Did everyone have a good weekend? Yes? No? Wait, what day is this? Here are some exciting tidbits you may have missed while you were weekending:
First, let's get this really depressing new study out of the way, because it can only get better from here:
An estimated 19.3 percent of women have been raped at one point in their lives. That's according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which Friday released results from a 2011 survey .
And don't worry, Mens Rights Activists, the REAL rape problem that no one ever talks about, even though it is the REAL problem, is addressed as well:
Additionally, nearly 2 percent of men have been raped; nearly 44 percent of women and 23 percent of men have experienced some other form of sexual violence; and 15 percent of women and nearly 6 percent have men have been stalked.
Now step away from the ledge because here is some awesome news to make your face smile:
And the whole interview is definitely worth reading, if you are a Margaret Atwood and/orThe Handmaid's Talefan, which you should be, so get on that.‘The way the Republicans have been behaving in the United States lately has given The Handmaid’s Tale a whole new lease of life,’ she says.
‘Quite shocking things came out of their mouths during the last election – like if a woman didn’t want to get pregnant she wouldn’t. It is unbelievable.
‘Just look around the world,’ she continues.
‘In Turkey, the deputy Prime Minister is ordering women not to laugh, and the coverage of Kate and baby George is really about, “Is she a good mother? Is she measuring up?”
'The world has always been full of people telling women what to do. Why are we surprised?’
Because this round-up of news you can maybe use has somehow accidentally turned into an exercise in misandry (yeah, yeah, #NotAllMen, whatEVER), definitely have yourself an evil misandrist cackle at this Taxonomy of Mansplainers :
This type of man is absolutely certain that he, as someone who cares about feminism, knows what will and will not help feminists. His mission is to police women everywhere, to make sure they don’t do something that might Hurt Feminism.
The Bush family sure has the market cornered on daddy issues. Also, being super S-M-R-T :
George W. Bush’s daughter Jenna is one of the better-known names on the Independence Party's voter rolls in New York.
But she never meant to join.
Like financial reporter Maria Bartiromo and News Corp. boss Rupert Murdoch before her, Jenna Bush Hager mistakenly signed up with the Independence Party when she meant to declare herself an independent. [...]
Records show her twin sister, Barbara, is registered to vote in Texas as unaffiliated with any party. The twins told People magazine in 2010 that they preferred to avoid the label Republican or Democrat.
Oregon's upcoming vote on whether to legalize marijuana has generated a name-calling dispute between a congressman who wants to overhaul federal marijuana policy and a prominent district attorney who has been speaking out about the dangers of pot.
This looks awesome! And by awesome we mean terrible, obviously:
Fox’s Utopia isn’t just another reality show, says the producers! It’s a brand new way to examine and challenge the fundamental principles of human society!
Fuck you, says the contestants. We know exactly where we are.
Apparently the people behindUtopiaare shocked—SHOCKED—that the participants in a reality show where people in a wilderness camp and asked to rebuild a working society would behave exactly like reality show participants in any other situation. They’re immediately forming alliances and backstabbing each other for power and position, just likeSurvivorandBig Brotherand all the others. I guess at least one of them has watched TV before.
If you can't get enough sportsball in your sportsball season, this massive blogtome from Fresno Bee reporter George Hostette should keep you busy:
Did he know from the start that “The 1968 Fresno City College-College of the Sequoias football feud” would be a massive project?
“I didn’t know it would be 105,000 words, but I thought it might be 75,000.”
Brain-to-brain verbal communication in humans achieved for the first time
Now it's your turn to tell us what's got you laughing and/or crying. You can share your thoughts in the comments, which we do not allow, or just use science to communicate it to our brains!
That will only hurt your hand.
Direct brain communication over the internets-- someday, you WILL be able to slap someone online!