WMC FBomb
July 15, 2012 | Carina |
Feminism,
Gender-based violence,
Girls,
Media,
Misogyny,
Violence against women
How the Media Sells Pimp Culture
Every morning when I take the train, I put my iPod on shuffle and let various thoughts run through my head. But as I think about how tired I am or about the math test I have during first period, I don...
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Straw Feminism
I recently came across the concept of "Straw Feminism." Anita Sarkeesian of Feminist Frequency defines the Straw feminist as “a trope that is a deliberately created, exaggerated caricature of a femini...
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The Feminist Dilemma of Rap
Lately, I have been struggling with music -- specifically, rap. I am an African-American girl and rap is very popular not just in my culture but in my own family. I recently realized that the struggle...
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Arrested For Having A Boyfriend
I almost got arrested today. I don’t want to write about it. I don’t want to think about it but I feel like I have to put it down somewhere.
I almost got arrested today.
This is what happened. I was...
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Geek Culture and Male Privilege
Spend any time on website like 9Gag or Memebase (and you know you do), and you’ll quickly realize that most of these websites are populated by guys. Men are both the readers and the ones creating and ...
WMC Women Under Siege
Sudan’s activists face rape, one fights back
In many regards, Safiya Ishaq is an unremarkable 25-year-old. She is excellent at braiding hair but terrible at being on time. She studied fine arts at Khartoum University in Sudan. Not unusually for a student, Ishaq became involved with politics.
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Defending the Relevance of Feminism
One of the main problems with calling yourself a feminist today is that it can be hard to explain why it is still needed. On the surface, many goals of feminism seem to already have been achieved and ...
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Equality Not Partiality
A line in a movie I saw the other day has been bothering the hell out of me. The main character was watching his romantic interest at work. He smiled with all of the charm of a budding movie romance a...
WMC Women Under Siege
Justice remains elusive for victims of Egypt’s ‘virginity testing’
It’s been more than a year’s worth of legal battles, and Samira Ibrahim is still fighting to see that justice is served against the perpetrators of her painful and humiliating sexual assault.
WMC Women Under Siege
For Bosnia's women, a slow justice
The first day of the Ratko Mladić war crimes trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was covered in many major news outlets on Wednesday. Interestingly, while The New York Times pointed out that Mladić is the "last of the major figures in the Balkan wars to face trial" at the ICTY, the Times piece contained no mention of the rampant torture and rape of women during the Bosnian War.
WMC Women Under Siege
One threat too many: Where do we go from here?
I’m sitting in Charles de Gaulle Airport in Paris having just opened an email from one of Women Under Siege’s writers. She’d sent me a copy of a threat she’d received that scattered chills up my arms and down my legs. The sender said he was coming for her; he’d kill her, that “little bitch.”
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An Open Letter to Street Harassers Everywhere
Dear leering men on street corners and subway cars staring and grabbing your crotches:
It’s me…the eighteen-year-old girl who is probably just one of many you all have directed your attentions to ove...
WMC Women Under Siege
'Do I give off a slut vibe?' A professor addresses sexism in the Ivy League
“You smell soooo good, I could just eat you up.”
“Here, sit on my lap.” “No, mine!” “I get her first!”
“Putting him alone in a room with a woman is like giving an alcoholic a bottle of booze—he just can’t help himself.”
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How Do I Deal With Sexual Harassment?
I work as a bagger in a grocery store where the majority of my co-workers are male. Ever heard someone say something like, "To him, women are just a piece of meat?" Well, that's the mentality of most ...
WMC Women Under Siege
Afghan women face horrors for ‘moral crimes’
A cab driver abducted Marya, 15. He and another man raped her. Tahmina, 18, was trying to find the boy she liked in the hopes of escaping domestic violence and forced marriage. Two men she didn't know found her instead. They raped her. Malalai invited the guy she was seeing over to her house when she was alone, but he proved to be a mistake and raped her.
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Saturday Vids: What Else Were You Expecting?
Upon my first viewing, I had a visceral reaction to this film, finding the violence against women repulsive. But I think I misinterpreted it. After a second viewing, I realized its true message -- t...
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Why The Media Assault on Ashley Judd Is Larger Than A "Puffy Face"
A couple days ago, I, like millions of other college students across the country, logged on to Facebook as a pathetic attempt at procrastination. I expected to flip through some of my friends’ newly p...
WMC Women Under Siege
Q&A: How Susan Brownmiller fought the media on rape in war, and won
Back when the media was writing about the rape of a woman in war by describing the shape of her buttocks, Susan Brownmiller was busy preparing her offensive to change how we talk about this atrocity.
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To Educate A Girl
I’ve often wondered if those who are provided with less, make more with what they are given. A few weeks ago, I went to a screening of a documentary called To Educate A Girl, and was convinced once ag...
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Sexist Memes: Funny or Not?
While I understand that there is humour in provocation, this meme (the picture to the left) that's been making the rounds on websites like 9gag and We Know Memes made me throw up in my mouth a little....
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Small Steps On The Feminist Journey
I can’t pinpoint one event that transformed me into a feminist activist – rather, a succession of small personal events led to a decision to co-found my own women’s rights organization and make a life...
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Yorkie: Not Just For The Blokie
The majority of us in the UK will remember the controversial 2002 campaign for the chunky, ‘King size, not Queen sized’ Yorkie chocolate bar. This campaign's primary slogan stated daringly: ‘It’s Not ...
WMC Women Under Siege
Sexual violence against women is the result of the cult of masculinity
Gangs of young men rape girls. They also sometimes act as pimps that seduce a girl, then subject her to gang rape or otherwise insist that she sexually service gang members. Some girls are so desperate for acceptance and so convinced by sexual abuse that they have no other value: they see this as inevitable.
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Jean Kilbourne's "Killing Us Softly"
As Grand Rapids, Michigan yawned good morning at 7:45 am and the sun began blinking hello, I sat in my human sexuality and relationships class, watching one of the best videos I have ever seen in an a...
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Maybe SHE'S Just Not That Into You
A friend of mine recently created a zine about the slut/stud double standard for a electives course called Feminisms that she’s taking. She included various fairy-tale-esque ads she found in magazines...