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Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian Newspaper
Rape culture is as American as apple pie
by Arwa Mahdawi, The Guardian, September 21, 2019
Mahdawi sends out a weekly newsletter on aspects of feminism and she’s an excellent commentator. Many writers tend to sneak up on the word, rape, as if that will make it easier for the readers to digest. I like that Mahdawi is clear and direct about it. This article is about a new study in JAMA Internal Medicine that asked 13,310 women between the ages of 18 and 44 if their first vaginal intercourse experience was voluntary or not voluntary. The study reports that every 1 in every 16 women answered “not voluntary” to that question, and according to Mahdawi that corresponds to a population of about 3 million American women. The study also revealed that “Forced sexual initiation in women appears to be common and associated with multiple adverse reproductive and general health outcomes.” The mean age for the women who experienced forced sexual initiation was 15.6 years and the mean age for the men who forced them was 21. Incidentally, 21 is also the age when men’s testosterone levels peak.1Dabbs, James McBride, Heroes, Rogues and Lovers, 2000, McGraw-Hill. Women whose first experience was rape (What else can forced sexual initiation be?) were less likely to be white and more likely to have low incomes during life. There also seems to be a correlation to physical and mental problems later. This study reveals a huge problem in our society.
Demi Moore, Actress
Demi Moore reveals she was raped aged 15
by the Guardian staff, September 24, 2019
The above article reports that 1 in 16 women responded to a survey that they their first sexual experience was forced and that the mean age when this happened was age 15. Demi Moore is an example of this everyday event. She cared for a suicidal mother, as did I, and remembers digging pills out her mouth with her 12 year-old fingers. The article implies that she battled addiction and depression during her life and I can only wonder how much she passed on to her three daughters. I also have daughters, two of them and I swore that the buck would stop with me, meaning that I wouldn’t pass on what I had inadvertently learned from my own mother. It was a naive intention but a valiant effort. I’m proud of them but wish I could have been better. Hope springs eternal. Moore’s new memoir, Inside Out, is due out today.
‘It will always be a part of my life’: Chanel Miller is ready to talk
Chanel Miller, in her new memoir, Know My Name, out this month, writes, “Shame grows when it’s in a contained space . . . but . . . As soon as you let a little bit of air in, the shame loses its power.”
Before the book, Chanel Miller was known only as Emily Doe, the girl Brock Turner raped. Her trial was pivotal to public understanding of how our justice system favors young white boys of a certain class. When given an opportunity, Chanel Miller read a victim statement so powerful that it blew most of us away. It was published by Buzzfeed and read by half the nation. If the victim statement is any indication, this young woman can write. Largely because of it, voters recalled Judge Aaron Persky in 2018, part of the fallout from this case. He had given Turner only six months in jail of which the boy served only three. The perpetrator’s father had sent the judge a letter callously asking him to be lenient because “20 minutes of action” (aka Chanel Miller’s rape) shouldn’t mean a jail sentence for his son. The trial exposed the fraternal thinking of our currently unjust and entrenched judicial system.
I’m looking forward to reading this book
Rape is becoming decriminalised. It is a shocking betrayal of vulnerable women
by Jane Bindel, September 12, 2019, The Guardian
“She was asking for it.”
“He’s a handsome man. He can have anyone he wants. He doesn’t need to rape.”
“If she doesn’t want it, she should keep her legs together.”
It would be difficult in today’s world to find a jury where at least one person didn’t believe at least one of these myths. Rape is considered a difficult crime to prosecute. Police and prosecutors can clear their docket by taking “weak cases out of the system.” The CPS, The Crown Prosecution Service, was advised to do just that last year. The result. Of 54,000 rape reports in 2017-18, an infinitesimal 1,925 ended in conviction. One MP, Ann Coffey, has suggested doing away with juries in rape trials. It’s a thought. Everything seems to protect the rapist.
Israelis accused of raping German tourist in Crete released on bail
September 4, 2019, Times of Israel
This is another rape case, not the Cyprus Ayia Napa rape case with a British girl accusing 12 Israelis of a gang rape. In that one we are waiting for her hearing in October. In this case, a 19-year-old girl from Germany accused two Israelis, one 29 and the other 35 of raping her in their hotel room in Crete after inviting her there for drinks. They have been released on a bail of 1,000 euros. Family members of the two Israeli men knocked down an Israeli news reporter and broke her phone when she took pictures of them in the hallway.
I’m adding this rape to this month’s news feed because two parallels stand out. Both of these girls are 19 years-old and the accused rapists happen to be Israelis, this time older Israelis not boys. It is reported by an Israeli news source and references the previous rape but mischaracterizes it in a way that is favorable to the boys and disparaging of the British girl. Their reporting left out the part about the Cyprus Ayia Napa police forcing the girl’s confession. Instead they implied that she was in jail for lying about the rape. I’m making no comment except to point out this fact. No, I am definitely commenting because Israeli news sources actually do appear to be biased in favor of their countrymen and can’t be relied on to give honest international news.
Violence against women in Brazil
There is a new report just out but the report available to the public is an interpretation not the raw data so I mistrust it. The rape rate is probably fairly high. Samira Bueno, Director of the Brazilian Public Security Forum, has a bone to pick with Jair Bolsonaro, the insufferable current president of Brazil, who ran on a platform of law and order. According to the report the homicide rate is down but the femicide rate is up. Check out The Guardian’s article but true data isn’t available. Trump has a buddy in in Bolsonaro. Watch a video of a 2014 incident he had with Maria do Rosario, a politician with 26 years experience. When she suggested that he might be sending the wrong message-a message that seemed to approve rough treatment of women, he blew up. He told her “Look, I would never rape you because you don’t deserve it.” and in an interview later he said, “She’s not worth raping; she is very ugly.” He won 55% of the vote. What is going on in the world?
Do-it-yourself rape evidence kit will hurt effort to prosecute rapists, AG warns
by Kate Martin, September 5, 2019 by Carolina Press
Josh Stein, NC Attorney General
MeToo Kit Co. CEO Madison Campbell said she never reported her own assault. “I did not feel as if I would be believed,” she said. “I didn’t think anyone was going to understand what had happened. I was so, so, so scared. … And, you know, one of the things that I was so scared about was navigating the process … having to talk to anybody about what happened, having anybody touch me. … I didn’t want anybody to see my body or touch my body. … I lost all that time-sensitive evidence and all the DNA that was on my body.”
North Carolina Attorney General Josh Stein warned Wednesday.“It is unconscionable that this company is suggesting that victims pay for a kit that likely won’t help bring a rapist to justice,” Stein said. “In fact, these kits are likely to undermine law enforcement investigations.”
Sexual Assault in the Military
Photographs by Mary F. Calvert, Text by Dave Philipps, September 10, 2019 NYT
We know its happening but we never read about it. The shame is devastating for victims of male rape. We may hear about it one on one but rarely. How brave these men are to break the silence. I hope it is the start of something. I hope men start talking about the pain of being raped. Read the article. Six Men speak out breaking the silence.
Delaware prosecutors say rape kits link man to 7 assaults
By AP, September 23, 2019
Hayim Raison of Chester, Pennsylvania, pleaded guilty to 2nd degree rape after his name was linked to the DNA in 7 rape kits in the Wilmington, Delaware area between 2014 and 2018. Finally, rape kits are being processed. All 7 victims will have an opportunity to testify at the trial.
The Rich and Powerful – Jeffrey Epstein
She Says She Was Epstein’s ‘Victim-1’. Now She’s Suing His Estate.
By Ed Shanahan, The Guardian, September 18, 2019
Jeffrey Epstein
‘Victim-1’ was recruited by an older teen as a way to make money for her sister who had a medical condition. It was a particularly hard time for her. Her mother and sister lived together in one room but the other room (her room) was rented out. She lived with a friend. The sexual massages began immediately and her sexual involvement progressed as time passed. She recruited other girls and was paid by Sarah Kellen and Lesley Groff, Epstein’s assistants.
‘Victim-1’ was paid $300 for her first massage. She is suing Epstein’s $577 million plus estate which is filed in the Virgin Islands.
Prince Andrew was an abuser, Epstein accuser says in TV interview
Prince Andrew
Virginia Giuffre in an NBC interview said that she met Prince Andrew when she was young, the first time she was in London and staying at Ghislaine Maxwell’s house. All of them, Epstein, Maxwell, Virginia and Prince Andrew went to club Tramp. The Prince got her a cocktail and they danced. When they left and she was getting into the car Maxwell told her to do to Prince Andrew what she did to Epstein.
Thysia Huisman describes alleged rape by Jean-Luc Brunel
by Jon Henley, The Guardian, September 7, 2019
This is the typical story of what happens to a beautiful girl in our society and by society I’m including the Western World when a rich man wants to have sex with her. She tried to laugh it off. She thought if she just stayed sober and was smart she could beat the odds. Occasionally someone does beat the odds but the prize is held so very high and and the odds are about one in a trillion. So Thysia was drugged and raped. She didn’t say anything then and she was right. Nothing would have happened if she had told. Nothing. How many beautiful girls have been raped by Brunel? How many lives has he ruined?
Brett Kavanaugh Fit In With the Privileged Kids. She Did Not.
by Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly, September 14, 2019, The New York Times
Bret Kavanaugh, Supreme Court Judge
In this article, Robin Pogrebin and Kate Kelly share some of the investigation they did for their new book, The Education of Brett Kavanaugh: An Investigation. They tell the story of Deborah Ramirez, an excellent student of Puerto Rican background who at a party was faced with the fact of Brett Kavanaugh’s penis in her face prompting her to swat it away. She reported it at the time of the Kavanaugh hearings but the FBI agents didn’t follow up on it. At the time they said, ‘We have to wait to get authorization to do anything else.” Who had the authority? Chuck Grassley?
Gwyneth Paltrow, ‘A Crucial Source in Harvey Weinstein Revelations
Harvey Weinstein
“In a new book titled She Said: Breaking the Sexual Harassment Story That Helped Ignite a Movement by Jodi Kantor and Megan Twohey – the New York Times reporters whose story on 5 October 2017 triggered Weinstein’s downfall – Paltrow is said to have been ‘scared to go on the record but became an early, crucial source, sharing her account of sexual harassment and trying to recruit other actresses to speak’.”