aloneintheheartofthecity:

Who is this?

"Gentlemen. This is what rape culture is like:

Imagine you have a Rolex watch. Nice fancy Rolex, you bought it because you like the way it looks and you wanted to treat yourself. And then you get beaten and mugged and your Rolex is stolen. So you go to the police. Only, instead of investigating the crime, the police want to know why you were wearing a Rolex instead of a regular watch. Have you ever given a Rolex to anyone else? Is it possible you wanted to be mugged? Why didn’t you wear long sleeves to cover up the Rolex if you didn’t want to be mugged?

And then after that, everywhere you go, there are constant jokes about stealing your Rolex. People you don’t even know whistle at your Rolex and make jokes about cutting your hand off to get it. The media doesn’t help either; it portrays people who wear Rolexes as flamboyant assholes who secretly just want someone to come along and take that Rolex off their hands. When damn, all you wanted was to wear a nice watch without getting harassed for it. When you complain that you are starting to feel unsafe, people laugh you off and say that you are too uptight. Never mind you got violently attacked for the crime of wearing a friggin time piece.

Imagining all that? It sucks, doesn’t it.

Now imagine you could never take the Rolex off."  - The Wretched of the Earth: [TW: rape] On Rape Culture  (via angerr)

aatombomb:

We were discussing homosexuality because of an allusion to it in the book we were reading, and several boys made comments such as, “That’s disgusting.” We got into the debate and eventually a boy admitted that he was terrified/disgusted when he was once sharing a taxi and the other male passenger made a pass at him.

The lightbulb went off. “Oh,” I said. “I get it. See, you are afraid, because for the first time in your life you have found yourself a victim of unwanted sexual advances by someone who has the physical ability to use force against you.” The boy nodded and shuddered visibly.

“But,” I continued. “As a woman, you learn to live with that from the time you are fourteen, and it never stops. We live with that fear every day of our lives. Every man walking through the parking garage the same time you are is either just a harmless stranger or a potential rapist. Every time.”

The girls in the room nodded, agreeing. The boys seemed genuinely shocked. 

“So think about that the next time you hit on a girl. Maybe, like you in the taxi, she doesn’t actually want you to.”

nevver:

We must travel in the direction of our fear

The First Battle of the Internet War 

wickedclothes:

In response to the United States Department of Justice shutting down the popular MEGAUPLOAD website, hacktivist group Anonymous has shut down the Department of Justice website.

I think Anonymous won the hearts of millions today.

dear-photograph:

Dear Photograph,
████ don’t want to ██ be all █████ alone in ████████ the dark ████ ████. Losing sight █████ of my freedom of ████ ████ expression.
Love, Me.

More info on SOPA here: http://vimeo.com/31100268 

iamthecrime:

peaceshannon:

The 1,000th Wednesday Protest.

There was a lot of ridiculous behavior displayed by the media at the 1,000th protest that got me super angry, but I’ll write about that in another post.

For now, I just want to write about how inspiring, passionate, and courageous these women are (my favorite Halmoni, Pak Ok-seon Halmoni can be seen in the top photo wearing a blue scarf).

They are in their 80’s and 90’s and they have been demonstrating in front of the Japanese Embassy every fucking week for 20 years.  In the rain, in the snow, in the heat, in the wind, without fail.  They’ve faced social stigma, being called whores and prostitutes, they’ve been asked by their families to not go public but they go out there EVERY FUCKING WEEK.

FOR TWENTY YEARS.

And they do it because they want the world to know what happened to them, what’s still happening in wars all across the globe, what’s happening across national borders, what’s happening in school campuses, churches, and pretty much every corner of this goddamn planet.

And that is sexual violence against women.

And when you ask them why they’re out there every week, they’ll tell you that yes, they want their apology from the Japanese government - they want someone to look them in the face and say yes, it happened and I. am. sorry.  But they’ll also tell you that they’re out there because they don’t want what happened to them to happen to a single other woman, ever again.

And that, is fucking powerful people.

I had never heard of this until now. Here’s some more information:

South Korean women forced to be sex slaves during the Second World War, who have spent two decades demanding recognition from the Japanese government, reached an important milestone Wednesday. 

Their quest for an official apology and reparations reached a landmark on December 14, the 1000th Wednesday since January 1992 that “comfort women” and their supporters have protested outside the Japanese embassy in Seoul. 

The comfort women - known as ianfu in Japanese - were forced to work in brothels run by the Japan’s Imperial Armed Forces during its occupation of the Korean peninsula. 

It’s estimated there were as many as 200,000 women, mainly from Korea, but also China, Taiwan, the Philippines and other Asia-Pacific countries.

Kim Hak-Sun was the first of these women to speak out about her ordeal, in August 1991, and bring about a lawsuit against the Japanese government.

She says she was forced into sexual servitude at the age of 17, but some girls were years younger when they began enduring years of rape and violence.

In the months following Kim going public, 233 more South Korean women came forward and registered as comfort women with their government. 

Only 63 of them are still alive and they are all in their eighties and nineties.

Their window of opportunity to get justice for their suffering is closing rapidly.

At Wednesday’s demonstration some of these women, and their network of supporters, erected a 120-centimetre high bronze statue of a seated young girl - a symbol the victims used to represent the comfort women issue - staring directly at the embassy.

Japan requested South Korean officials stop the group from placing the monument, saying it would “harm its dignity and affect diplomatic relations.”

Officials in Seoul refused to step in.

[Read the whole article @ globalnews]

leftcoastjane:

This UC Davis prof,

Bob Ostertag

Composer, historian, journalist, and Professor of Technocultural Studies and Music at UC Davis

responds to the violence on the Davis campus, I saw it via OhPauline and alyson-noele, it appeared first in HuffPost.

alyson-noele:

Yesterday, police at UC Davis attacked seated students with a chemical gas.

I teach at UC Davis and I personally know many of the students who were the victims of this brutal and unprovoked assault. They are top students. In fact, I can report that among the students I know, the higher a student’s grade point average, the more likely it is that they are centrally involved in the protests.

This is not surprising, since what is at issue is the dismantling of public education in California. Just six years ago, tuition at the University of California was $5357. Tuition is currently $12,192. According to current proposals, it will be $22,068 by 2015-2016. We have discussed this in my classes, and about one third of my students report that their families would likely have to pull them out of school at the new tuition. It is not a happy moment when the students look around the room and see who it is that will disappear from campus. These are young people who, like college students everywhere and at all times, form some of the deepest friendships they will have in their lives.

This is what motivates students who have never taken part in any sort of social protest to “occupy” the campus quad. And indeed, there were students who were attacked with chemical agents by robocops who were engaging in their first civic protest.

Since the video of the assault has gone viral, I will assume that most of you have seen the shocking footage. Let’s take a look at the equally outrageous explanations and justifications that have come from UC Davis authorities.

UC Davis Chancellor Linda P.B. Katehi sent a letter to the university last night. Chancellor Katehi tells us that:

The group was informed in writing… that if they did not dismantle the encampment, it would have to be removed…  However a number of protestors refused our warning, offering us no option but to ask the police to assist in their removal.

No other options? The list of options is endless. To begin with, the chancellor could have thanked them for their sense of civic duty. The occupation could have been turned into a teach-in on the role of public education in this country. There could have been a call for professors to hold classes on the quad. The list of “other options” is endless.

Chancellor Katehi asserts that “the encampment raised serious health and safety concerns.” Really? Twenty tents on the quad “raised serious health and safety concerns?” Has the chancellor been to a frat party lately? Or a football game? Talk about “serious health and safety concerns.”

How about this for another option: three years ago there was a very similar occupation of the quad at Columbia University in New York City by students protesting the way the expansion of the university was displacing residents in the neighborhood. There was a core group of twenty or thirty students there around the clock. At the high points there were 200-300. The administration met with the students and held serious discussions about their concerns. And after a couple of weeks the protest had run its course and the students took the tents down. The most severe action that was even contemplated on the part of the university was to expel students who were hunger striking, under a rule that allows the school to expel students who are considered a threat to themselves. But no one was actually expelled.

Remember when universities used to expel students instead of spray them with chemical agents?

We should also note that at Columbia, a private university, the campus police carry no arms and no pepper spray. This is what Columbia University police look like when arresting students:

This is what the police at Davis, a public university, looked like yesterday:

It is worth noting that in the Columbia photo, the one without helmets, guns, or chemical assault weapons, the student is being arrested for selling cocaine. In the Davis photo the students were defending public education.

Could Chancellor Katehi please explain what “serious health and safety concerns” were posed at Davis that were absent at Columbia? The only thing that involved a “serious health and safety concern” at Davis yesterday was the pepper spray. I just spoke with a doctor who works for the California Department of Corrections, who participated in a recent review of the medical literature on pepper spray for the CDC. They concluded that the medical consequences of pepper spray are poorly understood but involve serious health risk. As with chili peppers, some people tolerate pepper spray well, while others have extreme reactions. It is not known why this is the case. As a result, if a doctor sees pepper spray used in a prison, he or she is required to file a written report. And regulations prohibit the use of pepper spray on inmates in all circumstances other than the immediate threat of violence. If a prisoner is seated, by definition the use of pepper spray is prohibited. Any prison guard who used pepper spray on a seated prisoner would face immediate disciplinary review for the use of excessive force. Even in the case of a prison riot in which inmates use extreme violence, once a prisoner sits down he or she is not considered to be an imminent threat. And if prison guards go into a situation where the use of pepper spray is considered likely, they are required to have medical personnel nearby to treat the victims of the chemical agent.

Apparently, in the state of California felons incarcerated for violent crimes have rights that students at public universities do not.

Amazingly, UC Davis Police Chief Annette Spicuzza attempted to justify this crime.

If you look at the video you are going to see that there were 200 people in that quad. Hindsight is 20-20 and based on the situation we were sitting in, ultimately that was the decision that was made.

Yes, there were about 200 people in the quad. It is a piece of grass that was placed by the designers of the campus to be an open, central meeting place for the university community. But somehow, 200 students in the quad has become a problem. A huge problem. A problem so big that, well, yeah it was too bad those kids got pepper sprayed, but hey, there were 200 people in the quad.

Like the chancellor, Chief Spicuzza justified the assault by saying that the protest was “not safe for multiple reasons,” none of which she specified.

How is it that non-violent student protest has suddenly become “unsafe” in the United States?

Just to jolt us back to reality for a moment, remember Amy Carter, daughter of former President Jimmy Carter. In 1985 she was arrested in an anti-apartheid demonstration at the South African Embassy in Washington. Like the Davis students, she was arrested when she refused an order to disperse. But she wasn’t sprayed with a chemical weapon, or bodyslammed to the ground. She was handcuffed and led to a police car, telling reporters, ”I’m proud to be my father’s daughter.” The following year she was arrested again, this time at the University of Massachusetts protesting CIA recruitment there.

In short, Amy was just the sort of student that the administration of the UC is panicked about. She moved from place to place. She was arrested multiple times. She was not a student at UM at the time of her arrest there. She was a sophomore at Brown. This is the big fear the UC leadership keeps raising about today’s campus protests: the protests can’t be allowed because they might involve “outside agitators” who are not students. Well, the former president’s daughter was just such an outside agitator. She even brought Abbie Hoffman to get arrested with her at a university where she was not a student! The sky didn’t fall. No one was injured. No weapons were used. And Amy was acquitted of all charges, successfully arguing in court that CIA involvement in Central America and elsewhere was equivalent to trespassing in a burning building.

Now fast forward to today. Last week, UC Berkeley Chancellor Robert Birgeneau issued a statement justifying the brutal use of police batons on student protesters like this:

It is unfortunate that some protesters chose to obstruct the police by linking arms and forming a human chain to prevent the police from gaining access to the tents. This is not non-violent civil disobedience… the police were forced to use their batons.

Perhaps the Chancellors of Davis and Berkeley have never seen this photo of people with linked arms. It is an iconic image of non-violent civil disobedience in this country.

Chancellor Robert Birgeneau thus joins the likes of Bull Connor, the notorious segregationist and architect of the violent repression of the civil rights movement in Birmingham, Alabama, as some of the very few people who view the non-violent tactics of Martin Luther King as violent.

Most people disagree, which is why King was given the Nobel Peace Prize.

Throughout my life I have seen, and sometimes participated in, peaceful civil disobedience in which sitting and linking arms was understood by citizens as a posture that indicates, in the clearest possible way available, protestors’ intent to be non-violent. If example, if you look through training materials from groups like the Quakers, the various pacifist organization and centers, and Christian organizations, it is universally taught that sitting and linking arms is the best way to de-escalate any confrontation between police and people exercising their first amendment right to public speech.

Likewise, for over 30 years I have seen police universally understand this gesture. Many many times I have seen police treat protestors who sat and linked arms when told they must disperse or face arrest as a very routine matter: the police then approach the protestors individually and ask them if, upon arrest, they are going to walk of their own accord or not the police will have to carry them. In fact, this has become so routine that I have often wondered if this form of protest had become so scripted as to have lost most of its meaning.

No more.

What we have seen in the last two weeks around the country, and now at Davis, is a radical departure from the way police have handled protest in this country for half a century. Two days ago an 84 year old woman was sprayed with a chemical assault agent in Portland in the same manner our students at Davis were maced. A Hispanic New York City Councilman was brutally thrown to the ground, arrested, and held cuffed in a police van for two hours for no reason at all, and was never even told why he was arrested. And I am sure you all know about former Marine Lance Cpl. Scott Olsen, who suffered a fractured skull after police hit him with a tear gas canister, then rolled a flash bomb into the group of citizens trying to give him emergency medical care.

Last week, former Seattle Police Chief Norm Stamper published an essay arguing that the current epidemic of police brutality is a reflection of the militarization (his word, not mine) of our urban police forces, the result of years of the “war on drugs” and the “war on terror. Stamper was chief of police during the World Trade Organization protests in Seattle in 1999, and is not a voice that can be easily dismissed.

Yesterday, the militarization of policing in the U.S. arrived on my own campus.

These issues go to the core of what democracy means. We have a major economic crisis in this country that was brought on by the greedy and irresponsible behavior of big banks. No banker has been arrested, and certainly none have been pepper sprayed. Arrests and chemical assault is for those trying to defend their homes, their jobs, and their schools.
These are not trivial matters. This is a moment to stand up and be counted. I am proud to teach at a university where students have done so.

READ NOW.

somepinkfluffy-dinosaur:

‎”THROUGH A RAPIST’S EYES” (PLS TAKE TIME TO READ THIS. it may save a life.) Reblog this! ————————————————————————————————————————————

It seems that alot of attackers use some tactic to get away with violence. Not many

people know how to take care of themselves when faced with such a

situation. Everyone should read this especially each n every girl in this world.



THOUGHT THIS WAS GOOD INFO TO PASS ALONG…

FYI - Through a rapist’s eyes! A group of rapists and date rapists in

prison were interviewed on what they look for in a potential victim

and here are some interesting facts:



1] The first thing men look for in a potential victim is hairstyle.

They are most likely to go after a woman with a ponytail, bun! , braid

or other hairstyle that can easily be grabbed. They are also likely to

go after a woman with long hair. Women with short hair are not common

targets.



2] The second thing men look for is clothing. They will look for women

who’s clothing is easy to remove quickly. Many of them carry scissors

around to cut clothing.



3] They also look for women using their cell phone, searching through

their purse or doing other activities while walking because they are

off guard and can be easily overpowered.



4] The number one place women are abducted from / attacked at is

grocery store parking lots.



5] Number two is office parking lots/garages.



6] Number three is public restrooms.



7] The thing about these men is that they are looking to grab a woman

and quickly move her to a second location where they don’t have to

worry about getting caught.



8] If you put up any kind of a fight at all, they get discouraged

because it only takes a minute or two for them to realize that going

after you isn’t worth it because it will be time-consuming.



9] These men said they would not pick on women who have umbrellas,or

other similar objects that can be used from a distance, in their

hands.



10] Keys are not a deterrent because you have to get really close to

the attacker to use them as a weapon. So, the idea is to convince

these guys you’re not worth it.

———————————————————————————————————————————-

POINTS THAT WE SHOULD REMEMBER:


1] If someone is following behind you on a street or in a garage or

with you in an elevator or stairwell, look them in the face and ask

them a question, like what time is it, or make general small talk:

can’t believe it is so cold out here, we’re in for a bad winter. Now

that you’ve seen their faces and could identify them in a line- up,

you lose appeal as a target.



2] If someone is coming toward you, hold out your hands in front of

you and yell Stop or Stay back! Most of the rapists this man talked to

said they’d leave a woman alone if she yelled or showed that she would

not be afraid to fight back. Again, they are looking for an EASY

target.



3] If you carry pepper spray (this instructor was a huge advocate of

it and carries it with him wherever he goes,) yelling I HAVE PEPPER

SPRAY and holding it out will be a deterrent.



4] If someone grabs you, you can’t beat them with strength but you can

do it by outsmarting them. If you are grabbed around the waist from

behind, pinch the attacker either under the arm between the elbow and

armpit or in the upper inner thigh - HARD. One woman in a class this

guy taught told him she used the underarm pinch on a guy who was

trying to date rape her and was so upset she broke through the skin

and tore out muscle strands the guy needed stitches. Try pinching

yourself in those places as hard as you can stand it; it really hurts.



5] After the initial hit, always go for the groin. I know from a

particularly unfortunate experience that if you slap a guy’s parts it

is extremely painful. You might think that you’ll anger the guy and

make him want to hurt you more, but the thing these rapists told our

instructor is that they want a woman who will not cause him a lot of

trouble. Start causing trouble, and he’s out of there.



6] When the guy puts his hands up to you, grab his first two fingers

and bend them back as far as possible with as much pressure pushing

down on them as possible. The instructor did it to me without using

much pressure, and I ended up on my knees and both knuckles cracked

audibly.



7] Of course the things we always hear still apply. Always be aware of

your surroundings, take someone with you if you can and if you see any

odd behavior, don’t dismiss it, go with your instincts. You may feel

little silly at the time, but you’d feel much worse if the guy really

was trouble.

——————————————————————————————————————————-

FINALLY, PLEASE REMEMBER THESE AS WELL ….

I know you are smart enough to know these pointers but there will be

some, where you will go “hmm I must remember that” After reading,

forward it to someone you care about, never hurts to be careful in

this crazy world we live in.



1. Tip from Tae Kwon Do: The elbow is the strongest point on your

body. If you are close enough to use it, do it.



2. Learned this from a tourist guide to New Orleans : if a robber asks

for your wallet and/or purse, DO NOT HAND IT TO HIM. Toss it away from

you…. chances are that he is more interested in your wallet and/or

purse than you and he will go for the wallet/purse. RUN LIKE MAD IN

THE OTHER DIRECTION!



3. If you are ever thrown into the trunk of a car: Kick out the back

tail lights and stick your arm out the hole and start waving like

crazy. The driver won’t see you but everybody else will. This has

saved lives.



4. Women have a tendency to get into their cars after shopping,eating,

working, etc., and just sit

(doing their checkbook, or making a list, etc. DON’T DO THIS! The

predator will be watching you, and this is the perfect opportunity for

him to get in on the passenger side,put a gun to your head, and tell

you where to go. AS SOON AS YOU CLOSE the DOORS , LEAVE.



5. A few notes about getting into your car in a parking lot, or

parking garage:



a. Be aware: look around your car as someone may be

hiding at the passenger side , peek into your car, inside the

passenger side floor, and in the back seat. ( DO THIS TOO BEFORE

RIDING A TAXI CAB) .



b. If you! u are parked next to a big van, enter your car from the

passenger door. Most serial killers attack their victims by pulling

them into their vans while the women are attempting to get into their

cars.



c. Look at the car parked on the driver’s side of your vehicle, and

the passenger side. If a male is sitting alone in the seat nearest

your car, you may want to walk back into the mall, or work, and get a

guard/policeman to walk you back out. IT IS ALWAYS BETTER TO BE SAFE

THAN SORRY. (And better paranoid than dead.)



6. ALWAYS take the elevator instead of the stairs. (Stairwells are

horrible places to be alone and the perfect crime spot).



7. If the predator has a gun and you are not under his control, ALWAYS

RUN! The predator will only hit you (a running target) 4 in 100 times;

And even then, it most likely WILL NOT be a vital organ. RUN!



8. As women, we are always trying to be sympathetic: STOP IT! It may

get you raped, or killed. Ted Bundy, the serial killer, was a

good-looking, well educated man, who ALWAYS played on the sympathies

of unsuspecting women. He walked with a cane, or a limp, and often

asked “for help” into his vehicle or with his vehicle, which is when

he abducted his next victim.


Send this to any woman you know that may need to be reminded that the

world we live in has a lot of crazies in it and it’s better safe than

sorry.


If u have a heart or compassion reblog this post.



‘Helping hands are better than Praying Lips’ – give us your helping hand.

REBLOG THIS AND LET EVERY GIRL KNOW!


ATLEAST PEOPLES WILL KNOW WATS GOIN IN THIS WORLD.



So please reblog this….Your one reblog can Help to spread this information.



I hope you all will Reblog. Lets See how many of you really care for this. 

undressedskeleton:

Artist’s Cereal-Box Stunt Makes a Real Point About Sugary Cereals

The packages have been rebranded, giving their names and slogans a satirical twist: “Sugar Frosted Fat,” “Fruit Looped,” and “Sugar Diabetic Bear.” The controversial artist is famous for hijacking and twisting pop culture icons and advertising brands for his surreal pop art. Case in point: His fattened-up Ronald McDonald was featured in Morgan Spurlock’s fast-food documentary,Super Size Me.

More From Delish: Artists in the Kitchen: Outrageous Food Art

But his attack on the products isn’t falling on deaf ears. The Wall Street Journal reported that General Mills is vigorously attempting to reformulate its cereals to reduce the sugar content. According to the article, Lucky Charms currently contains 15 grams of sugar per serving, and the company’s goal is to reduce sugar content to under 10 grams a serving. However, reducing sugar poses certain challenges: “Not only do the cereal’s frosted oats need to taste sweet enough to keep kids clamoring, they have to float in milk for at least three minutes,” states the article. All the fun of eating Lucky Charms would be gone if we couldn’t see the little shamrocks floating in milk, right?

Hopefully General Mills will find a way to slim down the sweet stuff and satisfy our need for seeing our food defy gravity. Until then, do you support English’s truth in advertising stunt?