Just Jack Embers

Thu, 03 Dec 2009 04:01:30 +0100

Just Jack Embers

Why the hipster must die - Time Out New York

Mon, 16 Nov 2009 02:52:10 +0100

Why the hipster must die - Time Out New York

Photo stolen from Marcey

Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:54:00 +0100

Photo stolen from Marcey

Two decades of clubbing in Berlin, city of the night | The Observer

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 11:55:06 +0200

Two decades of clubbing in Berlin, city of the night | The Observer

Surfacing - A Berlin Hub’s Arty Spinoff - NYTimes.com

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 11:11:00 +0200

Surfacing - A Berlin Hub’s Arty Spinoff - NYTimes.com

tloenuqbar: Sam and I made some new friends last night. That’s...

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:58:17 +0200

tloenuqbar:

Sam and I made some new friends last night. That’s the best way to get rid of your enemies, right?

"Der Sommer kam und Berlin war der schönste Platz auf Erden. Wir hatten das Gefühl im Mittelpunkt der..."

Tue, 22 Sep 2009 09:02:35 +0200

“Der Sommer kam und Berlin war der schönste Platz auf Erden. Wir hatten das Gefühl im Mittelpunkt der Welt zu stehn. Dort wo sich endlich was bewegte. Und wir bewegten uns mit.”

- Goodbye Lenin

Animal Collective My Girls

Fri, 28 Aug 2009 15:06:44 +0200

Animal Collective My Girls

Photo

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 18:19:46 +0200

The Opening

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:49:00 +0200

The Opening

The Press

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:49:00 +0200

The Press

The Afterparty

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 18:48:23 +0200

The Afterparty

KW’s Hotel Marienbad

Mon, 24 Aug 2009 16:06:00 +0200

KW’s Hotel Marienbad

Photo

Wed, 12 Aug 2009 17:24:37 +0200

Woman Married to Berlin Wall for 29 Years

Tue, 11 Aug 2009 16:09:56 +0200

Woman Married to Berlin Wall for 29 Years

shootsandladders: berlin’s so fucking wierd, i fucking love it

Mon, 03 Aug 2009 17:08:17 +0200

shootsandladders:

berlin’s so fucking wierd, i fucking love it

More Common Than Cancer: The Sexual Abuse Of Kids Has Gotta Stop. By Hank Shaw SO THERE I...

Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:27:58 +0200

More Common Than Cancer:

The Sexual Abuse Of Kids

Has Gotta Stop.

By Hank Shaw

SO THERE I AM, tooling along on page 2 of this gummint report, when all of a sudden these words hit me like a Mike Tyson gut-punch out of the blue.

“Most disturbing is that one of every seven victims of sexual assault (or 14% of all victims) reported to law enforcement agencies were under age 6.”

My eyes search for typos. Then I put down the report and walk around outside for a minute, because I want to give that particular sentence the chance to reconsider. When I sit down again, the words are still there, bunkered down on the page, refusing to move.

14% of sexual assault victims are under age 6??!!

I grab the calculator. According to the National Violence Against Women Survey, which was co-funded by the U.S. Department of Justice and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, about 300,000 women are raped each year. Take 14% of that, and you get—are you ready for this?—42,000 girls who are raped before they hit second grade every year!!!!

WHUMMMMFFFF!!!!

I’ve read a lot of horror stories since I started looking into the issue of men’s violence against women. But this one bit of research prose is enough to make me re-process lunch.

I glance out the window at the kids playing in the neighborhood. I think of the girls in my son’s kindergarten class a few years ago. I summon up some Kodak moments of my seven nieces. And then I close the cover on this report. And I sit there, dumbfounded.

If this report is on the money…if my crude number-crunching is within walking distance of the proverbial ballpark…there’s only one thing to say:

I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE NOT TALKING MORE ABOUT THIS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

A little background here. When you decide that you’re going to play a cameo in the growing, worldwide movement to end men’s violence against women, you end up with some odd titles on your summer reading list. Like Sexual Assault of Young Children as Reported to Law Enforcement.

This brief, 14-page report—published by the DOJ’s Bureau of Justice Statistics in July, 2000—does something no other crime-related government survey has been able to do: Get the big picture on sexual assaults involving kids as young as six.

Before this report came out, a number of studies and surveys figured out that about two-thirds of all the rapes and sexual assaults in this country are committed against girls 18 and under. Some even estimate that 20% to 50% of assaults brutalize girls 12 and under.

But the Sexual Assault of Young Children—which is based on more than 60,000 sexual assaults reported to law enforcement officials in 12 states during 1991-1996—provides the first in-depth look at crimes committed against the youngest of children.

Here are some other findings from this nauseating study:

● In cases involving kids six and under, almost half of the offenders were family members. (Most of the other offenders knew the children; strangers were involved in only 3% of the cases.)

● Most of the victims are girls, but a third in the under-6 age group are boys.

● Almost all of the offenders—96%—are male, regardless of whether the crime is committed against girls or boys.

● Assaults against the youngest victims were the “least likely of juvenile victimizations to result in arrest”.

OK. NOW YOU’VE GOT SOME LATE-BREAKING INFO on the subject. But let’s face it. This report begs some very big questions. Like what goes through the mind of a dad or step-dad or uncle or grandfather or close family friend or coach or babysitter or pastor or neighbor who sexually assaults a kid?

To get the answer, I contacted Rochelle Hanson, the coordinator for the Child Family Clinic at the National Crime Victims Research and Treatment Center in Charleston, S.C. The Center is a program of the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina.

“The offender in these crimes is someone who has authority and power over the child. It’s someone the child has to capitulate to,” said Rochelle, who’s also a Ph.D. and Assistant Professor at the University. “But ‘why do they do it?’ That’s the million-dollar question.

“Some are true pedophiles preying on children. For some, it’s an issue of power and control. And for some it’s just accessibility. They have access to the child and think they can get away with it. Alcohol sometimes plays a role, too.”

But do these guys realize what a horrendous crime they’re committing? I asked.

“Some see it as a serious crime and try to get treatment,” Rochelle continued. “Some don’t. There’s a lot of denial. And there’s a high recidivism rate. Some offenders even blame the children by saying, ‘She came on to me.’”

I ALSO ASKED ROCHELLE ABOUT ANOTHER FIRE- ALARM FACT I had seen in some research: Childhood sexual abuse isn’t a onetime crime.

“That’s right, “ she said. “Many of these assaults are part of a series rather than being a single incident. They’re repeat crimes. The abuse can go on for years. And very few of the assaults are reported to law enforcement officials. It’s a crime of secrecy.”

And what happens to the children? Rochelle recited the long list of physical and psychological problems that can occur: substance abuse, major depression, PostTraumatic Stress Disorder, gynecological problems.

Other reports have linked childhood sexual abuse to prostitution, high dropout and suicide rates and other problems.

No question about it. Childhood sexual abuse can mess up a child’s life for years to come. Some never recover. But Rochelle makes the point that not every child who lives through this horrifying experience is “doomed”

Some are remarkably resilient. Some recover with help from treatment. And one of the things that can make a big difference in the prospects for these abused children is whether or not they’re BELIEVED.

“If they tell someone and they’re believed and supported,” Rochelle said, “that’s really the best way to help a child. Denial makes everything worse.”

ACCORDING TO ROCHELLE, WE’VE MADE PROGRESS in dealing with this issue. Most schools now have abuse prevention programs. And attitudes among the public have changed, too.

“Twenty years ago, most people didn’t really believe that adults sexually abused children,” she said.

But she added that we need a lot more funding for treatment and research and education and prevention efforts if we’re ever going to end the sexual abuse of children in this country. “The problem is out there. And it’s more prevalent than we think,” she said. “Childhood abuse is more common than cancer among kids.”

Think about it. More common than cancer. And don’t forget my little exercise in number-crunching, which suggests there may be as many as 42,000 rape victims under the age of six every year (a figure Rochelle found plausible, by the way).

That’s a Vietnam-sized national disaster happening every year. And it’s time for guys to start talking more about it…and taking action.

SPEAKING OF WHICH, HERE’S A SUGGESTION: Print out this article and put it in the hands of your local religious, community and media leaders. From my point of view, just getting this issue on the radar is a step in the right direction.

Thanks for listening.

P.S. According to Rochelle, a study of childhood rapes found that 16% of the offenders were fathers or stepfathers. The U. S. Surgeon General cites a more recent study (1996) that found that “a parent or parent substitute” was the offender in 25% of childhood sexual abuse cases. DOUBLE-WHUMMMMFFFF!!!!

New study says feminists aren't manhaters after all... but non-feminists might be

Thu, 30 Jul 2009 21:45:27 +0200

New study says feminists aren't manhaters after all... but non-feminists might be :

“Our work finds that, indeed, non-feminists believe in traditional gender roles such as men being breadwinners and women being caregivers. At the same time, these non-feminists actually appear to resent the confines of the traditional roles they advocate, which presents a paradox for women and men in traditional heterosexual relationships,” says researcher Melinda Kanner.

Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan

Mon, 27 Jul 2009 14:14:00 +0200

Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan

This is why I'm moving to Cambodia

Tue, 21 Jul 2009 19:37:23 +0200

This is why I'm moving to Cambodia

I collect street art... and other Berlin ramblings

Just Jack Embers

Why the hipster must die - Time Out New York

Photo stolen from Marcey

Two decades of clubbing in Berlin, city of the night | The Observer

Surfacing - A Berlin Hub’s Arty Spinoff - NYTimes.com

tloenuqbar: Sam and I made some new friends last night. That’s...

"Der Sommer kam und Berlin war der schönste Platz auf Erden. Wir hatten das Gefühl im Mittelpunkt der..."

Animal Collective My Girls

Photo

The Opening

The Press

The Afterparty

KW’s Hotel Marienbad

Photo

Woman Married to Berlin Wall for 29 Years

shootsandladders: berlin’s so fucking wierd, i fucking love it

More Common Than Cancer: The Sexual Abuse Of Kids Has Gotta Stop. By Hank Shaw SO THERE I...

New study says feminists aren't manhaters after all... but non-feminists might be

Bleecker Street, NoHo, Manhattan

This is why I'm moving to Cambodia