Category: Sexual Equality

Swarthmore Students Protest and Want to Transform Fraternities

~ mcequality

Students at Swarthmore who arecurrently protesting their college’s two fraternities with a sit-in have an idea. The Washington Post reports that documents were leaked earlier this month from Swarthmore’s chapter of Phi Psi that detailed “graphic descriptions of members’ sexual encounters, including a reference to a ‘rape tunnel’” and a “rape attic” as well as “conversations about women, minority groups and sexual assault that often contained offensive language, such as homophobic and racial slurs.” In response to the leaked information, students demanded the college terminate its housing leases with the frats. When Swarthmore didn’t budge, a group of what eventually became 100 students organized a sit-in at Phi Psi in protest, shortly after which it was announced fraternities would be suspended.

via Swarthmore Students Protest and Want to Transform Fraternities

Gay HIV transmission with treatment is ‘zero risk’, study confirms – BBC News

~ mcequality

Further evidence that taking anti-HIV drugs stops gay men passing on the virus to sexual partners has been called a “powerful message” which should be more widely known.
A study of nearly 1,000 gay male couples in The Lancet found no cases of HIV transmission over eight years.
This was due to treatment reducing the virus to very low levels in the body.
“Undetectable equals untransmittable” should be basic HIV knowledge for everyone, experts said.
The European study followed 972 gay male couples – where one was living with HIV and taking antiretroviral therapy (ART) and the other was HIV negative – over eight years, from 2010-2017.

via Gay HIV transmission with treatment is ‘zero risk’, study confirms – BBC News

Stagecoach’s sponsorship of Turner prize ends over LGBT rights row | Art and design | The Guardian

~ mcequality

The Turner prize and its controversial 2019 sponsor, Stagecoach, have parted ways just one day after the partnership was announced.

There was anger and a degree of disbelief when it was revealed on Wednesday that a company founded and chaired by a wealthy campaigner against gay rights would be lead sponsor of the prize this year.

Stagecoach South East had been brought on board by this year’s host venue, Turner Contemporary in Margate, which saw the local bus company as a good match.

via Stagecoach’s sponsorship of Turner prize ends over LGBT rights row | Art and design | The Guardian

Joe Biden on The View: I Don&’t Think I Treated Anita Hill Badly

~ mcequality

If his Friday appearance on The View was any indication, Joe Biden is going to have a real hard time addressing his history with women when the issue inevitably comes up (and comes up and comes up) on the campaign trail. He was asked to talk about his treatment of Anita Hill and his tendency to invade women’s personal space and it was a mess.

After much prompting by the show’s co-hosts, Biden reluctantly apologized to the women who accused him of being overly touchy. “Here’s the deal, everybody has to be much more aware of the private space of men and women,” he said. “It’s not just women but it’s primarily women. I am much more cognizant of that.”

via Joe Biden on The View: I Don't Think I Treated Anita Hill Badly

Cyber-flashing: ‘I froze when penis picture dropped on to my phone’ – BBC News

~ mcequality

Looking at my phone on the journey to work, a picture of a naked man pops up on the screen, and a heatwave of embarrassment warms my body, as if I were the one naked and exposed.
My iPhone was asking me whether to accept or decline a nude picture from a stranger via AirDrop. He had used a filter, sharpened his slim body, blurred the background and was posing in front of a mirror with an erect penis. That’s a lot of effort to put into a picture intended for a stranger.
My response was immediate: decline. But I couldn’t reject the insecurity and fear it left me with.

via Cyber-flashing: ‘I froze when penis picture dropped on to my phone’ – BBC News

Judge Michael McShane to Block Anti-Abortion Title X Gag Rule

~ mcequality

Donald Trump’s mission to weaken the nation’s only federal family planning program has been temporarily thwarted: on Tuesday night, a federal judge said he plans to block the sweeping changes that would have barred providers from informing discussing abortion with patients, and would further enable the rise of anti-abortion Christian family planning centers.

Politico reports that Oregon’s U.S. District Judge Michael J. McShane plans to grant a preliminary injunction against the so-called “gag rule” in response to a lawsuit brought by 21 state attorneys general (including Washington D.C.). The rule changes, scheduled to go into effect May 3, would have barred funding from family planning organizations that perform abortions, or even refer patients to abortion providers. They also would have required clinics that offer abortions to create separate physical barriers, including maintaining separate medical records and staff.

via Judge Michael McShane to Block Anti-Abortion Title X Gag Rule

Indiana Bans Most Common Second-Trimester Abortion Procedure

~ mcequality

Indiana, the state that gifted America its current Mother Boy, now has two new anti-abortion laws on its books: Come July, the state will ban the very mundane and safe method of abortion that’s called dilation and evacuation, and will allow any nurses, pharmacist, or physician assistant to refuse to participate in offering abortion care.

Indiana Governor Eric Holcomb signed these anti-abortion bills—the House Enrolled Act 1211 and Senate Enrolled Act 201—into law on Wednesday, and both are set to take effect on July 1. The first bill prohibits dilation and evacuation abortion in all instances except when a “substantial and irreversible physical impairment of a major bodily function.”

According to the the Times of Northwest Indiana, “anti-abortion lawmakers claim the procedure is ‘barbaric’ because it requires a doctor to use forceps, tongs, scissors or similar instruments to remove a fetus from a woman’s uterus.” (What do these men think of vasectomies, I wonder?)

via Indiana Bans Most Common Second-Trimester Abortion Procedure

Chloë Grace Moretz: ‘No age limit’ for learning acceptance – BBC News

~ mcequality

US actress Chloë Grace Moretz knows a thing or two about LGBT education.
Growing up in the conservative Christian town of Rome, Georgia, two of her brothers felt they had to “pray the gay away” before coming out.
That led to her taking a role in last year’s Miseducation of Cameron Post, where she played a character who was sent to a gay conversion therapy centre.
Now, with stories about equality teaching hitting the headlines, Moretz tells the BBC that there should be “no age limit” for learning about these issues.
Speaking from Los Angeles ahead of the release of her new psychological thriller, Greta, the star says: “I think children know what you teach them.
“I had two gay brothers in my family, and our little cousins have known my brothers as gay from the time they were little bitty babies.

via Chloë Grace Moretz: ‘No age limit’ for learning acceptance – BBC News

How this date rape wristband can tell if your drink has been spiked – BBC News

~ mcequality

A wristband that lets wearers check if their drink has been spiked with a date rape drug has gone on sale on Germany.
And its creator, Kim Eisenmann says she wants to bring it to the UK as well.
She invented the Xantus Drinkcheck Band after someone she knew was drugged and assaulted.
Last summer 25-year-old Kim went to a festival with friends. The day after, she was told a girl, who was part of her social circle, was found naked and hurt in a city park.
Police said she’d been the victim of a date rape drug.

via How this date rape wristband can tell if your drink has been spiked – BBC News