Most women recognize that even the most thorough preparation cannot prevent every eventuality. Yet victims of assault say that some training might have helped them make more informed decisions, or at least live with the outcome more easily. A correspondent for a major U.S. newspaper says that for some time she needlessly blamed herself for her rape by a Russian paramilitary policeman. How, she asked herself, had she not anticipated that he would follow her back to the hotel after an interview and force himself into the room? She believes that training “would have relieved me of the guilt that I had done the wrong thing.”
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I am amazed and horrified by this article. Not saying anything puts more people in danger. Every news organization should read this and follow the BBCs lead. Most importantly these victims need to be supported. They should have a safe place to air their experiences and I pray each of them finds peace.
#1 Posted by Cheryl, CJR on Wed 16 Feb 2011 at 04:46 PM
First, kudos to the BBC for offering training. Here's a call to the rest of the news agencies to fully prepare their journalists for the field.
#2 Posted by JupeRamona, CJR on Wed 16 Feb 2011 at 09:16 PM
There is nothing such as "outrageous clothes" ...this is a disgusting and maschilist way to shift the burden on the women who are "provoking"...I am really amazed that the journalist doesn't challenge these assumptions!!!
#3 Posted by Ela, CJR on Fri 18 Feb 2011 at 12:42 PM
The journalist cannot change these assumptions. While it is true that no woman "provokes" a man into raping her, wearing less revealing clothing is still a way to ward off any unwanted attention, especially in cultures where women typically dress more conservatively. It may not be right, but there is nothing we can do to change these cultures. These cultures are very different than America or Western Europe. Women do not always have the same rights as we do. In the places where these kind of atrocities regularly happen, the citizens have been brought up to think things like that are normal, even okay.
#4 Posted by Sarah, CJR on Sun 20 Feb 2011 at 08:36 PM
Ela, what a woman wears does matter, not in any legal sense but in a practical sense. The imperfections of man, which will still be with us for a long time, mean that certain dress will unfortunately make you more likely to be attacked.
So while a woman is usually completely in her rights to wear what she wants, and an attacker can't claim dress as provocation in any legal defence, conservative dress can save one from an ordeal. Freedom isn't free.
The reasonable prudent limit of dress varies by country, region, and circumstance. In Western offices women have greater leeway, though more sexual dress is often regarded as less professional.
#5 Posted by Robin, CJR on Sun 20 Feb 2011 at 08:55 PM
@Sarah and Robin
Dear Sarah and Robin,
I'll try to elaborate better: what I 'm criticizing is the language, not the compliance with such dressing code (for the time being!).
I had lived in such a country and I would have never wore a short skirt in order not to catch unwanted attention since I was alone. We all agree that it would not be advisable. That said, I chose not to wear it neither because it was "outrageous" or "provoking" nor, as others said elsewhere, out of "respect" for such culture. It was just to survive.
My point here is that language reflects values. Using the term "outrageous" means endorsing the maschilist mentality. Discrimination starts from the language and then goes on becoming harrassment: both the terms that disturbed me put the blame on the woman.
While I am sure this was not her intention, by using the term "outrageous" and "provoking" without challenging them the correspondent is "accomplice" of those who discriminate against women.
Another point, certain aspects of "cultures" different than ours are not something that we have to passivly accept for fear of being "colonizers". Otherwise till where to you stretch the limit of what is acceptable? Are female genital mutilation ok, since they are part of the cultural practices of some communities? Should we refrain from condemning this phenomenon? I believe in universal human rights, and I believe that any revolution should start from giving equal rights to half of the sky, may that means changing a "culture".
Then I believe, Sarah, it is not me, as a western, that will change it, as it has to come from within.... but ok it is going to be a long story I don't wanna be boring!!
Cheerio
Ela
#6 Posted by Ela, CJR on Wed 23 Feb 2011 at 09:24 AM
This is a tough one. I think about this subject often having been physically “molested” on three separate occasions while working in the Middle East and once in Tanzania by a Tanzanian field hospital administrator. In three of these four incidents I was on the job. A teenage boy walked right up to me and grabbed my crotch, from the front, when I was walking back home after covering the Hariri funeral in Beirut. I walked the rest of the way home alone with a giant rock in my fist. And I’ll leave out the verbal abuse and stalking we often endure.
I always wearing loose fitting pants and a non-cleavage revealing t-shirt or long-sleeve top. You can’t work in anything else anyway as a photojournalist unless you want to get dirtier or more ravaged than what the day already deals you.
I had a definite sense of how women and western women were viewed in both places before I ever went from formal education and travel. And I had some minor advance professional preparation and guidance.
In any case, the truth remains that I never said anything to my editors because of the real fear of not being taken seriously, professionally and or being considered a viable risk. And just to lay it all out there now, some of the people “in charge” in these places are near complacent if not exactly complicit. While this last statement is certainly NOT the norm I know many of us ladies have had unsolicited and unwarranted come-ons with these folks as well. But that last bit still happens right here in the USA does it not?
Anyway, I only told a select few friends or colleagues after these instances as it is not something any woman ever wants advertised for the fear of not being sent on assignments as well as for the sad gossip the flies around competitive news organizations and the business in general. If I hadn’t stupidly backed away or given up a potentially good path in photojournalism because of all of these issues I am certain that I would have continued to have kept any future incidents, with the exception of rape, largely to myself.
I am certain I have no more answers now for why we keep it to ourselves than I did then. If it sounds pathetic, that’s probably because it is. I don't know.
#7 Posted by Sarah , CJR on Wed 23 Mar 2011 at 02:15 AM