Good afternoon, and welcome back to your permanently-recurring workweek. The internet has been abuzz today with Taylor Swift drama and—well, that’s it, to be honest. But I managed to dig up some more quality #content that you really need to ingest.
The Cut is continuing its coverage of campus sexual assault with a hopeful piece on a program in Ashland, Oregon, that intends to increase the number of rape survivors who report their cases, and to make the people who come forward feel less threatened by the prospect of so doing. The program, titled You Have Options, is the brainchild of Carrie Hull, an Ashland Police Department detective. Since the program’s inception in 2013, reports among survivors in Ashland have increased by 106%. Methods include ensuring that the survivor has absolute control over the investigation and trial process (unless there is a threat to the public), using hidden cameras to record perpetrators’ confessions, and providing a wide range of support and therapy for the survivor. If Hull’s program were put in place in cities across America, you can imagine the strides we’d make in protecting those who are most at risk.
Writer and comedian Sara Benincasa launched her column,“The Modern Lady with Sara Benincasa,” at the Hairpin today. First up for discussion? Hair salons, of course, which Benincasa claims are the exception to her general rule of low-maintenance beauty habits. “To me, the hair salon is a magical cave of wonders where one enters as a big lump of clay and emerges as a fully-realized sculptural masterpiece,” she writes.
Perhaps hair isn’t of interest? Allow me to digress:
The Daily Dot has a piece today about Hum, a “smart vibrator” that, rather than being controlled by buttons, yourself, or your partner, “does the work for you.” The founder, Sunny Allen, talks with Daily Dot writer E.J. Dickson about the difference between Hum and other smart sex toys, as well as the “ghettoization” that comes with working in sex-tech in Silicon Valley.
Um, what’s going on with this hella chilled-out owl? The Dodo knows–and the answer will surprise you! (Said answer is not like, insane or anything. But whatever, that is a really cute owl).
After that deluge of links, and the oncoming deluge of your workweek, you’re bound to want a drink — if you’re a health fanatic, this may be an illicit desire. Fear not: Punch is here to tell you how to incorporate booze into your pre-holiday diet, in a way that’ll even appeal to the more health-conscious among you.