What Makes People Tick?

Me Too? Yes. Me Too. #MeToo It's something I don't talk about all that much unless there's a reason to. Partly because it can make me feel weak to admit it. Partly because I'd much rather forget. Partly because society tells us not to make a big deal out of nothing. Partly because I just want to keep going instead of crying or feeling sorry for myself. Partly because being harassed is something so terribly common that we've just accepted it as something to grin and bear, like crying babies on the bus or people loudly yelling into their phones on the metro or intimidating groups of teens on the train. But yes. Me too. Yes I've been harassed. Yes, I've been hassled. Yes, I've had strangers grab different parts of my body while walking down the street. Yes, I've been insulted and assaulted. Yes I've been objectified. Yes I've been told I'm a stuck up bitch because I wanted to enjoy the live music at a pub instead of being chatted up b...

Earlier this month, a Turkish young woman was brutally murdered after resisting assault and rape by a stranger. A 20-year old university student on her way home to her family, Özgecan Aslan was aware of the dangers all women face in a world in which men live - she carried pepper spray and she knew to fight back to defend herself - yet also determined to get an education and live her life without fear of other human beings. The burned body of Aslan, who had been missing for two days, was discovered on Feb. 13 in a riverbed in Tarsus in the southern province of Mersin. Ahmet Suphi Altındöken, the 26-year-old bus driver, confessed in a testimony to the prosecutor that he stabbed Aslan to death before cutting off her hands and burning her body. The court arrested Altındöken, while his 50-year-old father, Necmettin Altındöken, and 20-year-old friend, Fatih Gökçe, have also been arrested on charges of being accomplices to the murder.    Turkish women changing names to escape v...

The more things change... The more I hope they change even more! Saudi Arabia grants women right to drive – but with some bizarre conditions http://t.co/jprfDwIZPM pic.twitter.com/M7LED1uJrd — RT (@RT_com) November 8, 2014 I'm one of those people who doesn't drive. Not because I can't or believe I shouldn't, but because I don't want to. I walk, I bike, I take public transport and feel good about doing so, about using environmentally friendlier modes of transport than using a car to get just me from A to B. Driving is not usually necessary where I live as public transport runs on a regular schedule and can get me most places. Sometimes though, especially after being harassed on the bus or tssssk-ed at while waiting for the train or ogled while on the tram or followed home from the metro,  I wish I did drive. I do not ask to be harassed. I do nothing to suggest I might want strangers to approach me. I wear a ring around a significant finger to show that ...

"Surveys suggest that as few as    one in 10 cases [of rape] are ever    reported to the police in many countries" Top 5 Countries with the Highest Rates of Rape  The International Business Times (UK), January 2014 The Times of India reports in a July 2014 article that "If one goes by the latest statistics of National Crime Records Bureau (NCRB), every day 93 women are being raped in the country." The article explains that the total number of reported rape cases in India has gone up. In 2012, a total of 24,923 rapes were reported while in 2013 the total number came to 33,707. This means that more women are coming forward and filing reports; more women are speaking up about what is being done to them. I can only hope the trend continues, and 2014 will see even more reports.  Wikipedia's article Rape in India puts the above numbers into perspective. Looking at the same data, the article explains that "24,923 rape cases were reported a...

ISIS, Hamas, Al-Qaeda, the Taliban, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad, the Muslim Brotherhood, Boko Haram, the al-Nusra front... No doubt there are groups just as bloodthirsty that are not on this list because I can't think of them off the top of my head. These are all names of organisations I wish I'd never heard of. Because these names belong to terrorist groups that seem to find it necessary to kill, hurt, harm and maim; to execute people, to enslave and rape women, to terrorise and kill and cause destruction in an effort to further their own cause.  The cause they are attempting to further (to impose / to enforce) is Islam. Or rather - their own radical and violent interpretation of Islam with current actions seemingly geared entirely toward the spread of (their version of) Islam through any means. While I am a student of the world's peoples and religions and consider myself someone who attempts to walk in another's shoes to understand them and learn what it'...

Source : BBC News   Only minutes after writing about how the #YesAllWomen hash-tag is sweeping the world, I came across an article from Al Jazeera. According to the article, two teenage girls were found hanging from a tree after being GANG-RAPED BY FIVE MEN in India's Uttar Pradesh state. A quote from the article: "Records show a rape is committed every 22 minutes across the country of 1.2 billion people, though activists say that number is low because many victims are reluctant to come forward." Source : Indian girls found hanging after gang-rape , Al Jazeera English EVERY 22 MINUTES. How? Why? In what twisted, ridiculous world are numbers like that even reality? In what world are human beings treated as nothing but objects by other human beings? Rape is one of the most vile, inhuman things that one human being can do to another. I can't begin to find the words to express my utter disgust when I read this, when I try to think of the incredible unfairness of ...

Source: Countries with Sharia Rule Intellectual Takeout The Sultanate of Brunei is a tiny oil-rich country in East Asia with a population of about 440,000 people. Roughly seventy percent of it's inhabitants are Muslim. Brunei's ruler announced in 2013 that the country would be gradually adopting Sharia law. Sharia is the Islamic code of law based on the social and religious rules as laid out in the Muslim holy book, the Koran (Qur'an). CNN reports that during a ceremony last week "the Sultan of Brunei, Hassanel Bolkiah, announced the commencement of the first phase of the sharia-based penal code, according to the government's official website."

Sad but true. Both men and women the world over label and judge others based on how they look, what they wear and how they choose to express themselves.  A recently published study by the Brazilian Institute for Applied Economics ( IPEA ) shows that a stunning 65% of respondents found that a woman who dressed provocatively deserved to be attacked or raped .  "Earlier this week, a study was released that said a startling 65.1 percent of Brazilians either partially or wholly believe that "if dressed provocatively, women deserve to be attacked and raped." In addition, the study revealed a 58.5 percent complacency with the belief that "if women knew how to behave, there would be less rape." ~ Huffington Post

WHY WHY WHY ????? Reading this makes me regret that I am the same species as the barbarians who comprise this village court. As a woman and as a human being I am revolted by these inhuman acts. Read at your own caution. http://worldnews.nbcnews.com/_news/2014/01/23/22414118-indian-village-court-orders-gang-rape-of-woman-as-punishment-for-boyfriend