lookarounditshappening:

In the United States, women in the military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire.  Over half a million women have now been assaulted in the military & the Department of Defense estimates that approximately 19,000 military sexual assaults took place in 2010 alone.  

I watched The Invisible War this week, a documentary that investigates the grossly unattended epidemic of rape & sexual assault in our military.  I was stunned, as I so often am, at how little I know about the realities around me.  How very much I live within untruths every day.  We entrust these soldiers with our guns, our weapons.  With trillions of dollars.  We live under the illusion every day that they can be entrusted with the impossible tasks of protecting our freedom, securing peace.  And yet, so many can hardly be trusted with the very simple task of respecting another human’s body & agency.  I tremble to think of how many other sexual atrocities have been committed outside the ranks - to civilians, to ‘enemies’.  Or perhaps the victims before Iraq & Afghanistan.  All those stories that have gone unsung.  And the men engraved so boldly on our monuments & scribbed in our books - what have we not been told?  So much, I fear.  Watch this film, share it, and pray that this may be a battle our country will one day win.

nopfzs:

 

Vote against making DC’s “Prostitution Free Zones” permanent.

Greetings,

The D.C. Council is currently considering the “Prostitution Free Zone Amendment Act,” which will affect sex workers, or anyone thought to be a sex worker. This new bill builds off the “Prostitution Free Zone Act of 2005,” which allowed the police to declare any public area a “Prostitution free Zone,” for up to 20 days — the new bill proposes to make such zones permanent. 

These policies have done little to eradicate prostitution but have succeeded in further marginalizing sex workers, low income people of color, transgender people, lesbians and gays, and the homeless. In addition, making the Prostitution Free Zones permanent would likely be unconstitutional. 

We do not need more policy that criminalizes people in our community. D.C. residents demand that the Council find solutions to city issues that don’t involve arresting and locking people up because they are homeless, transgender, or “look like” they are engaging in sex work. 

Please make the right choice and vote against making the PFZ’s permanent.

Sincerely,

[Your name]

Sign your name digitally to this letter and send it to the DC City Council here: #mce_temp_url#

goodconsentrules:

rachelrhoadesss:

idk about you but my mind filled in some blanks, consent is SEXY.

This is also from Learning Good Consent!

Too many play what I call the stoplight game. Traffic signals, of course, have three colors: red for stop, yellow for caution, green for go. Good drivers are taught to stop on “red,” which functions as a “no.” But of course, even at the busiest urban intersections, no light stays red indefinitely. If you wait long enough at a stoplight, every red will become green. And when all we do is teach young men that “no means stop” when it comes to sexual boundaries, we often send them the message that if they just wait long enough (or pester, push, nag, beg, play passive-aggressive games) they’ll get the “green light” they’re so hungry for.

(Source: treesong, via goodconsentrules)

(Source: feminist-tips, via safercampus)

kcdanger:

oo girl tell em

(Source: feministhollywood)

DO YOU GIVE IT?

WHY WRAP IT?

DO YOU GIVE IT?

DO YOU GIVE IT?

ASKING FOR IT?

mysoultokeep:

Feminist propaganda of the week: What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl’s Shame-Free Guide to Sex and Safety by Jaclyn Friedman.

I swear, now that I’ve discovered the gender studies section of the Seattle Public Library, I am never getting anything done ever again.

DO YOU GET IT?

NEED TO TALK?