Category: Sexual Violence

Happy “Universal Motherhood Month” to Mothers around the World | Women’s Coalition

Mother’s Days celebrate individual mothers (notice where the apostrophe goes). Calls are made, cards are sent, presents are given—and that is great. Each and every mother should receive accolades for having nurtured their own children.

However, Motherhood itself used to be revered and celebrated, not just individual mothers. Communities would most often celebrate in May, when Spring was in bloom and it was halfway to the Summer Solstice. Ancient ceremonies and rituals exalted fertility in nature and in human mothers for their amazing role in continuing life. Goddesses represented the sanctity of Motherhood.

Those early societies, deeply in synch with nature, revered Mothers as a Class—females who conceive, gestate, give birth, nurse, and nurture; and, thereby, continue the human race. They were mostly matriarchal egalitarian societies, where women had power over their lives and their children’s, some of which still function today in remote places.

This is in contrast to patriarchal hierarchical societies that replaced them ten thousand years ago. The holistic, societal reverence for motherhood was lost. Actually it was stolen. Deliberately. As part of the disempowering of women in society.

It’s time we regained and reclaimed the reverence for Motherhood that was wrongly disappeared.

A first step in this direction is to proclaim May “Universal Motherhood Month”.

Yes, it’s time we bring back the reverence of old for Motherhood and re-instill maternal values back into society. A good way to start would be to designate May “Universal Motherhood Month”.

This will unite mothers from around the world to focus on and highlight important matters relating to mothers everywhere. Of course, one of the main problems facing mothers around the world is losing custody in family courts, which is The Women’s Coalition’s focus.

Source: (3) Happy “Universal Motherhood Month” to Mothers around the World

#FamilyCourtReform #ProtectChildrenNotAbusers #SafeNotSilenced

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Bound, gagged, degraded: The eroticised torture of women approved for a public audience – Collective Shout

A new public mural in Fitzroy, Melbourne depicts a woman in BDSM fetish gear gagged and bound with ropes.

The chilling image of eroticised violence against women as ‘art’ is on display for the general public – including survivors of rape and sexual assault, domestic abuse, and children.

Responding to objections, the artist defended the mural as “empowering” and told objectors to “chill”.

But there is nothing “empowering” or subversive about normalising or glamorising violence against women. While the artist may view female subordination and degradation as the means to empowerment, ALL women are harmed by the promotion of violence against us, dehumanisation, and the message that deep down we desire violence and abuse.

 

Source: Bound, gagged, degraded: The eroticised torture of women approved for a public audience – Collective Shout

Captured in Cyprus! Is this Underground Railroad Stop Now Defunct? | Women’s Coalition

A British mother, who escaped Family Court tyranny six years ago, has been captured in Northern Cyprus.

This is especially bad news, as the island of Cyprus has served as a welcome stop on the Underground Railroad for Mothers. Her arrest—and two others—may signal that it it is now a defunct depot.

Sarah was arrested April 7th and deported back to the UK last week. She is now languishing in a prison in Cheshire awaiting trial.

Cyprus has been such a popular destination for fleeing mothers that there is an attorney who specializes in these cases. Mine Atli helps mothers get amnesty, protective orders, and visas.

These women are being failed in their country. They need some kind of amnesty and there needs to be a path to safety for these women and their children.

It is unclear whether Sarah applied for amnesty or was just in hiding.

Law enforcement descended upon their place of refuge and arrested Sarah. They forcibly removed Tom from his mother’s arms. He was taken to the UK and placed into a care home. How traumatic that must be for him…

One reason Turkey has served as a safe haven for mothers is because it is not a signatory to the Hague Convention on the Civil Aspects of International Child Abduction. That means the father cannot file a “Hague case” there to get his child returned.

A larger problem, as seen in Sarah’s case, seems to be extradition agreements between countries. Turkey can extradite a criminal to the UK if the crime is punishable by more than a year in prison. The sentence for parental abduction in the UK is up to seven years. But Sarah is not a convicted criminal. There is simply a warrant out for her arrest on abduction charges yet to be prosecuted.

It is highly unusual for TRNC to arrest and extradite mothers. They have previously had a policy of not cooperating with international law enforcement agencies in favor of women and children. And they rarely even extradite real criminals. So what’s happened?

Someone who’s lived there for decades commented that there seemed to be something “underhanded” at play in Sarah’s case.

Many criminals have managed to avoid extradition, so it really seems something more underhanded is at work here.

It may have been simple bribery or connections or powers-that-be cooperating.

Whatever the reason in Sarah’s case, it seems extradition is trumping the Hague process. It is much easier for men to get an arrest warrant and enter it into international databases than going through a long court process. And the frosting on the cake is the mother will surely be locked up for an extended period of time.

So, unfortunately, the TRNC stop on the underground railroad for mothers may now be defunct. The fact that men know this is a common destination means they can hire P.I.’s to scour the island looking for their property.

That leaves countries without extradition treaties as a better bet unless the mother is sure she can remain invisible in another country. Unfortunately, most of the non-extraditing countries are weak on human and women’s rights, but they may be preferable to children being abused.

How sad is it that women have to flee and have so few options when all they want to do is protect their children.

The modern underground for mothers escaping Family Court has its roots in an American network begun by Faye Yager in the mid-80’s. She heard about Karen’s case, in which the molesting father was given sole custody, despite medical proof of the abuse.

Needless to say, this ticked off the Old Boys. Faye was tenaciously stalked and prosecuted for child abduction. Fortunately, the jury saw through the prosecution’s duplicity and acquitted her.

However, the Old Boys were not done with Faye. They recently produced a high-dollar pseudo-documentary series, which they called “Children of the Underground”. They insinuated Faye was crazy for believing the children and had influenced them to report the abuse. They peddled their narrative—that it was all just a “satanic panic”.

This film has also served to coopt the term “Children of the Underground”. Google searches now bring up the pseudo-doc instead of Faye’s brilliant work and her being portrayed as hero. (There’s a word for this kind of sabotage but can’t think of it.) So they not only discredited her, they disappeared her.

Keep Faye’s memory alive!

Source: Captured in Cyprus! Is this Underground Railroad Stop Now Defunct?

Locked up for life? Unpacking South Australia’s new child sex crime laws | The Conversation

In South Australia, Premier Peter Malinauskas brought in tougher child sex offender laws earlier this week.

Under these new laws, serious child sex offenders are to be permanently locked up or electronically monitored, if they reoffend.

Automatic indefinite detention is a significant change.

Previously, the South Australian attorney-general could apply to the Supreme Court to request an offender be indefinitely detained, if the offender was considered to remain a danger to children and could not be rehabilitated.

The courts would then decide if they would grant the request, basing their decision on medical and other expert evidence.

The changes in SA mean those found guilty of a second serious sexual offence against anyone younger than 17 now receive automatic indefinite detention.

To be considered for release under the new law, an offender needs to show they can control their sexual instincts – so the onus is on them to prove they are not at risk of reoffending.

To achieve this, two court-selected psychologists would have to provide reports demonstrating the offender was both willing and able to resist committing further sex offences.

And if they are ever released, they will be electronically monitored for the rest of their lives.

In addition, registered child sex offenders would be banned from working with anyone under 18.

The new law also strengthens “Carly’s Law”, which focuses on reducing the sexual grooming of children online by adult predators.

The age of legal consent is 16 across Australia, except SA and Tasmania, where it is 17.

In 2024, an Australian Institute of Criminology report highlighted many of the inconsistencies across the country, including terminology and definitions of sexual offences, despite efforts to achieve national regularity.

Each state and territory approaches the problem of child sexual abuse differently.

[T]he legislation has been fast-tracked in the wake of a number of cases where those previously convicted of a sexual offence against a child reoffended.

One such case is Dylan Lloyd, who is alleged to have assaulted a 12-year-old girl while she travelled alone on a train. Lloyd had previously been convicted of assaulting a 10-year-old girl in 2021, and since then more alleged victims have come forward to police.

Cases such as Lloyd’s are preventable, as in this case Lloyd should still be imprisoned. This is one step forward. But consistency across states is needed and the long-term consequences need considering more fully.

[T]here are numerous human rights and constitutional issues with permanent detention or lifelong monitoring, and the SA government may be walking into a legal minefield now they have removed the possibility of parole.

Source: Locked up for life? Unpacking South Australia’s new child sex crime laws

More women come forward with stories of abuse inside girls’ homes | SMH

Val Bourke was 12 years old the first time she came face to face with the man known by the girls at Glebe’s Bidura orphanage as “Dr Fingers”.

In 1964, a 16-year-old Patricia Farrar spent a weekend at the Metropolitan Girls’ Shelter, next door to the orphanage. Charged with being “exposed to moral danger” after police found her in the Royal George Hotel, she was lined up with a dozen other girls for what was supposed to be a medical exam.

“One of the other girls … said to me, ‘when he sticks his fingers up, pretend it hurts’,” Farrar recalls. “I’ve never forgotten it.”

In 1973, nine years after Farrar’s ordeal and 30 years after Bourke’s, Jenny Tuita blacked out during the same traumatic examination. She is pursuing legal action against the state government for the lifelong trauma incurred.

NSW is the only Australian state that has not held an inquiry into the treatment of children in state institutions, and the only state that does not compensate those who suffered psychological and physical abuse in its care.

Survivors say both are long overdue.

When Farrar read Tuita’s story in the Herald, it was the first time she had heard someone speak about the examinations since that weekend in Glebe. Her charge was dismissed when the magistrate deemed her to be from a “good family”.

“It was my first experience of a class system,” Farrar recalls. “There was one rule for one, and one rule for others … and having a vaginal examination was part of that process.

Source: 12ft

The SPIN Newsletter: new books and a special ebook offer

Fifteen years after its original release in Swedish—and twelve since Spinifex Press published the English edition—we’re pleased to announce a new, updated edition of Being and Being Bought: Prostitution, Surrogacy and the Split Self by Kajsa Ekis Ekman. This brilliant book remains relevant for new generations of readers grappling with the commodification of women’s bodies.

As Kajsa writes in the new preface: “I have now debated three generations of handmaidens. I look forward to debating many more. We, the feminists, will continue the struggle until we finally abolish the exploitation of women and girls.” (A sentiment that could well serve as the Spinifex credo—though our timeline stretches back even further!)

Source: The SPIN Newsletter: new books and a special ebook offer

Trans inmates should be given wigs, watchdog says | UK | MSN

Transgender criminals should be given taxpayer-funded wigs and underwear to help them on their “journey”, Scotland’s prisons watchdog has said.

HM Inspectorate of Prisons for Scotland (HMIPS) said a “central repository” should be provided where “difficult to source items” can be requested for trans inmates.

Tess White, their shadow equalities minister, questioned why public funds should be used to provide items such as wigs when Scotland’s jails were facing a staffing and overcrowding “crisis”.

It emerged last year that the serial rapist David Smith, who is housed in Barlinnie, is determined to have surgery to become female and wants to be called Attila Taylor.

The report also argued that the jail’s leadership should appoint equality and diversity “ambassadors from the prisoner population”. There were 16 trans criminals in Scotland’s jails at the end of January this year.

Source: Trans inmates should be given wigs, watchdog says

Petition to remove rape + incest game available on 12+ gaming platform Steam – Collective Shout

No Mercy is a newly released pornographic 3D game developed by Zerat Games and hosted on 12+ gaming platform Steam. In the game, players assume the persona of a man who rapes his female family members, including his mother and his aunt, as punishment for his mother’s infidelity.

Sign petition to have it removed globally.

Source: “F*ck your mom”: Rape + incest game available on 12+ gaming platform Steam – Collective Shout

Cults to be examined in Victorian parliamentary inquiry | Women’s Agenda

The Victorian government has announced a parliamentary inquiry into cults and “organised fringe groups” in the state, following revelations from several former members of a secretive Christian group in Geelong that exposed severe punishments and extreme teachings being administered.

Earlier this month, Christine Couzens, Geelong’s Labor MP and a member of the Legal and Social Issues Standing Committee successfully passed a referral to the state parliament’s lower house for an inquiry to examine how cults and organised fringe groups recruit and coercively control its members.

Survivors of the regional Victorian church as well as survivors of other cults, including Truth 2x2s, Children of God and Family International submitted their experiences of cults and high control groups to the Victorian State Attorney General and requested an inquiry.

The announcement comes four months after the Herald’s investigative journalist Richard Baker released the nine-part podcast Secrets We Keep: Pray Harder, which exposed the abuse, violence and sexism members of the the Geelong Revival Centre (GRC) experienced.

Survivors from extreme religious and high-demand groups are calling for criminal coercive control laws to be expanded to include “cult-like” leaders to ensure they are held accountable. Currently, Victoria relies on existing family violence laws to cover such control within domestic relationships.

Currently in Australia, there is no funded agency or program to support cult leavers. A peer support model is used by cult survivors to support other survivors.

Source: Cults to be examined in Victorian parliamentary inquiry