The Week in Patriarchy is a weekly roundup of what’s happening in the world of feminism and sexism. If you’re not already receiving it by email, make sure to subscribe.

Facebook and Kavanaugh: a match made in hell

Poor old Mark Zuckerberg, all he ever wanted to do was connect people. He never wanted to get involved in politics or influence elections, he’s told us so a million times. Unfortunately this memo doesn’t seem to have gotten through to Joel Kaplan, Facebook’s vice-president of global public policy, who has inserted himself into the middle of the Brett Kavanaugh controversy.

Kaplan, a close, personal friend of Kavanaugh’s, sat behind the judge during his recent hearings before the Senate judiciary committee. The Facebook executive’s presence reportedly came as a surprise to employees, and some took it as an unofficial company endorsement of Kavanaugh. The incident has caused enough discord that a company town hall was called on Friday to address internal concerns.

A friend supporting a friend wouldn’t normally be a big deal. However, one might imagine that if you were Facebook’s vice-president of global public policy and your friend’s supreme court nomination and sexual assault allegations are dividing the country, you might think twice about publicly flaunting your support. You might think about what sort of message that would send to your colleagues and employees – not to mention the 2 billion people who use your social network.

Trump mocks Christine Blasey Ford at Mississippi rally as supporters cheer Read more

The last few weeks have been a slap in the face for sexual assault survivors and women. While Dr Christine Blasey Ford has been mocked by the president, Kavanaugh has enjoyed the enthusiastic support of establishment institutions like the Wall Street Journal, which recently gave the judge an op-ed so could he reiterate what a great “son, husband and dad” he is. Kaplan’s public support for Kavanaugh is yet another signal to sexual assault survivors and women that the most powerful people and institutions in the country don’t care about them. While Kaplan may not have attended the hearing as an official Facebook representative he is, let’s reiterate this again, their vice-president of global public policy. Something to think about, perhaps, if you’re still weighing up whether you ought to delete your account.

Kavanaugh’s yearbook offers insight into the system that created him

While the events of the last few weeks have not established with certainty that Kavanaugh is responsible for the sexual assaults he is accused of, they have left little doubt he is an entitled, odious human being. To be fair, this isn’t entirely his fault; he’s the product of a system in which privilege buys you the right to act exactly as you like, without fear of repercussions. His Georgetown Prep yearbook, for example, which has been uploaded to the internet, suggests the elite prep school sanctioned abominable behavior. Boys were allowed to include quotes such as: “I don’t want her you can have her, she’s too fat for me” or “Having a beer belly in your senior year is a status symbol”. They were allowed to boast about their membership of something called the Ridge Klux Klan. They seem to have been allowed, in short, to do whatever they liked.

Nobel peace prize awarded to campaigners against sexual violence

The 2018 Nobel peace prize has been jointly awarded to Denis Mukwege, a Congolese gynecologist who has treated thousands of rape victims, and Nadia Murad, an Iraqi Yazidi sold into sex slavery by the Islamic State. The pair won the prestigious award for their “efforts to end the use of sexual violence as a weapon of war”.

Smart enough to win a Nobel prize but not important enough for Wikipedia

This week, Canadian physicist Donna Strickland became the first woman to win a Nobel prize in physics in 55 years. Despite years of pioneering work with lasers, the (largely male) custodians of Wikipedia didn’t deem Strickland important enough for a place in the user-generated encyclopedia until after her win. The omission cast some light on Wikipedia’s somewhat dim view of women: only 17% of entries dedicated to notable people are for women.

Good news from down under

Australia has scrapped its tampon tax. Feminine hygiene products will no longer command a 10% consumption tax. In other news, Australia is likely to become the first country in the world to wipe out cervical cancer, thanks to national vaccination programs.

Feminist podcast of the week

In January, Montana prosecutor Jay Harris threatened to prosecute pregnant women for abusing drugs or alcohol. As was pointed out by the likes of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), treating pregnant women differently from other addicts is discriminatory and criminalizing addiction is counterproductive. ReWire.News, which focuses on reproductive rights, looked into the story and found that Native American women are already being criminally charged for using drugs while pregnant. It explores this issue in a new podcast, The Breach, which is out now.