A Montana judge just gave probation to a convicted rapist. This is a weird one: the two victims agreed to the light sentence because they didn’t want to “ruin his life.”
I’ve just started reading Credible: Why We Doubt Accusers and Protect Abusers, by Deborah Teurkheimer. She notes that there’s a pervasive societal view that men’s suffering matters more and women’s suffering matters less. (Kate Manne calls these twin phenomena “himpathy” and “herasure”.) The notion that we shouldn’t “ruin a man’s life,” no matter how much harm he’s done to a woman’s life, can be seen in the soft treatment of the Steubenville rapists and Brock Turner, and the very public fretting about Louis CK’s right to work in comedy, with no similar concern for the women he harassed out of the field.
Consequences matter. The offender is far less likely to damage another woman’s life if he knows there is accountability. Consequences also send a message to any other wannabe-rapist who’s wondering if he could get away with it. But that requires us to start acting like women’s lives matter.
As always, this diary is a group effort. Thanks to elenacarlena, mettle fatigue, SandraLLAP, and the WOW crew for links and discussion.
Reproductive Rights and Health:
DC police find 5 fetuses in an anti-abortion activist’s home. No explanation yet.
Kentucky legislature approves sweeping abortion bill, sending it to governor’s desk. The bill would ban most abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy, restrict access to medication abortion and make it more difficult for a minor to obtain an abortion in the state.
While abortion rates have been declining, one US woman in four has an abortion by age 45.
Arizona governor signs bill limiting transgender rights and abortion: outlawing abortion after 15 weeks if the U.S. Supreme Court allows it, prohibiting gender confirmation surgery for minors, and banning transgender girls from playing on girls’ sports teams.
Meanwhile, among the blue states: Bill to expand Maryland abortion access heads to Gov. Larry Hogan’s desk. "Health care workers besides physicians could start performing abortions in Maryland and the procedure would be covered without cost by most insurance.”
Under pressure from anti-vaccine activists, Japan stopped recommending HPV vaccinations for 9 years. One study [ironically published in The Lancet, which helped start the anti-vaccine craze with a now-discredited study linking vaccines and autism] suggests this may have led to as many as 25,000 preventable cases of cervical cancer, and 5700 deaths. With the success of COVID-19 vaccines, Japan is now relaunching HPV vaccination.
As Ramadan approaches, some Muslim women speak up about taboos/stigma around participating during menstruation.
Women share stories of medical gaslighting.
Violence and Harassment:
A harrowing account of a Ukranian woman being gang-raped by the Russian soldiers who killed her husband.
Women and children fleeing Ukraine face the danger of rape, exploitation and trafficking.
The female face of anti-war activism in Russia:
“We constantly warn people that participating in our movement is not hundred percent safe,” says Ella Rossman, who is now one of the spokeswomen of the project. “No political activism in Russia is safe. We try our best to explain the risks and explain how the new laws work. We constantly monitor the information about arrests of our activists.”
FAR gives its activists detailed instructions on cybersecurity and ways to avoid the attention of police in the streets. Every day, they come up with new ways of protesting that are still considered legal. Activists write anti-war slogans on banknotes, create art objects and install them in parks, go out wearing all black as a sign of mourning for those killed in Ukraine, hand out flowers, or simply cry in the Moscow metro.
Judge approves $18 million settlement by Activision Blizzard for sexual harassment, pregnancy discrimination, and retaliation. This does not cover a separate lawsuit by The California Department of Fair Employment and Housing for equal pay violations, sex discrimination and sexual harassment.
Climate:
The key to successful climate action is women’s full participation.
Education:
Taliban breaks promise to let Afghan girls continue schooling past 6th grade.
Intersectionality:
In Chicago, Mujeres Latinas en Accion celebrates 50 years of activism.
Action items:
Most pain patients are women, and women have a harder time getting their pain taken seriously by health care providers. The CDC is reconsidering its guidelines around opioids, and they are open to comments from the public until April 11th.