Pro Choice. Fight Rape.
Fight Racism.
Medusa
Offset, 1989
United States
3910
Rape is not a sexual act, but an act of violence. Rapes happen every day
in every country. Rape is routinely
used as a weapon in war. In Darfur,
Sudan, sexual violence against women from targeted ethnic groups is a tool of genocide.
Women in the U.S. military are frequently sexually assaulted by men in the U.S.
military–even by their commanding officers and the rape victims then threatened
to keep silent.
The brutal gang rape and murder of a 23-year-old woman in India last
month, continues to mobilize and enrage millions throughout the world. Suddenly rape is in the news. It’s not that rape is happening more
frequently, or more brutally, but recent events have focused the world’s
attention on the persistent epidemic of violence against women.
- Washington, D.C. - January 2012 - A report from the Department of Defense released numbers saying that since 2006 there had been a 64% increase in violent sexual assaults in the U.S. military. The U.S .Army report, noted that “rape, sexual assault, and forcible sodomy were the most frequent violent sex crimes committed in 2011.” While women comprise 14 percent of the Army ranks, they account for 95 percent of all sex crime victims. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta emphasized that “we assume this is a very underreported crime,” and that incidents of sexual assault are roughly six times as high as reports of the crime. Last year there were 3,191 reports of sexual assault throughout the U.S. Military, but Panetta said that, realistically, the estimate for assaults “actually is closer to 19,000.”
- California, January 2013 – a California appeals court unanimously ruled that a man who impersonates someone in order to have sexual intercourse may be guilty of rape only if the victim was married and the man was pretending to be her husband. The ruling overturned the rape conviction of a man who entered a sleeping 18 year old woman's dark bedroom after seeing her boyfriend leave, and began having intercourse with her. The woman screamed and resisted when she awoke and realized it was not her boyfriend. The court’s decision was based an archaic 1872 law that states that the woman had not been raped because she was unmarried and therefore was not protected from rape by imposters.
- Ohio – In August 2012, a 16 year old girl was raped and urinated on by members of the Steubenville, Ohio football team. The rape only attracted attention after the New York Times published a story in December 2012. In January 2013, KnightSec, a group affiliated with the internet hacktivist group, Anonymous, published a 12 minute video of the rapists talking about and showing off their victim.
CSPG’s Poster of the Week
states it clearly: Fight
Rape.
Sources:
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