freshmouthgoddess:

TW:rape suicide

youngpeopleofcolorinc:occupyallstreets:

Netizens Mourn After A Moroccan Girl Who Was Forced To Marry Her Rapist Commits Suicide

#RIPAmina is gaining traction following the suicide of a young girl, Amina from Larache, Morocco. According to online reports, Amina was raped by a man 10 years her senior a year ago. Following an agreement between her family and a civil court Amina was forced to marry her rapist, which protected him from any criminal charges according to Moroccan penal code. 

The snapshot below highlights Article 475 from Moroccan law which decrees that anyone who rapes a female minor, under the age of 18, will receive immunity from criminal charges as long as they marry the minor.

Women’s rights groups in Morocco, like Mouvement Alternatif pour les Libertés Individuelles (MALI), have been vocal in their opposition against Article 475. 

MALI issued the following press release on March 8, also International Women’s Day, to protest Moroccan law. 

Source

thepoliticalnotebook:

Another military sexual assault lawsuit was filed today that points at the nation’s military leaders for their negligence in resolving the problem of rape in the military and lack of action against perpetrators (Trigger Warning For Specific Discussion of Rape). Eight female Marines and Naval service-members are pursuing a lawsuit against Panetta, Gates and Rumsfeld for two decades worth of stalling on action against rape and sexual assault and harassment in the military. The suit states that:

Each plaintiff suffered directly from Defendants’ unlawful conduct, which created and maintained a hostile environment for servicemembers reporting rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment.

Ariana Klay, the leader of these women, tells a pretty horrifying story. Her experience in Marine Barracks Washington (as documented in upcoming film The Invisible War) encapsulates both the terrible problem of rape in the military and the shameful manner in which it is addressed. Subsequent to her gang raping, the Marine Corps investigation into her case found that the so-called “group sex” had been consensual and that she had encouraged her routine harassment by wearing make-up and revealing clothing. [Read/download the full complaint here.]

It follows last year’s case, Cioca v. Rumsfeld, filed by 16 veterans with similar goals, which was dismissed this past December.

Cases like these serve not only to highlight in near unbearable detail the victimization endured by many of the women who have served in the military, but the criminally negligent and misogynistic approach the brass and the Pentagon have taken in dealing with the matter. The investigation into Klay’s case shows that not only do said higher ups foster an environment that is passively permissible of rape, they more overtly support its continued presence in military life. This case’s complaint itself speaks of this exact “culture of retaliation.”

Image: Paula Bronstein/Getty File.

[Daily Beast; MSNBC]

projectunbreakable:

Taken today. 

This woman, moments after her rape last year, had to scream and cry on a public street just so the police would actually take her to the precinct - they wouldn’t because they told her what happened wasn’t a crime. 

This is the excerpt from her email she sent me, before we met up:

There was one female officer, a sergeant, who responded to my 911 call that night. I truly thought, She’s a woman, maybe I can get through to her, woman-to-woman. As the police tried to escape to their cars and leave me weeping pantyless on the sidewalk, I followed her, begging with her to listen to me. I said to her something like, “Please, please help me… Imagine as a woman what this must feel like for me…”

The quote on the poster is what the female sergeant replied.

—

On a different note, this is going to be the last photo until the weekend is over. This project is tough to manage, but it’s probably also tough to read as well. I think it would be good for all of us to take a couple of days to just breathe. Okay? Okay. No clicking onto the site, either. Just take some time for yourself. 

xo

Grace

think-progress:

Remember the Fox News pundit who said feminists are to blame for women being “raped too much” in the military? Jon Stewart does an awesome takedown in his segment last night.

Are you not horror-tained? 

fuckyeahsexeducation:

For your anon looking for zine-ish consent stuff… here’s a comic I did the other day!

unknowablewoman:projectunbreakable:

I photographed this man yesterday. He was the first male I’ve ever gotten to photograph for this project; all the other men have been submissions. Men are slowly stepping forward for this. People are getting braver - showing their faces more, sharing more, and simply even participating. I received piles of emails a day. It’s been incredible to watch this project grow in the media, but that’s nothing in comparison to watching people grow from this project.

—

Not sure what Project Unbreakable is? Click here.

Can you help Project Unbreakable by donating? Click here.

Want to be apart of Project Unbreakable? Email us at projectunbreakable@gmail.com

I love you so much. <3 This is amazing and you are amazing and I am amazed. 

womenaresociety:

Jon Hamm Talks About Rape and the Lack of Positive Male Role Models

Hamm was recently a speaker at the Rape Treatment Center benefit brunch in Beverly Hills where he spoke about his pre-Mad Men employment history — which we will refer to as phase one of your ever-deepening affection.

Apparently, the man behind Don Draper is a former high school teacher and also worked at a daycare center. Hamm said he’s always felt very connected to children, which he attributes to being the child of a single parent —and thus spending “the majority of my life in daycare, after school programs, summer school programs,” which brings us to phase two:

Hamm said, “Having gone through what I had gone through as a child…there were no real male role models in any of these places. There were never any dudes. It was a bummer as a young man to, not only not have a father figure in my life, but no real male figures as teachers or as educators or as afterschool program leaders or anything,” he said.

AND THEN —in what is both phase three and also such an important message that is rarely discussed by men, especially in entertainment— Hamm makes a point of talking about how important it is to reach out to young boys and men and educate them on the “lasting impact of rape”:

Hamm made the point to emphasize the importance of the Rape Treatment Center’s educational outreach, especially for boys and young men. “It is an important thing to instill in a younger generation about the impact of rape, the lasting impact of rape,” he said, adding, “Children from grade school to high school to college are incredibly susceptible and incredibly malleable, as we all know. To get them early, to teach them about the facts and figures and other realities of rape is key. It is an important issue to me as not only a man, but as an educator, as a human being and as a person on this planet.”

All lighthearted jokes about love-deepening aside, this is such an important message and I’m so thrilled he was able to send it.

Rape is not a female issue. Rape is everyone’s issue, which is why it’s often an incredibly powerful thing to have a man stand up and say that. Obviously, I’m not saying it’s any better or worse or that one’s ability to be taken seriously has to be tied to gender but in terms of reaching a larger audience of men, I do think that there’s something powerful about a man —especially a widely respected and beloved man such as Hamm— standing up and encouraging other men to educate themselves and their sons on what they can personally do to prevent rape, instead of continuing to simply tell women to protect themselves or “dress differently” (ugh).

I wish we were at the point where hearing this message coming from incredibly strong people of any gender was enough, but I really feel like we need to be hearing these messages from everyone so that people realize that rape isn’t simply a women’s issue or a heterosexual issue. It truly is everyone’s issue.

Hats off to you, Jon Hamm for shedding light on this fact. 

*Thanks to Britany for sending this!

wonwherefound:

Consent is sexy. Sex without consent isn’t sex at all; it’s violence or robbery.

itdevours:itallstartedonmamalu:itdevours:onenationundergod:

Stories like this need to be shared.

(via http://nikosnature.tumblr.com/)

No, no. Absolutely not. I cannot leave this bullshit alone.

It’s so amazing that you are here because of your mother’s horrible experience and yet are not totally messed up because of it. That kind of strength is exceptional. I think we can all agree on this.

But no one thinks you’re better off dead, because you are a person. Your mother chose to give birth to you, and you’re here now. When you were a fetus, no one was going to ask your opinion, because you didn’t have one. The consequences of rape are never a blessing in disguise. 

Do not assume that others in the same situation should tough it out like your family has managed to do. That is arrogant, narrow minded, and undermines the very real trauma that victims of rape experience. 

Actually if you look at the negative of rape it’s going to get you nowhere. I found my husband because of what happened to me. He was there for me when no one else was and we ended up falling in love. Out of every bad situation comes good not everyone is so pessimistic about what happens to them.

I’ll try this again, because maybe I wasn’t clear.

If a person has the strength to make good after a situation like rape, they are the exception. You cannot tell just anyone, “Don’t worry too much about getting raped because something good will come out of it!” 

One of my dearest friends was raped and ‘pessimistic’ is not the word I would use to describe how she feels about it. That is an extreme understatement. It’s years later, and if you ask her now, not a damn good thing happened to her as a result of some shit head violating her. Doesn’t matter that she’s in a healthy place now. Doesn’t matter that she doesn’t have any visible lasting trauma. 

Not every one is so optimistic about what happens to them, nor should they be expected to be.