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On Tuesday, a naked man took off running on the 405 and later attacked a woman. Unfortunately, details of the attack were lost in the frenzy of news reports, which gave preference to amusing celebrity tweets detailing the situation as stars and well-known personages sat in their cars.

Our editrix likes introductory e-mails from people she doesn’t know. At the risk of a whipping, we’re going to refrain from calling this practice slightly passé and suggest, instead, that if the usual method of requesting a friendship without comment fails to result in a connection, consider sending a short message explaining who you are and why you want to connect with the person in question.

Why would someone attack a painting? Last week in Washington DC, a visitor to the National Gallery’s “Gauguin: Maker of Myth” exhibition took hold of the frame of the post impressionist’s artist’s Two Tahitian Women, then began to pound her fist against the plexiglas protecting the painting. A by-stander tackled the woman, enabling museum officers…continue reading.

On Monday, over 100 University of Southern California students marched in protest of the school’s inaction in response to a misogynist e-mail said to have originated among members of the school’s Kappa Sigma fraternity. To date, neither Kappa Sigma national nor USC have done anything. Students, worried about the sexism at their school, protested against this inaction.

Because infographics make the world go round, here’s one from Koldcast.tv. We’re slightly disappointed that the graphic didn’t cite the actual studies being referenced (and we’re weary of some of the cites), but hey, we’re going to settle for the fact they’re talking about female orgasms for now.

We’ve never been too impressed with these designs. There’s just something strange about enjoying the undulations of a dolphin in one’s vagina, or being impaled over and over by Hello, Kitty. But now! Now there is something we can really get down with.

Pornography isn’t the problem, it’s a conduit. Through pornography, you are faced with desires with which one may not be comfortable, hence the response when the men in the article encounter women who enjoy these things and express them with them.

It was only a matter of time before someone decided to get on a high horse and wag a finger at the victims of the Porn Wikileaks release of some 15,000 real names and addresses of porn performers and their families. CNET’s Chris Matyszczyk, known for his irreverent commentary, took it too far by minimalizing the problem of Porn Wikileaks and blaming victims for the career paths they’d chosen.

Director and Taboo editor Ernest Greene speaks out about the Adult Industry Medical leak that has rocked Porn Valley: “I’m not surprised, given the increasingly heated and complex politics of disease-hazard mitigation in porn currently roiling the industry, that this vile act has been appropriated as an excuse to yet again attack one of the most effective community-supported HIV prevention programs in the world by those who covet AIM’s credibility for their own attempts at seizing control of the testing and monitoring process for financial gain.”

But this is not a story about a bad judge, a reckless journalist and an insensitive editor. These three cases reflect the society in which we live, one that inadvertently enforces these behaviors by blaming victims when violations occur, effectively absolving perpetrators. What we want you to do is for Sexual Assault Awareness Month is to start listening. Listen to how people describe situations of sexual assault and sexual harassment. Where is the blame? Question the impulse to blame the victim, in yourself and in others. The only way to shift a norm is to start from within.