Sexual Offenses

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Sports blotter: In the rough

Did Johan Santana go out of bounds? Plus, LT's self-abuse defense falls short.
Another day, another New York sports icon fends off a rape allegation.
By MATT TAIBBI | June 30, 2010

No charges for Roethlisberger, but Big Ben’s reputation might be sacked
Trying to parse the situation with Pittsburgh Steelers quarterback Ben Roethlisberger and his sexual-assault allegations, one comes to some interesting conclusions. The strategy pursued by law enforcement in this case speaks volumes.
By MATT TAIBBI | April 22, 2010

Review: Life During Wartime

Solondz's return to Happiness is — surprise! — really depressing
You can’t get enough Happiness — or so Todd Solondz must have thought when he spun off this sour sequel to his 1998 misanthropic ode to suburban perversion.
By PETER KEOUGH | August 04, 2010

Bully for BU!

A curious conflict of interest is followed by a legal threat — from a journalism center!
After six years at the Phoenix , I recently got my first pre-emptive libel threat. It came, most unexpectedly, from an investigative reporter. And beyond the fact that this struck me as a blatant attempt at intimidation, it demonstrated how tricky journalism's new, collaboration-driven future could be.
By ADAM REILLY | March 12, 2010

True grit

A feisty, inspiring group of women combat child abuse in South Africa in Rough Aunties
Operation Bobbi Bear is a non-governmental organization in Durban, South Africa, devoted to finding care and foster homes for children who are abused and abandoned.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 03, 2010

Ending violence

It's much more of a struggle than we might think
V-Day is once more upon us, and for those not partial to Hallmark-driven capitalism, the V now also popularly stands for "Vagina" or "Victory," thanks to Eve Ensler's famous monologues about violence against women.
By MEGAN GRUMBLING | February 10, 2010

Dane Cook does suck

Letters to the Boston editor, January 22, 2010
In "Dane Cook Is Funny," the author says that to say “ 'Dane Cook is not funny' is an extreme oversimplification.” Not really.
By BOSTON PHOENIX LETTERS | January 20, 2010

Throwback shame

Nice try, Tiger. But sports crime in 2009 was ruled by the ghosts of Foxboro past.
Well, another year in sports crime has come and gone.
By MATT TAIBBI | January 11, 2010

Doing the right thing

2nd Story’s inspiring To Kill a Mockingbird
There are plenty of stories that harken back to a Golden Age, but Harper Lee's 1960 novel To Kill a Mockingbird was different.
By BILL RODRIGUEZ | November 24, 2009

Harvard ‘ACT UP’ show gets rise from right-wingers

Tea Baggers Meet the Tea-Baggers Dept.
Taking a detour from directly bashing President Obama, right-wingers are now hot and bothered by a Harvard art exhibit. And they have an Obama administration foil toward whom they can channel their bile.
By GREG COOK | November 02, 2009

Avoiding a border war

Rape in Brookline
It's a matter of moments before the likes of Lou Dobbs and Bill O'Reilly scapegoat the believed-to-be-illegal-immigrant suspects in last week's Brookline rape case for every problem in America.
By CHRIS FARAONE | August 26, 2009

Personal fouls

ESPN's odd double standard on sex
The biggest story in sports media last week was the discovery of surreptitiously shot nude-video footage of ESPN reporter Erin Andrews, whose comeliness has made her a favorite — and sometimes a fetish — of the online sports commentariat.
By ADAM REILLY | July 29, 2009

Prison in turmoil

Investigators probe killing, stabbing, corruption allegations
Will reform have to wait for a new governor?
By LANCE TAPLEY | June 17, 2009

41. Warren Jeffs

LATTER DAY TAINT
Jeffs, the creepy leader of the polygamist Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, is a grade-A shitbird — he reportedly described Hurricane Katrina as an answer to his prayers — and so nobody was surprised when he was finally convicted, in 2007, of being an accessory to child rape. (That case also exposed a hideous loophole in the Arizona laws against incest — they only apply to those over 18.) That should’ve been the end of the road, except that according to a recent Salt Lake Tribune story, Jeff’s diaries indicate that he’s retained a hold over his followers from jail. To be continued? We hope not.
By Boston Phoenix Staff | March 25, 2009

Escaping the life

Counseling New York's exploited Very Young Girls
Like the drug dealers in The Wire or accounts of illegal trafficking of any form, the current and former teenage prostitutes in David Schisgall's documentary Very Young Girls don't often refer to their trade as a job.
By CHRISTOPHER GRAY | March 25, 2009

Dance, Monkey!: Taylor Newhall

Eats stinky cheese
We put a comic on the hot seat. This week's victim . . .
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | March 19, 2009

Looking for Mr. Dunbar

The Justin Miller award race heats up. Plus, tough times in Fayetteville.
Will Dunbar split town without saying goodbye, and now he's facing a pair of felonies.
By MATT TAIBBI | March 18, 2009

Walk against sexual violence

$100,000 in Change
April is Sexual Assault Awareness Month and you can help acknowledge the month by helping raise much-needed funds for the Boston Area Rape Crisis Center (BARCC).
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | March 12, 2009

Fest raises awareness, celebrates women

Come together
Maria Mendes found her voice last spring, at a gathering to prepare for a trip to New Orleans to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Eve Ensler's The Vagina Monologues . Standing before a group of women, she finally got the courage to talk about being abused, surviving, and fighting to protect other women.
By MARION DAVIS | February 18, 2009

Wideouts gone wild

Lock the liquor cabinet and hide the keys — it's that time of year again
Late February is a heavy-arrest period in American sports, for the simple reason that the college-football season is over, spring practices have not yet begun, and they have not yet deployed armed alcohol-sniffing police robots on college campuses around the nation.
By MATT TAIBBI | February 18, 2009

Dirty Harry goes to church: Clint and Catholicism

Reel Life
In Mystic River , Clint Eastwood examined the damage to a close-knit group of Boston friends, years after one of them was sexually abused by a stranger, in a film depicting the power of sexual abuse with Catholic overtones.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | February 02, 2009

Meggett takes an early lead

Sad sack
When football scouts describe running backs, they like to talk about a back's "shake": his ability to make tacklers miss in the hole.
By MATT TAIBBI | January 27, 2009

Prevention suspension

Will funding cuts thwart area schools' efforts to stop sexual assault before it starts?
Combating sexual assault is especially tough if your workspace is the size of a professional basketball player's shoebox.
By SARA FAITH ALTERMAN | December 12, 2008

Unchecked power and secrecy — not gays — are the church’s problem

Vatican Myopia
Presenting more evidence that it just doesn't get it, the Vatican recently issued new so-called, "psychological screening guidelines" to weed out priest candidates with "psychopathic disorders," but only those related to sexual misconduct — specifically homosexuality.
By MARY ANN SORRENTINO | November 19, 2008

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Tiger trap

Sports blotter: "Walking in Memphis" edition
There are a lot of famously troubled college sports programs out there, the majority of them football teams.
By MATT TAIBBI | August 20, 2008

Olympian anti-heroes

Sports blotter: Olympic edition
Greetings, Olympic sports fans!
By MATT TAIBBI | August 08, 2008

Victim, not vixen

Sex, death, and the filthy rich
Florence Evelyn Nesbit was the most beautiful woman who ever lived.
By CLIF GARBODEN | July 29, 2008

Head case

Media coverage of a State House sex scandal reveals the pitfalls of reporting on mental illness
Who is Jim Marzilli, exactly? Is he a predatory letch? Or is he a deeply troubled man who needs to be kept from harassing women — but also from hurting himself?
By ADAM REILLY | July 23, 2008