More News

The UK now has specific legislation to try and prevent forced marriages. This includes the right to issue an injunction to prevent a young person being taken abroad and to force family members to disclose the location of a person who may be forced into marriage. Of interest is also the Conservative spokesperson’s woeful lack of knowledge in effectively claiming forced marriages weren’t already illegal in the UK – when, of course, they are. Never let a fact get in the way of political point scoring though…

A British man is being tried for raping his two daughters over a 25 year period and making them pregnant a combined total of at least nineteen times. The elder daughter has two surviving children and the younger daughter five surviving children. The man apparently “took pleasure” in the harm he was causing to his children.

Amazingly the sex industry has claimed lap dancing isn’t sexually stimulated (I am sure that will disappoint and deter many lap dancing clients). Simon Warr, Chair of the Lap Dancing Association made the claim to a Parliamentary Select Committee. Additionally worrying is Peter Stringfellow’s claim that “a little girl flashing away with her knickers showing” is sexually stimulating. So at least we know where he stands then.

Also in UK news, health professionals are concerned about the rise in young women diagnosed with STIs. By young, here, we’re talking under 20 years old. Scotland saw more than 3,000 STI infections in this age group in 2007 plus another 3,000 in females aged 20-24 years. Most diagnoses were for chlamydia (68% under 20s and 63% 20-24 year olds) followed by genital warts (37% under 20s and 30% 20-24 year olds). 70% of chlamydia diagnoses are to under 25s. This is against a background of rising STI infections in heterosexual men and women. Obviously this may be a sign that more young women are being tested for STIs but a rise in infection rate is worrying.

Kath Viner has a moving retrospective on Andrea Dworkin in the Guardian. And Jennifer Drew has a powerful story over at Global Sisterhood Network on Jeffrey Marsallis – a date rapist who evades punishment.

And in case anyone misses it in the comments on the Reclaim the Night write-up, here’s a low res video clip from a reader which give a much better sense of the excitement and energy of the march.