Herstory

The American Judicial system has once again sent a clear message to America’s girls: sexual assault—even rape—is no big deal.

While Hobby Lobby opposes offering contraceptive coverage, it does sell three types of knitting needles, just the kind that in the not-so-distant past, women who became pregnant and didn’t have access to legal abortion used to try and end their pregnancies themselves.

History, politics & culture as this woman sees it. The serious, the kitsch, the opinionated.

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Lakisha Briggs was nearly evicted from her home for involving the police one too many times when her boyfriend tried to beat her.

That’s because cities and towns nationwide are passing "nuisance ordinances." These measures force landlords to evict tenants who are involved in disorderly behavior – even if they are victims of domestic violence.

No one should face homelessness for calling the cops to stop domestic violence! Sign our open letter calling for the repeal of nuisance ordinances so that women like Lakisha aren’t punished for calling the police.

After calling Gov. Dalrymple, I called my state legislators too. And then I sent this letter via email to all as well in response to all the insanity occurring in...

The National Rifle Association and its allies are challenging states’ efforts to take guns away from domestic violence offenders who have been served with civil protection orders.

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For all its rage and terror, the episode might well have been prevented. Had Mr. Holten lived in one of a handful of states, the protection order would have forced him to relinquish his firearms. But that is not the case in Washington and most of the country, in large part because of the influence of the National Rifle Association and its allies.

Advocates for domestic violence victims have long called for stricter laws governing firearms and protective orders. Their argument is rooted in a grim statistic: when women die at the hand of an intimate partner, that hand is more often than not holding a gun.

In these most volatile of human dramas, they contend, the right to bear arms must give ground to the need to protect a woman’s life.

For today, we don't even have the right to enjoy our homes, our private spaces, without fearing violence, rape, or worse. And when we dare to point that out, we are not merely dismissed, we are punished.

So many of us are still having to say, "That's life."

"If violence against women is ever going to stop we all have to express our rage to the members of the enforcement and judicial members of our society. We have to let them know that it’s not just the victims who find easy treatment of convicted abusers inexcusable, it’s all of us."

Shocker, ladies: your bodies–covered or not–are public property.