Year: 2018

Texas, United States (TexasTribune) – Molly Ferguson was 14 when she met Miguel Rodriguez Vasquez at a quinceañera in Mexico. Ferguson isn’t from Mexico — she’s lived in Presidio, a small Texas border town, all her life. And for Ferguson, that means she’s essentially lived her whole life in Ojinaga as well, the Mexican city right across the shimmery green-brown Rio Grande. That night, at the quinceañera in Ojinaga, Rodriguez asked her to dance, and this year, nearly a decade later on a warm July evening, they married. It might…

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Nepal (GV) – Following the gruesome rape and killing of 13-year-old Nirmala Panta in southwest Nepal in late July 2018, shocked Nepalese citizens have launched the #RageAgainstRape campaign, sparking nation-wide conversations about violence against women in Nepal. अन्याय र अत्याचारले सिमा नाघ्यो, हामी सडकमा आउन बाध्य भयौं । देशैभरी प्रदर्शन होस्, पोखरा चुप बसोस् । यो त मिल्ने कुरै भएन । आज पोखराले गर्जेर न्यायको पक्षमा बोल्यो । यो एक्यवद्धताले नयाँ आशा दिएको छ । जनता जागेको बेला मात्र हुन्छ बृहद भेला ।#JusticeForNirmala #RageAgainstRape pic.twitter.com/Z3LIe0fKNP — दोस्रो दर्जाकी Mira Dhakal (@dhakalmira) September…

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(Conversation) – Sometimes a hat is just a hat. But not when it’s a pith helmet worn by a white politician visiting Africa. Pith helmets are relics of colonialism and its big game hunting tradition. So why would Melania Trump wear one? On a solo tour of Africa, the United States first lady stopped in Ghana, Kenya, Malawi and Egypt. She went on safari. The pictures of her in a pith helmet and looking rather inscrutable went around the world. Although the first lady said: “I want to talk about…

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United States (Conversation) – Sexual assault, pushed into public conversation by the #MeToo movement, once again dominates the U.S. news cycle. Supreme Court nominee Brett Kavanaugh faces allegations that he sexually assaulted professor Christine Blasey Ford, a former high school classmate. The allegations have led to a number of important questions regarding victim testimony, the veracity of memory and the justice system in America. However, as social scientists who study sexuality and violence, we found ourselves asking a different question: Where were Kavanaugh and Ford’s classmates during this alleged incident?…

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World Wide (Conversation) – Many women took to the streets worldwide on September 28, the global day of action for safe abortion successes and put forth new demands for women’s right to access safe, free and legal abortion. Right to access safe abortion is under threat in many countries, from the United States to Poland, from Argentina to Ireland where women are still fighting for it. Religion, specifically Catholicism, has often been stated as the main obstacle to birth control and abortions. As such, many Catholic majority countries have strict abortion…

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World Wide (Conversation) – In a world whose attention is fixed on the victims of sexual assault and violence, the 2018 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded to Denis Mukwege of the Congo and Nadia Murad of Iraq “for their efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and armed conflict.” The two winners, said the Nobel committee in its award announcement, “have made a crucial contribution to focusing attention on, and combating, such war crimes. Denis Mukwege is the helper who has devoted his life…

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