For much of India’s history, the lower castes, especially the Dalits (once known as untouchables), have been routinely raped by the landowning upper castes…. 90 percent of rape victims in 2007 were Dalit women.

While attacks against Western tourists and women in urban centers have attracted a great deal of attention, rapes of lower-caste women routinely fail to provoke an outcry…. We will never be able to address India’s rape crisis if we remain blind to the machinations of caste discrimination.“

From “India’s Feudal Rapists,” by Amana Fontanella-Khan, in nytimesheadline

wonkblog:
Women feel much safer at night in their own communities than they did 40 years ago — but they still feel much less safe than men.

Why do men abuse women? What’s in it for them?
This list was generated by participants in a court-mandated batterers-intervention program in Minnesota. The facilitator asked the men what benefits they received from abusing their wives and... — **Why do men abuse women? What’s in it for them?**
This list was generated by participants in a court-mandated batterers-intervention program in Minnesota. The facilitator asked the men what benefits they received from abusing their wives and girlfriends; the answers — unabashed and chilling — filled a 4 x 8 whiteboard.
She’s scared and won’t go out and spend money
She won’t argue
Feeling superior: she’s accountable to me
(I) get the money
Total control in decision-making
She feels less worthy, so defers to my needs and wants
(I get) a robot babysitter, maid, sex, food
Isolate her so her friends can’t confront me
She works for me
Convince her she’s nuts
Convince her she’s unattractive
Convince her she’s to blame
Get to write history
Kids on my side against her
She won’t call police
*From a 1/30/14 webinar, “The Benefits of Violence: Why Give it Up?” by Chuck Derry, of the Gender Violence Institute, sponsored by the Battered Women’s Justice Project*.

From vox’s Sarah Kliff, “Eight facts about violence against women everyone should know”
The highlights:
• Most American women experience physical violence at some point in their lives
• The vast majority of the time, the assailant is a husband,... — From vox’s Sarah Kliff, “Eight facts about violence against women everyone should know”
The highlights:
Most American women experience physical violence at some point in their lives
The vast majority of the time, the assailant is a husband, boyfriend, or intimate partner
1 in 13 murder victims are killed by their husband or boyfriend
1 in 10 women has a head or spinal cord injury as a result of physical assault

From NotAlone.gov, a new White House website that targets the epidemic of rape on college campuses. An Obama administration task force has also issued tough new guidelines aimed at helping/forcing colleges to do a better job of protecting students,... — From **NotAlone.gov,** **a new White House website that targets the epidemic of rape on college campuses**. An Obama administration task force has also issued tough new guidelines aimed at helping/forcing colleges to do a better job of protecting students, supporting victims, and disciplining perpetrators of sexual violence.
Last January, the White House Council on Women and Girls reported that 1 in 5 female college students have been sexually assaulted, while only 1 in 8 student victims tell authorities about their attacks. “No one is more at risk of being raped or sexually assaulted than women at our nation’s colleges and universities,” the report said.

They grab you, touch your butt and try to, like, touch you in the front, and run away, but it’s okay, I mean… I never think it’s a big thing because they do it to everyone.

A 13-year-old assault victim named Patricia, quoted in a new study by Marquette University sociologist Heather Hlavka on how teenage girls have come to view sexual harassment and violence as normal.

In her research, Hlavka analyzed police interviews with 100 girls who may have been sexually assaulted — and her findings are disturbing, to say the least. The study, “Normalizing Sexual Violence: Young Women Account for Harassment and Abuse,” will appear in the June issue of the journal Gender & Society. Meanwhile think-progress has a story here.

From a damning newyorktimesofficial investigation into how police and prosecutors virtually ignored rape accusations against Florida State’s Heisman-winning quarterback Jameis Winston.

That Almost-Rape Scene: Why Your Sons Need to See “Divergent,” Too

From Beth Lalonde’s excellent essay, “The Divergent Rape Scene: Here’s Why It Matters,” on Medium:

Tris has one especially unique fear, and it’s an important one: fear of sexual assault.
Every woman knows Tris’s terror, knows the horror of walking home late at night, clutching keys like knives between her fingers. Every woman lives with the looming fear that her refusal, her no, won’t be taken seriously.
Now, Tris never suffers any ill treatment at the hands of Four, her Dauntless beau. After they kiss for the first time, she pulls back, whispering, “I don’t want to go too fast.”
He listens to her no. He respects it.
In a media culture where — well, where movies like 300: Rise of an Empire 3D make millions of dollars — this in and of itself is nothing short of revolutionary.
Teenage girls all around the world are going to witness Tris insisting on consent, and teenage boys are going to witness Four listening to her.
In a later scene, Tris is immersed in the fear simulator, and she finds herself in an artificial version of Four’s bedroom. An artificial Four appears. He kisses her. She kisses back. He touches her. She tries to push him away.
“No,” she says, plainly.
He lunges, pinning her to the mattress. Her sentences turn to screams, to shouted no, no, no’s, and her fists begin to fly. She is aggressive. She is fierce. She forces him off with one final, decisive kick, and lies back, gasping.
Then the dream ends, and she awakes to a crowd of exam proctors applauding her. Cheering her on. Patting her on the back. Telling her how brave and smart and strong she is. Telling her that she did exactly the right thing. That she’s a model for the other trainees.
Have you ever seen anything like this? Have you ever seen a teenage girl fight off a rapist on camera, let alone be congratulated for it?

Patrick Henry College is one of only four private colleges in the U.S. that eschews federal funds in order to avoid complying with government regulations. … This means [the college] isn’t subject to the Clery Act [crime reporting requirements], Title IX, or the more recent Campus Sexual Violence Elimination Act. … ‘If you’re a female student, and you elect to enroll at a campus that does not provide any of the federal protections that attach to other colleges and universities, you need to know that going in.’

From “Sexual Assault at God’s Harvard,” by Kiera Feldman, in The New Republic

IF YOU LIVE IN ALASKA, THE ANSWER IS: WAY MORE FREQUENT THAN IN ANY OTHER PART OF THE U.S.
According to CNN, the state is in the throes of an epidemic of violence against women:
• In 2012, Alaska had 80 reported rapes per 100,000 people, about three... — **IF YOU LIVE IN ALASKA, THE ANSWER IS: WAY MORE FREQUENT THAN IN ANY OTHER PART OF THE U.S.**
**According to CNN, the state is in the throes of an epidemic of violence against women:**
In 2012, Alaska had 80 reported rapes per 100,000 people, about three times the national rate (27 per 100,000) — the worst record in the country.
37% of adult women in the state have been raped or sexually assaulted. Six in 10 have experienced some type of intimate partner or sexual violence.
Only 46% of reported sexual assaults in the state are referred for prosecution; just 22% result in a conviction.
At least 75 Alaska communities have no local law enforcement — and thus no one to call for help when violence does occur.
Find John D. Sutter’s full report on Alaska’s rape problem here.

ProPublica on Sex and Gender Follow

ProPublica's Nina Martin reports on American systems and institutions that fail or mistreat people on the basis of their gender or sexuality.

1 in 10 women has a head or spinal cord injury as a result of physical assault

That Almost-Rape Scene: Why Your Sons Need to See “Divergent,” Too