I wrote about the anti-street harassment organization Hollaback forever ago in one of my first posts (CLICK HERE).
The group Hollaback Philly has recently succeeded in raising $7,000 to fund a new comic book. Bitch.com reports that the comics creator "Erin Filson wrote and illustrated the book that follows three main characters, each of whom has their own color that's used only on their pages of the story. Two girls who get harassed are red and yellow, and the comic also follows a boy in blue who learns how to be a proactive bystander."
The Hollaback Philly blog has a ton of information on women and comic books on their site and you can follow the whole campaign from the beginning.
The harassment of women is not a rarity at Comic Cons and the group will be selling the book at the one in San Diego. Check out this video from the "reality" show Comic book Men. It is a compilation of the shows most blatant sexist repertoire and it ain't pretty DC WOMEN KICKING ASS.
Thursday, March 28, 2013
Monday, March 18, 2013
Sympathetic Perpetrators in Steubenville, Ohio.
UPDATE ON STEUBENVILLE OHIO
Click on the link above for my first post on Steubenville. I strongly recommend reading it first.
The two high school students accused of raping a sixteen year old in Steubenville, Ohio were found guilty in a juvenile court yesterday. The judge found that both boys used their fingers to penetrate the girl while she was so drunk that she lacked the cognitive ability to give her consent for sex. A picture that was circulated among classmates later that day showed the victim naked and passed out. The use of text messaging, twitter, you tube and other social media outlets by teens who witnessed the events made national news and exposed the chilling reality that no one who saw what was going on tried to do anything to help the victim. Steubenville Ohio's Big Red football team also found itself coming under a microscope when it was revealed that the players were attending a party at one of the assistant coaches the evening on the assault and that the players often received preferential treatment and were hailed as local celebrities in the small economically depressed Ohio town.
The most disturbing part of the after math of the verdicts has been the way that certain media outlets have chosen to respond so sympathetically to the perpetrators. CNN took to the air openly grieving about the verdict ruining the "promising" lives of Ma'lik Raymond and Trent Mays. Richmond (16) received a one year sentence and Mays (17) received a two year sentence. They could both be held until the age of 21 under the discretion of the State Dept. of Youth Services.
CNN's Poppy Harlow started off reporting the verdict and stated that it was "incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart."
CNN's Candy Crowley said nothing about the victim and after stressing the difficult and emotional displays by the two boys after the verdict was read. She asked the asinine question: “What’s the lasting effect though on two young men being found guilty juvenile court of rape essentially?”
She clearly isn't asking about the effects the verdict has on the victim. She tries to minimize the situation entirely as if the court should have told the two boys not to do it again and let them off the hook. These boys acted deplorably and no one should've ever tried to make excuses for their actions. Not the town, the school, the coaches, the media- no one. These boys acted on their own accord and if their "promising lives" are "ruined" they have only themselves to blame. This girl was friends with these boys- this is how they treated a friend.
Crowley isn't the only one who saw fit to sympathize with the two boys- before the trial began, Good Morning America featured a story on the case focusing on all of the facts you "haven't heard" and it basically retells the whole story with plenty of attention paid to the "honors student" Mays and wrong-side-of-the-tracks Richmond. The piece ends on a sympathetic note, almost bemoaning the fact that the two teens "face incarceration in a detention center until their 21st birthdays and the almost-certain demise of their dreams of playing football."The Atlantic Wire.
But back to CNN- Crowley sets a dangerous tone in her sympathizing with the rapists and then goes even further by throwing out the assumption that holding the boys responsible for their actions is just silly. Why even punish these boys at all? They are young football players and this messy incident shouldn't follow them into their adult lives. She asks: What are the lasting effects?
Perhaps the next time they are "partying" they will opt not to sexually assault anyone.
Perhaps being registered sex offenders will prevent other women from being raped when these boys are let out of.
Perhaps other teenage boys will see that the legal system will hold them responsible for their actions and choose not to grossly and indecently engage in illegal sex acts with incapacitated friends and take pictures of it.
So why is it so sad to CNN and others that these boys are being held responsible for their actions? Is it because the young women was drunk and therefore partially responsible for being paraded around naked and photographed? Is it because football is so valuable in this society and victim blaming so prevalent that we can't stand to see such fine specimens/athletes being black listed at such a young age by an intoxicated teenager? Or is it because the incident could have been prevented if someone had the courage to call attention to and stop the attack from the onset? Their are many more guilty parties involved here then Trent Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond and the lasting effects we should be talking about is how to stop the type of behavior that facilitated the horrible events to occur in the first place.
Click on the link above for my first post on Steubenville. I strongly recommend reading it first.
The two high school students accused of raping a sixteen year old in Steubenville, Ohio were found guilty in a juvenile court yesterday. The judge found that both boys used their fingers to penetrate the girl while she was so drunk that she lacked the cognitive ability to give her consent for sex. A picture that was circulated among classmates later that day showed the victim naked and passed out. The use of text messaging, twitter, you tube and other social media outlets by teens who witnessed the events made national news and exposed the chilling reality that no one who saw what was going on tried to do anything to help the victim. Steubenville Ohio's Big Red football team also found itself coming under a microscope when it was revealed that the players were attending a party at one of the assistant coaches the evening on the assault and that the players often received preferential treatment and were hailed as local celebrities in the small economically depressed Ohio town.
The most disturbing part of the after math of the verdicts has been the way that certain media outlets have chosen to respond so sympathetically to the perpetrators. CNN took to the air openly grieving about the verdict ruining the "promising" lives of Ma'lik Raymond and Trent Mays. Richmond (16) received a one year sentence and Mays (17) received a two year sentence. They could both be held until the age of 21 under the discretion of the State Dept. of Youth Services.
CNN's Poppy Harlow started off reporting the verdict and stated that it was "incredibly difficult even for an outsider like me to watch what happened as these two young men that had such promising futures, star football players, very good students, literally watched as they believe their life fell apart."
CNN's Candy Crowley said nothing about the victim and after stressing the difficult and emotional displays by the two boys after the verdict was read. She asked the asinine question: “What’s the lasting effect though on two young men being found guilty juvenile court of rape essentially?”
She clearly isn't asking about the effects the verdict has on the victim. She tries to minimize the situation entirely as if the court should have told the two boys not to do it again and let them off the hook. These boys acted deplorably and no one should've ever tried to make excuses for their actions. Not the town, the school, the coaches, the media- no one. These boys acted on their own accord and if their "promising lives" are "ruined" they have only themselves to blame. This girl was friends with these boys- this is how they treated a friend.
Crowley isn't the only one who saw fit to sympathize with the two boys- before the trial began, Good Morning America featured a story on the case focusing on all of the facts you "haven't heard" and it basically retells the whole story with plenty of attention paid to the "honors student" Mays and wrong-side-of-the-tracks Richmond. The piece ends on a sympathetic note, almost bemoaning the fact that the two teens "face incarceration in a detention center until their 21st birthdays and the almost-certain demise of their dreams of playing football."The Atlantic Wire.
But back to CNN- Crowley sets a dangerous tone in her sympathizing with the rapists and then goes even further by throwing out the assumption that holding the boys responsible for their actions is just silly. Why even punish these boys at all? They are young football players and this messy incident shouldn't follow them into their adult lives. She asks: What are the lasting effects?
Perhaps the next time they are "partying" they will opt not to sexually assault anyone.
Perhaps being registered sex offenders will prevent other women from being raped when these boys are let out of.
Perhaps other teenage boys will see that the legal system will hold them responsible for their actions and choose not to grossly and indecently engage in illegal sex acts with incapacitated friends and take pictures of it.
So why is it so sad to CNN and others that these boys are being held responsible for their actions? Is it because the young women was drunk and therefore partially responsible for being paraded around naked and photographed? Is it because football is so valuable in this society and victim blaming so prevalent that we can't stand to see such fine specimens/athletes being black listed at such a young age by an intoxicated teenager? Or is it because the incident could have been prevented if someone had the courage to call attention to and stop the attack from the onset? Their are many more guilty parties involved here then Trent Mays and Ma'Lik Richmond and the lasting effects we should be talking about is how to stop the type of behavior that facilitated the horrible events to occur in the first place.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
12 Weeks in Arkansas
It's official all right, the state of Arkansas now has the most restrictive abortion law- allowing abortions until only the 12th week of pregnancy. This policy goes into effect in 90 days and will hopefully be ruled as unconstitutional as the federal law allows abortions into the 24th week or until the fetus is viable outside of the womb.
Governor Mike Bebe vetoed the law citing its blatant unconstitutionality but his veto was overridden in the states house.
NPR
New York Times
Governor Mike Bebe vetoed the law citing its blatant unconstitutionality but his veto was overridden in the states house.
NPR
New York Times
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)