What’s Current: Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Toni Morrison passes away at 88

  • Trailblazing author Toni Morrison passed away at 88. The Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist was the first black woman to be awarded the Nobel Prize for literature.
  • A British teenager facing trial in Cyprus on charges of falsely claiming she was gang raped by 12 Israelis says she was forced to retract the allegations by local police. The 19-year-old was arrested last week and charged with “public mischief” — an offence that carries a prison term of up to a year.
  • A study conducted by the mayor’s office of London found that only three per cent of rape allegations in the city result in a conviction. While 84 per cent of allegations were classified as a crime by the police, in 58 per cent of cases the victim withdrew the allegation. 
  • Dartmouth College has reached a $14.4 million settlement with nine former students who accused their professors of sexual assault and harassment.
  • A study from Johns Hopkins suggests cumulative daily stress disproportionately impacts women’s cognitive function over time. Elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol may explain why women are twice as likely as men to suffer from Alzheimer’s. 
Genevieve Gluck

Genevieve Gluck is a writer and advocate for women's sex-based rights and creator of Women's Voices, an audio library dedicated to bringing awareness to feminist texts and speeches.