Plus: Lizzo changes “Grrrls” lyric after outcry

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The Fight to End 'Cyberflashing' ([link removed])

Payton Iheme, the head of public policy for Bumble in the Americas, is working to advance legislation that penalizes the act of sending unwanted sexual images. Viktorya Vilk ([link removed]) , the program director for digital safety and free expression at PEN America, said that cyberflashing and other online abuse tactics “are part of a deliberate effort to push women and marginalized voices off the internet, and to make people feel unsafe in public, at home, on their phone, on their laptops.”

A YouGov poll in Britain found that 40 percent of millennial women have received an unsolicited photo of male genitalia. For girls aged 12 to 18, that share is even higher, according to an academic report funded by several universities and organizations in Britain. Three-quarters of the girls surveyed said they had received lewd photos from men, and the majority described them as unwanted.
U.S. Free Expression Stories

Lizzo changes “Grrrls” lyric after outcry
Lizzo, a Grammy-winning singer and rapper seen by many fans as a champion of inclusivity, changed a lyric on a new song within days of its release after it was criticized for containing a word considered derogatory toward people with disabilities. In the original version of the song “Grrrls” released on Friday, Lizzo used the word “spaz” to indicate that she was going to lose control. The word is based on spastic diplegia, a form of cerebral palsy, a condition that causes motor impairments in the legs or arms.
THE NEW YORK TIMES ([link removed])

Moving past free expression theater
According to new research, students have a strong desire for constructive engagement across political divides—but are most afraid of blowback for their views from fellow students. Over the past year, a team of UNC researchers surveyed more than 3,400 students at eight public universities in North Carolina, including UNC Greensboro, in an effort to get beneath the tired tropes of campus speech controversies.
INSIDE HIGHER ED ([link removed])

Catholic group launches ‘Hide the Pride’ anti-LGBTQ library campaign
A controversial conservative Catholic organization is urging parents to “Hide the Pride” during Pride Month—by checking out any LBGTQ-related books they see at their local libraries so that no children will see them. The group says parents can inconspicuously check out materials and place them away from children at home.
THE HILL ([link removed])
The Latest from PEN America
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Vow to Execute Cultural Figures and Activists Shows Myanmar Junta’s Disdain for Human Rights and Rule of Law ([link removed])

PEN America joins the international community in renewing a call to overturn the death sentences against prominent cultural figures and pro-democracy activists Kyaw Min Yu (known popularly as Ko Jimmy) and Phyo Zayar Thaw, after their scheduled executions did not take place on June 10. The organization is again urging all wrongfully-detained writers, artists, and journalists to be freed from Myanmar’s jails.
See the full statement. ([link removed])

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Safe and Sound: A Community Gathering on Safety in New York ([link removed])
Saturday 6/18 | 12pm ET
Julia De Burgos Performance and Arts Center
1680 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10029

In 2022, most New Yorkers are concerned about public safety. Recent attacks in the subway, national and local concerns about gun safety, lack of mental health resources, and housing issues impacting our most vulnerable are just a few topics we will delve into during this four-hour community gathering. In this event, organized by the Literary Action Coalition’s Writing as Activism Fellowship, in collaboration with PEN America and the Festival of New York, we’ll delve into how we can mobilize our communities to reimagine safety through community activism, writing, and public policy; provide tangible tools and practices for de-escalation and responding to street harassment; and share fears, hopes and visions regarding safety in our city.
Learn more and register. ([link removed])

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Tú Tienes el Poder: Defeat Disinformation in Your Community ([link removed])
Tuesday 6/21 | 7pm ET
Digital Event

Studies show that misleading content surges online during election seasons; many also reveal that not all online mis/disinformation is addressed in equal measure. Spanish-language political disinformation, especially, goes under-regulated and ignored, free to spread like wildfire on social media despite the continued growth of the Spanish-speaking voting bloc in the United States. During this session, we’ll take a holistic approach to stemming the spread of Spanish-language mis/disinformation, which includes skills for navigating difficult conversations with those who believe it.
Learn more and register. ([link removed])

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Linda Villarosa in Conversation – Montgomery ([link removed])
Tuesday, 6/21 | 7pm – 8pm ET
1977 Books
39 Dexter Ave, Montgomery, AL 36104

PEN America Birmingham and 1977 Books are proud to welcome award-winning writer at the New York Times Magazine and a contributor to The 1619 Project, Linda Villarosa, to Montgomery, Alabama for a conversation on her new book, Under the Skin. This book tells the full story of racial health disparities in America, revealing the toll racism takes on individuals and the health of our nation.
Learn more and register. ([link removed])

Global Free Expression Stories

Arron Banks loses libel action against reporter Carole Cadwalladr
The multimillionaire Brexit backer Arron Banks has lost his libel action against the Observer and Guardian journalist Carole Cadwalladr, in a significant decision for public interest journalism. Banks, who funded the pro-Brexit Leave.EU campaign group, sued Cadwalladr personally over two instances in which she said the businessman was lying about his relationship with the Russian state – one in a Ted Talk and the other in a tweet.
THE GUARDIAN ([link removed])

Suspect admits killing missing pair in Brazilian Amazon, authorities say
A suspect held over the disappearance of a British journalist and Brazilian indigenous affairs expert has admitted to killing the pair in a remote region of the Amazon, Brazilian authorities said at a news conference Wednesday. Brazilian Federal Police identified the suspect as Amarildo da Costa de Oliveira. Police said he confessed on Tuesday night and indicated where the bodies of veteran correspondent Dom Phillips and researcher Bruno Araújo Pereira had been buried.
CNN ([link removed])

The Lady of Heaven film: Morocco bans ‘blasphemous’ British film
Moroccan cinema authorities have banned the controversial British film Lady of Heaven, after it was condemned by the country's religious council. The film claims to tell the story of Lady Fatima, the daughter of Prophet Muhammad. The Supreme Ulema Council said the movie was a "flagrant falsification of the established facts" of Islam. There have been protests against the film in the UK. Government figures in Egypt, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq have also denounced it.
BBC WORLD NEWS ([link removed])

Russia seeks to militarize schoolchildren and censor textbooks amid war
Schools have been ordered to conduct “patriotic” classes parroting the Kremlin line on the war, and teachers who refuse have been fired. Textbooks are being purged of almost all references to Ukraine and its capital, Kyiv. The powerful chief of the Russian Security Council, Nikolai Patrushev, a close Putin ally, has demanded sweeping changes to education, as part of a whole-of-government effort to shape loyal citizens from cradle to grave.
THE WASHINGTON POST ([link removed])
Spotlight: Liu Tianyi
Liu Tianyi ([link removed]) (China): Writer Liu Tianyi, who goes by the pen name Tianyi, is serving a ten-and-a-half year prison sentence ([link removed]) for her publication of an erotic fiction novel Gongzhan, which translates to Occupy. She is the author of over a dozen novels ([link removed]) in the genre known as danmei ([link removed]) or "boys' love" and has a loyal fanbase of thousands of readers. Her self-published novel Gongzhan is about a forbidden love affair between a teacher and a student and features gay sex scenes. She was sentenced in 2018 for "making and selling obscene material for profit.
([link removed]) " Four other people who helped Liu publish the novel also received jail sentences ranging in severity from ten months to over ten years in prison.

Learn more about Tianyi ([link removed])
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