All language is but a poor translation.
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Because Indian bodies are “dirty,” they are considered sexually violable and “rapable.” That is, in patriarchal thinking, only a body that is “pure” can be violated. The rape of bodies that are considered inherently impure or dirty simply does not count. For instance, prostitutes have almost an impossible time being believed if they are raped because the dominant society considers the prostitute’s body undeserving of integrity and violable at all times. Similarly, the history of mutilation of Indian bodies, both living and dead, makes it clear to Indian people that they are not entitled to bodily integrity…
–Andrea Smith, Not an Indian Tradition: The Sexual Colonization of Native Peoples
the paper is about “the connections between sexual violence and colonialism in the lives and histories of Native peoples in the United States”
In the colonial imagination, Native bodies are also immanently polluted with sexual sin. Alexander Whitaker, a minister in Virginia, wrote in 1613:
“They live naked in bodie, as if their shame of their sinne deserved no covering: Their names are as naked as their bodie: They esteem it a virtue to lie, deceive and steale as their master the divell teacheth them.”
Furthermore, according to Bernardino de Minaya:“Their [the Indians’] marriages are not a sacrament but a sacrilege. They are idolatrous, libidinous, and commit sodomy. Their chief desire is to eat, drink, worship heathen idols, and commit bestial obscenities.”
Stoler’s analysis of racism in which Native peoples are likened to a pollution that threatens U. S. security is indicated in the comments of one doctor in his attempt to rationalize the mass sterilization of Native women in the 1970s:“People pollute, and too many people crowded too close together cause many of our social and economic problems. These in turn are aggravated by involuntary and irresponsible parenthood … We also have obligations to the society of which we are part. The welfare mess, as it has been called, cries out for solutions, one of which is fertility control.”
(via sitaronse)
(via sinidentidades)
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- How many anarcho-dudes have I seen talking down on women for going to the police when they are sexually assaulted?
- Then, surprise surprise, people like that are suddenly buddies with the justice system when someone outs them to everyone as an abuser.
- From now on I’m going to assume that any ‘radical’ man talking too loudly about why women shouldn’t report these things to the police is shady as fuck and probably a rapist.
- They’re likely pushing those ideas so much because they know the support in the community is weak as shit and they’ll be able to run to the police first if people actually start making it difficult for them to get away with it.
- Don’t give a shit how much of a punk as fuck revolutionary you think you are - you support victims however they seek justice.
(via wretchedoftheearth)
Source: avocadobabydoll
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One in three Native American women report they have been raped. More needs to be done to bring perpetrators to justice. That is more than 2.5 times the national average. And if you think those numbers are staggering, consider who is carrying out these attacks: at least 86% of sexual assaults are reportedly being perpetrated by non-Native men, according to the US Department of Justice. →
tw: sexual violence
Today in READ ME.
Also, today in things that would have gone a long way to help with this problem if the House Republicans hadn’t gutted it: a provision in the Violence Against Women act to remedy the legal problems between tribal/non-tribal courts in prosecuting these crimes that they TOOK OUT.
(via sinidentidades)
Source: reallyfoxnews
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“Rape is kinda like the weather. If it’s inevitable, relax and enjoy it,” GOP former Texas gubernatorial candidate Clayton Williams said. [TW: Rape, Rape Apologism, Rape Culture, Victim Shaming, Abortion, Birth Control] →
Jesus Fucking Christ, why does this have so few notes?!
Probably because tags are gone. I added some! Hopefully it’ll help.
Yep, this is an actual statement. yes.
fdhdghgfhfgfghf
Source: thepoliticalfreakshow
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A survey of 11-to-14 year-olds found:
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· 51% of the boys and 41% of the girls said forced sex was acceptable if the boy, “spent a lot of money” on the girl;
· 31% of the boys and 32% of the girls said it was acceptable for a man to rape a woman with past sexual experience;
· 87% of boys and 79% of girls said sexual assault was acceptable if the man and the woman were married;
· 65% of the boys and 47% of the girls said it was acceptable for a boy to rape a girl if they had been dating for more than six months.Societal Attitudes Supporting Rape (via searchingforavila)
This is fucking scary, and it shows that we do live in a “rape culture” in which abusers and rapists have little idea that they are doing something wrong. My abuser didn’t….
(via inthedarkcornersofmymind)
In which we despair for the universe…
(via invisiblelad)
There are so many of these horrible survey results, and everyone should know them and then tell me there’s no such thing as misogyny and rape culture.
(via wretchedoftheearth)
(via secretaryofswagriculture)
Source: searchingforavila
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[TW: rape culture] Akin Unmasks the Pro-Life Movement - what underlies the rape-doesn’t-get-you-pregnant myth is the notion that sex is shameful & that slutty women will do anything—even send an innocent man to jail or kill a ‘baby’ in order to avoid facing the consequences of their actions
If you’re going to slander the estimated 32,000 women a year who become pregnant after being raped, it’s probably not wise to do it on a Sunday, when it will lead the next week’s news coverage. Republican nominee for Missouri Senate Todd Akin chose not to follow this bit of wisdom, instead declaring in a television interview yesterday that women can’t get pregnant from rape.
“First of all, from what I understand from doctors [pregnancy from rape] is really rare,” Akin told KTVI-TV in an interview posted Sunday. “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.”
For people who don’t follow the anti-choice movement closely, this statement might be a stunner for the simple reason that it makes no biological sense; a rapist’s sperm swims as well as a non-rapist’s. But for those of us who do, it’s no surprise. The myth that “real” rapes don’t result in pregnancy is widespread among anti-choicers—and not just the fringe (Akin, for instance, used to be on the board of Missouri Right to Life). You can see a variation of this myth atthe anti-choice website Abortion Facts:
To get pregnant and stay pregnant, a woman’s body must produce a very sophisticated mix of hormones. Hormone production is controlled by a part of the brain which is easily influenced by emotions. There’s no greater emotional trauma that can be experienced by a woman than an assault rape. This can radically upset her possibility of ovulation, fertilization, implantation and even nurturing of a pregnancy.
Akin’s comment should serve as a reminder that despite its sentimentality surrounding the fetus, the anti-choice movement is motivated by misogyny and ignorance about human sexuality. In this case, what underlies the rape-doesn’t-get-you-pregnant myth is the notion that sex is shameful and that slutty women will do anything—even send an innocent man to jail to kill a baby—in order to avoid facing the consequences of their actions.
You can see this logic play out broadly in discussions about rape as well as abortion. The most common defense in rape cases is that the victim consented to sex and only “cried rape” in order to seem less promiscuous. The claim, of course, is nonsensical. Why would a woman trying to put a one-night stand behind her invite grilling by detectives and defense attorneys? Why would someone so concerned about maintaining the illusion of purity subject her sex life to examination by a crowd of jurors? That the myth persists nonetheless goes a long way to explaining why we have such low rape conviction rates. When it comes to abortion, anti-choice activists accuse women going into abortion clinics of taking the easy way out, as if raising an unwanted child is the rightful price of having sex.
While most everyone can see the absurdity of Akin’s comments, fewer pick up on the deeper problem of “rape exceptions” to abortion bans. When journalists and politicians refer to banning abortions except in the case of rape, they are assuming that there’s a way to construct abortion policy that allows women who “deserve” abortions to get them while preventing those dirty girls who consented to sex from having them. This is simply not the case.
We know from research that even with a rape exception, most rape victims who seek an abortion will be denied. Take Medicaid, for instance, which will not cover an abortion unless the patient is a rape victim. Research by Ibis Reproductive Health, a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving women’s access to reproductive services, has shown that only 37 percent of women who qualified for rape exceptions got the necessary funding for their abortions. Between the onerous paperwork demands to demonstrate that one is, to use Akin’s term, a “legitimate” rape victim and bureaucrats who are understandably anxious about making exceptions even when they’re called for, doctors and patients simply found it impossible to get the funding they need.
In this light, what’s surprising is not that an anti-choice politician accused pregnant rape victims of lying to cover their shame, but that anti-choice politicians manage to avoid saying similar things with regularity. Unfortunately, we live in a political climate where statements like Akin’s will likely be dismissed as a gaffe instead of serving as an opportunity to discuss what motivates such myths. Such is the nature of our shallow, scandal-driven media: It points our heads in the direction of deeper truths, but moves to the next story before we can take the time to see them.
(via tal9000)
Source: abaldwin360
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Julian Assange and Rape Culture
This is a totally fucking overt example of rape culture: British MP Dismisses Rape Allegations As “Nothing But Bad Sexual Etiquette”
This politician is literally arguing that forcing someone to have non-consensual sex is merely “bad etiquette” if you had consensual sex with them before. And then men wonder why feminists are angry at them…
(via tal9000)
Source: freedominwickedness
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“forcible rape”: the least humorous oxymoron I’ve ever heard
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i am not able to log into facebook until i apologize for doing valid feminist work in the nation’s capital.
in the past few days, presumably, a woman named “kim” (i will not reveal her last name or her email address) reported some of the slutwalk content on my own profile (i am unsure which content, because i have not logged back in) as “offensive” or “harassment.” although she is referring to this past week’s 2012 slutwalk, i was only present in 2011, where i spoke and was therefore photographed.
her message to me, along with her contact information, was included in a facebook “checkpoint” which stops me from accessing my account until i accept that my involvement with last year’s DC slutwalk breeches the facebook community standards and guidelines. (as a point of clarification, valid reasons to be successfully blocked from your profile on facebook include nudity, stealing intellectual property, and inciting or threatening to commit acts of violence. i did none of the listed behaviors within the community standards document on facebook’s website.)
i refuse to click “continue” and re-enter my facebook because i should never have been interrupted. by clicking “continue,” i am apologizing for something i refuse to apologize for, and i am also allowing what occurred to occur again.
considering facebook tolerates racism, rape jokes, and other offensive material in the name of “free speech,” it is weird to be banned from my own account merely for doing social justice work. but it is at least good to know that i was correct to assume that the only speech freely allowed on facebook is white, cisgender, straight, male speech by individuals attempting to oppress everyone else.
for now you can reach me on twitter or even send me a message here on tumblr. i also have a google plus.
peace out, zuckerfuck.
you should give out kim’s email address.
(via sluteverbabe)
Source: carmenrios
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[TW: discussion of rape] 98% of rapists are male. Though boys and men are sometimes victims of rape, even in these cases the rapists are almost always male. Some people believe that the reason most all rapists are male is because woman aren’t physically capable of rape. But if you think about it, women are equally capable as men of using a weapon to order another person to have sex against their will. Yet it’s extremely rare for women to do so. One reason most all rapists are male is because in male dominated societies males are taught in many ways that they are entitled to dominate women. Females aren’t taught they are entitled to dominate men.
– Truth about Rape (via femalestruggle)(via wretchedoftheearth)
