NEWSSEXUAL HARASSMENT

A petition from MADRE, a global women's rights organization, is accusing Iraqi government security forces of sexually assaulting women to break up pro-democracy protests and demanding that officials intervene to protect the peaceful demonstrators.

MADRE's partner group, the Organization of Women's Freedom in Iraq (OWFI), reported that activists were beaten, violently groped, and sexually assaulted by thousands of men who were bussed into Baghdad's Tehrir Square on June 10. Nineteen-year-old Aya Mohammad told Al Jazeera that the men called them "whores" and "prostitutes," attempted to rip off her clothes, and broke a tooth. And when Mohammad went to government security forces standing by, bleeding and bruised, they refused to help.

According to MADRE's press release, they believe that the attackers "were organized by Iraq’s official security forces and were un-uniformed to keep them from being held accountable." Some of the assailants were even carrying police identification cards.

Walmart's been all over the news this week, in response to the Supreme Court decision that its female employees cannot bring a class action lawsuit against sex discrimination. But as disturbing as Walmart's record is on discriminating against women working in their stores, there's another area for major concern that has received little media attention. I'm talking about factories that produces clothes for Walmart stores, where women are controlled through debt bondage and regularly raped.

Walmart's not the only well-known brand putting tainted clothes from Classic Fashion factories in its stores (although it is the biggest buyer) -- Macy's, Target, Kohl's, and Hanes all source from the same abusive Jordan factories. An Institute for Global Labour and Human Rights report chronicles a tale of 13 to 18.5 hour workdays, 6 to 7 days a week, for minimal pay and poor living quarters. Thousands of female workers, most immigrants from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, or India, face the threat of deportation if they lose or leave their jobs.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. Managers grope and fondle the employees regularly, ostensibly to get them to work faster, and, even more horrifying, many repeatedly rape their workers. "Kamala," deported after she became pregnant (a typical occurrence), describes her assault at the hands of a quality control manager: "I was molested in every way… That man tortured me. He took a lot of sexual advantages from me… I had to fulfill everything he desired because I was placed in an extremely vulnerable situation and intimidated… My whole body is in pain… I cannot face my mother and father. I am destroyed. I cannot even change clothes before my mother because Priyantha has destroyed me. I have teeth marks all over my body."

Dutch tourist Jasmijn Rijcken reported that she was biking down a Manhattan street, minding her own business, when a cop pulled her over -- for wearing too short a skirt. Apparently, Rijcken's bare legs were "distracting the cars" and "dangerous." It seemed so absurd to be pulled over for "cycling while sexy," Rijcken thought the officer was joking, but he became angry and demanded her ID. She went straight back to her hotel and changed into pants, covering up her "killer" legs.

As Margaret Hartmann points out at Jezebel, you'd think the NYPD would be quick to assure women that they don't have to worry about the fashion police monitoring the length of their skirts -- the last thing you want to deal with when dressing for the summer heat. After all, they're already being scrutinized after a controversial "not-guilty" verdict that many people believe let an NYC cop get away with rape. Over 5000 Change.org members have already signed a petition started by the feminist group Permanent Wave telling the NYPD to implement comprehensive sexual assault and harassment training and a zero-tolerance policy.

Instead, this is what Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne had to say: "Whether this story bears even a modest semblance of what actually occurred is impossible to establish without being provided the purported officer's name and getting his side of the story." So not only is he failing to apologize for the sexual harassment, or assure women that the NYPD is not going to start acting like a Catholic school and insisting that your skirts go past your fingertips, he's also suggesting that the complainant is a big fat liar.

"Have you heard about the fraulein [woman] who came over from Germany? She was walking in the park and eleven men jumped on her and were raping here and the fraulein said 'nein, nein' and so two got off."

Hahaha ... oh wait. That's not funny. At all. But apparently New Mexico's Bernalillo County Commissioner Michael Wiener thinks rape jokes are hilarious. In an investigative report into Commissioner Wiener's behavior -- launched in response to a complaint of sexual harassment by a County Commission employee -- County Clerk Maggie Toulouse Oliver testified that he told a joke along these lines at a meeting (despite the attempt of one of his colleagues to cut him off).

In response to this and other incidents, a group of concerned New Mexico individuals have started a Change.org petition under the name "Women Against Workplace Discrimination," calling for Wiener's resignation. The County Commission meets today, and a "Rape's No Joke" rally will take place at 4:30 MST outside their offices. "Our message today is that Rape is No Joke," stated Neri Holguin, one of the organizers. "Bernalillo County Commissioner Weiner doesn't get it. In New Mexico, 1 in 4 females will experience rape or attempted rape in their lifetime. These are harrowing numbers and there's nothing funny about it."

Some might say that doing something as radical and huge as suing the military for failing to properly address high levels of unaddressed sexual assault might be a bit over-the-top. I would not fall under the category of “some.” Not after reading this update from the Service Women's Action Network (pdf) announcing the release of the DoD's annual Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office (SAPRO) annual report.

The Annual Report of Sexual Assault in the Military comes out every year from SAPRO to give us a "State of the Union" of sorts on the status of sexual assault, the incidences, and all the gory details legally allowed from each branch for each fiscal year (October through October). This year's report showed that things in the military have become more grim than a fairy tale of the same name. Of 3,158 total reported rapes and assaults, only 529 ever saw a day in court. That is not a large number.

To bust down the way the military handles things, this is only reported incidences. The military itself puts this 3,158 number at about 13.5% of total rapes and sexual assaults, bringing the grand total up to somewhere around 19,000 rapes and assaults total happening in Fiscal Year (FY) 2010. That is a large number.

In all of my time writing about Military Sexual Trauma, I never expected (but certainly think it is long past time), that someone would do something as noticeable as suing the Department of Defense for anything, let alone failing to take the proper steps to protect its servicemembers against rape and sexual assault. Who would be brave enough to do something as monumental as bringing a class-action lawsuit against the military, including former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and current Defense Secretary Robert Gates?

The Service Women's Action Network, an incredible organization lead by Anuradha Bhagwati, has backed a lawsuit filed by Susan L. Burke, known for other high-profile cases: one against Blackwater, and one on behalf of five Abu Ghraib torture victims. The class-action suit claims that the Secretaries were negligent in leading a military that not only failed to prevent sexual assault, but failed to properly prosecute it according to its own Uniform Code of Military Justice. In many of the seventeen cases presented, the perpetrators were rarely dealt with punitively while in frequent instances the survivors were punished for the expected ramifications of being forced to interact with their assailants daily. Even though the complaints went up the proper chains-of-command, the crimes were largely ignored, even by upper echelon personnel.

It seems like a no-brainer: a doctor who sexually assaults his patients should have his license permanently revoked faster than you can say "scumbag." But Illinois lawmakers are just starting to think that maybe they shouldn't let rapists be gynecologists.

Cara at The Curvature reports that, after a Chicago Tribune series called attention to the massive failure to protect patients against known sexual offenders in the doctor's office earlier this year, Illinois state legislators have been shocked and shamed into coming up with (largely unsatisfying) bills to address this glaring problem.

The case that really set the wheels in motion involved Chicago gynecologist Bruce Smith, who was permitted to keep poking around in women's genitalia for nine years after being accused of raping an eight-month-pregnant patient by holding her down in stirrups (his DNA matches her rape kit and he was finally brought to trial this year), stirred up particular outrage. During the years following that rape, he managed to rack up sexual assault or harassment complaints from another seven women.

Yet when the Department of Financial and Professional Regulation finally got around to taking action in 2009, they suspended his license for a mere nine months: the administrative judge, Michael Lyons, wouldn't even add a few more month because that the department hadn't proved Smith performed an unwanted tubal ligation. Sure, Lyon determined that the doc had sexually assaulted or harassed three women, but that alone hardly warrants a whole year suspension.

Victory! Idaho has passed legislation to close this legal loophole. Now, women will be able to press charges against their rapists regardless of marital status. Thanks to the over 5,000 Change.org members who took action!

A recent court ruling gave rapists something to be thankful for: the state of Idaho is on their side, so long as they are not married to their victim.

Last summer, a woman in southwestern Idaho became the victim of her boyfriend's deceit, who tricked her into having sex with a stranger. After reporting this crime to the police, both men were arrested and subsequently indicted by a grand jury on charges of rape and conspiracy to commit rape.

Last week, both men were set free and all charges were dismissed, thanks to very specific wording in Idaho's rape law. Bound by this law, the judge had no other choice.

According to subsection 7 of Idaho Code 18-6101, rape of a woman by deceit and concealment is only unlawful if she believes the perpetrator is her husband. End of subject.

Perhaps for fear of condoning premarital sex, Idaho lawmakers excluded a woman's protection against rape that is committed by someone pretending to be her unmarried partner. It is truly sad when such legal flaws become known in such a manner, and we must wonder whether the flaw was intentional or an honest mistake. Either way, the state of Idaho has joined these two men in their assault against this woman, thanks to one simple word.

Idaho lawmakers must fix this serious problem, and extend the protections against rape to include unmarried people as well. They must revise the state rape law to recognize that deceiving a person into sex is rape, regardless of marital status.

By correcting this injustice, the two men that committed this act (and future perpetrators) will have to answer for their crime.

Photo credit: jstephenconn

GOT A TIP FOR US? Is there a story or campaign in your area that we'd want to know about? E-mail us at womensrightstips@change.org. Please also follow Change.org's Women's Rights page on Facebook and Twitter.

Digital video artist Melissa Ulto went to Greece last month as a part of a European tour with a feminist performance group. To keep costs down, Ulto followed a friend's advice and connected with people on CouchSurfing, a website that links travelers to residents in different cities around the globe who agree to provide a place to stay and act as a resource to navigate the city ... for free. While a fantastic service in theory, Ulto quickly discovered that CouchSurfing has a disturbing downside. The second night she was in Athens, her host and his friends subjected her to verbal sexual overtures, homophobic harassment, frequent attempts to grope and kiss her, and frightening demands for sex. Fortunately, Ulto escaped the situation and moved to a hotel.

Shocked by what had happened, Ulto contacted CouchSurfing to report the host's misconduct and left negative feedback on his profile warning other women to stay away. The host retaliated by posting nasty comments to Ulto's profile, including calling her a "psycho." CouchSurfing remained silent. So, she contacted them again. Silence. On the third try, she threatened legal action and got their attention. But even that failed to keep it.

Safety Team Coordinator Rachel diCerbo wrote to Ulto, "Because we are not there to witness events, we rely on members to talk about their experience with one another through references ... we certainly empathize and will help people use the system in order to allow others to make informed decisions, but we simply must maintain as much neutrality as possible." In other words, without irrefutable evidence beyond he-said-she-said, CouchSurfing will not intervene or eject someone from their site to protect other users. (They did remove the host's retaliatory comments from Ulto's profile.)

One young woman from Hong Kong found out the hard way the failure of CouchSurfing's so-called safeguards fail to weed out sexual predators: she was raped and held captive by her CouchSurfing host last year while traveling in the United Kingdom.

People have been calling out for the head of John The Baptist Pistole, TSA Administrator, on a platter for a couple of weeks now, and it seems that, at least in the legal sense, they might be getting their wish.

California's prosecutors, including San Mateo's District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe, are preparing to look into claims of inappropriate touching during the new, more aggressive pat-down procedures at airports that come courtesy of the Transportation Security Administration. Wagstaffe explains the difference between the misdemeanor and felony offenses being as little as Transportation Security Officers touching over or under clothing.

Not exclusive to California, the complaints are piling in around the country, including one on behalf of a resistant three year-old girl in Tennessee being aggressively grabbed and searched as she screamed "Quit touching me!" States including Florida, New Jersey, and New York are even considering legislation banning the full body backscatter x-ray machines.

Also in the wake of the so-called "choice" between strip searches and sexual assault, comes a nursing mother named Erin from Dayton who was sexually assaulted while attempting to board a flight to San Antonio for a half marathon. The agent didn't inform her that she would be placing the fronts of her hands on Erin's buttocks, labia, or breasts, and never offered her a private place for screening. According to Erin's lawyer, it is a clear case of sexual assault. She wasn't even trying to opt out of the full body scanners, which aren't currently in use in Dayton.