Category: current affairs

Being ‘Triggered’ is not a Joking Matter. STOP

Posted on by Noelle Martin

The use of the word or meme ‘triggered’ has become popular on social media. It is typically used as an insult or as a joke to refer to feminists who take offense at harmful things being said or done in society.

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Actual meme on the internet

It has to stop.

Why? Let me break this down for you.

  1. Being triggered is a real symptom of PTSD

An actual symptom of post-traumatic stress disorder is that an individual can experience triggers from something they see on the news or internet for example, that can set off negative emotional responses including anger, anxiety, flashbacks, pain, fear, sadness and panic. Being triggered can cause physical responses such as loss of appetite, shaking, fatigue, racing heart beat and so much more.

Being triggered is NOT a laughing matter. It is not a joke. It’s not funny.

It is a real fucking symptom of PTSD. Have some sensitivity.

Stop using triggered as an insult or a joke because not only is it insensitive and rude. It dismisses, trivialises, undermines and ignores the severity of what it means to experience mental illness and trauma.

    2. It is fucking dismissive and rude

We often see people using ‘triggered’ as an insult to show that feminists overreact or are easily provoked by issues that affect us.

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Actual meme on the internet

 

It’s not a joke that we are affected by the gender wage gap. It’s not a joke that we are angered by sexual assault. It’s not a joke that we are offended by sexist rhetoric. We are affected and angered by such things. Stop dismissing our feelings as just being ‘triggered’. Stop undermining our anger as just being ‘triggered.’ Stop trivialising our opinions as just being ‘triggered’.  It’s rude.

My disgust and anger to racist, sexist and homophobic remarks have personally been dismissed as just being ‘triggered.’ I was in a political group on Facebook as part of my university and there were some racist, homophobic, sexist things being said in it. Horrendous things like ‘anyone who doesn’t identify as male or female are just pretending so they can be different.’ One group member’s response to Islamophobia was ‘if Muslims weren’t here in the first place they wouldn’t have to deal with such confronting and offensive imagery !!!!’

Of course I was pissed, disgusted, offended and angered by such horrendous remarks. I spoke out about the things being said to a woman’s group, but the initial response from the political group was that I was just triggered and that nobody should ‘provoke her please.’

Absolutely I was provoked by such racist, homophobic, sexist remarks –  but don’t dismiss my outrage as just being ‘triggered’.

    3.  It perpetuates the culture of victim blaming

When people dismiss the reactions, feelings and opinions of  feminists or anyone for that matter, as just being ‘triggered’, they are effectively perpetuating the culture of victim blaming. They are placing the blame on women for feeling the way they do, they are placing the blame on women for being angered by things that are outright offensive. They are shaming women who stand up to harmful sexist, racist, bigoted rhetoric and actions.

With all this ‘triggered’ rhetoric and victim blaming, I’m genuinely concerned that society has lots its grips with basic concepts of right and wrong. With justice and injustice.

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An actual meme on the internet

We see victim blaming all the time. It’s the kind of attitude that attacks and criticises the conduct of the victim, instead of the perpetrators of a crime. It’s the sentiment that somehow the victim is at fault for the wrongdoings committed against them, or worse that the victim deserves the harm.

We see it in cases of rape, revenge porn, image-based sexual assault. If she wasn’t wearing such revealing clothes she wouldn’t have been raped. If she didn’t send nude photos, he wouldn’t have uploaded them online. If she didn’t post risqué photos to social media, they wouldn’t be photo shopped into porn. If she was being abused at home she should’ve just left him.

Have we all gone fucking mad?

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Source: BuzzFeedNEWS

When Kim Kardashian West was robbed of millions of dollars worth of jewellery at gunpoint, and reportedly tied-up and gagged by a couple of masked men in a Paris hotel. The public reaction was extremely telling of where we are at with our views toward women and how much we are blaming the victim instead of the perpetrators. It’s ridiculous that the public outcry was to blame her for the robbery because of her celebrity status, or what she wears or because she shouldn’t have been flaunting her wealth – instead of condemning the perpetrators.

This insensitive, dismissive and disgusting ‘triggered’ craze needs to STOP. Seriously.

 

An Open Letter to the United States

Posted on by jmsheridan

Dear United States,

Hi, how are you? Been better? Sounds about right.

My question for you today is very simple: how?

How could you allow a man who openly admits to grabbing women by the pussy to run for President? How could you allow a man be seriously considered for such an important position when many of his own party members have turned against him? How can the land of the free allow a man who wants to build a wall around your great country tread so close to the Oval Office? How can so many of you support a candidate whose campaign followers were calling for a repeal of the 19th Amendment just so their candidate can win?

Respectfully, how could you let Donald Trump run for President?

I admit that I am not American. I am not a citizen of the United States, and I have no right to vote. Who am I to have such a vested interest? Who am I to judge? After all, Australia isn’t exactly a role-model global citizen either. Why should some random whiney gen-Y girl from down under care what happens in America? Or perhaps more accurately, why should you care about what some whiney gen-Y girl from down under thinks about America? And the answer is simple:

You are the leader of the free world.

I do not know who coined the idea. I do not know exactly when or why you first started branding yourselves as leader of the free world, and frankly I don’t think it matters at this point. It simply matters that you are the self-proclaimed leader of the free world. Whoever you elect as your leader will fundamentally impact the rest of us in the free world – and there are a lot of us. You aren’t the only ones counting down until November 8th.

Your presidential campaign splashes all over my news headlines. I open Facebook and my friends – both American and non-American – know exactly what is happening on your side of the world and Australia isn’t the only country watching. In fact, I can’t imagine a country that isn’t watching the showdown between Clinton and Trump unfold. Hell, they even broadcast the presidential debates live on TV over here. Did you know that? Did you know the entire world is watching?

We are watching as Donald Trump talks about women. Our boys are listening as he describes grabbing women by the pussy because ‘you can do anything’ when you’re a star. Our girls are learning that it’s all just ‘locker room talk’, and it’s normal for guys to do that to them. We are watching people celebrate a man who at the second Presidential debate was asked if he had assaulted women and answered by talking instead about the Middle East, because that’s what will truly ‘make America safe again.’

But stricter borders won’t protect people from sexual assault.

I know you’re scared. I get it. You’re scared because you have seen the horrible things happening around the world, and they seem to only be getting worse. You’re scared because terrorism isn’t a country, it’s an idea and you can’t recognise an idea when it walks past you on the street. You’re scared because the economy is bleeding and you’re drowning in debt and everybody needs to make a living. You’re scared because the world is scary right now. I’m scared too.

So when somebody stands up before you, wielding great power, money and influence, saying they can fix all your problems, I get it. You want to believe their financial success means you can have financial success. I get it. When they point to a group of people and say they’re the problem, you feel comforted. You feel like you can see the things you’re scared of. You can recognise it and finally keep yourself safe. I get it.

But it’s not that simple. It never is.

Fear is not a religion. It is not a race. It is not a gender. It is not every person with brown skin you see walking the streets. It is not hidden beneath every hijab. It is not concealed behind every accent. It is not written in code on the papers of every immigrant or refugee you see. It is complex and it disguises itself well – that is part of what makes it so terrifying. You often cannot see it until it announces itself, and by then it’s sometimes too late.

But you should not condemn hundreds and thousands out of fear. You should not brand a whole race of people as rapists and wall them out. You should not paint all refugees with the brush of mistrust and show them no compassion. You should not assume every Muslim means you harm and let racism exclude them. You should not be letting young boys believe that they can grab women without asking. You should not let your police frisk people on the street because of their skin colour. You should not let women feel like their vote is getting in the way of progress.

You are the home of the brave; please don’t let fear defeat you.

A Cautionary Tale of Sexual Cybercrime: The Fight to Reclaim my Name

Posted on by Noelle Martin

This is a cautionary tale of my experiences as a victim of sexual cybercrime. I’m filled with fear, hesitancy and an overwhelming sense of vulnerability at the prospect of writing this piece. I’ve written a little about my experiences before but never as candid as what is to follow. This time around, I’m fighting to reclaim my name and image, a name and image that has been stolen from me and has depicted me as something I’m not.

So here goes…

It all started a couple of years ago when I discovered through a simple Google Image Reverse search that dozens of photos from my social media were plastered all over pornographic sites: xhamster.com, sex.com, cumonprintedpics.com, motherless.com, titsintops.com you name it.

But let me make one thing clear, none of my photos are or were sexually explicit, they were just ordinary images of myself, that like everyone else my age, and everyone else in today’s internet culture, would post on social media.

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Photo of me taken at age 17

It’s my understanding after years of dealing with this issue that the picture to the right is the one that started it all, or caught the attention of some pervert out there.

Somehow the perverts responsible had also managed to find out all of my details, which were also posted on these porn sites. My name, where I lived, what I studied- Some people on the thread were even trying to find out the name of my childhood best friend, so they could hack into my Facebook.

What’s more, is that on these pornographic sites were extremely explicit and highly offensive comments about myself that are to this day branded in my mind: ‘Cover her face, and I’d fuck her body,’ and ‘the amount of cum that has been spilt over her could fill a swimming pool.’ I was also called a ‘whale.’

The discovery was traumatising. I was frightened that a perpetrator would try and contact me in person. It was brutal. I immediately went to the police station, but this was before all this exposure to ‘revenge porn’ was dominating discussion in society. The police had told me that essentially there was nothing they could do, as there was nothing illegal going on, because once you upload a photo to Facebook anyone can take it and do anything they want with it, and that I had to contact the websites myself to take them down and just ensure that my social media settings were set to private.

I know now that what was happening to me is called ‘parasite porn’- the term used when ordinary images are taken from a person’s social media site and posted on threads in pornographic sites, usually alongside highly offensive, explicit and objectifying comments.

I also know that there are so many more young women who are victims of ‘parasite porn’ but haven’t a clue and all the while being preyed on by perverted men. The screenshot below is taken from just one website:

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As you can see, some young women from Instagram are being preyed upon.

For these perverted men, they might argue that what they’re doing may be questionable but technically they aren’t breaking any laws or rules. Unfortunately, they would be right. Under Facebook’s Statement of Rights and Responsibilities, ‘When you publish content or information using the Public setting, it means that you are allowing everyone, including people off of Facebook, to access and use that information, and to associate it with you.’

Perpetrators of ‘parasite porn’ might not be breaking any rules or laws right now. But it’s not far-fetched to imagine that at some point in the future, society does witness the rise in the incidence of ‘parasite porn,’ and we ask ourselves: how are we allowing this? Is it really okay for others to do anything they want with an image they find online even if it means objectifying, sexualising and preying on the victim? Is this the risk young women have to take to have an online presence? How will we deal with this issue?

So while ‘parasite porn’ might not break any rules or laws, what it does do-is open up the floodgates to an even crazier world. The world of ‘morphed porn’- where ordinary images are manipulated and superimposed on naked bodies or edited to create a more sexualised effect, and posted on porn sites.

This is where my story takes a turn for the worst…

I soon learnt that my face was being photoshopped onto naked women and I was being depicted as an adult actress. Some solo, some with other porn stars and in one image I’m being ejaculated on by two men. Today, Photoshop is so advanced that it’s really not that difficult to morph an image and make it look real- and some of mine do, which has been the cause of so many sleepless nights worrying about my future employability.

pic-888The newest morphed image is me photoshopped me onto the cover of porn film, ‘Buttman’s Big Tit Adventure Starring Noelle Martin and 38G monsters’ it says.

From the initial discovery and throughout this process, I contacted all the relevant government agencies and even the Australian Federal Police. I explained my story numerous times but I was always transferred or directed to the next agency or simply not responded to.

So I just had to take matters into my own hands. I frantically went about getting the websites removed with varying degrees of success. Luckily most sites obliged my request for deletion. Until one particular site, the site containing the ‘morphed images.’ I had sternly requested this site be deleted, but the Webmaster refused to do so unless I sent him intimate images of me. When I of course refused and demanded the page be removed, he threatened to send the photos to my university and my father. I knew better than to give into blackmail, so I held strong, but the site wasn’t deleted until much later.

Yet again, I know there are so many girls who literally don’t know about this- it’s a terrifying prospect. The screenshot to the right is from just one site.new

Now, some of you may be thinking that I should’ve just had my photo settings on private, or that I shouldn’t upload ‘risqué’ photos, or that I should just quit social media forever.

I thought the same for a long time, I was filled with shame, embarrassment and disappointment. But I’ve come to terms with the fact that I shouldn’t be ashamed at all. I haven’t done anything wrong. Like many others, I’m just another victim of sexual cybercrime.

In fact, now I would say that firstly, no matter how careful you are with your privacy settings on social media. There are always ways around it. These perverts can and do look through photos in the club taken by the club photographer, events pages and even your friends’ accounts

Secondly, blaming the victim is the easy option, especially in this culture of victim-blaming. Where victims of ‘revenge porn’ are asked why they sent nude photos in the first place, instead of why the boys posted them online. We should be asking why these perverted men aren’t being held to account for their actions and for the harm they have not only caused me, but all the other victims subjected to sexual cybercrime.

Lastly, while it may be common knowledge that the internet is a dangerous place and we should all be careful about what we put on the internet, NOBODY expects that when they upload a photo onto Instagram or Facebook, that they’ll end up being depicted as adult actress, with their name and image smeared and misrepresented in a sexually explicit and highly offensive way.

Today, the media is dominated by news of ‘revenge porn.’ We know about the harms of revenge porn to victims that they are more vulnerable to suicide, depression, emotional distress, humiliation and the list goes on.What we don’t hear are the issues of ‘parasite porn’ and ‘morphed porn,’ maybe because most of the victims don’t know they’re victims, which is terrifying enough. But an even more terrifying prospect is that you don’t need to have taken or sent a sexually explicit photo to be at risk.

If you discover that you’re also a victim of ‘parasite porn’ or ‘morphed porn,’ there’s hope still. Now, Google allows you to request the removal of certain photos and videos posted without consent from Google Search Results.

Befitting it seems, how relevant the words of Brené Brown are, the world’s most renowned researcher in shame and vulnerability:

When we deny the story, it defines us. When we own the story, we can write a brave new ending.

So here I am, reclaiming my name.

 

 

Featured Image: Zac Quitzau Facebook: Zac’s Doodles

 

 

 

 

Stop Protecting Rapists

Posted on by jmsheridan

Words: Jessica Sheridan

This morning I woke up to find yet another headline that has become all too familiar over the past few months: ‘Rapist Walks Free’. I’m starting to forget the last time I woke up and there wasn’t a similar story somewhere on my newsfeed.

A few days ago I read about Kraigen Grooms, a 19-year-old from the US who pleaded guilty to committing sexual acts with a toddler back in 2014. Grooms was 16 at the time of the attack, and the female victim was aged between 12-18 months; more of a baby than a toddler. The lewd act was also recorded on camera by another party. Police found evidence to suggest the attack was premeditated, and that Grooms may have also planned to commit a similar offence against another toddler, this time a three year old boy.

So to sum up: a teenager raped a baby while streaming it online. And he planned to do it again.

I imagine that many of us assume that an offence such as this would carry with it an appropriate sentence, and for most of us I think that a lengthy prison term would satiate our want to see justice done. Sexual violence is after all one of the most heinous crimes that can be committed, and young children and babies are some of the most vulnerable members of society. Surely, for their protection, such an act should be met with adequate justice?

Grooms, who was guilty of engaging in a lascivious act with a child, received a ten year suspended sentence. The only term he served was the two years waiting for his trial, shared between juvenile detention and county prison. The only palpable impact upon his life was the requirement that he register as a sex offender. If he fails to do so, then he will serve his prison sentence. In other words, as long as he follows the rules this time around, he doesn’t have to serve any jail time for his offence.

One can’t help but draw parallels between this case and that of the now infamous Brock Turner. Turner was found guilty of sexual assault earlier this year, and was sentenced to only six months in prison. To add salt to the wound, he only served three of those months, released early for his good behaviour. The Rolling Stone reported that the judge’s lenient sentence was supported by the claim that a lengthy prison sentence would have a ‘severe impact’ upon Turner. Turner was also required to register as a sex offender, which the judge felt was part and parcel of his punishment.

Unlike Grooms, Turner was not a minor when he committed his crimes, and his victim was 22 years old. Still it is easy to see the similar way leniency was shown in both cases. Both offenders evaded lengthy prison sentences, both are white males, and both are required to register as sex offenders. And in both cases there has been public outrage and a call for the sentencing judges to be investigated and dismissed.

But what does registering as a sexual offender really mean? In the US it limits where a sexual offender can live so that they cannot reside close to places with children, like schools and parks. However, as critic Emily Horowitz has noted, not all offenders have committed sexual crimes against children. Turner, for example, attacked an older woman. While protection of our kids is obviously paramount, you have to wonder why the focus is on children even for offenders who have not committed acts against children. The punishment does not seem to fit the crime.

Some might argue that the sex offender registry is designed to forever inhibit offenders whose details are listed publically for employers, neighbours, and basically everyone to see. But if you were hoping that this would be the long term punishment you thought they would receive, then I’m afraid you’ll be disappointed. Although the register does provide details of registered offenders, in some US states only the details of high-risk offenders are available to the public.

And as if that wasn’t enough, the Office of Justice has found no consistent studies demonstrating the effectiveness of sex offender registration in actually preventing further crime. 

So what’s the real outcome here? What punishment do Grooms and Turner face for sexually assaulting their respective victims who were both unable to defend themselves? The answer unfortunately is that neither of them will likely serve any significant prison time for their crimes, and the only long-term punishment either will receive is being listed on a glorified name and shame register.

Am I understating the impact on a person’s life of being a registered sex offender? Probably. But both of these men who committed crimes against vulnerable persons will serve understated sentences. So yes, I’m bitter. I’m angry at the sense of entitlement that seems to encourage men to take whatever they want. And I’m angry that the system is letting them largely get away with it. Why should the victim suffer more than the offender?

And yes, both Turner and Grooms will probably suffer at the hands of public outrage. And no, it is not okay to stand outside someone’s house with assault weapons as some people have done outside of Turner’s house – that is not an appropriate punishment either. None of this goes to the core of the issue: neither of these offenders will face a punishment that fits the crimes they committed.

At first we weren’t finding rapists guilty of their violent crimes. We called victims of sex crimes liars and fabricators and victim blamed our way through centuries, blindfolded and throwing punches in the dark. Now we finally accept that these violent sexual acts are occurring, but we refuse to punish offenders because we are too focused on how their lives will be affected in the long term.

We need appropriate sentencing. We need rehabilitation programs. We need justice.

Featured Image: Zac Quitzau  Facebook: Zac’s Doodles

 

 

The Nightclub Scene: The Place of Normalised Sexual Violence

Posted on by Noelle Martin

I’m literally sick and tired of being groped every time I go out to the clubs.

I went to the club this weekend with my gals ready to dance til’ our heels came off but instead I performed kung fu on the dance floor trying to stop the wandering hands of desperate men trying to smack my ass or feel my boobs. I was groped more than 30 times, easily. They’d stick their sweaty hands on my thighs, behind, boobs and all over my body. My friends and I were literally manhandled on the dance floor, we were pushed around from guy to guy as they tried to grind their packages on us. Like, you don’t know me like that, step the fuck away.

This kind of shit is not an isolated one, it happens all the time. I’ve had guys come out of nowhere and stick their tongues down my throat. I’ve been motorboated out of nowhere. This kind of shit happens to ALL girls. ALL the goddamn time. NO, it does not matter what club you go to- this shit will happen in a fancy club, bar, where the fuck ever. Granted, girls will probably experience less of it, depending where they go, but it will still happen. NO, it does not matter what the girl is wearing- this shit will happen even if a girl is completely covered head to toe. NO, it’s not a compliment- we feel disgusted and violated so get your hands off of us! NO, alcohol is just not an excuse. And NO, not all guys do this, but there a lot that do and it needs to stop.

This kind of shit is the norm. It’s almost an expectation. If you’re a girl and you go out to a nightclub, some guy will try and touch you inappropriately. This kind of shit is literally an unenforced, acceptable, normalised form of sexual assault. This kind of shit doesn’t happen to men, how often do you see a girl copping a feel of a guy’s package as they walk past?

As girls, what can we do? Yeah, we can assertively call them out on it and walk away. Don’t fucking touch me! I’d say, but even then, some guys have the audacity to try again when we do. If we make a huge deal about it, not only will it kill our vibe but it happens so often that at some point, one unwelcomed smack on the ass can sadly not be worth addressing. I’ve never tried, but one could notify security but then again it’d kill our vibe, and every 10 minutes we’d be doing so and I assume security would tell us to keep away from the dirty guys, and at best they may tell the culprits to stop or possibly even leave- but I highly doubt the latter. So, really, this kind of shit is just continuing to the point at which some girls are forced off the dance floor because they are being violated too much.

I mean, what the fuck is going through these guys’ heads. Would they like it if this kind of shit happened to their sisters or cousins or girlfr… well, I was going to say girlfriends but I thought again, but then again, again, I wouldn’t put it past some guys.

Realistically, ladies, if this is going to stop, keep calling the culprits out on it. Your friends should also help you in the process. If however, we want to see drastic change, I really think that night club security needs to play a bigger role in stepping up and stopping this kind of shit. I can only imagine how much security would being seeing of this. Friends of guys that do this kind of shit, first off, why on earth would you associate with such people I don’t know, but I hope you step up and stop this. And to the guys that do this shit- fuck right off. Seriously. Enough is enough.

Featured Image: Zac Quitzau Fb: Zac’s Doodles