Campaigners stepped up calls for her release after police on Saturday arrested a cleric for allegedly tampering with the evidence against Rimsha.… Read the rest
Welcome to our archive of news stories relevant to the project of fighting fashionable nonsense. The stories are drawn from the electronic pages of the world’s media. On this page, you’ll find links to those stories that have been featured on Butterflies and Wheels during the current year. At the bottom of the page, you’ll find links to separate archives of stories from previous years.
We’re always pleased to hear about news stories that you think should be featured on Butterflies and Wheels. Just send an email here, if you want to point one out to us.
A note about links
Inevitably links go out of date. We suggest, therefore, that you make hard-copies of the stories that particularly interest you.
Jane Caro dissects the labels thrown at women 
Sep 2nd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
She started the hashtag #destroyingthejoint in homage to Alan Jones and his ilk and its been trending just a little bit.… Read the rest
Australia: broadcaster says says women rantrant
Sep 2nd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Alan Jones today accused women of “destroying the joint” as he widened his attack on Julia Gillard to take in other female public figures.… Read the rest
Imam charged with framing girl for “blasphemy”
Sep 2nd, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The imam was arrested after his deputy and two others told a magistrate he added pages from the Koran to the burnt pages brought to him by a witness.… Read the rest
Jessica Valenti on mandatory motherhood
Sep 1st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
No matter how many platitudes are thrown around, this is the party that wants
motherhood not to be a choice, but to be enforced.… Read the rest
Witch camps in Ghana
Aug 31st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
In Ghana, outspoken or eccentric women may be accused of witchcraft – and
forced to live out their days in witch camps.… Read the rest
Australia: priest charged with hiding sex crimes
Aug 31st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
He was also charged with assaulting two boys by caning them after they allegedly reported being sexually assaulted by another priest.… Read the rest
Striking miners charged with murder of colleagues shot by police
Aug 31st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
State prosecutors charged the miners under the apartheid-era “common purpose”
doctrine.… Read the rest
Priest tells Catholic newspaper children are seducers
Aug 31st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The priest has a PhD in psychology from Columbia University and hosts a television talk show on the Eternal Word Television Network.… Read the rest
Peanuts thrown at black camerawoman at RNC
Aug 31st, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The two white people said “this is what we feed animals.” They were quickly expelled from the convention. The camerawoman said it could happen anywhere.… Read the rest
Men shave woman’s hair, parade her in streets
Aug 30th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
They said she was having “illicit” sex.… Read the rest
Lawyer for blasphemy-accuser offers threats
Aug 30th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
A lawyer representing the man who accused a Pakistani Christian girl of blasphemy has claimed that if she is not convicted, she could be murdered.… Read the rest
Gujarat riots: BJP former minister convicted
Aug 29th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Former Gujarat minister Maya Kodnani of the BJP is among 32 people convicted in one of the worst incidents of mob violence, in Naroda Patiya.
Soraya Chemaly on ways women get burned
Aug 28th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Literally.… Read the rest
Everyday sexism: it’s not a rarity
Aug 28th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
The message sent by the normalised, prevalent street harassment in our society is
that women are there for men to treat as they wish.… Read the rest
Giles Fraser says circumcision is a precondition of freedom
Aug 28th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Parents must be free to snip infant penises for religious reasons because “to be inducted into a community of values is a precondition” of freedom.… Read the rest
Company launches India’s first “vagina tightening cream”
Aug 28th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Company claims it empowers women. Wut?… Read the rest
Carol Blue on Hitchens, an impossible act to follow
Aug 27th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
We stood around his bed and reclined on plastic upholstered chairs as he made us into participants in his Socratic discourses.… Read the rest
Ron Lindsay on Atheism+
Aug 27th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Social justice is great. After all, who’s against social justice? It’s when one starts to fill in the details that disagreements arise.… Read the rest
Pakistan: doctors examine girl in “blasphemy” case
Aug 27th, 2012 |
Filed by Ophelia Benson
Rimsha’s lawyer said that when he saw her in jail over the weekend she wept and
begged to be released.… Read the rest
