Ohio State’s Suspension Of Urban Meyer Is Par For The Course

24th August 2018 ~ mcequality

On Wednesday night, Ohio State announced that Meyer will be suspended for the first three games of the football season. At the press conference that followed, viewers got what anyone with a tinfoil hat and internet access could have predicted: a lot of talk about football, even more talk about how all parties involved respect women, the bare minimum in punishment, and almost no mention of Courtney Smith. Her name wasn’t even mentioned by any of the men who took to the podium until one of the questions near the end when ESPN producer Greg Amante asked Meyer what he would say to Courtney Smith. Meyer gave this pithy answer: “Well, I have a message for everyone involved in this. I’m sorry we’re in this situation. And, um … I’m just sorry we’re in this situation.” He couldn’t even be bothered to say her name.

via Ohio State’s Suspension Of Urban Meyer Is Par For The Course

The online platform that empowers survivors of campus sexual assaults |

23rd August 2018 ~ mcequality

Outraged at the incidence of sex crimes at colleges, activist Jess Ladd got mad — and then she got to building. Here’s how she developed a secure and sensitive reporting system that’s in use on 13 campuses.

The statistics on campus sex crimes in the US are sad and sobering. On average, it’s estimated that one in five women is assaulted during her college years, as well as 7 percent of men and 24 percent of transgender and gender non-conforming students.

And what occurs after an attack is also disturbing. Most assaults go unreported, and when people do go to the authorities, too often they’re subjected to a series of traumatic experiences: insensitive questioning, skepticism or outright disbelief about their experience, and an opaque investigatory process that places a greater emphasis on preserving the college’s public image than on prosecuting crimes.

via The online platform that empowers survivors of campus sexual assaults |

The Empowering Internet Safety Guide for Women | vpnMentor

20th August 2018 ~ mcequality

Have you ever been harassed in the street? Received a crass message on a dating app? Had a coworker make a comment about your appearance that just didn’t sit right?

You’re not alone.

With the #MeToo movement, it’s easy to log onto Twitter or Facebook and see just how many women are victims of sexual harassment. Whether in person or online, women everywhere have experienced it in one way or another. And with all the new ways the internet has opened avenues of communication, online harassment is more prevalent than ever.

According to a study by the Pew Research Center, most online abuse takes place on social media. Although men are also subject to online harassment – which includes name calling, derision, and physical threats – the study found that online, women are more than twice as likely as men to experience sexual harassment.

via The Empowering Internet Safety Guide for Women | vpnMentor

EFF and human rights groups sue to have FOSTA declared unconstitutional

26th July 2018 ~ mcequality

The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and a number of other organizations and individuals have filed a lawsuit asking for FOSTA to be declared unconstitutional, with the EFF saying the law was “written so poorly that it actually criminalizes a substantial amount of protected speech.” They’re also pursuing an injunction that would prevent FOSTA from being enforced while a court considers the case. FOSTA was signed into law in April and though it claims to be an effort to stop sex trafficking, the flawed legislation features broad language, conflates sex trafficking and sex work and by many accounts, actually makes fighting sex trafficking more difficult. Among those speaking out against FOSTA and its sister bill SESTA were the ACLU, the Department of Justice, sex work rights organizations and sex trafficking victims groups.

via EFF and human rights groups sue to have FOSTA declared unconstitutional

What Life Was Like for Women Before Roe v. Wade

26th July 2018 ~ mcequality

Nearly a decade after her death, a photograph of Santoro’s lifeless body—naked, crumpled, and covered with her own blood—was published in Ms. Magazine, accompanying a 1973 story on the Supreme Court’s ruling in Roe. The words “Never Again,” in big bold letters framed the black and white crime scene photograph. The photograph, Broadly reports, became an icon of the feminist movement; Santoro’s death was transformed into an image of the desperate brutality and senseless deaths that reproductive restrictions had wrought on women for centuries. When Ms. Magazine celebrated the legalization of abortion in the first trimester, the photograph of Santoro was a promise that there would be no more dead women on hotel rooms floors—a promise that abortion, as the mantra goes, would be safe and legal.

via What Life Was Like for Women Before Roe v. Wade

Catcalling: Women write in chalk to stop street harassment – BBC News

26th July 2018 ~ mcequality

“You better learn to answer a man when he speaks to you!”
It’s a rainy afternoon in east London and two women are writing these words on a pavement in coloured chalk.
The words are a catcall – shouted by a stranger to a woman walking down a street in London.
The trend of writing out catcalls started in New York and now it’s spreading to other cities around the world.
The woman who started the idea says she wants to stop “street harassment”.

via Catcalling: Women write in chalk to stop street harassment – BBC News

‘Shocking’ level of sexual harassment at music festivals – BBC News

19th June 2018 ~ mcequality

Nearly half of female festival goers (43%) under 40 say they have faced unwanted sexual behaviour at a music festival, new survey suggests.
Overall, 22% of all festival goers have faced assault or harassment, rising to 30% of women overall.
The most common forms were unwelcome and forceful dancing and verbal sexualised harassment.
YouGov surveyed 1,188 festival goers. The poll also suggested only 2% of such incidents were reported to police.
Earlier this year, separate data released in the Crime Survey for England and Wales in February showed more than 80% of victims of sexual assault did not report it to police.

via ‘Shocking’ level of sexual harassment at music festivals – BBC News

What Is Sexual Harassment? A Glossary of the #MeToo Movement | Glamour

16th June 2018 ~ mcequality

Either way, the #MeToo era has given these training sessions an added urgency, especially when it comes to a full understanding of the movement’s key terms (and how to use them correctly). While the fact that we’re having more transparent, nuanced conversations about assault and abuses of power than ever before in history is inarguably a good thing, it’s also a dialogue that will ultimately prove more productive if we—men and women alike—are all on the same page about what we’re actually talking about. If our shared goal is more open and consistent conversation about #MeToo and all it entails, it’s crucial to get on the same page with terminology.

via What Is Sexual Harassment? A Glossary of the #MeToo Movement | Glamour

Chloe Dykstra details emotionally and sexually abusive relationship with nerd-culture mogul

16th June 2018 ~ mcequality

Dykstra takes care to not explicitly name names in her post, but she does give some big hints, such as “I watched and supported him as he grew from a mildly successful podcaster to a powerhouse CEO of his own company” and saying that the unnamed ex “pressured [me] to take an on-camera job at his company I didn’t want.” She adds, “When cameras were on us? He was a prince. Turn them off, he was a nightmare.” During this time, she writes, her existing struggle with anorexia got worse, and:

via Chloe Dykstra details emotionally and sexually abusive relationship with nerd-culture mogul