Opinion, Sexism, Social Media

Peter Plays The Victim Blaming Game

I’m sure we all remember Jill Meagher, who was was raped and murdered by a serial, violent offender who was on parole. He had been charged with an assault but his parole was not immediately revoked. Meagher was one of 3 women attacked and killed in a 6 month period by men on parole in Victoria and her case, along with that of Sarah Cafferkey and Sharon Siermans, was one referenced by a coroner who said that Meagher’s rape and murder could have been prevented. Thankfully, since Ms Meagher’s murder in 2012, Victoria has reviewed and amended their system, making it much more difficult for violent offenders to be released on parole.

Over the last few days, there has been a number of articles published in the media about the fact that a tougher parole system for violent and sexual offenders could have saved Jill Meagher.  However, we can’t expect people to actually read and understand articles before sharing them, along with their insipid commentary, on social media.

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Feminism, Social Media

Online Dating: A Conversation from the Front Lines

These days, meeting someone online is the new “Can I buy you a drink?”

People often meet in person for the first time after exchanging messages, emails, texts and phone calls. It’s not at all uncommon to know quite a lot about a person well before the first date. This can be a good thing or a bad thing, depending entirely on the individuals. One thing is for certain; online dating and communicating is a useful way to weed out unsuitable partners before you’re too involved.

Jude is one of the many modern women using the online dating scene to seek out a suitable partner. Talking to them before deciding whether they meet has lead to some interesting conversations and realisations. As an independent, intelligent woman, she’s noticed that her reactions to what some men say to her don’t always coincide with the way she was socially conditioned to react to such things. Men who say certain things with the expectation of a certain response can get quite put out when they don’t get it. Angry, even. Having experienced this first hand, Jude decided to transcribe a conversation, recording what both parties said, but also including her thoughts vs. what she felt conditioned to think. The results were interesting!

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Laughs, Social Media

Wanna Send A Dick Pic? Don’t.

In this digital world, a lot of our first interactions with people are online.

In fact, that’s how I met my husband. That’s a story for another day but what I will tell you now is that he never, ever sent me a picture of his dick. That in itself made him stand out from the crowd. Although this was almost a decade ago now, unsolicited cock shots were still fairly common on dating sites, chat sites and so on.

I’ve never really understood the impulse to send these pictures. I mean, what’s the aim? Where I live, if you walked up to a woman and pulled out your willy, you’d be charged with obscene exposure and could even face prison, because it’s a sexual offence and that’s not cool. When you’re trying to chat someone up online, whether you’re looking for a bit of fun or a life partner, is a sexual offence really a good ice-breaker or way to secure a date?

ryan dick pic

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