R. Kelly is a free man because we’re “disgusted” yet complicit

With the recent documentary series, Surviving R. Kelly, many are asking why the self-styled “Pied piper of R&B” has got away with it for so long. Angelo Irving asks if our disgust really translates into action. Content Note: This article contains explicit reference to acts of child sexual abuse, please read on with caution. Editor’s… Read More

Men’s Silent Consent Of Rape Culture

CONTENT NOTE: This piece will discuss rape and sexual assault (Here is a list of support services for survivors – via Alison Phipps). by Shane Thomas For those who don’t know, here’s what you need to know: Footballer Ched Evans was found not guilty of rape in a trial that ended last Friday. We’ve written about… Read More

The UN’s Good vs. Bad Narrative Clears the Way for Sexual Violence and Impunity

Content warning: Rape, Sexual violence and abuse by Maya Goodfellow A Blue Helmet’s job is, quite literally, to keep the peace. The UN peacekeepers whose nickname comes from their characteristic headwear, are supposed to protect people in countries torn apart by war. However a steady drip of accusations coming out of the Central African Republic (CAR) suggests… Read More

The Theft of Innocence: Voluntourism and Child Sexual Abuse

by Samira Sawlani Trigger Warning: Article contains stories of rape and child sexual abuse On the 7th of March 2016, at an American district court in Oklahoma, twenty-year-old missionary Matthew Durham was sentenced to 40 years in federal prison and ordered to pay $15,863 in restitution after he was convicted of sexually abusing children at… Read More

No, Mrs Mugabe, I am not responsible for my rape.

By Anonymous TRIGGER WARNING: This piece contains descriptions of assault and discussions on rape, shaming and abuse. I was 22 and interning overseas at a big Inter-Governmental Organisation which employed a couple of hundred people. A flashy building, meeting VIPs, attending cocktail receptions – for me this was the equivalent of the bright lights of Hollywood.… Read More

Why the cynical focus on ‘Honour crimes’ won’t combat gender violence in the UK

by Amrit Wilson Last year, to mark International Women’s day, Cosmpolitan magazine ran an article titled ‘Why you’re lucky to be a woman in the UK‘. On an ordinary Saturday, it told us, ‘the average Cosmo reader might ‘wake up in the morning, slip into jeans and a T-shirt, jump into your car and head… Read More

The Sinister Abuse of Women at Yarl’s Wood

by Chimene Suleyman  I cannot understand it. The thought process behind taking vulnerable women and detaining them like criminals. Many of the women who have come to Britain to seek asylum have done so with great concerns. These are women who have taken political jobs and stances against countries who now seek to kill them. They… Read More

An Open Letter To Trevor Philips: Why Your Documentary Is Logically and Morally Flawed.

by Ahmed Olayinka Sule When I first heard that you would be presenting a documentary on Channel Four titled, “Things We Can’t Say About Race That Are True”, I was keen to know what you had to say. Even though I was concerned about what was reported in the media about the documentary before it… Read More

It is India’s fearless women revolutionaries who are being silenced, not the BBC

by Sunny Singh The BBC Documentary film India’s Daughter purports to shed light on India’s rape culture and sets itself up as an ‘event’ that will launch ‘global action’ against sexual violence. How this is to happen, other than through media hype that accompanies celebrity studded spectacles, has not yet been explained by its film-maker,… Read More

Power and Control: Domestic and Intimate-Partner Violence in LGBTQ Relationships

by Carolyn Wysinger No one actually knows this story but me and God. Seven years ago I was in a relationship with another woman. She was beautiful, smart and had a great career. We shared a mutual respect for family, food and good times. The woman was also an abuser. I didn’t know that at… Read More