title: History of lesbianism

text: The late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries also saw an increase in lesbian visibility in France, both in the public sphere and in art and literature. Fin de siecle society in Paris included bars, restaurants and cafes frequented and owned by lesbians, such as Le Hanneton and Le Rat Mort. Private salons, like the one hosted by the American expatriate Nathalie Barney, drew many lesbian and bisexual artists and writers, including Romaine Brooks, Renee Vivien, Colette, Djuna Barnes, Gertrude Stein, and Radclyffe Hall. One of Barney's lovers, the courtesan Liane de Pougy, published a best-selling novel based on their romance called "l'Idylle Saphique" (1901). Many publicly acknowledged lesbians and bisexual women were entertainers and actresses. Some, like the writer Colette and her lover Mathilde de Morny, performed lesbian theatrical scenes in cabarets; these drew outrage and censorship. Descriptions of lesbian salons, cafes and restaurants were included in tourist guides and journalism of the era. These guides and articles also mentioned houses of prostitution that were uniquely for lesbians. Toulouse Lautrec created paintings of many of the lesbians he met, some of whom frequented or worked at the famed Moulin Rouge.


title: History of lesbianism

text: In colonial American history, laws against lesbianism were suggested but not created or enforced. In 1636, John Cotton proposed a law which would make sex sex between two women (or two men) in Massachusetts Bay a capital offense, but the law was not enacted. It would have read, "Unnatural filthiness, to be punished with death, whether sodomy, which is carnal fellowship of man with man, or woman with woman, or buggery, which is carnal fellowship of man or woman with beasts or fowls." In 1655, the Connecticut Colony suggested a law against sodomy between women (as well as between men), but it did not take effect.


title: History of lesbianism

text: In 1779, Thomas Jefferson proposed a law stating that "Whosoever shall be guilty of rape, polygamy, or sodomy with man or woman shall be punished, if a man, by castration, if a woman, by cutting thro' the cartilage of her nose a hole of one half inch diameter at the least", but the proposal failed. However, in 1649 in Plymouth Colony, Sarah White Norman and Mary Vincent Hammon were prosecuted for "lewd behavior with each other upon a bed." Their trial documents are the only known record of sex between female English colonists in North America in the seventeenthth century. Hammon was only admonished, perhaps because she was under sixteen, but in 1650 Norman was convicted and required to publicly acknowledge her "unchaste behavior" with Hammon. She was also warned against future offenses. This is the only known example of the prosecution of female homosexual activities in United States history.


title: History of lesbianism

text: Close intimate relationships were common among women in the mid-nineteenth century. This was attributed to strict gender roles that led women to expand their social circle to other women for emotional support. These relationships were expected to form close between women with similar socioeconomic status. Since there was not defined language in regards to lesbianism at the time, these relationships were seen as merely homosocial. Though women developed very close emotional relationships with one another, marriage to men was still the norm. However, there is evidence of possible sexual relationships beyond an emotional level. Documents from two African-American women describe practices known as "bosom sex." While these women practiced heterosexuality with their husbands, it is still believed their relationship was romantic and sexual.


title: History of lesbianism

text: The late nineteenth century and early twentieth century saw the flourishing of "Boston marriages" in New England. The term describes romantic friendship between two women, living together without any financial support from men. Many lasting romantic friendships began at women's colleges. This kind of relationship actually predates the New England custom, as there have been examples of this in the United Kingdom and continental Europe since the seventeenth century. Belief in the platonic nature of Boston marriages began to dissipate after followers of Freud cast suspicion on the supposed innocent friendships of the "marriages."


title: History of lesbianism

text: The Stonewall Riots were a series of spontaneous demonstrations, when members of the gay (i.e. LGBT) community fought back when police became violent during a police raid in the early morning hours of June 28, 1969, at the Stonewall Inn, located in the Greenwich Village neighborhood of Manhattan, New York City. The crowd was spurred to action when butch lesbian Stormé DeLarverie punched the police officer who had struck her over the head, and called out to the crowd, "Why don't you guys do something?" These riots are widely considered to constitute the single most important event leading to the gay liberation movement in the US, and one of the most important events in the modern fight for LGBT rights in the United States.


title: History of lesbianism

text: Political lesbianism originated in the late 1960s among second wave radical feminists as a way to fight sexism and compulsory heterosexuality (see Adrienne Rich's essay "Compulsory Heterosexuality and Lesbian Existence"). Sheila Jeffreys, a lesbian, helped to develop the concept when she co-wrote "Love Your Enemy? The Debate Between Heterosexual Feminism and Political Lesbianism" with the Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group. They argued that women should abandon support of heterosexuality and stop sleeping with men, encouraging women to rid men "from your beds and your heads." While the main idea of political lesbianism is to be separate from men, this does not necessarily mean that political lesbians "have" to sleep with women; some choose to be celibate or identify as asexual. The Leeds Revolutionary Feminist Group definition of a political lesbian is "a woman identified woman who does not fuck men". They proclaimed men the enemy and women who were in relationships with them collaborators and complicit in their own oppression. Heterosexual behavior was seen as the basic unit of the patriarchy's political structure, with lesbians who reject heterosexual behavior therefore disrupting the established political system. Lesbian women who have identified themselves as "political lesbians" include Ti-Grace Atkinson, Julie Bindel, Charlotte Bunch, Yvonne Rainer, and Sheila Jeffreys.


title: History of lesbianism

text: On December 15, 1973, the American Psychiatric Association voted almost unanimously to remove “homosexuality” from the list of psychiatric disorders that is included in the group’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. This reversal came after three years of protests from gay and lesbian liberation activists and major disruption at the group’s panel on homosexuality in 1970.


title: History of lesbianism

text: In 1974, Maureen Colquhoun came out as the first lesbian MP for the Labour Party in the UK. When elected she was in a heterosexual marriage.


title: History of lesbianism

text: Lesbian feminism, which was most influential from the mid-1970s to the mid-1980s (primarily in North America and Western Europe), encourages women to direct their energies toward other women rather than men, and often advocates lesbianism as the logical result of feminism. Some key thinkers and activists in lesbian feminism are Charlotte Bunch, Rita Mae Brown, Adrienne Rich, Audre Lorde, Marilyn Frye, Mary Daly, Sheila Jeffreys and Monique Wittig (although the latter is more commonly associated with the emergence of queer theory). Into the mid 1970s, lesbians around the world were publishing their personal coming out stories, as these came few and far between at the time. In addition to coming out stories, lesbians were publishing biographies of lesbian writers who were misplaced in history, looking for examples of who they were and how their community came to be. As with Gay Liberation, the lesbian feminist understanding of the lesbian potential in all women was at odds with the minority-rights framework of the Gay Rights movement. Many women of the Gay Liberation movement felt frustrated at the domination of the movement by men and formed separate organizations; some who felt gender differences between men and women could not be resolved developed "lesbian separatism", influenced by writings such as Jill Johnston's 1973 book "Lesbian Nation". Disagreements between different political philosophies were, at times, extremely heated, and became known as the lesbian sex wars, clashing in particular over views on sadomasochism, prostitution and transgenderism. The “Sex Wars” was a time in feminist history that divided “anti-pornography” and “pro-sex” feminists. The common belief among pro-sex feminists was that there needed to be a new way for female desire to be advertised and demonstrated. General photography of women in this manner was debated among feminists everywhere.


title: History of lesbianism

text: In the Eastern Bloc, although there were no standard laws regarding discrimination against gays and lesbian, self-expression was discouraged as it encouraged people toward actions that were outside the accepted norms of a harmonious socialist society. As such, state police often used blackmail and kept dossiers on homosexual people as a way for them to be manipulated by the state. Activists in Eastern Europe were not unaware of events in the West, but generally forming associations for any type of special interest group was forbidden until the 1980s. Because state sanction was not given, many support systems for lesbians operated clandestinely. For example, in East Germany, Ursula Sillge formed the in 1986 to offer both a means for lesbians to gather outside the state-sanctioned churches but as a way for them to provide educational materials about homosexuality to each other and press authorities to acknowledge the discrimination faced by lesbians and gays. The Sunday Club would not gain official sanction and an ability to register as an organization until 1990. In Hungary, the first legally recognized organization to represent the LGBT community was . It was organized in 1988 at the Ipoly Cinema, a venue where Ildikó Juhász operated an after-hours safe space for lesbians to come together to create social networks.


title: History of lesbianism

text: The Lesbian Avengers began in New York City in 1992 as "a direct action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility." Dozens of other chapters quickly emerged worldwide, a few expanding their mission to include questions of gender, race, and class. Newsweek reporter Eloise Salholz, covering the 1993 March on Washington for Lesbian, Gay and Bi Equal Rights and Liberation, believed the Lesbian Avengers were so popular because they were founded at a moment when lesbians were increasingly tired of working on issues, like AIDS and abortion, while their own problems went unsolved. Most importantly, lesbians were frustrated with invisibility in society at large, and invisibility and misogyny in the LGBT community.


title: History of lesbianism

text: Many activists in the 21st century have attempted to create more visibility for lesbian history and the activists that brought it to light. They argue that LGBTQ history is not nearly as represented as other civil rights movements, including African American's or women's civil and equal rights. Activists and other volunteers around the country have attempted to collect historical artifacts, documents, and other stories to help preserve this history for generations in the future to celebrate and cherish. Also in the 21st century, there has been an increased movement for LGBTQ+ visibility in school curriculums. The exclusion of the LGBTQ+ community and its history is one of the biggest contributors to homophobia and the exclusion of those a part of the LGBTQ community in schools.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: , also known as Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play or Curious Play, is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Yuu Watase. It tells the story of two teenaged girls, Miaka and Yui, who are pulled into "The Universe of the Four Gods", a mysterious book at the National Diet Library. It is essentially based on four mythological creatures of China. Shogakukan serialized "Fushigi Yûgi" in "Shōjo Comic" from December 1991 to May 1996 and later compiled the manga into eighteen volumes.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Studio Pierrot adapted it into a fifty-two episode anime series that aired from April 1995 to March 1996 on TV Tokyo. The anime spawned three original video animation (OVA) releases, with the first having three episodes, the second having six, and the final OVA, "Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden", spanning four episodes. In North America, Viz Media licensed the manga series for an English-language release in 1999. The anime series was first licensed by Geneon Entertainment and re-licensed by Media Blasters in 2012.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: A thirteen-volume Japanese light novel series, written by Megumi Nishizaki, followed "Fushigi Yûgi". Shogakukan published the novels from January 1998 to September 2003. Watase also released two prequel manga series: "", which ran from March 2003 to February 2013, and "", which began serialization in August 2017.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: As of November 2015, "Fushigi Yûgi" had over 20 million copies in circulation, making it one of the best-selling manga series of all time.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: The series describes the various trials of Miaka Yuki and Yui Hongo, two middle-school students. While at the library one day, Miaka and Yui encounter a strange book known as "The Universe of the Four Gods". Reading this book transports them into the novel's universe in ancient China. Yui is transported back to the real world almost immediately, but Miaka finds herself the Priestess of Suzaku. Miaka is destined to gather the seven Celestial Warriors of the god Suzaku in order to summon Suzaku and obtain three wishes. She falls in love with the Celestial Warrior Tamahome, who eventually reciprocates and Miaka's desire to use a wish to enter the high school of her choice begins to shift towards finding a way to be with Tamahome. Yui is also drawn into the book when she tries to help Miaka to come back to the real world; becoming the Priestess of Seiryuu, working against Miaka out of jealousy over Tamahome and revenge for the humiliation and pain she had suffered when she first came into the book's world.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: , the primary protagonist in "Fushigi Yûgi", is an ordinary 15-year-old junior high school student. She decides to become the Priestess of Suzaku in order to ask Suzaku to grant her wish to join her best friend, Yui, at the same high school. Outgoing and optimistic, Miaka shows herself amiable with friends and strangers, and has a tendency to be guileless and sentimental. She is naïve, but sometimes surprises adults with an insightful comment. Miaka is generous and cares greatly for other people and perceives herself to be a considerate person. She can be unassuming and unsophisticated, but also magnanimous and courageous. Because she creates the impression of a person who always needs help, Miaka has the good fortune of almost always having someone looking after her. Miaka has a primary weakness: her gluttony. She is an avid fan of anime, imitating several characters during the course of the story.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: , the fourth Emperor of Kōnan, is known for his beauty and his narcissism. Known as a responsible ruler and capable of dealing with political affairs, Hotohori often places the well-being of his subjects first and forgets his own needs in the process. Hotohori has limited understanding of the world as a result of being raised in a sheltered environment.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: , a wandering monk, has trained for several years with Taiitsukun, the creator. As the oldest and wisest of all of the Suzaku warriors, Chichiri thinks of himself as the older brother who looks after them all. Appearing superficially light-hearted, he can put on super deformed "chibi" frivolity or suddenly become very serious and grim. While Tamahome and Hotohori are the obvious leaders, Chichiri is the ever-staunch advisor and supporter from behind the scenes, always willing to help when needed. Unconcerned with his own mortality or with earthly desires, he has a Zen master's detached attitude.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: , considered to be the leader of the Seiryū warriors, is the main antagonist of "Fushigi Yûgi". Nakago is both merciless and charismatic; he eliminates those whose usefulness to him is exhausted and skillfully manipulates others into doing as he wishes. Nakago's powers as a Celestial Warrior is shown to be stronger than any of the Suzaku and Seiryū warriors, having the ability to manipulate chi, enabling himself to become psychokinetic, fire energy blasts, and set up force fields. In battle, Nakago also utilizes a whip and sword.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Written and illustrated by Yuu Watase, "Fushigi Yûgi" originally appeared in serial form in the semimonthly manga magazine "Shōjo Comic". It premiered in the January 1, 1992 ( 1) issue, released in December 1991, and ran for over five years, ending in the June 5, 1996 ( 12) issue, released in May 1996. The series was simultaneously published in eighteen collected volumes by Shogakukan, with new volumes being released on a quarterly schedule.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: In 1992, Viz Media licensed the manga for an English-language release in North America. The series was originally released in a flipped trade paperback format, starting in August 1998. Several characters have both Japanese pronunciations and Chinese pronunciations. In 1998, Watase visited the United States and met with Viz staff members at their San Francisco headquarters. Viz kept the original Chinese names of characters at her request. Bill Flanagan, the editor of the English version, asked Watase if he should use the Chinese names for popular characters such as Tai Yi-Jun (Taitsukun), and she also asked for the Chinese names to be used there. The characters with names remaining in Japanese in the English version are the characters such as Tamahome who have Japanese pronunciations of ancient constellations; there was never any intention of them having Chinese names.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: This caused some confusion for fans as the anime version uses the Japanese names. For example, in the manga, Hotohori's country is named "Hong-Nan" rather than the "Konan" found in the anime series. After eight volumes, Viz stopped publication of "Fushigi Yûgi", reviving it in June 2003 when it released the first two volumes in unflipped standard manga size volumes. The remaining volumes were released on a quarterly schedule, including the remaining ten volumes. The final volume of the series was released in April 2006. The dates and ISBN numbers given for the first eight volumes in the table on the link above are for the second edition releases.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Viz also serialized "Fushigi Yûgi" in their manga anthology magazine, "Animerica Extra", starting with the October 1998 debut issue and running until the December 2004 issue, the magazine's final issue. In 2009 and 2010, Viz re-released the series as part of their "VIZBIG" line, combining three individual volumes of the original release into each single, larger volume.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Produced by Studio Pierrot, the fifty-two episode "Fushigi Yûgi" anime series premiered on TV Tokyo on April 6, 1995. The series aired weekly, until the final episode that was aired on March 28, 1996. The series was licensed for English-language release to Region 1 DVD and VHS format by Geneon Entertainment, then named Pioneer, under the expanded title "Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play". It has been suggested that Geneon chose to license the series based on its popularity among the fansub community. The main series was released in eight individual volumes and as two box sets, the "Suzaku" and "Seiryū" sets. Media Blasters license-rescued the series, and released the first season to DVD on June 19, 2012. Season 2 was released on February 12, 2013.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Following the anime adaptation, three original video animation (OVA) works appeared. The first, spanning three episodes, takes place a year after the events of the main series and has no ties to the original manga. It was released to DVD on October 25, 1996. The second OVA, which has six episodes, animates the last four volumes of the manga series that had been left out of the main series. The episodes were split across two volumes, with the first released May 25, 1997, and the second coming over a year later on August 25, 1998.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: The final OVA, "Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden", spans four episodes and is based on two of the light novels written by Megumi Nishizaki. Released on December 21, 2001, it focuses on a new character, Mayo Sakaki, a sixteen-year-old girl who attends Yotsubadai High School. Upon finding "The Universe of the Four Gods" in a trash bin at the park, Mayo soon discovers that the story remains incomplete. In the unfamiliar world of the book, Mayo must come to terms with her own life and the unhappiness within it.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Geneon Entertainment also licensed the OVAs for Region 1 DVD release. The first two OVAs were released together in a set titled "Fushigi Yûgi: The Mysterious Play", while "Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden" was released as a single disc volume. The OVAs were released with similar packaging as the main series, to give them a consistent look. All three OVA series have also been re-licensed by Media Blasters.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Over a series of five years, wrote thirteen Japanese light novels based on "Fushigi Yûgi". Illustrated by Yuu Watase, "Fushigi Yûgi Gaiden" primarily explores the lives the various Celestial Warriors before they are seen in the manga. The only two novels to be set after the manga, "Eikō Den (Jōkan)" and "Eikō Den (Gekan)", later became the basis for the third "Fushigi Yûgi" original video animation, "Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden." Originally published by Shogakukan, none of the novels have been licensed for English release.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Idea Factory created a Sony PlayStation 2 video game based on the "Fushigi Yûgi" series called . It was released in Japan on May 29, 2008, in both regular and limited editions. A Nintendo DS version of the game was released in Japan on June 25, 2009, bundled with another game, "", based on the prequel manga series "".


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Amipro produced three stage plays based on the "Fushigi Yûgi" manga. The first, simply titled "Fushigi Yûgi", was staged at The Pocket theater in Nakano from October 20 to October 24, 2010. The second, , was staged at the Theater Sun Mall in Shinjuku from March 30 to April 3, 2011. The third, , was staged at the Hakuhinkan Theater in Ginza from April 25 to May 2, 2012. All three plays were written and directed by Shintarō Sugano and starred Mao Miyaji in the lead role.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: A fourth play, produced by Nelke Planning, was staged at the Shinagawa Prince Hotel Club eX venue in Tokyo from March 19 to March 29, 2015. It was written by Keiko Ueno, directed by Naoyoshi Okumura, and starred Golden Bomber band member Yutaka Kyan in the lead role of Tamahome. The play aimed to depict a "new version of "Fushigi Yûgi" through the eyes of Tamahome".


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: A live-action 2.5D musical stage adaptation, , ran at the Owlspot theater in Tokyo from April 8 to April 17, 2016. It was produced by Amipro and written and directed by Kōtarō Yoshitani. The cast featured former Morning Musume member Reina Tanaka as Miaka, Ryō Hirano as Tamahome, Juri Aikawa as Nakago, Takahisa Maeyama as Hotohori, Mao Miyaji as Nuriko, Yoshikazu Kotani as Tasuki, Eiji Takigawa as Mitsukake, Tatsumaru Tachibana as Chichiri, Tsubasa Hattori as Amiboshi, Daiki Tomida as Chiriko, Mina Kuryū as Shouka, Zendō Ware as Eiken, Shiori Sakata as Yui, and Jun Fujimiya as Taiitsukun.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: A sequel, , ran at Zenrosai Hall Space Zero in Tokyo from October 13 to October 21, 2018. It was also produced by Amipro, but written and directed by Sayaka Asai. Several cast members from the 2016 musical returned to reprise their roles, including Reina Tanaka as Miaka and Ryō Hirano as Tamahome. New cast members included Rina Miyazaki as Yui, Yoshiki Tani as Hotohori, Ken Ogasawara as Mitsukake, Subaru Hayama as Chichiri, and Kunta Yamasaki as Tasuki.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: An art book, , was published by Shogakukan in May 1995. It was licensed in North America by Viz Media under the title "The Art of Fushigi Yûgi" and published in October 2006.


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: In a column for "Anime News Network", writer Jason Thompson called "Fushigi Yûgi" a "great mix of monsters, magic, fighting and the more typical "Shōjo Comic" material, romance." In his expanded review of the series for "", Thompson further praised it as "one of the best 'schoolgirl in a strange land' fantasies." He singled out Watase's writing, which he believes "successfully balances" romance, action, comedy, and cliffhangers, as well as the series' compact supporting cast full of "strong personalities".


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: "THEM Anime Reviews" preferred the manga to the anime, criticizing the latter's production values, repetitious dialogue, and reuse of footage in flashback episodes. "DVD Verdict" criticized the "convoluted" plot and "nonsensical" dialogue. Another review noted that although Miaka "makes out with her boyfriend quite a bit", the climax is "of the heart and soul", despite the many battles that the characters go through. Her strength and belief in herself give her the strength and courage to change the world. Patrick Drazen, author of "Anime Explosion!", considers the humor in "Fushigi Yûgi" to be based on super deformed caricatures and therefore strange to Western audiences. "Anime News Network" argued that the show is "always entertaining throughout," while "CBR" criticized that Nakago is a pretty character even when "committing horrendous crimes like mass murder and sexual assault."


title: Fushigi Yûgi

text: Winnie Chow of "Animerica" was disappointed by the ending of the anime adaptation, finding the final battle that resolves the series to be "lame at best" that left her cheering more for Nakago than the "good guys". Throughout the series, she notes that the scenes between Miaka and Tamahome became "increasingly sickening" and "overdone". "Fushigi Yûgi: Eikoden" was panned by "THEM Anime Reviews", which considered the animation to be its only strong point. In particular, the reviewer found the new main character to be unlikeable.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: On the night of 14–15 April 2014, 276 mostly Christian female students aged from 16 to 18 were kidnapped by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram from the Government Girls Secondary School at the town of Chibok in Borno State, Nigeria. Prior to the raid, the school had been closed for four weeks due to deteriorating security conditions, but the girls were in attendance in order to take final exams in physics.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: 57 of the schoolgirls escaped immediately following the incident by jumping from the trucks on which they were being transported, and others have been rescued by the Nigerian Armed Forces on various occasions. Hopes have been raised that the 219 remaining girls might be released, however some girls are believed to be dead. Amina Ali, one of the missing girls, was found in May 2016. She claimed that the remaining girls were still there, but that six had died. As of 14 April 2021, seven years after the initial kidnapping, over 100 of the girls remain missing.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Some have described their capture in appearances at international human rights conferences. Boko Haram has used the girls as negotiating pawns in prisoner exchanges, offering to release some girls in exchange for some of their captured commanders in jail.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The girls kidnapped in Chibok in 2014 are only a small percentage of the total number of people abducted by the Islamic terrorist group Boko Haram. Amnesty International estimated in 2015 that at least 2,000 women and girls had been abducted by the Islamic terrorist group since 2014, many of whom had been forced into sexual slavery.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The terrorist group Boko Haram wants to institute an Islamic caliphate in Nigeria and is in particular opposed to western-style modern education, which they say lures people away from following Islamic teaching as a way of life. By 2014, tens of thousands of people had been killed in attacks perpetrated by the group, and the Nigerian federal government declared a state of emergency in May 2013 in the states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa during its fight against the insurgency. The resulting crackdown led to the capture or killing of hundreds of Boko Haram members, with the remainder retreating to mountainous areas from which they began increasingly to target civilians. However, the campaign failed to stabilise the country. A French military operation in Mali also pushed Boko Haram and AQIM terrorists into Nigeria.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Boko Haram began to target schools in 2010, killing hundreds of students by 2014. A spokesperson for the group said such attacks would continue as long as the Nigerian government continued to interfere with traditional Islamic education. 10,000 children have been unable to attend school as a result of activities by Boko Haram. Boko Haram has also been known to kidnap girls, whom it believes should not be educated, and use them as cooks or sex slaves.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: On 6 July 2013, armed men from Boko Haram attacked Government Secondary School in Mamudo, Yobe State, killing at least 42 people. Most of those killed were students, with some staff members among the dead. On 29 September 2013, armed men from Boko Haram gained access to the male hostel in the College of Agriculture in Gujba, Yobe State, killing forty-four students and teachers.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Boko Haram's attacks intensified in 2014. In February, the group killed more than 100 Christian men in the villages of Doron Baga and Izghe. That same month, 59 boys were killed in the Federal Government College attack in northeastern Nigeria. In March, the group attacked the Giwa military barracks, freeing captured militants. The Chibok abduction occurred on the same day as a bombing attack in Abuja in which at least 88 people died. The road leading to Chibok is frequently targeted due to the fact that there is little to no government protection for commuters for the village. Boko Haram was blamed for nearly 4,000 deaths in 2014. Training received from al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb and al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula has helped Boko Haram intensify its attacks.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Jonathan N.C. Hill of King's College London has suggested that Boko Haram kidnapped these girls after coming increasingly under the influence of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb, and asserts that the group's goal is to use girls and young women as sexual objects and as a means of intimidating the civilian population into compliance. Hill describes the attacks as similar to the kidnapping of girls in Algeria in the 1990s and early 2000s.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: On the night of 14 April 2014, members of the Islamic jihadist terrorist group Boko Haram attacked the Government Girls Secondary School in Chibok, Nigeria, a majority Christian village. A few hours prior to the raid, residents in Chibok had received phone calls from neighbouring villages warning them of the incoming attack, who had witnessed convoys containing armed insurgents driving in the direction of the town. The kidnappers broke into the school, pretending to be soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces and dressed in matching military uniforms. The militants also engaged approximately 15 soldiers based in Chibok, who were unable to stop the attack as the militants had superior numbers and firepower, and no reinforcements were sent by the Nigerian Military during the course of the attack. A soldier and a police officer were killed during the course of the raid. The attack lasted for about 5 hours, during which houses in Chibok were also burned down.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: According to accounts given by some of the girls, including a diary written by two of the girls (Naomi Adamu and Sarah Samuel) whilst in captivity, the militants had intended to steal a piece of machinery and were initially unsure what to do with the girls. They told the girls to get out and come with them. Some girls were loaded into vehicles and the rest had to walk several miles until other trucks came to take them away, possibly into the Konduga area of the Sambisa Forest, a former nature reserve covering 60,000 km where Boko Haram were known to have fortified camps. An unidentified senior military source believed that the girls may have been split up and placed in different Boko Haram camps, around Lake Chad, the Gorsi mountains and the Sambisa forest. 57 girls were able to escape by jumping from the trucks in which they were being transported.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: In the immediate aftermath of the attack, local vigilantes and parents searched the Sambisa forest in an attempt to locate and rescue some of the kidnapped girls, however were unsuccessful in finding any of the captives.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The school had been closed for four weeks before to the attack due to deteriorating security conditions, however students from multiple schools and villages were in attendance at the time of the raid to take final exams in Physics. There were 530 students registered to participate in Senior Secondary Certificate Examination at the Government Girls Secondary School, although it is unclear how many were in attendance at the time of the attack. The children were aged from 16 to 18 years of age and were in their final year of school. There was initial confusion over the number of girls kidnapped, with the Nigerian military initially incorrectly claiming in a statement that the majority of the girls had escaped or been released and only eight were still unaccounted for. Parents said that 234 girls were missing, however according to the local police approximately 276 children were taken in the attack, of whom 53 had escaped by 2 May. It is widely accepted that initially 276 girls were kidnapped. Other reports gave various other figures for the number of kidnapped and missing students.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Amnesty International condemned the Nigerian government, stating that it believed that the Nigerian military had a four hour advance warning of the kidnapping but failed to send reinforcements to protect the school. The Nigerian military later confirmed that they had a four-hour advance notice of the attack but stated that their over-extended forces were unable to mobilize reinforcements.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The overwhelming majority of the kidnapped girls who were Christian were forced to convert to Islam. The girls were forced into marriage with members of Boko Haram, with a reputed bride price of ₦2,000 each ($6/£4). Sightings of the students were reported by villagers living in the Sambisa Forest, considered a refuge for Boko Haram. Others reported seeing the students crossing into the neighbouring countries of Chad and Cameroon with the militants, though Kashim Shettima, the governor of Borno State in Nigeria, said on 11 May that he had sighted the abducted girls and claimed that they had not taken across the borders into either country. The Nigerian Military enlisted help from local volunteers and vigilantes in order to search forests close to Nigeria's borders by 21 April. Local residents were able to track the movements of the students with the help of contacts across north eastern Nigeria. A diary written by some of the kidnapped students described how some were able to escape, but were returned to Boko Haram by local villagers and whipped as punishment.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: On 2 May, the Nigerian police said that the exact number of students kidnapped was unclear and asked parents to forward the names and photos of kidnapped girls so an official count could be made. The police blamed damage to school records during the attack as a reason for the confusion. Nigerian president Goodluck Jonathan spoke publicly about the kidnapping for the first time on 4 May, saying the government was doing everything it could to find the missing girls. At the same time, he criticized parents for not supplying enough information about their missing children, claiming that they were not fully cooperating with the police.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: "The Guardian" reported that the British Royal Air Force conducted Operation Turus in response to the kidnapping. A source involved with the operation told the "Observer" that "the girls were located in the first few weeks of the RAF mission", and that "we [the RAF] offered to rescue them, but the Nigerian government declined", because they viewed the matter as a "national issue" to be resolved by Nigerian intelligence and security services. Sir Andrew Pocock, British High Commissioner to Nigeria at the time of the kidnapping, said that a couple of months after the kidnapping, a group of up to 80 of the Chibok girls were seen by American "eye in the sky" technology but nothing was done. About 80 girls, a camp and evidence of vehicle movement were spotted next to a local landmark called the "Tree of Life" in the Sambisa forest.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Boko Haram leader Abubakar Shekau claimed responsibility for the kidnappings in a video released shorty after 1pm on 5 May. Shekau claimed that "Allah instructed me to sell them... I will carry out his instructions", and that "Slavery is allowed in my religion, and I shall capture people and make them slaves." He said the girls should not have been in school and instead should have been married since girls as young as nine are suitable for marriage. Another video was released a week later, which showed about 130 girls dressed in hijabs and long Islamic chadors. This was the first public sighting of the girls since they were abducted from Chibok. In this video, Shekau acknowledged that many of the girls were not Muslims, but that some had converted to Islam and that they would "treat them well the way the Prophet Muhammad treated the infidels he seized". Shekau also mentioned that he would not release the girls until captured Boko Haram militants in prison were released, raising the possibility of a prisoner exchange with the Nigerian government.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Following the Chibok kidnapping, several attacks linked to Boko Haram occurred in Nigeria. On 5 May, at least 300 residents of the nearby town of Gamboru Ngala were killed in an attack by Boko Haram militants after Nigerian security forces left the town to search for the kidnapped students. The next day, Boko Haram militants abducted 8 girls aged between 12 and 15 from northeastern Nigeria. In the night of 13 to 14 May, Boko Haram ambushed a military convoy that was searching for the abductees near Chibok, killing twelve soldiers and wounding several others. The incident led to mutiny of government forces at Maiduguri, reducing the ability of the Nigerian Army to rescue the schoolgirls. Between 20 and 23 June, 91 women and children were abducted in other areas of Borno State by Boko Haram militants, with an estimated 600 girls held by Boko Haram in three camps outside Nigeria by this stage. Boko Haram once again attacked Chibok and other nearby villages on 22 July, killing at least 51 people, including 11 parents of the abducted girls.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: A journalist-brokered deal to secure the release of the girls in exchange for 100 Boko Haram prisoners held in Nigerian jails was scrapped at a late stage on 24 May after President Goodluck Jonathan consulted with U.S., Israeli, French and British foreign ministers in Paris, where the consensus was that no deals should be struck with terrorists, and that a solution involving force was required. On 26 May, the Nigerian Chief of Defence Staff announced that the Nigerian security forces had located the kidnapped girls, but ruled out a forceful rescue attempt for fears of collateral damage. Two of the kidnapped girls were found raped, "half-dead", and tied to a tree on 30 May by a civilian militia in the Baale region of Northeastern Nigeria. Villagers said that Boko Haram had left the two girls and had killed four other disobedient girls and buried them. Another 4 girls escaped later in the year, walking for three weeks and reaching safety by 12 October. They said they had been held in a camp in Cameroon and raped every day.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: It was reported on 26 June that the Nigerian government had signed a contract worth more than $1.2 million with Levick, a Washington, D.C. public relations firm to work on "the international and local media narrative" surrounding the Chibok schoolgirl kidnapping. The contract was labeled a waste of money by President Jonathan's critics. Jonathan was criticized for a lack of communication regarding the kidnapping, but he later attributed his silence to a desire not to compromise the details of security efforts being carried out to rescue the girls via a column in "The Washington Post".


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: On 1 July, a businessman suspected of carrying out the kidnappings of the school girls, as well as the bombing of a busy market in northeastern Nigeria, was arrested. Military sources said that he was also accused of helping the Islamist militant group kill the traditional leader Idrissa Timta, the Emir of Gwoza. Two weeks later, Zakaria Mohammed, a high-ranking member of Boko Haram, was arrested at Darazo-Basrika Road while fleeing from counterinsurgency operations around the Balmo Forest.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Stephen Davis, a former Anglican clergyman, contacted three Boko Haram commanders who said they might be prepared to release Chibok schoolgirls and went to Nigeria in April 2015. He was given proof of life (a video of them being raped) and was told 18 were seriously ill, some with HIV. Davis got initial agreement that Boko Haram would release these ill girls. However, after three attempts the deal fell through when another group abducted the girls believing they could make money out of them and Davis left Nigeria. Davis commented that it was not difficult to locate the five or six main Boko Haram camps, and that he was able to find them on Google Earth.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Renovation of the school commenced in March, with Nigerian finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala visiting Chibok to deliver a short speech and help with laying bricks at the school.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: By May, the Nigerian military had reclaimed most of the areas previously controlled by Boko Haram in Nigeria including many of the camps in the Sambisa forest where it was suspected the Chibok girls had been kept. Although many women previously held captive by Boko Haram had been freed as the Nigerian military reclaimed these areas, none of the Chibok girls were found. President Muhammadu Buhari, who gained power through the 2015 Nigerian general election, stated in December that he was willing to negotiate with Boko Haram for the release of the Chibok girls without any preconditions.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Acting director of defence information, Col. Rabe Abubakar, stated that the Nigerian armed forced would "not rush" to rescue the remaining girls. He justified this by claiming that rescue operations required "diligent intervention and a high-level operation".


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The Nigerian military freed 1,000 women and girls held captive in the village of Boboshe by Boko Haram in January, but none of them were Chibok girls.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Boko Haram released another video in April showing 15 girls who appeared to be Chibok girls, at which point at least 219 of those originally kidnapped were still missing. The video was reportedly taken in December 2015, and the girls seemed to show no signs of distress, though it is possible that the militants selected the girls on the video specifically to give the impression all the Chibok girls were in good health.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Chibok schoolgirl Amina Ali Nkeki was found on 17 May by the vigilante Civilian Joint Task Force group in the Sambisa Forest, along with her baby and Mohammad Hayyatu, a suspected Boko Haram militant who claimed to be her husband. All three were suffering from severe malnutrition when they were found. She was then taken to house of the group's leader Aboku Gaji who recognised her. The group then reunited the girl with her parents. She met Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari on 19 May. Government officials announced the same day that the Nigerian army and vigilante groups had killed 35 Boko Haram militants, freed 97 women and children and claimed one of the women was a Chibok schoolgirl. However, there were doubts that this girl, Serah Luka, was really one of the kidnapped Chibok schoolgirls. On 21 May 2016, Amir Muhammad Abdullahi, who claimed to be the Boko Haram second in command and speaker for several senior militants, offered to surrender so long as they would not be harmed and in return they would release hostages including the Chibok girls. However when talking about the Chibok girls he said that "...frankly, just about a third of them remain, as the rest have been martyred".


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: In August the Nigerian military announced they had launched an air attack on Boko Haram's headquarters in the Sambisa Forest, claiming to have killed several commanders and seriously wounded the leader Abubakar Shekau. Later reports suggested the attack also killed 10 of the Chibok girls and wounded 30 others. Later in the month Boko Haram released a video of what appeared to be about 50 Chibok girls, some holding babies, with an armed masked spokesman who demanded the release of jailed fighters in exchange for the girls' freedom. The masked gunman said some of the Chibok girls had been killed by Nigerian air strikes and 40 had been married. The film was apparently released on the orders of Abubakar Shekau, the leader of one of the factions of Boko Haram.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: 21 of the Chibok schoolgirls were released in October by Boko Haram after negotiations between the group and the Nigerian government, brokered by International Committee of the Red Cross and the Swiss government. A child born to one of the girls and believed by medical personnel to be about 20 months old also was released. On 16 October, President Buhari's spokesperson stated that the ISIL-allied faction of Boko Haram was willing to negotiate the release of 83 more of the girls. According to him, the splinter group had stated that the rest of the girls were under the control of Shekau-led faction. Two days later, Pogu Bitrus, the chairman of the Chibok Development Association, claimed that more than 100 of the missing girls apparently did not want to return home because they had either been brainwashed or were fearful of the stigma they will receive. Another girl named Maryam Ali Maiyanga was found along with a baby and rescued by the Nigerian Army on 5 November. The spokesman for the army, Sani Usman, said that she was found in Pulka, Borno State whilst screening escapees from Boko Haram's Sambisa forest base. She was confirmed to be one of those kidnapped at Chibok by Bring Back Our Girls.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: One of the kidnapped girls, Rakiya Abubakar, was reported on 5 January to have been found by the Nigerian Army along with a 6-month-old baby while they were interrogating suspects detained in army raids on the Sambisa forest. Her identity was later confirmed by Bring Back Our Girls group.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: 82 further schoolgirls were released on 6 May following successful negotiations between the Nigerian government and Boko Haram, involving the exchange of five Boko Haram leaders. The negotiations were carried by Mustapha Zanna, barrister and owner of an orphanage in Maiduguri. The deal also involved the intervention of the human security division of Swiss government's foreign ministry and the Red Cross. 3 million Euros (about 3.7 million US$) were paid as ransom money in two duffel bags for the total of 103 girls released in October 2016 and May 2017. A Nigerian government spokesman stated that though 83 girls were originally to be released in May 2017, one of them chose to stay with her husband instead of being freed.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: U.S. President Donald Trump met Chibok schoolgirls Joy Bishara and Lydia Pogu at the White House on 27 June, who were due to start education at Southeastern University in Florida. Bishara and Pogu delivered a letter to Trump, urging him to "keep America safe and strong".


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The Nigerian military stated on 4 January that it had rescued Salomi Pogu, another of the kidnapped girls. Col. Onyema Nwachukwu stated that she was rescued near Pulka, Borno. She was found in the company of another young woman and her child. In February 2018 most of the released girls were studying at the American University of Nigeria not far from the original scene of the kidnapping at Chibok. It was estimated that 13 girls were presumed dead and 112 were still missing. In September 2018, Ali Garga, a Boko Haram militant, offered to free 40 of the remaining Chibok schoolgirls.  However, he was tortured and killed by other Boko Haram members when they found out what he was doing. In July Nigerian police arrested and charged eight Boko Haram fighters allegedly involved in the kidnapping, with one defendant convicted and sentenced to 20 years in prison.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: An unknown number of girls escaped in January 2021. In 2021 Parkinson and Hinshaw published a book ("Bring Back Our Girls: The Astonishing Survival and Rescue of Nigeria's Missing Schoolgirls") which drew on interviews with the girls, former militants, spies and government officials. Much of the book was based on a diary kept by 24-year-old Naomi Adamu, one of the girls who had been kidnapped and freed in 2017. Adamu described her experiences, including how they had compulsory lessons on the Quran every day and were regularly beaten with rifle butts, rope and wire. The girls who refused to be married were not abused sexually; however, they were treated as slaves and forced to provide hard manual labor. She led a group of resistant girls who refused to convert to Islam, who were threatened with being killed and starvation by the militants.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: In June 2022, Nigerian troops found a Chibok girl called Mary Ngoshe and her baby near a village called Ngoshe in Borno State.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: After the kidnapping, Governor Kashim Shettima demanded to visit Chibok, despite being advised that it was too dangerous. United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and UNICEF condemned the abduction, as did former Nigerian military ruler Muhammadu Buhari. The UN Security Council also condemned the attack and warned of action against Boko Haram militants for abducting the girls.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The president of the Muslim Students Society of Nigeria called on Muslims to fast and pray "in order to seek Allah's intervention in this precarious time". Sa'ad Abubakar III, the Sultan of Sokoto, also called for prayers and intensified efforts to rescue the students. On 9 May, Governor Kashim Shettima of Borno State called on all Muslims and Christians to join in "three days of prayers and fasting". On the same day, Muslims in Cameroon called on fellow believers not to marry any of the girls should they be offered to them. On the same day, the Grand Mufti of Saudi Arabia, Sheikh Abdulaziz Al al-Sheikh, joined other religious leaders in the Muslim world in condemning the kidnappings, describing Boko Haram as misguided and intent on smearing the name of Islam. He stated that Islam is against kidnapping, and that marrying kidnapped girls is not permitted.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: On the 600th day of the Chibok girls' abduction, a group of Nigeria experts in the United Kingdom called Nigeria Diaspora Security Forum called on the Federal Government of Nigeria under the leadership of President Muhammadu Buhari to set up a special taskforce tasked solely with the responsibility of looking for the girls.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: passed a resolution on 17 July, "calling for immediate and unconditional release of the abducted schoolgirls".


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Parents and others took to social media to complain about the government's perceived slow and inadequate response. The news caused international outrage against Boko Haram and the Nigerian government. On 30 April and 1 May, protests demanding greater government action were held in several Nigerian cities. However, most parents were afraid of speaking publicly for fear their daughters would be targeted for reprisal. On 3 and 4 May, protests were held in major Western cities including Los Angeles and London.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Initially, usage of the hashtag came from individuals attempting to raise awareness of the kidnapping. Ibrahim M Abdullahi, a lawyer in Abuja, the capital of Nigeria, started the hashtag #BringBackOurGirls in a tweet posted in April 2014 after listening to the former Federal Minister of Education Oby Ezekwesili speak on the kidnappings at an event at Port Harcourt. It was then used by a group of Nigerian activists protesting about the government's slow response to the kidnapping to tag tweets as they marched down a highway in protest. The hashtag began to trend globally on Twitter by May 2014 as a form of hashtag activism and the story spread rapidly internationally, becoming for a time Twitter's most tweeted hashtag. By 11 May it had attracted 2.3 million tweets and by 2016 it had been retweeted 6.1 million times. An official Twitter account for the movement was then set up, with a group of 20–30 people involved in its organization. Oby Ezekwesili and Aisha Yesufu have both been described as co-founders or co-conveners of the movement. A $300,000 cash reward was initially offered by the movement to anyone who could help locate or rescue the girls from their kidnappers.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The movement has been involved in the organization of several protests against the Nigerian government's slow response to the kidnapping. Naomi Mutah and Saratu Angus Ndirpaya, two women who were involved in the leadership and organization of the protests, were detained by the Nigerian police reportedly because the First Lady of Nigeria, Patience Jonathan, "felt slighted" when they were sent to attend a meeting instead of some of the mothers of the kidnapped girls. Ndirpaya was released soon after, and stated that the First Lady had accused them of fabricating the abductions, whilst others at the meeting had accused the two of being members of Boko Haram. Several online petitions were created to pressure the Nigerian government to act against the kidnapping. On 30 April, hundreds of protestors marched on the National Assembly to demand government and military action against the kidnappers. Vigils and protests were held around the world to mark 100 days since the kidnapping. Participating countries included Nigeria, Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Togo, the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Portugal. Daily rallies by Bring Back Our Girls demonstrators at the Unity Fountain in Abuja were continuing to at least 5 January 2015, despite efforts by the police to shut down such protests. To mark a year since Boko Haram kidnapped the girls, on 13 April 2015 hundreds of protesters wearing red tape across their lips walked silently through the capital Abuja. Security forces are known to have detained protestors and dispersed crowds with armed police and water cannon.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The movement attracted support from several celebrities. Notable participants included Malala Yousafzai, Hillary Clinton, Chris Brown Forest Whitaker, and then First Lady of the United States Michelle Obama, who was photographed holding up a sheet of paper with the hashtag to support the movement and gave a public address on the kidnappings a few days later. Beyoncé had a separate section on her website that was dedicated to the movement.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: The movement was criticized by some American conservatives, including Fox News contributor George Will, who stated that it was "not intended to have any effect on the real world" and House Intelligence Committee Chairman Mike Rogers who stated that the White House could not base its policy "on what's trending on Twitter". However, the hashtag has reportedly had an impact on Nigerian politics, with Oby Ezekwesili, a notable #BringBackOurGirls activist, running for presidency in the 2015 Nigerian general election. President Goodluck was criticized for using the hashtag "#bringbackgoodluck2015", a play on #BringBackOurGirls, during his reelection campaign in 2015. The newly-elected Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari, who gained power over Goodluck following the 2015 elections after promising to tackle Boko Haram, said during his inaugural address to the nation on 29 May 2015 that they could not claim to "have defeated Boko Haram without rescuing the Chibok girls". Two weeks after President Buhari was sworn in, he, his wife Aisha Muhammadu Buhari, and the Vice President's wife Mrs. Dolapo Osinbajo met with some mothers of the abducted girls.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Abubakar Shekau mocked the efforts of the movement in a video released by Boko Haram. The movement has also been attributed to a change in Boko Haram tactics, and was linked to an increase in gender violence in the group in order to increase their recognition. A report released by Human Rights Watch in October 2014 on Boko Haram's violence against women and girls in Nigeria claims that, "The relative ease with which Boko Haram carried out the Chibok abductions seems to have emboldened it to step up abductions elsewhere." It has been reported that the international publicity for the Chibok schoolgirls has ironically made it more difficult to free the girls, with a military commander based in Maiduguri stating that Boko Haram viewed the Chibok girls as their "".


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: In January 2015, less than a year after the 2015 Chibok abduction, in the village of Malari, Borno State about 40 boys and young men were abducted by Boko Haram.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: In February 2018, approximately four years after the 2014 Chibok abduction, in the nearby town of Dapchi again another 110 schoolgirls were abducted by Boko Haram, with no government intervention intercepting the abductors yet .


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: A UNICEF report released in April 2018, claimed that more than 1,000 children have been kidnapped by Boko Haram since 2013.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: In December 2020, more than 500 boys were abducted by a group of masked gunmen from a secondary school in Kankara, a town in Nigeria's northwestern state of Katsina. Later, Boko Haram took responsibility for the abductions. Seven days after the incident, 344 boys out of the group were released due to successful negotiations by the Nigerian government.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: In February 2021, three mass kidnappings occurred at schools in Nigeria. In the first incident, gunmen kidnapped over 40 people, including at least 27 students, from a school in north-central Nigeria. In the second incident, on 25 February, gunmen abducted 317 girls from the Girls Science Secondary School in Jangebe, Zamfara State. In March 2021, another mass kidnapping in Afaka resulted in 39 students (made up of 23 females and 16 males) being abducted from Federal College of Forestry Mechanisation, Afaka, in the Igabi local government area of Kaduna State.


title: Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping

text: Irish writer Edna O'Brien's award-winning novel, "Girl", published in 2019, offers an imaginative idea of what the experience of being kidnapped, even ultimately leading to escape, might have been like through the eyes of a single schoolgirl.


title: Kyle Long

text: Kyle Howard Long (born December 5, 1988) is an American football guard who is a free agent. The son of Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long and the younger brother of former defensive end Chris Long, he played college football at Oregon following stints with Florida State and Saddleback. He was selected in the first round of the 2013 NFL Draft by the Chicago Bears, where he played his first seven seasons.


title: Kyle Long

text: During his Bears tenure, Long received three consecutive Pro Bowl selections from 2013 to 2015 and one second-team All-Pro selection in 2014. After retiring in 2019, he returned with the Chiefs for the 2021 season.


title: Kyle Long

text: Long was born in Ivy, Virginia. He attended St. Anne's-Belfield School in Charlottesville, Virginia. He played both baseball and football. He was selected to the 2008 U.S. Army All-American Bowl. He was drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the 23rd round of the 2008 Major League Baseball Draft, but did not sign and honored his commitment to Florida State University.


title: Kyle Long

text: In January 2009, Long left Florida State for academic reasons following an arrest for DWI. In 2010, Long enrolled at Saddleback College, a community college in Mission Viejo, California, and returned to playing football. During his first year he played defensive end, recording 16 tackles and one quarterback sack. In 2011, he switched to the offensive line. On December 18, 2011, he committed to play for the Oregon Ducks football team, and subsequently transferred to the University of Oregon. During the 2012 season, he started six of twelve games for the Ducks on the offensive line. He appealed for an extra year of college eligibility, but his appeal was denied by the NCAA.


title: Kyle Long

text: Long was selected by the Chicago Bears with the 20th overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft. He was the first guard to be drafted by the team in the first round since Roger Davis in 1960. Long signed on May 17, the last member of Chicago's 2013 draft class to do so.


title: Kyle Long

text: Long attended the rookie minicamp from May 10–12, but missed much of the offseason program due to a league rule prohibiting rookies from working out until their college class graduates. He returned to team activities on June 17. Long started the 2013 season opener against the Cincinnati Bengals at right guard, becoming the first rookie in team history to start a season opener at the position in the Super Bowl era. On January 8, 2014, Long was named to Pro Football Focus' All-Rookie Team. He was subsequently named to NFL.com's All-Rookie Team on January 15. On January 20, 2014, he earned a spot in the 2014 Pro Bowl due to the injury of original Pro Bowl left guard Mike Iupati in the 2014 NFC Championship Game. Long became the first Bears rookie to make the Pro Bowl since Johnny Knox in 2009.


title: Kyle Long

text: He made the Pro Bowl again following the 2014 season and was also named as a second-team All-Pro guard.


title: Kyle Long

text: At the start of the 2015 season, Long made the switch from guard to tackle. He started all 16 regular season games in 2015 and was selected to his third consecutive Pro Bowl.


title: Kyle Long

text: On March 10, 2016, the Bears signed right tackle Bobby Massie from the Arizona Cardinals, and Long was moved back to guard. On April 15, 2016, the Bears exercised the fifth-year option on Long's rookie deal, a move that would have kept Long under his original contract through 2017.


title: Kyle Long

text: On September 7, 2016, Long signed a four-year $40 million contract extension with the Bears through 2021.


title: Kyle Long

text: Long suffered multiple injuries during the 2016 season. He played the first seven games of the season with a torn labrum in his left shoulder. He missed the Bears' Week 8 contest against the Minnesota Vikings due to a strained triceps. Long then severely injured his right ankle two weeks later against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was carted off the field. He was placed on injured reserve on November 15.


title: Kyle Long

text: On December 5, 2017, Long was placed on injured reserve after aggravating a shoulder injury in Week 13, while also being bothered by ankle and finger injuries throughout the season.


title: Kyle Long

text: Long started the first eight games of the 2018 season, but suffered a foot injury in Week 8 against the New York Jets and was ruled out 6–8 weeks just a few days later. He was placed on injured reserve on November 3, 2018. He was activated off injured reserve on December 29, 2018.


title: Kyle Long

text: Early in 2019, Long suffered a hip injury that forced him to miss the Week 4 game against the Minnesota Vikings. Although he returned for the following week's Oakland Raiders game, the injury persisted and he was placed on injured reserve on October 14.


title: Kyle Long

text: Long announced his retirement from professional football on January 6, 2020. The Bears declined his contract option for 2020, making him an unrestricted free agent on March 18, 2020.


title: Kyle Long

text: On March 18, 2021, Long signed with the Kansas City Chiefs, after deciding to come out of retirement. He injured his knee during OTAs on June 10, 2021. He was placed on the physically unable to perform list (PUP) on August 31, 2021, due to the injury. He was activated on November 30. He was put on the Reserve/COVID-19 list on December 21, 2021. He was activated on December 27, 2021. He did not play a single snap for the Chiefs, largely due to his knee injury and the emergence of rookie guard Trey Smith.


title: Kyle Long

text: Long is the son of Pro Football Hall of Fame defensive end Howie Long and the younger brother of retired defensive end Chris Long.


title: Kyle Long

text: He is a part-owner of esports team Mode Motorsports in the eNASCAR Coca-Cola iRacing Series, and as of September 16, 2020, co-hosts (with Paul Swan) a weekly talk show on NASCAR.com's YouTube channel. In 2020, Long became a studio analyst for CBS Sports Network's "That Other Pregame Show".


title: M107 projectile

text: The M107 155 mm projectile was the standard 155 mm high explosive (HE) projectile for howitzers of the US Army and US Marine Corps. A bursting round with fragmentation and blast effects, the M107 is being superseded in the US military by the M795.


title: M107 projectile

text: The M107 is a development of the M102 155 mm shell that was developed in the 1930s from the French Schneider 155 mm projectile for the Model 1917 Howitzer. The M107 differs from the M102 mainly in having a wider rotating or driving band.


title: M107 projectile

text: The body consists of a hollow steel shell containing high explosive (either TNT or Composition B) painted olive drab with yellow markings. A fuze adapter is screwed into the body and brazed in place. An eyebolt lifting plug is screwed into the fuze well to assist in transportation. The plug is removed and replaced with a fuze for firing. The complete projectile weighs 43.2 kg, is 800 mm long and contains 15.8% explosive by weight. It is a separate-loading projectile—propellant bags or MACS charges are loaded separately.


title: M107 projectile

text: The M107 can be fired more than 13 miles and on detonation it produces approximately 1,950 fragments.


title: M107 projectile

text: The M107 was approved for use in 1958 and issued to the army from 1959. Its intended replacement is the M795, manufacture of which began in 1999.


title: M107 projectile

text: The M114 howitzer can fire an M107 up to 18.5 km using M4A2 "White Bag" propellant. Modified M107 rounds with base bleed and new aerodynamics can extend this range to around 32 km.


title: M107 projectile

text: Despite relatively lackluster performance (Jane's describes it as having "an indifferent charge to weight ratio", "unsophisticated aerodynamic shape", "erratic fragmentation") compared to more modern high explosive rounds, it continues to be used by many countries, in particular in training exercises because of its low cost, high availability and smaller danger area than more modern designs. Its limited effectiveness also make it a useful option in peace support operations.


title: M107 projectile

text: The M107 is manufactured by several nations, sometimes with variations in the fill and or filling method, or other details, and is given a national designation. For example, those produced to UK requirements are designated L21, not M107; German examples were designated DM21.


title: M107 projectile

text: By the 1970s, the M107 was an out-of-date design, and some European armies started replacing their war stocks with modern designs such as L15. However, the M107 was retained for training purposes, because it was cheap and, being less lethal, had a smaller peacetime safety area, an important consideration given the small European training areas.


title: The ABC Murders (TV series)

text: The ABC Murders is a 2018 BBC One mystery thriller television serial loosely based on Agatha Christie's 1936 novel of the same name. It was broadcast over three consecutive nights beginning on 26 December 2018. It was adapted by Sarah Phelps and directed by Alex Gabassi. It stars John Malkovich as Hercule Poirot, with Rupert Grint, Andrew Buchan, Tara Fitzgerald and Shirley Henderson in supporting roles.


title: The ABC Murders (TV series)

text: Various cities, towns and villages in the historic county of Yorkshire in the north of England—including Grosmont, Leeds, Pickering, Ripon, Saltaire, Skelton-on-Ure and Wakefield—played key roles as settings for this adaptation. Newby Hall in North Yorkshire is the mansion at Churston. The De La Warr Pavilion at Bexhill-on-Sea in East Sussex is also featured.


title: The ABC Murders (TV series)

text: The review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gave the series an approval rating of 70% based on 30 reviews, The website's critical consensus reads, ""The ABC Murders" liberally adapts the famed Agatha Christie mystery while retaining its thrilling spirit, thanks in part to the sly performance of John Malkovich, who inhabits Hercule Poirot with enough wizened panache to win over those who were skeptical of his casting. " On Metacritic, the film holds a weighted average score of 58 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "mixed or average" reviews.


title: The ABC Murders (TV series)

text: "The Guardian" gave the first episode four stars and praised Malkovich's performance. "The Times" gave it four stars and found it enjoyable, also praising Malkovich. Reviewing the finale, "Metro" praised Poirot's new backstory and declared it "mystery television at its finest".


title: Kratika Sengar

text: Kratika Sengar, also known as Kratika Sengar Dheer is an Indian actress who mainly appear on Indian Television. She made her debut in 2007 with "Kasautii Zindagii Kay" playing the role of Prerna Gill and also appeared in "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" as Sanchi "Sugandi".


title: Kratika Sengar

text: Kratika got her breakthrough in "Jhansi Ki Rani". She later acted in "Punar Vivah", in "Service Wali Bahu" and in "Kasam Tere Pyaar Ki". She also appeared in the 2014 Bollywood film "My Father Godfather".


title: Kratika Sengar

text: Kratika Sengar was born in Kanpur, Uttar Pradesh in a Sengar Rajput family. She went to Methodist High School, Kanpur, and then moved to Delhi and graduated in Mass Communication from Amity University, Noida.


title: Kratika Sengar

text: Kratika Sengar married Nikitin Dheer, son of actor Pankaj Dheer, on 3 September 2014 in an arranged marriage. The couple has a daughter.


title: Kratika Sengar

text: Kratika Sengar started her acting career in 2007, in the series "Kasautii Zindagii Kay", and in "Kyunki Saas Bhi Kabhi Bahu Thi" in 2008. She then bagged another Balaji Telefilms show "Kya Dill Mein Hai" in 2008. Later, she had a small guest appearance in Sony TV's comedy show "Bura Na Mano Holi Hai". She also appeared in the reality show "Lux Kaun Jeetega Bollywood ka Ticket".


title: Kratika Sengar

text: In 2009, Sengar got her first main lead role with Zee TV's show "Jhansi Ki Rani". She did a small cameo appearance in Balaji's show "Kis Desh Mein Hai Meraa Dil". In 2010 she also appeared in an episodic appearance in "Aahat".


title: Kratika Sengar

text: In 2012, Kratika made her comeback to television with Zee TV's show "Punar Vivah" opposite Gurmeet Choudhary. The show ended on 17 May 2013. While playing Aarti, she made an appearance on "Qubool Hai" to promote her show. In January 2014, she made a special appearance in Star Plus' show is "Ek Veer Ki Ardaas...Veera". Later in the year, she entered Life OK's show "Devon Ke Dev...Mahadev" starring Mohit Raina and Mouni Roy before the show ended.


title: Kratika Sengar

text: She made her film debut in 2014 with "My Father Godfather". In 2015, Kratika acted in Zee TV's next "Service Wali Bahu".


title: Kratika Sengar

text: In 2016, Sengar appeared in Ekta Kapoor's show "Kasam Tere Pyaar Ki". Her character was replaced by Shivani Tomar. She came back in September 2016. The show went off air on 27 July 2018.


title: Kratika Sengar

text: In 2017, she acted as the Narrator in the show "Chandrakanta". In 2021, she appeared in Choti Sarrdaarni.


title: Tom Swift

text: Tom Swift is the main character of six series of American juvenile science fiction and adventure novels that emphasize science, invention, and technology. First published in 1910, the series totals more than 100 volumes. The character was created by Edward Stratemeyer, the founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book packaging firm. Tom's adventures have been written by various ghostwriters, beginning with Howard Garis. Most of the books are credited to the collective pseudonym "Victor Appleton". The 33 volumes of the second series use the pseudonym Victor Appleton II for the author. For this series, and some of the later series, the main character is "Tom Swift Jr." New titles have been published as recently as 2007. Most of the various series emphasized Tom's inventions. The books generally describe the effects of science and technology as wholly beneficial, and the role of the inventor in society as admirable and heroic.


title: Tom Swift

text: Translated into many languages, the books have sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. Tom Swift has also been the subject of a board game and several attempted adaptations into other media.


title: Tom Swift

text: Tom Swift has been cited as an inspiration by various scientists and inventors, including aircraft designer Kelly Johnson.


title: Tom Swift

text: In his various incarnations, Tom Swift, usually a teenager, is inventive and science-minded, "Swift by name and swift by nature." Tom is portrayed as a natural genius. In the earlier series, he is said to have had little formal education, the character modeled originally after such inventors as Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss and Alberto Santos-Dumont. For most of the six series, each book concerns Tom's latest invention, and its role either in solving a problem or mystery, or in assisting Tom in feats of exploration or rescue. Often Tom must protect his new invention from villains "intent on stealing Tom's thunder or preventing his success," but Tom is always successful in the end.


title: Tom Swift

text: Many of Tom Swift's fictional inventions describe actual technological developments or predate technologies now considered commonplace. "Tom Swift Among the Diamond Makers" (1911) was based on Charles Parsons's attempts to synthesize diamonds using electric current. "Tom Swift and His Photo Telephone" was published in 1912. Sending photographs by telephone was not fully developed until 1925. "Tom Swift and His Wizard Camera" (1912) features a portable movie camera, not invented until 1923. "Tom Swift and His Electric Locomotive" (1922) was published two years before the Central Railroad of New Jersey began using the first diesel electric locomotive. The house on wheels that Tom invents for 1929's "Tom Swift and His House on Wheels" pre-dated the first house trailer by a year. "Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter" (1952) features a flying submarine similar to one planned by the United States Department of Defense four years later in 1956. Other inventions of Tom's have not happened, such as the device for silencing airplane engines that he invents in "Tom Swift and His Magnetic Silencer" (1941).


title: Tom Swift

text: The character of Tom Swift was conceived about 1910 by Edward Stratemeyer, founder of the Stratemeyer Syndicate, a book-packaging business, although the name "Tom Swift" was first used in 1903 by Stratemeyer in "Shorthand Tom the Reporter; Or, the Exploits of a Bright Boy". Stratemeyer invented the series to capitalize on the market for children's science adventures. The Syndicate's authors created the Tom Swift stories by first preparing an outline with the plot elements, followed by drafting and editing the detailed manuscript. The books were published using the house pseudonym "Victor Appleton". Howard Garis wrote most of the volumes of the original series; Stratemeyer's daughter, Harriet Stratemeyer Adams, wrote the last three volumes. The first "Tom Swift" series ended in 1941.


title: Tom Swift

text: In 1954, Harriet Adams created the "Tom Swift, Jr." series, which was published using the pseudonym "Victor Appleton II" as author. The main character Tom Swift, Junior, was described as the son of the original Tom Swift. Most of the stories were outlined and plotted by Adams. The texts were written by various writers, among them William Dougherty, John Almquist, Richard Sklar, James Duncan Lawrence, Tom Mulvey and Richard McKenna. The "Tom Swift, Jr.", series ended in 1971.


title: Tom Swift

text: A third series was begun in 1981 and lasted until 1984. The rights to the Tom Swift character, along with the Stratemeyer Syndicate, were sold in 1984 to publishers Simon & Schuster. They hired New York City book packaging business Mega-Books to produce further series. Simon & Schuster produced two other Tom Swift series: one, published from 1991 to 1993, and the "Tom Swift, Young Inventor" series, begun in 2006.


title: Tom Swift

text: The longest-running series of books to feature Tom Swift is the first, which consists of 40 volumes. Tom's son (Tom Swift Jr.) was also the name of the protagonist of the 33 volumes of the Tom Swift Jr. Adventures, the 11 volumes of the third Tom Swift series, the 13 volumes of the fourth, and a half-dozen more for the most recent series, Tom Swift, Young Inventor, for a total of 103 volumes for all the series. In addition to publication in the United States, Tom Swift books have been published extensively in England, and translated into Norwegian, French, Icelandic, and Finnish.


title: Tom Swift

text: In the original series, Tom Swift lives in fictional Shopton, New York. He is the son of Barton Swift, the founder of the Swift Construction Company. Tom's mother is deceased, but the housekeeper, Mrs. Baggert, functions as a surrogate mother. Tom usually shares his adventures with close friend Ned Newton, who eventually becomes the Swift Construction Company's financial manager. For most of the series, Tom dates Mary Nestor. It has been suggested that his eventual marriage to Mary led to the series' demise, as young boys found a married man harder to identify with than a young, single one; however, after the 1929 marriage the series continued for 12 more years and eight further volumes. Regularly appearing characters include Wakefield Damon, an older man, whose dialogue is characterized by frequent use of such whimsical expressions as "Bless my brakeshoes!" and "Bless my vest buttons!"


title: Tom Swift

text: The original Tom Swift has been claimed to represent the early 20th-century conception of inventors. Tom has no formal education after high school; according to critic Robert Von der Osten, Tom's ability to invent is presented as "somehow innate". Tom is not a theorist but a tinkerer and, later, an experimenter who, with his research team, finds practical applications for others' research; Tom does not so much methodically develop and perfect inventions as find them by trial and error.


title: Tom Swift

text: Tom's inventions are not at first innovative. In the first two books of the series, he fixes a motorcycle and a boat, and in the third book he develops an airship, but only with the help of a balloonist. Tom is also at times unsure of himself, asking his elders for help; as Von der Osten puts it, "the early Tom Swift is more dependent on his father and other adults at first and is much more hesitant in his actions. When his airship bangs into a tower, Tom is uncharacteristically nonplussed and needs support." However, as the series progresses, Tom's inventions "show an increasingly independent genius as he develops devices, such as an electric rifle and a photo telephone, further removed from the scientific norm". Some of Tom's inventions are improvements of then-current technologies, while other inventions were not in development at the time the books were published, but have since been developed.


title: Tom Swift

text: In this series, presented as an extension and continuation of the first, the Tom Swift of the original series is now the CEO of Swift Enterprises, a four-mile-square enclosed facility where inventions are conceived and manufactured. Tom's son, Tom Swift Jr., is now the primary inventive genius of the family. Stratemeyer Syndicate employee Andrew Svenson described the new series as based "on scientific fact and probability, whereas the old Toms were in the main adventure stories mixed with pseudo-science". Three PhDs in science were hired as consultants to the series to ensure scientific accuracy. The younger Tom does not tinker with motorcycles; his inventions and adventures extend from deep within the Earth (in "Tom Swift and His Atomic Earth Blaster" [1954]) to the bottom of the ocean (in "Tom Swift and His Diving Seacopter" [1956]) to the Moon (in "Tom Swift in the Race to the Moon" [1958]) and, eventually, the outer Solar System (in "Tom Swift and His Cosmotron Express" [1970]). Later volumes of the series increasingly emphasized the extraterrestrial "space friends", as they are termed throughout the series. The beings appear as early as the first volume of the series, "Tom Swift and His Flying Lab" (1954). The Tom Swift Jr., Adventures were less commercially successful than the first series, selling 6 million copies total, compared with sales of 14 million copies for the first series.


title: Tom Swift

text: In contrast to the earlier series, many of Tom Jr.'s inventions are designed to operate in space, and his "genius is unequivocally original as he constructs nuclear-powered flying labs, establishes outposts in space, or designs ways to sail in space on cosmic rays". Unlike his father, Tom Jr. is not just a tinkerer; he relies on scientific and mathematical theories, and, according to critic Robert Von der Osten, "science [in the books] is, in fact, understood to be a set of theories that are developed based on experimentation and scientific discussion. Rather than being opposed to technological advances, such a theoretical understanding becomes essential to invention."


title: Tom Swift

text: Tom Swift Jr.'s Cold War-era adventures and inventions are often motivated by patriotism, as Tom repeatedly defeats the evil agents of the fictional nations "Kranjovia" and "Brungaria", the latter a place that critic Francis Molson describes as "a vaguely Eastern European country, which is strongly opposed to the Swifts and the U.S. Hence, the Swifts' opposition to and competition with the Brungarians is both personal and patriotic."


title: Tom Swift

text: The third Tom Swift series differs from the first two in that the setting is primarily outer space, although Swift Enterprises (located now in New Mexico) is occasionally mentioned. Tom Swift explores the universe in the starship "Exedra", using a faster-than-light drive he has reverse-engineered from an alien space probe. He is aided by Benjamin Franklin Walking Eagle, a Native American who is Tom's co-pilot, best friend, and an expert computer technician, and Anita Thorwald, a former rival of Tom's who now works with him as a technician and whose right leg has been rebuilt to contain a miniature computer.


title: Tom Swift

text: This series maintains only an occasional and vague continuity with the two previous series. Tom is called the son of "the great Tom Swift" and said to be "already an important and active contributor to the family business, the giant multimillion-dollar scientific-industrial complex known as Swift Enterprises". However, as critic Francis Molson indicates, it is not explained whether this Tom Swift is the grandson of the famous Tom Swift of the first series or still the Tom Swift Jr. of the second.


title: Tom Swift

text: The Tom Swift of this third series is less of an inventor than his predecessors, and his inventions are rarely the main feature of the plot. Still, according to Molson, "Tom the inventor is not ignored. Perhaps the most impressive of his inventions and the one essential to the series as a whole is the robot he designs and builds, Aristotle, which becomes a winning and likeable character in its own right." The books are slower-paced than the Tom Swift Jr. adventures of the second series, and include realistic, colloquial dialogue. Each volume begins where the last one ended, and the technology is plausible and accurate.


title: Tom Swift

text: The fourth series featuring Tom Swift (again a "Jr.") is set mostly on Earth (with occasional voyages to the Moon); Swift Enterprises is now located in California. In the first book, "The Black Dragon", it's mentioned that Tom is the son of Tom Swift Sr. and Mary Nestor. The books deal with what Richard Pyle describes as "modern and futuristic concepts" and, as in the third series, feature an ethnically diverse cast of characters.


title: Tom Swift

text: Like the Tom Swift Jr. series, the series portrays Tom as a scientist as well as an inventor whose inventions depend on a knowledge of theory. The series differs from previous versions of the character, however, in that Tom's inventive genius is portrayed as problematic and sometimes dangerous. As Robert Von der Osten argues, Tom's inventions for this series often have unexpected and negative repercussions.


title: Tom Swift

text: a device to create a miniature black hole which casts him into an alternative universe; a device that trains muscles but also distorts the mind of the user; and a genetic process which, combined with the effect of his black hole, results in a terrifying devolution. Genius here begins to recapitulate earlier myths of the mad scientist whose technological and scientific ambitions are so out of harmony with nature and contemporary science that the results are usually unfortunate.


title: Tom Swift

text: The series features more violence than previous series; in "The Negative Zone", Tom blows up a motel room to escape the authorities.


title: Tom Swift

text: There was a derivative of this series featuring Tom Swift and the Hardy Boys called "A Hardy Boys & Tom Swift Ultra Thriller" that was published from 1992 to 1993, and only had 2 volumes released. Both books dealt with science fictional topics (time travel and aliens landing on earth).


title: Tom Swift

text: The fifth series, "Tom Swift, Young Inventor", returns Tom Swift to Shopton, New York, with Tom as the son of Tom Swift and Mary Nestor, the names of characters of the original Tom Swift series. The series features inventions that are close to current technology "rather than ultra-futuristic". In several of the books, Tom's antagonist is The Road Back (TRB), an anti-technology terrorist organization. Tom's personal nemesis is Andy Foger, teenage son of his father's former business partner who now owns a competing (and ethically dubious) high-technology company.


title: Tom Swift

text: A sixth series, "Tom Swift Inventors' Academy", published by Simon and Schuster, debuted in July 2019 with #1 "The Drone Pursuit" and #2 "The Sonic Breach". Seven books have been published as of 2021, with an eighth due out in 2022.


title: Tom Swift

text: Parker Brothers produced a Tom Swift board game in 1966, although it was never widely distributed, and the character has appeared in one television show. Various Tom Swift radio programs, television series, and movies were planned and even written, but were either never produced or not released.


title: Tom Swift

text: As early as 1914, Edward Stratemeyer proposed making a Tom Swift movie, but no such movie was made. A Tom Swift radio series was proposed in 1946. Two scripts were written, but, for unknown reasons, the series was never produced. Twentieth Century Fox planned a Tom Swift feature movie in 1968, to be directed by Gene Kelly. A script was written and approved, and filming was to have begun during 1969. However, the project was canceled owing to the poor reception of the movies "Doctor Dolittle" and "Star!"; a $500,000 airship that had been built as a prop was rumored to have been sold to a midwest amusement park. Yet another movie was planned in 1974, but, again, was cancelled.


title: Tom Swift

text: Scripts were written for a proposed television series involving both Tom Swift Jr. and his father, the hero of the original book series. A television pilot show for a series to be called "The Adventures of Tom Swift" was filmed in 1958, featuring Gary Vinson. However, legal problems prevented the pilot's distribution, and it was never broadcast; no copies of the pilot are known to exist, though the pilot script is available. In 1977, Glen A. Larson wrote an unproduced television pilot show entitled "TS, I Love You: The Further Adventures of Tom Swift". This series was to be combined with a Nancy Drew series, a Hardy Boys series, and a Dana Girls series. Nancy Drew and the Hardy Boys were eventually combined into a one-hour program "The Hardy Boys/Nancy Drew Mysteries" with alternating episodes.


title: Tom Swift

text: A Tom Swift media project finally came to fruition in 1983 when Willie Aames appeared as Tom Swift along with Lori Loughlin as Linda Craig in a television special, "The Tom Swift and Linda Craig Mystery Hour", which was broadcast on July 3. It was a ratings failure. In 2007, digital studio Worldwide Biggies acquired movie rights to Tom Swift and announced plans to release a feature film and video game, followed by a television series. As of 2015, these plans had not come to fruition.


title: Tom Swift

text: Tom Swift appeared in the episode "The Celestial Visitor" from the second season of The CW's "Nancy Drew" with Tian Richards portraying the character as a Black, gay, billionaire inventor. The episode is a backdoor pilot for a spin-off project titled "Tom Swift", in development at The CW. In August 2021, "Tom Swift" was ordered straight-to-series and premiered on May 31, 2022 on The CW. In February 2022, Ashleigh Murray joined the cast as Zenzi Fullington. Due to poor ratings, the series was cancelled on June 30 that year.


title: Tom Swift

text: "Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle" (published 1911), depicts Africans as brutish, uncivilized animals, and the white protagonist as their paternal savior.


title: Tom Swift

text: The Tom Swift books have been credited with assisting the success of American science fiction and with establishing the edisonade (stories focusing on brilliant scientists and inventors) as a basic cultural myth. Tom Swift's adventures have been popular since the character's inception in 1910: by 1914, 150,000 copies a year were being sold and a 1929 study found the series to be second in popularity only to the Bible for boys in their early teens. By 2009, Tom Swift books had sold more than 30 million copies worldwide. The success of Tom Swift also paved the way for other Stratemeyer creations, such as The Hardy Boys, Nancy Drew, and Rick Brant. The latter series, written entirely by Hal Goodwin, under the pseudonym John Blaine, was published contemporaneously with the Tom Swift, Jr. books and shared many similarities with them, but in many ways, they more like the original Tom Swift series, in that it focused on credible science and technology, instead of science fiction.


title: Tom Swift

text: The series' writing style, which was sometimes adverb heavy, suggested a name for a type of adverbial pun promulgated during the 1950s and 1960s, a type of wellerism known as "Tom Swifties". Originally this kind of pun was called a "Tom Swiftly" in reference to the adverbial usage, but over time has come to be called a "Tom Swifty". Some examples are: I lost my crutches,' said Tom lamely"; and I'll take the prisoner downstairs', said Tom condescendingly."


title: Tom Swift

text: Tom Swift's fictional inventions have apparently inspired several actual inventions, among them Lee Felsenstein's "Tom Swift Terminal", which "drove the creation of an early personal computer known as the Sol", and the taser. The name "taser" was originally "TSER", for "Tom Swift Electric Rifle". The invention was named for the central device in the story "Tom Swift and His Electric Rifle" (1911); according to inventor Jack Cover, "an 'A' was added because we got tired of answering the phone 'TSER'."


title: Tom Swift

text: A number of scientists, inventors, and science fiction writers have also credited Tom Swift with inspiring them, including Ray Kurzweil, Robert A. Heinlein, and Isaac Asimov. "Gone with the Wind" author Margaret Mitchell was also known to have read the first series as a child. The Tom Swift Jr. series was also a source of inspiration to many. Scientist and television presenter Bill Nye said the books helped "make me who I am", and inspired him to launch his own young adult series. Microsoft founders Paul Allen and Bill Gates also read the books as children, as did co-founder of competing company Apple, Steve Wozniak. Wozniak, who cited the series as his inspiration to become a scientist, said the books made him feel "that engineers can save the world from all sorts of conflict and evil".


title: Cultural history of the buttocks

text: Sexologist Alfred Kinsey has suggested that the buttocks are the primary sexual presentation site in primates. Some anthropologists and sociobiologists believe that breast fetishism derives from the breasts' similarity to buttocks, but instead provide sexual attraction when the body is seen from the front.


title: Cultural history of the buttocks

text: In humans, females generally have more round and voluptuous buttocks, caused by estrogen that encourages the body to store fat in the buttocks, hips, and thighs. Testosterone discourages fat storage in these areas. The buttocks in human females thus contain more adipose tissue than in males, especially after puberty. Evolutionary psychologists suggest that rounded buttocks may have evolved as a desirable trait because they provide a visual indication of the woman's youth and fertility. They signal the presence of estrogen and the presence of sufficient fat stores for pregnancy and lactation. Additionally, the buttocks give an indication of the shape and size of the pelvis, which impacts reproductive capability. Since development and pronunciation of the buttocks begins at menarche and declines with age, full buttocks are also a symbol of youth.


title: Cultural history of the buttocks

text: Biological anthropologist Helen B. Fisher said that "perhaps, the fleshy, rounded buttocks attracted males during rear-entry intercourse". In a 2017 study, using 3D models and eye-tracking technology Fisher's claim was tested and was shown that the slight thrusting out of a woman's back influence how attractive others perceive her to be and captures the gaze of both men and women. Bobbi S. Low et al. said that the female buttocks "evolved in the context of females competing for the attention and parental commitment of powerful resource-controlling males" as an "honest display of fat reserves" that could not be confused with another type of tissue, although T. M. Caro rejected that as being a necessary conclusion, stating that female fatty deposits on the hips improve individual fitness of the female, regardless of sexual selection.


title: Cultural history of the buttocks

text: The female buttocks have been a symbol of fertility and beauty since early human history. Statues created as early as 24,000 BC, such as the Venus of Willendorf, have exaggerated buttocks, hips, and thighs.


title: Cultural history of the buttocks

text: The erotic beauty of the female buttocks was important to the ancient Greeks, thought to have built such statues as Venus Kallipygos (although only a possible Roman copy survives), that emphasize the buttocks. Bare buttocks were also considered erotic in Ming China, where they were often compared to the bright full moon. Many artists pose models to emphasize the buttocks.


title: Cultural history of the buttocks

text: The buttocks have been considered an erogenous zone in Western thought for centuries; the eroticization of the female buttocks was due to their association and closeness to the female reproductive organs. The buttocks are often taboo due to their proximity to the anus and association with the excretory system. The psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud theorized that psychosexual development occurred in three stagesoral, anal, and genitaland that fixation in the anal stage caused anal retentiveness and a lasting focus on eroticization of the anus.