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Posts Tagged “

Personal, political

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personal/political

Compensation, Culpability And The Definitions of Rape

Hot on the heels of this week's news that the UK's by the Criminal Injuries Compensation Authority reduced the standard compensatory awards given to 15 rape victims by 25 percent because they had been drinking before their assaults comes the news that they're not going to do that anymore — or fix the situation for the women they originally did it to. But it's also ignited a bit of a furor in the UK over whether assault victims who supposedly make themselves more susceptible to assault by drinking share some portion of the culpability for that assault. More »

5:00 PM on Wed Aug 13 2008
By Megan
5,178 views, 221 comments

personal/political

Barack Obama Caught Thinking About Other Women

One of the most depressing memes of the end of the Clinton campaign is the idea that it would be an insult to Hillary Clinton, Women and Feminism for Obama to consider asking another woman (like Kathleen Sebelius, pictured) to be his Vice President. As the "thinking" goes, because Clinton came in second in the Democratic primary, she is the sole woman in all of America qualified to be the next Vice President of the United States, and any other woman chosen to be on Obama's ticket would be chosen solely on the basis of her chromosomal appeal and not on her own merits as a politician and a running mate. Hey, who needs sexists in the media when we've got them here at home! More »

1:30 PM on Fri Aug 1 2008
By Megan
3,465 views, 99 comments

personal, political

Hey Ladies: John McCain Values Your Potential Offspring More Than Your Actual Votes

Ever since the end of the Democratic primary left some Clinton supporters less than inclined to support Barack Obama, John McCain has been wooing them by sending female surrogate Carly Fiorina around to meet with select groups of women and Clinton supporters. While Carly's careful not to besmirch McCain's stellar anti-choice record, she tends to hint that he might be willing to "compromise" on other issues, like paid maternity leave (which he voted against), equal pay (ditto) and a federal mandate to cover birth control. If that story and polls suggesting that 49 percent of women in battleground states who favor McCain are pro-choice — and almost half of them think McCain is, too — there's quite a gap between the myth of Maverick McCain and the reality of the guy who panders to the right wing and thinks Roe v. Wade should be overturned. More »

1:00 PM on Fri Jul 18 2008
By Megan
6,236 views, 246 comments

personal, political

My Sexual Assault Is Not Your Political Issue

A lot of electronic ink has been generated this week talking about the story that 3 Welsh Parliamentarians anonymously admitted that they had been sexually assaulted and hadn't reported it. A separate survey of students, also conducted by Amnesty International, showed that 34 percent of the 700 students surveyed believed that "a woman was totally or partially responsible for being raped or sexually assaulted if she was drunk or had been flirtatious." Under normal circumstances, I would use this sentence to summarize the shock evinced by people and the unsubtle implication that these (relatively powerful) women — without anyone knowing the circumstances or the timing of their sexual assaults — should have reported it, and then I would leave it be. But it made me recall the times in my life that people I cared for disrespected my decision not to report mine, so I figured it was about time to throw down the gauntlet. More »

4:40 PM on Thu Jul 3 2008
By Megan
16,731 views, 378 comments