Quickies
Skepchick Quickies 2.25
- Rape victim was “inviting” so no jail for the rapist – “A convicted rapist will not go to jail because a Manitoba judge says the victim sent signals that “sex was in the air” through her suggestive attire and flirtatious conduct on the night of the attack.” From Madfishmonger.
- People too racist to understand how genetics work – That’s my chosen title change for this story about biracial fraternal twins. They scare the crap out of everyone because one has darker skin and looks more like her father and one has lighter skin and looks more like his mother. From Luciano.
- Humans are the world’s smelliest animals, study shows – “Humans turn out to be particularly smelly because odors are released from nearly every part of the body while other species living on us are simultaneously emitting odors too.” Understanding how our stink attracts mosquitoes could help prevent the spread of malaria. From Donnie.
- Indexed comic understands the vaccine-autism link
- Cute Animal Friday! Madfishmonger brings us the adorable mystery of Cluster Associative Theory. Anne shares the strangest dinosaur nickname ever: thunder thighs.
What I love about the twins story is that it includes a video titled “How can identical twins look different?” in which a man (a doctor? maybe?) explains how and why identical twins don’t always look exactly the same.
Of course, they’re *not* identical twins, which the article states explicitly.
Their PEDIATRICIAN asked if they were identical?!
Forget skin colour, they’re not even the same sex!
Two depressing stories to start off the day…
I was honestly surprised that rape case took place in Canada. Seems more like an American thing, blaming the victim. I guess we don’t have a monopoly on misogyny.
And the most shocking part of the twin story was that middle school which didn’t allow black students to run for class president until last year. Seriously, WTF?
Why are people so amazed by one in a million chances? Moreover why is it the doctor being so amazed at this, they should have at least some grasp of basic statistics.
As for the rape story that is just plain messed up.
Rape victim was “inviting” so no jail for the rapist – “A convicted rapist will not go to jail because a Manitoba judge says the victim sent signals that “sex was in the air” through her suggestive attire and flirtatious conduct on the night of the attack.”
So now a judge in Canada of all places has just legitimized blaming the victims of rape. That’s just sick.
@The Howling Fantods: Nope, the middle school had a rule that you had to be black to hold the office. Whites and mixed race non blacks were excluded from office before the rule was revoked.
Love the link title for the twins story. My favorite part: “Triniti has ebony-colored skin and all the classic dark features of an African American, but “Gabe,” as his parents call him, is ivory-white with steely blue eyes and blond hair.”
Now look at the photo. All I see is two obvious siblings who just have different eye and hair coloration. I don’t even think their skin colors are that different. Ebony? Really?
My own two children have remarkably similar facial features, but have different eye and hair color. People always say that my son looks like my husband and my daughter looks like me, but that is because they are only looking at eye and hair color. My kids actually look like each other, and not either parent. Which stands to reason as they are more genetically related to each other than they are to either parent.
@Damien: Perhaps the judge went to this Canadian Safety Presentation.
@SkepticalFlowers: That was my thought, they definitely look like siblings.
I don’t look like my brother at all, he looks like my parents and I don’t. I like to joke they found me on the doorstep but really, I think I just ended up looking more like my grandparents then my parents.
@James Fox: It still wouldn’t justify the ruling. Rape is not acceptable behavior, and this is still blaming the victim and letting the perpetrator go free.
@Damien: ??What?? I was merely being sarcastic and pointing out a similar incident of Canadian misogyny. I offered no opinion about the douche bag judge and his pathetic unconscionable ruling.
That judge is an amoral fucking sociopath. And I think any reasonable person should agree with that. Unfortunately, we don’t talk enough about what is and isn’t acceptable in sexual situations. We don’t talk enough about sex in the first place, but even when we do, ethics just never seems to come up (aside from “will baby Jesus cry if she touches you there?”).
I think consent should be the first thing talked about in any sex ed class. Even before “insert tab A in slot B”. Even before children know what constitutes sexual behavior, they should know that NOT participating in anything sexual is OK, and that it’s NOT OK to force anyone to participate in sexual contact of any kind.
@jtradke: I completely agree. I can’t believe that most sex ed doesn’t teach about consent. Sounds like that asshole judge could have used some education.
@James Fox:
Sorry about the misunderstanding, than. I thought you were defending the ruling. I didn’t realize you were being sarcastic.
Sexual assault/Rape is to consensual sex as Assault is to a fight in the ring.
The crux of the matter is consent.
If you’re sparring someone and leave the ring or throw in the towel (i.e. withdraw consent), that doesn’t mean the other fighter gets to chase you into the locker room to continue pummeling you just because you were okay to fight earlier.
Just in case someone doesn’t read the actual article or has low reading comprehension. The guy was convicted, “just” not sentenced to jail. The prosecution called for three years, he got a two year conditional sentence starting with one year of 24 hours curfew, and will go into the sex offenders register.
You have my permission to disagree with the sentence.
A follow-up on the rape story – http://www.winnipegfreepress.com/breakingnews/victim-this-is-beyond-sexist-116904078.html
There was a protest today demanding that the judge be disbarred. I wrote a letter to the editor of the paper that’ll get published sometime soon. This has stirred up a LOT of activism, and while I am disgusted by the judge’s decision, I am happy to see so many people fighting back.
Here’s more on the rally –
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/02/25/mb-rally-law-courts-sex-assault-sentence-winnipeg.html?sms_ss=facebook&at_xt=4d6803bfe9f4559e%2C1
I am going to look at cute animals to make me feel better.
Some good news – http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/story/2011/02/25/mb-dewar-comments-review-judicial-council-winnipeg.html
@Bjornar: I can’t tell if you are
(a) pointing out that even the judge thought him guilty of rape, which therefore makes the light sentence and the victim-blaming remarks all the more atrocious, or
(b) if you are suggesting that the judge shouldn’t be vilified when he at least convicted the rapist.
If (a), then I agree. If (b) then I strongly disagree.