The Finger Wrap: Snooping, Sexism and Shonda

The father of the woman spied on in the Snoopgate scandal moved the Supreme Court to quash the probe into the scandal, saying it violated their privacy. The woman has said she was “thankful” for the surveillance. In any case, the current government seems far from interested in investigating the matter.

Additional Sessions Judge Virender Bhat thinks that forced sexual intercourse between a husband and a wife is not rape.

As the elections draw to a close, here’s a peek at the deep-rooted misogyny at its core. And how even women in politics aren’t shielded from gender-based violence.

Remember Calicut University’s Golden Mother awards? Thought it couldn’t get any worse? Well. It gave out the awards last week in time for Mother’s Day, under a shameful set of categories, including ‘Best Physically Challenged Mother’ and ‘Best Tribal Mother’. Who will educate the educators?

Speaking of Mother’s Day, it’s a hundred years since the first one. Read the grim story of Anna Jarvis, the woman behind it.

As the Nigerian government continues to dither on the abduction of its girls by Boko Haram, things begin to play out like a parody. David Cameron poses with #BringBackOurGirls scrawled on a piece of paper. So does Michelle Obama, who brings up the issue while giving the presidential address. Teju Cole tries his hand at some ventriloquism. Any old photos of girls from Africa are used to advertise the hashtag. The cry for military intervention grows louder. To quote Alex V Tunzelmann on Twitter: “The #BringBackOurGirls hashtag, ripped from its context, has become a distinctly imperialist sentiment.”

Conchita Wurst grabbed the world’s attention in the Eurovision2014 contest, challenging what it means to be femalewith her long, glossy hair and neatly-trimmed beard. And when the drag act won the glittery competition (in which the music is awful and camp triumphs) on Saturday night, it was in a blaze of lip gloss and in a shimmering mermaid gown.

Monica Lewinksy’s piece in Vanity Fair reminded us of how we see women, sex and power.

Here’s how a district in Madhya Pradesh managed to persuade young couples to start using contraceptives.

Did you know female genital mutilation was practiced in India? Here’s a story about a documentary on the practice and the implications it has for the many women who have largely been silent victims so far.

Dinara Safina, 28-year-old Russian tennis player and former World No.1, announced her retirement after injury repeatedly prevented her from returning to the sport.

Slate’s Katherine Goldstein shares her experiences on creating a Sheryl Sandberg-inspired Lean In Circle, with all the good bits as well as the frustrating ones.

Meanwhile, Shonda Rhimes’ new show called How To Get Away With Murder will be starring Viola Davis (of The Help fame) and is one of most looked-forward-to pilots of 2014.

If you’re an Iranian woman, going out in public without a hijab can get you 70 lashes and 60 days in prison. Some Iranian women are protesting against that by posting veil-less pictures of themselves on Facebook.

Here’s a reminder (if you needed one) on the difference between how men and women are portrayed on magazine covers.