What’s Current: The tech industry’s exploitation of low-paid female labourers, the semantic power of ‘rape,’ and sexual violence against women in the US military

ISIS is executing ‘educated women’ in a new wave of horror, says U.N.

The small miracle you haven’t heard about amid the carnage in Syria – bands of women-only militia are protecting the Kurdish population from ISIS, as well as challenging ideologies of male-domination: “While Americans may like the picture of sexy young women smiling while they kill IS soldiers, their official program verges on what Reddit might call ‘misandry.’”

“The semantic power of ‘rape'” How the act of simply naming rape for what it is (not excusing it as “rough sex,” or “something consensual but regretted”) creates change for the better.

The unspoken rates of sexual violence against women in the US military: “An estimated 26,000 rapes and sexual assaults took place in the armed forces last year…only 1 in 7 victims reported their attacks, and only 1 in 10 went to trial. ”

“The Ladies Vanish” It turns out that the ‘magical’ tech industry secretly depends on a massive amount of mechanical human labor performed by women for pennies.

“Thailand bucks the biological binary.” Thailand is currently rewriting its constitution to create an official third gender category for transgendered people.

On how feminism is expected to liberate EVERYTHING:

Indeed, of all social justice movements, feminism has become the only one that’s expected to sort out all the others while also sticking a broom up its arse and sweeping the floor as it goes along.

 

An American expatriate who fled to the wonderland of Canada, Susan Cox spends most of her time writing, reading, and cooking.

Got a great article you think should be included in What’s Current? Send it to Susan Cox: cox[dot]j[dot]susan[at]gmail[dot]com

Consider supporting our work with a donation!

Susan Cox

Susan Cox is a feminist writer and academic living in the United States. She teaches in Philosophy.