WMC Women Under Siege
We can no longer ignore Nauru: Atrocities against women, children plague Australian detention center
In the middle of the Pacific Ocean lies the tiny, remote island of Nauru, which has come under scrutiny recently by the media and human rights groups. The Australian government, which provides direct aid to Nauru, uses the island to hold asylum seekers who have traveled to Australia by boat.
WMC Women Under Siege
What happens when a religious leader supports female genital mutilation
In the confines of their home in Boston, the Bandukwalas decided that their 8-year-old would not undergo khatna, the name given to the practice of female genital mutilation by their community of Dawoodi Bohras. While hardly dinner conversation, the topic was in the air all evening. Finally, the couple agreed not to do it.
WMC Women Under Siege
'I was a servant, a sex machine and a punching bag': Why marital rape is still legal in India
The life of a Bollywood stuntwoman outside the realm of the silver screen caught India’s attention last month when a video captured her struggle behind the screen. Geeta Tandon spoke about her marriage at the age of 15 and surviving domestic abuse, including rape, from her husband.
WMC Women Under Siege
'An amorous lump of flesh': Female genital mutilation continues in an unexpected country
A middle-aged woman, her face not shown, her hands painted with henna, is talking about “haraam ki boti,” Hindi for “an amorous lump of flesh.” She is referring to the clitoris in female genitalia that a number of cultures around the world believe must be cut to control or tame sexual desire in women.
WMC FBomb
These Are The LGBTQ+ Victories Already Achieved In 2016
2015 was undoubtedly an amazing year for progress in the LGBTQ+ community. Several countries legalized same-sex marriage, including the United States, and others extended adoption rights to same-sex c...
WMC Women Under Siege
When the unspeakable happens but no one listens: A repressed story of rape in Manipur
Effects of a conflict linger differently on different people. The following excerpt from my book, Mother, Where’s My Country?, is a story of struggle, loss, lack of closure, and denial of memory and justice. The book and excerpt are set in the northeast Indian state of Manipur, a gritty landscape.
WMC FBomb
Why Do We Still Belittle Female Leaders?
If a woman were to take over his role, the Dalai Lama said in September, she "must be attractive, otherwise it is not much use."
The self-proclaimed feminist's comment predictably and justifiably spur...
WMC FBomb
Meet The Comedy Duo Asking Strangers “What Do Feminists Look Like?"
What does feminism look like? If you identify as a feminist, you probably feel trained to not care about appearances and encourage others not to as well. But maybe you still wonder: What does my appea...
WMC FBomb
Sexual Assault Is A Global Disease. Censorship Is Not The Cure.
My parents grew up in Delhi and the city is like a second home to us. In addition to my cultural roots and personal connection to the country, I also have a deep, personal interest in Indian society, ...
WMC Women Under Siege
‘India’s Daughter’ offers the first real challenge to India’s rape culture
When the loudest voices against sexualized violence against women have never caused anyone discomfort, it is safe to say that no one thought that their attitudes on women were being challenged. India's Daughter is the first time that those who knowingly or unknowingly espouse rape culture have been unnerved enough that they feel the need to shoot the messenger.
WMC Women Under Siege
Uber, buses, and streets: How safe are women in public spaces?
In a visit to India in January, U.S. President Barack Obama said women everywhere should be able to “walk the street or ride the bus and be safe.” They should be “treated with respect,” he said. Yet less than two months before that visit, a 26-year-old woman from Delhi said she was raped by a taxi driver for Uber, a Web-based taxi firm that allows passengers to book rides using a phone app.
WMC FBomb
October 12, 2014 | Martine K |
Education,
Feminism,
Girls,
International,
Politics,
Violence against women
Ileana Jiménez: Inspiring Feminism Locally and Globally
Social media as well as blogs and communities like the FBomb have played a key role for young people involved in the feminist movement by giving us a platform to share our thoughts and ideas and allow...
WMC Women Under Siege
Who killed the girls? In India, a forgotten crime
On May 28, 2014, most Indian newspapers ran front-page stories about two teenage girls, cousins, who had been hanged in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh after being allegedly gang-raped. Some papers also printed the disturbing image of the girls’ bodies hanging from a mango tree in their village. The public display of the young girls, wearing blood-stained clothes and riddled with thorns, caught India’s attention.
WMC Women Under Siege
Abuses by the Indian government keep one woman on a 14-year hunger strike
Irom Sharmila, 42, has long advocated for the repeal of India’s Armed Forces (Special Powers) Act, or AFSPA, which gives the Indian army legal immunity for various brutal actions. She has been arrested again and again since starting a hunger strike in November 2000. “I have spent 14 years of my life chewing my tongue just for violence on all sides to end,” she has said.
WMC Women Under Siege
August 08, 2014 | Priyali Sur |
Disability,
International,
Violence against women,
WMC Loreen Arbus Journalism Program
Indian government fails acid attack survivors, activists say
In India, the battle for justice is on many fronts for women who survive acid attacks. They continue, in part, because the government has failed to regulate the sales of acid and police have repeatedly failed to even take reports of attacks. So beyond the punishment of specific perpetrators, activists and survivors are fighting to obtain compensation from the government—and rehabilitation.
WMC Women Under Siege
A Delhi street where sex workers are forgotten
With painted faces and shiny clothes, almost every day of their lives these women are forced to sell themselves for sex. Their work and lives are at the bottom of everyone’s concern, but they are still tied to Garstin Bastion Road—commonly known as GB Road—Delhi’s biggest red light area, which lies at the center of a busy commercial corner of the capital.
WMC Women Under Siege
‘The system is designed to make you give up’: An American tackles domestic violence in China
Kim Lee met Li Yang on a trip to China in 1999, when he was lecturing about “Crazy English,” a way of learning the language that involved overcoming inhibitions through shouting slogans such as “Conquer English to Make China Stronger!”
WMC FBomb
Girls: Do We Run The World?
I love Beyonce’s song Girls Run The World, it has an awesome chorus, a pumping beat, and a great message about the power of women. But unfortunately I think James Brown more accurately depicts our...
WMC FBomb
Why Women Are Still Expected To Be Domestic In India
A few weeks ago I was talking to a friend who is going to publish a novel next year. She is exuberant to have become a novelist and was excitedly telling me about the characters in her book. My heart ...
WMC Women Under Siege
Selling women short in the name of fighting for their rights
There is a movement in India that is seeking to secure 33 percent of seats for women in elected bodies. And while the "intellectuals" are racking up op-eds and the celebrities are lavishing their endorsements for the Women's Reservation Bill, I have some serious reservations of my own.
WMC Women Under Siege
Measuring self-worth in units of male approval: Marriage in India
While women’s rights in India have begun to make news this year, we are barely off the starting line yet. The news includes domestic and international outrage over the gang rapes of strangers, but these make up a very small percentage of the sexual attacks in the country. In India, more than 90 percent of rapes are committed by people known to the victim, according to a 2012 report by India’s National Crime Records Bureau.
WMC Women Under Siege
New report details ongoing sexualized violence in Burma
On November 27, 2012, a 26-year-old woman was gang-raped by seven Burmese soldiers. When the woman’s husband returned home, the soldiers threatened to kill him. “Even if you tell other people, there is no one who will take action,” they said. “We have the authority to rape women.”
WMC Women Under Siege
Why has it become normal to dehumanize women in India?
Two years ago, on New Year’s Eve, a girl was molested on the streets of Delhi in front of a crowd. The video went viral—as did the spectacle of a mob of men falling upon the woman and the police thrashing the rabid mob with lathis (batons) like a pack of dogs.
WMC Women Under Siege
Silent slaves: Stories of human trafficking in India
In a women’s ward in a New Delhi hospital lies a frail 15-year-old girl. Her face and head are bandaged, leaving visible only a bruised blue-black eye and swollen lips. Burn marks and scabs extend down her neck to her whole body, and a strange stench surrounds her.
WMC FBomb
Saturday Vids: Feminist Consciousness in Islamabad
Jennifer Lee interviewed three women in Islamabad about how they feel the western media depicts Pakistani women. A fuller version of the interview can be found on the Broad Side, but Rubia, one of the...