After stalling out more than once, we’ve got some new momentum going to finally, finally, FINALLY reauthorize the Violence Against Women Act. You can thank House Republicans for putting the kibosh on VAWA and leaving it to expire for the first time in its history. Now there are 60 Senators signed on to a renewed…
Make it rain: Today is the fourth anniversary of the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act. But we still don’t have a Paycheck Fairness Act, which would give Ledbetter the teeth to go after wage discrimination. And just a reminder, women are still working more than 100 days into the following year to equal what a…
* TRIGGER WARNING * When I woke up today, within minutes I was confronted by the livestream of Occupy Steubenville. The groundswell protest and public display of rage against rape culture, shed a powerful light on the plight of the 16 year-old girl who was raped repeatedly (and carried to different locations for more rape)…
*TRIGGER WARNING* Just as I was getting ready to pack it up for my last work week of 2012, my twitter feed exploded with the news that gang-rape victim in India has died in the hospital following cardiac arrest and massive organ failure. The unnamed medical student was beaten with iron rods and raped (for…
Remember when I was praising the Edmonton Police Services for its revolutionary anti-rape campaign? Apparently, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department didn’t get the memo. Sigh. Check out this tweet posted on Dec. 22: When you click on the video, you get this: The video now shows a literacy program but if you click on…
Since being signed into law in 1994, the Violence Against Women Act has been a landmark piece of legislation. Thousands have been helped — even saved — by programs funded by VAWA. Likewise, the cultural consciousness about the issue of domestic violence has shifted to such an extent that we don’t talk about wife-beating in…
Reeling from the tsunami of sadness that came with the release of photos and stories of the victims of the tragic Newtown shooting, I want to swear-off the internet, print media, and television for a week. But, alas… this is my job, people. So let’s try and pick ourselves up and get through today, stepping…
Free to be you and me: Starting Dec. 1 the DSM-5 — the official guide-book in the psychiatry community — has stopped listing transgender as a mental illness! This, coupled with the UN Secretary General’s speech imploring the global community to stand with the LGBT community, will be marked in history as no less significant…
*TRIGGER WARNING* Canada’s Edmonton Police Services, working with rape-prevention non-profit groups, has decided that the only way to go in a campaign about sexual assault awareness is: Go big or go home. The new ads, released as part of a two-year-long campaign, give some graphic representation to so-called “date rape” scenarios with the tag line:…
Honoring the Heroes: This Veteran’s Day let’s do more than lip-service and half-hearted thanks. Let’s work to help women in the military gain access to abortions through the Sheehan Amendment, which would give them the same access as federal employees. One in three military women have been sexually assaulted (compared with one in six civilian…
The Sin City Siren 