ICYMI: Notable News
May 1 - 15
Male Violence Against Women
Women in Ethiopiaโs western Tigray region report rape and torture at the hands of militiamen invading their neighborhoods. Medics have removed nails, rocks and pieces of plastic from inside the bodies of rape victims. The United Nations said women and girls of Tigray are being subjected to sexual violence โwith a level of cruelty beyond comprehensionโ.
At least 160 women have been killed in Guatemala and over 20,000 complaints of violence against women were filed during the first four months of 2021. Women are calling for awareness and an end to femicide on social media with the hashtag #TengoMiedo, which translates to, โI am afraid.โ
Incidents of random attacks by men on women in Khartoum are on the rise as part of a social media campaign orchestrated to punish women that are deemed to be dressed immodestly. Reports include instances of being slapped in the face, whipped, or beaten in public by groups of men.
Marilyn Manson is accused of sexual abuse by ex-girlfriend Ashley Morgan Smithline, one of 15 women who have come forward with similar allegations. Smithline claims that in addition to physical and sexual abuse, Manson would lock her in a sound-proof room if she upset him.
In Sweden, six women have been killed by partners in the past five weeks, prompting debate about domestic violence in a country regarded as one of the safest for women. Last year, 16,461 assault cases were reported, a 15.4% rise from 2019.
A survey from UK-based group Victim Focus found that 99.7% of women surveyed had been repeatedly subjected to sexual harassment, abuse, and rape.
Police in China are investigating a case involving a young girl who was forcibly married at the age of 13 and gave birth to a baby the following year. The girl was sold by her father and aunt, and it was revealed to be her second marriage.
A UK investigation into a male gynecologist found at least 50 women may have been unduly harmed or sterilized due to medical malpractice, with another 69 cases as cause for "some concern".
Colombian women marched against sexual assault by the police. One underage girl raped by police was so traumatized she killed herself. She was seized and raped by four officers when returning from a protest in Popayan, activists say.
At least 85 people were killed in a bomb attack that targeted schoolgirls leaving class in Kabul. Violence against women in the public sphere has increased in recent months, raising fear for womenโs safety in Afghanistan after the impending American troop withdrawal.
The murder of a woman in Kuwait sparked outrage on social media with calls for implementing stronger protections for women against male violence. Farah Hamza Akbar had lodged two previous complaints for harassment against a man whose marriage proposals she rejected. The accused was released on bail when he abducted and killed her.
An investigation by ๏ปฟThe New Humanitarian found that 22 women in the Democratic Republic of Congo have accused aid workers of sexual abuse. These claims include rape and unwanted pregnancies, and took place during Congo's biggest Ebola outbreak.
Muslim women in Chinaโs Xinjiang region say the Chinese government is pushing invasive birth control procedures on them in an effort to subdue ethnic minority populations.
An Egyptian court dismissed the 2014 Fairmont gang rape case and ordered the release of the men accused. Authorities had previously detained witnesses, subjected them to forced anal exams and โvirginity tests,โ and publicly smeared their reputations.
A bill that would have banned child marriage in North Carolina, which has become a haven for sex trafficking, was weakened by a Republican politician and amended to allow adult men (18-19) to impregnate and marry teen girls (14-15) to avoid abortion.
Media
Women in Montreal launched a protest in response to a police investigation of a Telegram chat group with over 3,000 members sharing digital sexual abuse content, including pornographic images of women who had been drugged and of minors.
A survey of over 1,000 teenagers conducted by the City University of London found that the majority of respondents were accessing pornography through social media rather than via pornography websites.
New Zealand is considering an amendment to the Harmful Digital Communications Act to criminalize the publishing of nonconsensual sexual images and videos and establish the act as punishable by up to three years in prison.
A Canadian federal watchdog is investigating MindGeek, the parent company of PornHub, over allegations that the company profited from filmed sexual abuse, including child sexual abuse.
The Montreal property of a Pornhub executive valued at over $19 million was burned down in an apparent arson. The fire occurred three days after the property and its reported owner โ Feras Antoon, an executive with Mindgeek โ were featured in a report announcing the sale.
TikTok has removed more than 500,000 accounts of children under 13 in Italy following an intervention by the countryโs data protection watchdog in response to the death of a 10-year-old girl in Palermo. The girl died of asphyxiation after participating in a BDSM โblackout challengeโ.
Icelandic police have begun an investigation into whether Icelanders are using the content subscription service OnlyFans in ways that go against Icelandic laws that prohibit the production and distribution of pornography.
Gender Ideology
Trans-identifying Laurel Hubbard is set to become the first male to compete in a womenโs category at an Olympics event. Hubbard, a weightlifter, qualifies for the Tokyo Games due to a rule change, though New Zealandโs national womenโs weightlifting team has not yet announced its participants.
Swedenโs Karolinska Hospital issued a new policy statement ending the practice of prescribing drugs euphemistically called โpuberty blockersโ for children under 16. As a result, Sweden has become the first country to explicitly stop following the Dutch protocol and to deviate from guidances put forward by the World Professional Association for Transgender Health (WPATH).
An appeal is being heard in the case of Maya Forstater, who was fired from her position at the London office of the Centre for Global Development in 2019 for tweets stating that biological sex is immutable.
The American Humanist Association withdrew its Humanist of the Year award bestowed on Richard Dawkins 25 years ago in response to a tweet calling for discussion on sex self-identification, saying, โSome men choose to identify as women, and some women choose to identify as men. You will be vilified if you deny that they literally are what they identify as. Discuss.โ
A law student of Abertay University in Scotland who said women are born female and the difference in strength between men and women 'was a fact' is facing disciplinary action. Lisa Keogh was reported for 'transphobia' after raising concerns about trans-identified males in mixed martial arts.
The outside of the headquarters of โLa Comuneโ in Bologna, Italy, where lesbian association ArciLesbica is hosted, was vandalized with the word โArciStronzeโ (arch-bitches). Those responsible signed themselves โtrans anger.โ It is believed the defamation was a retaliation for the organizationโs opposition to the โZanโ bill that would introduce gender identity protections into law, thereby eroding sex-based rights. (Donate here to support journalism by WomenAreHuman.com)
Video Recommendations
Sasha White speaks with Valerie Pelletier, a gender critical woman who was fired from a Canadian women's organization for posting online about women's sex-based rights.
Maya Forstaterโs discussion about her case with The Mess Weโre In.
Sky News host Rita Panahi says itโs almost impossible to overstate how diabolically dumb Sarah Silvermanโs rant was scolding people for saying womenโs sport should be for women.
A Little Extraโฆ
Thank you for this comprehensive summary.