At its best, feminism is about women empowering women through their own intrinsic talents, abilities and goodness. And when women still make a fraction of what men make for the same work, and male politicians try to outlaw abortion because they don't think you can get pregnant from rape, feminism is still sorely needed.

That being said, there's unfortunately a very vocal and very acerbic minority of feminists who are, for lack of a better term, screamingly transphobic. Recently, feminist columnist Suzanne Moore was criticized for using transphobic imagery to make a point that, honestly, didn't really need to be made. Instead of apologizing for the remark and moving on, Moore went on a transphobic Twitter tirade before temporarily deleting her account.

With Moore on the ropes, her friend and fellow feminist columnist Julie Burchill jumped to Moore's defence and cleared everything up by delving even further into transphobic imagery in an article called "Transsexuals should cut it out" (and yes, that is a double entendre, keepin' it classy, this one). Burchill's article was so bad, it ended up being pulled from The Observer, where it was originally published, and the paper's editor publicly apologized for running it in the first place.

Thankfully, Lindy West -- one of Jezebel's featured writers and a national treasure -- stepped in to remind everyone that you don't help women by denigrating trans women, because that would just be fucking stupid, right? Right.

The idea of a feminist writer using the old "I'm sorry you're offended"/"Quit being so oversensitive, fatty" gambit against a fellow feminist (especially about something as basic as transphobia) is such a turncoat move that it makes me want to benedict this chick right in the arnolds. The fact that you don't personally relate to someone's point of view does not render their point of view invalid. In fact, it probably means that you have some thinking to do. We are flawed. This is how we evolve, and we should approach our evolution with grace rather than defensiveness. We don't have to be perfect, we just have to try. 

[...] It's bare-faced hate speech, ladies—the kind of language that misogynist trolls use against us, to trivialize and derail and silence feminist discourse, every day—and the call is coming from inside the house. Inclusiveness (or intersectionality, if you're not turned off by big, intellectual words like Suzanne Moore is) is the future, not prissy divisiveness. But if that's how you old bats want to play this, then you're shitty feminists and shitty people and we don't want you anyway. Catch up or go home. 

I encourage you to read the full article, because it's absolutely brilliant and hilarious, but the point of all this is that, regardless of what group you belong to, you probably shouldn't try to advance your own cause by taking a big, steaming shit on someone else's. 

For those of you who haven't been keeping up on the Steubenville rape case, here's the condensed version: early in December, two high-school football players from Steubenville, Ohio, were charged with raping a 16-year-old girl while she was passed out. Except it gets worse: those two high-schoolers weren't the only ones involved. A number of students, who have reportedly been dubbed "The Rape Crew," were connected to the crime, and a disconcerting number of people tried to cover up the whole thing.

Enter Anonymous, the vigilante hacktivist group that is making a name for itself as an un-fuck-withable entity. Anonymous collected personal information from all those who were allegedly involved in the case and threatened to release it if everyone involved didn't come forward and apologize for what they had done. Of course, this didn't happen, so Anonymous released the following video:

What you saw was one of the teens allegedly tied to the crime talking about the girl who was raped, in the most despicable way possible. Seriously, the language in this video transcends NSFW and crosses over into soul-eroding territory.

If this video disturbs you, or offends you, then please, talk to the teenagers in your life about how rape is never acceptable. There's really no acceptable excuse you can make to squirm your way out of it: if there's no consent, it's rape.

Over the course of the summer, the Christie Pits neighbourhood saw a rise in the number of reported cases of sexual assault. Well, an arrest has finally been made, and, in a rather horrifying twist, a 15-year-old kid has been brought in on charges related to 16 sexual assaults in the area. A 15-year-old kid. From Metro News:

At a bail hearing Monday, Justice of the Peace Paul Kowarsky ordered that the youth be held in custody until trial.

Police arrested the youth at 11 p.m., Saturday after he assaulted a woman who was walking in the Roxton Road and Bloor Street West area, said police. He is charged with 14 counts of sexual assault and two counts of criminal harassment. He cannot be named because he is a young offender.

Police would not say if the last woman assaulted was a police officer, but said one officer was assaulted during the course of the investigation.

Just to put this into perspective here: this kid is probably in the 10th grade and in all likelihood can't even vote yet, but he's already been accused of allegedly systematically assaulting 16 different women. What the hell is going on here?

If you haven't heard by now, there's been a recent uprise in reports of sexual assault in The Annex, specifically in the area of Christie Pits park. Thankfully, the community has rallied in support of those who've been attacked, and people are calling for increased action in the area to keep this from happening again.

The march, just three days in planning, was in protest against a wave of sexual assaults in the Christie St. and Bloor St. W. area in the past couple of months. “I just felt like action needed to be taken,” said Liz Brockfest, a co-organizer who teaches at George Brown College.

The recent wave of sexual assaults in the area — four more women came forward last week saying they had been attacked — was the tipping point, she said.

At least 10 cases have been reported there in the past two months, rattling the community.

The assaults, in which the victims say they were approached from behind, began in the Spadina Ave. and College St. area. The Toronto police sex crimes unit says it believes the attacks are being committed by the same man; he is described as black, about 6 feet tall with a stocky build. [via The Star]

For those who live in the area . . . Well, just do what you can to keep yourselves safe. Unfortunately, the person in question is kind of operating outside the law, not to mention basic human decency, so whatever you can do to stay safe is the best.

And while we're on the subject, just a little bit of clarity: no means no. Any sort of hesitation or unwillingness means no. If someone isn't 100 percent committed, then accept it and move on. Sex is supposed to be safe, sane and consensual, and if it's not, then something is wrong. 

What, you thought the Ford family crazy was reserved for Rob and Doug Ford? Nope! Turns out there's more of them waiting in the wings. Krista Ford, who's Rob Ford's niece, took to Twitter recently to tell women how to stay safe. Unfortunately, it wasn't the best advice.

“Stay alert, walk tall, carry mace, take self-defence classes & don’t dress like a whore,” Ford wrote Wednesday evening, adding hashtags “#DontBeAVictim” and “#StreetSmart.”

“I didn’t mean to cause such an alarm and I apologize if I did. I just want women to be safe.” 

You know, the sad thing is she probably had some good intentions, but unfortunately . . . Well, I kind of get the feeling the message we should be sending isn't "women need to dress a certain way" so much as "DON'T RAPE PEOPLE." Or at the very least, "No means no."

In response to the tweet, comedian Alice Moran wrote an open letter to Krista and slut-shamers in general, and if you have a minute, give it a read because it's absolutely fantastic:

Dear a lot of people, but specifically Ms Krista Ford,   

In advance I’d like to say I am sorry.

This is not the ideal situation to first acquaint oneself with someone and I am mortified. Sorry! However, under the circumstance, I feel like you owe me a moment of your time, even though we’ve never met.   

The circumstance being you called me a whore.  

I should clarify: I’m one of the victims of the recent string of sexual assaults in the Annex. ‘Sup? It’s nice to make your acquaintance.   

So, you’ve called me a whore. Here we are. This is awkward now, isn’t it? You’re probably wondering if I’m going to challenge you on having been a member of Lingerie League. I’m not, because I’d never slut-shame another woman. I believe you have a right to your body and regardless of how you do or don’t dress it I believe you have a right to respect and personal security. I guess that’s the key difference in our thinking. You could wear a t-shirt that says “I’m literally asking for it” and I’d still advocate for your security.   

That’s what I’m asking for this brief moment of your day, for your edification. You’re a woman and you should know that your body is yours and yours alone. No matter how you dress it, you have a right — an actual Charter of Rights and Freedom right — to not be sexually assaulted. You are entitled to life, liberty and the security of person. Welcome to Canada — you live here! If you weren’t aware of your Charter rights, other Canadian things you may have missed out on are double-doubles, good maple syrup, and Beachcombers*, so check that s--- out.   

For the record, I was sexually assaulted while wearing a knee-length polka-dot dress. The last time I wore that dress, it was to Easter dinner at my Gran’s, where I’m fairly certain I could make little to no money whoring.   

With due respect / sorry,   

Alice Moran   

Canadian / Comedian / Beachcombers Enthusiast

*I love Beachcombers.