~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WASH RAG published by Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available on-line ASAP at http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/index8.html along with earlier issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 8, Number 3 August, 2000 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Index Vote, Vote, Vote Abuse of Women Continues Around the World Hunting Season Against Women in Ontario In the Media This Sounds Preposterous Recap Letter to Fujimori ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Vote, Vote, Vote ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ After all of the effort that went into getting the Violence Against Women Act passed and signed by the president, it was heartbreaking to have part of it struck down by a Supreme Court which was largely appointed by the last two Republican Presidents. If there is one election where women’s votes count, this is it. We have got to prevent any more justices of the ilk of Clarence Thomas from being seated in the Court. It is obvious that they will erode away legislative successes and put us back into the back alleys in the area of Abortion Rights. By striking down a key provision of the Violence Against Women Act, they have sent the message that they can and will use their authority to nullify the acts of Congress. They ruled that the co-ed who was attacked by football players had no right to sue them in Federal Court, weakening the legislation passed by Congress. This reflects the “States Rights” advocacy of the Conservative appointments made by Bush and Reagan. Even the New York Times finds this leaves women more vulnerable to gender-motivated violence, according to Bob Herbert, a columnist for the Times. He quotes a report by The People for the American Way as finding that Scalia and Thomas, the court’s two most right-wing members, as anxious to overturn Roe v. Wade. A recent e-mail from Nancy Thornton is encouraging women to register and vote and gives a site for online voter registration as: https:/ /www.algore2000.com/getinvolved/regform.php/. For those interested, her e-mail address is SAMM4(bleep)email.msn.com. Vote, vote, vote, vote!!!!!!! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABUSE OF WOMEN CONTINUES AROUND THE WORLD ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the UN in June, Madeline Albright attacked the excuse that the abuse of women in some foreign countries is a cultural thing. She has launched an all out war on regional practices that permit family members to abuse and murder women without fear of retaliation. An issue of womensnews (todaysnews(bleep)womensnews.org) described the practice of burning women alive in India, in one case because the woman caring for an elderly mother would not agree to marry the man. 60 Minutes on June 6 had a report on the dowry murders of women in India. This was a repeat and update on an earlier story. We are trying to locate a source in India to give us figures similar to those we compiled for the series on Jessie Ventura. Let us know if you know of a feminist in India. I have received an e-mail from sofia.nilsson(bleep)svd.se, a journalist who is going to Hungary to do a report on the use of Hungarian women in pornography produced by international film producers. She is looking for a contact in the feminist community in Hungary, and unfortunately, WASH‘s International list does not have a contact in Hungary, or in many other countries as well. If you know of a feminist in Hungary, please let her know, or if you know of one in any country not on our International list, let us know so we can contact them to see if they will agree to be listed. From where we sit, there is not a lot we can do to help Sofia, however much we might want to, but if having a list like this so that someone looking for a person with an interest in sexual harassment or sexual abuse in some country we have only seen on maps will help, then we are more than happy to do whatever we can. Send any names to ta_shi(bleep)dtgnet.com, preferably e-mail addresses, but if not, then a mailing address will allow us to contact them. Speaking English makes the contact more meaningful, but it is not required. Many of the women we met in Beijing could only speak rudimentary English if any at all. View Women Against Sexual Harassment’s International list at http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/page24.html/. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ HUNTING SEASON AGAINST WOMEN NOW UNDER WAY ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ From the Toronto Star, Saturday, July 22, 2000 Michele Landsberg It's the killing season in Ontario. Let's say, for the sake of argument, that the hunting season opened on Mother's Day, when 28 year old Hemoutie Raghunauth, pregnant, mother of a one year old boy, was found dead (poisoned) on her bathroom floor. Her husband has been charged with first-degree murder. On June 13, Harjaap Bolla was ambushed at her home in Mississauga by her former fiancée, then stabbed and burned to death. Then it was Gillian Hadley's turn; she dashed from her home and managed to save her infant son before her husband Ralph shot her in the head. Two other children were left motherless. Maria Frana was abducted almost at the same time by a man who also threatened to throw her over a 20th floor balcony. Her estranged husband, Martin Frana, has been charged with unlawful confinement, threatening death and two counts of assault with a weapon. The ink was barely dry on that story before Zahra Zeinali survived being shot in the face by her ex-husband. On July 6, the bodies of 27 year old Bohumila Luft and her four children were found, stabbed and shot to death by 42 year old William Luft, who killed himself as well. The final obscenity against the murder victims was the mass funeral, arranged by Luft's family, in which the murderer was extolled along with his victims. At a public service, a minister urged everyone to forgive the murderer. Bohumila had no-one left alive to speak on her behalf. In Stratford early this week, Laurie Lynn Vollmershausen was found dead in her home. Her husband Joseph Theirdore Willensen is charged with her murder. She left two little girls behind. I asked Beth Bennet, program director of the Assaulted Women's Helpline, why the sudden, horrific rash of murders. "It's just that the press is actually reporting it more prominently," she said wearily. "Remember, we do lose 40 women a year in Ontario; I guess you could say we're right on track." If Bennet sounds a bitter note, it's because her agency, the frontline resource for assaulted women in danger or distress, had its funding cut by 5 per cent in 1995 (The Year of the Tories) and has had no increase since. "We still get 25,000 calls a year, but the difference in the last few months is that the women sound so hopeless. There was always anxiety, always fear, but now they say 'Well, why should I leave? I've got nowhere to go, he's going to kill me anyway.'" Bennet stresses that despite the women's despair, the Helpline does do preventive safety planning with callers that may save their lives. Both the Ontario Association of Interval and Transition Houses and the Second Stage Housing Coalition (which supported and counseled women moving out of shelters into independent accommodation) lost 100 per cent of their funding under the Tory regime. "The grassroots agencies are being starved out," said Bennet. The Helpline, noting that it receives hundreds of calls from all over the province, applied for a grant to extend its 24-hour, multilingual emergency service Ontario-wide. No soap. The province turned them down flat. Too busy spending $800,000 on its anti-welfare propaganda booklet, I guess. The only note of hope in this bleak landscape was a recent decision by the Ontario Court of Appeal. Three judges -Moldaver, Feldman and MacPherson --- unanimously ruled that a trial judge was in error when he gave a stalker a suspended sentence. Dwayne Bates was guilty of 11 offences, including criminal harassment, three counts of assault and death threats against his former girlfriend, and of defying a series of court orders. The Appeal Court, in a timely and potent message about the seriousness of criminal harassment, ordered the man to serve 30 months in penitentiary and three years on probation. We know so much about the crime of intimate femicide. We know, from last week's huge report from the U.S. National Institute of Justice, that about 30 per cent of women have been stalked, raped or physically assaulted by their male partner, and that verbal abuse is the most likely predictor of intimate violence. We know from a recent study reported in Lancet, the British medical journal, that former sexual partners are the most violent of stalkers, the most likely to commit serious bodily harm. We know how many, each year, will be murdered, and that, about a quarter of the time, their young children will see or hear their mother being killed. We know so much and we do so little. In this depressing scenario, the Ontario Appeal Court ruling shines one hopeful beacon. If other judges are alert and listening, they can help stop many cases of woman abuse from escalating to murder. No "punch" line to this column, folks. The crisis is beyond words. I rarely reprint from other sources, but this, received via e-mail, says it so well that all I did was correct the spelling. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN THE MEDIA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Unfortunately, the CBS Evening News on August 25 reported that a woman and man not attending the first Navy sanctioned Tailhook Convention since 1991 claimed the woman was the object of inappropriate comments and touching by tailhook pilots attending. On July 21, KDLT 10:00 news reported that a waitress had sued Hooters in Kentucky for sexual harassment and had gotten a $275,000.00 settlement which was being appealed. On a PBS interview on June 15, Jack Germaine commented that “a woman on the ticket is a negative (speaking of Vice President). “ Dateline NBC on June 13 had a report on women being attacked in Central Park in New York City in the midst of a crowd of onlookers after a Puerto Rico Day celebration. According to the report, a crowd of around 85 young men began to attack women, clothes were ripped off and they were sexually molested. There were many bystanders, but they did nothing. Dateline NBC on June 12 had a report on an 8 year old boy who used vulgar language and touched the girls in his class in various ways. He was suspended and put into a different class but his behavior persisted. Mothers of several of the girls sued the Sarasota, Florida school district. EOC regulations were of no use because they regulate only working conditions. Army investigators have substantiated Army Lt. Gen. Claudia Kennedy’s claim that Maj. Gen. Larry Smith made improper sexual advances. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THIS SOUNDS PREPOSTEROUS, BUT IT’S TRUE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Lori Berenson is a US citizen being held as a political prisoner in a harsh Peruvian jail high in the Andes. In January, 1996 she was convicted of treason against Perú in a secret military tribunal by a hooded judge. Without a chance for a fair trial, the young reporter was sentenced to life in prison with no possibility of parole. Oprah Winfrey’s program on August 30 featured, among others, Lori’s parents and how they are trying to get her released. The real kicker was when her mother mentioned that when she was arrested, Lori was writing a series of articles about how poverty effected the women of Peru. This shocking revelation shows how terrified men in some countries are of women’s attempts to help other women. It should give us the strength to do whatever we can to help Lori. Their web site is http://www.freelori.org/, and their e-mail address is berenson(bleep)freelori.org . They suggest writing to the President to ask him to intervene on Lori’s behalf, and to write to your Senators and Representatives. Letters to the Peruvian president should be addressed: Presidente Alberto Fujimori, Ministerio de la Presidencia, Av. Paseo de la República 4297 - Surquillo PERÚ. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ RECAP ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anita Hill, after whom our Anita Award is named, has been hired by Court TV to be a commentator on election civil rights and the media. Ruby Starr, who has been trying to sue her former employer, Kirkland Air Force Base Albuquerque, NM, reports that she finally got a hearing with a Magistrate to see if they would pay for her attorney. She thinks that her former attorney was paid off by funds available through the Westfall Act. Because she is disabled, possibly because of her employment, she is trying to file claims through Title I and Title III of the Americans With Disabilities Act. She is also preparing a complaint against both her former attorney and the opposing counsel. “It is further sexual harassment and abuse and reprisal when the courts abuse women who have been abused by their employer. So few understand the Mafia attitude of the Federal Court System. Just one huge effort and if it isn’t successful, we quit. That is what they want. In order to make the necessary changes in our places of employment is to change the Federal Court System. My case is pivotal in that it was filed right after a Federal Court Ruling came down stating that Kirkland Air Force Base was legally mandated to not reprise against an employee who filed a complaint. If I win, that will meet the legal standard to enforce this court Ruling. The Federal Attorneys do not want this to happen, so they are ignoring many doctor’s letters stating I am disabled, social security and my poverty status, making me travel at the tune of $400.00 each trip, on my social security money for little piddly two hour hearings, or 8 hour depositions, then sending me back to California to return again at $400.00 a few weeks later. They waited until I was so exhausted after 8 hours of deposition, in violation of my ADA rights and my doctors letters, and I was so tired I was crying and vomiting, to order me to settle for a mere $2,000. People headed for Federal Court need to understand that it is NOT a well run JUSTICE machine. It is a cesspool of corruption and your cases are a gamble.” It takes a lot of courage to keep trying to make the system work like it is supposed to when all the cards seem stacked against you. If we don’t, then we can expect it to deteriorate to give us the same perverse justice as Lori Berenson got in Peru. I believe there is someone who will do something to right the wrongs Ruby has experienced. We wish her the best of luck. Her efforts will hopefully help others who seek judicial redress in the courts she is dealing with. After all, we are the government, and if we don’t expend the effort to get it to work right, then it is our own fault when it does not. That is what the US is. Interesting contacts: ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ World Organization Against Torture Publisher of "Violence Against Women: A Report http://www.omet.org DAWN — Domestic Abuse Women’s Net anne(bleep)willapabay.org http://www.willapabay.org/~anne/dawn.html Miles Foundation — Tracks domestic abuse in the military Milesfd(bleep)yahoo.com http://www.militarycity.com for the article “The War At Home” SESAME, Inc. (Survivors of Educator Sexual Abuse & Misconduct Emerge) SESAME believes the power imbalance between a teacher and a student of any age creates a climate that can facilitate sexually exploitative behavior by the teacher, behavior that is psychologically equivalent to incest. sesame-w(bleep)taconic.net Women Against Sexual Harassment (WASH) Regional Directors ta_shi(bleep)dtgnet.com http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/page31.html Contact regarding the use of tax money to protect sex abusers in government being sued by them: 805-985-0273 JJay943(bleep)aol.com Justice Department Survey of Intimate Violence: http://www.ojp.usdoj.gov/bjs/abstract/vi.htm Organization tracking sexual abuse of female prisoners: Humanitas Christian Coalition info(bleep)humanitas.org.uk 4 Downfine Walk, Gransha, West Belfast, North of Ireland BT11 8NX U. S. Navy Statistics: Naval Safety Center, 375 A Street, Norfolk, VA 23511-4399 Naval Air Systems Command code Air 7.7.6, 47123 Buse Rd. Unit IPT, Patuxent River, MD 20670-1547 Marine Corps Statistics http://www.usmc.mil/ click Marines Magazine, cl. Back issues, cl. 1997 Almanac, cl. occupation fields, cl. Population, cd. 75xx Lori Berenson http://www.freelori.org/ To urge Peru to release Lori write: Presidente Alberto Fujimori Ministerio de la Presidencia Av. Paseo de la República 4297 - Surquillo PERÚ Swedish reporter Sofia Nilsson Sofia.nilsson(bleep)svd.se To subscribe to Women’s News Todaysnews(bleep)womensnews.org www.womensnews.org Voter Registration web site http: www.algore2000.com/getinvolved/regform.php/ WASH International List http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/page24.html/ Now Newsletter now(bleep)now.org Presidente Alberto Fujimori Ministerio de la Presidencia Av. Paseo de la República 4297 - Surquillo PERÚ Dear Presidente Fujimori: A few days ago, I viewed an astounding story on the American television show, Opray Winfrey. It was about an American college girl who went to Peru in order to learn about the culture and possibly do something to help poverty stricken Peruvians. Apparently, she was writing a series of articles about how poverty effects Peruvian women. What happened to her was that she was arrested, and without any trial, sentenced to life in prison. If someone had told me that this had happened in Nazi Germany or Fascist Italy or in Attilla the Hun’s camp, I would not be surprised, but to hear that this happened to a college girl in the past few years is nothing short of shocking. Women in this country are taught to be inquisitive and to feel that if they make the effort, they can make a difference. As there has been no trial to prove otherwise, I have to assume that the reason she was arrested and found guilty was because she was writing things about Peruvian women that were embarrassing to the government , and which if widely known, would cause a change in its government. Pity we don’t know the charges or the facts of the case, we might think otherwise. The very specter of a bunch of thugs in police uniforms with sacks over their heads strong-arming a college girl and holding a gun to her head would be ludicrous if it wasn’t so sad for the family. They are a nice family who gave their daughter a good education and taught her to care about other people. That the men in Peru are so threatened by the young woman I have described to cause them to react in this way is a sad commentary on the condition of Peruvian men. They must have very poor self-esteem to be so afraid of her as to sentence her to life in prison. I can’t help but to point out that Lori Berenson is a citizen of the most powerful country in the world, and Peru is a third rate back-water third world country always begging this country for money to get clean drinking water to its citizens. Women like Lori pay taxes, many pay a lot of taxes, and it doesn’t seem to bother you taking a hand-out when the going gets tough. And truthfully, we don’t mind giving it. Whether or not you are able to take a lesson from this and realize that American women now and always have pitched in and done what they could whenever they were needed, and to do that, we must be educated, inquisitive and caring. It seems to me that you should let Lori go and in fact encourage her to help Peruvian women to attain the most that they can. I believe it would be in the best interests not only of Peruvian women, but it’s men and the country as well. If you are not able to see that, then you aren’t worthy of your position. Sincerely, Janet Leih Women Against Sexual Harassment Cc: President Bill Clinton, Secretary of State Madeline Albright Enclosure ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We’re on the web! http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/ This on-line version of THE WASHRAG is being sent to you free. A print version can be obtained by subscribing. In the US, send $10.00 to Women Against Sexual Harassment, P. O. Box 164, Canton, SD 57013-0164. Outside the US, send $20.00 to join. For a sample issue, send a #10 sized SASE. For a Publisher98 print module, e-mail ta-shi(bleep)dtgnet.com E-mail comments can be sent to ta_shi(bleep)dtgnet.com. If you know of anyone you think might be interested, just send us their e-mail address and we will put them on our e-mail mailing list. If you do not wish to receive further copies of this newsletter, indicate your preference to ta_shi(bleep)dtgnet.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ copyright 2000 Tesseract Publications, P. O. Box 164 Canton, SD 57013-0164 (605) 987-5070.