Topic: Rape

Adult teacher rapes student; “lenient” 120 day jail sentence infuriates parent

August 11, 2008 |

In June, 2008, a Clarksville, Tennessee high school teacher received a 120 day jail sentence for rape of a student and two years probation. I cannot understand why such leniency was given by Clarksville Judge John H. Gasaway for rape of a minor to a repeat offender, Bryan Dale Farmer.

Since reading about this case, whenever I hear about any conviction I compare the jail time the person receives to this case. For example, a ‘blue collar criminal’ received three years in prison for embezzlement; to me, and I’d think to most people, that is a much lesser crime. Therefore, raping a minor should have had at least that long of an incarceration. I’m shocked that 120 days is even remotely considered a ‘valid’ sentence for a severe crime, especially rape. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, News, Opinion, Politics | 2 Comments

V-Day events set to climax in New Orleans

By Debbie Boen | March 10, 2008 |

VDay events for 2008 will culminate this year in New Orleans.  Eve Ensler calls New Orleans the Vagina of America and she has chosen the New Orleans Arena to host the V-day event of the decade. V to the Tenth will be in New Orleans on April 11 and 12th, 2008. In one of her Vagina Monologues Ensler says about the fertile New Orleans: We brag about her music, the way she moves, we beg to get inside her, but disown her later when she has needs… We (can) change her story and the story of women.

This New Orleans celebration of two performances of the award winning Vagina Monologues will feature Salma Hayek, Oprah Winfrey, Faith Hill, Jane Fonda, Jessica Alba, Jennifer Hudson, Glenn Close, Julia Stiles, Ali Larter, Sally Field, Marisa Tomei, Calpernia Addams, Rosario Dawson, Kerry Washington, and musicians Common, Eve, and Charmaine Neville. See details and get tickets at: http://v10.vday.org/

Ensler has a big picture for vaginas. V-Day is a vision to see a world where women live safely and freely. The monologues speak openly about vagina stories that were collected from women. Ending violence against women is the driving force behind the production. Women don’t talk about their own sexuality; they don’t talk about what pleases them, and when raped, they don’t talk about that either. Most of the time, they think it was their fault that they were attacked and they walk around with the hidden fear and shame of it. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Arts and Leisure, Issues | No Comments

APSU to host Ensler’s Vagina Monologues

By Debbie Boen | February 21, 2008 |

The Vagina Monologues will be presented at APSU Clement Auditorium on Feb. 26-27 at 7 p.m. Admission is $5.00.

One in three women are raped, mutilated and/or assaulted, says Eve Ensler, creator of The Vagina Monologues. If that’s the case, why don’t we hear about it all the time, everyday, every hour? Because women have a tendency to think that it’s their fault.

Dr. Jill Eichhorn, Coordinator of APSU’s Women’s Studies Program, teaches The Vagina Monologues class, a class whose students participate in The Vagina Monologues production. This is the 7th year The Vagina Monologues has been presented at Austin Peay State University. Eichhorn hopes to help women claim control over their lives, their bodies and their voices. She wants women to release the shame that comes from sexual abuse, including the abuse that women and girls experience daily when they see women objectified on the media.

Dr. Eichhorn (left) with Eve Ensler at Vanderbilt University

Women think that the horrible feeling they have after being assaulted somehow belongs to them. Being invaded or touched inappropriately invalidates them incredibly. It makes them feel as if their own body is disgusting, that their body has betrayed them; they hate it for that. They think that they have become the nasty, fear-based, controlling, invasive feeling that they are left with. It makes them feel so low down that they cannot speak up. «Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues, Opinion | No Comments

Stop Violence Against Women

By Bill Larson | June 3, 2007 |

One in three women worldwide will be beaten, raped, coerced into sex or otherwise abused in her lifetime. Every two and a half minutes, somewhere in America, someone is sexually assaulted. Every 15 seconds a woman is physically assaulted by an intimate partner.

Throughout the world, women face violence every day. From the battlefield to the bedroom, women are at risk from violence in all areas of life. Violence against women is an abuse that is not confined to any political or economic system. It is prevalent in every society in the world. It cuts across boundaries of wealth, race and culture. It affects the young and the old. Wherever we live, women are suffering violence.

Violence against women persists because society allows it to. Virtually every culture in the world contains forms of violence against women that are often invisible because they are seen as normal or acceptable.

«Read the rest of this article»

Sections: Issues | 1 Comment »