The DeCoatsworth story: a man’s descent or a system’s failure?
Richard DeCoatsworth, a 27-year-old Philadelphia ex-police officer once called a hero after surviving a bullet to the face during a routine traffic stop, was arrested this weekend on suspicion of drugging and raping two women he held captive at gunpoint. His bail is set at $60 million. According to the Philadelphia Daily News, a second current case against DeCoatsworth...
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Have You Seen Any “Stop Rape” Signs Around Town?
Photo by Tim “Shots Fired” Blackwell Some sick-of-it anti-rape radical went and got themselves a roll of stickers with the word “Rape” on it, and have been busy slapping them on the lower half of Stop signs in a rush of old-school guerilla media activism. How delightful! This one here was spotted down Souf at 7th and Reed. Have you seen...
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Temple Professor Discusses ‘Brain Development’ Appeal in Steubenville Rape Case
Since the “unconscious girls can’t say no” argument didn’t do the trick, Walter Madison, one of the attorneys for the two teenage boys convicted of rape on Sunday, is now trying to blame his client’s brain. To recap, 17-year-old Trent Mays and 16-year-old Ma’lik Richmond were both found “delinquent” (the equivalent of guilty in juvenile court)...
Continue ReadingThere Are Some Shocking Rape-Friendly Policies in Pennsylvania
By now you’ve heard about Missouri Republican Todd Akin claiming that it was “really rare” for a woman to become pregnant from rape, and following up that ridiculous assertion with an 18-word train wreck: “If it’s a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down.” We also know that Akin is far from the first...
Continue ReadingTom Smith’s Rape Gaffe Offers Insight into Conservative Domination
With each repeated Republican Party rape gaffe, the public is offered a little more insight into the way several party leaders and candidates think about women’s rights. Just yesterday, for example, the virtually unknown U.S. Senate candidate here in Pennsylvania, Tom Smith, compared rape to having a child out of wedlock. “I lived something similar to that...
Continue Reading‘Legitimate Rape’ Fantasies Nothing New for Conservatives
U.S. Rep. Todd Akin, the GOP Senate candidate and frontrunner in Missouri, set off a media and partisan firestorm yesterday after making claims in which he noted women who are raped have a natural defense against getting pregnant from said rape. In his explanation, he referred to something as “legitimate rape,” and used pseudo science to claim that, “the...
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Election 2012: Rick Santorum Tells Rape Victims to ‘Accept What God Has Given’
Just in case anyone wasn’t sure of former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum’s stance on cases of incest and rape as it pertains to his stance on abortion: Below is the transcript and video interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan, in which he spells it out. As Charles Johnson at Little Green Footballs puts it, Santorum has chosen the “inhuman belief” t should...
Continue ReadingPennsylvania Liquor Control Board Responds to Offensive Date-Rape Ad
By now, you’ve probably seen the controversial Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board ads. You know, the ones that feature photos of what appear to be a young girl’s legs splayed on a tiled bathroom floor with underwear around her ankles. The ads send the message that women are not only at fault for getting themselves raped—a societal bias reflected in and...
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Mayor Nutter Addresses Alleged Rape, Deteriorating Conditions at Occupy Philly
At an emergency press conference held in room 202 of City Hall early this afternoon, Mayor Nutter confirmed reports that police arrested a man suspected of raping a woman at Occupy Philly’s Dilworth Plaza encampment last night. 6ABC reported early this morning that “Police say the victim is a 23-year-old woman from Atlantic City, and the alleged rapist is...
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