Jezebel: Gray Rape

Rapists Admit Repeated Crimes — As Long As You Don't Call It "Rape"

Anna North — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 11:00:00 EST

According to a new study of college students, men will admit to rape as long as you don't call it that — and the same few men are offending multiple times without getting caught. More »

Cosmo's August 'Conversation Starter' Might Start Some Pretty Strange Conversations!

Moe — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 17:00:00 EDT

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The new issue of Cosmo is here! And before we delved into what promises to be a riveting interview with Scarlett Johansson, we sated our thirst for "Conversation Starters," the monthly feature in which Cosmo editors offer up little tidbits of trivia that promise to "make you the most interesting person in the room — by far." Last month we learned about doga — yoga! for dogs! — and the contracts some brides-to-be are now dispensing to their bridesmaids prohibiting them from gaining weight. But this month…well, pushed the envelope just a bit further! Click for August's "perfect icebreaker"… More »

That Dear Abby "My Brother Raped My Wife" Thing Actually Happened (And It Was Legal!?)

Moe — Mon, 05 May 2008 17:00:00 EDT

Here's a familiar familial tale! Remember the one about the woman who's fast asleep in her room when suddenly a man she thinks is her husband comes in and they have sex only to at some later point realize that it was actually her husband's perverted brother? Yes, Dear Abby got a query about this a few weeks back, and she didn't believe the story, so we got all ragey about that, and then Dan Savage said he, too, disbelieved the story, and we unleashed some lite venom on him, but by that point our faith in our own instincts was somewhat shaken. So imagine how very gratified we are to report to you now that the media has confirmed it: masquerading as your brother to rape her girl is actually a new trend! It happened — basement apartment and all! — to Marissa Lee-Fuentes. More »

How Did "No Means No" Become A Fun Rape Joke?

Moe — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 12:00:11 EST

Hey, look at the T-shirt! It says "No Means No (Well, maybe if I'm drunk.)" Is this an overly, like, Jezebel thing to write a post about? Whatever! It's Friday! Okay, sooooo, "No means no." See the period? Affirmative? Good. After a few drinks and maybe a blow job, you can add another sentence. Such as: "Oh who am I kidding, I have no self-control." Or: "Okay, enough with your dick in my mouth, I changed my mind." Or: "What with the increased bloodflow in the direction of my gonads I am going to have to reconsider that stance." Those and numerous other statements would, in effect, render void and inapplicable the preceding "No." The fact that the word "no" had been uttered prior to the consent, for whatever reason, is moot. And yet! Somehow the often-amusing, eminently human phenomenon that is changing one's mind as to one's amenability to sex with an individual, a process men and women experience with frequency, has been twisted into an excuse for rape. Successfully twisted, we should add: even if the whole "one in four women gets raped in college" is exaggerated, uh...it is one in four. More »

We weren't the only ones who attended Cosmo's...

Jessica G. — Tue, 16 Oct 2007 13:45:00 EDT

We weren't the only ones who attended Cosmo's gray rape panel yesterday. Sewell Chan, the thorough and prolific NY Times boy wonder, included an awesome quote from anti-violence activist Joe Samalin: "There were a lot of things in the [gray rape] article that concerned and frustrated me," [Samalin] said. He said that intentionally or not, the article might have the effect of suggesting that "you can be a woman in charge of your own sexuality ... but not too much because these are the consequences that will happen to you." Local free rag Metro also wrote up the event, quoting John Jay women's center director Katie Gentile. "We'd never ask a robbery victim, 'Were you drunk?" Gentile said. "The culture has to change while we change, too." And Feministing got in on the action as well. [New York Times, Metro, Feministing] More »

Old Lady Shows Others Lost In The Wilderness How It's Done

amparry — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 17:00:00 EDT

Three cheers for 76-year old Ora Doris Anderson; the senior was thought to be dead after she went missing in the Oregonian mountains for two weeks but rescuers found her alive yesterday. Way to go, Grandma! [CNN]