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02 May, 2011

Rape is rape in all colors and shapes

The semester is almost over, and then, we will have all sorts of feminist issues to discuss. But in the meantime, two pieces in the news caught my attention recently and warranted a brief pause from writing, grading, and researching to mention here.

One is the Rape is Rape campaign. Turns out, people in government are trying to change the definition of rape to mean only forcible rape. They argue that it is too hard to prove whether someone really said "No", and thus, rape victims must prove that sexual activity was truly forced on them. Clearly, this definition is absurd for so many reasons, including the fact that even force is hard to prove sometimes, non-bruise-leaving acts are still violating and wrong, "No" always means "No", even if one is gently coercing sex, etc.

So please support the protection of all people (mostly women, but some men, too) against sexual violence. Let's all enjoy sex consensually and responsibly.

Secondly and unrelatedly, as I was reading various comments regarding the rape issue, I came across this one. Readers had gone on a tangent about why the Women's Issues banner on the Huffington Post website is pink.
GraniteSkyline
Commented 1 day ago in Impact
“I hate pink, but when I wear it my husband is nicer to me (he doesn't realize he treats me differently). When I have had a hard day at work I come home and slip into my pink sweats and not only is there no whining from him but he will cook dinner and serve it to me at my desk! The color has power!”
Interesting, isn't it? Hooray for this woman's self-awareness or it never would have entered my attention either. But it got me thinking that, huh it's true, there is something disarming about a pink bathrobe/sweats since we tend to associate pink with femininity and femininity with weakness and tenderness. It makes sense that this simple act portrays the attitude of "please take care of me", whereas maybe slipping into a black hoodie with skull and bones on it would get a response of, "get your own damn dinner". Who knows, but in any case, here is another reason why I hate anything girl-related being encoded entirely in pink.

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