Even though it is basically afternoon…

I’m going to try and start doing this once a week (though not always on Mondays)—there is just too much to write about and nowhere near enough time. Thankfully, lots of badass ladies and men all over the internet are completely on top of it and doing awesome work. Starting out short this week, but the lists are going to grow (until, of course, we all eradicate sexual violence, so let’s work on that).

The always wonderful Marcella recently posted Carnival Against Sexual Violence 70 at abyss2hope. Particularly of note (in relation to SAFER’s work) is a post from Feminist Ideas and Praxis analyzing the media coverage of a rape at Tulane University.

Cara at The Curvature has a really interesting discussion of how abstinence education distorts the “no means no” model.

Via the WOC and Ally Blog Carnival at Tell It WOC comes a post from last month that I somehow missed. “Rape Trees and Immigrant Women: the silent victims,” at What A Crazy Happenstance, talks about the horrifying phenomenon of ‘rape trees”—trees on the Mexico-U.S. border that are strewn with the clothes of women who were raped by the men who were supposed to be helping them illegally cross—and how the story has been co-opted by anti-immigration media.

Jill at Feministe wrote about the trial of Steven Green, a U.S. Soldier who took part in the rape of a 14 year-old Iraqi girl and the murder of her and her family. A lot of the press surrounding this case has focused on the mental health of the solider, whose lawyers are arguing that he was exposed to especially extreme combat conditions and was suffering from a severe stress disorder. However, what really got to me was the first coverage I saw of the story, an Associated Press piece that was picked up by a number of news outlets about how the defense was describing Green’s childhood as “troubled.” Specifically: “A former soldier who could be sentenced to death for rape and murder in Iraq had a difficult childhood after his parents divorced and at times shuttled among friends and relatives, the man’s stepfather testified Wednesday.” …….Seriously, you’re going with divorced parents? That’s the defense you’re choosing? I am all for aknowledging the context of violence and crime, but that is far beyond inappropriate given the horrific nature of the crime and shows an unbelievably disgusting disregard for the lives of Abeer Kassem al-Janabi and her family.