Reported by CNN, a rape incident took place a month ago at a party in Steubenville, Ohio by two teenagers on the high school football team. The video posted by an anonymous young man at the party, presumably an eyewitness, told his version of what happened.

In the video the “eyewitness” shooting the video repeats that the girl is dead. He uses the word dead as a slang word for lifeless not literally dead. Another young man on camera then says, “She is deader than Andy Reid’s son… deader than OJ’s wife…” In the background with noise and boys’ voices someone yells the word rape. Someone says, “This is not funny,” only to be drowned out by laughter of the main speaker and those supporting him. When asked “What if that was your daughter?” the main speaker on camera answers, “If that was my daughter, I wouldn’t care. I’d just let her be dead.” “Besides,” he says, “Is this really rape because you don’t know if she wanted to or not.” An onlooking teenager says, “You are sick.”

CNN commented that what stands out from the incident is that it demonstrates a split in the boy rape-prone sexual culture. Some young men continue to believe that when a girl gets drunk, staging a sexual display for their buddies it is part of a night’s fun. They do not think of it as rape. Some of their friends, however, disagree. In their conversion to manhood, they are able to name rape when they see it.

The definition of rape in the United States is “a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without the party’s consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent; such as one who is unconscious, incapacitated, or below the legal age of consent.”

But the U.S., India, Africa and other countries have been protesting recently to change the laws to expand the definition of what is considered rape. Many are protesting and pushing for the victims to be supported and the rapists punished. Especially after the recent gang rape incidents in New Deli, India.

According to an article by The Daily Beast, the arrest rate for rape in 2010 in the U.S. was 24 percent, which was exactly what it was in the late 1970s, when tracking such data began. New York City has tried to adopt better policies since 1999 when a policy of testing every rape kit booked into evidenced. The kits have resulted in at least 2,000 cold hits (when the DNA profile from the rape kit matched a DNA from a separate crime scene or offender in a local, state or national DNA databank) as well as 200 active investigations, arrests, or prosecutions. Since 2003, the NYPD has seen its arrest rate for rape increase dramatically, from 40 percent to 70 percent of reported cases.

According to The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, on average in 2010, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence or stalking by an intimate partner. That equals more than 12 million men and women raped in a year.

More than 79.6 percent of female victims of completed rape are raped before their 25th birthday with 42.2 percent experiencing their first completed rape before the age of 18.

Yes, rape has been happening since the dawn of man and the view of women being second class citizens has been going on for centuries, but it is deplorable to know the view of women to some, most in the younger generations, has not changed especially since many women today have higher paying jobs than their husbands or boyfriends and usually juggle that along with housework, children, a family, a social life and so on.

It is sad to say that when asked about this particular incident reported in Ohio, most young men brush it off and said she probably wanted it or passed out on purpose. How could someone answer that? Why do some people think that way?

No matter if a person is drunk, conscience, dresses sexually reveling or not; every person deserves to be respected. No one has the right to violate anyone at anytime. Some men need to stop listening to what their friends and the media says and keep their hands, urges and egos to themselves.

It seems in this party, one night stand and drug crazed generation, men’s respect for women keeps decreasing. Our culture and society needs to change and stand up so that everyone is protected more than abused.

To see one of the videos described in the article or get more info go to CNN.

Image Courtesy : Eric.Parker

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Within the last few months, people everywhere have been fixating on certain aspects of each candidate for the upcoming presidential election. Many will say, “How can you support that candidate? They did this or they support this!” However, the sad fact is that both candidates have several strong reasons why they should not be president. Here is a condensed version of the considerable list for each candidate, the “top five” reasons why neither candidate is ideal to even step foot into the White House.

Five Reasons Not to Vote for Barack Obama

1) “The president said he’d cut the deficit in half,” Romney said. “Unfortunately, he doubled it — trillion-dollar deficits for the last four years. The president has put in place almost as much debt held by the public as all presidents combined.”

2) Borrowing money from China is forcing America even more in debt and making China that much more powerful.

3) He makes excuses for his shortcomings, perhaps his most prominent being that Bush left this country so far in debt and destruction, so Obama has not been able to make many changes. It is clearly Bush’s fault, even though Obama knew the challenges when he campaigned for president.

4) Other than enacting Obamacare, he has done nothing he has promised within the last four years…but that is Bush’s fault, right?

5) Many connect Obama’s views and policies to socialism and communism.

Five Reasons Not to Vote for Mitt Romney

1) Romney has promised to immediately take away federal funding for Planned Parenthood, ultimately taking away vital resources to women.

2) Since Romney grew up wealthy, he will make changes to support the rich. What will happen to the middle class?

3) According to “I Acknowledge Class Warfare Exists,” 203 Republicans voted to make abortion illegal for rape victims in July 2012. As a Republican, Romney punishes the victims of rape.

4) Romney has Mormon beliefs that heavily influence his policies and treatment of women.

5) He is not for gay marriage and gay rights like Obama.

These are some of the main reasons people are totally against one candidate, but what people forget or disregard is the fact that the candidate they support is not perfect. Both candidates have clear flaws and compelling reasons they should or should not be president. As voters, we should be well aware of both candidates’ flaws so we can make more of an educated, informed choice.

Image Courtesy : Center for American Progress Action Fund from Washington, DC (Barack Obama at Las Vegas Presidential Forum) [CC-BY-SA-2.0

], via Wikimedia Commons

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Washington, U.S.A. — William Kellibrew IV, deputy director and national victims advocate, National Coalition on Black Civic Participation, made the following statement in response to Governor Nikki Haley’s remarks about rape and domestic assault prevention programs:

“The recent remarks by South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley calling rape and domestic assault prevention programs a ‘distraction’ for the Department of Health and Environmental Control in order to justify nearly a half million dollars in budget cuts are appalling and insensitive to victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.

With that type of attitude toward victims it’s no wonder that, according to the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, the state she leads ranks seventh in the country for the number of women killed by men, and has had a rate of sexual violence higher than the national average since 1982.

“Governor Haley may think that the only thing victims of violent crimes need is  ‘sympathy and encouragement;’ however, as a person who as a child witnessed the brutal murder of my family in our living room, I assure you that victims of domestic violence and sexual assault need extensive medical and mental health care services.

The lack of services adds tremendously to the public health crisis and becomes more costly in the long run. I did not receive desperately-needed therapy or support for three years after my mother and sister brother were murdered so I understand that cutting funding for victims is dangerous and a direct slap in the face to those who need these services the most. Reducing funding sounds contrary to the agency’s mission of protecting South Carolina’s public health.

“I urge Governor Haley to venture out into the community and speak with victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and I’m sure she will recognize that we need support in every way possible. Perhaps Governor Haley should consider that an increase in funds for prevention programs could reduce the number of women killed in her state, reduce South Carolina’s high rate of sexual violence, and lower costs over time.”

Image Courtesy of  maryaustinphoto

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April is National Sexual Assault Awareness Month and Jenny Lynn Anderson is encouraging women to speak out and acknowledge violence against women. Her advocacy is supported in her recently published book ‘Room 939: 15 Minutes of Horror, 20 Years of Healing’.

Her story is based on surviving a brutal robbery and sexual assault in a downtown Atlanta hotel 22 years ago. She offers steps leading to healing and restoration for women who have experienced sexual violence.

Every two minutes someone in the US is sexually assaulted, according to the Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network. Anderson’s two minutes came when she was sexually assaulted at the age of 28 while attending a convention.  In the two decades since that assault, she’s gone through all the emotional stages (shame, denial, anger, avoidance, post-traumatic stress, depression, and forgiveness).  It took 20 years for her to seek counseling to start the healing process and to find the courage to help others by sharing her story.

Today, Anderson is encouraging those who have been sexually assaulted not to consider themselves as victims – but rather as survivors.  “It’s a matter of choice in how you think about it,” she explains, “and I choose to call myself a survivor.  It’s a key to recovery.”

“Women are not empowered on this topic,” Anderson continues. “First of all, going through a sexual assault turns the woman who has been traumatized inward – they are not comfortable talking about it even with close friends.

Understanding what you’re going through is the first step to any kind of recovery.  More than anything, sexual assault and rape victims don’t want to be labeled as such – it makes you feel branded for life with something so hideous and nasty no one will talk about it,” she adds.

Opening up and going to a counselor or other professional for help is critical to the healing process.  “But there’s a hesitation,” Anderson explains.  “You don’t want to re-open wounds, yet if you don’t, you could possibly suffer other mental stresses such as depression.”

Victims of sexual assault are six times more likely to suffer from post-traumatic stress disorder.(1) “Post-traumatic stress can keep survivors of sexual assault from recovering,” Anderson says.  “It was 20 years before I sought counseling and that was much too long to wait,” Anderson adds.

Entering counseling began the healing process and speaking out publicly is helping to complete it. Since publishing Room 939, she has travelled the state speaking to womens’ groups, rape/sexual assault crisis centers, book clubs, recovery groups, civic organizations and others.

Anderson’s advice to those who are sexually assaulted – three steps to healing:

For more information about Jenny Lynn Anderson and her book, go to www.jennylynnanderson.com

(1) World Health Organization, 2002

Image Courtesy of  http://www.jennylynnanderson.com/

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On average, 24 people per minute are victims of rape, physical violence, or stalking by an intimate partner in the United States, according to findings released December 14 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Over the course of a year, that equals more than 12 million women and men. Those numbers only tell part of the story – more than 1 million women reported being raped in a year and over 6 million women and men were victims of stalking in a year, the report says.

“This landmark report paints a clear picture of the devastating impact these violent acts have on the lives of millions of Americans,” said Secretary of Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius. “The information collected in this ongoing survey will serve as a vital tool in the Administration’s efforts to combat domestic violence and sexual abuse. And the report underscores the importance of ourAdministration’s work to combat domestic violence and sexual assault.”

The National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence Survey, or NISVS, is one of CDC’s latest public health surveillance systems and is designed to better describe and monitor the magnitude of sexual violence, stalking and intimate partner violence victimization in the United States. It is the first survey of its kind to provide simultaneous national and state-level prevalence estimates of violence for all states. Launched in 2010, NISVS also provides data on several types of violence that have not previously been measured in a national population-based survey.

“This report highlights the heavy toll that sexual violence, stalking, and intimate partner violence places on adults in this country. These forms of violence take the largest toll on women, who are more likely to report immediate impacts and long-term health problems caused by their victimization,” said Linda C. Degutis, Dr.P.H., M.S.N., director of CDC′s National Center for Injury Prevention and Control. “Much victimization begins early in life, but the consequences can last a lifetime.”

The report findings also underscore violence as a major public health burden and demonstrate how violence can have impacts that last a lifetime. For instance, the findings indicate female victims of violence had a significantly higher prevalence of long-term health problems, including irritable bowel syndrome, diabetes, frequent headaches, chronic pain, and difficulty sleeping. And nearly twice as many women who were victims of violence reported having asthma, compared to women who did not report violence victimization.

“The health problems caused by violence remind us of the importance of prevention,” said Howard Spivak, M.D., director of the Division of Violence Prevention in CDC’s Injury Center. “In addition to intervening and providing services, prevention efforts need to start earlier in life, with the ultimate goal of preventing all of these types of violence before they start.”

NISVS provides data that can help inform policies and programs aimed at preventing violence as well as addressing the specific information needs of state and national governmental and nongovernmental organizations, while providing an initial benchmark for tracking the effectiveness of prevention efforts.

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Former Delaware pediatrician, Dr. Earl Bradley was sentenced on August 26 to 14 life sentences without the possibility of parole. He was convicted of 14 counts of rape and received an additional 160 years for sexually abusing 103 of his patients from 1998 to 2009.

He was originally indicted for 470 counts of rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation of a child; that number was later consolidated to just 24 through negotiations with lawyers. During his career from 1994 to his arrest in 2009, he received a number of complaints from patients, parents and colleagues, and was the focus of two police investigations.

The Medical Board of Directors in Delaware was supposedly contacted a number of times in regards to his unprofessional conduct with his patients, but the Medical Board insists it never received any allegations concerning Bradley until after his arrest.

The two initial police investigations were never granted permission for a search warrant, and so without any physical evidence, the Delaware police were unable to continue their investigations. Despite the complaints lodged against Bradley while he was a licensed pediatrician, the truth of the harm he was doing to his patients was beyond what anyone suspected.

When the police finally were able to get a search warrant after a two-year old girl complained to her mother about Bradley hurting her genitals, they were able to seize 83 tapes and DVDs showing Bradley molesting young children.

In the trial, one of the police officers involved in the case testified that the average age of his victims was only three years old, because they were not as verbal as older children. He would often force the children to perform oral sex on him, and then give them colored ice to cover up any blood or swelling.

Additionally, in the videos he is seen sometimes grabbing a child by the head and throwing the child on a couch after forcing the child to perform sex acts. As the horrific details of this case begin to come out, people are questioning how this pediatrician was allowed to practice medicine for so long without his more sinister actions being found out.

Following Bradley’s arrest, Governor Jack Markell asked Linda L. Ammons, the dean of the Widener University School of Law, to compile a report reviewing the current laws and policies in place. Her 62-page report outlined 68 recommended changes, while avoiding placing blame on any single organization or practice.

Following the report, Gov. Markell passed nine laws that would help to prevent misconduct like this to continue undetected by tightening regulations and encouraging both the medical and police communities to work together with suspected physician misconduct and child abuse.

Billed by Ammons’ report as the “pedophilia case of the century,” the atrocities uncovered during this case have encouraged other states to review their reporting policies regarding physicians as well.

As Earl Bradley begins his permanent internment in prison, the families and victims of those he hurt have found some measure of justice for the actions incurred upon them and now have the task of healing from the damage caused by Bradley’s insidious actions.

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Here is the story of a lady. God, how beautiful she used to be. Wait, what? Why am I using the past tense? Well, dear reader, that is because this is a pretty sad story which involves inequality, hate, and stupidity. Never would I have imagined that such a thing could happen. But let’s start from the beginning, then you will able to have your own opinion.

Not so long time ago, I was in the Southeast country of the continent where giraffes and rhinoceros have breakfast together. I was supposed to make a photo report, but well, the sun was too hot, and let’s just say that the bar makes a better argument than a roasting hot car.

Now that we have a location and a bar as you might expect, what about the character?

She was the waitress at the bar I used to go to. She was so gracious, that I have the impression that the very air would obey her. She had the perfect height for a woman, her black hair would kiss her back and meet it like the lazy dew sometimes comes to caress flowers. Her sweet face was a wise compromise between the joy and straight. An air of comfort seemed to come off of her. I couldn’t fall into her charm. I didn’t want to date her in the least. She was something too pure and too perfect to ask out. So we began to talk each other, she told me she was from one of the townships who fence off the big city. She told me how she had to give up her studies to take care of her brother and sister, and how her life wasn’t very fun. This wasn’t because of her work, or the fact that she had to take care of her family, but because of what she was: a lesbian. I was quite surprised by this, a lesbian? Thanks to you, a million guys are happy on youporn.

But apparently, in her country, «men take youporn for the real life…». I was quite afraid by her thoughts.  Did she mean that people hand job themselves on the streets? A whole country of wanckers. After all why not, the French are not so different. But what was she said to me was way too far away from my worst thoughts:

“Actually, if you are a lesbian here, well you have a lot of chance to be rape. Not because you’re prettier, but because you’re a different. You see, despite of the 2002[1] and 2008[2] law about the homosexual way of living, lots of guys consider being a lesbian to be like a disease. And the cure to this is rape. According to them, girls will ‘experience’ the full joy of ‘boy’s love’ if they experience it, no matter what, and using the force is something  legitimate.”

I have to admit, I was quite shocked by this speech. Not knowing what to say, I simply and naïvely asked: “And what about the cops?” The reaction I saw was a veil of darkness, mixed with sorrow covering her face, but her joy was still there. Not really joyful but a kind of brightness that didn’t leave her face. Then she continued: “But you know, stupidity is something normal in our society. I’m sure that things will change. They have to. After all, our greatest president stayed in jail 27 years. That’s everything I know.”

Her optimism was a human example. Despite of everything she was living through, she could still keep a smile.

On the way back to my hostel, I couldn’t think of anything else besides what she had just told me, such attitudes were too cruel to exist still. I bought some cigarettes and asked the guy at the counter what he thought about lesbians. His face seemed to puke before he spoke:

“I hav’ no time to rape ‘er b’t fortunat’ly someone do!” “But I have a friend who raped. He broke her tooth, hit her, bit her, then left her with garbage, place she deserved, they have to be corrected.”

That’s it, a corrective rape. Unfortunately, I think the name speaks for itself.

I politely smiled and thanked him for my cigarettes, while I was regretting my question. That is a fact, lesbian girls in South Africa are usually raped and nobody cares. They are humiliated and treated like a poor piece of sick meat that should be cured, and nobody says anything.

On the last day of my stay, I went to the bar to say bye to my friend. She wasn’t there.

“Surely sick” was the answer of the bartender. I was quite sad to leave this country without saying good bye to her, and all I could do was just leave her a note.

Two days ago I was in Paris, and in the french newspaper Le Monde, I read an article which was titled  “A young lady hit to death”. The first thing I saw was her name. Teeth, ears, eyes, everything were gone, according to the article. Why? Because she used to love women.

I never was in South Africa. I read an article in Le Monde and I felt so sorry for those involved, that I wanted to write a short fiction story about the events. I hope everything will change really soon.

Here is a video from the website Youtube edited by the newspaper the Guardian:

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The sex assault accusations of attacking  a housekeeper in a hotel room in Manhattan were too harsh for Mr. Dominique Strauss-Kahn to handle. Therefore, on Wednesday he proceeded to resign his position as  head of the International Monetary Fund.

While leaving his position, Mr. Strauss-Kahn said, “I want to say that I deny with the greatest possible firmness all of the allegations that have been made against me.”

Early this morning, a statement released by the I.M.F, exposed some words from Mr. Strauss-Kahn, “It is with infinite sadness that I feel compelled today to present to the Executive Board my resignation from my post of managing director of the I.M.F.  I think at this time first of my wife — whom I love more than anything — of my children, of my family, of my friends.”

After Mr. Strauss Kahn’s resignation was announced, Ms. Le Pen claimed: that France needed to learn a lesson from his arrest, and guarantee “rich and poor are treated with an equal footing.”

He is being legally charged with severe accusations such as rape, forced oral sex and to force another person against her will. His arrest was conducted on Saturday, while he was in an Air France airplance. The action was taken, 10 minutes before his plane was due to depart, when two detectives of the Port Authority boarded the Air France Flight 23.

These accusations intervene with many plans ahead for MR. Straus Kahn. Not only he had a great position as a former French finance minister, but also he was a political figure that if enrolled in the presidential candidatures, he could have a great percentage to defeat President Nicolas Sarkozy.

On the other hand, the International Monetary Fund stated on Wednesday night that John Lipsky would stay as acting managing director

It is interesting to notice the reaction in France. On Wednesday, a poll conducted by CSA showed that 57 percent of people surveyed think he was “the victim of a plot.”

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