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It's Reassuring To See That Judges Who Blame Victims Aren't Always Getting Away With It

It outraged people everywhere when a judge let a rapist high-school teacher off with a 30-day sentence for raping a freshman student (a student who subsequently killed herself), saying that the victim "looked older than her chronological age." It outraged his bosses, too. They censured him, which is a public and official condemnation of his sentencing, and they also suspended him. While this super-short video may seem a bit uneventful (it is a court proceeding, after all), what it signals for rape culture is important and should be shared.

Identity

Celebrate International Women's Day with these stunning photos of female leaders changing the world

The portraits, taken by acclaimed photographer Nigel Barker, are part of CARE's "She Leads the World" campaign.

Images provided by CARE

Kadiatu (left), Zainab (right)

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Women are breaking down barriers every day. They are transforming the world into a more equitable place with every scientific discovery, athletic feat, social justice reform, artistic endeavor, leadership role, and community outreach project.

And while these breakthroughs are happening all the time, International Women’s Day (Mar 8) is when we can all take time to acknowledge the collective progress, and celebrate how “She Leads the World.

This year, CARE, a leading global humanitarian organization dedicated to empowering women and girls, is celebrating International Women’s Day through the power of portraiture. CARE partnered with high-profile photographer Nigel Barker, best known for his work on “America’s Next Top Model,” to capture breathtaking images of seven remarkable women who have prevailed over countless obstacles to become leaders within their communities.

“Mabinty, Isatu, Adama, and Kadiatu represent so many women around the world overcoming incredible obstacles to lead their communities,” said Michelle Nunn, President and CEO of CARE USA.

Barker’s bold portraits, as part of CARE’s “She Leads The World” campaign, not only elevate each woman’s story, but also shine a spotlight on how CARE programs helped them get to where they are today.

About the women:

Mabinty

international womens day, care.org

Mabinty is a businesswoman and a member of a CARE savings circle along with a group of other women. She buys and sells groundnuts, rice, and fuel. She and her husband have created such a successful enterprise that Mabinty volunteers her time as a teacher in the local school. She was the first woman to teach there, prompting a second woman to do so. Her fellow teachers and students look up to Mabinty as the leader and educator she is.

Kadiatu

international womens day, care.org

Kadiatu supports herself through a small business selling food. She also volunteers at a health clinic in the neighboring village where she is a nursing student. She tests for malaria, works with infants, and joins her fellow staff in dancing and singing with the women who visit the clinic. She aspires to become a full-time nurse so she can treat and cure people. Today, she leads by example and with ambition.

Isatu

international womens day, care.org

When Isatu was three months pregnant, her husband left her, seeking his fortune in the gold mines. Now Isatu makes her own way, buying and selling food to support her four children. It is a struggle, but Isatu is determined to be a part of her community and a provider for her kids. A single mother of four is nothing if not a leader.

Zainab

international womens day, care.org

Zainab is the Nurse in Charge at the Maternal Child Health Outpost in her community. She is the only nurse in the surrounding area, and so she is responsible for the pre-natal health of the community’s mothers-to-be and for the safe delivery of their babies. In a country with one of the world’s worst maternal death rates, Zainab has not lost a single mother. The community rallies around Zainab and the work she does. She describes the women who visit the clinic as sisters. That feeling is clearly mutual.

Adama

international womens day, care.org

Adama is something few women are - a kehkeh driver. A kehkeh is a three-wheeled motorcycle taxi, known elsewhere as a tuktuk. Working in the Kissy neighborhood of Freetown, Adama is the primary breadwinner for her family, including her son. She keeps her riders safe in other ways, too, by selling condoms. With HIV threatening to increase its spread, this is a vital service to the community.

Ya Yaebo

international womens day, care.org

“Ya” is a term of respect for older, accomplished women. Ya Yaebo has earned that title as head of her local farmers group. But there is much more than that. She started as a Village Savings and Loan Association member and began putting money into her business. There is the groundnut farm, her team buys and sells rice, and own their own oil processing machine. They even supply seeds to the Ministry of Agriculture. She has used her success to the benefit of people in need in her community and is a vocal advocate for educating girls, not having gone beyond grade seven herself.

On Monday, March 4, CARE will host an exhibition of photography in New York City featuring these portraits, kicking off the multi-day “She Leads the World Campaign.

Learn more, view the portraits, and join CARE’s International Women's Day "She Leads the World" celebration at CARE.org/sheleads.


Community

Inspiring update on man who was recognized by sentencing judge as a childhood friend


He broke down in tears when he recognized her and promised to not let her down.

Inspiring update on man who was recognized by judge in court


There isn't a single person past the age of infancy who has never made a mistake, and the majority of people do something that they're not proud of at least once in their lives. While some mistakes are bigger than others, they're all moments we'd rather keep to ourselves most of the time. For some people those mistakes are poor decisions or lapses in judgment that land them behind bars.

One man found himself facing a judge for sentencing after making poor choices. Arthur Booth had the entire internet weeping after a video of him went viral when the sentencing judge in court recognized him as one of her childhood friends. When Booth recognized the judge, he began to openly sob with embarrassment. He was ultimately sentenced to 10 months in prison and ordered to a drug rehabilitation center.

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Emily Vondy took to social media to show her attempt to psyche herself up for her period, and it's got people laughing. The woman appears to be standing in a mirror filming herself do a pep talk to prepare herself for her upcoming menstrual cycle. But it was honestly probably doing the opposite, though the song is clearly a bop.

"The average woman has about 450 periods in her lifetime, which adds up to ten years. Ten years of our lives will be spent menstruating and I don't want all those years to suck, so this is my attempt to gaslight myself into thinking my period is super cool," Vondy says to open the video.

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via Casey Kelley (used with permission) and Vince Fleming/Unsplash

Casey Kelley shares her thoughts on kids in travel sports.

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The topic was inspired by a conversation she had with other volleyball parents who agreed that every kid should get a decent amount of playing time.

“I’ll tell you what I think. I think, if you’re paying to be there, so it's not like high school sports, I think everyone should have the opportunity to play because this is a developmental league ... and they’re there to develop and to learn,” she explained in a TikTok video.

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Representative Image from Canva

We really are just making up words as we go along, aren't we?

Look, maybe it’s just because I’m no longer in the young crowd, but does it seem like we get new, confusing slang at an exponentially faster rate than before? Just when we finally decipher words likerizz and no cap, now there’s mewing and gyat to contend with. And this is coming from someone without children. I can only imagine how out-of-the-loop parents and teachers must feel.

That is, unless you’re Sam Salem, an eighth-grade substitute teacher who decided to take linguistic matters into his own hands by creating his own “Gen Z slang.”

Salem, who travels around the country doing comedy shows when not “facing his toughest audiences- classrooms full of Gen Z kids,” recently posted a series of videos to his TikTok sharing a truly diabolical plan to not only use made-up “Gen Z-sounding slang words,” but “gaslighting” his students into thinking they’re real.

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Pop Culture

Cruel meme about time has Gen X feeling 'dazed and confused'

Uh, there's no way this math is right. Right? [Grabs calculator.]

Photo (left) by Oskars Sylwan on Unsplash, Photo (right) by Taylor Flowe on Unsplash

The difference between 1976 and 1993 felt like ages.

The "forgotten generation" has hit peak mid-life crisis time, as Gen Xers find themselves careening through their 40s and 50s. And like presumably every generation before them, they're reeling a bit, asking, "How did I get here already?" as they pluck gray hairs out of weird places, send kids off to college and obsessively check their retirement accounts.

And now a meme that hits right at the heart of that crisis has Gen Xers feeling even more dazed. One might even say…confused.

In cruel bit of calculation, X user @AZNotoriousJPG shared a screenshot image from the cult classic "Dazed and Confused" with this caption:

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Family

Teacher goes viral after sharing signs of 'subtle bullying' she sees in her classroom

These behaviors might be harder to spot, but just as important to stop in their tracks.

@stillateacher/TikTok

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When we think of bullying, we might first picture wedgies, dunking heads in toilets, stuffing folks in lockers…the kind of stuff you’d see in virtually every kid’s movie in the 90s.

But in real life, bullying can be much more insidious.

Ms. C, a teacher who previously went viral for sharing the high school cliques that have endured the test of time, recently coined a term for this type of behavior, which she called “subtle bullying,” and explained what it might look like in a classroom.
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