What is clear to me is that the police want to do the right thing regarding cyber crime, but are in no way able to follow through adequately. What’s also clear is that protection mechanisms on social media platforms are woefully unfit for purpose. There is no means of providing context that would allow the platform to understand the contours of a particular situation. All I have available to me is a standardised reporting form, which only allows me to choose from a range of options. There is no mechanism that allows you to report a sustained campaign of sophisticated harassment to Instagram. Because of this, it makes the police’s job even more difficult as the onus is on them to establish a pattern. This is a reporting system so full of holes, it’s practically a net.
Source: Vonny LeClerc: Protections for women online are woefully inadequate | The National
Category: Sexual Harassment
Queensland Government complains to Press Council over Palaszczuk ‘crosshairs’ image
An image of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk in crosshairs on the Sunshine Coast Daily front page prompts a complaint to the Australian Press Council.
Bullying, sexual harassment ‘significantly higher’ in Aus legal circles
New findings show that bullying and sexual harassment is “rife” in the Australian legal profession, with our rates “significantly higher than global averages”.
Source: Bullying, sexual harassment ‘significantly higher’ in Aus legal circles – Lawyers Weekly
In #MeToo, we need to call out gay men’s misogyny as well
It isn’t only straight men who engage in sexual harassment and assault, and it’s time for them to be accountable.
That gay men sexually harass or assault women like this demonstrates the result of the objectification of women in our society.
Anyone who has seen a drag performance can’t fail to see that it is, like blackface, a “womanface” parody of the femininity most women feel they have no option but to perform.
Gay public figures too often contribute to cultural misogyny in similar ways straight men have, historically. On April 10th, Dr Christian, the gay “celebrity doctor” who hosts Embarrassing Bodies, a British reality TV show, tweeted that “mothers knowing about motherhood” was “a frightening and dangerously deluded assumption.” This message is what underlies the endemic misogyny women face at the hands of the medical industry, where our understanding and experiences are routinely undermined, as women are not viewed as “experts” on our own bodies and reproductive function.
Unquestionably, gay men still suffer discrimination. To be effeminate or attracted to other boys at school is to be ridiculed and ostracized. But, for the most part, it is not women who humiliate and shame men because they are threatened by homosexuality — it is other men and boys. Yet still, too many gay men kick back against women rather than at the straight men. Women remain an easier target — one that will gain gay men power, rather than further marginalize them.
Source: In #MeToo, we need to call out gay men’s misogyny as well
More female teachers report upskirting, says union
The NASUWT union also says it was aware of cases of upskirting – where pictures are taken without permission under a skirt – involving pupils aged 14, with “some as young as 11”.
The union says head teachers should consider banning mobile phones in school and filling in open stairwells to protect both staff and pupils.
Source: More female teachers report upskirting, says union – BBC News
Study finds female athletes cop brunt of online abuse
It has long been suspected that female athletes are subjected to more vitriol on social media than their male counterparts – now a new study has confirmed It has long been suspected that female athletes are subjected to more vitriol on social media than their male counterparts – now a new study has confirmed it.
Source: Study finds female athletes cop brunt of online abuse | The New Daily
Nusrat Rafi burned to death for reporting sexual abuse
A schoolgirl was burned to death in Bangladesh on the orders of her headteacher after she reported him for sexually harassing her, police said on Friday.
The death of 19-year-old Nusrat Jahan Rafi last week sparked protests across the south Asian nation, with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina promising to prosecute all those involved.
Rafi was lured to the rooftop of the religious school she attended where her attackers asked her to withdraw the sexual harassment complaint she had filed with police.
When she refused, she was doused in kerosene and set on fire. On April 10, she died from the burns, which covered 80 percent of her body.
Source: Nusrat Rafi burned to death for reporting sexual abuse: Police | News | Al Jazeera
Cheating men’s face shapes can give it away, study suggests
Experts find men with more ‘masculine’ faces more likely to seem, and be, unfaithful
Source: Cheating men’s face shapes can give it away, study suggests | Science | The Guardian
Man angry about virginity pleads guilty to threatening women
A man has pleaded guilty to a felony terroristic threat charge after authorities said he threating to target women in a mass shooting because he couldn’t get a girlfriend.
Police said Cleary wrote on Facebook he was planning to become a mass shooter because he was still a virgin and wanted to kill as many women as possible.
He was arrested during a trip to Provo, Utah, on January 19, the same day women’s marches were held around the country. Colorado authorities have said he was on probation after stalking and threatening women there.
Source: Man angry about virginity pleads guilty to threatening women
Upskirting now a crime after woman’s campaign
Gina Martin campaigned after a man photographed her at a festival, changing the law in England and Wales.
Source: Upskirting now a crime after woman’s campaign – BBC News