Tag: Rape Culture
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In the Blog
On Calling Things By Name: Rape, Exploitation and Victim-Blaming Aren’t Bullying
Trigger warning for discussion of sexual violence. – Another young Canadian woman is dead as a result of sexual abuse, exploitation, and subsequent victim-blaming, and, yet again, public discussion and media coverage is reducing this story from one of gender-based violence and oppression to one of bullying. Rehtaeh Parsons, 17, died in Nova Scotia on Sunday night after having hanged herself 3 days priors. Her family is attributing her actions to the fact that in November 2011, when … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Global outrage, Local “meh?”
While I home for the holidays I watched the 6 O’clock news with my mom. The local station highlighted the Indian protests against violence against women in response to the woman who was gang raped and beaten. A young protester was interviewed and stated the rates of sexual assault in India. I cannot remember the statistic, but it would have been alarming to the average viewer and was framed in sensationalized terms. … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Repost: National day of remembrance and action of violence against women in Canada
This was originally posted one year ago at the Shameless blog. The writer has kindly agreed to have it posted again. Today is for you, you lucky people who have not experienced violence. Today is the day for you, who do not know what it is like to be harmed for being a woman, to remember the victims of l’Ecole polytechnique, 14 beautiful young women who were gunned down for being women, accused of being feminists. As … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Rape Culture in Popular Culture
Let’s start out with a few basic facts: Joseph Gordon-Levitt is a dreamboat. Like, on a scale of one to super-ultimate-double-plus-dreamboat, he is pretty high up there. Joseph Gordon-Levitt is reaching unprecedented break-my-marriage-vows levels of attractiveness. I would pay good money to watch a movie that was nothing but Joseph Gordon-Levitt sitting on a chair reading the phone book. Not convinced? I present you with Exhibit A: And Exhibit B: [YouTube video of Joseph Gordon-Levitt singing a cover of … READ MORE
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In the Blog
The future of feminism?
Earlier this week, I was a guest on TVO’s The Agenda. For those of you outside Ontario (or without a television), The Agenda is a nightly current-affairs program, engaging in debates and discussions about politics, culture and society. (Note: video will be online soon; in the meantime, audio can be found here) I was contacted by a producer of the show, Allison Buchan-Terrell, who invited me to be a guest panelist. As I understood it, the … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Second Looks: A Sailor, A Nurse, and Sexual Assault
Photos are funny, aren’t they? A look through an album or Instagram and you see moments in time, frozen with the click of a shutter. It is, as Susan Sontag observed in her book of essays On Photography, proof that you were somewhere. A photo is a pictorial declaration that you took up space, at some point, in some location. And then, there are those images that are, for many, instantly recognizable. We might know nothing … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Visual Essay: Take Back the Night 2012 - Un-Occupying Our Minds, Healing Ourselves
Take Back the Night! A community fair, rally and protest to raise awareness of the issues of violence against women and trans people and our fear of walking the streets at night. But TBTN is so much more than that; it is a meeting place for us survivors, it is a place of safety and support for survivors of all kinds of violence, it is a place of empowerment for us, even if only for … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Events: Take Back the Night 2012 - Toronto
Take Back the Night’s theme this year is “Un-Occupying Our Minds, Healing Ourselves.” Take Back the Night is a FREE community event where we celebrate survivors of (sexual) violence, protest our right to live lives free of violence and build our diverse communities. TBTN includes a free community dinner, a community fair with resources, a rally with speakers and performers and a march. This year our event will feature the amazing community of PARKDALE. Saturday September 15th, … READ MORE
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In the Blog
To the Guy at Yonge and Dundas
To the Guy at Yonge and Dundas: Hi, I’m a bit new at this, having come a bit late to the physical disabilities side of this game, so forgive me if I don’t sound grateful for what you did or something. I think it’s part of the privilege that goes with having grown up in a disabled bodied that has always managed to pass as able-bodied. I have some expectation of my own independence and right to … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Guest Post: Stephanie Guthrie on challenging online misogyny
Trigger warning for discussions of violence. As I saved my first copy of this blog, one of the folder options the menu offered was “Death Threats,” a folder of screenshots I made on Monday. Weird, right? Talk about things I never expected to be a normal feature in my daily grind. That was before I chose to respond fiercely and loudly to the sexist bullying of a brave young woman on the internet. I’m sad to … READ MORE
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In the Blog
How we react to people who say rape jokes aren’t funny
Trigger warning: this post contains mentions of rape. Trigger warning on comments in the link at Buzzfeed. It all started with a post called “So a Girl Walks into a Comedy Club….” shared on Tumblr July 10th. A person who normally uses her tumblr to share baking recipes instead decided to use that platform as a way to call attention to a more serious issue. An unnamed friend of hers was at a comedy club, and … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Recommended Reading Round-up: Responses to Ian Brown’s Male Gaze article
Globe and Mail columnist Ian Brown recently wrote a piece in the Globe and Mail called “Why men can’t - and shouldn’t - stop staring at women.” There have been a variety of responses, and we’ve collected some of them here for you. What do you think about the piece? Are there other responses you’ve seen and liked? From Kasia Mychajlowycz at Archive Kasia: It’s part of male privilege to feel that writing a long feature about … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Link round-up: Day of remembrance and action
[Trigger warning for discussion of violence.] As many Shameless readers will be aware, today is the 22nd anniversary of the Montreal massacre, an event in which a man shot 28 people and killed 14 women, claiming to be “fighting feminism.” Much to the chagrin of many, the man’s name is known and published and remembered frequently in media coverage of commemorative events, but the names of the murdered women are often missing. Today, we remember: Genevieve Bergeron (born … READ MORE
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In the Blog
National day of remembrance and action of violence against women in Canada
Today is for you, you lucky people who have not experienced violence. Today is the day for you, who do not know what it is like to be harmed for being a woman, to remember the victims of l’Ecole polytechnique, 14 beautiful young women who were gunned down for being women, accused of being feminists. As if that was a trait worth being murdered for. Today is a reminder for you, that every day women are raped, … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Quick rant: music radio shows
I don’t want to get all “when I was younger, people had more respect!” because it’s completely untrue. But I do feel that maybe there were more regulations about what radio presenters could say on the air ten or fifteen years ago (and I listened to the radio constantly when I was in junior high/high school). This morning, I flipping on Toronto’s Virgin Radio while I was getting dressed, and discovered their morning show hosts were … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Slut Walk: The London, Ontario Edition
This Sunday, around 300 women from across the city came together in Victoria Park to participate in London’s Slut Walk, inspired by recent events in Toronto. The event was co-organized by Amazon Collective, a local pro-woman action group, and VDay Western, a global movement to end violence against women and girls, that has brought the university and London communities The Vagina Monologues for nine years, along with a slew of other campaigns and events that … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Things that cause rape
Today in signs I’d like to see more of, this gem from Buzzfeed: … READ MORE
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In the Blog
This Sunday: Wear your slut pride at SlutWalk
Over the past few months, we’ve seen a victim-blaming renaissance in the pages and websites of many North American media outlets. From the New York Times blaming an 11-year-old girl for her gang rape to a Manitoba judge not jailing a rapist because the victim “wanted to party;” to punishing a school clerical worker for being in a porn film and disrespecting a young woman’s death by focusing on her being an escort–there is no … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Guest Blog: No Shame, All Consent
Today’s guest blog comes to us from Ben Privot of the Consensual Project. The Consensual Project partners with schools and universities to bring students a fresh understanding of consent. The innovative curriculum, workshops, and website empower young people to incorporate consent into their daily lives. The Consensual Project is committed to helping students connect through consent. Hi Shameless readers! It’s an honor to get to share with you today. Please let me be clear: I LOVE Shameless magazine’s … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Recommended Reading: Raped in the U.S.A.
I came across an excellent post by Amy Andronicus on the Texas gang-rape case that I think is a must-read in addition to the post on Shakesville. An excerpt: In what constitues a FOX-worthy example of editorializing “the news,” the journalist in question, James McKinley, chooses quotations only from those residents of the town who saw the victim as responsible for her own rape. The piece therefore emerges as an appallingly biased depiction of a rape … READ MORE
