Throughout the past six months, I have watched five loved ones come out as bisexual and open up to the world in a confident, breathtaking way. In fact, more and more people of Generation Z than ever before are coming out, with 11.5 percent of them identifying as bisexual, according to Gallup. With heightened visibility […]
Tag: sexual assault
Rewriting Title IX: A New Chapter in California’s Schools
In 1972 Congress passed Title IX, a sweeping policy of the Education Amendments that protects students from discrimination based on sex in education programs or activities that receive federal financial assistance. Title IX was, and still is, monumental legislation for the protection of women on college campuses: it mandates, among other things, the creation and […]
Dear California, We Said Enough: Sexual Abuse in California’s Capitol
Nancy Kathleen Finnigan opened the door to her boss’ apartment and discovered him with pants open, exposed. Shortly after, she was fired from her job. Unfortunately, Finnigan is not alone. Her experience reflects a broader trend in California’s Capitol. Over 140 female legislators, legislative aides, lobbyists, and staff signed an open letter in October of […]
A Place Run by Criminals: An Insight into The American Prison
Over the course of three years, prisoners from across the United States sent letters to Human Rights Watch detailing cases of sexual assault in prisons, most of them first-hand experiences. An inmate labeled A.H. wrote, “I have been raped by up to 5 black men and two white men at a time. I’ve had knifes […]
The New Progressive Frontier: Tough on [Sex] Crimes
Can legislation address one of the most pervasive crimes in our society? On March 30, 2016, Judge Aaron Persky of the Superior Court of California, Santa Clara County ruled on the case of People v. Turner, sentencing Brock Allen Turner to six months in prison for a rape he committed on the Stanford University campus […]
The Ill-Named Item Number
Kareena Kapoor, a famous Bollywood actress, is seen in the still above performing the item number “Fevicol Se” in the film Dabangg 2. A colorful brothel. Scantily dressed women. Intoxicated men ogling prostitutes. These set the scene for one of the most popular item numbers in Bollywood, “Munni Badnaam Hui” from the 2010 movie Dabangg. […]
Bride Kidnapping: Can the West Make a Difference?
TW: Kidnapping, Sexual Assault, Physical/Emotional Abuse In 1997, Aberash Bekele of southern Ethiopia was walking home from school with several friends. A girl of 14, Aberash was abducted by men on horses wielding whips and lassos. One of her captors, who intended to marry her, spent that afternoon beating and raping her. The following morning, […]
Don’t Tell: Why Soldiers Are Not Reporting Rape
When Jennifer Machmer was commanding a platoon, she was raped by a soldier serving under her. Unable to bear the strain of the assault trauma on her marriage, Machmer turned to the chaplain of her unit for emotional comfort. While she attempted to confide in him, the chaplain took advantage of her vulnerability and sexually […]
The Adverse Effects of the Western Fixation on India’s “Rape Problem”
In the past few years, India has been making international headlines not so much for its new Prime Minister or his new environmental and space programs, but for something a lot less bureaucratic — and a lot more threatening to its status as a developing nation to root for. The 2012 Delhi rape case, also […]
Bringing Down the House
If the Greek fraternity system is molding the leaders of tomorrow, then tomorrow is going to look an awful lot like the past. Modern American society has been at war with backwards “isms”, including exclusivism, sexism, and racism. We fight these wrongs in the name of progress. We rightly champion the American values of merit, […]