Completely Unnecessary

I got an email from my friend Violeta yesterday that said, ‘Hey, how are you? I tried to catch up on what you were doing via your blog, but it was all about rape and Australia. What’s going on in Chicago?’ So, I’m wrapping it up for now.

Sort of.

First, however, I have to briefly point to the fact that a third former Halliburton/KBR employee has come forward to detail charges of sexual assault ignored by superiors.

Barker says that aside from the sexual assault, she was constantly propositioned by her superior, and threatened and isolated after she reported the incident.

From the moment she arrived at the Halliburton/KBR camp in Basra, Iraq, she said she was treated like a sex object.

The man that physically assaulted her - after luring her to his apartment so she could help fix his air conditioner - is still employed by the State Dept. Like the others, he hasn’t been charged; Justice refused to enter charges against him despite a recommendation for such action by State. It appears State is of two minds - he should be prosecuted and also keep his job. Go fig.

Oh, just read page 3 of ABC’s story. If even one of these items is true - and again, these are allegations - it’s hard to… well breathe, really.

Against all odds, I’m going to be watching 20/20 tonight. I’m torn between my hatred of John Stossel and my unfortunate interest in this story.
Links:
No Prosecution for State Dept Official Accused of Sexual Assault [ABC News]

Vaguely Related

• Women and the World: It’s Not Going Well.
• Halliburton Green Zone Jobs: Perks

As I was saying the other day, no one seemed very interested in the actual people involved in the Aurukun case.

News Limited finally got around interviewing ‘rape girl’s’ family (and I’m just going to hope my inverted commas there let you know how I feel about that moniker).

The uncle said no authority had contacted the family since the story was reported. He first heard about it on the radio, and he welcomed the opportunity to speak to the media.

They apparently warned authorities that the girl would be in danger if she was returned to the community because they feared the boys would rape her again.

“She should never have been allowed to come back from foster care while those boys were still here,” the girl’s mother told a News Limited newspaper today.

“We told that to welfare. (Some of) those boys had raped her in the past.”

So, the family asked authorities to keep her safe, they were rebuffed, and then their child was attacked again. And yet we’re told that ‘new paternalism‘ is the best way forward?

Man, I am just feeling so stabby today - the joys of watching Alan Keyes do the crazy dance at the Republican debate notwithstanding.

Links:
Rape Girl Family’s Warnings Ignored [the Age]
Aboriginal Gap Prompts Call for New ‘Paternalism’ [CS Monitor]

Extra Links:
A new paternalism for Aboriginal Australia , which nicely sums up a number of the problems with the Intervention and the Howard Government’s approach to problems in Aboriginal communities. A longish, but good read.

Vaguely Related

• More ‘Fun’ For Australian Boys
• Women and the World: It’s Not Going Well.

Another day, another story of worldwide respect for women, as demonstrated by their treatment when most vulnerable.

A 15-year-old, 80-lb Brazilian girl was incarcerated for 26 days for petty theft… in a cell with 34 men. No medals for guessing how that went down. She was raped, tortured and had to trade sex for food. Her head was shaved by guards to make her look more like a boy.

Meanwhile, details from a complaint by another former Halliburton employee allege that she was raped by an unknown fellow employee. He got the key to her apartment from the unlocked box where all the keys were kept, as you do.

Jessica at Jezebel sums it up for us:

The Florida woman also maintains it was non-consensual sex, though Halliburton (apparently) internally determined it was consensual, while also protecting the identity of the alleged rapist from her, which is sort of doubly insulting if you think about it; not only are they alleging she consented to sex but they’re alleging she consented to sex with someone she did not know.

Meanwhile, Australia is looking into another case of child rape in Queensland. And - wait for it - some are calling for extension of the Intervention into Queensland! Hurrah. I’m sure those girls will feel better when companies are mining on their traditional lands.

It’s, like, so symbolic.

Plus! Real, live discussion in yesterday’s comments about rape and defense contractors. Is capitalism or misogyny to blame? Also, proof that upwards of three individuals read this blog. Is a slow work week or an ice storm trapping you in the house to blame?

Links:
Rape of Girl, 15, Exposes Abuses in Brazil Prison System [NYT, h/t Jezebel]
Defense Contractors: If It Wasn’t For Diplomatic Immunity-Protected Rape, They’d Never Get Laid [Jezebel]
Step in over rape debacle, Macklin told [the Age]

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• Werribee Ruling: It’s Still a Man’s World
• Well, that’s one way…

You get new breast implants after they rupture during your gang rape by fellow employees!

Jamie Leigh Jones, a former Halliburton/KBR employee, now 22, has filed a complaint against the company alleging that several men, also employees, drugged and violently gang-raped her. She woke up twice during the encounter, covered in blood (Complaint, 8). Ultimately, her breast implants ruptured and her pectoral muscle was torn.

After reporting the rape and her subsequent medical examination, Jones alleges that she was locked in a trailer without a phone, and requests to call her family were denied. She says she was told she could either ‘Stay and “get over it”‘ or ‘return home without the “guarantee” of a job on return’ (Complaint, 22).

Jones likely understood what this meant as she had been transferred to (I can’t believe this) Camp Hope, Iraq after sexual harassment, intimidation and retaliation from a supervisor in Texas.

She eventually convinced someone to let her call her father, who had to enlist the aid of his congressman to get her the hell out of Camp Hope.

As pointed out by Moe at Jezebel, the second paragraph of the complaint opens with ‘For clarification, this case is not about a pinch on the backside, or a few politically incorrect jests at the office’ (Complaint, 2).

That’s like saying, ‘Don’t worry, we know that women sometimes get all uppity about that low-level sexual harassment and abuse. But this is the serious stuff - you know, conspiratorial drugging, violent and repeated rape, and physical and mental damage.’

Maybe if companies like Halliburton/KBR (and, oh I dunno, US culture) took those pesky complaints seriously, they wouldn’t currently be in civil court defending themselves.

Yep, I said civil court. Her contract said any ‘complaints’ had to go to arbitration. No criminal charges have been filed against the men involved.

I’m really over this week’s theme.

Links:
h/t to Jezebel/Wonkette.
Jones, Et Al v. Halliburton Company et al - Complaint
Victim: Gang-Rape Cover-Up by U.S., Halliburton/KBR [ABC News]

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• Women and the World: It’s Not Going Well.
• Last Post in Completely Unnecessary’s ‘Rape Week’

I’m addicted to the news. I know this. But I really wish I wasn’t. I had this nice little post I was going to write just before bed. Short and sweet. It was entitled, “Off the Market” and all it said was, “Go see Lars and the Real Girl.”

Unfortunately, I chose to read the Age. Now it’s 1:53 in the morning and I have to write a post that’s going to get me all agitated right before bed.

The child described in my previous post was also group raped at seven. Really, the whole situation is just appalling and you can read about it here because I just can’t detail it all.

No one denies there’s a problem with child abuse in some Aboriginal communities. The Little Children Are Sacred report clearly identified this, but there’s a myriad of politics caught up in it, as well.

And part of what is upsetting is the tone taken in the unsigned AAP piece to which I’ve linked above:

The child - who cannot be named - was gang-raped at the age of seven in Aurukun on Cape York in 2002, and was later put into foster care with a non-indigenous family in Cairns.

However, child safety officers in April 2006 returned her to Aurukun, where she was raped again at the age of 10.
…
The girl is now in the care of the Child Safety Department away from Aurukun.

The juxtaposition of the girl’s safety with the non-indigenous (presumably white) family before being thrown back to the dogs, so to speak, is just not the proper way to address a story with this much emotional and political content. The subtext of this article just screams ‘Intervention in Queensland.’

Most disturbingly, it seems to suggest that separating Aboriginal children from their families and communities is the only way to ’save’ them. I don’t think ‘been there, done that‘ is a strong enough sentiment.

This is a highly emotional issue - and rightly so. Such a situation requires incredibly careful, nuanced reporting. This is a hard news piece; it’s not really the place for detailed analysis. And this is a breaking story. But missing here is any voice from the community, any sense that these are acts committed by and inflicted on real people. They just seem to be things spoken about.

I don’t think I can say that’s equally disturbing, but it’s definitely part of the problem. And, more importantly, part of the reason why the problem exists in the first place.

These early pieces are going to set the tone for what looks to be a national debate about expansion of the Intervention. I just hope a traumatized young girl isn’t going to become the latest cudgel with which to beat indigenous Australians.

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• More ‘Fun’ For Australian Boys
• Family of ‘Rape Girl’ Finally Interviewed

In case you thought Werribee was a one-off, Judge Sarah Bradley wants you to know that boys’ fun is for all ages.

Judge Bradley refused to record convictions against six teens and suspended the sentence of three more in the gang rape of a ten-year-old girl in far north Queensland. In her ruling, the judge said that the girl had ‘probably agreed’ to the sex.

Leaving aside for a moment the fact that a ten-year-old can’t legally consent to sex with anyone - really Judge Bradley? You think a fifth grader said, ‘Yeah, let’s get it on’ to nine boys and men several years (at least) her senior?

Three of the men, the ones who received suspended sentences, are 17, 18 and 26 years of age.

According to the Daily Telegraph, the men all come from powerful Cape York Aboriginal families, whereas the girl ‘does not enjoy the elevated family status of her attackers’. She’s now been put in foster care.

Judge Bradley argues that her judgment was legitimate since it’s the ruling for which the Crown asked.

I know it’s unfair that I’m extra appalled that a female judge handed down this ruling. Women shouldn’t be held to higher standards, nor should they be expected to rule more harshly cases where violence has been visited upon women. But, god, all I can think about is how little I was when I was ten.

From what I’ve read of the court statements, it seems as though Judge Bradley is explaining to the men that sex with those under sixteen is wrong. And ideas about legal consent are different in some Aboriginal communities. But I just can’t understand a 24-year-old man who participates in the gang rape of a fifth grader.

Or the judge (and Crown) who excuses him.

Links:
PM ‘disgusted’ at gang rape comments [The Age]
Row over gang rape of 10yo [The Daily Telegraph]
Girl, 10, ‘probably agreed’ to sex [The Courier Mail]

Vaguely Related

• Family of ‘Rape Girl’ Finally Interviewed
• Women and the World: It’s Not Going Well.

Eight Werribee teenagers pleaded guilty today to sex crimes involving a 17-year-old girl. For their plea, the will variously receive ‘rehabilitation’, supervision, and probation. They’re not going to get any jail time because boys will be boys, right?

I mean, all they did was: set her hair on fire three times, urinate on her, throw her clothes into the river, poke her with a stick, drop a lighted cigarette down her pants, and force her to perform oral sex as she pleaded with them. Oh, and also videotape it all and burn it onto DVDs that they then sold for $5 at local schools.

Why should these upstanding young men receive jail time?

Boys point to the girl, calling her “the victim” before laughing mockingly. One boy walks to the lens and declares: “What the f—, she’s the ugliest thing I have ever seen.”

Did I mention she has mild developmental disabilities?

The boys also filmed themselves dropping flares on a homeless man amongst other typical teen behaviors like making chlorine bombs.

Don’t worry, some of their parents knew, and clips were available on YouTube for at least some time.

Sentences get a bit tougher if you’re an adult. A man who kidnapped and raped a woman got a whole eight years for the act, despite his contention that a bite from a funnel-web spider’s what made him do it.

Unfortunately, there are no funnel-webs in Victoria, so the boys couldn’t use that as an excuse.

Good thing they didn’t need one.

Links:
DVD Teens Escape Jail Term [The Age]
Outcry Over Teenage Girl’s Assult Recorded on DVD [The Age]
Spider Bite No Excuse for Rape, Court Says [Yahoo News]

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• Women and the World: It’s Not Going Well.
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I’m sorry, but you have to read this story about the rape epidemic in D.R. Congo. Give your thanks to Leopold, Eisenhower, Dulles, Mobutu, and global disinterest in central Africa.

An important facet of the story is unfortunately left to Page 2, which many people probably won’t get to because Page 1 is not easy to read:

Many Congolese aid workers denied that the problem was cultural and insisted that the widespread rapes were not the product of something ingrained in the way men treated women in Congolese society. “If that were the case, this would have showed up long ago,” said Wilhelmine Ntakebuka, who coordinates a sexual violence program in Bukavu.

Instead, she said, the epidemic of rapes seems to have started in the mid-1990s. That coincides with the waves of Hutu militiamen who escaped into Congo’s forests after exterminating 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus during Rwanda’s genocide 13 years ago.

This, of course, further condemns the entire world in the abandonment of Rwanda, but the article doesn’t ask the larger question. How do we begin to account for populations who have been driven so far off the rails? Presumably widespread rape is not a cultural Hutu quality either, though it appears now to be amongst the Hutu militants.

Mr. Bourque called this phenomenon “reversed values” and said it could develop in heavily traumatized areas that had been steeped in conflict for many years, like eastern Congo.

But how can we isolate these events to the those horrific 100 days thirteen years ago?  How can we leave out the chains of porters, the severed hands, the random heaped murders, and abducted women to ensure rubber quotas during the colonial period? How do we leave out the assassinations of elected leaders? The horror of Mobutus and Amins?

This is trauma on top of trauma on top of trauma. DR Congo is a country whose phenomenal natural resources have been stolen by so many hands (both foreign and domestic) that they use cargo planes designed in the 1960s. Planes that repeatedly crash into populated areas.

In the town of Shabunda, 70% of women reported being sexually assaulted. That’s reported. An honest question, how as a global group of people do we begin to account for that?

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• Women and the World: It’s Not Going Well.
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Never got around to that angry part yesterday. Spent most of the day attempting to procure potting soil with only a bike and flagging enthusiasm for my gardening project.

Onto the angry. Remember that blog I posted a little while back about the women being raped and otherwise sexually assaulted while being recruited for the Armed Forces? Turns out, it may have just been basic training. Helen Benedict, writing here for Salon, interviewed over 20 female veterans; they said:

…the danger of rape by other soldiers is so widely recognized in Iraq that their officers routinely told them not to go to the latrines or showers without another woman for protection.

I just want to go back and highlight the phrase “by other soldiers.” Yes, female American troops are being attacked by their fellow US soldiers. One woman Benedict interviewed carried a knife to protect herself from her own countrymen.

So much more after the jump…

(more…)

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The Boston Globe reports that the Pentagon is considering installing video cameras in its recruiting stations to prevent “misconduct.” This misconduct includes, but is not limited to: sexually assaulting female recruits!

Both analysts and the Pentagon said sexual misconduct is among the most pressing issues of recruiter wrongdoing. An investigation by the Associated Press found that in 2005, at least 80 male recruiters were disciplined for abusing female potential recruits.

More than 100 young women who had expressed interest in joining the military reported that their recruiters had victimized them, the AP investigation found. The abuse included rape on couches in recruiting offices, assaults in government cars, and gropings en route to military entrance exams.

Now, granted, you have to make sure they’re not lesbians, but I’m not sure this is the best way to meet your quota for the month. Grope her after the exam.

The Pentagon also recently introduced “buddy system” for recruiters interacting with potential recruits of the opposite sex. They seriously have to put a third person in the room to prevent “irregularities.” Presumably, most military recruiters aren’t interested in a threesome if it’s boy-girl-boy. That’d be totally gay.

Also, happy fourth birthday to the Iraq War. If you were a child, we’d be sending you to preschool this year! Instead, we’ll just continue to watch in horror as you murder hundreds of thousands of people, empty our coffers, and make us the most hated people on the face of the earth. Man! The ‘terrible twos’ are lasting forever!

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