Colleges don't prepare you for this part of the real world

An article came out today in the Los Angeles Times about how women in the military are being raped by their fellow soldiers/commanding officers/physicians/etc. Here are a few highlights...or rather, lowlights.

Sexual assaults are frequent, and frequently ignored, in the armed services.

Women serving in the U.S. military are more likely to be raped by a fellow soldier than killed by enemy fire in Iraq.

41% of female veterans seen at the clinic say they were victims of sexual assault while in the military, and 29% report being raped during their military service. They spoke of their continued terror, feelings of helplessness and the downward spirals many of their lives have since taken.

At the heart of this crisis is an apparent inability or unwillingness to prosecute rapists in the ranks. According to DOD statistics, only 181 out of 2,212 subjects investigated for sexual assault in 2007, including 1,259 reports of rape, were referred to courts-martial, the equivalent of a criminal prosecution in the military. Another 218 were handled via nonpunitive administrative action or discharge, and 201 subjects were disciplined through "nonjudicial punishment," which means they may have been confined to quarters, assigned extra duty or received a similar slap on the wrist. In nearly half of the cases investigated, the chain of command took no action; more than a third of the time, that was because of "insufficient evidence."

THIS IS COMPLETELY INJUST AND UNACCEPTABLE.

Don't get me wrong - I have nothing against the Army as an organization. They have many great programs in place and the soldiers work hard. But they MUST address this issue. Denial and ignorance will never solve this, and they're only proving that they don't care about rape and the offenses against women if they continue to let cases slide by unnoticed.

Sexual harassment doesn't just happen in military work, by any means. According to the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission;

In Fiscal Year 2007, EEOC received 12,510 charges of sexual harassment.

And an employer/employee Web site reports:

Currently at least 40% of all women report being sexually harassed at some point in their career

And those are just the people who are brave enough/able to report the issue.

OVER 70% OF RAPE CASES GO UNREPORTED.

These are the kind of things that make me too sad to speak...however, we have to speak up in order to stop atrocities like this from happening.

So how are we going to stop rape? Let's hear it!

Comments are very, very welcome.

Unsexy and the city-Sarah Jessica Parker is fighting back

Sarah Jessica was named Unsexiest Woman of the Year by Maxim Magazine. I'm sorry, but this company shows only half-naked women in vulnerable positions and we're supposed to buy into what they say?? Maybe they should try promoting a look at what real women - who are unbelievably attractive!! - look like. What makes a woman sexy is how she feels about herself, not how she looks in photographs or what kind of clothes she wears. And people wonder why our eating disorder rates are so high and our self-esteem levels are so low...



Tell them off all you want, Sarah Jessica and Jennifer!

Jamaica's (finally) working the CEDAW

For those who don't know about The Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women, better know as CEDAW, here's a brief explanation: CEDAW is the latest international law working to promote the rights of women around the world. Countries who ratify CEDAW are expected to work to improve the status and treatment of women within their country and are monitored by providing reports to the UN. There are no legal punishments, but there are unidentified consequences to not submitting reports and not working to attain these goals. There are currently 185 countries who have passed CEDAW - some include: England, Australia, Afghanistan, Bolivia, Cambodia, Gambia, France, Kuwait, Jamaica, Morocco and Saudi Arabia.

The United States is the only developed country to not have ratified.

Take action and tell U.S. officials that women's rights matter!
More information on CEDAW

Case Example: Jamaica

Jamaican women have been mistreated for too many years to count. Sexual violence from both strangers and trusted persons is particularly high in Jamaica, as is sexual slavery (particularly common is selling daughters to be sex slaves). Investigations against perpetrators can be inadequate and ineffective, there are long delays, and women often face discrimination during the legal process.

Read about Amnesty International's fight for women in Jamaica

Jamaica signed the CEDAW treaty on 17 July 1980 and ratified it on 19 October 1984. In the 36th session of CEDAW, the committee expressed disappointment in Jamaica for not taking action to defend women or eliminate these atrocities. The committee urged Jamaican government to "put in place, without delay, a comprehensive strategy, including clear goals and time tables, to modify or eliminate negative cultural practices and stereotypes that discriminate against women."

(Very) slowly but surely, conditions are beginning to improve. Women are having fewer children (which has helped them in raising their families), thanks to Jamaica's family planning program, which provided information about contraceptives and maintaining sexual health. Women are also trying to build careers. Most recently, the Women's Resource and Outreach Centre (WROC) released a booklet about CEDAW and the treatment of women in Jamaica.

Read an article about the book

From the article:

"It highlights a user friendly manner, how women’s human rights are violated in various areas, for example, through gender based violence, poverty and unemployment, limited access to power and decision-making and persistent gender stereotyping,” [according to Linnette Vassell, chairperson of WROC].

Issues surrounding the convention includes equal pay for equal work, empowerment through equal education, unacceptable working conditions faced by women, sexual harassment and abuse, prejudiced faced by women who are HIV positive and disabled.

Most importantly, anyone on the street should be able to read it.

Hopefully this is the beginning of much-needed change in Jamaica...

Ya mon!

Starting it up...

I've decided to create a new blog that really reflects the issue I'm most passionate about - women's rights. I plan to post interesting stories, both showing progress and setbacks, as well as things I think are worth knowing about. It'll probably be controversial, but all worthwhile writing is. :) Feel free to leave comments about the stories, the information or my reactions to them...this world needs communication to survive!

I don't have anything to post right now except a couple of pictures. Hope ya'll like it!




That's it for now - check back for more coming soon! :)


Special thanks to Amy, who runs Appetite for Equal Rights. Her blog is simply inspiring - check it out! http://appetiteforequalrights.blogspot.com/ Also thanks to the Minnesota Symposium (I think!) for the title of the blog.