All posts tagged: sexual assault

South Asian groups work to break cultural, religious stigmas around domestic violence

South Asian groups work to break cultural, religious stigmas around domestic violence

(RNS) — In a survey of nearly 500 South Asian immigrants in the U.S., nearly half (48%) reported experiencing physical domestic violence in their lifetime, according to a 2021 study published in the Journal of Interpersonal Violence and cited by survivor advocacy organization South Asian SOAR. And physical violence is only one form of abuse South Asian immigrants, both men and women, report experiencing at home. Nearly four in 10 say they have experienced emotional abuse (38%), more than one-third report economic abuse (35%). Other commonly reported forms of domestic abuse include verbal (27%), immigration-related (26%), in-laws related (19%), and sex abuse (11%). Bringing attention to the pervasive issue of domestic abuse within the South Asian diaspora has been the focus of an increasing number of survivor advocacy organizations, with many of them founded and run by South Asians, who argue the cultural context is important for understanding, addressing and preventing domestic abuse. Ultimately, they believe ending intimate partner violence in the South Asian diaspora must happen from within. “When I hear about other women’s …

Why faith-based groups are prone to sexual abuse and how they can get ahead of it

Why faith-based groups are prone to sexual abuse and how they can get ahead of it

(RNS) — Hollywood, the USA Gymnastics team, Penn State, the Boy Scouts: Sexual abuse has proved pervasive across institutions. And when it comes to faith groups, no creed, structure, value system or size has seemed immune. “We’ve got to stop saying that could never happen in my church, or my pastor would never do that,” said David Pooler, a professor of social work at Baylor University who researches clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse of adults. With more victims coming forward and more research done on abuse within religious contexts, the evidence has shown that when sexual abuse happens in a place designated not only safe, but holy, it’s a unique form of betrayal — and when the perpetrator is a clergy member or spiritual leader, the abuse can be seen as God-endorsed. As the scope of this crisis has been revealed, houses of worship and religious institutions — from Southern Baptists to Orthodox Jews to American atheists — have looked to shore up their safeguarding protocols and protect their constituents against abuse. But rather than scrambling to …

Commentary: Netflix’s Baby Reindeer brings a fresh perspective to male sexual victimisation

Commentary: Netflix’s Baby Reindeer brings a fresh perspective to male sexual victimisation

Baby Reindeer bucks this trend as it’s become one of the most watched shows on Netflix. The show is harrowing and powerful as it delves into the psychological effects of stalking and sexual victimisation on Donny. Donny’s interactions with a female stalker, Martha, lead to a troubling spiral into vulnerability and mistrust. The show provides a realistic depiction of the distress associated with stalking. Donny’s journey offers an insight into consent, victimisation and the societal pressures placed on men to conform to traditional norms of masculinity, which often dictate their responses to abuse. For instance, as the stalking begins, we see Donny going along with often sexual jokes about his relationship with Martha, who is turning up at the pub he works at on a daily basis to talk to him. Despite becoming increasingly nervous about her and the increasingly sexual tone of her incessant emails, he feels pressure to “be one of the lads” in front of his colleagues. It also highlights how, as shown by Gadd’s own experience and the recent conviction of …

Jury Finds Wisconsin Man Guilty in Killing, Sexual Assault of 20-Month-Old Girl

Jury Finds Wisconsin Man Guilty in Killing, Sexual Assault of 20-Month-Old Girl

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Wisconsin man has been convicted in the sexual assault and killing of a 20-month-old girl and abusing the child’s mother who then was his girlfriend. A jury on Friday found Marshawn Giles guilty of 15 charges including first-degree intentional homicide, first-degree child sexual assault resulting in great bodily harm and second-degree sexual assault. Giles had faced 18 criminal counts, but three were dropped. Authorities have said the toddler died in 2022 in Madison from blunt force injuries to her head, leaving her with multiple skull fractures. An autopsy also noted blunt force injuries elsewhere that were consistent with sexual assault. The second phase of Giles’ trial is expected to start next week. Defense attorneys will attempt to show he suffered from a mental disease or defect and was not criminally responsible for his actions at the time of the child’s death, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Copyright 2024 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed. Photos You Should See – April …

The forgotten ‘comfort women’ of the Philippines – and their struggle for justice

The forgotten ‘comfort women’ of the Philippines – and their struggle for justice

In the Philippines, only 40 victims of Japan’s sexual enslavement are still alive today. One of them is 94-year-old Maxima Mangulabnan, another villager from Mapaniqui who, in the wake of the 1944 attack, was raped by Japanese soldiers and later taken to the Red House. Mangulabnan no longer lives in Mapaniqui, having moved to another province, but she has passed some of the stories of the war onto her daughter Estelita. “The people of Mapaniqui were running. The bombs were coming and they were dying. They were hiding in different places but they couldn’t go far,” said Estelita. “Both my mother and grandmother were raped.” For so long, such experiences remained hidden within families, a secret shame, only shared from one generation to the next. But in the early 1990s, the women of Mapaniqui travelled to Manila, the capital of the Philippines, to lobby for government support for their plight. “It fell on deaf ears,” Quilantang said.  It was the beginning of a long struggle for justice. The road to reparations In 1995, the divisive …

Harvey Weinstein’s Rape Conviction Overturned by New York Appeals Court—What’s Next?

Harvey Weinstein’s Rape Conviction Overturned by New York Appeals Court—What’s Next?

The first rape conviction against Harvey Weinstein, the disgraced Hollywood mogul whose sex crimes helped spark the #MeToo movement, has been overturned. More than four years after the 72-year-old was found guilty on two counts, acquitted of three other charges, and sentenced to 23 years behind bars, New York’s highest court ruled on Thursday that Weinstein was subject to “egregious errors” during trial. According to the court, these oversights included allowing testimony from four women with allegations against Weinstein that were not part of the case at hand, as well as the trial judge’s decision to let prosecutors question the producer about uncharged accusations if he decided to testify. According to Weinstein’s legal team, as reported by The New York Times, that determination kept the defendant from testifying and “destroyed even the semblance of a fair trial.” Weinstein has maintained his innocence in all charges against him. “We conclude that the trial court erroneously admitted testimony of uncharged, alleged prior sexual acts against persons other than the complainants of the underlying crimes,” the court’s 4-3 …

Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 Rape Conviction Overturned by NY Appeals Court

Harvey Weinstein’s 2020 Rape Conviction Overturned by NY Appeals Court

NEW YORK (AP) — New York’s highest court on Thursday overturned Harvey Weinstein ’s 2020 rape conviction, reversing a landmark ruling of the #MeToo era. The court found the trial judge had improperly allowed testimony against the ex-movie mogul based on allegations that weren’t part of the case. Weinstein, 72, will remain in prison because he was convicted in Los Angeles in 2022 of another rape. But the New York ruling reopens a painful chapter in America’s reckoning with sexual misconduct by powerful figures — an era that began in 2017 with a flood of allegations against Weinstein. While Thursday’s ruling was a blow to #MeToo advocates, they noted it was based on legal technicalities and not an exoneration of Weinstein’s behavior, saying the original trial irrevocably moved the cultural needle on attitudes about sexual assault. The Manhattan district attorney’s office said it intends to retry Weinstein, and his accusers could again be forced to retell their stories on the witness stand. The state Court of Appeals overturned Weinstein’s 23-year sentence in a 4-3 decision, …

Man Gets 4 Death Sentences for Kidnapping, Rape and Murder of 5-Year-Old Georgia Girl

Man Gets 4 Death Sentences for Kidnapping, Rape and Murder of 5-Year-Old Georgia Girl

PHENIX CITY, Ala. (AP) — A man who kidnapped, raped and killed a 5-year-old Georgia girl has been given four death sentences for the crime. Russell County Circuit Court Judge David Johnson handed down the sentence Monday against Jeremy Williams who murdered, raped and brutalized Kamarie Holland in 2021, news outlets reported. Holland’s mother told police that when she woke up at 5:50 a.m. on Dec. 13, 2021, her daughter was gone and the front door of their Columbus, Georgia, home was open, Russell County Sheriff Heath Taylor told reporters. The girl’s body was found late that night at an abandoned home in nearby Phenix City, Alabama where Williams once lived. A jury found him guilty Friday of four counts of capital murder, among other charges. Living in Columbus at the time of the murder, Williams raped and strangled Holland after offering her mother $2,500 for Holland to perform oral sex on him, according to testimony given in his trial. Video evidence shown to jurors captured officers finding Holland’s body and of him sexually assaulting …

Israeli hostage, 40, afraid she’d be ‘raped and paraded around Gaza’ by Hamas | World | News

Israeli hostage, 40, afraid she’d be ‘raped and paraded around Gaza’ by Hamas | World | News

An Israeli woman who was abducted by Hamas says she was more afraid of being “paraded” around Gaza than dying. Amit Soussana, 40, was kidnapped from the Kibbutz Kfar Aza in Israel on October 7. She says she was forced to perform “a sexual act” on a Hamas guard while he pointed a gun at her head. In a new documentary, she reveals her biggest fears as she was held captive by the terrorist group. “I was really scared that they were going to rape me there, and that they were going to drag me through Gaza streets and parade my body around. I feared that more than being killed,” she said. READ MORE: Hamas fighters ‘gang-raped woman before shooting her dead’ during Israel attack Sousanna, an attorney, has previously spoken out about the horrific ordeal, which happened as she was held in a child’s bedroom. “I was chained for three weeks in Gaza. I was kept in a really dark room without being able to move,” she said in the documentary Screams Before Silence. …

From Doctor Botox to Facebook’s top lobbyist, meet the folks who left politics to cash in – POLITICO

From Doctor Botox to Facebook’s top lobbyist, meet the folks who left politics to cash in – POLITICO

Doctor Botox Olivier Véran, a former French government spokesperson and ex-minister of health, recently announced his next career venture at the Clinique des Champs-Élysées in Paris. For Véran, who was a neurologist before turning to politics, going back to medicine is not all that surprising. What was shocking — and caused some uproar in the medical community — was his decision to join a high-end clinic specializing in cosmetic medicine and surgery. Véran was quick to defend his choice, saying he won’t perform cosmetic surgery procedures, focusing instead on aesthetic medicine. “I won’t touch penises or buttocks, and I’ll be very far from breast implants,” he promised. That didn’t stop Le Point from christening him “Doctor Botox.” Facebook flack Former U.K. Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has found a niche — and the big bucks — in Silicon Valley. As president of global affairs at Meta, he handles the company’s relationships with governments, a thankless task in an era when Facebook has become synonymous with political disinformation. In 2021, the Guardian dubbed him the “fall …