This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me

Scotland tackles rape with this great site:
http://www.thisisnotaninvitationtorapeme.co.uk/

Words from the campaign:

Several reviews (including one by the Crown Office in Scotland) and other pieces of research conducted over the last few years have highlighted consistently and alarmingly a range of prejudicial attitudes held by the public which blame women for their victimisation and compound an already traumatic experience by attributing the assault in whole or in part to some aspect of their demeanour or behaviour.

This is particularly true where women have been drinking before being raped, if they dress in a manner deemed to be ‘provocative’, or if they have engaged in some level of intimacy with their attacker before an assault. Women who suffer rape in the context of a marriage or other intimate partnership are also seriously disadvantaged by public attitudes, which often support the view that by entering into this marriage or relationship, they have somehow given up their right to refuse consent to sex.

The myth persists that only rape by a stranger counts as ‘real rape’, in spite of the fact that the vast majority of attacks are carried out by someone known to the victim, (often her husband or partner) and are every bit as damaging.

With This Is Not An Invitation To Rape Me, Rape Crisis Scotland intends to confront these attitudes in a very direct way, and invites members of the public in Scotland to join us in putting an end to blaming women for rape. The campaign comprises a range of images (and supporting materials) which invite you to examine your own attitude to the situations presented, and enter the debate that we hope our campaign will generate.

Women NEVER invite rape, whatever relationship they are in, whatever decisions they have made around drink or dress and whatever level of intimacy they have already engaged in with their attackers. We need to replace the blame and condemnation we currently offer to women who have been raped with support and justice. And we need to assign responsibility where it really belongs – with rapists.

Poetry + Feminist= FANTASTICALNESS :]

I need to do something like this.

Great Message On Gay Marriage

I LOVE Andrea!!

Proposition K

I was currently unaware of this until after the election. Nonetheless, I think it's an important women's issue so I'm going to blog about it.
Prop K was put on your November 2008 San Francisco ballot by groups that claim to be in favor of protecting sex workers; in reality this legislation would harm women, children, and the San Francisco community.
The measure directs San Francisco Police Department and the District Attorney’s office to refuse to enforce the State of California’s prostitution laws. These sections include the laws used to investigate and prosecute traffickers and those involved in exploiting children. Non-enforcement of these laws would put many people at risk.
This legislation shifts attention away from those who profit from sexually exploiting women, children, men and transgenders in the sex industry. If it were enacted it would empower pimps and johns and offer no new protection for prostitutes.
Research shows that folks that are marginalized because of their poverty or ethnicity are most vulnerable to prostitution and trafficking. The average age of entry into prostitution is 12 to 14 years.
This initiative prohibits the City and County of San Francisco from applying for and receiving State and Federal grants to fight Human Trafficking. In fact many victims of trafficking to San Francisco are from Asia and Latin America. In order to reach out to these victims, services must be offered in their languages. Ending enforcement of California’s prostitution laws is to tell people who are exploited in the sex industry and prostitution that their safety is not our priority.
Sexual abuse, assault, and rape of people who work in the sex industry is normalized in prostitution. Researchers, service agencies, homeless shelters, and battered women’s shelters all tell us that more than 90% of those in prostitution want to escape it.
Legalization in places like Amsterdam has been shown to increase, not decrease, this form of human trafficking. While girls may have made higher pay and get screened for STD’s if Prop K were passed, the number of girls coerced into prostitution and trafficked to San Francisco would have increased many times over. In Amsterdam's 250 officially listen brothels, 80 percent of the prostitutes have been trafficked in from other countries and 70 percent possess no legal papers. Instead of being protected by the regulations governing brothels, prostituted women are frequently beaten up and raped by pimps.

The Proposition failed by a vote of 121,815 to 89,833.

We've Come So Far

Let us not forget the path that led us to this historical moment.
Many of us, who were once silenced, now have a voice.

Change Has Come To America

we've done it! I can't believe it.
President Barack Obama.
Vice President Joe Biden.

Please Vote!

Vote for equality!
Vote for hope!
Vote for our future!
We are the people we've been waiting for.
Embrace differences and accept others.
Don't empower the status quo by marginalizing others.
Take The Power Back!