Responding to an ugly episode by Delta Kappa Epsilon, the Yale Daily News just barely avoids saying “boys will be boys” in an editorial dangerously dismissive of concerns about rape culture.

Written by Jodi Jacobson for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.

A Yale fraternity inducts pledges with a chant extolling rape culture. The problem isn’t that they repeatedly yelled something stupid. It’s that I’m no longer sure we’re shocked by people turning rape and sexual assault into some kind of a joke.

Written by Will Neville for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.

Minnesota Senator Al Franken has spent his time in office as a staunch advocate for women’s reproductive health.  And once more, he is proving he is a pro-woman senator.

Written by Robin Marty for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.

Haitian women, aided by women’s rights organizations, are banding together to protect themselves and all women in post-earthquake Hatii from sexual assault, rape and other forms of gender-based violence.

Written by Amie Newman for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.

On Tuesday, the Obama administration is scheduled to begin its first trial of a prisoner held at Guantanamo Bay. Omar Khadr was only 15 when he was captured in a firefight in 2002 with U.S. forces in Afghanistan. Now 23, he’ll finally have his day in court. Only instead of an experienced federal court with a long history of trying terror suspects, Khadr will be tried in a military commission, created just last year. In the eight years since President George W. Bush created the first military commissions at Guantanamo, they have convicted only four terrorists – only two in contested trials. Regular federal courts in the United States, by contrast, have convicted more than 400 in the same time period.

The radical right’s position of “no exceptions” for abortion is consistent with the view that women are chattel, their rights unimportant, and their bodies objects to be controlled by men and the state.

Written by Amanda Marcotte for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.

Israeli citizen, Sabbar Kashur goes by the name of Dudu. In Israel, Dudu is often a diminutive or nickname for David. The slimeball is married. Two years ago, he talked an Israeli woman into having sex with him. Both agree it was consensual.

The woman is Jewish. Dudu isn’t. She thought he was when they had consensual sex. When she found out he wasn’t Jewish, she went to the cops.

Dudu has now been convicted of rape.

There is an important amendment to the Wall Street reform bill that directly impacts this conflict, and it needs your attention right now. This vote will likely be done by the end of the week. This legislation is essential if we will address the conflict mineral trade — and it only requires transparency from companies; it does not require certification. This is an effort that industry can afford to make.

The Second Congo War, also called Africa’s World War, killed 5 million people between 1998 and 2003. It was the largest war in Africa’s history; it involved eight African nations and more than twenty armed militias. Although there was an agreement between the warring parties in 2003, the conflict continues in the eastrn region of the Democratic Republic of Congo. It continues because of the metal mines that the armed groups fight to control.

There is an action item at the end of this diary that will certainly help save lives and impact suffering: The Senate Financial Overhaul Bill contains a provision that requires companies that use targeted metals to annually report where they buy them. The House Financial Services Committee is reviewing the Senate bill during the next two weeks.

Horrific violence against civilians, The Congo.