Newsletter For June, 2019
Rape in the News
Hideous Men: Donald Trump assaulted me in a Bergdorf Goodman dressing room 23 years ago. But he’s not alone on the list of awful men in my life.
by E Jean Carroll, The Cut, New York Magazine, June 21, 2019
I thought this should be the lead story for the month. Ms. Carroll had a bunch of almosts happen to her. That’s what I called them, the times when I realized I had gotten away. Those incidents gave me a certain sense of animal power, what a psychiatrist friend calls agency, meaning I felt I could manage what was happening. I think Ms. Carroll thought she could manage what was happening, too. There she was in a silly jousting match with the richest man in New York over some underwear. I’m sure she didn’t expect him to rape her. It seemed like a joke and she was giddy about what seemed to her like a preposterous situation. Then he pushed her up against the wall and penetrated her. He raped her. Trump took a crazy chance to do that. What was going on with him that day? Why was he in the store, shopping? Someone knows something. Please, if you do, come forward.
What use is rape counselling if victims are banned from discussing the reason they’re there?
by Jenni Hill, The Independent, May 31, 2019
In England counseling is provided for rape victims but the CPS, the Crown Prosecution Service, prohibits victims from receiving counseling on anything that might be used in a trial later. That means they are prohibited from talking to a counselor about the rape itself because CPS fears they might receive coaching from therapists on how to handle themselves at the trial.
I want to point out that, on the other hand, it is perfectly legal for the defense advocates, or lawyers as Americans call them, to coach the defendant. They prepare his testimony, tell him how to cut his hair, what kind of clothes to wear, how to comport himself at the trial and what kind of answers he should give if asked by the prosecution.
This is on the heels of confiscating the victim’s phone in order to acquire evidence. To reiterate, she cannot get counseling because it might hurt the defendant. The defendant can be coached like a warrior going into battle and it’s fair. What is this if not a double standard favoring the perpetrator? I say UNFAIR.
Inside the Warwick University rape chat scandal
By Dulcie Lee & Larissa Kennelly, BBC News, May 28, 2019
“They were talking about a fellow student. They were talking about abducting her, chaining her to the bed, making her urinate on herself, and then sleep in it.” This report bothered me a lot. I don’t understand why these young men get such a bang out of mutilation and rape of their fellow students? The lads took on the personas of serial killers and rapists. Why do they hate us? The Steubenville video shocked me. These young college students bother me even more. How long have men been talking like this? Is it recent or has it been around since the beginning of time?
The True Story of How a City in Fear Brutalized the Central Park Five
by Jim Dwyer, New York Times, May 30, 2019
A 4-part Netflix series directed by Ava DuVernay and produced by Oprah Winfrey tells the story of five boys, age 14 through 16, who were convicted of gang-raping and nearly killing a woman in the infamous central park jogger case of 1989. Two weeks after the attack Donald Trump published a full-page ad, “Bring Back the Death Penalty.” Matias Reyes, in prison for 33 years for other rapes and murders, confessed in 2002 that he alone was responsible for the crime. His DNA had been the only DNA found at the scene of the crime. This had been ignored by the prosecution. As a result, the convictions of the 5 boys, now men, were vacated and the city paid $41 million to settle the lawsuit. The article does not mention Linda Fairstein who was lead prosecutor at the time, who was very negatively portrayed in the series and given most of the blame for the wrongful conviction. A best selling author, she was terminated by her publisher as a fallout from the series.
Colleges Challenge a Common Protection in Sexual Assault Lawsuits: Anonymity
Florida A&M University is being sued by a former student who accuses it of failing to properly investigate her rape allegations.
By Anemona Hartocollis, New York Times, May 29, 2019
In two recent lawsuits, Florida A&M and Dartmouth College have demanded that students reveal their identities in sexual assault cases in violation of a long-standing practice intended to protect plaintiffs in sensitive disputes. In the first case the student says she was raped on campus 3 times and that the school did little to protect her. In the Dartmouth case, 9 women students have accused 3 professors of turning a human research department into what they called a “21st century Animal House,” where they were “leered at, groped, sexted, intoxicated and even raped.” Dartmouth claims this is a mischaracterization.
Betsy DeVos is readying her changes to Title IX. The lawsuits may just be in preparation for anticipated and hoped for changes on the part of the schools.
By Julia Scheeres, June 4, 2019
My Life as a Rat, a new novel by Joyce Carol Oates, combines several ugly perennial themes. What’s worse? Is it rape and murder or is it that a family member ratted, ruining the family’s reputation. These issues need deep thought in these days of the #metoo movement. White supremacy rules and there is danger in defying it.
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W.Va. bishop gave powerful cardinals and other priests $350,000 in cash gifts before his ouster, church records show
By Michelle BoorsteinShawn Boburg Robert O’Harrow Jr., June 5, 2019, Washington Post
A story about how church funds are misdirected to pay for priestly luxuries. This is something that bothered me when my husband worked for Catholic Relief Services in Asia. Some of the priests lived high on the hog. When I questioned the expensive hotels and restaurants they frequented, an annoyed priest responded that he had taken the vow of chastity not of poverty. Parishioners at home tythed 10% of income, ate hamburgers and drank Bud beer thinking they were giving to the poor. They didn’t know they were supplying priests and bishops with chateaubriand and champagne. This is more of the same thing. Bishop Michael J. Bransfield of Charleston, W VA gave gifts totaling $350,000 from church funds. The names of the 11 clerics who received the monies were edited out of the report apparently so as not to prejudice report readers about something that wasn’t as yet proven. We need a church of the people and for the people. I think we need to rid ourselves of clergy completely, start over and let women into the clergy.
Stanford sexual assault survivor to publish book about her ordeal
Sian Cain, The Guardian, June 6, 2019
Remember Brock Turner who drunkenly assaulted a girl behind a dumpster at Stanford University? Brock, whose father famously petitioned to get him off because it was only “20 minutes of action” in a young man’s life got a light sentence from the sympathetic judge. The anonymous woman, “Emily Doe” wrote a famous victim statement that went viral around the country. A new book will be published by Viking and will be a 1st person account by the victim, “Emily Doe.” I look forward to it.
by Zeinab Mohammed Salih in Khartoum and Jason Burke, The Guardian, June 11, 2019
Doctors in Khartoum, Sudan report that over 70 women were raped during a sit-in clash with the RSF (Rapid Support Forces) paramilitary force led by Lt. Gen. Mohamed Hamdan, known as Hemeti. In the same incident more than 100 were massacred and 700 wounded. Women are being raped for daring to demonstrate alongside the men. I don’t understand what is at issue but I commend the Sudanese women for their bravery. I hope this will be resolved before any more bloodshed.
Political violence against women tracked for first time as attacks soar
by Rebecca Ratcliffe, Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, The Guardian, June 10, 2019
‘My father, the rapist’: Hidden victims of Rwanda’s genocide
by Flora Drury, BBC News, June 19, 2019
This excellent article shows rape as violence, as an act of war. Women raped during war bear a heavy burden. They have no ability to stop it but are blamed for having been raped and the children of the rape are blamed for having fathers who were the enemy. It happened in Vietnam. It happened in Rwandan massacre in 1994. We need to stop blaming women for rape. It is the rapist who holds the whole and complete blame.
Spanish court lifts ‘wolf pack’ convictions from sexual abuse to rape
by Sam Jones, The Guardian, June 21, 2019
La Manada or the wolf pack, a WhatsApp group who notoriously raped a young woman at Pamploma, the running of the bulls, have been sentenced by Spain’s supreme court to 15 years in prison. The verdict overturns a previous verdict by a lower court of 9 years in prison with 5 years probation. The horrific nature of the crime has changed opinion in Spain and is resulting in new laws on rape and sexual violence as well as a new public understanding of what constitutes consent.
India arrests after women’s heads shaved for resisting rape
by Geeta Pandy, BBC news, India, June 28, 2019
Women in India have begun to fight the old patriarchal system. Two women in Bihar warded off an attempted rape by a gang of men which included a police official. The men beat them, dragged them into the street and shaved their hair. This incident in India is a poignant example of what occurs when the division of power and wealth is unequal. Women can’t go to the police. They have no legal recourse. The United States is cleverer. A raped woman must face a hostile system and will probably also lose out. Equality for our children lies someday in the future but only if we fight for it now.
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June 30, 2019
Thanks for keeping us informed. Hopefully this series of posts will help make change happen.