No means no. Really? Okay, so what about when she doesn't say no? What about when she doesn't say anything? That's a loophole, right? It's a get out of jail free card, isn't it?  Sadly, it frequently is. Blaming the victim of a crime is ridiculous, but when the victim is unconscious? Yet we see cases where rape of an unconcious girl is downgraded to aggravated assault, and with the Big Red Steubenville rape, in the ... Read More

A new ad campaign released by “Who Are You?” focuses on bystander intervention when it comes to sexual assault.  The video released by the New Zealand organization shows the story of a woman and her friend getting ready to party, and shows other people such as her roommate, a bartender, and a regular guy going about their nights.  As the video progresses, the girl drinks more and more, and a guy starts hanging around ... Read More

  Trigger Warning: This post contains a description of sexual assault that may potentially be triggering for survivors of assault. Is it rape if you don’t put up a fight? Well, according to Orange County judge Derek G. Johnson, no, not really.  To be clear, he believes that if a woman doesn’t put up a fight when attacked, then technically, yes, it is rape, but not “a real, live criminal case.”Let me ... Read More

International tabloids have long since spun the story of Nafissatou Diallo into so much gossip gold. Diallo, an African immigrant working as a maid at the Sofitel in Manhattan, was thrust into the glaring media spotlight after an unfortunate encounter with Dominique Strauss-Kahn. Diallo attests that DSK assaulted her in his hotel room while she was on the clock, forcing her to perform oral sex on him. As one of the most powerful men in ... Read More

  Trigger Warning In an extremely personal and honest new song, Angel Haze comes clean: she raps about being repeatedly sexually abused as a child by more than one attacker. Distressingly, when she told others about it, they either wouldn’t believe her or placed the blame on her.  The assault she dealt with during her upbringing obviously caused a lot of pain -  both physical and mental. “I was afraid of ... Read More