NEWSVIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

In September, a horrifying video came to light at Abia State University in Nigeria, depicting five men gang-raping a young woman as she begged them to just kill her. Concerned citizens in Nigeria and around the world, activists, and bloggers called for the "ABSU5" to be brought to justice, denouncing the culture of impunity that led these criminals to believe they could get away with taping and distributing their assault. Yet University and Abia State officials refused to take action, denying the violent act occurred in their jurisdiction without investigating. The Assistant Commissioner of Police, J.G. Micloth, even claimed that the brutal attack looked consensual -- or was punishment for the girl somehow shaming her boyfriend -- to excuse their failure to act.

More than 90,000 Change.org members worldwide signed a petition by Adetomi Aladekomo, a Nigerian rape survivor now living in Canada, calling for these men to be arrested and prosecuted. Finally, last month Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice Mohammad Adoke intervened in the case, demanding that the Inspector-General of Police investigate the assault. Carol Aije, a Nigerian lawyer who deals with sexual violence cases across the country and has collaborated with the Change.org campaign, directly petitioned the Attorney General's office urging this action, adding to the protests occurring online and on the ground.

This is significant progress. But the campaign isn't over. Though Attorney General Adoke ordered a full investigation, it hasn't happened yet. And Nigeria's law enforcement has been all stirred up, with former Inspector-General Hafiz Ringim removed from his position for incompetence dealing with terrorism. For the campaign to succeed, international attention must continue to make sure that the new Inspector-General, Mohammad Abubakar, follows through with the investigation, and the Attorney General keeps an eye on the proceedings.

Adetomi also hopes to see a law strengthening violence against women legislation, which would also help victims such as Franca Ogbu, a student deeply disfigured by an acid attack whose assailant remains at large. To add your voice to Adetomi's campaign and help bring the gang-rapists to justice, you can sign the petition here.

Facebook recently launched a "Women Connect" app, calling it "an online platform for organizations and causes to connect and share information with supporters about issues of gender equality and women’s empowerment.” Apparently, it's a part of Facebook's "Diversity campaign."

Taking action to further gender justice is admirable, but some people see Facebook's internal actions as out of step with this stated mission. The top comment to greet me on the Women Connect page, ranked up through users hitting the "Like" button, reads: "I'm glad that FB is supporting this but they also need to get their own house in order - for example by taking down misogynist & pro-rape pages and dropping their stupid censorship against images of breastfeeding."

The almost 200,000 people who signed the Change.org petition demanding that Facebook remove pages promoting sexual violence and violence against women would most likely agree. As would the thousands of Change.org members telling Facebook to leave breastfeeding pictures alone.

In November, Facebook took some action after a #notfunnyfacebook Day of Action on Twitter denounced their excuse for pro-rape pages: "what one person finds offensive another can find entertaining – just as telling a rude joke won’t get you thrown out of your local pub, it won’t get you thrown off Facebook." A number of pro-violence pages were removed, but Facebook still missed the point, permitting the hate content to remain live if the tag [Humor] or [Satire] was simply added in front of the page title. Facebook users can report content as abusive internally, however when the policy is to protect rape apologism, that won't get rid of the pages.

In these modern times, athletes are considered heroes and icons to thousands, sometimes millions, of people. Even compared to the idols we make of celebrities and musicians, athletes remain our anointed heroes. They often come with backstories that are the stuff of movies (sometimes literally) with tales of overcoming poverty, racism, broken homes, and a variety of other hard knocks. And most of all, athletes remind us of the human potential. They show us the human form in perfection. They dazzle us with their almost superhuman abilities. And it’s thrilling drama.

These characteristics make athletes intoxicating heroes. And that’s why they must be held accountable when they stumble or fall. They must be made an example of, because they represent what we wish we could be on our best of days.

We’ve such failings play out in almost every major sport:

• Football star Michael Vick‘s animal abuse.
• Basketball star Kobe Bryant’s recent hate speech directed at a ref.
• Baseball’s Mel Hall is currently serving a sentence of 45 years for rape and sexual assault.
• In fact, see a list of crimes by pro athletes across multiple sports here.

In huge professional sports clubs like the National Football League and the National Basketball Association, of course there will be a few bad apples or bad scenarios from time to time. What matters is how those events are handled. And whether it’s because of a sense of right and wrong or merely a glance at the bottom line, major sports franchises, players, and organizations are looking at the issues of hate speech, sexual assault, and even bullying with a critical eye.

Over 180,000 of you have petitioned Facebook asking for the removal of pages advocating sexual violence and violence against women, signing your name to a campaign launched by Florida activist John Raines. You've pointed out that Facebook's own Terms of Service ban content that is “hateful, threatening,” or contains “graphic or gratuitous violence.” But Facebook has refused to take action, writing these hateful pages off as humor: "what one person finds offensive another can find entertaining – just as telling a rude joke won’t get you thrown out of your local pub, it won’t get you thrown off Facebook.”

Today, you can join a Twitter Day of Action to tell Facebook that you don't find pages like "Riding You Girlfriend Softly So She Doesn't Wake Up" funny. Facebooks knows these pages exist, but has made a decision to permit pages like this one advocating sexual violence -- pages like this one, where the admin engages in further hilarity about drugging women and threatening critics with assault -- so reporting them isn't enough. The Change.org campaign includes supporters who will be taking action from all around the world, and similar campaigns are being run out of Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, where Women's View on News (WVoN) has been leading and compiling resources.

Facebook has previously been criticized for being quick to delete inoffensive pictures of same-sex couples kissing and regularly taking down breastfeeding photos/groups. Yet when it comes to hate speech and advocating violence against women, suddenly Facebook is ready to shrug their shoulders and say it's all in good fun, nothing for them to do about it.

Get ready, because later this month it is time to make it RAINN. Thursday, September 22 is RAINN Day, the Rape, Abuse, & Incest National Network annual campaign to raise awareness and educate students about sexual violence on college campuses. With one out of every six American women the victim of a rape or attempted rape in her lifetime, and 80% of all victims under the age of thirty, I don't think there is a better cause for Change.org members to throw their considerable weight behind.

So, how can you get involved on your campus? First, go here and sign-up to be a RAINN Day organizer. You'll get a planning packet, including t-shirt designs, promotion guides, and everything else you'll need to get started. Whether you want to plan a march or a rally, pass out fliers or stage a show, RAINN wants to help you achieve success in getting the word out on your campus about the facts surrounding sexual violence.

You don't have to be a student to get in on the action. Anyone with a college or high school aged friend or family matter should make sure she knows RAINN's Back to School Safety Tips, including being aware of your surroundings, being careful with social media, and drinking responsibly. Frankly, these are tips that everyone, not just students, should practice. As my mother is found of saying, it is better to be safe than to be sorry.

When it comes to defining rape, the FBI has a shockingly narrow stance on the subject. According to the Uniform Crime Report (the annual report of crime statistics compiled by the FBI) some of the acts not considered rape by the FBI include: forced anal sex or oral sex, rape with an object, and statutory rape. It also never counts when men or transgendered persons are raped, nor when alcohol or drugs are used to incapacitate the victim. That's why Ms. Magazine launched the No More Excuses: Rape is Rape campaign to ask the FBI to update this dangerously inaccurate definition.

This is about more than just semantics. As I said back in September, how can you effectively fight an enemy when you don't know its size? It is hard to believe that law enforcement agencies are taking rape seriously when they refuse to acknowledge so many of its devastating forms.

More than just an modern definition (the FBI's is almost a century old), Ms. wants action. There is an unacceptable backlog of untested rape kits -- collections of any physical evidence the attacker may have left behind, including vaginal swabs, urine samples, blood tests, and fingernail scrapings -- in the United States. Tens of thousands (some estimates even put the number closer to 200,000) of these kits sit in police custody, gathering dust. That means countless rapists are walking free, able to rape others. Just last week, a suspect was named in a 1995 rape of a teenager in Houston because it took the police twelve years to get around to testing the evidence collected.

Michelle Le, 26 years old, has been missing for over a month now. The Justice for Michelle Coalition, formed in response to Le's kidnapping, believes that the Hayward Police Department failed to respond appropriately to her disappearance -- and that is just one incident in a tradition of neglecting crimes against women.

A press release issued today by Filipina feminist group AF3IRM, announcing the coalition's formation and the launch of a Change.org petition, states that police needlessly delayed beginning the investigation (because of a holiday weekend) and since then have failed to put sufficient resources toward finding the young woman. "Michelle’s case serves as a prime example of how law enforcement agencies de-prioritization and systematically neglect crimes against women," Katrina Socco, AF3IRM Bay Area Coordinator, added to the criticisms.

AF3IRM, a Filipina feminist group, previously ran a successful "Justice for Laya" campaign, with a petition on Change.org that called for the resignation of UC Student Regent Jesse Cheng over the sexual assault of his former girlfriend.

Back in 2008, an 18-year-old Washington state woman was raped. She bravely reported her attack to the police. But they only then further traumatized the teenage woman when they accused her lying and charged her with false reporting. Except recent evidence came to light that proved the rape occurred as she said. While the police department reopened the case and refunded the woman her money, Ms. Magazine felt more needed to be done and asked Change.org members to help. Today, I am proud to report that your efforts have once again paid off.

Represented by a public defender, the teenage survivor ended up pleading guilty to the charge of false reporting and was sentenced to undergo mental health counseling, a deferred sentence, and a $500 fine. One slight problem with that -- a few weeks ago Colorado police caught a serial rapist and discovered photo documentation of his attack on this woman. Oops?

"We were wrong. Everybody feels terrible about it," Lynnwood Police Chief Steve Jensen said after the truth of the assault came to light. "We take sexual assaults very seriously." He claims inconsistencies in the victim's original account of the attack is what led to the disastrous false reporting charge. Yet rape survivor's stories often include inconsistencies, because the victim is attempting to reconstruct a severe trauma. Jumping to the conclusion of false reporting on this weak evidence, and treating a survivor like a criminal instead of a victim, is unacceptable. It's a striking example of the harm that can be done by a widespread tendency among law enforcement to blame or disbelieve victims.

What’s better than a good ol’ game of Capture the Flag? According to the makers of the video game Duke Nukem Forever, a misogynistic high tech version called Capture the Babe.

The Duke is no stranger to controversy. The last version of the game, which came out in 1995, featured a button the player could push to force women in the game to bare their breasts. Classy.

But it seems Gearbox Software, the Texas-based company that purchased the rights from 3D Realms to revive the alien war game franchise, are attempting to up the creepster factor this time around. An early review of the game in the Official Xbox Magazine reveals one of the player modes is called Capture the Babe. Objective: capture the enemy’s sex object from their base, throw her over your shoulder, and carry her back to your base to share the spoils with your fellow soldiers. She may start to “freak out” -- because she’s a woman and we’re wont to do that, I guess, especially when gang rape is intimated as the outcome of being kidnapped -- at which point, the player has the option to, according to Official Xbox Magazine, "gently give her a reassuring slap."

Last November, an Idaho court dismissed criminal charges against two men who were accused of raping a woman, due to the very specific and discriminatory wording in the state's rape statute.

At the time, subsection 7 of Idaho Code 18-6101 defined rape of a woman by deceit and concealment as unlawful if the she is penetrated after being tricked into believing that the perpetrator is her husband. The language of the law failed to include scenarios where rape by deceit occurred outside of marriage -- in the recent case, another man impersonated the woman's boyfriend. Thanks to one word in the law, a woman was denied the chance for justice, and must bear her injuries without fair legal recourse.

Shortly after this story broke on Change.org, thousands circulated and signed our petition urging Idaho legislators to correct this broken law, and the legislators listened.

Though it is sickening that such a case had to happen to bring about legal changes, it is heartening that such a change did occur in a relatively quick manner and without objection. On March 3rd, Idaho Governor "Butch" Otter signed Senate Bill 1014, which added more inclusive language to the rape statue.