Footballer's rape victim named and abused on twitter

Just when we thought the darkest and most putrid underbelly of human nature had shown itself via the moral rollercoaster that is social media, out crawls the saga of Ched Evans.

Sheffield United striker Ched Evans was convicted last week of raping a nineteen year old girl after the court ruled she was too drunk to consent. He was sentenced to five years in prison.


A high profile case that could have encouraged other rape victims to come forward has instead turned into a frenzied binge of victim blaming, that on the eve of St George’s day should leave us a nation hanging our heads in shame.

On the night of the attack, Evans and fellow footballer Clayton McDonald had seen the girl falling over in a kebab shop before McDonald took her back to his hotel room.

Whilst in the taxi on the way home, McDonald texted Evans to say he had “got a bird”.

McDonald was found not guilty of the same charge after the court decided he had sex with the girl consensually.

The girl woke the next morning naked and alone in the hotel room. It is thought the pair booked the room with the intention of procuring a woman for sex.

Other friends watched through the hotel window whilst Evans had sex with the victim, one man trying to film the incident on his mobile phone.

The jury heard that, as McDonald left the hotel, he told hotel reception staff: ‘You know that girl I was with? Keep an eye her. She’s sick."

Evans left the hotel through a fire escape shortly after raping the girl.
Following Evans’ sentence, no one could have anticipated the frenzied pantomime of hatred that would ensue.

Just a few hours after the court decision, hashtag #justiceforChed was trending on twitter.

For many people who were unconvinced about the seething reality of rape culture, this barrage of tweets left them in no doubt.

Evans’ team mate Connor Brown led the chorus of victim blaming with a series of tweets including ‘If ur a slag ur a slag don’t try get money from being a slag [sic]… Stupid girls… I feel sick.’

Some of the most repellent tweets have been recorded by one brave blogger on the Tumblr page ‘Little tweets of misogyny‘.

Here are a few of the tweets in question, just to give you a flavour:

‘Ched Evans doing what any other #lad would do’

‘Ched Evans jailed for 5 years the slag shouldn’t have gone back to the hotel room ruined career for a young lad #disgrace #womensworld’

‘I don’t believe this Ched Evans raped a girl at all, doesnt add up, he’s been stiched up by another fame hungry whore #ChedEvans’

But it was when some of Evans’ supporters began naming and abusing the victim openly on Twitter that the usual ‘freedom of speech’ defence of digital ugliness went out the window.

It is an offence in the UK to name rape victims who are granted life time anonymity.

North Wales police are gathering evidence and criminal action could be taken against the many tweeters who named the victim.

The campaign group End Violence Against Women said in a statement: “This raises serious questions about the adequacy of the criminal justice system to deal with offences that occur online and we are calling for an urgent review of laws and practices.”

For those supporters concerned that a rape conviction might damage Evans’ career prospects, they needn’t worry.

After the sentencing, the Professional Football Association honoured Evans by including him in the League One team of the season, a decision defended by its chief executive, Gordon Taylor, who said it was a “football decision not a moral decision”.

Five black women die needlessly every day from breast cancer in some US cities

In a country where access to health insurance can make the difference between life and death, mortality from curable illness is an uncomfortable reality. And the inequalities created by the health care system in America are stark.

A new study from the Sinai Urban Health Institute found that five black women die needlessly every day from breast cancer.


One of the most common forms of cancer for women, it has also become one of the most treatable in recent years.

One in nine women in the United States will develop breast cancer in her life time, but with early detection and good quality treatment, the outlook for women is very good.

So why are so many women still dying of this disease in one of the globe’s richest countries?

The 2012 Racial Disparity in Breast Cancer Mortality Study shows that societal factors are behind the differences in breast cancer mortality rates between white and black communities.

Genetics can only be blamed for a very small level of the disparity. Black women on low incomes are dying because they don’t have access to the information and treatment that could save their lives.

Researchers found that 21 of the 25 largest US cities have significant differences in breast cancer mortality rates between white and black women. In New York and Chicago, more than one black woman dies needlessly every week from the disease.

The findings paint a disturbing picture of a society where health outcomes and life chances are dramatically determined by ethnicity and economic status.

“Our research shows societal factors – not genetics – are largely to blame for the racial disparity in breast cancer mortality nationwide,” said Steve Whitman, one of the study’s lead authors.

“It’s incumbent on society to improve access to quality mammography and to ensure that breast cancer treatment is available to all women, including the under- and un-insured” he said.

The Sinai Urban Health Institute has issued a number of recommendations to address these shocking findings.

They recommend that all women, irrespective of their ethnicity or income, have access to high quality early detection screening and treatment. They also call for funded awareness raising programmes, giving all women access to the vital  information that could save their lives.

Fighting for the true meaning of Internnational Women's Day

When Houzan Mahmoud was 12 years old, her neighbour told her that if she didn’t wear a burka, she would be hung by her hair from a tree in hell.

Many years later, Mahmoud is still fighting against what she calls the ‘rotten social values’ entrenched in the Iraqi and Kurdish societies that are her home.

Speaking at a public meeting in London, Women Fight Back, to address the importance of International Women’s Day (IWD) in the UK and Middle East, Mahmoud added: ”I say to that neighbour: ‘I can’t wait for heaven or hell, I just want to live’.”

Speakers and the audience (made up almost equally between men and women) agreed that IWD had become de-politicised, to the point of becoming an insipid marketing device on a par with Valentine’s Day.

Mahmoud from the Organisation of Women’s Freedom in Iraq and Dibi Ali Kani from the Association in Support of Women in Iran both spoke about the issues confronting women fighting for their rights in the Middle East.

“There has been a mushrooming of women’s NGOs in Iraq, funded by occupation forces and the Government. But in Iraq we have polygamy, we have forced marriage, Sharia law.

“And these NGOs are leaving patriarchy and Islam unchallenged. Women’s organisations have been co-opted by the state and bureaucratised,” Mahmoud said.

With the overthrow of dictatorships and power hanging in the balance, women in the Arab world are fighting for basic rights against old forces of oppression and religious movements vying for political power.

“Part of the reason [for misogynistic attitudes] in Iraq and Kurdistan is local mullahs deliberately misinterpreting the Koran to men who don’t speak Arabic so can’t read it themselves.

“So the mullahs say, go home, beat your wives, it’s your right,” Mahmoud explained.

In Egypt, the Muslim Brotherhood is gaining prominence. Although they claim to support women’s liberation, under the dictatorship of Hosni Mubarak they voted against progressive reforms which they saw as conflicting with Islam.

When campaigning for women’s rights in Europe, Mahmoud often hears the argument that misogynistic policies like stoning, forced marriage and female genital mutilation are an inherent aspect of her culture.

She refuted this, saying: “We first had Sharia law under a British dictatorship. Leftist movements have been crushed by continual wars and occupations.
“Religious movements, that receive global support, are the only ones that survive under these conditions.”

Both Kani and Mahmoud pointed out, however, that the UK is far from achieving gender equality, pointing in particular to the pressure in the west which encourages women to compete against one another in terms of their looks.
Janine Booth, a  national executive member of the RMT transport union, lamented that as the rate of domestic violence (DV) increases in a recession-bound UK, the government is closing refuges, forcing women to remain in violent relationships.

An audience member who works for one of the UK’s largest women’s refuge providers said the government refused to accept DV as a class issue.
“But it is working class women who don’t have the resources to escape violence so they are often at much worse risk.”

It’s this social consciousness that must be reclaimed by IWD and the women’s movement, argued Booth.

“International Women’s Day has to return to its radical socialist roots, as a celebration of working class women and their struggles.”

Booth was the first woman elected to the London transport seat on the union’s executive, a reflection of the gender disparity that still exists in the trade union movement and the transport industry.

“Female workers on the London Underground are unsafe, harassed, paid badly.
“We need to campaign to get their rights recognised. International Women’s Day is a day for working women, not just professional women who want to break through the glass ceiling.”

As women across the world struggle for their rights in the face of intensifying poverty, gender violence, political upheaval and oppressive social values, the message from the meeting was clear – the women’s movement must fearlessly confront patriarchy and capitalism and refuse to be co-opted by dominant agendas.

Mahmoud summed up the mood of the meeting with this call to arms:
”We need an army of women on the streets, vocally breaking taboos and demanding for their rights. I can’t give up my freedom of speech now, even if I have to pay for it with my own body.”