Sara's Weekly VAW Reader

In Madison, WI, judges threw out a tape that proved a husband raped his comatose wife because it violated his 4th amendment rights (unreasonable search as seizure). To no surprise there were headlines like: "Court: Cops illegally taped nursing home sex" and "Coma sex gets husband accused of rape." (By the way, the comments on these articles are atrocious.) A comatose person does not have the ability to consent to sex, regardless of the person's marital status. A wedding ring does not give a partner unlimited sexual access to the other. A ring should never imply ownership.

As the Mayor of Wasilla, Alaska, Sarah Palin charged rape victims for their own rape kits, despite the fact that the Democratic Governor in 2000 passed a bill to change that policy. Dorothy Samuels of The New York Times points out that when Joe Biden wrote the Violence Against Women Act (1994), he included provisions that would make states ineligble for federal funds if they made victims pay. And John McCain voted against it....

A CodePink protester at the Democratic National Convention is forcibly knocked to the ground while the police officer clearly states "Back it up, Bitch." (Trigger Warning)

6th defendent admits role in the rape and torture of Megan Williams.

Taliban kills a top female police officer which is yet another death in a string of murders of women in Afghanistan.

Violence against women impacts growth and health of infants according to a study in Sweden. To some, this finding is obvious, but to other it raises awareness about the range of effects violence can have for the woman and her family.

Sara's Weekly Violence Against Women Reader

Theresa Braine has a great piece in Women's E-News about the feminization of HIV and the link between violence and rising rates of HIV in women.

Women for Women International, has a Run for Congo Women, started by a woman in Portland, coming up on September 14th.

Malika Saada Saar has an eye-opening piece in the Center for American progress about the link between sexual violence and teen pregnancy. Here is a preview: "Teen pregnancy isn’t simply about girls and boys being promiscuous, or lacking access to sex education or contraception. Too often teen pregnancy is about girls losing agency over their bodies because of the unbearable injuries of being sexually violated."

Wrangler decided to "spice up" their advertising with a little sexualization of violence against women (trigger warning). What's sad is that there has been success with other companies using this kind of disturbing advertising in the past.

N. Bruce Duthu has a piece in the New York Times about the rape epidemic in American indigenous communities. Rape in these communities is 2x higher than the national average and is predominately interracial whereas other rapes are almost exclusively intraracial.

T.H. Lindsey on RH Reality Check blogs about Jackson Katz's Men Against Violence program.

Five Pakistani women were buried alive because they decided to go against their tribe elders and marry who they wanted. Cath Elliott has more.

Rape in the Military has become an epidemic. Even with increased media attention and supposed efforts made by the Military, things only seem to be getting worse.

Rape-apologist journalists certainly know how promote the victim-blaming philosophy that continues to re-victimize survivors.

Rape survivors can get reparations in the UK, but there are still kinks to be worked out. A recent case cut a woman's pay by 25% because she was drinking. Luckily, she fought it and got her full pay, however, thus far 14 women have had their reparations cut.

With the recent brutal murder of Angie Zapata, a transwoman, Lisa @ Questioning Transphobia blogs about the impact of sexism, transphobia, and issues of masculinity in her murder as well as the silence of the media.