Take a Stand – Anu Bhagwati at the Nobel Women’s Initiative
Posted by Danielle in 
Last week, SWAN’s Executive Director Anu Bhagwati attended the Nobel Women’s Initiative conference, “Women Forging a New Security: Ending Sexual Violence in Conflict”. See her speak about taking a stand against sexual violence:
Learn more about the Nobel Women’s Initiative and their work in support of women’s rights around the world.
Memorial Day 2011
Photo by Global Jet (Flickr)
We wish all of our servicemembers, veterans, and their families a safe and happy Memorial Day weekend. Thank you for your many sacrifices.
Military Women Deserve First Class Treatment, Not Second-Class Status
Originally posted by the ACLU and written by Dr. Katherine Scheirman.
I was deeply disappointed to learn that on May 24, the leadership of the U.S. House of Representatives shut down debate on an amendment that would have provided abortion services to military women who become pregnant as a result of rape.
Under current law, the Department of Defense is barred from providing coverage for abortion except where the pregnant woman’s life is endangered. Unlike other federal bans on abortion coverage, the military ban provides no exception for cases of rape or incest. The current policy is shameful. Our military women, who serve and sacrifice for their country, should not have worse health care benefits than civilians who rely on the government for their insurance coverage.
New York’s Un-finest
Headlines about the acquittal of two New York City cops on rape charges left us with horrifying reminders about the failures of the criminal justice system when it comes to uniformed men and sexual assault.
Despite stacks of evidence implicating the cops in wrongdoing, the fact that the victim was intoxicated and barely able to recollect the events of the evening proved to be a major roadblock in convicting the officers.
From John Eligon, in The New York Times:
In this case, defense lawyers pounced on the credibility of the woman because she was very drunk on the night in question and did not remember many details.
What Makes Powerful Men Behave Like Pigs?
Be they sexual predators like Dominique Strauss-Kahn, men with long-term reputations for behaving badly, like Arnold Schwarzenegger, or men who betray the trust of their wives and a nation, like John Edwards, why do some powerful and famous men behave like pigs?
“Beyond Shakespeare!” That is what a colleague said in response to my question, “What do you think about DSK?”
DSK, aka, Dominique Strauss-Kahn, is the 62 year-old, once globally respected, now-former Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the leading French Socialist Party politician who was expected to beat Nicholas Sarkozy and become the next president of France. DSK was charged with sexual crimes of violence by New York City police for his alleged assault of a hotel maid while staying in a $3,000 a night luxurious suite at the Sofitel Hotel in downtown Manhattan, only to end up in infamous Riker’s Island, a prison for New York’s criminals.
read moreFlat Tires and the Feres Doctrine
Kansas State House Representative Pete DeGraaf knows exactly how it feels to become pregnant as a result of rape. How? He has a spare tire in his car.
A Kansas bill would ban abortion coverage by insurance companies except cases in which the life of the mother is at stake. For everyone else, the option for coverage would be to buy separate, private, abortion-specific plans. Aside from the fact that many women who find themselves in a position to seek abortions often can’t afford health care at all, much less an extra “abortion plan,” the assertion that women should “plan ahead” to become pregnant as a result of rape normalizes rape and unintended pregnancy, suggesting it is an inevitable and predictable fact of life for women in the United States.
“Wounded Warriors”: Sexual Assault
Sexual violence in the US military is massively under-reported — when the US Airforce commissioned Gallup to do a poll, one in five serving women said they had been raped or otherwise sexually assaulted, and one in twenty men; but very few had formally reported the attacks to their commanding officer – Jenny Morgan reports from the Nobel Women’s Conference in Quebec
First dinner of the Nobel Women’s Initiative conference on ending sexual violence in conflict, and I had the good fortune to sit in on a wide-ranging conversation that started when Anu Bhagwati, the former US Marine Corps company commander who runs a campaigning organisation called the Service Women’s Action Network, told us that of the patients treated in US military veteran hospitals for sexual assault and harassment, 39 per cent are men.
Le Rapists and Le Pervs
SWAN’s case study of the Strauss-Kahn debacle continues. As if it wasn’t disappointing enough to hear the media report all week long that Strauss-Kahn’s alleged rape of a hotel maid was a sex scandal (just think of The Daily News’ cover story: “LE PERV”), the media has dragged Arnold Schwarzenegger into the mix, implying that the IMF Chief was just a simple philandering scumbag while the ex-Governing Terminator was an actual sexual predator. And we wonder why Americans are so confused about rape.
Kate Zernike in the New York Times conflates sex and rape by celebrity men for us in this gem of a story on Ah-nold and the IMF Chief, in Harsh Light on Two Men, but Glare Falls on Women, in which she quotes Columbia Professor Suzanne Goldberg:
“It is part of a fascination with the man,” said Suzanne Goldberg, director of the Center for Gender and Sexuality Law at Columbia. “What sort of woman could this powerful man have been attracted to? I think as a society, we care about the lives of powerful celebritylike figures.”
Misogyny, rape myths, and classism OH MY!
Yesterday I wrote about the arrest of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the IMF chief who was recently arrested for the sexual assault of a hotel maid. In my post, I wrote about the “conspiracy theories” that were already mounting against the credibility of the victim. As in so many rape and sexual assault cases, rape myths abound, like the idea that the victim “asked for it,” or that rape isn’t rape unless violent force is involved, and this particular case is no exception. While the verbal assaults and attempts to discredit Strauss-Kahn’s victim had only begun when I posted the blog, not a few hours later did I come across an infuriating commentary in The American Spectator by Ben Stein. Stein’s post is laden with the very same rape myths and misogynistic assumptions that I warned about. Stein lists eight “thoughts” concerning the Strauss-Kahn case, all of which defend him or blame/question the victim. I respond to some of the most shameful and insidious “thoughts” here:
At the VA, It Is Perception vs Reality
It’s official! Write down this date: 13 May 2011. On this historic day the VA declared victory over its longtime struggle to provide adequate healthcare services to women. The Marine Corps Times reported that “a new era for women has dawned at the Veterans Affairs Department.”
“We’ve changed the culture of the VA,” said Patricia Hayes, chief consultant for the Women Veterans Health Strategic Health Care Group in the department. “Women can’t just be sort of an invisible second thought.”
“This is a new VA,” said Stacy Garrett-Ray, a deputy director in the Office of Patient Care Services. “We’re here to provide the best care that we can for women veterans.”
For those of us who use the VA regularly for our healthcare, this sounds like one of those fake news stories you would read in The Onion. But this is no joke, and the unfortunate truth is for many women veterans, these grandiose statements by VA officials don’t square up with the realities of the average VA experience.
IMF Chief Arrested But Sexual Violence Crisis Continues Unabated
Dominique Strauss-Kahn
This past Saturday IMF Chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn was arrested for sexually assaulting a 32-year old female staff member of a luxury Manhattan hotel. Because of flight risk concerns, the IMF Chief is currently being held without bail on Riker’s Island. To many, the story seems to represent progress in the sexual violence movement—unlike the vast majority of sexual violence survivors, the victim actually reported the crime, something that only 40% of men and women who are raped or sexually assaulted (in the civilian world) actually do. The NYPD and the judge presiding over the case also decided to hold Strauss-Kahn accountable by arresting him and ensuring he is brought to justice, two actions that are far too rare in cases of rape and sexual assault. Justice, then, has ostensibly been served, despite Strauss-Kahn’s gender, race, and class privileges.
In Reproductive Rights Debate, Servicewomen Cannot Be Ignored
Photo By Brian Schroeder
Watching the House of Representatives debate HR 3, the No Tax Payer Funding for Abortion, it was clear that those in support of the bill are tacitly ignoring the needs and rights of the most vulnerable of American women. In the midst of a dizzyingly repetitive debate from both sides, Representative Bruce Braley of Iowa reminded the House of Representatives about a particularly vulnerable group of American women that are being left behind . . . by the government and by their fellow citizens. These are our women in uniform. Watch the video here.
Photoshopping Women Out of Combat
An Hasidic Jewish newspaper has released the now iconic situation room photo with Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Counter Terrorism Director Audrey Tomason Photoshopped out. A statement from the Brooklyn based Der Tzitung indicated that it was the “laws of modesty” that required them to not publish photos of women, for fear that they would be too sexually stimulating for readers. “It in no way,” continues the editor, “relegates them to a lower status.” You can read the full article here.
We all know differently. Besides the obviously offensive nature of the idea that women’s bodies are so tempting they need to be hidden away (in the home, under a covering, out of history) it is a slap in the face to these two intelligent, successful and hardworking women who were in the situation room that day as vital, contributing members of a powerful government body. Writing them out of their own success and their important roles in a critical moment in America’s history belittles their enormous contributions to the nation. Airbrushing anyone out of their own lives and experiences absolutely relegates them to a lower status, that of the non-existent.
Rep. Speier Delivers Third Speech on Rape, Sexual Assault and Sexual Harassment in the Military
Rep. Speier spoke again on the floor of the House of Representatives about the scourge of rape, sexual assault and sexual harassment in the military. Watch as Rep. Speier reads from an e-mail she received at the account she set up to allow survivors to share their stories with her, stopmilitaryrape@mail.house.gov.
Navy Encounters Opposition After Announcing Plan to Allow Same-Sex Marriage
Although the discriminatory “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was repealed back in December 2010, repeal has not been fully implemented, and many unanswered questions still persist for the fate of LGBT servicemembers. One of these unknowns is whether or not the military branches will allow same-sex couples to marry.
The pushback is based around the specious argument that the Navy’s rule would violate the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA), another openly discriminatory piece of legislation that does not allow the federal government or entities to recognize same-sex marriages. DOMA indeed does restrict the Department of Defense’s ability to recognize same-sex marriages, as the DOD is a federal agency. However, nothing in DOMA restricts military chaplains from performing ceremonies, even on military bases which are federal property. The Republican opposition, then, represents a subterfuge to rollback any gains LGBT servicemembers have made and will make because of DADT repeal.