Thoughts

I understand most of you reading this may not quite get what I am doing. So, let me explain in the best way. This blog is a collection of news stories found by me to give more information about sexual assault and rape. These stories will range from accusations, trials, bills and statistics.

I hope that at the end May, there will be a strong following and that we as a blogging community will know the in and out aspect of rape in the media.

There are many controversal things that emerge when rape and sexual assault are discussed. I want this taboo feeling to be destroyed. I want people to feel at ease when the word rape is said. I want those who were taken advantage of to feel at ease when rape is said. It isn't a scary word unless we, the media and those surrounding us make it one.

So, please feel free to comment on stories you would like to see, what you would like to see less of, and things you wish you could see happen. We can change the world...one blog at a time....

Now, since I brought up change... let's see if we can find some news stories related to that.

McCaskill, Senators seek to help military rape victims

Currently four political women are sponsoring the 'Support for Survivors Act'.  

Senator Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.), Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn.), Susan Collins (R-Maine), and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) announced their support for the act which will require the Department of Defense to save records concerning sexual assault all across the U.S. Military.

This legislation has been introduced in the United States Senate that seeks to protect victims of rape in the military.

The bill, as explained by McCaskill’s office, would: (1) Require the Dept. of Defense to ensure the preservation of documents connected with reports of sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military; (2) Ensure privacy for the victim and the perpetrator; (3) Ensure life-long access by the service member to his or her personal documents; (4) Grant the VA access to documents only at the request of a service member, for the purpose of assisting with the processing of a disability compensation claim; and (5) Allow the Dept. of Defense to review the data, excluding names, to improve research and reporting.
For more on the story visit; http://politicmo.com/2011/03/29/mccaskill-senators-seek-to-help-military-rape-victims/

Bill blocks payment for abortions for incest, rape victims

IOWA- Poor Iowans would be prohibited from having a taxpayer-paid abortion in cases of rape or incest under an amendment to a budget bill approved by a House committee this week.
Jill June, president of Planned Parenthood of the Heartland, said pregnant victims of rape and incest deserve health care services regardless of their economic status.
"It's cruel and hurtful to take away funding from a woman with financial hardships who has been through such a horrifying crime," June said. "This is just another proposal to limit abortion services, and it would hurt a woman more during a devastating situation."
To read more on the story and to post comments (in hopes to change the bill) visit; http://www.indystar.com/article/D2/20110317/NEWS10/103170339/1007/LIVING/Bill-blocks-payment-abortions-incest-rape-victims?odyssey=nav%7Chead

Rape is not a compliment

THE GUARDIAN-This inability of humankind to bear very much reality explains how one clearly ridiculous story still has a purchase on the public imagination: that rape has something to do with desirability.

The terrible story of Delroy Grant, the serial sex attacker who was given life imprisonment last week after terrorising at least 203 elderly people, offered much jaw-dropping horror for newspapers to chew over:

The police blunders that let Grant continue his attacks; the unimaginable trauma he inflicted on his victims; the fact that many of them died before Grant was brought to justice.

But these facts weren't enough for some papers and they focused on something else, something that seemed to confirm to them Grant's depravity at least as much as his actions: that he chose to rape the elderly.

London's Evening Standard, for one, felt that this was so extraordinary that it merited its own little article in the middle of its double-spread report of the case, expressing "bafflement" at a "family man's sexual attraction to the elderly".

For more on this story visit; http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/mar/30/rape-is-not-a-compliment

I do hope these stories strike a nerve, that you post comments and allow more people to know your thoughts on the subject....

Again, thanks for your time in reading these stories!