What’s Current: UC Santa Barbara students launch witch hunt against feminist instructor

  • Students at the University of California Santa Barbara have launched a smear campaign against Laura Tanner, an instructor in the Feminist Studies department on account of her analysis of sex, gender, violence against women, and prostitution under patriarchy. Numerous students are working to have her fired and some have advocated violence against Tanner. The Feminist Studies department has replied with the following statement:

  • In his closing arguments to the judge who will determine whether Canada’s laws criminalizing the exploitation of women in prostitution violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, Michael Carnegie argued that “the court is compelled to consider the greater good or the public good,” adding:

“The victims of prostitution are not just the sellers, but also children exposed to prostitution. Society itself is harmed by the commodification of sexual services.”

  • An Australian study finds that social housing landlords are evicting low-income women who suffer abuse from their male partners on the basis that this violence constitutes a “nuisance” breach under existing tenancy laws.
  • The Saudi government is tracking down women who flee the country via their cellphones.
Meghan Murphy

Founder & Editor

Meghan Murphy is a freelance writer and journalist from Vancouver, BC. She has been podcasting and writing about feminism since 2010 and has published work in numerous national and international publications, including The Spectator, UnHerd, Quillette, the CBC, New Statesman, Vice, Al Jazeera, The Globe and Mail, and more. Meghan completed a Masters degree in the department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies at Simon Fraser University in 2012 and is now exiled in Mexico with her very photogenic dog.