How many people were killed by domestic violence this past year in Oregon? At least 40. But the only domestic violence incident that’s gotten national attention recently is this week’s case of a SE Portland man choking his girlfriend with his dreadlocks. Many people have jumped on the temptation to spin this into an easy […]
Sexual Politics
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Sexual Politics
Dreaded Violence
Congress fails to pass the Violence Against Women Act.
Posted inSexual Politics
CA Court: It’s Not Rape If You’re Not Married
From California comes a terrible case of a rape conviction overturned because of an outdated law: According to the appeals court’s interpretation of state law, tricking someone into having sex with you by pretending to be someone else is only illegal if the rapist is pretending to be your husband. Here’s the case: A woman […]
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In its Last Act of Failure, Congress Did Not Reauthorize Violence Against Women Act
The 112th Congress was officially replaced today, and good riddance. The legacy of this past Congress will be its staggering inability to get anything done. Prime case in point: The House let the Violence Against Women Act die. This should be a no-brainer bill. No legislator campaigns on a pro-rape-and-domestic violence platform. And yet! Conservatives […]
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Sexual Politics
What Good Is Marriage?
Marriage is becoming obsolete for young people—except the gay ones.
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The Wage Gap, in Easy Infographic Form
Oregon is currently trying to figure out how to close the wage gap—women in Portland make 15 percent less than men, and that’s a problem. Education website Learn Stuff made a great infographic about the wage gap that persists across the country. Check out the whole thing.
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Things I Learned from a 1946 “Sex Hygiene” Manual
Last night, I was perusing the shelf of Powell’s “weird books” shelf (Orange Room, near the book buyers, absolute goldmine) and came across this gem from 1946: While the cover promises a digest on “the science of keeping clean, health, and happy!” the 92-page pamphlet is really about the secrets of sex and marriage. It’s […]
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This Patreaus Scandal is Crazy, But Let’s Steer Clear of Slut Shaming
We can all agree that the director of the CIA having an affair is not a great idea, since it could leave our security chief open to blackmail and security breaches. But you know what we can’t agree on? That the whole thing is the fault of the woman involved—Patricia Broadwell. To quote Jordan Baker, […]
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Can the Republican Party Become Less Bigoted?
I spent election night this year among the Republicans, stationed out at a bland Embassy Suites for the Oregon Republican’s party, snacking on NOBAMA 100 Grand candy bars. The people in charge of the election party had started out the night streaming CBS, then switched over to FOX (which prompted cheering), then when even the […]
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These Vintage Anti-Suffrage Postcards are the Best
This week is the 100th anniversary of women voting in Oregon. It’s hard to imagine what sort of anti-women-voting campaign suffragists were up against, but this collection of anti-suffrage postcards on Sociological Images now seem hilarious. A couple more postcards below the cut. There is also a large collection of Oregon suffrage ephemera online here, […]
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Why the Oregon “Women’s Voters Guide” is Totally Bunk
Among the pile of political junk mail on your front porch might be the rather suspect Women’s Voters Guide (pdf), a glossy pamphlet from conservative PAC the Oregon Transformation Project. I didn’t get the mailer, but a couple people have sent it along to me, because it’s bullshit. Right off the bat, the mailer says, […]
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Sexual Politics
The Pigheaded Perversion Files
The Boy Scouts’ secret files show how they still haven’t moved forward on homosexuality.