WMC News & Features
Satire is a Dangerous Business in Venezuela
With national elections looming, the health of Venezuelan democracy may depend on the freedom of opinion in the media—including the political cartoonists.
WMC FBomb
On the media coverage of the Steubenville and Delhi Rape Cases
Over the past several months, two rape cases have received widespread media attention. While the media could have used these cases as an opportunity to educate people and condemn the crime of rape, th...
WMC Women Under Siege
April 03, 2013 | Lauren Wolfe |
Disability,
International,
Violence against women,
WMC Loreen Arbus Journalism Program
Syria has a massive rape crisis
All across the war-torn country, regime soldiers are said to be sexually violating women and men from the opposition, destroying families and, in some cases, claiming lives.
WMC FBomb
April 02, 2013 | Chelsea L |
Body image and body standards,
Feminism,
International,
Media,
Religion
On Witnessing Beautiful, Real Bodies
I recently spent two weeks traveling with a group in Morocco and was fortunate enough to have the experience of going to a hammam. A hammam is a type of spa where women and men (separately) go once a ...
WMC News & Features
Mentoring the Next Generation of Writers
Girls Write Now, in the midst of its annual CHAPTERS readings now in New York City, sponsors pairings that can seem at first surprising via its afterschool arts program.
WMC Women Under Siege
Now in their 80s and 90s, aging WWII sex slaves haven’t forgotten
It’s a euphemism we still haven’t shaken. “Comfort women” refers to the women and girls—usually foreign, from countries like Korea, the Philippines, and China—forced by the Japanese military to do sex work mainly during World War II.
WMC News & Features
March 29, 2013 | Shazia Z. Rafi |
Economy,
Education,
Girls,
International,
Politics,
Race/Ethnicity,
Religion,
Violence against women
Pakistan—The Last Destination of the Stars
The author, fresh from a family visit, reflects on how Pakistan arrived at this moment, and what the United States can do to support women and democracy there.
WMC FBomb
GQ’s Impressive Interview With Pussy Riot Is Still A GQ Interview
As Feministing.com reported last summer, three members of the Russian punk rock collective Pussy Riot were convicted in August 2012 and sentenced to two years’ imprisonment for “hooliganism motivated ...
WMC Women Under Siege
Reports surface of rape and torture in Iraq
It has been 10 years since the U.S. invasion of Iraq, and stories of torture and sexualized violence are still coming to light. As Al-Jazeera reported Tuesday, Amnesty International’s recent publication, “Iraq: A decade of abuse,” is a horrifying, pain-filled heap of rape, sexualized torture, and other forms of sexualized violence. And the rights group is still gathering evidence.
WMC Women Under Siege
March 13, 2013 International,
Violence against women
International campaign asks 57th Commission on the Status of Women to uphold women's rights
The International Campaign to Stop Rape & Gender Violence in Conflict, on whose advisory committee WMC's Women Under Siege serves, sent the following letter to the delegates of the 57th United Nations Commission on the Status of Women today. The letter calls on member states to conclude negotiations with a strong statement that will prioritize action to end violence against women.
WMC News & Features
Futures Without Violence
A UN Commission on the Status of Women Event Highlights Groups Acting to End Violence Against Women Around the World.
WMC Women Under Siege
Why I work with rape survivors in Africa
“Has the world forgotten about us?” These words from Fatima, a Darfuri rape survivor, still haunt me. It was the summer of 2006 and I was collecting interviews as part of my research-based activism with 25 Darfuri genocide survivors at a refugee camp in Chad.
WMC News & Features
Showcasing Films by Cuban Women
For the first time, a group of women filmmakers from Cuba are showing their films in the United States, beginning in Los Angeles on March 8, International Women's Day.
WMC Women Under Siege
New Holocaust findings highlight larger gap in conflict and rape research
One of the most emailed New York Times stories over the weekend was a piece about the Holocaust. In it, Eric Lichtblau explains new findings from experts at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum: that the number of Nazi ghettos, camps, and other sites of systematic human misery is six times what the study authors had predicted.
WMC News & Features
February 28, 2013 | Robin Morgan (1941 - 2026) |
International,
Media,
Politics,
Violence against women
Witch Burnings in Papua New Guinea—in 2013!
First delivered on "Women's Media Center Live with Robin Morgan," this "Fighting Words" commentary demands action in response to a horrifying news story reported by journalist Jo Chandler.
WMC Women Under Siege
Salacious, voyeuristic, insensitive: How the media harms one survivor of rape
Context. It’s a simple word that requires its own set of words to make clear: Context, according to Merriam-Webster, contains “the parts of a discourse that surround a word or passage and can throw light on its meaning.” Everything has it. But that doesn’t mean it’s in great supply, whether in how we speak about the world or in how we are presented with the news.
WMC Women Under Siege
Kenyan rape survivors sue government for inaction
Imagine if rape survivors held politicians accountable every time their government failed to protect them. In Kenya, eight survivors of sexualized violence are suing their country for its “non-action” in response to attacks following Kenya’s 2007 general elections. As we’ve written about previously, the post-election violence took place during a dispute over who had won, which developed into tribal clashes.
WMC News & Features
Sarai Sierra Case Dominates Turkish Media—To What End?
Accounts of the Sierra murder investigation jumped forward from the proverbial 'third page' treatment of crimes against Turkish women, but the coverage is deeply flawed argues Alyson Neel, reporting from Istanbul.
WMC News & Features
Human Trafficking Bill Resurrected in Congress
This week the Senate took care of the unfinished business of reauthorizing legislation to combat the crime of trafficking, including services for domestic victims. Now it's up to the House.
WMC Women Under Siege
February 13, 2013 International,
Violence against women
Gender justice group urges South Africa's Zuma to create commission to stop sexualized violence
After the gruesome rape and murder of 17-year-old Anene Booysen, South Africans are wondering how to put an end to their country’s high levels of sexualized violence. In an open letter, the Sonke Gender Justice Network, a human rights group based in the country, calls on South Africa’s president to act.
WMC Women Under Siege
Placing blame: Report debunks misconceptions about wartime rape
The media loves to generalize about war, and with it, wartime sexualized violence. But ignoring nuance does nobody any favors—neither the survivors themselves, nor those who are trying to stop it.
WMC News & Features
The Pot Calling the Kettle…
The author goes beneath the Western stereotypes of African politics to explain what's at stake for women and all citizens in the upcoming elections in Kenya.
WMC Women Under Siege
The devil’s in the data: How rape culture shapes rape stats
If you follow debates about sexualized violence in the United States or elsewhere, in war or in peace, then you’ve probably heard at least some of the following statistical (or quasi-statistical) claims about patterns of rape: One in three U.S. women has been sexually assaulted. Seventy-five per cent of Liberian women were raped during the civil war there. Sexualized violence is declining (or increasing). Intra-military rape in the U.S. is down.
WMC News & Features
February 11, 2013 | Robin Morgan (1941 - 2026) |
Economy,
Environment,
Feminism,
International,
Politics,
Violence against women
Dr. Vandana Shiva—The New Delhi Rape and Globalization
Dr. Vandana Shiva, economist, environmentalist, and feminist, spoke of the public outcry in India and how the devaluing of women in a global economy set the stage for the New Delhi rape. Adapted from a conversation broadcast last month on Women's Media Center Live with Robin Morgan.
WMC Women Under Siege
Why treating rape survivors is so complicated
As a clinician engaged in the evaluation of sexually and physically abused and tortured populations, I have often quietly pondered this question: Compared with victims of purely physical violence and torture, why do victims of sexualized violence frequently have such long-lasting effects?