Morning Afternoon, all. Time for the Sunday links. Disclaimers!

1. Trigger warning! Links deal with rape; click with care.

2. I don't always agree 100% with everything contained in the linked posts.

3. Sometimes there will be comments on the linked posts. Give them a read-through if you have the chance.



Rape culture:

Change.org's High School Cheerleader Kicked Off Squad for Refusal to Cheer for Her Rapist - Relevant Source - 10/2010

"But H.S. fulfilled her role as a cheerleader, participating in all the cheers for the team as a group. She simply refused to shout the first name of the man who assaulted her when he stood up alone to make free throws. It seems like she was being more than accommodating, when an student athlete facing trial on rape charges most likely should have been suspended from the team, even if his presence wasn't a source of immediate distress to his victim in her position as cheerleader. In a display of extreme disrespect for a rape survivor and disregard for her well-being, school officials insisted that H.S. had to scream "Rakheem" with the rest of the cheerleaders, or she'd be kicked off the squad.

Not only that, Caroline Heldman reports on Ms. Magazine's blog that school officials pushed H.S. "to keep a low profile, such as avoiding the school cafeteria and not taking part in homecoming activities." As though she should somehow be ashamed for having been raped and brought charges against her attacker. Where exactly was she supposed to eat so as to not cause discomfort to the star athlete? H.S. also refused to take this offensive "advice.""

The Curvature's Sports Rape Culture Keeps On Thriving - 7/2008

"The only problem with this opinion piece is that it fails to go far enough to connect these cases to a greater rape apologist culture and not just some really good and unscrupulous PR guys who work for sports teams. In a culture that was not so repulsively anti-woman, the lies and the smears could not exist. They couldn't use lines about how a woman who hangs out with rugby players deserves what's coming to her, or she was wearing something low cut, or she's a slut (same thing, right?) and so she must be lying. These kinds of arguments simply wouldn't hold any water. In a world where women were equally valued, where they had a right to not be raped, they would be nonsensical. Comments about her "poor decisions" and state of dress would be utterly meaningless. But instead, these are the arguments that take hold with the public — because they fit the narrative of golden boys and evil, conniving girls.

Look, I believe rape accusers until given reason not to. And so I believe the woman here. But even if she were lying, even if she came out tomorrow and recanted saying that yes!, she was actually working for the All Blacks, hired to bring down the English team and she just couldn't handle the guilt anymore and had to confess — even if that hugely unlikely scenario happened, if the players were vindicated, we still ought to be hugely, terribly disturbed by what is happening here. The treatment of this woman, though obviously affecting her more than anyone, isn't about her. The insults have nothing to do with her. The apologies have nothing to do with her. They have to do with a hatred of women. Even if she were to turn out to be one of those tiny percentages of women, equal to all other crimes, who file false rape reports — and again, I don't think she is — that's not even the point anymore. The point is that people are arguing that if she had been raped, it would have been acceptable for X reason. The point is the argument that she could not have possibly been raped for Y reason. The point is that she has been made unrapable. And no matter what, we must refuse to accept it."


Sex trafficking:

Change.org's Is Your Amazon Cruise All-Inclusive of Child Rape? - 10/2010

"Several young girls, mostly ages 13 to 19, who live in rural parts of Brazil around the Amazon have reported being trapped on American tour boats and forced to take drugs and have sex with American men for days at a time. The girls all claim they were approached by a tour operator and offered a job on a boat, usually cleaning up after or cooking for American tourists. They took the jobs, but when they arrived on the boat, their uniform was a bikini and their duties were to have sex with all the men on board. The girls were fed drugs and alcohol until they became compliant (or unconscious) so the men who bought them could have sex with them. Many of the girls were held on these boats for days at a time before being dumped back in their villages, sometimes with a small earning and sometimes with nothing. And sometimes, with an unwanted pregnancy.

According to the growing population of complainants, all the men on the boats spoke English and are presumed to be American. In the U.S., these tours are billed as hunting and fishing adventures or "eco-tours" of the Amazon. But in reality, the primary attraction is the child sex tourism component of the trip. One tour operator is currently being investigated by the FBI and Brazillian law enforcement for allegedly offering $4500 luxury yacht packages, not inclusive of airfare but including all the local children you can rape."

The legal system:

Shakesville's Rape Accuser Charged With Rape - Links to source are dead, unfortunately - 7/2007

"That said, charging this girl as a rapist is ridiculous, starting with the fact that it does presume guilt. It presumes that this girl who went to her school counselor unbidden to talk about the situation has lied about what happened and ergo filed a false report. Or, the Deputy County Attorney is looking at her admission that she consented to oral sex before he "got really forceful by pushing my head down to where I was choking and I didn't like that and I wanted to stop but I couldn't," and he's nonetheless thinking he can't let her get away with those moments of consensual oral sex before her alleged rape started, because, until then, she was technically raping the boy. I mean, jebus.

And, aside from being yet another general disincentive to rape victims against reporting, reinforcing the idea that the system won't protect or support you, charging the girl with rape is also essentially conveying to every 13-year-old boy in Kansas that they have free reign to rape girls as soon as they turn 14, because, if the girls report it, they'll be charged with rape. Splendid.

Worst yet, because the case against the girl looks likely go to court first, the boy may be granted immunity in exchange for testifying for against her—which means that a forcible rapist could go free in exchange for the conviction of a statutory rapist."

The Problem:

"Apparently, you would be fine for your daughter (if you have one) to dress in the lowest cut dress, showing as much skin as humanly possible. A man's mind turns to sex seeing your daughter? Imagine that...

And save the womens lib crap. Women have no problems dumping on men for quite some time now. Now, it is pretty easy to see the media and women's lib blaming the white male for all of society's ills. There is considerable evidence that women have accused a lot of men for rape for money/alibi/revenge, etc... Not once, NOT ONCE have I heard anyone speak out against those who have just randomly thrown out false accuasations.

As for my "applying blame" to women, let me remind you the number of people who wanted to throw INNOCENT DUKE LACROSSE PLAYERS under a bus when the truth came out, simply for hosting a party where in fact, nothing illegal happened. So you women libs have no problem throwing around accusations when men do nothing illegal but DONT YOU DARE question what women wear or what their actions were if they are raped. " - (link)

"why isnt she responsible for her drunken actions... hey lets party, put it in, no dont, okay do it more, cry rape..." - (link)