How Not To Talk About Rape
We haven’t really talked about the case of Lara Logan, the CBS foreign correspondent who was separated from her crew in Egypt and then sexually assaulted. It’s been depressing watching it play out, not only because of the depressing nature of the crime, but also because people are cruel. Echidne of the Snakes has monitored some comment sections and Has some thoughts:
The loathsome comments are of two major types: The first type describes Muslims or Arabs as animals and so on. The second type, the one I’m going to analyze here, consists of victim blaming. It is Logan’s fault if she gets assaulted, in short.
There is a third type, too, which is about the desire of the commentator to join in with the gang rape of various too uppity women in the public eye or a wish that some other female celebrity had been assaulted instead.
Here is her examples of the types of victim-blaming some commenters engage in:
1. This experience teaches women that there are jobs women just cannot do. They get raped if they try and should stay at home, reporting on high school football games. I include that example because I came across it three times in the first 200 comments linked to above. Thus, women can be reporters but only about something which doesn’t let you advance very far in your career or truly compete with men. And the reason is not the women themselves but what can be done to them by some men. Thus, it is the victim who should pack her bags and go home, while the assaulters don’t get told to do that.
2. This experience teaches women that gender equality is impossible and that they should accept it and not to try to horn into the military services, for instance. Sorta like vive la difference but from a misogynistic point of view. Something like a sexual assault is Just The Way Things Are, and we should all be reminded of the value of traditional gender roles. Except, of course, in the case of Muslims who shouldn’t have them.
3. Logan is good-looking and blonde. She should expect to be assaulted under those conditions.
4. She dresses seductively. She should expect to be assaulted under those conditions.
5. What happened to her was a proper revenge for all her years of spouting liberal dogma and her assumption that she can just flit about in a man’s job.
My advice – don’t be that person. If you’re unsure whether your being insensitive, don’t say it or type it. If you’re still having trouble, read this great post about the reality of rape. Rape can happen to anyone, anywhere. It’s most likely to happen when you’re vulnerable. It’s a sensitive topic and one where an imperfect medium like the Internet or Twitter makes for easy misunderstandings. Take the case of journalist Nir Rosen who resigned from NYU after a series of tweets about Logan.
His tweets from Feb. 15: “Lara Logan had to outdo Anderson. Where was her buddy McCrystal.” But there was more: Yes yes its wrong what happened to her. Of course. I don’t support that. But, it would have been funny if it happened to Anderson too.” He was referring to CNN’s Anderson Cooper, who suffered beatings during his Egypt coverage. He also called Logan a war monger, saying, “Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major war monger.”
You can see why these comments provoked outrage. Rosen was an insensitive jerk. He resigned his NYU fellowship and did an interview where he tried to explain his actions. I think he’s truly remorseful.
3. Do you think your statements have been misperceived? Yes and no. Its difficult to try to explain why you were a jerk (or an asshole). On twitter I often banter and argue with various acquaintances about subjects like the morality of wikileaks, the war in Afghanistan, etc. We don’t regard it as a place to make serious statements, after all, at least I thought, it’s just silly social media, but that was idiotic of me and showed terrible judgment. I heard that Ms. Logan was roughed up like many other journalists, I had not realized it was something more serious. I thought I would provoke a friend on Twitter, childishly, and then the exchange grew and suddenly statements that I could not possibly mean were being taken seriously and I was hurting people I didnt even know without any intention. I am not suggesting that making such jokes are ever okay. I have known women, and actually quite a few men, who have been sexually assaulted, and in the last eight years I have often reported on such abuses. When you’re in war zones you develop a black humor and make jokes about your death, other people’s deaths, other terrible things, writers and photographers do it, as of course do Bosnians, Iraqis, Somalis and others as a coping mechanism. But taken out of context this can be deeply hurtful, especially when made by a man. A man should never joke about women being abused or harassed.
4. Are you genuinely sorry for what you wrote about Logan and how are readers supposed to believe that? I feel like when you have done something so offensive and stupid, even trying to explain it seems like you are justifying it and what you say will be taken out of context. So I need to state that my views on women’s rights have always been quite radical (in defense of women). Moreover the last eight years of working in the Middle East, parts of Africa and Asia (like Afghanistan) and in Mexico only further outraged me, because I have seen first hand how brutally women are treated there. And we are only a little bit better in the West. The status of women in the United States is also deplorable. I have spent eight years risking my life as a journalist and also as a consultant to several NGOs and humanitarian organizations to bring attention to victims of injustice and to give voice and empowerment to the weak. By joking around with some friends I betrayed all that and betrayed my family, friends and supports, and I brought shame upon myself and them.
Here’s my advice – if you find politics has something to do with how you feel about the victim of a sexual assault you probably need to step back. As far as Rosen goes, losing his job seems like an extreme reaction. He seems genuinely remorseful but he can’t take back what he originally said. Hopefully we can all learn a lesson.
Tags: Lara Logan, Nir Rosen, Rape
Lara has more TESTICULAR fortitude than most of the testicle provided journalists she accompanied to Egypt to cover an earth-shaking event of monumental importance.
I weep for her.I pray for her.
She is a bright,beautiful woman who I deeply desire to hear from in the future.
I hate to bring this up but we don’t know the details of what happened to Logan. The initial reports were “sexual assault,” and only later some reports began to include the word “rape.” There are some reports that say it was not rape.
It may in fact be none of our business, and I’m not interested in searching for it any more than I already have. But as long as we don’t know, we should be careful about characterizing it as “rape.”
Men are harmed whenever some encounter with a woman is mischaracterized as “rape.”
To chance the direction of this thread . . . or maybe not . . . one item that disturbs me from Logan’s attack and a few others is now American journalists are saying how dangerous their job is. Oh please. American journalists have not been doing their job for years and years. There nothing inherently dangerous about fighting over how sits where in the White House press room or interviewing nutcases as experts on TV.
Going into a mob situation is dangerous. Lara Logan is a foreign correspondent and war reporter. Her job is dangerous.
I don’t like Lara Logan. I don’t like the way she slagged the Rolling Stone correspondent who wrote the McChrystal story. I don’t care for some of her personal behavior (and no, I don’t approve of it when men do it, either). But nobody deserves to be assaulted, sexually or otherwise.
That said, I think a woman reporting from a mob scene in a misogynist society is not at somewhat greater risk of sexual assault than would be a man in that situation.
Geezer, I agree with you that some foreign correspondents are in perpetual danger. But, percentage-wise, most journalists are not in any physical danger – maybe job danger, but not physical danger.
The clerks at the 7-11 by the Rollins Building have a more dangerous job than most journalists.
I guess Uber left-wing elitist Nir Rosen did not get Obama’s civility memo via the commander-in-chiefs’ Arizona speech:
http://dailycaller.com/2011/02/15/nir-rosen-trashes-lara-logan-dismisses-her-sexual-assault/
At least Nir Rosen immediately apologized when he realized how badly the journalist was actually hurt and he asked NYU to accept his resignation. He is deeply sorry for his callous remarks. Can you say the same for the wingnut scum on the subject?
There’s been some really scummy remarks from the wingnut side. Debbie Schlussel comes to mind as well as Jim Hoft.
Ya’ll don’t have a clue. Note, the pasted link list doesn’t even include the years 2005 to the present. I dare one of you to do a freelance story in Mexico about how the Zeta drug cartel controls the country and see how long it takes for your severed head to be broadcast on YouTube without fanfare.
How about do a story about Kim Jong Il from S. Korea and not expect repurcussions. Or about the Tamil Tigers of Sri Lanka; Or go to Russia and do a story about political corruption and get blindfolded, jailed and sent back to your country of origin (happened last week to a UK BBC bloke) without your passport for telling a true story; how about seeking both sides of the story on Al Quaeda in the Arabian Paninsula in Yemen? Or dare to go to Islamabad or Lehore, Pakistan and ask the kind folks about why they do not assist the US in intelligence even though we are their ally and give them $billions each year? How about visiting the Caucus region near Chechyna (sp)? Or even ask the Chinese why they disaprove of the ethnic Uigers? While you’re at it, go to El Salvador, the slums of Brazil, Venezuela, Cuba, the West Bank of Palestine, Syria or many parts of Indonesia?
http://www.cpj.org/2004/12/the-toll-1995-2004.php
newshound, most journalists.
wow newshound,
you sure know a lot of bad places in the world. impressive.
@Geezer – “That said, I think a woman reporting from a mob scene in a misogynist society is not at somewhat greater risk of sexual assault than would be a man in that situation
i don’t think I would characterize Egypt as misogynist – after all women took part in the protests – both Muslim and Christian and it was a group of women as well as soldiers that rescued lara logan. They obviously felt they would be supported in this endeavour.
I just don;t believe in the broad brush approach to Middle-eastern societies – altho I would not like life under the veil, I know many Muslim women, and they are treated like queens by their husbands – Catholic women of many years ago covered their heads in church and eventually in an open society fought for their rights
how we view womens rights in this country is different from their view.Muslim women have spoken with me about the veil and the respect they demand from men in that society, how they expect defferential treatment. It was an enlightening conversation to say the least, as I had the same sterotypes in my head – but these women were upper-class and educated, as were their husbands…
needless to say, many could call our society misogynist due to wage disparities, sexual harassement issues and domestic violence – but that would not accurately reflect Western Society either
the sad truth is: we all have brutes living in our societies, that are willing to perpetrate violence against the weak and vulnerable. lets deal with correcting that first in our own society and maybe others will follow…
Aoine: Fair enough. It should be noted that several journalists have been assaulted there; Logan is the only one of which I’m aware whose assault took on a sexual nature. But you’re right, it’s pretty open for an Arab society; we’re not talking Saudi Arabia or Pakistan here.
I realize many journalists relish this sort of assignment. Having watched a good bit of the coverage over the last several weeks, I’m not sure the risk was worth the reward. I learned very little from TV journos that I couldn’t have learned from radio or print reporters. If you’ve ever committed any journalism, you know that people act differently in front of TV cameras than they do in other contexts. I don’t mean that in context of Logan’s assault, just that I think TV networks were willing to sacrifice the safety of their correspondents in a bid for ratings.
Great post, UI. Well argued.
@Geezer – I do agree with the ratings issue and the willingness to sacrifice for them….
But telling the story to some of them is their high and might do it anyway.
I dropped out of Journalism school…
went into an even higher testosterone field – LOL
From a piece at Salon.com by Nir Rosen, who was fired from NYU for crude Tweets about the assault:
“Credible accounts indicate that the assaults on women took place largely on the Friday of the victory celebration, when millions of non-demonstrators joined the party. Countless women (Egyptian and foreign, journalists and others) have reported being harassed and assaulted in Tahrir Square that Friday, mostly, it seems, by non-revolutionaries. (This harassment was a preexisting problem that Egyptian women have been increasingly complaining about.)”
I’m not trying to demonize Egyptians or Arabs, but I don’t recall this kind of violence against women by American rioters. I could be wrong.
I don’t know of any instances in recent history — but histories I’ve read about the race riots in various places in the US between Reconstruction and the modern civil rights era did have instances of sexual assault against the African American women in the communities being terrorized by whites. And, of course, plenty of that terrorist activity was sparked by rumors of a local African American man raping or having intentions to rape white women.
Click the link below to read the complete article:
http://www.nypost.com/p/news/international/cbs_reporter_cairo_nightmare_pXiUVvhwIDdCrbD95ybD5N
CBS reporter’s Cairo nightmare
Lara Logan set upon by mob in brutal sex attack
By MICHAEL SHAIN, DON KAPLAN and KATE SHEEHY
February 16, 2011
“60 Minutes” correspondent Lara Logan was repeatedly sexually assaulted by thugs yelling, “Jew! Jew!” as she covered the chaotic fall of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo’s main square Friday, CBS and sources said yesterday.
The TV crew with Logan, who is also the network’s chief foreign correspondent, had its cameras rolling moments before she was dragged off — and caught her on tape looking tense and trying to head away from a crowd of men behind her in Tahrir Square………….