A Refresher on Consent and Safe Sex

Tuesday, 20 October 2009, 22:57 | Category : Domestic Violence, Safe Sex
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October is such an important month in the sex-positive community.  Not only do we celebrate LGBT history, we are also urged to be aware of the dangers of domestic violence.  Given that, this seemed like the perfect time for a refresher on sexual consent and the things we can all do to prevent sexual assault [...]

Victim of Abuse Evicted for Reporting Crime Raises Questions about VAWA

Sounds a little fishy, I know. Kathy Cleaves-Milan, victim of domestic violence, called the Chicago police to report that her live-in boyfriend had obtained a gun and threatened to end both her life as well as his own. Within a few days, a representative from Aimco, the company operating the apartment complex, served Kathy with [...]

Caution: Men at work (demolishing violence)

On Tuesday I posted Jimmy Carter’s brave op-ed distancing himself from the Southern Baptist Convention on the Moral Courage Project blog. The post prompted some interesting dialog on the site. I was particularly struck by the words of Erin:
Although it seems that disassociating with an organization that discriminates against women is the right thing to [...]

Obama Administration Responds to Battered Women Seeking Asylum

The Obama Administration recently filed a Court Brief reversing a Bush Administration policy that prevented battered women from seeking asylum in the United States. This reversal would allow battered women from other countries with “a well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion” to [...]

Mozambique and the U.S. Continue Fight Against Domestic Violence

Thursday, 16 July 2009, 13:01 | Category : Domestic Violence, International Issues
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Mozambique has taken a significant step in the fight to stop violence against women. Parliament recently passed the first reading of legislation establishing domestic violence as a crime separate from simple assault. This is the first of its kind in the country and could increase the penalties for committing violence against an intimate partner by [...]

My Abortion Story — The Personal Meets The Political

Friday, 10 July 2009, 7:01 | Category : Abortion, Domestic Violence
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The short version, I suppose, is that I was forced to have an abortion. I was pushed into it by my mother and by my boyfriend. And I was pushed into it by a society that does not do a good job at supporting mothers in general, and especially not young, single mothers. Whether or not to have an abortion should truly have been MY choice. The decision to have an abortion cannot and should never rest in the hands of anyone but pregnant women.