediatrician ever wants to hear about the contents of our baby's diapers. That is, except for a recent Friday night, when every single person we interacted with over the course of seven straight hours wanted nothing more than to find out about the contents of our baby's diapers. Or more specifically, one diaper in particular. The one with the blood in it. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5851019&view=rss&microfeed=true

In 2006, four teachers and administrators at a South Korean school for the deaf were convicted of raping or sexually molesting at least eight students, ages 7 to 22. Due to the country's lenient sentencing for sexual abuse, only two of the four officials served jail time. The case received limited attention at the time, but a new film based on the story has helped to fuel the nation's growing outrage. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5850770&view=rss&microfeed=true

On Friday Bishop Robert Finn, of the Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph, became the highest ranking member of the Catholic Church to be charged for covering up child abuse. Bishop Finn and the diocese have been accused of taking about six months to tell authorities that they'd found child pornography on a priest's laptop, during which time he allegedly abused more children. The indictment is a landmark event in the church's ongoing struggle with allegations of sexual abuse by its members. Yet, during yesterday's services priests in the diocese met the issue with even more silence, choosing to discuss forgiveness rather than addressing the new developement directly. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5850355&view=rss&microfeed=true

Every October brings the World Gymnastics Championship, and every October this former gymnast greedily scours YouTube for every available piece of video footage of the competition. I spent six years eating and breathing the sport, spending up to twenty hours a week in a chalk-covered leotard. Those six years in the gym shaped me as a person, teaching me discipline and focus and how rewarding it can be to throw yourself — literally — into the things you care about. They also shaped me physically, leaving me with a royally messed up spine that precipitated my retirement from the sport. But that wasn't the only thing that was messed up. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5849095&view=rss&microfeed=true

A 25-year-old woman has escaped from the polygamist community where Warren Jeffs's other wives still live. Her flight shows that even though Jeffs is in jail, the nightmare may not be over for some of his followers. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5849415&view=rss&microfeed=true

Two weeks ago, 18-year-old Abraham Lopez was charged with fatal stabbing his ex-girlfriend, 17-year-old Cindi Santana, in their high school's courtyard during lunch. Some have complained that the school didn't do enough to prevent the attack, so the school is now considering providing more education on dating violence. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5848522&view=rss&microfeed=true

Gymnastics coach Don Peters led the US women's team to eight Olympic medals. But according to a new exposé, he also sexually abused three teenage gymnasts. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5843873&view=rss&microfeed=true

Barbara Sheehan admits that in February 2008, she killed her husband by shooting him 11 times with two guns. The prosecution argues that Sheehan committed a planned execution. However, in a case that's drawing national attention to domestic violence, Sheehan claims that her actions were justified because her husband would have murdered her if she hadn't killed him first. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5841590&view=rss&microfeed=true

Topman is the latest to join the Fucking Awful T-Shirt Club, offering two new gross t-shirts for your sartorial consumption. The first, and perhaps lesser of the two evils (maybe? But not really), is the Grey Marl Nice Girlfriend Crew that reads: "Nice new girlfriend — what breed is she?" More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5840147&view=rss&microfeed=true

Today an 80-year-old man was arrested in Austria for allegedly keeping his two mentally disabled daughters trapped in their home and physically and sexually abusing them for decades. The case is horrifying in its own right, but it's getting even more press because it's reminiscent to the Josef Fritzl case. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5834610&view=rss&microfeed=true

We all know that childhood abuse has devastating lifelong effects, but today there's even more bad news. Not only are people who were abused as children twice as likely to suffer from depression as adults, they're also less likely to respond well to psychological and drug-based treatments for the condition. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5830826&view=rss&microfeed=true

Former FLDS church member Jerusha Jeffs says she is "feels a lot stronger now" that her testimony about the abuse she suffered by her uncle's hand helped to send Warren Jeffs to prison. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5829470&view=rss&microfeed=true

A couple of weeks ago, Tom Lippolis — who used to be the boyfriend of Jersey Shore's Jenni "JWoww" Farley — told Star magazine that she stabbed him in the arm with a steak knife. Now, Lippolis has filmed an "exclusive" video interview for Radar, in which he claims that JWoww maybe tried to kill herself shortly after the premiere of the first season of Jersey Shore. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5797672&view=rss&microfeed=true

A Minneapolis abbey issued a statement earlier this month saying that over a period of forty years, seventeen of its monks had likely abused children at its affiliated prep school. And a local TV station was able to track several of the accused monks down, with disturbing results. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5797133&view=rss&microfeed=true

A young California woman is being treated for injuries after her boyfriend kidnapped her and drove her all the way to Las Vegas before turning around and surrendering to police. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5793438&view=rss&microfeed=true

A sad but not surprising study shows that young women whose partners are controlling also face risks of physical and sexual abuse. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5790178&view=rss&microfeed=true

A Maine mom has been convicted of sexually abusing her two-year-old daughter and videotaping it for a young man to watch. She'll get 20 years in jail — a much stiffer sentence than the man. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5782904&view=rss&microfeed=true

For the past 20 years, Charlie Sheen has allegedly assaulted, threatened, harassed, abused, and—in one incident—shot women. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5774374&view=rss&microfeed=true

In a case sure to wind up on Law & Order: Special Victims Unit, a Michigan man has confessed to convincing women to sexually abuse their own children, and record the acts for his titillation. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5774383&view=rss&microfeed=true

According to a study, "benevolent sexism" — the idea that men need to protect and care for women — really isn't so benevolent. In fact, people tend to use such attitudes as an excuse for sexual violence. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5739658&view=rss&microfeed=true

You will be glad to know that an Indian shaman who forced women to drink poison in a "witchcraft test" has been arrested. But in fact, the problem is on the rise. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5729684&view=rss&microfeed=true

The Sexual Assault Forensic Evidence Registry (SAFER) Act would allocate some $10 million to targeting the rape kit backlog which, in the words of RAINN president Scott Berkowitz, is "a crazy situation." And that's why RAINN is lobbying for it. More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5696409&view=rss&microfeed=true

A mom has been convicted of second-degree child abuse for helping her husband hurt her kids. Should she have been acquitted because she was abused too? More »
]]> http://jezebel.com/index.php?op=postcommentfeed&postId=5692479&view=rss&microfeed=true