What’s Current: Bill decriminalizing domestic violence in Russia passes first reading

Image: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images
Image: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV/AFP/Getty Images

Russia moves to decriminalize domestic violence in order to preserve “tradition of parental authority.” The bill, which passed first reading in Russia’s Lower House on Wednesday, would remove the charge of “battery within families” from Russia’s Criminal Code, downgrading it to misdemeanor punishable by fine.

“According to Russian government statistics, around 40 per cent of all violent crimes are committed within families. 36,000 women are assaulted by their partners every day, and 26,000 children are attacked by their parents every year.”

Facebook consistently refuses to remove content exploiting women and girls: Police still haven’t been able to convince the social media company to take down a video of an abused 12-year-old’s suicide.

When Backpage peddles school girls for sex.

“A devastating new subcommittee report shows that the company protects pimps from their carelessness by deleting hints that a girl is underage. For example, if a pimp tries to post an ad for a ‘Lolita,’ ‘little girl,’ ‘school girl’ or ‘amber alert,’ those terms are automatically stripped from the ad — but it is still posted, so the girl will still be sold for sex.

One Backpage document indicated that by 2010, more than 70 percent of its ads in the adult section were being edited like that, suggesting that the company was far more involved in manipulating content than it ever let on.”

Lierre Keith on sexuality, power, and pornography: A talk from Vancouver Rape Relief’s Montreal Massacre Memorial in December.

Daniel Heath Justice resigns from UBC sexual assault committee after the school reinstated John Furlong as a speaker at an upcoming fundraiser.

Susan Cox

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