Gross.

Check out this post on the "Yes Means Yes" blog about a recent ad in a men's magazine - another example of things that just aren't funny.

Example #2394802834: We Live in a Rape Culture

We received this article from a regular PWCL blogger in our e-mail today, coming via Feministing.com. A young woman was sexually assaulted on her campus, and after fighting back using so-called lifesaving self-defense skills, she was attacked again by a group of young men because she fought back in the first place.

What's interesting about this story is how it highlights a few scary things that take place in our rape culture:

1. When survivors fight back, it often doesn't work or backfires. Yet we are continually taught that self-defense is one of the key elements to ending sexual violence.
2. Mob mentality. If you've seen Dreamworlds 3, you know what I'm talking about. It highlights the idea that some men participate in the mob mentality around rape culture and sexual violence. In this case, they did not stick up for the survivor but rather participated in the violence being perpetrated against her.
3. The normalcy of rape in our culture, and even more on college campuses. See the "rape trail" in this story. Ugh.

What's really upsetting to me is that this story isn't on national news. Why? Because, sadly, these sorts of instances of sexual violence happen to people, and moreover women-identified people far too often. I was physically assaulted by a group of teenage boys last year, outside of a PETCO no less, and it reminded me of all the times I experienced similar violence when I was in high school and my early college years. It was normal to me back then, and only when we start talking about stories like the one featured above on feministing.com do we realize what an epidemic physical and sexual violence is against all sorts of oppressed groups, and in this case, women.

What's Your Dreamworld?

Being 23, I consider myself a child of the MTV generation. I often sat at home when I was younger watching, studying, and drooling over music videos. My favorite, which I learned to imitate and reproduce with friends, was "If" by Janet Jackson. I must have only been 10 or so, but I was recreating some of the most sexual dance moves to one of the most sexual songs of the 1990s.

There's no doubt in my mind that music videos, especially those featured on shows like Total Request Live on MTV, are incredibly influential to the young population, and some might even argue the society at whole. In high school I fawned over rap videos with gorgeous music video girls who would shake their booties in the skimpiest outfits I had ever seen. I wanted to be them, I wanted that attention, and I wanted to feel sexy. These music videos are partly why I consider my teen years to be those where I had the lowest self-esteem and worst body image. Every girl I knew watched those same videos and learned, just as I did, that we weren't good enough until we looked like, acted like, and got as much attention as the girls in these videos.

I tell this story on our humble little blog, not because I think I'm special, but because I think my experience is highly normal for people growing up in the MTV/VH1 generation. I never realized how big of an impact that these videos were on my life and my perception of the world until I saw the documentary, Dreamworlds 3.

In Dreamworlds 3, Sut Jhally continues his examination of how music videos create dreamworlds. Through careful analysis of video clips that Jhally very skillfully juxtaposes against film of real sexual violence, we are encouraged to consider the true impact of the stories being told in music videos.

If you'd like to see Dreamworlds 3, you're in luck! This Friday Allies Against Rape Culture at PSU will be holding a screening at 5th Avenue Cinemas. The film will be shown and there will be a discussion to follow. I really hope to see some of you there to discuss this very important and relevant documentary!

Dreamworlds 3
Hosted by AARC for Sexual Assault Awareness Month
Friday April 18th
7:00 PM
5th Ave Cinemas
510 SW Hall St
Portland, OR 97201

Oh, hey, here's a video clip for you to check out, too. You're welcome!

Not too Shabby - Another Follow-up for the LA Times

On Saturday, my letter to the editor was published in the LA Times in response to Mac Donald's shameful opinion piece on sexual violence on university campuses. I was also happy for Kelsey's link to the fabulous response written by Nora Niedzielski-Eichner which was also published in the LA Times.

I'm so glad that there has been a public stand in support of survivors!

Disgusting 'Journalism', Part Two

Curvature (which I only recently recently discovered and highly recommend) has an excellent analysis of a horrifying op-ed piece published in yesterday's LA Times (for the whole disgusting article, go here). As Cara at Curvature writes, the article merits a trigger warning, "not because there are graphic descriptions of sexual assault, but because the comments about women who are raped and the women who want to end rape really are just that unbelievably offensive".

It is an incredibly infuriating piece and the only reason I'm spreading the word about such negativity is to ask you all to join me in writing a letter to the LA Times to let everyone know just how WRONG it is for such an established paper to print something so deluded, misogynistic and insulting to survivors and their allies. You can send your angry letters describing in detail everything that is wrong with this article to letters@latimes.com and I encourage you to pass this information on to everyone who is sick of seeing myths about rape perpetuated in print.

NOW-NY: Your Press Release Title is NOT Witty

I was surfing BitchPhD and found a link to a press release by the National Organization for Women in New York with the most obnoxious title I've read in a long time.

I don't have much to say about this, really, I just wanted to share my frustration by posting the press release for others to look at, too.

Psychological Gang Bang of Hillary is Proof We Need a Woman President

UGH! Couldn't they have been a little more clever???