Daily Mail calls 12-year-old rape victims 'Lolitas'

When you cover a case which involves the gang rape of girls as young as 12, you leave us in no doubt what you think of the outcome when you publish a story containing the following:

"Reading Crown Court heard how the soccer players were encouraged by the schoolgirl 'Lolitas'"

Lolitas? Really? You think that's responsible reporting?

"The girls told the men they 16 years old and had sneaked away from a party to be with them after exchanging suggestive text messages..."

"The judge heard that the most active of the two girls, mentioned in five of the six charges, could not have been trusted by the prosecution as a witness.

"She was also being investigated over an unrelated false rape allegation and had a fake age on her Facebook page."

"She said one of the males kept asking her for sex. She was initially reluctant but eventually gave in to his persistence."

"They highlighted the lies of the young girl who took part in most of the sexual activity..."

"They added that the careers of the promising young footballers had been ruined by 'the biggest mistake [of their] lives'."

Is it any wonder that the comments on the story go down the very same route?

"I would say these wayward girls were more at fault than the lads..."

"The prisons are over-crowded as it is. Save the space for genuine criminals not misguided young men like these. It's the girl who instigated all of this who should be punished - not the lads."

"abslutely (sic) that's not rape. the girls were cooperative..."

"It's not rape. But it is slutty behaviour..."

"I think it is absolutely appalling that these boys have been jailed for this. I am female. They were led on and its the girls who should be charged."

"The girls were underage, yes, but claimed to be 16 (and we all know how tarty some young girls can look)..."

It seems that a lot of people haven't heard of statutory rape and that possibly, the Mail hasn't either, considering the story appears to be intent on hammering home just how much these girls are to blame for what happened to them and that it only outcome has been the ruination of men's lives. Whether the girls texted the men or not, whether they were out late at night or not, this state of affairs the Mail seems to have reached where anything is excusable is disgusting and unforgivable.

And there I was thinking that I hadn't seen a 'evil lying woman out to get men' story for a while. The Mail may not have that particular agenda to push at present (I'm sure they'd hoped that plans to grant anonymity to rape defendants wouldn't be scrapped) but you know they're sure as hell going to carry on promoting it anyway. Maybe, like me, they've read the studies and articles discussing the way the media has an incredible influence on public perception of sexual violence and victim blaming. And maybe that's why they do it, even going to the lengths of trying to justify men having sex with 12-year olds because at the end of the day, a rape allegation is usually nothing more than a woman trying to ruin a man's life.

EDIT: more posts worth reading

- sianandcrookedrib - Daily Mail Fail

- No Sleep 'Til Brooklands - On the Daily Mail and rape

The Daily Mail and the Sidebar of Judgement

Last week Penny Smith, writing for the Daily Mail, asked 'Why do we women hate our bodies?'. Several of my fellow tabloid-watching bloggers pointed out the hypocrisy of the Mail's obsession with asking this question (look back through the archives and you'll find several similar stories published over the past couple of years). I must admit I haven't been visiting Mail Online much recently. It's probably been good for my sanity. But following Smith's piece going up, I've been interested to see how the site does absolutely nothing to help the way women might be feeling about their bodies.

The famed Mail Online sidebar has always been the Sidebar of Judgement, the place to go if you want to laugh at women in 'unflattering' dresses or disapprove of average-sized people daring to wear bikinis while pursing your lips at Suri Cruise's lost childhood and Kerry Katona's Ultimate Bad Mother status.

But as the paper publishes columns lamenting poor body image among modern women, the Sidebar of Judgement, dare I say it, appears to be getting worse. There's no longer any variety in the women's interest-flavoured stories it features. It's a relentless rotation of judgemental pieces about cellulite, stomach flab and weight loss. Top story today features 'real women' creating Kate Moss's look in order to show that they have better backsides than she does. Give me strength. But there's more:

- 'I work out seven days a week... but I still have jiggly thighs and cellulite,' admits Kim Kardashian
- So that's why Cher Lloyd looks the picture of health - she lives on greasy portions of chips
- Teen Mom 2 star Jenelle Evans makes for an arresting sight (in a bikini... not at court, that is)
- What a knockout: Sucker Punch star Abbie Cornish does scantily-clad sultry shoot for GQ magazine
- What happened to Nicole's legs? Scherzinger goes for the wrinkly look in mismatched boots and dress

Yesterday the Women's Networking Hub tweeted:

Has disordered eating for women and girls become the norm, as entrenched behaviour patterns are now granted as acceptable?

This is a good question. The phenomenon is certainly being fuelled in part by the attitudes of media aimed at women, with the way it constantly judges the body, insinuates that our bodies, as they are naturally, are unaccpetable and encourages unhealthy and drastic diets as a means of achieving confidence and acceptance. As a result we categorize all food as either 'good' or 'bad'. We justify eating a chocolate bar by saying that it's okay, we'll go to the gym later, or we'll only have a small dinner. We gravitate immediately towards the 'low fat' or 'light' sections when we go to buy a sandwich for lunch whether we're overweight or not. We discuss it and we treat all this as totally normal, totally ordinary attitudes towards eating and sustaining our bodies.

There's a familiar series of events involving celebrity women and the media. Step One: the woman, who does not adhere strictly to the accepted 'thin but curvy' body type, is picked over and ridiculed by the papers, magazines or blogs. Step Two: she loses weight and said papers and magazines run triumphant features on her new found confidence and happiness. She'll be wearing a bikini or a corset and grinning. Step Three: she'll put a bit of weight back on. Step Four: she'll appear in one of these papers and magazines solemnly discussing how that weight loss was unhealthy for her, how she exercised far too much, how she made herself sick or took diet pills or barely ate. And people will shake their heads and tut about the negative influence of the media.

All this will be chronicled in the Sidebar of Judgement.

Anti-choice smackdown

I loved reading the responses to my guest post at C Jane Enjoy It, which went up on Sunday. After the explosive reaction Courtney's previous posts about feminism have received, I wasn't sure whether I was going to be in for a barrage of abuse or much virtual back-slapping. Actually the response was more in line with the latter, which was heartening. Not because it makes me smug that people liked my post (although it was a post I spent a lot of time writing and thinking about) but because it was obvious from previous discussions on women's issues that among Courtney's readers, feelings on feminism run high and also that it's a controversial ideology.

One reader pointed out that I had not mentioned the subject of abortion at all in the post and wondered why this was so, seeing as the main theme of the post was feminism and religion. I have to say, it's a fair point. When I was writing the post, abortion wasn't something which crossed my mind, if I'm honest. I wanted my piece to focus on the concept of equality, how it relates to Christian teaching, how it has played a part in my life and also the issue of acknowledging privilege when considering our support (or lack of it) for gender issues.

Although I attempted to explain this in a comment, it seemed that the catalyst had been provided and from then on, a steady stream of comments relating to abortion appeared, ranging from the middle-of-the-road and measured to the downright hostile and obnoxious, references to 'man-hating', 'Satan' and 'baby murdering' abound, along with a warning about the 'consequences' of my 'unrepentant sin'.

When you wade into a discussion on a blog which is read by a great many conservative, religious women I think this is to be expected. I'm used to hearing that my opinions on gender go against God's design for women and yes, there were a few comments along those lines. But anti-choice anger is not really the sort of reaction I regularly encounter, associating as I do with a bunch of feminists and liberals and lefties. It's actually something you encounter far less in the UK and it's vital to understanding the way the abortion debate in the US plays such a huge part in feminism. What I noticed was the way it was instantly able to shut down discussion on most other issues raised in my post.

Once the knives are out regarding abortion, you know a debate is probably going to go downhill. Some readers identifying themselves as anti-choice said that this issue alone meant they would not have anything to do with the feminist movement or express support for women's rights. The call for rights was fine when it meant getting women the vote, but from the 60s onwards, it just went too far. That in itself was one of the misconceptions I was attempting to address in my post but I think that went unnoticed by some.

Yesterday I was reading a post by a woman who had a lot of anger about the way the polarization of the abortion debate excludes and hurts women; she spoke with particular reference towards women of colour and people with disabilities. She spoke a lot of sense. I was reminded of the neverending debate raging in the media and on blogs this past year over whether anti-choice Republican women should be 'allowed' to call themselves feminists. And I thought harder about how it was so easy for people to start being silenced and debate to be shut down once people mentioned it over at Courtney's blog - at the expense of wider discussion about women's issues and the inclusion of women who feel their opinion falls somewhere in the middle of the two camps.

A friend from the US who identifies as pro-life told me that those on her side of the debate see the pro-choice contingent in the same way: just waiting to storm in and initiate smackdown so that debate gets no further. Along with gay rights, it's the issue at the heart of right vs left, anti-liberal and anti-religious suspicion and hatred Stateside. It frustrates her and it frustrates me because it's one of the main barriers to religious women having anything to do with feminists and feminism and supporting pro-woman causes.

In no way should we dismiss the issue of reproductive rights and pretend it's not a major problem. At present it's unavoidable, due to the number of attacks being mounted against women and their wellbeing. But the way it's such a dealbreaker, such a catalyst for drama and personal attacks at the expense of other discussions about issues facing women is really problematic. It's hard to think about how it can be addressed and I wonder if it's even possible, in much the same vein as the porn debate, but it's been playing on my mind since Sunday.

Photo credit: Msciba's Flickr

Links while I recover

I'm back in the UK and slowly starting to feel less wiped out after an amazing and life-changing week in Brazil (including a great IWD). So while I recover, here's what I've been reading this week:

The Bollocks to Poverty blog - ActionAid's Helen chronicles our time in Brazil
The Mail on women and their bodies (Tabloid Watch)
Bic for Her: Finally, a pen ladies can use (Jezebel)
The Careless Language of Sexual Violence (The Rumpus)
BBC Breakfast: International Women's Day is not news (Women's Views on News)
Poll shows widespread sexism. Mail says "Women declare sexism dead" (Left Foot Forward)
Nadine Dorries and the mission from God (Bloggerheads)
Don't tell us we don't need feminism any more (Liberal Conspiracy)

And watching:

Courtesy of the EQUALS coalition.

Dispatches from Brazil: Part Three

Today people all over the world are celebrating IWD and I'm reflecting on the time I've spent in Brazil over the past week.

I arrived in the country with only a basic knowledge of gender issues here and really didn't know what to expect from the people we were going to be spending time with. I knew it was going to be interesting but it's turned out to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience involving some truly amazing and inspiring people.

In time for this year's IWD, ActionAid commissioned some research among young people in the UK regarding their views on equality. It was eye opening for me because although I'm only just outside the age-group surveyed, a lot of my time spent discussing equality is spent discussing it with other feminists, activists and bloggers.

This means that I don't often get an idea of what your average young person thinks about it – or actually, whether they think about it at all.

What the research found was that young people have a lot to say about equality. They have concern about women in the workplace and sexual violence. They have concern about objectification. They have concern about freedom of choice.

But there's a disconnect between their concept of 'feminism' and their concept of 'women's rights'. The former: negative; the latter: positive. There was also concern that men were not 'allowed' to participate in fighting for equality, or that they find it hard to get involved because other men might react badly.

Above all, there's a feeling that the problems faced by women in other countries are not easy to relate to and therefore difficult to react to.

This isn't unusual. It might be hard to forge personal links with those from other cultures but if there's one thing this trip has taught me it's that it shouldn't be, because the issues we care about are exactly the same and that there really are so many similarities between the lives of young people here and the lives of young people in the UK.

When I talked to the people of Maré, when I talked to the people of Santarém, the issues they were always quick to highlight were equality in the workplace. Freedom of choice. Sexual violence. Pressures regarding appearance and the way women are portrayed in music and on television.

Of course, there are different cultural issues which come into play but at the heart of the matter is the belief than men and women are of equal worth and should have equal rights – and that gender inequality should not be an issue in the world today.

Now the word 'rights', somewhat sadly, makes a lot of people roll their eyes. But this week I've talked to people who say that a lot of women they know quite literally feel they don't have the right to report a rape to the police, or to leave an abusive partner. You characterize the fight for equal rights as 'silly' and 'going too far' and you do these women a great disservice.

One of the stand-out elements of the Bollocks to Inequality trip has been seeing just what young people can do when they're motivated to fight for change and are empowered as leaders in their communities. They have so much potential and passion and I felt proud to have the chance to hang out with them.

Despite the language barrier, despite the fact that to all intents and purposes our lives are a world apart, we had fun together and I think we were able to take away a lot. The unanimous affirmatives from them when we asked whether they want men and women to be treated equally, or if they think women should be free to live the lives they want for themselves showed their commitment and dedication to their community.

Watching Lucas and his friends immersed in their role as a knowledge base for gender issues made me pleased that ActionAid have supported their work and really happy that it will be replicated elsewhere.

This International Women's Day it's time to draw on our common experiences and know that even from thousands of miles away, we can support each other. Know that even if we're young, or from a poor background, or a guy who's anti-sexism - our voices can be heard. And know that when we fight for equality, it's not in vain.

Check out more on the equality debate by visiting the EQUALS website.

This post originally appeared at BitchBuzz.

Top: Lucas Gomes and members of GADA at Santarém carnival. Above: Me with fellow blogger Shan Phearon, Lucas and friends at Alter do Chão.

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Photos: Eduardo Martino / Documentography / ActionAid.

Dispatches from Brazil: Part Two

Our trip to Brazil is certainly shaping up to be a trip of contrasts. After the frenetic pace and crowds of Rio we've spent the past two days getting away from it all in the northern state of Parà, right on the Amazon in the city of Santarém.

It's a place which is as far removed from Rio as you can imagine. It took us three flights and a whole day to get there, for a start. The pace of life is slower, the streets have a sleepy atmosphere and the heat makes stepping outside feel like stepping into an oven.

But in just two short days we've managed to fit in a night at carnival, a trip right into the Amazonian countryside and some well-earned chillout time on a strip of white sand in the middle of the river which was unforgettable. There were rowing boats, water lapping at the sand and cold beers. Leaving was hard.

That's not all we've been doing, however. The majority of our visit here was spent with Santarém's GADA youth group – formed a year and a half ago to provide training to young people in issues surrounding sexual health, reproductive rights and gender violence. ActionAid has supported the group through training and although it's no longer providing help, the plan is to replicate GADA's work in Santarém at the centre in Maré.

And it's truly fantastic work. Something I feel needs pointing out right now is that I have genuinely never met teens of both genders who are so motivated and well-informed about these issues and what they're doing in their community.

They spend their time talking to people in doctor's waiting rooms, presenting talks at schools, handing out leaflets and thinking of strategies to effect change among their peers. As we spent time with them, it was plain to see how their lives have been impacted by the project.

They told us how they've set up a system of contacts and helplines to enable young people to report sexual abuse or violence, of how they've had the opportunity to travel to events all over the country and of how they've seen their friends and families changed.

Plenty of you will be familiar with the outrage expressed by certain UK newspapers when it has been suggested that schoolchildren should be educated about sexual violence. I've blogged about it more than once, focusing on outrage at proposals for education about domestic violence and also at Rape Crisis's packs for schools.

The former story lambasted the government's 'equalities agenda' and the obviously nefarious influence of feminism in Westminster. It was the first thing I thought of as I sat watching the GADA group perform a fantastic presentation to a group of younger children at a church-run club about sexual violence and gender roles. Here was an age appropriate presentation. It had the children engaged. And they were given resources which they could take home to show their parents.

It's the sort of thing that would have many a right-thinking Middle Englander apoplectic with rage, but in Santarém, the reaction is overwhelmingly positive and to be honest, it really hammered it home to me why we fight for equality and that when we do, it works.

18-year-old Lucas Gomes is one of the group members we spent a lot of time with while in Santarém. Whether he's talking to children at the church club, showing us the videos GADA has made and chatting to us about his life he's incredibly open and confident in his opinions.

“I am really proud to be part of GADA,” he told us. “We live in a really sexist society and men treat women like they are nothing. But I have been able to help people understand about gender violence and my friends now come to me for advice, particularly about sexual health.”

Like his contemporaries in Maré, Lucas thinks that domestic violence is a major issue but also feels that people are starting to take action against it more and more, as women in the community become aware that they have the same legal rights as men.

“Following one of the activities two of my friends did, they helped a girl to tell the police that she had been a victim of sexual violence,” he said.

“We all felt motivated to help this girl and it made us feel happy that our work is not in vain.”

As we listened to Lucas talk about his desire to see gender equality among the people he knows, I thought how much of a shame it is that young people, as mentors and community educators, are tragically underused.

All too often they're seen as apathetic or as troublemakers. Work like the project GADA has implemented in Santarém proves that this isn't the case and that young people can in fact be amazing advocates for social change and education. The teens we spoke to have had the opportunity to attend international conferences and it has enabled some of them to find jobs. They're so proud to be part of such an initiative but for all of them, the best thing is seeing other people impacted by what they do.

This post originally appeared at BitchBuzz. Image: Lucas Gomes at home in Santarém.

Photos: Eduardo Martino / Documentography / ActionAid

Dispatches from Brazil: Part One

Spending my first full day in Brazil in a favela was something of an experience. Maré is an enormous community with, it's thought, as many as 180,000 inhabitants. And although most of them are hardworking, law-abiding people, it's drug gangs who run the show in Maré.

It was safe for us to walk around with some of the people who do community work in the favela, but we couldn't take photos or go off on our own. Maré has many invisible lines – territories controlled by different gangs which residents cannot cross without trouble.

Maré is a prime example of the enormous wealth disparity which exists in Brazil. It's not far from a university and close to some of the city's richer neighbourhoods, but its inhabitants live in poverty. Social problems are rife and educational attainment is low.

Through evening classes which help them with studying, the ActionAid project in Maré has enabled 800 young people to go to university – an amazing achievement for such a community, where only 0.8% of people end up as graduates.

ActionAid is set to begin a new initiative here, getting young people to discuss their rights, equality and sexual health. We talked to some of the teenagers taking part in university preparatory classes at the community centre and listened to what they had to say about the issues affecting them.

Samara is 18 years old and has just finished a course in multimedia. She is also passionate and outspoken about equality.

“Inequality is a problem right from when are being raised,” she told us.

17-year-old Raphael is also not afraid to speak out about gender inequality and believes that Brazilian society in general is very sexist.

“Something that really bothers me is men who beat women,” he said. “Human beings can be such animals sometimes.”

So what happens when there is a problem with domestic violence in Maré?

“There are people who like to pretend it doesn't happen,” said Raphael. “Often they will blame it on alcohol and say it only happened because he was drunk, so that's okay.”

“It depends on how you've been raised,” added Samara. “In the past women were brought up to be submissive and stay in the kitchen all day, but things are changing. In a relationship I think you should give each other space and respect – and not be jealous or controlling.”

During our day in Maré we also had the opportunity to talk to some residents who have been working at the centre for a number of years. They had a lot to say about the issue – and a lot of ideas as to how it should be tackled.

Shyrlei is 27 and started going to the centre at the age of 17. She has studied education at university and has recently been made a director of the centre.

“To create gender equality we also need social and financial equality,” she told us.

“Equality doesn't just mean women doing the same things as men. We need to create discussions about women's empowerment. Many women who suffer violence feel that they can't leave their man; this is something which is culturally inbuilt.”

We asked Shyrlei how people in her community feel about women's rights and feminism and how they react if it's brought up.

“In Brazil we are evolving – when it comes to discussing women's rights we are not as advanced as some countries,” she said.

“Some of my friends who are feminists, I think they go about discussing things in the wrong way and it just pushes people away. Here, discussing gender is like opening up a wound so we have to be mature enough to know when to fight and how.”

One issue which was often brought up by the people we spoke to was financial independence. A major factor in gender equality for them is the fact that many women lack the skills and confidence to be financially independent and therefore must rely on men to live – something which obviously becomes a problem when violence and abuse happens.

Shyrlei told us that although specialist women's police stations have been set up to deal with gender violence, they are not as effective as they could be because women are reluctant to report crimes due to being treated badly by the police. Historically, they have often not been believed if it was their father or husband who is being violent.

She feels the city needs women's shelters and ways of getting women back on their feet financially after leaving a partner.

Felipe, 31, has been running workshops teaching graffiti and breakdancing in Maré for ten years. As a teacher, he sees a lot of issues which he thinks need addressing.

“In the community where I live and work there are differences between men and women which are very evident,” he said.

“There is violence against women, which I consider a critical element. Sometimes sexism is even promoted by teachers themselves. They associate femininity with inferiority.”

When we asked him how gender inequality manifests itself in Maré, he said:

“It's domestic violence and very hidden. You don't know what's happening and who's committing it. It gets buried in a family and there is a culture of fear.”

But Felipe is positive that gender inequality can be tackled through education and culture, whether that's young people learning about their rights and taking what they've learnt back to their families, or some of the city's female hip hop artists who are making music with a positive message about women.

One thing all the people we spoke to were sure of was that things are slowly changing - attitudes, openness to discuss issues and expectations of a woman's role in society. What they'd like to see is even bigger changes and more education to make them happen.

This post originally appeared at BitchBuzz. Photo: Eduardo Martino / Documentography / Action Aid