Weekly round up

Hola feministas, happy Monday!

This week's links and bits and bobs. Feel free to use the comments as an open thread for discussion, or tell us of anything else we missed.

As usual, including a post here doesn't mean we endorse it, or even agree with it. It's just stuff that we've found noteworthy for one reason or another.

• Trust Law: "Female asylum seekers struggle against UK culture of disbelief"
• "Politically correct that!" - Vicky Brewster shoots down standard arguments against calling out something as offensive
• Unbelievably, the Dominique Strauss Kahn rape case is being used as the basis for a porn film
• Various comments on the impacts of the proposed changes to legal aid: Vera Baird writes to the Guardian, Equal and Diverse consultancy on their blog, and a video from the WI via Diana Barran of CAADA.
• "Feminism and abortion - the silent treatment" by Maria Lippett
• Women's Web: "Rape, responsibility and some questions" (trigger warning for description of a rape)
• Catie Watkins in The Independent blogs on the increase on females in comedy
• Julian Assange loses his appeal against extradition to Sweden to face rape charges, as reported by the Hindustan Times. Also, commenting on the case, Karin Olsson for The Guardian, and zarathustra for The Not So Big Society.
• Helen Lewis-Hasteley and Laurie Penny speak out about sexist abuse online
• The BBC reports that 96,000 allegations of abuse against vulnerable adults were made in the last reported year
• Gawker interviews two 40-something women who were not considered young or hot enough to work in a coffee shop
• The Guardian reports that a Turkish court has reduced the sentences of a group of men conviced of raping a 13-year old girl because she "consented".
• Exfashionista tell us what it's really like to claim Jobseekers Allowance
• Emanix explains on LiveJournal where her "I am not here for your entertainment" tweets came from
• Betty Wood for Diva Magazine on Marie Claire's 'Body Issue'
• Sarah Jackson on Comment is Free: "Feminism in the global south hasn't come from the north"
• Teresa May announces a mentor scheme targeted at female enterpreneurs
• Young girls in China used a secret language that men couldn't understand to communicate with one another
• The Institute of Education at the University of London is running a two-day conference on The Sexualisation of Culture
• "Women in Finance": The Guardian interviews 20 women in the sector about what it's like working in the City
• An interview with the Open Clasp Theatre Company, which works in the north east to produce theatre addressing issues relevant to women, young women and lesbians
• Acceptable Parity parodies a Harvard Business Review post on "Four Ways Women Stunt Their Careers Unintentionally"
• And finally, on a lighter note: "Women Struggling to Drink Water" is the new "Women laughing alone with Salad"

Have a great week!

Image courtesy of flickr user Kristjan Wager, used under a Creative Commons license. It shows a pavement stencil reading "feminism rocks" with a female gender symbol.

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