Category Archives: Acts of Violence

California’s Rejection of the Reasonable Battered Woman Standard: Is it Based Upon an Objectionable and Offensive Straw Man?

In its recent opinion in Jefferson v. Kernan, the United States District Court for the Eastern District of California  referenced the opinion of the California Supreme Court  in People v. Humphrey, 921 P.2d 1 (Cal. 1996). In Humphrey, a wife … Continue reading

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“”Make Her Say (Poke Her Face)”: Un-conscious Hip Hop, Oral Rape and the Silencing of Women”

That’s the title of this essay at Celie’s Revenge about a very misogynist song. Here is an excerpt from the introduction: As a female listener, one willing to allow herself to really hear this song’s words and take them to … Continue reading

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Body of Eridania Rodriguez Recovered in Office Air Duct

Eridania Rodriguez died at work. The 46-year old woman was killed on Tuesday, July 7, 2009 during her evening custodial shift at 2 Rector Street in Lower Manhattan.  Her body was found Saturday stuffed into an air duct.  Her hands … Continue reading

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E-mail, Anonymity and the First Amendment: State of Nebraska v. Darren J. Drahota

This case arose out of an e-mail exchange between a student and his professor. Here is an excerpt from the recent decision by the Nebraska Court of Appeals: … The trial court found, summarized, that while there was initially some … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Acts of Violence, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology, Sociolinguistics | 2 Comments

Request for Signatories to Amicus Brief in Inter-American Court of Human Rights Case

Feminist Law Prof Caroline Bettinger-López, Deputy Director of the Human Rights Institute at Columbia Law School, seeks signatories to an amicus brief to be filed in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in a case against Mexico involving the disappearance … Continue reading

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Rihanna and the (Un?)Constitutionality of the Mutual Stay Away Order

Can anyone out there explain the constitutionality of the Chris Brown plea deal? Brown pleaded guilty to one count of felony assault based upon his attack of Rihanna, and he got five years of probation and community labor. The judge … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Courts and the Judiciary | 11 Comments

In Memory of Stephen T. Johns

Yesterday security guard Stephen T. Johns was killed at the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C.   The suspected shooter was James W. von Brunn, an 88 year-old man.     According to news reports (e.g., here): Von Brunn is said … Continue reading

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“U.S. JOURNALISTS EUNA LEE AND LAURA LING, INVESTIGATING SEX TRAFFICKING IN NORTH KOREA, ARRESTED, SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS AT HARD LABOR”

Heart has the story here.

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“When I Die They’ll Send Me Home” – Youth Behind Bars

Sara talks about being sent to prison for life for killing her pimp when she was 16 years old. In this 100-page report, Human Rights Watch found that in many cases where juveniles were prosecuted with an adult, the youth … Continue reading

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To PETA, Murder Is Just One More Opportunity To Promote Themselves

That’s the title of this post at the blog Joe. My. God. Here are the PETA ads. -Darren Rosenblum

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Only Words: Bill O’Reilly’s Angry Tirades Against Dr. George Tiller

Via this Salon article, which notes: … Tiller’s name first appeared on “The Factor” on Feb. 25, 2005. Since then, O’Reilly and his guest hosts have brought up the doctor on 28 more episodes, including as recently as April 27 … Continue reading

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Playboy’s Misogyny More Overt Than Ever

Playboy.com began hosting a feature on the website listing and mocking conservative women they’d like to”hate-fuck.” And at least one supposedly liberal blog (ETA: or not, some controversy on this point) picked up on it as a “lighter side of … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Sexism in the Media, Sociolinguistics | 1 Comment

Dr. George Tiller Murdered

I wish I could label this an unbelievably tragic event, but it’s all too believable, unfortunately.   Today, Dr. George Tiller was murdered while ushering at his church. If you don’t know of Dr. Tiller, he’s one of the modern … Continue reading

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CFP: Conference on”Violence and Vulnerability”at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia on November 12-14, 2009

“Violence against women both violates and impairs or nullifies the enjoyment by women of their human rights and fundamental freedoms… In all societies, to a greater or lesser degree, women and girls are subjected to physical, sexual and psychological abuse … Continue reading

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” 10 Infants, Small Children Murdered by Fathers in Past Two Weeks? Not News, Really. Mom Murders Son? Headlines Everywhere.”

Heart notes: A quick perusal of Google yields 10 instances of fathers or stepfathers murdering their infants or young children within the last two weeks or so: link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link, link. Had I … Continue reading

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“… authorize torture as a method of interrogation, and rape logically becomes part of the continuum of efforts to break down a prisoner’s self-esteem.”

Quote from here, in reference to this article, which notes: “Photographs of alleged prisoner abuse which Barack Obama is attempting to censor include images of apparent rape and sexual abuse …” Here is an excerpt: At least one picture shows … Continue reading

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More About Barnes v. Yahoo

I blogged about the case previously here. Below is an excerpt from the Ninth Circuit’s holding in Barnes v. Yahoo at page 5316 that gives a quick overview of the facts: In accordance with Yahoo policy, Barnes mailed Yahoo a … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Courts and the Judiciary, Feminism and Law, Feminism and Technology | 1 Comment

“The report said that the level of emotional abuse of disadvantaged, neglected and abandoned children by religious and lay staff was “disturbing” and that the Catholic Church was aware long-term sex offenders were repeatedly abusing children.”

So says this article which provides an overview of a Irish Commission into Child Abuse report: The report, that runs to thousands of pages, outlined a harrowing account of the emotional, physical and sexual abuse inflicted on young people who … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Families, Sisters In Other Nations | 1 Comment

The House Subcommittee on Capital Market, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises Convenes An All Dude Witness List To Testify About Credit Ratings Agencies

Rep. Paul Kanjorski chairs the House Financial Service’s Committee‘s Subcommittee on Capital Market, Insurance and Government Sponsored Enterprises is holding a hearing on credit ratings agencies this afternoon.   Here is the   witness list (names link to pre-submitted statements): … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Feminism and Politics, The Underrepresentation of Women | 2 Comments

“At least 84 Afghan girls were admitted to a hospital Tuesday for headaches and vomiting in the third apparent poison attack on a girls school in as many weeks, officials and doctors said.”

That’s a sentence from this frightening NYT article.   Here’s another excerpt: Tuesday’s apparent attack is the third alleged poisoning at a girls’ school in less than three weeks. It comes one day after 61 schoolgirls and one teacher from … Continue reading

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“This case stems from a dangerous, cruel, and highly indecent use of the internet for the apparent purpose of revenge.”

A unanimous three-judge panel in the Ninth Circuit held in   Barnes v. Yahoo!, Inc. that a claim   for promissory estoppel by an Internet harassment victim was not necessarily precluded by Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act. The … Continue reading

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Justin-Jinich filed a harassment complaint on July 10, 2007 against the man now believed to be her murderer, asserting that he was calling her repeatedly and sent her insulting e-mails for at least a week.

Story here.

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South Carolina’s Attorney General Tries to Raise His Profile by Going After Craigslist and Persecuting Prostituted Women

Local newspaper account here, which reports: S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster told The State newspaper that to his knowledge, South Carolina is the first state to explore the possibility of criminal charges against CEO Jim Buckmaster and other top officers … Continue reading

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CBC News Sunday interview with Victor Malarek about his book “The Johns, Sex for Sale and the Men Who Buy It”

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Murder Trial of Steven Green began this week in Kentucky

From Democracy Now: The trial of a former soldier accused in the 2006 rape and murder of an Iraqi teenager and the killing of her family has begun. Steven Green is accused of being the ringleader in raping and killing … Continue reading

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On Rape Kits

Lately, a fair amount of attention has been paid to the backlog of untested rape kits in Los Angeles County.   See Nicholas Kristof’s column here. This announcement today that DNA had been used to link a suspect to multiple … Continue reading

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On Groping

A nervously jokey post at Jezebel brings up the topic of mass transit gropers and frotteurs. Here is an excerpt: The first time this ever happened to me – and it’s happened to every woman I know, although men are … Continue reading

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“There is a difference between critique and seeking to shut my ass up because I’m not saying it the way you would, singing it the way you want to hear it sung or approaching a subject from the angle you want it to be approached from.”

Sentence pulled from this excellent post by Sharkfu at Feministing.

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More about US v. Stevens, the Third Circuit decision that the federal law criminalizing the depiction of animal cruelty is an unconstitutional infringement on the First Amendment.

Previous post by Ruthann Robson here. The Oregon Animal Law blog noted that the ability to federalize the prosecution of animal cruelty cases has been effectively terminated with this ruling if it is followed by the other circuits. It probably … Continue reading

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“Guns, threats, space, and gender”

Compelling post by Historiann, which begins: Inside Higher Ed featured a story yesterday  about universities that allow students to bring their guns to campus if they have concealed-carry permits, and states like Texas and Missouri where oh-so-brave state legistlators are … Continue reading

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Cyberstalking Conviction in Montana

A 28-year-old University of Montana student plead guilty to cyberstalking for sending threatening e-mails to his former girlfriend. Jeffrey D. Grob pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Missoula on Thursday. He faces possible penalties of 5 years in prison, … Continue reading

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“Tormented by Cyberstalker, Ropes Partner Drafts New Legislation on Online Libel”

From Law.com: Ropes & Gray partner Joan Lukey is no stranger to litigation battles. As one of The American Lawyer’s Star Laterals of 2008 — she joined Ropes in June after 34 years at crosstown Boston rival Wilmer Cutler Pickering … Continue reading

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Obama’s Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues

President Obama appointed Melanne Verveer as Ambassador-at-Large for Global Women’s Issues:   Melanne Verveer is Co-Founder, Chair and Co-CEO of Vital Voices Global Partnership, an international nonprofit that invests in emerging women leaders – pioneers of economic, political and social … Continue reading

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Bullying, Homophobia and Gender/Sexuality Norms

In her NYTimes blog yesterday, Judith Warner described the cruel bullying that led to the suicide of 11-year old  Carl Joseph Walker-Hoover.  Warner  depicts a brutal enforcement of gender/sexuality norms among boys but a much more liberal construction of gender … Continue reading

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Some observations about rape.

Here.

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Documentary About the Porn Industry to be Offered Free to College Campuses

From the FLP mailbox: CONTACT: Media Education Foundation Dr. Chyng Sun (617)733-8091 | email: cfs1@nyu.edu The way filmmakers Chyng Sun and Miguel Picker see it, the cure for bad speech is more speech. That’s exactly why they’ve come up with … Continue reading

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Posted in Academia, Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Culture, Law Schools | 1 Comment

Men and Murder

See e.g. this. Between March 10th and April 7th, this newspaper reports that mass shootings have claim 57 lives. Given the limits placed on the count, “mass” and “shootings,” the number almost certainly underestimates the number of people who were … Continue reading

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Jonathan Todres, “Law, Otherness, and Human Trafficking”

Abstract: Despite concerted efforts to combat human trafficking, the trade in persons persists and, in fact, continues to grow. This article suggests that a central reason for the limited success in preventing human trafficking is the dominant conception of the … Continue reading

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Eat Me.

Via I Blame the Patriarchy, I found the blog Suicide Food, which tracks “depiction[s] of animals that act as though they wish to be consumed.” Images like this: and this: That second one makes me think about terminating the “baconpheffer” … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Baconpheffer, Feminism and Culture | 2 Comments

“In fiscal 2008, the department received a total of 2,908 reports of sexual assault involving service members, representing an eight percent increase from fiscal 2007.”

Quote pulled from this DOD press release, which provides an overview of this DOD report. Excerpt from Executive Summary below: – Aggregate Report of Sexual Assault Incidents: In FY08 there were 2,908 reports of sexual assault involving Military Service members: … Continue reading

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“Iraq’s Unspeakable Crime: Mothers Pimping Daughters”

From Time magazine: She goes by Hinda, but that’s not her real name. That’s what she’s called by the many Iraqi sex traffickers and pimps who contact her several times a week from across the country. They think she is … Continue reading

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Posted in Acts of Violence, Coerced Sex, Feminism and Law, The Overrepresentation of Women | 2 Comments

U.N. BIBLIOGRAPHY ON TRAFFICKING IN HUMAN BEINGS

Here.

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Doctors Without Borders Releases Sexual Violence Report

SHATTERED LIVES Immediate medical care vital for sexual violence victims Médecins Sans Frontières is an international humanitarian organisation that brings emergency medical care to populations in over 60 countries. Through this report, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) shares its experience in … Continue reading

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FIRST ANNUAL INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING October 29-31, 2009 University of Nebraska – Lincoln

FIRST ANNUAL INTERDISCIPLINARY CONFERENCE ON HUMAN TRAFFICKING: “WHAT WE KNOW AND WHAT WE NEED TO KNOW” The purpose of this conference is to bring together researchers from many disciplines, as well as government and non-governmental agencies who have responsibility for … Continue reading

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National Network to End Domestic Violence Praises Landmark Supreme Court Decision

From the FLP mailbox, a  press release from the National Network to End Domestic Violence, exerpted here: Advocates against domestic violence today applauded the U.S. Supreme Court’s 7-2 decision to uphold the federal Lautenberg Amendment that bans convicted domestic violence … Continue reading

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Live Blogging from W&M Privacy Symposium

Today the William & Mary Journal of Women and the Law hosts its symposium, “From the Courtroom to the Mother’s Womb: Protecting Women’s Privacy in the Most Important Places.”  Here’s the run-down from the morning’s program: Ann Bartow  (South Carolina) … Continue reading

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The Ad Council takes on cyberbullying.

Talent Show: Bulletin Board: Kitchen: The Ad Council seems to believe most cyberbullies are women, and all the victims are. –Ann Bartow

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“US authorities have rescued nearly 50 child prostitutes – some as young as 13 – in a nationwide operation against the trafficking of children for sex.”

The BBC News reports: More than 570 suspects were arrested during the action, which took place over three nights. FBI agents and local police forces were involved in the operations which spanned some 29 cities. Officials say a 16-year-old girl … Continue reading

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Rutgers Symposium, “The Gender Dimensions of Terrorism: How Terrorism Impacts the Lives of Women”

This announcement from Feminist Law Prof Suzanne Kim: On March 6, 2009, the Women’s Rights Law Reporter, the nation’s first legal  journal devoted to gender rights, will hold a symposium exploring the  intersections of gender and terrorism entitled “The Gender … Continue reading

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“Pakistan ignores justice and holds women in contempt”

Read this Op-Ed by Anber Raz of Equality Now in The Independent. Below is an excerpt: More than 100 schools for girls have been torched or blasted by militants in the Swat valley and other tribal areas, where it is … Continue reading

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