Image: Chris Carlson/Associated Press
In the wake of last Friday's massacre near the University of California, Santa Barbara, and suspect Elliot Rodger's misogynistic manifesto, a new Tumblr page is highlighting violence inflicted on women when they reject sexual advances.
Called "When Women Refuse," the site collects stories of violent attacks on women, after they turned down male sexual advances. It summarizes the attacks, and provides article links about them.
One submission, titled "Lauren Astley murdered for making sure her ex was okay," describes an incident in which an ex-boyfriend of 18-year-old Astley killed her after she broke up with him.
"After breaking up, Lauren's boyfriend became very depressed. When she reached out to him to make sure he was doing okay, he murdered her. If he couldn't have her, no one could. He has since been convicted," the Tumblr page says.
Other entries detail similar tragedies, all involving men harming women in gender-based crimes.
Violence against women has been called the world's "most pervasive yet least recognized human-rights abuse," according to the United Nations Population Fund, an international-development agency promoting women's rights. Up to one in three women has been beated, coerced into sex or abused, the UNFPA said.
After Elliot Rodger, the suspect in Friday's rampage, killed six people before shooting himself, the topic of violence against women became a focus of public conversation. Rodger's 147-page manifesto demonstrates his sense of sexual entitlement to female affection. "I desired girls, but girls never desired me back. There is something very wrong with that. It is an injustice that cannot go unpunished," he wrote.
In addition to the "When Women Refuse" Tumblr page, which launched Monday, many women shared their experiences with harassment and sexual assault on Twitter, using the hashtag #YesAllWomen.
As of Wednesday night, the hashtag has been attached to nearly 2 million times since it launched on May 24.
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