Experiences with Rape Culture

Sharing information about & calling out rape culture. A blog for survivors & activists. If you have a comment /question or would like to share an experience we would love to hear from you. TERFS /SWERFS DO NOT INTERACT

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Admin note

Just a quick reminder that i periodically comb through reblogs and new follows for TERF /SWERF folks to block.

I don't know how much clearer i can make it. We don't want you here. I don't want content from this blog in a radfem feed. See yourselves out or i will.

-Spider

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Follow The Money: The Economics of a Human Trafficking Sting - The Taxpayer Economic Factor

Follow the money: The taxpayer spreadsheet

The Economics of a “Human Trafficking” Sting - The Taxpayer Spreadsheet

A trafficking sting isn’t just law enforcement. It’s political theater. It produces clean headlines, simple narratives, and “tough on crime” optics that move easily through city councils, county commissions, and campaign materials - while real safety investments like housing, healthcare, labor protections, and immigration relief remain underfunded.

Across policing, courts, nonprofits, and politics, the same feedback loop repeats: money demands metrics, metrics shape messaging, and messaging justifies more money. Over time, stings stop being emergency responses and start functioning as a standing political economy.

If communities are serious about reducing trafficking and exploitation, we have to stop confusing more arrests with more safety.

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High school student accused of raping, strangling multiple girls after being denied sex

High school student accused of raping, strangling multiple girls after being denied sex

Authorities said the suspect has a disturbing history.

According to WKMG, authorities described the suspect's methods as "emotionally and physically brutal" and said they believe there are several other victims "who have been too afraid to come forward."

A statement obtained by WKMG regarding the suspect's alleged methods reads as follows:

“He ingratiates himself to young women, coerces them into sex, becomes extremely violent and videotapes and photographs his victims during sex. Then he threatens them with exposing those videos and photos publicly and to their parents. Our detectives believe he’s a predator, and that this behavior has been going on for some time and has escalated over time. We are asking anyone who has had any kind of concerning interactions with O’Reilly Lerner to come forward.”

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New details shed light on incident involving former College of Charleston Public Safety officer accused of assault, misconduct | WCBD News 2

https://www.counton2.com/news/new-details-shed-light-on-incident-involving-former-college-of-charleston-public-safety-officer-accused-of-assault-misconduct

The victim and her friends had been out on King Street the night before when she became “abnormally intoxicated,” arrest warrants say.

She reportedly lost contact with her friends at some point, and a witness later found her on the sidewalk near King and Spring Streets around 1:40 a.m.

Her friends reported that they called her cell phone after they lost contact and a stranger answered and told them that the victim was “in and out of consciousness,” according to the incident report.

The person on the sidewalk then flagged down a College of Charleston Public Safety officer, identified as Arnett, and told the victim’s friends the officer would be taking her home.

Arnett then reported to College of Charleston dispatch that he would be escorting the woman to her home. He intentionally turned off his body-worn camera before doing so, affidavits say.

Cameras later recorded Arnett walking into the home with the victim.

Witnesses arrived at the residence soon after shouting for the victim. They searched the home and found Arnett with the victim in her bathroom.

Documents state Arnett was seen kissing the victim against her vanity, while she was incoherent and her eyes were barely open.

One of the witnesses took the victim away from Arnett, who then made his way to the living room, where he stayed and continued to talk with them. They reported seeing Arnett’s body-worn camera “face down on the kitchen counter” and his duty gear on the floor.

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Parents of Oklahoma teen sex assault victim speak out after suspect receives no prison time - ABC News

Parents of Oklahoma teen sex assault victim speak out after suspect receives no prison time

Though Jesse Mack Butler initially faced what could have been a lengthy prison sentence, a judge ultimately granted him "youthful offender"

"It was upsetting," Kate's mother Yvonne told ABC Nightline anchor Juju Chang, speaking out with her husband for the first time on camera. "The girls had to be really brave to come forward, and they went through a lot to get to that point. And then, it just kind of felt like it was all for nothing."

Recent Stories from ABC News

Now 18, Butler was arrested in March while he was still underage. The teen from Stillwater, Oklahoma, was charged as an adult with multiple counts of rape, sexual battery and domestic assault and battery by strangulation of two female victims. Though he initially faced what could have been a lengthy prison sentence, he was ultimately granted "youthful offender" status.

In August, he pleaded "no contest," and in October, Butler was sentenced to community service, rehabilitation and out-patient counseling, not time behind bars. The 18 year-old remains under court supervision until he turns 19 next year. Meanwhile, the case has gained steam in the headlines -- and gathered outraged demonstrators outside the Payne County courthouse.

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GoFundMe bans men’s rights group that called rape victim a ‘skank’

GoFundMe bans men’s rights group that called rape victim a ‘skank’

Justice for Innocent Men Scotland was trying to raise money to make a documentary about its activities

A controversial men’s rights group which described a rape survivor as a “skank” has been halted from fundraising for a documentary after it was ruled to be a “legal defence of violent crimes”.

Justice for Innocent Men Scotland (Jims) insists that it is a legitimate campaign organisation which fights for “fair trials and against wrongful convictions”.

However, it recently emerged that members privately used offensive and abusive language to describe Ellie Wilson, 28, who as a student covertly recorded her former boyfriend Daniel McFarlane confessing to raping her. Her evidence helped to convict McFarlane, who was jailed for five years in 2022.

Last month Jims launched an appeal, via the crowdfunding site GoFundMe, to create a “powerful new documentary film that exposes the devastating human cost of wrongful convictions and calls for urgent reform”. It has now been shut down.

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The Case of Rapist Jesse Mack Butler Has Opened The Floodgates of Corruption and Leniency For Predators in the Stillwater, OK Judicial System

The Case of Rapist Jesse Mack Butler Has Opened The Floodgates of Corruption and Leniency For Predators in the Stillwater, OK Judicial Syste

STILLWATER’S OPEN SECRET: HOW THE SYSTEM PROTECTS PREDATORS

When 18-year-old Jesse Mack Butler stood before a Payne County courtroom charged with rape, strangulation, and violating a protective order, the evidence was disturbing and the charges serious. But in Stillwater, Oklahoma, a college town with deep political and social connections, justice rarely plays by the book.



Butler didn’t walk away because he was innocent. He walked away because he was connected.

Instead of being tried as an adult, Butler’s case was quietly reclassified as a “youthful offender.” He pleaded no contest to eleven felony counts, including first-degree rape, sexual battery, and domestic assault by strangulation.

His punishment? Counseling, probation, and 150 hours of community service.

The same system that routinely hands down decades-long sentences for lesser crimes decided Jesse’s future mattered more than the futures of the girls he allegedly brutalized.

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Minors can’t get restraining orders. N.J. siblings petition to change that after 2 girls killed. - nj.com

Minors can’t get restraining orders. N.J. siblings petition to change that after 2 girls killed.

After a local teen was allegedly stalked before being killed in a high-speed crash, these Cranford teens are challenging a legal system that

Two Cranford siblings are urging New Jersey lawmakers to lower the legal age for obtaining restraining orders to 15, following a tragic incident that shook their community and exposed what they say is a dangerous gap in protections for minors.

Cooper Groll, 16, and Charlotte Groll, 14, launched a petition on Change.org after learning that minors in New Jersey cannot independently seek restraining orders—even in cases of stalking or harassment.

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Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety.' Court Records Show They Considered Charging Her With a Crime

Police Said They Surveilled Woman Who Had an Abortion for Her 'Safety…

In May, 404 Media reported that the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office in Texas searched a nationwide network of Flock cameras, a powerful AI-enabled license plate surveillance tool, to look for a woman who self-administered an abortion. At the time, the sheriff told us that the search had nothing to do with criminality and that they were concerned solely about the woman’s safety, specifically the idea that she could be bleeding to death from the abortion. Flock itself said “she was never under criminal investigation by Johnson County. She was being searched for as a missing person, not as a suspect of a crime.”

But newly unearthed court documents about the incident show that when the search was performed, police were conducting a “death investigation” into the death of the fetus, and police discussed whether they could charge the woman with a crime with the District Attorney’s office on the same day that they performed the Flock search. The documents, obtained by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) and shared with 404 Media, also show that the Flock search was performed more than two weeks after the woman had the abortion. The documents were created as part of an arrest affidavit against the woman’s partner, who was arrested for allegedly abusing and threatening her at gunpoint on the day she took the abortion pill.

In documents created prior to the publication of our article, there is zero mention of concern about the woman’s safety. The records show that the police retroactively created a separate document about the Flock search a week after our article was published, in which they justify the search by saying they were concerned for her safety.

404 Media’s initial reporting on the incident became national news, has been cited in several government investigations into how Flock is used by police, and has led to several reforms by Flock itself. The company and its CEO, Garrett Langley, have repeatedly used it as a high-profile example of an ‘activist’ media that is biased against his company. The documents show that the narrative pushed by the Johnson County Sheriff’s Office and repeated by Flock is not the full story, and that police did consider charging the woman with a crime.

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Student activists go underground at Catholic colleges to provide contraception | AP News

A student 'womb service' works covertly to deliver contraception at a Catholic college

At DePaul University, a Catholic school in Chicago, students have created a covert contraceptive delivery network called “the womb service.”

College student Maya Roman has the handoff down to a science: a text message, a walk to a designated site, and a paper bag delivered with condoms and Plan B emergency contraception. At DePaul University, it’s the only way students can get a sliver of sexual health support, she said.

DePaul, a Catholic school in Chicago, prohibits distribution of any kind of birth control on its campus.

To get around that, a student group runs a covert contraceptive delivery network called “the womb service.”

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When Miscarriages Become Crimes – Mother Jones

When miscarriages become crimes

412 women faced criminal charges for pregnancy outcomes. This is what fetal personhood looks like.

The pregnancy-related prosecutions tracked by Pregnancy Justice span 16 states, most having taken place where Republican state legislatures or courts have conferred legal rights to eggs, embryos, and fetuses: a conservative movement known as “fetal personhood.”

The 62 prosecutions that took place before Sasha’s in South Carolina followed a 1997 state supreme court decision that held child endangerment charges also applied to fetuses. In Oklahoma—where Pregnancy Justice identified 112 prosecutions—a state appeals court made a similar decision in 2020.

Pregnancy Justice counted 192 pregnancy-related prosecutions in Alabama, which was the first state to enshrine rights to unborn children in its constitution via a 2018 ballot measure. The Alabama state supreme court used this ballot measure to support its 2024 decision that even frozen embryos are considered “extrauterine children” with inalienable rights. (This ruling had vast implications for Alabama fertility clinics, some of which paused IVF services out of fear they’d be held liable for the “wrongful death” of embryos on ice. Facing backlash, Republicans spoke out in support of IVF. Alabama subsequently passed a law shielding fertility providers from liability.)

Roughly 90 percent of the charges catalogued by Pregnancy Justice accuse pregnant women of abuse, neglect, or endangerment—accusations that are bolstered by the conservative perception of fetuses having the same rights as children that result from live births.

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Will chemical castration really protect survivors? - The New Feminist

Will chemical castration really protect survivors? - The New Feminist

The government’s new scheme promises safety through chemical castration, but behind the headlines lie questions.

Chemical castration is a medical misnomer. It does not involve castration in any literal sense, but the use of testosterone-suppressing drugs to reduce libido. It is more akin to specific hormone therapies used in treating prostate cancer, or indeed the contraceptive pill, and it’s reversible.

So why call it castration?

The term evokes brutality. It conjures a form of punitive punishment that satisfies the desire for retribution. But using such language distorts public understanding. It frames a pharmacological intervention as a form of punishment and justice, rather than part of rehabilitative treatment. More worrying is that it obscures the ethical implications of its use, especially when linked to releasing sex offenders early to solve prison overcrowding issues.

Once again, it comes down to money and allocating public funds elsewhere, instead of prioritising the safety of women and children. Of course, the Ministry of Justice is wary of legal reforms that centre on victim-survivors, as this would mean acknowledging the scale of the problem and building prisons…lots of them…for all the offenders we’re now reporting.

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S Korean women file forced prostitution lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse - Taipei Times

S Korean women file forced prostitution lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse - Taipei Times

Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan

More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday.

Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea.

In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation.

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‘There is no safe way to do it’: the rapid rise and horrifying risks of choking during sex

‘There is no safe way to do it’: the rapid rise and horrifying risks of choking during sex

Now thought to be the second most common cause of stroke in women under 40, it can also lead to difficulty swallowing, incontinence, seizure

Hannah Bows, a professor of criminal law at Durham Law School, believes strangulation is one of a few crimes where public awareness has dramatically regressed. “I think it’s a really troubling sign that 50 years ago most people would probably know strangulation was an offence – just like we all know that stealing is illegal,” she says. “We’re nowhere near that now, especially among young people. There’s actually less acknowledgment and understanding, even though we have more laws criminalising it.”

There’s good reason for these laws. Necks are alarmingly fragile. Blocking the jugular vein requires less pressure than opening a can of Coke. Evidence suggests that strangulation is now the second most common cause of stroke in women under 40. According to one piece of sobering research, it’s more dangerous than the torture known as waterboarding, because strangulation affects blood flow as well as airflow. Though some cases can cause loss of consciousness in seconds and death in minutes, in others consequences can be delayed by weeks. It can cause a change in voice, difficulty swallowing, incontinence, seizures, problems with memory, decision-making and concentration, depression, anxiety, miscarriage.

In a paper published in May, 32 young women were recruited from a large midwestern university in the US and separated into two groups – those who’d been strangled at least four times during sex in the last 30 days and those with no history of strangulation. (There were 15 from the former group and 17 in the second.) Blood was taken from all recruits. The samples from the women who’d been strangled showed elevated levels of S100B, a marker of brain damage.

“There’s no safe way to do it, no safe quantity of blood or oxygen you can cut off from her brain for fun,” says Jane Meyrick, a chartered health psychologist who leads work on sexual health at the University of the West of England. She describes being at a sexual health conference last year where data was presented on sexual strangulation – the prevalence and harms. “Usually, at those conferences, people will be talking about the extremes of what everyone is getting up to in a very sex-positive way,” she says. “When this was presented, you could feel the tension, the internal conflict, in the room, with professionals being unable to reconcile the gap between what they were hearing and their usual sex-positivity.”