Brutal details of the Richmond, CA gang rape

The suspect for this gang rape that was let go, Salvador Rodriguez, has now come out and spoken about what happened that night.

“They were kicking her in her head and they were beating her up, robbing her and ripping her clothes off; it’s something you can’t get out your mind,” Rodriguez said.

“I saw people, like, dehumanizing her; I saw some pretty crazy stuff,” Rodriguez said.

But then the article states that he actually got another person to watch the gang rape with him. Woooow. And this other person states,

“She was pretty quiet; I thought she was like dead for a minute but then I saw her moving around, I was like, ‘Oh,’” the 16-year-old witness said.

“Oh”? Really? I’m not going to try and put my anger and disgust about this horrendous act on those that were witnesses, but there should have been something done sooner about this. Rodriguez goes onto explain why he didn’t call the police about this.

“People say, ‘Why didn’t I call the cops,’ but at the same time, I live in Richmond, a neighborhood like this, snitching is something you don’t do, you know, I mean I have to walk down the streets now in fear of my life,” Rodriquez said.

So, ultimately, people are always looking out for themselves, even if a heinous crime is being committed. So much for believing in humanity…

(Sorry for my cynical nature today, it’s just one of those days!)

Music Hit: The Plastiscines

I’ve decided to start a new weekly post to showcase some awesome female musical talent. The music world is still quite a man’s world, and a lot of wicked female artists/bands don’t get showcased.

Image via Sugarscape

The Plastiscines are an all female rock group (although, on their Myspace, they describe themselves as “disco house/thrash/glam – which makes them even rock more) from Paris. They do most of their songs in English though, but their French stuff is equally as enjoyable. Then again, I’ve always had a thing for all French music.

I admit that I was watching the last half of Gossip Girl (my guilty pleasure, which is quickly transforming into a no pleasure thing), so I checked out some more of their stuff. My personal favourite song is “Bitch”. I don’t know what they were wanting to get across here…but I personally see it as an awesome song to reclaim the word “bitch” itself.

As far as being an all female band, they say, “Being girls, we naturally get to hear things that, most probably, a guy band wouldn’t hear.” They have some other kick-ass statements as well:

The second album was a real challenge, we wanted it to be great, to show people we were not just a girl band with pretty faces. We wanted to show to the people who used to say we were just ‘dolls’ that we were actually a fucking rock band writing good songs and rockin’ out ah ah!

In the end, this all female rock band is strong, fierce and ass kicking. I put this music on, and I feel freaking awesome.

HIV is top killer for young women

A new report done by the World Health Organization has stated that for the ages between 15 and 49, HIV is the biggest killer for women.

Women are “particular vulnerability” to infection by HIV, WHO says, due to both biology and gender inequality.

WHO Director General Dr Margaret Chan said:

“It’s time to pay girls and women back, to make sure that they get the care and support they need to enjoy a fundamental human right at every moment of their lives, that is their right to health,”

I couldn’t have said it any better myself. It’s true that women and girls need to have better health care, all over the world. This doesn’t just mean more care for those with HIV, but other things, such as reproductive health. As for HIV though, there does need to be more access to the treatment drugs which are available in Western countries for the many millions in Africa (and other underdeveloped countries) that suffer from this disease. Just because these people may not live in a developed country, does not mean that they don’t deserve the same treatment that people can get over here. It’s sad and shows true character when the rich don’t give to the poor.

And of course, more preventative measures need to be taken to stop this disease from getting a hold of people. Proper sex education must be done, for both women and men. None of this abstinence-only crap, where condoms are evil. Also, since so many women have this disease because of rape, we still need to fight institutionalized sexism all around the world. We need to make sure that we are taking measures to let men know that they have no right to rape anyone.

Ultimately, this is not a fair disease. This is not a fair disease because so many women and girls get it without even consenting to the sexual intercourse they get it from. This remains a feminist issue until many things change.

Rihanna speaks about Chris Brown beating her

As so many of you probably know already, Rihanna sat down with Diane Sawyer and did an interview, in which she talks about Chris Brown beating her. This all took place in February of this year, and I guess Rihanna felt that she was possibly ready to speak out about this, although you never know. (I won’t try to make any controversial remarks about her album coming out soon, but it’s something that you think about!)

Rihanna talks about the horrific details of what Chris Brown did to her, like how her mouth was full of blood and her face was completely swollen. She also talks about the more emotional issues that always come along with domestic violence. She told Sawyer that Brown was her “first big love” and that she was “so far in love, so unconditional, that I went back,” but reminded Sawyer that she realized that she didn’t want to teach young fans that it’s OK to go back to your abusers.

This is where domestic abuse gets tricky, and I think this unfortunately be one of the reasons why women get blamed so much in these cases. There are deep emotional ties to that one person, and that’s extremely hard to give up and move on. Not to mention, that it actually can become much more dangerous once a woman leaves the abuser. This probably wasn’t the case for Rihanna, but she explains the emotional issues well and we are able to get a better understanding of what’s going on. This is important, because domestic abuse is a huge issue that is highly ignored.

Ultimately, while watching Rihanna speak about this, the thing she said that stuck out most to me was, “that night wasn’t a part of my plan.” I think that’s really important to emphasis. Domestic abuse victims do not have this in their life plan. They are not expecting it. They don’t want this to happen. They possibly want a good life with the person that may have just abused them. They could of have dreams of having a bright future with that person. They didn’t think that domestic abuse would ever become an issue in their lives. And rightfully so, because men should never feel the right to beat a woman.

So thank you, Rihanna, for speaking out about this and against it.

Quote of the day!

“Coffee, tea … or me?”

This was found in an article in the Toronto Star, about feminism, as well as a little history lesson. Apparently, if women at all wanted to travel “back then”, they had to become “stewardesses”, and that’s what they would have to say.

Wow. Just, wow.

Why must activism happen AFTER the wrong act?

Today, I read about how the Richmond High students came together, along with community members and the mayor, for an event to support the girl who was gang raped and speak out against sexism and racism which is still so pervasive in our culture.

The white streamers were everywhere – worn as armbands, headbands, neckties, leg-bands – as hundreds of Richmond High School students gathered on the football field with teachers, parents and community members to express their support for the victim of a horrendous gang rape on the school grounds and their determination to act together to prevent future violence.

The speakers spoke of “building a culture that rejects racist and sexist actions and comments and fights back against the underlying social conditions in which such attitudes flourish.” As well as mentioning how these injustices need to be faced on a daily basis, not just after “one acute problem”.

This is all great. This is all fine and dandy and in fact, it seems like a great community movement at this point and who knows, some of those Richmond High students could go on and be the next leaders in fighting social injustice. However, my question is this, why does it take one horrendously wrong act, or “acute problem”, to create activism within people?

If you think about it, many horrendous acts of sexism or racism (or any other ism) wouldn’t occur if the activism was done on a daily basis. As the mayor said at the Richmond gathering, there would be “no bystanders”. That’s the whole point, right? If activism is performed everyday and people are educated about things like sexism and racism, people will no longer be passive about what’s happening around them.

But what gets them to the point of activism? Obviously, to some extend, something has to be there already. Usually something broad, like sexism or racism. I mean, if those things didn’t already exist, we wouldn’t of had great activist leaders of our time, like Gloria Steinem and Martin Luther King Jr. However, when it comes to individual (but extremely serious) incidents, such as the gang rape in Richmond, CA, why wouldn’t people do something about this at the time it was all happening? Everyone knows that something like gang rape is wrong. I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe that they thought that what they were doing was just fine, even if they might have been in an impaired state due to alcohol. Everyone has a moral compass, and gang rape is off the charts, screaming “WRONG”.

But had people not been educated enough about these things? Did these people who were bystanders, or participants think they didn’t have a voice and therefore couldn’t be against this? And how does one get a voice when it comes to injustice anyway? I don’t have the answers to these questions, but these are things that need to be addressed. We cannot just continuously wait for the next horrendous crime against a girl or woman to occur and jump on the whoa-we-need-to-fight-sexism train. This is an ongoing battle, and activism must take place before these incidents occur.

I’m not trying to knock whatever Richmond is doing right now. I think it’s good that they are collectively realizing what’s going on in our society today and will hopefully push towards a society where sexism isn’t so pervasive. However, what I am saying is that activism after the wrong act is too late. It’s too late for that 15 year-old girl. It’s too late for others who have been raped or murdered because of sexism or racism.

We all need to be collective in our actions and make sure that it’s never too late again, for anyone.

Seventh person arrested for gang rape in Richmond, CA

Just a little update on the gang rape case out of Richmond, CA. A 21 year-old man was arrested this morning due to suspicions of “rape, rape in concert with force and other charges that could lead to life in prison if convicted.”

Richmond Police Lt. Mark Gagan says a 21-year-old man from Richmond was arrested Tuesday morning on suspicion of rape, rape in concert with force and other charges that could lead to life in prison if convicted.

Also, 5 of the already arrested men and boys have been charged for their crime.

Yes, gender inequality usually pertains to women and girls

Well, an article over at Men’s News Daily is claiming that something is wrong with the Global Gender Gap Report. The article talks about how this report is all about anti-female inequality and doesn’t take into consideration anti-male inequality. And with all due respect, we honestly wouldn’t even need a gender gap report if it weren’t for anti-female inequality…so what’s with the complaints about how it’s done?

I do understand where this article is coming from, albeit disagreeing. The author gives the example of this:

Turn to page 184 which is where the figures for the United States are to be found. Under “Educational Attainment,” we see the four subcategories I mentioned previously. Men and women are equal in the literacy subcategory, but in each of the other three – primary, secondary and tertiary education – there is a higher percentage of girls and women than boys and men. So clearly, according to the criteria laid down by the Report, girls and women do better than boys and men in education in the United States. Ergo, the country’s score in this category is 1 which signifies “equality.” Inequality equals equality. See how it works?

The problem I see with this example is that I doubt that boys are not going to school just because they are boys. You may have to look at different social or environmental factors for this, but it most likely doesn’t have to do with their gender. And remember, this report is about gender. However, you can see that in many countries where girls and women are blatantly less valued, many girls will not go to school just because they are girls.

This is one of the reasons why this report is more about anti-female inequality. Although there can be anti-male inequality, it is just not to the same massive scale that anti-female inequality is. Ultimately, males don’t have to deal with issues of gender inequality as much as women do, therefore, the report isn’t about anti-male inequality.

Just my two cents!

Obama planning on lifting the HIV travel ban

So, for 22 years, for those that are HIV positive, have not been able to enter into the United States, either as visitors or as immigrants. I just found out that this was even a law just about two month ago, because one of my fabulous Anti-Oppressive Practice professors mainly does her work in HIV and told us about how some of her team couldn’t go to the States for conferences, or, they had to make sure to not mention that they were HIV positive. Kind of a ridiculous law right? Well, the good news is, is that Obama is lifting this ban!

President Obama called the 22-year ban on travel and immigration by HIV-positive individuals a decision “rooted in fear rather than fact” and announced the end of the rule-making process lifting the ban.

The president signed the Ryan White HIV/AIDS Treatment Extension Act of 2009 at the White House Friday and also spoke of the new rules, which have been under development more more than a year. “We are finishing the job,” the president said.

There will be a 60-day waiting period for this to be put in implementation. Very exciting stuff, because as Obama said, this law was put in place due to fear and not fact.

Click here for the story from the Washington Post.

Obama signs new hate crime legislation

After working so hard to get this off the ground, Obama has finally signed the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr Hate Crimes Prevention Act yesterday, the Feminist Majority reports. This is some exciting stuff!

The bill extends the definition of federal hate crimes to include attacks motivated by sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, and disability and empowers federal authorities to help local law enforcement investigate hate crimes.

This is what Obama had to say:

“Over the past 10 years, there were more than 12,000 reported hate crimes based on sexual orientation alone. And we will never know how many incidents were never reported at all…no one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hands of the person they love. No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are or because they live with a disability.”

Matthew Shepard was a university student who was tortured and killed, because he was perceived to be gay. James Byrd Jr. was an African-American man who was tied to the back of a truck by two white supremacists, dragged from it and decapitated in the process. They were both killed in 1998. Yes, this has been a long time coming.

Edit: Sorry, the link wasn’t right!

How Richmond, CA is responding to the gang rape

I feel like this is all I’m covering at the moment, but this has become at least transnational news, if not international news. This incident has rocked a lot of people and and the Richmond community itself. Personally, I am hoping that this incident will bring a huge amount of light to the horrible situation of ALL violence against women and girls, whether that be rape, domestic violence, sexual abuse…and the list could go on. This is a serious issue. These issues deserve to be heard and need to be heard.

Here is a video of a rally in Richmond, CA.

Community rallies in wake of weekend gang rape of 15-year-old girl in Richmond, California (video)

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Four have been charged

Four of the participants of the gang-rape that took place against a 15-year old girl in Richmond, CA have been charged for this despicable crime.

Manuel Ortega, 19, was charged with assault by force likely to produce great bodily injury and rape with a foreign object while acting in concert, said Dara Cashman, Contra Costa County senior deputy district attorney.

She said three minors were also charged but declined to release their names. Two of them, 15 and 17, were charged with rape with a foreign object while acting in concert. A 16-year-old was charged with robbery and rape by a foreign object while acting in concert, Cashman said.

All four suspects were also charged with special enhancements that could result in life sentences if they are convicted, according to Cashman.

Lt. Mark Gagan commented about how there is still a lot of work and possible arrests that need to be made.

Arrests made in the 15-year old rape victim case

CNN is reporting that five arrests have been made in this gang-rape case. Three juveniles and two adults.

However, police expect to make even more arrests, because apparently around 10 people may have gotten involved. Police explain some more sick details about the incident:

“Based on witness statements and suspect statements, and also physical evidence, we know that she was raped by at least four suspects committing multiple sex acts,” Gagan said.

“As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated,” Gagan said.

Sick. Sick. Sick. I hope justice is served in court.

A 15-year old girl is gang-raped

This definitely goes under the category of horrible news of the day. This kind of stuff makes me sick and it makes me feel lots of emotion, because you know, what if you were that 15-year old girl?

She was raped outside of her high school after her homecoming dance by FIVE men (some were teenagers – I don’t know if you want to count them as men, but I digress…). The horrible thing on top of this, is that there were people who knew what was going on and no one reported it! This gang-rape went on for TWO HOURS, and yet, no one reported it, even after knowing what was going on. But of course, this is not the real issue and I don’t want to take away from it. Police explain:

“She was raped, beaten, robbed and dehumanized by several suspects who were obviously OK enough with it to behave that way in each other’s presence,” Lt. Mark Gagan said. “What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening and failed to report it.”

There is a mention of alcohol at the end of the article, citing that she and all of those guys were drinking, but the article only says that she had a large amount to drink before the rape. I really don’t want that getting in the way of anything. We don’t need any victim-blaming here!

My jaw dropped

So, I was over at Sociological Images, and found this:

I have no words, other than this is sick and completely misogynistic.

Gender politics in late night comedy

Nell Scovell, a former writer for the Late Show with David Letterman, has come out with an article about gender inequality in late night comedy, as well as her own experiences while writing for Letterman. This article is really informative and it’s interesting to get inside of a writer’s room, because it’s not something that the general public really has a chance to do or see.

Right off the bat, we find out that there are literally ZERO female writers working for not only Letterman, but also Leno and Conan at this moment. Of course, this talk about gender inequality in this workplace has come with Letterman revealing that he’s had sexual relationships with some of his female staff in the past. Scovell answers some revealing questions at this point.

Did Dave hit on me? No. Did he pay me enough extra attention that it was noted by another writer? Yes. Was I aware of rumors that Dave was having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Was I aware that other high-level male employees were having sexual relationships with female staffers? Yes. Did these female staffers have access to information and wield power disproportionate to their job titles? Yes. Did that create a hostile work environment? Yes. Did I believe these female staffers were benefiting professionally from their personal relationships? Yes. Did that make me feel demeaned? Completely. Did I say anything at the time? Sadly, no.

Sounds like quite a great workplace for women, eh?! If I were in the same position, I would also feel demeaned. Knowing that female staff benefit more from having a sexual relationship with high-level male employees than just working your butt off and doing an awesome job, makes me sad and it’s totally unacceptable. So what does Scovell suggest?

I just want Dave to hire some qualified female writers and then treat them with respect. And that goes for Jay and Conan, too. I realize that “hire qualified women!” is the sort of outraged demand that’s often met with a sigh. No one disagrees and yet gender inequality in high-paying positions extends into all professions.

So true. No one seems to disagree about it, but so much gender inequality still exists in high-paying positions. Is it one those, “Yeah, more qualified women should be hired, but I shouldn’t have to be the one to do it?” mentalities? Kind of like the bystander mentality? Like, no one has a problem with women in high-paying jobs, but no one wants to go and actually help out this situation?

I guess it’s something to think about. All I know, is that ALL women deserve a good workplace where they have respect, which Scovell did eventually find. Of course, that was after leaving Letterman.

Thank you, Joanne Lipman

A refreshing Op-Ed piece has come out of the New York Times, by Joanne Lipman. It is entitled The Mismeasure of Woman. And here, she speaks the truth:

The truth is, women haven’t come nearly as far as we would have predicted 25 years ago. Somewhere along the line, especially in recent years, progress for women has stalled. And attitudes have taken a giant leap backward.

But apparently, since we measure things by numbers (an example being the Shriver Report), we see that women are making a progression. Lipman takes on this notion, and points out that women are not making nearly as much progression as they maybe should be. She talks about how attitudes towards women have pretty much become toxic, and that you have to be one stereotype or the other. How true is that of our society? Women are constantly polarized. You have to be the good girl, or the bad girl.

One telling thing I found was when she mentioned some of her own college experience:

When I was in college in the 1980s, many of us looked derisively at the women’s liberation movement. That was something that strident, humorless, shrill women had done before us.

Was this a part of the problem that caused attitudes to shift? It’s not just about men, but about so many women that look at that feminist movement as something that it wasn’t, and something that the women were not. It’s so unfortunate that these ideas of the feminist movement, along with those women have been made into what they are today. Although I’m not saying that Lipman still has those feelings, I just thought that was telling, as she talks about attitudes towards women being one of the things that sets women back.

I really encourage you to read the whole article. What I am saying definitely does not do it any justice. Lipman has some great ideas and it’s a very interesting piece…so head on over the article now!

A rant.

After reading some more about that whole Oklahoma women shaming, my blood has just once again boiled. Seriously, this anti-abortion stuff/women shaming stuff makes my blood boil so much, it’s crazy.

It just got me thinking about how in the world could so many people believe that women and men are equal? How could they believe this when clearly, women are oppressed? It is because it’s written into law? Is it because we’re now told that women and men are equal? Or…is it because people are kind of just lazy nowadays and don’t care that much?

I guess it probably is true that there is misinformation out there, and that people are not being educated properly on these things. But if people think there’s equality because it’s written into law, I ask, how does something written down trump a society’s power and privilege system, which is so historical and intertwined within everything in our society?

But then, there are the people who actually believe that gender inequality is okay. Do they enjoy shaming women into not having abortions? Do they enjoy not wanting to give women a choice about whether they stay at home with the kids or work? Do they enjoy the other many oppressing things that women face? My cynical self believes that they may sometimes enjoy shaming women, or at least think that it needs to be done. Maybe “enjoy” isn’t the write word, but these people obviously think they know what’s best.

What actually needs to be done to combat this? As the book says, “We Don’t Need Another Wave“. I’ve personally never read the book, but I agree with the title. We don’t need another era of huge political activism where constant demonstrations are being held (although we do need some of those). I think we need to be constantly politically active* in our everyday lives. It seems simple, but how many of us are actually politically active in our everyday lives? Do we stand up for what we believe in everyday? Do we write about and spread our beliefs around so that everyone can read/hear? Do we call out our closest friends when they make the most sexist or racist joke you’ve ever heard? Once you get uncomfortable and you know something is against your beliefs as a feminist, or anti-racist, etc…you need to step up and hold that title and possibly make those other people uncomfortable in the process. You do not have to be on the side of the majority. Really. You don’t have to be. In fact, I discourage it, unless the majority becomes people who believe and ACT ON the belief that everyone (gender, race, class, sexuality, etc) is equal.

We have a far way to come. We need to be on our toes constantly, seeing how we can stand up for what is right. You may think that you are doing the most insignificant thing by saying something, or blogging something, but you never know how it may affect one person. And we should all know, sometimes, it only takes the mobilization of one person, to change everything.

*by me saying that we need to be constantly politically active, I do not mean sitting behind a computer and joining a Facebook group that supports your cause…and then doing nothing about it.

Little hiatus

I apologize for not updating a lot lately. I have been uber busy getting things ready for my month away. I will definitely try to update as much as possible while I’m gone…but I can’t guarantee anything. I’m not sure what the internet connection is going to be like!

Anyway, thank you very much for reading Being Feminist for the time being and I will return soon!

Because sexism can go both ways

Oh how I love Sarah Haskins and Target Women. This one has a sarcastic look at how, according to the media, husbands are really not good for anything. (Which is obviously a ridiculous assumption).