Mayor Pete and Impeachment | This App Fights Domestic Violence

People with disabilities are a growing demographic. The sex industry is slowly catching on.

When disability activist Andrew Gurza imagines a sex toy, it doesn’t necessarily look like a penis. It might look like a bean bag. It might look like a noodle. “Things that don’t necessarily look like sex toys that could be used to create pleasure,” he says. “Stuff that’s completely outside of the box.”

Gurza is one of the founders of Deliciously Disabled, an organization devoted to researching and designing sex toys for people with disabilities. It has completed the first stages of research and is now on the hunt for investors. Deliciously Disabled says it would be the first line of sex toys designed by and for the disabled community. But it’s not the only organization trying to tap into this demographic, which not only controls an estimated $8 trillion in disposable income but is also anticipated to grow in the coming years.

The Indiana mayor is the only Democratic presidential hopeful not marketing an impeachment crusade online.

Pete Buttigieg is hardly shy about his desire to impeach President Donald Trump. From a festival in Texas to cable television studios in New York City, the eloquent mayor of South Bend, Indiana, hasn’t hesitated to say so.

Indeed, every Democratic contender has shown at least some support for impeachment hearings in the wake of revelations about Trump’s request for Ukraine to investigate political foe Joe Biden. But unlike his opponents, Buttigieg is quick to warn that impeachment is unlikely to be successful — and that the best way to beat Trump will be at the ballot box next November.

In fact, if you tune in to his online presence (where most people get their news about candidates), you would be hard-pressed to see Mayor Pete use the “I” word at all. Aside from the occasional tweet quoting his statements, Buttigieg has stayed quiet online. His campaign is the only one in the Democratic presidential field not to release a single campaign email or paid Facebook ad about impeachment.

Sometimes the hardest part of surviving is being believed. This new tool records the evidence.

Survivors of domestic violence often say that one of the hardest parts is getting people to believe them. Another challenge: keeping track of ongoing control and violence. Police frequently advise victims to make notes, but it can be difficult when abuse is occurring daily. “Family violence chips away at you,” says Emily Maguire, CEO of the Domestic Violence Resource Centre of Victoria (DVRCV), based in Melbourne, Australia. “It’s hard to remember what name you were called on Monday versus what you were called on Wednesday versus how your parenting was attacked on Friday.”

Arc, a new app created by the DVRCV, is specifically designed for collecting evidence of domestic abuse. Not only can it assist with applying for protection against abusers, but it also helps users better understand what’s happening to them by providing a space to collect notes and recordings. With domestic violence being experienced by as many as one in every three women globally, this kind of app — which could be a literal lifesaver — is a game-changer when it comes to empowering victims.