Harassment

– “Under this system, WAM! escalates the reports they receive to Twitter, collecting detailed data about Twitter’s responses to those reports. Once the program is out of its pilot stage, WAM! promises sit down with Twitter in order to “improve their responses” to gendered harassment.” If Twitter Won’t Handle Its Massive Harassment Problem, These Women Will (via @SLAwrites)

– “Australians were outraged after discovering Blanc, a so-called “date coach”, was holding seminars to teach men how to “pick up” women using physical force and emotional abuse.” US ‘pick-up artist’ Julien Blanc forced to leave Australia after visa cancelled (h/t @JShahryar)

Criminal Justice

– ‘The investigation by the Medill Innocence Project, she said, “involved a series of alarming tactics that were not only coercive and absolutely unacceptable by law enforcement standards, they were potentially in violation of Mr. Simon’s constitutionally protected rights.”‘ Duped by Medill Innocence Project, Milwaukee man now free (h/t @sarahjeong)

Sexism

– “There had to have been at least one young lady in that room who had been the victim of sexual assault who had not reported it,” Rev. James Thomas, whose son is a junior at Lincoln, told the Inquirer, “and there was nothing that was said by the president that would have given any comfort.” College president: Women lie about rape when sex doesn’t “turn out the way they wanted” (via @Slate)

– “At issue is whether pregnant workers should be afforded the same type of legal protections as disabled workers who would be allowed special accommodations that would allow them to do their jobs.” Democrats denied a proxy vote to a pregnant congresswoman. Here’s the issue. (h/t @scATX)

Trans Rights

– “According to medical experts on this issue, the assumption that a transgender girl or woman competing on a women’s team would have a competitive advantage outside the range of performance and competitive advantage or disadvantage that already exists among female athletes is not supported by evidence.” Heroes, Martyrs and Myths: The Battle for the Rights of Transgender Athletes (via @ParkerMolloy)

Health Care

– “On Jan. 1 this year, I started on the Obamacare insurance. I now pay just $126 a month for insurance; a federal government subsidy covers the rest. If we had to cover the full cost of our health care, we would have just $574 left each month for all of our other expenses, including food and medicines. Without Obamacare, I would have died. I’m scared the Supreme Court is going to gut the part that saved me. (via @drgrist)

– “Correspondents say all the women came from very poor families. Those who survived are receiving treatment in three different hospitals in the district.” Indian botched sterilisations kill nine women in Chhattisgarh (h/t @ClinicEscort)

Policing

– ‘The document says Brown’s killing and force used by police officers during protests that followed the killing “represent violations of the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.”‘ Michael Brown’s parents address U.N.: ‘We need the world to know’ (h/t @roqchams)

– “This increase sounds notable, but the underlying data continues to be nearly useless. As we outlined in the wake of Michael Brown’s death in August, the FBI’s UCR program undercounts what it classifies as justifiable police homicides (while skirting the issue of non-justifiable homicides), and should not be considered a useful estimate.” Reminder: The FBI’s ‘Police Homicide’ Count Is Wrong (via @FiveThirtyEight)

Parenting

– “In America, today’s parents have inherited expectations they can no longer afford.The vigilant standards of the helicopter parents from the baby boomer generation have become defined as mainstream practice, but they require money that the average household earning $53,891 per year— and struggling to survive in an economy in its seventh year of illusory “recovery”— does not have.” How baby boomers ruined parenting forever (via @SarahKendzior)

Racism

– “It could be that the head of the police union wants me to stop working to raise the standards of police culture and accountability. It could be that he objects to the community policing and relationship-building measures that I am acting on, and attempted to use this non-story to discredit this work. I share the public’s speculation that this is the real option.” #pointergate (via @MayorHodges)

Racism

– “The judge brought Arpaio and his Chief Deputy Jerry Sheridan into court after learning that Sheridan told deputies that the federal court order was “absurd” and “ludicrous,” an assessment that Arpaio had agreed with.” Federal Judge Orders Sheriff Joe Arpaio To Undergo Racial Profiling Training (via @ThinkProgress)

– “But Navell happens to be a young black man, a fact that must have something to with what happened next: Newscasters at KSTP, the local ABC affiliate, took the innocuous photo and quickly warped it into an exclusive report accusing Hodges of “posing with a convicted felon while flashing a known gang sign” and thereby instigating violence in their fair city.”  Pointergate: This Week’s Most Racist Local News Story (via @MotherJones)

Sexism

– “A campaign organized by the women’s group Georgette Sand found that products such as shampoo and razors that are advertised as “female” cost more than identical products marketed to men.” France To Investigate ‘The Invisible Women’s Tax’ (via @ThinkProgress)

– “But while the men’s World Cup was played entirely on natural grass, FIFA has decided to stand with the Canadian organizers who have cited weather concerns to justify their turf-only cup.” FIFA Denies Women’s World Cup Players an Equal Playing Field—Literally (via @EdgeofSports)

Eugenics

– “Blackmon is among the more than 7,000 people in North Carolina — many poor, many African-American, many disabled — who were sterilized between 1929 and 1976 in one of the country’s most aggressive eugenics programs.” Payments Start For N.C. Eugenics Victims, But Many Won’t Qualify

Abuse and Harassment

– “Having said all of this, given what Dunham has written, I think she would have been indicated for sexual abuse for the masturbation incident.  I don’t think, however, that she is a child sexual abuser in the classic sense, meaning that I don’t think she’d go out and abuse a child today.” Is Lena Dunham a Sexual Abuser? (h/t @AngryBlackLady)

– “I’m more concerned at the moment with Dunham’s decision to publish them, and what that says about her respect for consent and agency right now.” On Lena Dunham and Consent (via @Shakestweetz)

– “These humorous tweets further the conversation on street harassment by showing just how strange it would be if men said these things to other men walking by.” #DudesGreetingDudes Hilariously Proves Catcalling Isn’t ‘Just A Compliment’ (via @HuffingtonPost)

Health Care

– “There are many, many people who are trying to keep something like life going for so many tragically affected people,” Dr. Faden said. “You’d be hard pressed to argue why they might be treated differently.” Treating Those Treating Ebola in Liberia (via @SheriFink)

Rape

– “But for me? I have enough shit to do. Why the fuck should some asshole cruise along being a total fucking creepy piece of shit and now I have to change my whole life? And give my NAME to all you internet douchebags and rape apologists? No thank you.” I Didn’t Report Because Fuck You (h/t @JessicaValenti)

Policing and Incarceration

– ” It also expands notions of criminality at a time when the criminal-justice system is regularly committing horrific acts of race- and class-biased violence.” ‘Yes Means Yes’ Is a Bad Coupling of Feminism and the State (h/t @ChiefElk)

– “Rather than spend money on mass incarceration, this proposal will reinvest the savings in education, which will provide youth with an opportunity for a better future and can keep young adults out of jail.” This could start to topple systematic racism. And it starts on Tuesday in California. (via @RachelLive)

– “While men are certainly responsible for their personal behavior, a law against street harassment would, in practice, randomly punish a select few individuals in the name of redressing a vast and systemic problem.” No, We Don’t Need a Law Against Catcalling (h/t @ChiefElk)

Body

– “It’s an aggressively entrenched paradigm that I’ve only recently managed to excise from my own psyche – me, the feminist killjoy shrew – so I really can’t begrudge anyone that initial reaction. But, every time, the subtext is clear: you are reaching above your station, fat lady.” Why I Can’t Wait To Be a Fat Bride (via @TheLindyWest)

Sex

– “Fuck first is one of my rules—and it’s not even a rule. It’s a suggestion. I encourage couples to “fuck first” on Valentine’s Day, wedding days, and anniversaries.” Should the Duggar Girls #FuckFirst? (via @FakeDanSavage)

Reproduction

– “Q: How are you going to feel knowing that your womb is a barren wasteland? A: Relieved!” My Fallopian Tubes (h/t @nothavingababy)

Policing

– “The colleague upbraided him for violating a citizen’s privacy, contacted a commanding officer, and arranged for Harrington’s arrest on felony charges. I kid, of course. The colleague actually complained that the photo wasn’t more explicit.” California Can’t Police Its Own Cops Stealing Nude Photos of Women (h/t @conor64)

Health

– “Duncan’s relatives say they also sought to have him sent to Emory University, one of the specialized hospitals. Duncan’s medical records suggest he was still strong enough several days into his hospitalization to walk around his room, sip Sprite and watch an action movie.” Could more have been done for Thomas Eric Duncan? (via @AP)

– “Even some of the seemingly boilerplate language used to describe Duncan was fraught with accusatory rhetoric. He was the man who, we read everywhere, “brought Ebola to America.” There is an insinuation of intentionality, one that is embedded in the very grammar of the phrase. And his identity was thereby changed from a man who suffers from a disease to the potential infector of an entire nation.” Why are some Ebola patients portrayed as criminals, others as heroes? (via @slate)

– “He uses Twitter throughout the day to make note of the details he isn’t likely to remember tomorrow: What he was reading about, what kind of coffee he ordered, who he spoke to. Even the details of his sex life, which he tweets about in Korean to avoid embarrassing over-the-shoulder moments.” This Man Uses Twitter To Augment His Damaged Memory (h/t @RebeccaSkloot)

Sexism

– “The idea that regret is, in and of itself, a reason to legally constrain women’s actions is conceptually flawed, paternalistic and degrading. It’s grounded in age-old sexist nonsense about women needing choices to be made for us, as unreasonable, feeble-minded creatures who need protection from the dangers we pose to ourselves.” (Hoping that) Women Hurt: regret as a tool of advocacy (h/t @melissagira)

– “For winning this year’s World Cup in Brazil, Germany received more than £21m more than Japan’s women did after they were crowned world champions in 2011.” Men get more prize money than women in 30% of sports (via @BBCsport)

– “That said, I’m pretty understandably confused by how Che gave himself the right to joke about catcalling. I’m confused, and I’m pissed off — because, seriously, how did the impact of that video fly so over his head?” SNL Star Michael Che’s Joke About Street Harassment is Offensive to Every Single Woman & Here’s Why

– “Yeah, well. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: if I was harassed, assaulted, if I was flat-out raped, I would not go to the police. Not unless I wore clear scars from it, not unless I was bloodied or scraped. Even then, only if it was a stranger.” Do You Know About Jian (h/t @stavvers)

Intelligence

– “They believed the ex-Nazis’ intelligence value against the Russians outweighed what one official called “moral lapses” in their service to the Third Reich.” In Cold War, U.S. Spy Agencies Used 1,000 Nazis (h/t @mtracey)

Religion

– “The suit makes several arguments claiming that “representatives of atheist organizations” should have the same right to solemnize marriages that ordained ministers have.” Minnesota Atheists Sue For Right To Perform Marriages Just Like Ordained Ministers (via @ThinkProgress)

Family

– “5. What’s Your Legacy Going to Be? About the same as yours: nothing. Fifty years after we die, no one will remember us. Be honest: How much do you know about your great-grandparents? Unless you’re famous or infamous, you’ll be nothing more than an entry on Ancestry.com.” 10 Dumb Things People Say When They Find Out I Don’t Have (And Never Want) Children (h/t @nothavingababy)