Speaking out about sexual assault lessens the stigma, empowers victims and can encourage more women to come forward.

On Sunday, May 1, 2011, journalist Lara Logan broke her silence about her sexual assault in Egypt on February 11. During her 60 Minutes interview, she faced the world and described every intimate detail about the night she believed she was going to die.

Here’s what she had to endure.

Dragging Ugliness into the Light
Logan didn’t shrink from talking about how the mob tore her clothes off and dozens of men penetrated her with their hands, “front and back” causing internal tearing, while beating her with blunt objects. She described how they attempted to tear the hair from her scalp and tore her joints as they pulled her limbs in different directions. Logan laid it all bare in a calm voice, tearing up when she talked about how she was sure she would die a torturous death, but couldn’t bear to leave her young children. She knew she needed to fight to live.

After nearly 30 minutes of beating, the mob dragged her to a fence where a group of women were camped out. As Logan fell to the ground, an Egyptian woman put her arms around her. That simple act was the beginning of Logan’s rescue. That one gesture comforted a terrified woman and initiated a mob mentality of a different kind, one of compassion and protection, rather than victimization and abuse.

Traditionally, identities of victims of sexual assault are shielded from the press and the public, but immediately after the assault, CBS and Logan released a short statement confirming not only her attack, but its sexual nature. “That statement,” Logan told the New York Times, “didn’t leave me to carry the burden alone, like my dirty little secret, something that I had to be ashamed of.”

However, instead of an unqualified outpouring of sympathy, Logan’s story inspired ridicule and derision from some public figures, and comments posted to news stories focused on her appearance and her very presence in Egypt as contributing factors, if not the cause of her attack. In many cases, sympathy was drowned out by victim blaming.

Would this have been the case if she had only been beaten rather than sexually assaulted? What is it about sexual assault that compels people to look for a reason that the victim brought it on herself? As a society, are we still clinging to the belief that if women avoid certain behaviors, sexual assault simply won’t happen?

It’s these attitudes that stop rape victims from reporting these crimes, from talking about what happened to them, and from pursuing prosecution. Organizations who work with sexual violence survivors say that at least 60 percent of sexual assaults are not reported.

More Victims are Standing Up and Speaking Out
Logan is not alone. More and more victims of sexual assault are courageously speaking out. Jamie Leigh Jones has been fighting a court battle against KBR and her former co-workers since her attack in Baghdad in 2005. None of Jones’ attackers has been charged because the assault took place overseas, but she continues to tell her story despite KBR’s campaign to discredit and intimidate her. The company asserts that Jones was “asking for it,” because she had a couple of drinks and talked to one of her attackers earlier in the evening. Many other female former KBR employees have come forward alleging sexual harassment and assault by KBR employees in the wake of Jones’ battle.

In January 2011, ABC’s 20/20 interviewed six former Peace Corps volunteers who were sexually assaulted during their service. 29-year-old Jess Smocheck talked about how she was groped and knocked down by a group of men on her first day in Bangladesh in 2004. The same men continued to stalk and harass her even as she reported it repeatedly. She requested to be reassigned several times, but the Peace Corps refused. One day the men, aware that she had reported them to the police, dragged her into an alley and gang raped her.

“They raped me with their bodies. They raped me with foreign objects,” Smocheck said. During the sustained assault, Smocheck was in so much pain that she begged them to kill her. Afterward, she was finally sent back to the U.S., but she says the Peace Corps didn’t want her to talk to other volunteers, instead telling her to say she was leaving to get her wisdom teeth pulled.

All six sexual assault survivors echoed the same sentiment, that the Peace Corps downplayed their assaults and gave them minimal counseling, during which counselors asked them to detail “Everything they did wrong,” before their assaults. The Peace Corps denies these allegations, but Linda Lowen wrote that the Corps’ own volunteer reports cite the time of night these assaults occurred, and whether or not either the victim or offender had anything to drink.

Admiring Their Strength
Facing victim blaming, sometimes from the very institutions that should have protected them, as well as from the public, their physical and emotional injuries downplayed, their behavior scrutinized, and their character and lives pulled apart, these women still stood up and told their stories. They spelled out their horrific injuries, and allowed the public to see their faces, imagine their pain, and relive their experiences. These women, in particular, also live with the probability that their attackers will never be caught or punished.

Judith Herman, a rape survivor who has been speaking out for nearly twenty years, wrote,

“Initially, I decided to speak out because I was sick of the social stigma that shamed survivors of rape. I grew impatient with waiting for society to change and make it safer for survivors to speak, and decided it was up to me to actively defy the stigma and speak anyway. For me, this was a way in which I could be part of the change I desired.”

Most advocates agree that speaking out destigmatizes the attack and helps survivors in numerous ways. Emotional wounds, anger, and gnawing shame only fester if they are stifled and victims are forced to internalize their feelings. Speaking can be a form of empowerment. Herman says,

“In speaking out, you become part of destroying the forces that have harmed and hurt you. This has been one of the greatest expedients to my own healing. It is just such a fine way to fight back and can reduce one’s own fear and shame. There is even a little thrill of vengeance towards those who attempted to silence me. Fools – I can tell the world if I want to – it’s my voice!”

If more women speak out and refuse to be shamed, it could encourage other women to report their own assaults, strengthen them enough to prosecute their attackers, and support them in their efforts to heal. If more women speak out, it could change the public’s tendency to place blame on the victim, and instead put it where it belongs – on the offenders.

The answer isn’t to restrict women’s movements and participation in the world or to silence their voices. The only way to eliminate sexual violence is to stand up against it, to denounce it, to deter it, and teach children at a young age that it is not funny, not trivial, not “asked for,” not acceptable, and never excusable.

Remember, one person made a difference simply by embracing an abused woman.

image: Helga Weber

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Gender bias still thrives in some workplaces.

Women are still fighting battles in the workplace, including unequal pay, low numbers in the C-suite, sexual harassment, and, in some cases, even rape and assault. Here are five organizations that have recently been on the wrong end of allegations and legal action by women for gender discrimination and other unfair practices aimed primarily at female employees.

KBR

Jaws dropped when KBR was voted number 46 on a list of the best companies for work for by Woman Engineer magazine. The company has been sued several times by female employees alleging sexual assaults and sexual harassment by KBR employees. In addition, the company required employees to sign contracts that took away their constitutional right to bring civil action in the event of sexual assault or other grievance – instead, forcing them to agree to confidential and binding arbitration. That practice is now being scrutinized by the U.S. Senate, which estimates that 30 million Americans have unknowingly signed away their legal rights with similar contracts.

Perhaps the most famous case is Jamie Leigh Jones. After only four days on the job, Jones was drugged and raped by seven U.S. contractors in 2005. Afterward, she was held captive by two KBR guards in a shipping container. She fought for over four years for her day in court as a result of her employee contract (Republican leadership infamously came to the defense of KBR). Her attorney, Todd Kelly, has represented five former KBR employees who have alleged sexual assault or harassment and told ABC News some 40 women have contacted his office about alleged incidents while they were working for KBR.

Walmart

It began with Betty Dukes. After years of being passed over for promotion, she and five other female employees filed a federal discrimination suit against Walmart in 2001. The women allege there is a centralized culture biased against women in the organization and cite more than 100 specific instances of discrimination. 80 percent of Walmart hourly workers are women, while less than one-third of managers are women. The plantiffs claim that Walmart favors men for higher pay and promotions.

The case has grown into a landmark fight as the women have become representatives for 1.5 million female employees who also claim to have been victims of discriminatory practices at the largest employer in the U.S. Together they are bringing a massive discrimination suit against the retailer.

Arguments reached the U.S. Supreme Court in March 2011, where the justices will determine if the suit can move forward as a class action. Walmart claims these were isolated incidents, not a widespread company attitude against women. If the case remains a class action and the plaintiffs win, it could have a big impact on how employers throughout the country treat female employees in the future. If the Supreme Court dismantles the class action, each woman would be left to fight their own case individually, which is much less expensive for Walmart and a bigger uphill battle for the women. The court’s decision is expected by summer 2011.

Goldman Sachs

In September 2010, Goldman Sachs, home of the 10,000 Women initiative, was sued by three former female employees who allege discrimination in pay and advancement. Bloomberg Businessweek reports that in the complaint, one of the former employees said, “Men at Goldman Sachs are viewed more favorably, receive more compensation, and are more likely to be promoted.” After one former employee reported being kissed and groped by another male employee, she was punished by hostile attitudes and her career suffered. In the meantime, the male colleague she accused was steadily promoted and his compensation increased by more than 400 percent.

There are very few women at the director and partner level, compared to lower levels at the firm, but Goldman Sachs counters by claiming that their numbers are comparable to and even better than many other financial firms. In March 2010, a former vice president at the firm also filed suit claiming bias. After she gave birth and chose to work part-time, she claims that she was pushed onto the “mommy track” and eventually fired.

Novartis Pharmaceuticals

In May 2010, after a six-week trial, a jury found Novartis guilty of discriminatory practices against women. Twelve women, representing 5,600 women, alleged that women were discriminated against in pay, promotions and pregnancy-related issues.

Kate Kimpel, an attorney for the plaintiffs, told Swissinfo.ch, “Novartis had a corporate culture that expected female sales reps to be ‘available and amenable to sexual advances’ from the doctors they met while marketing drugs. ‘To add insult to injury, Novartis paid those same women less, wouldn’t promote them into management, and punished them if they got pregnant.’”

During the trial, the plaintiffs presented testimony about a district manager who showed female workers pornographic images and invited them to sit in his lap. Novartis’ lawyer Richard Schnadig explained, “He was an embarrassment to the company. He wasn’t that bad a manager. He was just terrible with women.”

U.S. Armed Forces

In February 2011, two men and 15 women, veterans and active-duty service members, filed a federal lawsuit accusing the U.S. Department of Defense of permitting an armed forces culture that does nothing to prevent rape and sexual assault. When crimes are reported, they mishandled the cases, violating the plaintiffs’ constitutional rights. The New York Times reported that the suit specifically names Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates and former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, claiming they “ran institutions in which perpetrators were promoted and where military personnel openly mocked and flouted the modest congressionally mandated institutional reforms.” In addition, they failed “to take reasonable steps to prevent plaintiffs from being repeatedly raped, sexually assaulted and sexually harassed by federal military personnel.”

The plaintiffs claim that soldiers that make any sort of complaint in the military are likely to experience retaliation and have nowhere to turn for help. In this oppressive climate, many sexual assaults are not even reported. Even attempts at sexual harassment and assault education were mocked. Plaintiffs related an incident where a soldier stripped naked and danced on the table during a break in a class on the prevention of sexual harassment and assault. Another incident involved two men who raped a woman, videotaped it, and distributed the tape to her colleagues.

In 2005, Congress mandated the creation of a task force on military sexual assault, but by 2008 the Government Accountability Office (GAO), determined that it had spent $15 million but could not substantiate any proven results. In 2009 reported sexual assaults went up 11 percent, according to the Department of Defense, resulting in one third of the women serving in the military reporting having been sexually assaulted. Even the Pentagon admits that these probably only represent about 20 percent of actual incidents. The Daily Beast reports that female recruits “are now far more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed in combat.” Women aren’t the only victims in this case. More than fifty percent of those who are diagnosed with Military Sexual Trauma are men.

The plaintiffs’ lawyer, Susan L. Burke, stated, “You should not have to be subjected to being raped or sexually assaulted because you volunteered to serve this nation.”

We’ve got a long way to go, baby.

Image: cinnamon_girl

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Once home, many of our soldiers who served in Iraq have to battle chronic rashes, tumors and even cancer.

The Iraq and Afghanistan Veterans of America (IAVA) is demanding to know why. Why did the giant contractor KBR knowingly expose our forces to carcinogenic toxins at its power plants in Iraq?

KBR, the largest non-union construction company in the United States, has struck gold in its massive contracts with the U.S. government, raking in $17 billion in Iraq-related work since 2003.

The former Halliburton subsidiary has relied on both military and non-military personnel to protect its workers, including 16 Indiana Guardsmen who are now suing the defense contractor, accusing the company of being aware it was exposing them to cancer-causing chemicals. The Guardsmen, who suffered a myriad of health problems since coming home (one died from lung cancer), claim KBR managers “downplayed and disregarded” the risk from contamination at their site. KBR denies any wrongdoing.

“The situation…may just be the tip of the iceberg,” observes IAVA Executive Director Paul Rieckhoff. His nonpartisan agency wants Congress to take action and request the contractor to testify about its knowledge of toxic exposure.

Meantime, Indiana Senator Evan Bayh has vowed to reintroduce legislation to create a medical registry for military personnel exposed to toxins. It would track service members exposed during wartime service and guarantee them access to priority care at VA hospitals. Bayh says the registry is modeled after our government’s response to Agent Orange during the Vietnam conflict. Veterans suffering can cut through the red tape and get the treatment they need.

IAVA has been lobbying for such a registry. “This latest example of toxic exposure underlines the urgency,” says Rieckhoff, who founded this first organization of Iraq and Afghanistan vets in 2004 and now boasts more than 125,000 veteran and civilian supporters.

Image: Army.mil

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