Jezebel 
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New York, 5:31 AM
Sat Nov 28
29 posts in the last 24 hours
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11/16/09
2. What a nice counterpart to the whole CIA giving Afghanistan men Viagra. I wonder if the CIA got permission from any women in Afghanistan before they started handing out those pills.
3. I believe that there are a certain number of people in any given population who are going to be Super Religious. I would include that these people are a bit ridiculous about it, but then I don't believe in god and who am I to judge. So let's say the number is 10%; that means that 10% of Catholics won't use condoms, 10% of Jews don't do ANY work on the Sabbath, 10% of Muslims pray five times a day. Etc. Whatever the extreme-ish form of religious rule following, that percentage of people are going to do it.
Everyone else will just do what they want regardless. So all the Catholics I know use birth control (all of them), even some priests are pro-condoms; I know exactly one Jew who is hardcore about not working on the Sabbath (actually he's my friend's dad), everyone else follows the religion's rules to varying degrees--some eat bacon, some refuse to have pork or cheeseburgers, etc. It's all the same idea, really, that a smallish percent of the population is going to be dedicated enough to their religion to let it get in the way of the rest of their life, and most of the world will justify or ignore or live in denial or whatever. I'm guessing that Afghanistan is the same way. These women who are jumping for joy at BCP? I bet they're Muslim. And I bet they consider themselves religious and good people and stuff. But when it comes to pushing 17 babies out of your lady bits, god takes a back seat to practicality when the issue is so abstract. Very few Jews who keep kosher would refuse to eat shellfish if they were stuck on a desert island and had to choose between oysters and starvation.
So if religion were ruling their lives enough to justify giving men one more way of controlling women's bodies, I'm going to guess that it really affects about the same percentage of Catholics who don't have sex before marriage. Everything else is just down to availability and cultural practices more than religion. But even cultural practices will get pushed aside in a country with the second highest mortality rate for women giving birth. #reproductivejustice
11/16/09
I always wonder how God's work would go down if men were the ones going through pregnancy and labor. I wonder if sex would be any less sacred then. #reproductivejustice
11/16/09
11/16/09
Sierra Leone has the highest maternal death rate at 2,000, and Afghanistan has the second highest maternal death rate at 1900 maternal deaths per 100,000 live births, reported by the UN based on 2000 figures.
I suppose when women are considered brood mares, their individual lives don't have much value. As you said, not dissimilar from here... #reproductivejustice
11/16/09
11/16/09
1. Yes, it's unfortunate, but these organizations realize that they MUST go through men in order to help women. Do you know what would happen if they attempted to go directly to women (assuming they could, which they pretty much can't)? It would be chaos. They would be seen as trying to undermine the power and family structure of the community.
2. Even in the United States, there are women who voluntarily forgo birth control and sexual education (for themselves and their offspring) because they believe their religion does not condone controlling their own reproduction.
Yeah. Because they don't condone it. For all intents and purposes they expressly condemn it. So there's that. #reproductivejustice
11/16/09
10/28/09
Please correct me if I'm wrong, but is retarded no longer the correct term for someone with mental retardation/Down Syndrome? I wouldn't be offended by a mother calling her baby retarded if he or she was....am I wrong or missing something? #homecominggangrape
10/29/09
Now people tend to use the general term developmentally delayed and then the more specific diagnosis like Autistic or Down's Syndrome.
Yes calling your child "retarded" would in most circles be considered insulting. If you called your child "retarded" in a room full of other parents of kids with developmental disabilities including but not limited to Down's you'd better be prepared to run, because they would tear you apart.
As someone who used to work with special needs kids I would be horrified to hear a parent say that about their child. I wouldn't be shocked though, often parents and siblings can be the cruelest to their family members with a developmental disabilitiy. #homecominggangrape
10/29/09
I'm no fan of Palin (can't stand her!), but Levi was out of line. #homecominggangrape
10/29/09
11/01/09
I now feel sorry for that baby, if this is true. However, on a gut level, I suspect Levi fluffed up his story.
Yet, generally, if you aren't raising a disabled child, it's very difficult to judge the parents. Levi should lay off the judgemental media-pandering. If he's really that concerned about the "R" word, he should take it up privately with the family. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
I do not know what people imagine 285 pounds to be, but I don't think it is what you think it is. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
ETA: I don't mean that to sound disparaging at all. My top weight was not that much less than this, about 260. Were there other people who were in better shape than me? Sure, but I was by no means paralyzed.
10/28/09
Ah, Palin. Is it wrong that I feel karma has a hand in this eternal bitchfight between La Palin and this guy who couldn't seem to care less about her retaliation? The only way she could upset him is to ban guns in Alaska or eradicate all hunting. He's pretty immune.
It's like the cosmos scoped around for a fitting adversary for her, and then went "hm, teenage dropout she pulled into the spotlight with nothing to lose? About right." #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
I just cant believe we are discussing the idea of calling people who either stood by, watched, photographed or participated in a gang rape of this caliber. They are monsters, and while yes they might have been ordinary people yesterday, in my mind you lose that card when you are able stand and watch while a near critical sexual assault where a CHILD was penetrated in her mouth, her anus, and her vagina, repeatedly, by more than 5 people? If half of the participants stopped, yelled, ran to get help, they might have been beaten, ostracized, but they would not BE RAPISTS. This was obviously, to a degree a pre-meditated act. And therefore, I can agree that pack mentality took over for some of them, but for others we can blame society, or some other thing, but what it is was someone was so rapt with bringing torture, pain, disgrace, and a level of sexual assault onto one person. They chose to do this. And until any of them actually spend some time, or hell the rest of their lives in jail, there will be no societal change. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
10/28/09
Also, when someone is running a stop sign and you see them, don't go anyway just to "show them that they can't get away with it." #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
Or to see comments that should not be sputtered at this time: "Dance was successful event and safe for the students that were there," said Marin Trujillo, the West Contra Costa Unified School District spokesman. "This dance itself was a successful event."
....fantastic! Good for you. You get brownie points Trujillo.
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
I don't like to qualify crimes, but gang rape, for me, is among the most horrific of crimes possible. I can't even let myself think about the fact that it happens. So disturbing. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
I was 14 and at the park with my boyfriend, 4 of his friends, and my best friend. I drank and ended up being gang-raped in a shed nearby.
This was on an Air Force Base. You'd think I'd be safe, but not so much. I had to go to school with them on the following Monday and ended up having a complete breakdown in the girls' bathroom after being taunted for the first hour of school by these very same boys. I ended up moving over 1500 miles away.
They weren't punished at all. You see, I was drinking. Oh and the boyfriend? I had lost my virginity to him a week before, so obviously I would consent a week later to him and his friends. They were African-American and it was stated that I was a "nigger-lover" who got what I deserved by sleeping with a black man in the first place. (You would be stunned to hear the open racism in Air Force related offices. I now work in that field and am still shocked)
It took over 15 years to fully "get over it" but I felt I finally did when I was able to separate the rape from the losing my virginity. I had to. When people talked about their first time I really didn't want to and couldn't join the discussion. Losing virginity = the rape. Groups of black men = the rape. Touching a penis in a certain way = the rape. Stupid asses insinuating that women are whores = the rape.
Couldn't let it define me anymore. So it's possible. There is hope. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
I've been raped as well-- along with far too many people on this website. All examples that being a "victim" is not the end of the individual or meaningful existence. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
"being a "victim" is not the end of the individual or meaningful existence."
That is beautiful. I really hope this girl has someone in her life as strong as you to teach her that. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
10/28/09
10/28/09
Thank god it's not being dismissed as "boys will be boys" behavior...but still. No amount of punishment will ever, ever, ever bring that girl's life back to her.
Also: everyone needs to read the Wednesday Feminist Fuck You on feministing.com....the school principal said something along the lines of "the homecoming dance went well overall." this, despite the horrendous gang-rape taking place behind the school.
I feel sick. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
"These suspects are monsters. And, I don't understand how this many people capable of such atrocious behavior could be in one place at one time."
The scariest part is, it's not a coincidence. Group mentality is a terrifying thing. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
10/28/09
And as you said--this kind of thing isn't rare at all. This is a particularly disturbing case because the victim was so young, and the crowd was so (allegedly) large, but this kind of thing happened at least once at a frat house while I was in college. I also have a high school friend who had something similar happen to her while she was passed out at a party (complete with assault and photos). Obviously these are single data points, but it seems much more like a pretty horrific trend than one isolated incident where a bunch of "monsters" happened to be in the same place at the same time. #homecominggangrape
10/28/09
10/28/09
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10/28/09
10/29/09