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The IPCC have strongly criticised the Metropolitan Police for failing, over four years, to prevent rape suspect Kirk Reid from re-offending. From the Guardian article:
Kirk Reid, 45, a chef and children’s football coach, is serving a life sentence after being convicted of 27 sexual offences, including two of rape, on women on the A24 corridor and near Balham and Tooting underground stations. Police have linked him to a possible 80-100 more sexual assaults between 2001 and 2008.
Horrifying news, especially in the context of the very low conviction rates for rape and sexual assault. Vikram Dodd lists other occurrences of this shameful negligence:
The Met had been breaking its own guidelines, and failing to record reports of rape as a crime. Instead they were classed as “crime-related incidents”. Senior officers say that failing has been put right, but accept that victims were denied a proper investigation.
I will repeat that, as it’s almost unbelievable: the police were failing to record reports of rape as a crime.
Last week the Guardian also reported that important forensic evidence is being missed as rape victims are examined by inexperienced doctors, another factor in the very low conviction rate.
The dodgy science claims of Tories who wanted to shorten the time limit for legal abortion have been laid to rest as the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists publish a review which shows that
“It can be concluded that the foetus cannot experience pain in any sense prior to this gestation.”
Even after 24 weeks, the college concluded a foetus is naturally sedated and unconscious in the womb.
This is good news for those defending a woman’s right to choose, although it probably won’t put an end to the bogus science claims of anti-abortion campaigners.
NICE are proposing that carbon monoxide tests be made obligatory for all pregnant women, as an anti-smoking measure.
Currently it seems that one in five women in the UK smoke during pregnancy. This seems high, but it’s unclear how obligatory smoking tests would help reduce this figure. My problem with it, in particular, is: if you’re prepared to lie to your doctor or midwife about your smoking, are you really going to be open to persuasion about giving up if they catch you out in your lies through an obligatory test?
I would imagine that very few women actually lie to health workers, and that most women are aware of the health risks of smoking during pregnancy (otherwise, why lie?). But treating women like irresponsible children is not the way to bring down the number of pregnant smokers. In general the best way of persuading people to change their behaviour is to make it easier or more attractive for them to change – this seems to guide most NHS anti-smoking treatments, which offer a great deal of flexibility, try and work with the smoker to find the best way for them to quit, and generally work through motivation to stop rather than shame or guilt.
The spokesperson for the Royal College of Midwives said:
“It is crucial that health practitioners, including midwives, focus on being supportive rather than making women feeling guilty, or as though they may not be truthful.
“Use of the monitor has the potential to make women feel guilty and not engaged. We need to look at a range of individualised interventions for women that meet their needs and aspirations.”
In any case this seems like yet another instance of the ways in which pregnant women are treated as less than full adults, as somehow less responsible for their own behaviour and choices, and in need of monitoring or control.
I love these guys!
So, the usual female-led protests against the Miss University London competition were given additional support from a guerilla group of male protesters setting up a booth outside the competition, “encouraging attendees to “vote” over pictures of the contestants”, (they provided kleenex), and “keeping a tally of the girls who brought the guys over the edge.”
Possibly the best bit was the comments garnered from bewildered beauty pageant supporters:
“you’re worse than the feminists, it’s disgusting”
“What so you want people to wank in the booth, over the girls and judge them, how’s that any different from the competition?”
“And I think your suits are shit!”.
“I don’t know what they’re protesting about, it’s not even animal cruelty, they must be jealous”
“But you’re not serious, right?”
Jo and I went to this event on 14 Feb and it was great, really informative. I felt it provided a really good space for discussion and gave a sense of hope for the future. We came up with loads of ideas as a result, simple initiatives that we could get involved with as a group. We’re going to write a little piece on each workshop. Mine will follow shortly.
As promised, here are few links to the stuff we talked about on Saturday to keep the momentum going.
First of all, the link to the body positive website that Jo introduced us to a while back. I really love this site, it’s so funny and informative. I note that they have a cafepress store, but will be closing it soon, so if you’re interested, buy some t-shirts now. I think I’m getting the Aunt Fattie one…
Unfortunately, we’ve missed out on a talk by Susie Orbach next week as it’s sold out already, but in trying to find out about it, I happened upon this website.
And here’s that Times article about women losing their jobs twice as fast as men.
An interesting piece today from Julie Bindel (link in title) defending political lesbianism.
The Institute of Spurious Science strikes again, mes amies.
Check the link above to find the usual frenzy of evolutionary pseudo-theorising, with a scrumdown to provide the most ludicrous explanation as to why women apparently have better orgasms with wealthier men. Such mundane considerations as socio-economic factors are not so much swept aside as ignored entirely beside the compelling weight of evidence which shows “women are inherently programmed to be gold-diggers”.
I expected better from the Independent, and particularly from its “science editor”! (for full article click on the headline above)
“Women might claim they want caring, thoughtful types but scientists have discovered what they really want – self-obsessed, lying psychopaths.
A study has found that men with the “dark triad” of traits – narcissism, thrill- seeking and deceitfulness – are likely to have a larger number of sexual affairs.
Peter Jonason, of New Mexico University in Las Cruces, believes that these traits may have an innate, genetic component that explains why some men seem unable to stop themselves behaving badly.”
Even when we ignore the dodgy “science” (Mr Jonason has foolishly failed to patent this “dirty rotten scoundrel” gene which he claims exists), the claim is simply that men with psychopathic tendencies are more likely to go out looking for affairs, which to my mind simply makes it more statistically likely that such men have affairs, (as the other chaps are at home with their families or are happy going about their business and not trying to seduce women left, right and centre).
Clearly, there is no evidence at all that “women” (which implies of course, “all women”…we are a homogenous group, after all) seek out these men. And of course it is not even considered that the women with whom these men have affairs may also be self-obsessed, lying psychopaths, which would explain how the men’s “strategy” appears to be so successful in the first place…
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