12 September 2014

The Effects of Accountability: Illuminating the Dark Corner of Male Entitlement

A recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education (trigger warning) tells a story of something we as Men in the Movement have to be prepared to engage in conversation. The title is “Presumed Guilty: College men accused of rape say the scales are tipped against them” and I have no doubt that the recent spotlight on how Universities “handle” sexual assault cases will get students to talk about it. Which is good. And it doesn’t hurt to be prepared for when this happens with your friends.

It’s a lengthy article, but I highly suggest reading to at least the third picture. It has a lot of information that would be tough to summarize here. But one of the biggest take-aways is

04 September 2014

Everyday Violations of Consent: The Theft (not “leak”) of Personal Pictures

Recent internet buzz is surrounding pictures of celebrities that were taken without consent. A typical headline looks like this:

Nude photos of Jennifer Lawrence and other female celebrities leaked online

First and foremost, they weren't leaked, they were stolen. We’ll get to that later.

I want to highlight some of the things that other writers/bloggers have said. Both Jessica Valenti and this man (I assume it’s a man…) have named that the allure of these particular nude photos is specifically that they were obtained without consent. Valenti and Erin Gloria Ryan talk about how deeply victim blaming the reaction has been.

I have to admit, the high school me would have rushed