The Greatest Story Never Told
The U.S. has struggled to make progress in the way the criminal-justice system addresses violence against women and girls. Only in the last 40 years have laws and systems been put in place to prohibit a victim’s prior sexual activity from being entered into evidence, to eliminate the requirement that there be a corroborating witness to a rape, and to create procedures to collect physical evidence from victims.
Indonesia is preparing to ban the mini-skirt under its tough anti-pornography laws ‘because they make men do things’.
The Muslim country’s powerful religious affairs minister said that one of the considerations in its review of what could be considered pornographic would be ‘when someone wears a skirt above the knee’.
The shocking case of a young woman allegedly gang-raped, dumped in a ditch and set on fire by two sons of ex-government officials has sparked mass protests across Ukraine.
Naked campaigners led protests over the sloppy nature of the police investigation and the perceived leniency with which the suspects have been treated.
Grasping the power of social media—along with the need to decisively move forward—playwright, activist, and feminist Eve Ensler has revitalized the terrain with her announcement on February 14 outlining the launch of the ONE BILLION WOMEN initiative. The yearlong action will culminate on February 14th, 2013, the fifteenth anniversary of V-Day. The goal is to have one billion women and men “dancing, striking, rising” across borders to demonstrate their demand to end the global violence against women.
The Italian supreme court has caused outrage after ruling that those convicted of gang rape do not have to be sentenced to jail.
Late on Thursday the court upheld a constitutional court decision to annul the jail sentence of two 19-year-old men found guilty of gang raping a 16-year-old near Rome. A lower court had ruled that jail was the only sentencing option, but the supreme court disagreed, saying judges could apply alternatives.
Critics said the ruling that prison was not automatic for group rape convictions could allow some rapists to go free. Two former equal opportunities ministers – Barbara Pollastrini from the Democratic party of the left and Mara Carfagna, a minister under the former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi – both spoke out against the decision. “This sends the wrong message,” Carfagna said.
Women eNews
By WeNews staff
Saturday, October 22, 2011
[lead-stop-rape] The Uniform Crime Report Subcommittee of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services voted on Oct. 18 to expand its definition of rape, reported Ms. Oct. 19.
The Uniform Crime Report Subcommittee of the FBI’s Criminal Justice Information Services voted on Oct. 18 to expand its definition of rape, reported Ms. Oct. 19. The vote to update the definition came after many years of lobbying by groups such as the Women’s Law Project and the recent viral “Rape is Rape” campaign started by the Feminist Majority Foundation and Ms. in partnership with Change.org.
Daily Independent
Nigeria
July 16, 2011
The reality in recent times that there is a rapid decline in the age at menarche, that is, age at which young girls see their menstruation as well as increased schooling among girls are two key events that have prolonged the period of adolescence.
Increased schooling in particular has made teenagers less dependent on parents and family, and has postponed the age at marriage, and thereby the age of socially sanctioned sexual relations.
Venus Rising
July 2011
Rebecca Lolosoli is much more than the matriarch of Umoja Village, an all women’s community located in the Samburu District of Kenya. She put herself on the line for others…her life has been threatened for going against the indigenous Samburu traditions and culture. What started in 1991 as a group of 16 raped women, denounced and outcast by their families, on a patch of sun-dried, neglected land, granted to them by the Kenyan government at the behest of Rebecca is today a unique group of 50 flourishing, happy women and girls, orphans and widows and even a few beloved goats. They had been facing social and economic difficulties and were abandoned by their families, or were fleeing domestic violence, forced marriage, or female genital mutilation (FGM).
The Wall Street Journal
by Maitreyee Handique
New Delhi
June 2011
Women speak out fears of resisting deep-seated taboos associated with menstruation, viewed even today as polluting in much of India
CNN
By Farid Ahmed and Moni Basu, CNN
March 29, 2011 — Updated 2309 GMT (0709 HKT)
Shariatpur, Bangladesh (CNN) — Hena Akhter’s last words to her mother proclaimed her innocence. But it was too late to save the 14-year-old girl.
Her fellow villagers in Bangladesh’s Shariatpur district had already passed harsh judgment on her. Guilty, they said, of having an affair with a married man. The imam from the local mosque ordered the fatwa, or religious ruling, and the punishment: 101 lashes delivered swiftly, deliberately in public.
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