What’s Current: Thousands of women protest male violence and femicide in South Africa

Image: Twitter/MarthaPuth

  • Thousands of women took to the streets in South Africa yesterday to protest violence against women and demand an adequate state response. The femicide rate in the country is five times more than the global rate.
  • According to a new report, Tokyo Medical University has been lowering the entrance exam scores of female applicants in order to limit the number of female medical students it accepts.
  • In Brazil, Debora Deniz, a law professor and pro-choice activist, has been assigned round-the-clock bodyguards in advance of her Supreme Court testimony in favour of legalizing abortion.
  • On Tuesday, Dustin Duthie was arrested and charged with the murder of his girlfriend Taylor Toller in Calgary. Duthie was also charged with the murders of his mother, Shawn Boshuck, and his stepfather, Alan Pennylegion.
  • Fernando Magaz Negrete, an employee at a shelter for immigrant children in Phoenix, has been arrested for sexually abusing a 14-year-old girl who was being held at the facility. Negrete has been charged with molestation of a child, sexual abuse, and aggravated assault.
  • The US Food and Drug Administration announced that it has issued warnings to companies that are promoting the use of laser devices for “vaginal rejuvenation.”

“These products have serious risks and don’t have adequate evidence to support their use for these purposes,” said Dr. Scott Gottlieb, the F.D.A. commissioner. “We are deeply concerned women are being harmed.”

Lisa Steacy

Lisa Steacy is an Assistant Editor at Feminist Current. She has a B.A. in Women & Gender Studies from the University of Toronto. However, the women she met in her five years as a frontline worker and collective member with Vancouver Rape Relief & Women’s Shelter deserve almost all of the credit for her feminist education. She lives in Vancouver with her partner and their cats.