Don’t Hit Women Or Whores: Whorephobic Domestic Violence and Its Discontents

Christy Mack at the Toronto Vanity Fan Expo earlier this year (Photo by Alan Teo, via flickr and the Creative Commons)

“Don’t hit women or whores” reads an oh-so-helpful comment under one of the many reports of the brutal assault and attempted rape of porn actress and dancer Christy Mack by her ex partner, War Machine (formerly known as John Koppenhaver), this past week. And that’s one of the nice ones. Most of the not-nice ones… Continue reading Don’t Hit Women Or Whores: Whorephobic Domestic Violence and Its Discontents

What’s Trafficking Got To Do With It: The Media and the Cleveland Kidnappings

Last week in Cleveland, Gina DeJesus, Michelle Knight, and Amanda Berry escaped from Ariel Castro’s “house of horrors”  where he imprisoned the women in a nightmare of rape and torture for almost a decade. Castro has been arraigned on four charges of kidnapping and three charges of rape. The courageous women escaped with the help… Continue reading What’s Trafficking Got To Do With It: The Media and the Cleveland Kidnappings

Quote of the Week

Contrary to the sensationalistic rhetoric of “modern day slavery” and “sex slavery,” the actual practice of sex trafficking–where one person exercises power and control over another person to exploit that person sexually for financial gain–usually looks more like domestic violence than chattel slavery (or what most people imagine chattel slavery are like). We should not… Continue reading Quote of the Week