April 19, 2015
Roxane Gay wrote about street harassment for the May issue of Glamour. If you’re in New York right now, you might have noticed new signage around the city advocating for the end of “cat-calling.” The campaign to stop street harassment is spearheaded by Pussy Division, a Philadelphia-based feminist collective.
“A Lost Possibility: Women on Miscarriages,” a thoughtful graphic essay featured on The Nib, confronts a topic that is rarely discussed in public forums but deserves our attention and understanding.
In a video for Fusion, Molly Crabapple addresses the case of Monica Brown, a student and LGBT activist who was recently arrested for “manifesting prostitution.” According to Crabapple, these types of police tactics are increasingly used to “profile and shame” sex workers.
“Out of Our Hands”: a short but incredibly incisive look at the way Canada’s legal system is ill equipped to deal with cases of sexual assault. (Also compelling, the piece mentions the Garneau Sisterhood, an Edmonton collective working to reclaim the eponymous neighbourhood after a series of sexual assaults.)
As has been widely reported, following the charges laid against Jian Ghomeshi, CBC hired an external investigator to examine how management at the news conglomerate mishandled Ghomeshi’s hostile behaviour. The report has now been released by CBC and can be read here. (Unsurprisingly, the findings reveals some serious shady stuff over at the CBC.)
In what may be the most ridiculous re-brand since Gap tried to update its logo, the CBC radio show Q recently changed its name to q.
Sarah Seltzer reflects on Louis CK’s “problem” with Sarah Palin (who he has a history of making fun of). In a conversation with Howard Stern, CK called Palin “a stand-in for the girls in high school who rejected him: ‘Unattainable, athletic cheerleader types, athletic and smart and really conservative.'” (Louis CK is incredibly self-aware and as his show demonstrates, he has a keen interest in sexual politics, which makes his gender-based disdain for Palin so much more disconcerting.)
“Empathy in Excess” is a heartbreaking piece about the complexity of acknowledging abuse in a relationship, and the ways that love can often make speaking up an impossible yet necessary endeavour.
Part of why people stay in abusive relationships is because, in the beginning, your abuser might be the most devoted, loving, kind, patient, caring person you’ve ever met. They might make you feel like you are the sun, the moon, and the stars. Mine certainly did, and he did it at a time when I was lonely and vulnerable.
Dionne Brand on a recording of Adrienne Rich reading poetry.
The moderators of the Queer Exchange (a booming NYC Facebook group) were interviewed by the Awl; for anyone who has ever moderated a FB group or a comment section on a blog, you will find this incredibly interesting.
Have you checked out our MOMS survey? There’s still time to submit your answers!
