I have been so angry about the Texas law that functionally bans abortion, I have not even been able to find the words to write about it. But alas . . . being angry without taking action is too often… Read More ›
Rape Culture
Governor Cuomo and How Far We Have Not Come by Janet MaiKa’i Rudolph
Once again, I find myself writing about a man in power getting caught abusing women. It turns my stomach. The ink is barely dry on my blogpost about Bill Cosby. This time it’s Andrew Cuomo, the governor of my state,… Read More ›
Feminist Parenting About Sexuality Part 3: You’ve probably been raped more often than you think by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Our Rape Culture is successfully grooming boys and men to rape girls and women, and grooming girls and women to accept rape as normal, healthy sex. That’s a heavy statement. Remember, in Part 1 of this series, I said: “I… Read More ›
¡La Vida es la Lucha! – Women in the Colombian Protests by Laura Montoya
*Trigger Warning – Reference and description of distressing violence against women at the hands of police* Alison Melendez was 17 when she was sexually abused last week by a group of Colombian policemen. She was captured for allegedly being part… Read More ›
Feminist Parenting About Sexuality Part 2 – pornography by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
As I said in Part 1 – this topic will be difficult to discuss. As I said, I promise I AM NOT SAYING ALL MEN ARE BAD. Please re-read Part 1 if this post causes you to feel defensive or… Read More ›
Feminist Parenting About Sexuality – Hold on, because this is going to hurt by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
I have been asked numerous times by numerous people over the years to write about feminist issues, especially regarding teaching kids about consent, pornography, and healthy sexuality. The reason I have not tackled this project yet is that I know… Read More ›
Crow and the Pornographic Gaze by Sara Wright
Once she believed that it was her fault they came on to her, that she owed them something… They owned her? Secretly the girl was pleased because any kind of attention was better than none, or being so “different” –… Read More ›
All the Perils of this Night: a preview by Elizabeth Cunningham
When I wrote Murder at the Rummage Sale, my agent warned: “You have to have a sequel in mind!” I was supposed to write a second domestic cozy, same setting, same characters, different victim. But what came to mind was… Read More ›
Prose Poem – Rape is Robbery and We Want All of Our Stuff Back by Marie Cartier
We protect ourselves by saying it wasn’t that bad. It only happened once, twice, when I was little, when I was older, when I was drunk, when I was the only one not drinking, when I was alone, when I… Read More ›
Greenness, Whiteness, Blackness, and the Nature of the World by Marisa Goudy
There’s magic in hiking alone, but as women, we’ve been taught to worry about venturing far on our own. In fact, we’ve been taught to worry about a lot more than that. Though once I merely shrugged off the warnings… Read More ›
Women’s Bodies and the Bible by Janet Maika’i Rudolph
Trigger Alert: The bible on its face is quite violent to women. Amidst the ugliness that is American politics in general and abortion politics specifically, I began to look for guidance to understand what is happening. I ended up pulling… Read More ›
Seared by Vietnam by Carol P. Christ
Warning: This post discusses and includes images of the violence of war. Recently I have been binge-watching the American comedy-drama series This Is Us. I am of the same generation as Jack and Rebecca, the parents of the triplets, but… Read More ›
Befriending our Dragons by Sara Wright
“We are an overflowing river. We are a hurricane. We are an earthquake. We are a volcano, a tsunami, a forest fire…” These words written by Judith Shaw speak to the underlying merging of woman’s anger with Earth’s natural disasters,… Read More ›
Just When We Thought It Couldn’t Get Worse, It Did by Carol P. Christ
Like many of you I have been following discussions of the revelation that Virginia Governor Ralph Northam dressed in blackface or as a member of the Ku Klux Klan when he was a medical student. It was reported that Northam… Read More ›
Shedding Shame by Joyce Zonana
As I follow my program, I grow clearer and stronger. I know exactly what I want and I take it. When I sit down to eat, I feel my appetite, healthy and strong. I feed that appetite, choosing just what I need and what will truly nurture me. When I get up from the table, I am complete and whole within myself. Whether I reach my “goal weight” or not, I’ve already succeeded. And so, this New Year, I won’t be making any new resolutions. I’m already on my path, shedding shame.
This Is What Rape Culture Looks Like: Part 3 by Carol P. Christ
Warning contains images of rape in the history of art portrayed through the pornographic male gaze According to the myth, Danae was the only child of the King of Argos who longed for a male heir. After an oracle declared… Read More ›
Hear Me by Winifred Nathan
I found the confirmation hearings of now Justice Kavanaugh deeply disturbing. I have ideas for preventing a replay. First, secret keeping doesn’t work. For too long girls/women have suffered in silence with their secret while boys/men move along often without… Read More ›
A Tribute to Viktoria Maroniva by Judith Shaw
It’s been a very tough month for women. The “Me Too” movement started in 2006, when Tarana Burke coined the phrase “Me Too” as a way to help women who had survived sexual violence. Then on October 15, 2017 it was… Read More ›
Fuck This Sexist Shit by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Our whole lives, we are taught to be nice. To be considerate of others. To play fairly. To fess up when we mess up. Do unto others, turn the other cheek, respect your elders, obey the rules. And for what?… Read More ›
I Believe Dr. Blasey Ford by Anjeanette LeBoeuf
I had a completely different post that I was going to submit for my FAR contribution this month, but that went out the window on Thursday September 27th with the Supreme Court Justice Nomination hearings of Brett Kavanaugh and the… Read More ›
The Wings of the Butterfly by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
Shhhhh… good women are quiet. My mother was a beautiful woman, she never complained. Denial is a silent violence that aims to make invisible a trauma maybe evident or not, to make it acceptable as normal and allow the… Read More ›
Elie Wiesel Never Grabbed My Ass by Karen Leslie Hernandez
The #metoo campaign is empowering. I am enthralled (albeit sorrowful at the suffering), with the fact that thousands of women are bringing attention to the normalcy of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Yet, two months ago, my elation was squashed…. Read More ›
Gas-lighting on Al Franken(stein)’s Street by Lache S.
I will add my #metoo, but don’t feel like going into details. I will just say that in light of my past experience and Al Franken’s statement of apology, I’m realizing why some of us don’t tell at an even… Read More ›
Why We Don’t Tell by Gina Messina
Roy Moore is the next in line to be exposed as a sexual predator in a long list that has unfolded since the Harvey Weinstein scandal. I find it both comical and distressing that Moore has attempted to justify his… Read More ›
How Do We Heal Rape Culture? Part 2: How to Help Men Become Safer by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
In Part 1, I presented a spectrum of male behaviors and attitudes, from violently misogynistic to safe ally. Next it is time to think about how we – as women, male allies, and society – can help men move up… Read More ›
Why Not Me? by Marcia Mount Shoop
My “me too” went out for all to see way before Facebook existed, way before there were hash tags and internet pages for unveiling our secrets to the world. In all the years that have passed since I first spoke… Read More ›
Rape Culture and Muslims by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
There is no doubt that Rape Culture is installed within religions and Islam is not an exception. Lately, “honorable Islamic scholar,” Nouman Ali Khan (NAK) was exposed as sexual predator, causing a battle in social media. NAK is only one more… Read More ›
Me, Too: How do we heal rape culture? — Part 1 by Trelawney Grenfell-Muir
Along with others, I have felt relief, sorrow, and frustration watching hundreds of “me, too” posts and narratives flood my feed. Relief that our society is paying attention to the epidemic of misogynist violence in a new way, that we… Read More ›
In Church, Mosque, Temple, Coven, Synagogue, Whatever — #MeToo Lives There by Kate Brunner
The diversity of the stories of people who have experienced sexual harassment or assault shows that this is not a partisan issue. Conservatives and liberals, rural and urban, religious and non-religious, sexual harassment and assault cross every boundary. It happens… Read More ›
Rape, Community and Healing by Vanessa Rivera de la Fuente
During my last months in Cape Town I have been facilitating a series of workshops on Rape, Gender Justice and Culture of Consent. I am blissful for the opportunity to teach and learn with a group of people with whom… Read More ›
