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Week of
November 17, 2011 | | JUSTICE In a landmark hearing this Friday, 28 current and former military personnel will anxiously await a court ruling on whether a case will move forward against former defense secretary Robert Gates and his predecessor, Donald Rumsfeld, alleging that they failed to curtail widespread rape within the military. The case was filed in February on behalf of 17 plaintiffs, but that number has grown to 28 in recent months. Still, the number represents just a fraction of those who report being assaulted during their time in the armed forces. Attorney Susan Burke says she has heard from nearly 400 other survivors, many of whom could be part of future suits. "The odds are heavily against them," says John Turley, a professor of law at George Washington University Law School. "But it's important for them to try. These things only change when good people are willing to fight.
To help women veterans who are returning from active duty so that they can re-engage as mothers, wives and daughters in civilian life, check out the group Grace After Fire. PLEASURE Ever wondered what the inside of your brain looks like mid-orgasm? Scientists at Rutgers University in New Jersey have created videos capturing the brain activity during the build-up, climax, and recovery period of a female orgasm. Making the video, researchers monitored a woman's brain as she lay in a MRI scanner and pleasured herself. Professor Barry Komisaruk, the psychologist at Rutgers who led the study, hopes that in studying brain activity during orgasm, scientists can better understand what prevents both men and women from climaxing, which could potentially lead to breakthroughs in treatments for anxiety, depression, and other psychological conditions. TRIBUTE In this week's Newsweek, Senator Kirsten Gillibrand shares a poignant story about her friendship with Rep. Gabrielle Giffords, and her pride in watching Gifford's tenacious recovery from the January shooting in Arizona. "We had become fast friends, as we were two of the few young women in Congress," Gillibrand says, describing the roots of the women's friendship when they first met five years ago. Gillibrand also describes a double date she and Giffords took with their husbands a week before the tragic shooting, during with Giffords talked about how tough it was to deal with negative campaigning. But Giffords has always had a "stick-to-it-iveness," Gillibrand says, a trait that has led her to defy doctors' expectations in her recovery. ABUSE The Penn State scandal has triggered painful memories for child-abuse victims far beyond campus--with experts saying that abuse has a different impact on boys than on girls. Girls who are molested by men suffer psychological damage, but the ramifications for boys run deeper because sex abuse often causes them to question their sexual identity or orientation, some experts say. Jim Hopper, clinical instructor of psychology at Harvard Medical School, says socialization plays a key role: "A man says I'm not a real man, because I let someone do this to me ... Even after years of therapy they say this." The other prominent difference is that boys who are forced into sexual acts may still have an erection, an unwilling physiological response that makes them feel all the more confused, guilty‹and less likely to report the encounter. DEFENSIVE In her first televised interview, Gloria Cain says her husband would need a 'split personality' to do the things described in the harassment allegations against him. She tells Fox News's Greta Van Susteren, in an interview set to air Monday, "You hear the graphic allegations, and we know that would have been something that¹s totally disrespectful of her as a woman. And I know the type of person he is. He totally respects women." Herman Cain had previously indicated his wife's support for him, saying, "My own wife said that I wouldn't do anything as silly as what that lady was talking about."
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