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THE BELOW (updated 12 MAR 2022)
When one hurts or kills a women
one hurts or kills hummanity and is an antrocitie.
Gino d'Artali
and: My mother (1931-1997) always said to me <Mi
figlio, non esistono notizie <vecchie> perche puoi imparare qualcosa da
qualsiasi notizia.> Translated: <My son, there is no such thing as so
called 'old' news because you can learn something from any news.>
Gianna d'Artali
Read all about the Zan, zendagi, azadi!> (Women,
life, freedom) women revolution in Iran by clicking here
The Guardian
7 Feb 2023
By Hollie Anderson
<<Television
From stolen nudes to 'rape chat': the horrific drama tackling the sexual
assault epidemic in UK schools
Natalie has just joined an independent sixth form as a scholarship
student. She fancies her friend Alice's brother, Archie - a star pupil
destined for Oxbridge. Archie really likes her, too. But his friends use
a WhatsApp group to constantly pressure him into having sex (<We're
basically paying her fees; she can pay on her knees>) and share links to
porn. After a party one night, Archie sends the group a video to pro-ve
he has slept with Natalie. A few days later, however, he is confused
when an upset Natalie says she doesn't remember anything. <Why are you
being like this?> he asks. <Did you use a condom?> she cries. This is
the premise for Channel 4's blood-boiling new one-off drama, Consent,
which explores how insidious sexual assault has become in the UK
education system. It is inspired in part by testimonies on Everyone’s
Invited - an online platform where survivors of rape and sexual assault
can anonymously share their stories, which prompted an Ofsted review in
schools. It reported that 59% of girls and young women between 13 and 21
say they have experienced sexual harass-ment at school or college, but
victims <don't often see the point of challenging or reporting this
harmful behaviour because it's seen as a normal experience>. The website
lists all the institutions that have been named, with many independent
schools frequently mentioned.
The show's Bafta-winning executive producer, Aysha Rafaele, has a
teenage son, and pitched the drama after hearing about such incidents
anecdotally through friends with children at both public and private
schools. On deciding where to set the story, she and writer Emma
Dennis-Edwards (<We're both state school girls!>) chose a private
institution because, they say, rape culture is dealt with differently
there. <The state sector is much more rigorous around Ofsted; if what
happens in the film was reported in a state school it would get
esca-lated – maybe even taken to the police,> says Rafaele. <In the
private sector, because money, reputation and branding are involved,
it's much more likely that they’re not going to want to deal with it –
that’s what the testimonies we read suggest. I know someone who was an
English teacher in a private school who said that people knew about a
pupil's relationship with a teacher but no one did anything about it …
it's not in anyone's interest to deal with it. Money is the difference.>
<The students are the clients,> says Dennis-Edwards, explaining that she
chose for Natalie to be a black, working-class scholarship student
because it's more relatable to the viewer entering a world only few can
afford. <She's worked really hard, then this incident happens and no one
has her side, including the head of the school, so she's forced to
leave,> says Lashay Anderson, 21, who plays Natalie. This, she adds,
shows how institutions <appear to be opening and accepting until
something happens and it shows they clearly are not.> While this isn't
just a polemic on how much those who attend private schools get away
with, the foundations of entitlement they provide for boys to grow up
thinking their actions will not have consequences is at the core of the
story.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2023/feb/07/from-stolen-nudes-to-chat-the-horrific-drama-tackling-the-sexual-assault-epidemic-in-uk-schools
The Guardian
7 Feb 2023
By PA Media
<<Mother of UK woman missing with newborn baby issues open letter
The mother of a missing woman who vanished more than a month ago with
her newborn baby and her convicted sex offender boyfriend has issued an
open letter to her daughter. Virginie de Selliers pledged to stand by
Constance Marten, 35, and her grandchild, telling her: <You are not
alone in this situation. We will support you in whatever way we can.>
Marten and her partner, Mark Gordon, 48, have been travelling around the
UK by taxi since their car was found burning on the M61 in Bolton,
Greater Manchester, on 5 January. Police believe the couple are sleeping
rough in a blue tent and fear for the safety of the baby, who has not
had any medical attention since birth in early January. In the letter,
sent to the PA Media news agency by a representative for
the family, De Selliers writes: <Open Letter to My Darling Daughter
Constance. I know you well enough; you are focused, intelligent,
passionate and complex with so much to offer the world. So many of your
friends have come forward to say such positive things about you,
assuring us of their warmest love and support for you and your family.
You have made choices in your personal adult life which have proven to
be challenging, however I respect them, I know that you want to keep
your precious new-born child at all costs. With all that you have gone
through this baby cannot be removed from you but instead needs looking
after in a kind and warm environment. I want to help you and my
grandchild. You deserve the opportunity to build a new life, esta-blish
a stable family and enjoy the same freedoms that most of us have.
Constance, I will do what I can to stand alongside you and my
grandchild. You are not alone in this situation. We will support you in
whatever way we can. I am ready to do what it takes for you to recover
from this awful experience so you can thrive and enjoy motherhood.>
<I love you and miss you, Mum xx.>
It is the first time that Marten's mother has said anything publicly
about her daughter's disappearance. The missing couple have so far
avoided being traced by the police by moving around frequently and
keeping their faces covered in CCTV images. A £10,000 reward is on offer
for information that leads to them being found safe.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/feb/07/constance-marten-mother-of-uk-woman-missing-with-newborn-baby-issues-open-letter
The Guardian
7 Feb 2023
By Vikram Dodd and Emine Sinmaz
<<David Carrick jailed for life over series of rapes while Met police
officer. Carrick, 48, admitted 85 serious offences during 17-year
campaign of terror and attacks against women
David Carrick, who believed his position as a Metropolitan police
officer made him <untouchable> as he raped, assaulted and inflicted
<irretrievable destruction> on at least 12 women before intimidating
them into silence, has been jailed for life. The firearms officer,
en-trusted to guard parliament and diplomatic sites after the Met missed
clue after clue about the danger he posed, will spend at least 30 more
years in prison for his 17-year spree of crimes. Carrick, 48, stood in
the dock at Southwark crown court, watched in person and via a video
link by his victims, to be told by the judge that he was the latest
high-profile example of a <malign> abuse of power by a man against wo-men.
Carrick, who had pleaded guilty to 85 serious offences including 48
rapes, was finally brought to justice after a woman decided in October
2021 to report the attack on her, almost immediately after another Met
officer was jailed for murdering Sarah Everard. The judge, Mrs Justice
Cheema-Grubb, who ordered Carrick to appear in person for sentencing,
said: <You behaved as if you were untouchable. You were bold and at
times relentless, trusting that no victim would overcome her shame and
fear to report you. For nearly two decades you were proved right.> A
spokesman for the attorney general's office confirmed that it had
received multiple complaints about the leniency of the sentencing. He
added: <The case will of course be considered for referral to the court
of appeal.> Victim after victim had told the court they were too scared
to report him. The jud-ge said Carrick had taken <monstrous advantage>
of his position as a police officer, which gave him <exceptional powers
to coerce and con-trol> and that he had betrayed his oath to protect the
public and caused <irretrievable devastation>. Cheema-Grubb said of the
women Carrick had attacked: <These women are not weak or ineffectual.
They were victims of your criminal mindset. The malign influence of men
like you in positions of power stands in the way of a revolution of
women's dignity.> Media coverage of the single complaint in October 2021
that resulted in Carrick being arrested led others to come forward and
allowed a case so compelling to be built that he eventually pleaded
guilty. Police believe more victims are yet to be discovered and their
investigation into Carrick remains active. It is hoped the case signals
to women that the risk of the police, prosecution service and courts
failing them is outweighed by the justice it can bring. The judge added:
<It is remarkable that with one woman being driven to report an
allegation against you, despite your position and power, others felt
able to act. Even today, courage calls to courage everywhere and its
voice cannot be denied.> Carrick must serve a minimum term of 32 years
minus the time he has spent in custody before he can be considered for
release.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/feb/07/david-carrick-jailed-life-rapes-met-police-officer
Opinion by Gino d'Artali: Throw the key away!!!
France 24
6 Feb 2023
<<Female genital mutilation: Around 125.000 women and girls still
affected in France
This Monday February 6th marks the UN's International Day of Zero
Tolerance for Female Genital Mutilation. The practice - which consists
of removing a part of the clitoris - is illegal in France. But according
to one French NGO, as many as 125,000 women and girls in the country are
believed to be affected. Young girls are often mutilated while on
holiday abroad with their families. FRANCE 24's journalists Olivia Bizot
and Sonia Baritello met up with Assa, who told them about her physical
and psychological recovery.>>
Watch the video,02.28 min., here:
https://www.france24.com/en/video/20230206-female-genital-mutilation-around-125-000-women-and-girls-still-affected-in-france
and on the same page other topic links
Jinha
Womens news agency
3 Feb 2023
<<Turkey: 31 women killed by men in January
In Turkey, at least 31 women were killed by men, 25 more died un-der
suspicious circumstances in the first month of 2023, according to the
report released by the We Will Stop Femicide Platform. News Center- We
Will Stop Femicide Platform (KCDP) has released its January report on
femicide by compiling the news from local and national newspapers, news
websites and news agencies. At least 31 women were killed by men, 25
more died under suspicious circum-stances in January 2023, the report
said. 35 percent of women were killed by their husbands. 14 women were
killed by men on the excuse that they asked for a divorce, refused
marriage, or dating proposal, one was killed on the excuse of financial
reasons and one killed in the name of honor. According to the report, 20
women were killed at home, six on the streets, one in a field, one at
the school of her child, and two in the annexes of their houses.>>
Source:
https://jinhaagency1.com/en/actual/turkey-31-women-killed-by-men-in-january-32733?page=1
The Guardian
3 Feb 2023
By Alexandra Topping
<<'Treat rape victims like heroes': the survivor changing voyeurism laws
In the days and weeks after she woke up in a bed with a man she didn't
know, with no recollection of how she had got there, Emily Hunt lived a
nightmare she couldn’t wake up from. A police rape in-vestigation left
her feeling traumatised, a CPS decision not to charge the man she had
woken next to left her feeling powerless. Eight years on, she has helped
change the law on voyeurism and is a government adviser on rape, and in
a book out this week she has a message for other survivors: this is not
your fault. We Need To Talk comes as urgent questions about how the
justice system in England and Wales treats rape victims and rapists
after the conviction of the serial rapist David Carrick, and Hunt says
conversation has to get louder. <I want victims to know that they are
not alone,> says the research and data expert. <And I want them to know
it's not their fault. The rape was not their fault, and the system
failing is not their fault.> Hunt's journey has been extraordinary, and
punctuated by trauma. Police took her in a state of distress from the
hotel room after she woke up at 10.30pm that night in May 2015. The man
told Hunt nothing had happened, but told the police they had consensual
sex. He was sober, but CCTV footage showed Hunt was intoxicated and he
told police he thought she might be mentally ill or on drugs. He was
carrying drugs, which he said were LSD and Viagra, but which were not
tested. He was arrested, but the CPS decided there was insufficient
evidence to charge. <I was treated like somebody who was asking for too
much when I was asking for a bare minimum,> she says. <It never occurred
to me that I could be let down the way I was.> A year later she learned
that he had taken a video of her un-conscious and naked, and masturbated
next to her. When she asked the CPS why they hadn't prosecuted the man
for voyeurism, they said it was not illegal to film someone naked
without their consent. That could have been the end of it. Instead,
Hunt, who is originally from New York, set about trying to change the
law. In 2019, she crowdfunded and with the help of the Centre for
Women's Justice, was allowed to <intervene> in the judicial review of a
separate case. The CPS accepted that their decision in Hunt’s case had
been unlawful. He was charged with voyeurism, pleaded guilty and in
September 2020 was sentenced to a 30-month community order. Then, at the
beginning of 2021, she became an independent adviser to the government's
rape review - its response to a cataclysmic drop in rape prosecutions.
She was part of a successful push to introduce a round-the-clock sexual
abuse helpline and has been a champion of Operation Soteria Bluestone,
which has lifted the lid on failures and pushes an Al Capone,
suspect-focused approach to catching rapists. There is some evidence of
improvement - figures published on Thurs-day show that rape convictions
in the last quarter are up 41% from record lows in the same quarter in
2019. Hunt is now calling for a national conversation about the
prevalence of rape, a wider under-standing of the trauma it causes, and
a busting of the rape myths that keep suvivors silent and rapists
walking free.>>
Read more here:
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2023/feb/03/emily-hunt-rape-survivor-helps-change-law-voyeurism
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