According to a report from Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) set to be released Monday, sexual assault and a “troubling command culture” remains a serious problem in the military. The report examined the 329 sexual assault cases that occurred on military bases in the United States in 2014, and found that victims who…
A new report from Human Rights Watch says the Pentagon isn’t doing enough to protect military rape victims from retaliation. The report says reporting rape or sexual abuse often leads to harassment that can force survivors out of the military entirely.
A new investigation from the Associated Press says that officials at the Pentagon deliberately misled Congress about the number of military sexual assault cases and how they’re being handled. The AP says the Pentagon used “inaccurate or vague information” to convince Congress not to pass a law giving more power to…
The Microbead-Free Waters Act of 2015, a crucial piece of environmental legislation that will phase out and eventually ban microbeads from soaps and cosmetics, has flown surprisingly easily through the Republican-controlled Congress over the past few weeks.
In 2002, President George W. Bush awarded Bill Cosby with the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor. Now, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand wants him to give it back. The New York Democrat is supporting a petition launched by nonprofit group PAVE: Promoting Awareness/Victim Empowerment. The…
In its final season, Parks & Recreation is really going for it—taking its humor and political heart as far as they both can stretch. Last night's double-header was one for the ages: in the first episode, "Mrs. Ludgate-Dwyer Goes to Washington," Leslie and April travel to DC to get some support for Leslie's…
Columbia University senior Emma Sulkowicz - who gained attention last year for carrying around the mattress on which her alleged 2012 sexual assault took place - is headed to the State of the Union address.
When Rolling Stone issued its retraction, my greatest fear was that we would once again have a curtain of silence, where young women feel too afraid to share their truth. And while I have no interest in reliving the experience or pinning culpability on anyone, that curtain of silence is why I am sharing my story today…
Since June, Senators Kirsten Gillibrand and Claire McCaskill have been trying to pass the Campus Accountability & Safety Act, which takes a carrot/stick approach to how colleges deal with sexual assault. On the carrot side, it would increase federal funding for on-campus support services for rape survivors;…
Ted Cruz is many things: a senator, a former secret Canadian, an abortion-hating, gay-fearing, avocado-hating weirdo. So it only makes sense that in college at Princeton, Cruz was an anti-rape activist who co-sponsored a campus Take Back the Night March. Wait, what?
One year ago this month, I was invited to meet with the White House about the crisis of sexual assault in the military. The meeting was rushed, and had the feeling of a pre-Christmas publicity stunt. The President was nowhere to be seen. His senior advisors insisted that the Commander in Chief cared about the issue…
A fairly jubilant new report released Thursday by the Department of Defense claims that military sexual assault has dropped sharply in the past two years, while at the same time more victims have come forward to report being assaulted. The Pentagon sees it as clear win, a sign that service members finally feel…
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has stayed silent regarding the names of the now-infamous congressmen — who, as she wrote in her new book — have harassed her while in office. On Monday, the New York Times reported that one of those men was the late Senator Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii).
Famed filibusterer Wendy Davis and New York senator Kirsten Gillibrand both launch new memoirs this week. Gillibrand's book Off the Sidelines is already making waves for calling out certain (unnamed) male colleagues as, well, sexist pigs. Unwelcome comments on their appearance have long been an occupational hazard for…
On The Daily Show, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand delved into important issues like sexual assault and gender equality but then she dropped a bomb in passing -— the man who called her “chubby” is a Southern congressman.
His name is Ron Johnson, he comes from Wisconsin, and he thinks that his Senate colleague Kirsten Gillibrand should either expose the identities of the men who harassed her about her body or shut up about sexism. After all, Senator Ron Johnson (a man) has never seen sexism during his time in the Senate. Therefore,…
If you're anything like me, you miss back-to-school shopping and annually attempt to fill the void with books, books, books. Here are some of the titles that'll be hitting shelves this month.
Along with Senator Kirsten Gillibrand’s “porky” abuse from sketchy Congressmen, MSNBC host Andrea Mitchell added that there are just some “you’d not get in an elevator with.” Dude, who are these old men with a propensity for antiquated workplace sexual harassment? We don’t want to be in an elevator with them either!…
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand was sexually harassed by another unnamed senator who, according to her new memoir, "likes [his] girls chubby.” Oh really?
A truly motley crew of Senators has introduced a bill that would crack down on schools that fail to address campus sexual assault. But unlike window dress-y efforts that amount to little more than campaign ads for politicians uninterested in effecting actual change, this bill actually sounds like it's got some teeth.
