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WrongCards Aren’t Only Wrong, They’re Disgusting

May 7, 2008 · Filed Under Violence Against Women

I came across this site a few days ago and while the website name alone should have tipped me off to the type of content I would find there, I was pretty disturbed by a few of the images that I saw.

With a name like WrongCards, sure, you can suspect that the content is going to be pretty far from politically correct, but what I found completely crossed the line from wrong to sick and disgusting.


date rape

Apparently we can add date rape to the list of things people find funny right alongside of sex criminals and being kicked in the stomach while pregnant.

However, WrongCards doesn’t stop there; they also have another card that reads “I’m still waiting to be sexually harassed.“

The Abortion Superhero: NOT Funny

May 5, 2008 · Filed Under Violence Against Women

Apparently kicking a pregnant woman in the stomach is considered a form of abortion. This is odd because in the world I live in, this is called blatant violence against women and something that people are prosecuted for. I must live on another planet or something, especially since a video of a man playing a superhero that goes by the name Abortion Man is considered funny by the masses.

With comments such as:

  • I want the sequel…”Coathanger man.”
  • He’s my new favorite super hero.
  • Come on people lighten up
  • LOL. It’s funny…if you don’t take it too seriously. :)

And those are all just on the first page!

I frankly can’t stand how people excuse something that is obscenely offensive by saying not to take it seriously. How exactly are people supposed to take it, with a whimsical attitude? Do these rules apply to all facets of life or just subjects that make fun of women?

Oddly enough, the pedophile beards video is listed as a related video; what tags are these people using?



Report It on Angela Shelton Day

April 29, 2008 · Filed Under Violence Against Women


Report IT

Happy Angela Shelton Day!

Today is the day where the Report It campaign, a campaign motivating survivors of sexual assault to report their cases via an online form at the Report It website, comes to a close with the biggest rally of unified sexual assault survivors taking place at various courthouses across the country! Today, on Angela Shelton Day, survivors are being asked to go to your local courthouses and say that the silence of sexual assault survivors has went on for far too long.

Sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the world and it is also the least talked about. By being a survivor and living through your abuse and talking about your abuse, you are breaking the silence surrounding this pandemic. One person can change the world, so if you are able, please go to your local court house and speak up for the rights of survivors everywhere.

Here is the statement that is being read at rallies across the country:

“Sexual assault is the most underreported crime in the world. All too often victims do not report the crime to authorities for fear of not being believed, mistrust of the legal system, because they blame themselves for the crime or fear of retaliation. It’s time to address why this happens to sexual violence victims, while victims of other crimes, like robbery, don’t hesitate to seek justice. Victims of sexual violence deserve the equal protection of our laws. They deserve to be heard and validated. The Report IT Campaign is a first of its kind effort on behalf of all victims — an initiative designed to give hope to all victims that we can end the silence surrounding sexual violence. Our loud, unified voice today will be the first step in a multi-year effort to inspire much needed reforms and better access to justice for all victims.”

But this isn’t the end of the collaborative rally from Angela Shelton and PAVE. In fact, PAVE will be collecting reports from survivors for the next year, in 2009 this rally will run again just as it did this year but hopefully with even more people and in 2010, PAVE is taking this rally straight to Washington DC.

If you haven’t already, report your case today on Angela Shelton Day by filling out the online form. I filled mine out this morning and now it’s your turn!

If you need someone to talk to remember that you can always call RAINN. It’s safe and confidential. 1.800.656.HOPE or check out the online hotline.

Help Us Help You Help Others

April 26, 2008 · Filed Under Violence Against Women

Skirt Sports SkirtSports, a retailer for sport apparel for women and children, has recently put together a campaign that will help their customers give back to the organizations and charities that mean the most to them.

Help Us Help You Help Others is a campaign unlike most others I have seen. Not only can you donate to a charity and help that charity help others in need, but you, as a SkirtSports customer, can choose the charity that Help Us Help You Help Others donates to.

Over a period of a month, SkirtSports asks people to nominate their favorite charity and the charity that receives the most submitted nominations will receive a $500 donation from the SkirtSports Help Us Help You Help Others campaign plus whatever amount is received through your donations, which range from donations of $5 to $100.

For the month of April and in honor of Sexual Assault Awareness Month, Help Us Help You Help Others will be donating to SOAR (Speaking Out Against Rape) SOAR is an amazing non-profit organization which runs national awareness, education and prevention programs to help survivors of sexual abuse reclaim their voice, confidence and lives. You can learn more about SOAR at their website here.

In order to donate to SOAR through Help Us Help You Help Others, go here and select the amount you would like to donate. 100% of your donations go straight to SOAR; there is no tax or fees of any kind and it gets donated directly. As an added bonus, SOAR has a special promotion through SkirtSports where if you buy from their website you receive 10% off on all online purchases by using the promo code SOAR–and while you’re at it, don’t forget to make a donation to SOAR.

Your Sexual History, Alcohol Consumption, Clothing and Location: Reasons Why You’re to Blame for Being Raped

March 27, 2008 · Filed Under Violence Against Women

Well this is definitely sad.

The Irish Examiner has recently taken a national poll on society and rape victims, finding that an astounding number of people in Ireland feel that rape victims are to blame, or at least partially to blame for their attack.

  • - More than 30% think a victim is some way responsible if she flirts with a man or fails to say no clearly.
  • - 10% of people think the victim is entirely at fault if she has had a number of sexual partners.
  • - 37% think a woman who flirts extensively is at least complicit, if not completely in the wrong, if she is the victim of a sex crime.
  • - One in three think a woman is either partly or fully to blame if she wears revealing clothes.
  • - 38% believe a woman must share some of the blame if she walks through a deserted area.

Of course, not just Ireland tends to feel this way, as there are also other studies I have found online where alcohol consumption was also a deciding factor in blaming rape victims for their attacks, but that’s old news in the realm of putting the blame on women.

These studies not only reveal how society feels about sexual assault, but also why so many victims of sexual assault do not report their cases. It’s bad enough to be a victim of sexual assault, but to be blamed for it and re-victimized by society and the court systems is sometimes too much to take for most people; especially since justice is not served for many cases regarding sexual assault.

Apparently the people of Ireland believe that only women are victims of sexual assault, but I suppose men are too hard to blame for their abuse, so it’s easier to put an even thicker layer of silence around men victims. They also believe that women fail to say no clearly enough. Do they also believe men are missing a few braincells and don’t know what no means? Are women going to have to start wearing sandwich boards with the word “no” written on it in dark, red letters? Society will then start blaming women for their assault due to the fact their attacker couldn’t read.

Determining the level of blame to put on a raped woman by her sexual history makes absolutely no sense to me. Are we now saying that rape isn’t that big of a deal because the woman was not a virgin, so nothing was really taken away? That is pure bullshit. And what, exactly, is the number of sexual partners a woman is allowed to have before getting blamed for rape? 2? 4? Frankly, what is the number of sexual partners a woman can have before she is labeled as a slut? Most likely 2, especially if one is not her current husband.

As for wearing revealing clothing, rape is not about sex, it is about control and having control over another person, therefore making it ridiculous to say that women who wear short skirts or low-cut tops are “asking to be raped.” Rape is not a “woman’s issue” and both genders need to eliminate sex crimes together and the first order of business should obviously be education. Stop re-victimizing women, by doing so, we are making excuses for these crimes and doing nothing to stop them.

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