sexual assault

I never imagined Kevin Spacey as a moral guide. Still, even when the bar was not high, the news has been heartbreaking for humanity.

The ultimate goal is to dismantle toxic constructions of masculinity. There are steps we can take now.

Winnie M Li’s story of sexual assault is hard to read. That’s precisely why it’s so important.

Standards of evidence are politically contested. But the most crucial issue is due process.

Laura Kipnis, sexual assault, and the question of female agency

Telling stories of resistance is itself an act of resistance.

After Ruth Everhart was raped, she had to rebuild her beliefs about God’s will.

Survivors are in our pews—and pulpits.

This man picked a very good moment to remind me of his power.

Attaining justice for victims of sexual assault cannot be a matter of belief or disbelief. They are individuals, not symbols of a cause.

Arthur Remillard sees the best of football’s warrior culture as a man training his body into subjection for the protection of the weak and the advancement of all righteous causes. And maybe it’s because I know so little about football, but I don’t see it. How does throwing a ball around a field protect the weak? How does sucking all the money from educational institutions advance righteous causes? How does making a touchdown make a man more righteous? 

Beverly Donofrio had just been “looking for a monastery to join, for Christ’s sake.” She had closed her laptop, having bookmarked religious communities she might write to, then had fallen into a deep sleep. During the night she was raped at knife point in her home in Mexico.

If you haven’t realized the urgent need for an expanded Violence Against Women Act, read today’s New York Times, where novelist Louise Erdrich restates the theme that runs through her powerful novel The Round House (reviewed in a previous post): Native American women are being battered and raped by non-native men, and they have no legal support for pursuing justice—because non-natives are immune from prosecution by tribal courts.

It's hard to imagine a more efficient way to rack up diverse denunciations than Rep. Todd Akin's approach in an interview on Sunday, when in one breath he both promoted a foul bit of junk science alleging that rape victims don't generally get pregnant (and thus don't need abortion services) and coined the term "legitimate rape." Pretty much everyone everywhere has condemned his comments, and rightly so.

A number of rape victims have written responses, including Shauna Prewitt, whose post at xoJane went viral and taught a lot of us something appalling that we didn't know.

The passion narrative is the story of a series of violations. Is it good for us to find our identity in it?