challenging institutional disbelief around domestic & sexual violence and abuse
2 and a half years ago, I was with my ex boyfriend, I will shorten his name to B, we were both 16. We were together for only two weeks, just a few days into the relationship he started to show controlling behaviour, telling me to wear revealing clothes ‘for easy access.’ I was confused more »
Now far be it from me to say he didn’t make it very well. Oh. Not that far actually. He didn’t make it very well. The man is question is Hugo Rifkind. He was writing in The Times yesterday about the bill on Sex and Relationship Education, which sadly failed in the Lords last night. more »
Another day, another warning issued to women. This time, and not for the first time, it is the old adage – WOMEN. Know Your Limits. Irma Kurtz, Cosmopolitan agony aunt has shared her wisdom with BBC Woman’s Hour and reminded us that rape is ‘an assault with a weapon’ and warned that ‘drunkenness’ means women more »
TW: discussion of child abuse, sexual abuse & rape My original complaint to the BBC about the wording is at the bottom of this post. Above that is the BBC’s response. At the top is my reply: Dear [redacted], Thank you for responding to my complaint, even though that response is multiple levels of wrong more »
I’m horrified by this story of a man who gets a non-sentence for assuaulting a woman in her own home. Particularly striking is the fact that “she was terrified and needed to relax” during the assualt and that he’d “got a bit naughty”. Apparently it’s all ok though as his offence wasn’t as serious as more »
So Eric Pickles made a domestic violence ‘joke’. And although I am pretty sure that there will be some who will try and minimise these insensitive and poorly chosen words (at best), what strikes me most about this is how indicative it is of the casual disregard power and privilege have for the daily, grinding, more »
Tressa Middleton was only 11 years old the first time she became pregnant. When first reported, in 2006, the media repeatedly made statements about the father being a “neighbourhood boy”. The focus was on the girl; not the boy and not the circumstances in which an 11 year old child could find themselves pregnant. There was more »
Sarah Vine’s article in the Daily Mail today is an extremely unpleasant, victim-blaming piece of twaddle. Others have already addressed Vine’s victim-blaming but I want to examine the possible consequences of a slap. Rennard’s victims were all younger than him and held far less political and social power. There are a number of quite serious more »
Today appeared another article [Admin – Clean Link here] about how women should deal with abuse committed upon them. This time from the Daily Mail, (I know right? Sooooo out of character from them!) in an article by Sarah Vine, about how the women allegedly assaulted by Lord Rennard, she asks, “Why didn’t the Lib more »
Dear Sarah Vine, Re: Your article on Lord Rennard, I’m not sure where to begin! You do offer the solution of a woman slapping him on the wrist, if he or another man made an unwanted advance? Yes Sarah, that’ll stop a guy. Won’t think twice next time he sees a not-quite knee length skirt. more »