Catherine A. Traywick's Posts

David Fincher’s Girl with the Dragon Tattoo Comes to Life

I dreaded seeing David Fincher’s The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo. In particular, I dreaded sitting through another graphic rape scene like the one in Swedish director Niels Arden Oplev‘s 2009 version of the film–a scene I described in my review as disquieting, intense and vicious. Hollywood being Hollywood, I expected the American version  to take the disturbing material to a [...]

Preserving the Future

Indigenous women in the U.S. and Canada are taking on Big Oil — and winning. By Catherine Traywick “Most people don’t know what a subsistence way of life is,” says Faith Gemmill, an environmental activist from the Gwich’in territories in northern Alaska. “In other places, if you need anything you just go to the grocery [...]

Why Sexual Violence Against Latina Farmworkers is a Hate Crime

This week, two high-profile trials involving the racially motivated murders of Latinos in Pennsylvania and Arizona are exposing the unsettling implications of growing anti-immigrant sentiment. But while antagonistic political discourse and incendiary policy are shown to provoke ethnic violence—correlating with a 52 percent increase in hate crimes—they also indirectly drive sexual violence against immigrant women. [...]

Now YOU Can Experience Buying a Girl! (Don’t Worry—It’s for Charity!)

Today in totally misguided philanthropy, we have “The Girl Store,” a presumably well-intentioned girl empowerment project that—for some utterly illogical reason—masquerades as a child pornography site. Head on over to The Girl Store and you’ll be greeted by shaky footage of a disheveled Indian girl smiling bashfully as an unknown cameraperson pans up and down [...]

Filipina Feminists, Firebrands and Freedom Fighters

Type the word “Filipina” into Google and you’ll be inundated by a bounty of sleazy websites hocking mail- order brides, sex tours, and a host of other salacious services allegedly proffered by the “exotic” and “submissive” women of the Philippine Islands. But the country’s unsavory reputation as a one-stop sex shop for lecherous American and [...]

This Just In: How Women Are Faring in the Workplace

Women may have fared a bit better than men in job retention during the height of last year’s so-called “mancession,” but a new report reveals that women remain underpaid and underrecognized in the workplace—despite playing an increasingly crucial role in the U.S. economy. The report from the U.S. Congress’ Joint Economic Committee has the usual [...]

Defending the Rights of Detained Filipina Health Workers

When we enter the women’s ward of the sprawling, open-air prison complex, we are greeted by a flurry of yellow behind a thin wall of bars. The 23 women we have come to visit are already waiting, buzzing around a wooden table just outside of the cell they share, eager to embrace those among us [...]

Impunity for College Athletes Who Rape

Two Michigan State University basketball players accused of sexually assaulting a young woman in their dorm are off the hook, according to a report released by The Michigan Messenger. Many elements of the case are typical of campus acquaintance rape scenarios. The accused are college athletes and the assault allegedly occurred after a night of [...]

Feds Lied in Tribal Rape Case

A special report published yesterday by The Arizona Republic reveals how federal authorities lied to the public about catching a serial rapist on the Fort Apache reservation in Arizona—and sheds light on how the justice system is failing victims of violent crime on Indian reservations across the country. From 2005-2007, at least one serial rapist [...]

The Rape of “The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo”

It’s rare that a film centers on a feminist hero, and even more rare for such a film to meet with rave reviews. But the decidedly feminist Swedish film The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (based on the internationally bestselling book) drew critical acclaim when it premiered in the U.S. last month, unrated and under [...]

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