Author: Briana Proctor

I’m digging this Game of Thrones-themed study playlist – it’s all music from the show! Like the Game of Thrones, finals week often feels like a “win or die” situation.

This week’s Game of Thrones was deeply disturbing – the executive producers decided to take a consensual sex scene in the books and make it a rape scene on the show. Like, they took what was already a pretty deeply messed up situation (a brother and sister having sex in a church which holds the body of their dead son) and made it even more disturbing. I’m mad, the internet is mad, what they did to these characters and to the show is not okay.

Watch this awesome video “The Minority Experience at UNC” which includes student testimony on the challenges that minority students face at UNC.

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All my feminist friends have been making these fun little dolls lately and it is so strangely relaxing and wonderful. Seriously, revert back to your twelve-year-old self and play dress up for fifteen minutes.

The New York Times recently published an exposé of Florida State University’s failure to pursue justice for a survivor of rape. It’s a long read but well worth your time. It focuses on how colleges tend to protect their star athletes (the alleged rapist, Jameis Winson, is FSU’s star football player) rather than care for survivors. According to the article, the lead detective for the rape case didn’t write a report on the crime until two months after the crime was reported. According to the New York Times there was “virtually no investigation at all, either by the police or the university.”

I have a deep love for Sansa Stark, the long suffering eldest Stark daughter. This is partly because so many seem to hate her, calling her “whiny” or “boring.” Sophie Turner, the actress who plays Sansa recently gave an interview (it’s filled with spoilers, so watch out!) and responds to the hate many have for her character:

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Have you read the newest issue of Siren yet? Grab a copy on newstands around UNC’s campus or read a digital copy here!

We at the OCRCC have your weekend planned out for you!

• If you love Beyoncé and feminist activism you absolutely cannot miss Project Dinah’s I’m A Survivor benefit concert. All proceeds benefit the Center.
• This weekend is the UNITY conference! UNC students get in for free, and there’s a drag show at the Chapel Hill Underground tonight at 10:00.
• Then on Saturday attend the Latino Greek Cookout which is benefiting the Latino Scholar’s Initiative.

 

UNC’s own Bob Pleasants recently published a piece on Huffington Post on how to approach interpersonal violence on college campuses.

We conclude that the answer is not one of either/or, it’s one of both/and. We can’t end the -isms in a world that tolerates sexual assault, but we’ll never end sexual assault — a physical and psychological assertion of power — in a world filled with imbalances based on gender, sexuality and other systems of power. It’s not a complicated point: we can’t end rape until we change the culture that enables and supports rape. And we can’t change this culture without a community-based approach.

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The Mindy Project just came back on the air and with it we’ve got the wonderful Mindy Kaling hitting the media circuit. She gets real about body image and the media in this interview, telling Jimmy Kimmel that it’s not “courageous” of her to wear a crop top.

An anonymous Harvard student recently published a heart wrenching Op-Ed about her experience of sexual assault at the university.

There had to be other options for me out there, I thought. I got the school to issue a no-contact order against my assailant. I convinced myself that if I pushed hard enough, if I made enough noise, someone somewhere would hear me, stand up, do something. But no one really did. Confidentiality rules prevent me from revealing most of what was—or was not—done to respond to my report. Ironically, if I were to reveal this information, I could risk getting disciplined. What I can say, however, is that in my opinion, the school’s limited response amounted to the equivalent of a slap on the hand for my assailant. After unsuccessfully suggesting a number of interventions that could have helped me better live with my situation, I eventually got the persistent impression that my House staff believed I was fussing over nothing.

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After Time magazine published a post describing feminists as “hysterical” in their focus on rape culture, the wonderful Zerlina Maxwell (pst, check out my interview with her from last year) took to Twitter and started #RapeCultureisWhen, a great hashtag that delves into the painful realities of rape culture. She recently published an excellent response to the original Time calling out Caroline Kitchens and RAINN for their harmful statements.

How amazing are teenage girls? So incredibly amazing. If you need more proof, just look at the middle school girls in Evanston, Illinois who are picketing for their right to wear leggings to school. Let’s give these girls a high five for fighting patriarchy at such a young age.

The awesome UNITY conference (the Southeast’s biggest LGBTQI conference) is now accepting workshop proposals and registrations!

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U.S. Border Patrol officer Esteban Manzanares was recently found dead after kidnapping, raping, and stabbing several women who were attempting to cross into the United States. While the full story may seem exceptionally shocking to many, those working in the anti-violence field know that the targeted abuse of immigrant women in the US has become a far-too common occurrence. PBS FRONTLINE has a great documentary about sexual violence committed against immigrant farmworkers, Rape in the Fields (Violación de un Sueño).

I have very mixed feelings about Chelsea Handler but wow, bless her for dressing down Piers Morgan on live television. She actually told him, “You’re a terrible interviewer.” It is so satisfying to see him nervously laughing because even he knows it’s true. (I mentioned Piers Morgan last month when this went down.)

Internet celebrity Tom Milsom is now facing rape allegations from a former girlfriend. He’s only the latest in a recent string of internet famous guys who have exploited their fame to get sexual attention and favors from their very young fans. The upside of this is that it’s bringing about an important discussion about fandom, abuse, and the relationships between stars and fans.

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Yesterday the Senate blocked the Military Justice Improvement Act (MJIA) bill. The current system requires that a rape or assault be reported to superiors within the chain of command. The bill would instead have reports be made to an independent military prosecutor. As Feministing pointed out, “The military is creating a system in which rape survivors must report their rapes to people who are friends with the rapists, or the rapists themselves. This obviously inhibits reporting.” No doubt Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, the bill’s champion, will continue fighting for change regarding military sexual assault. Find out how your senator voted here, and let them know you’d like their support on this issue in the future.

In all of our post Oscar excitement it’s easy to forget that idolizing someone and understanding them are two very different things. This Buzzfeed article explains:

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