Dear Friend:

March is Womens History Month. A time to reflect on the long struggle for women to gain the right to vote and the steps we must take to reach full equality.

Id like to let you know that the Winter issue of Ms. is on newsstands, featuring my Backtalk column on The Global Pandemic of Rape.

As I write: We still tend to view rape as an individual, isolated tragedy that happened to someone else. We dont connect the brutal rape of a young girl with date rape, nor a back-alley rape with spousal rape. We dont connect the systematic rape of women in the Congo with the systematic rape of men in prison.

Rape is part of a culture of violence–a culture that alternately dismisses, condones, and rewards violence. We parse violence into different pots, making some of it acceptable, and sometimes even humorous. The incident between Rihanna and Chris Brown brought intimate-partner violence back into the headlines, but it was only fodder for tasteless jokes

There is a perverse and lingering notion that violence is acceptable, depending on the victim. It’s this culture that allows rape to continue being a daily reality for countless women.

Ms. helps us to STAY INFORMED, ACTIVE AND ENGAGED IN THE POLITICAL PROCESS. Look for it on newsstands or, even better, join the Ms. community at https://store.msmagazine.com/ and have the new issue sent right to your door.

Donna