(Image of Mallory Shear-Heyman by Jim Lo Scalzo via The Center For Public Integrity)

The Center for Public Integrity is in the process of publishing a multi-part series on campus assault. Their initial findings are chilling, and accurately summarized as "High Rates of Rape, Closed Hearings, and Confusing Laws:"

One national study reports that roughly one in five women who attend college will become the victim of a rape or an attempted rape by the time she graduates. But while the vast majority of students who are sexually assaulted remain silent - just over 95 percent, according to a study funded by the research arm of the U.S. Justice Department - those who come forward can encounter mystifying disciplinary proceedings, secretive school administrations, and off-the-record negotiations. At times, policies lead to dropped complaints and, in cases like [Kathryn] Russell's, gag orders later found to be illegal. Many college administrators believe the existing processes provide a fair and effective way to deal with ultra-sensitive allegations, but alleged victims say these processes leave them feeling like victims a second time.

Kathyrn Russell was a student at the University of Virginia. She was allegedly* raped by another student and initially went through the normal channels to try to get help:

Days before filing her complaint, Russell learned that the local district attorney wouldn't press criminal charges - a typical outcome. Experts say the reasons are simple: Most cases involving campus rape allegations come down to he-said-she-said accounts of sexual acts that clearly occurred; they lack independent corroboration like physical evidence or eyewitness testimony. At times, alcohol and drugs play such a central role, students can't remember details. Given all this, says Gary Pavela, who ran judicial programs at the University of Maryland, College Park, "A prosecutor says, ‘I'm not going to take this to a jury.'" Often, the only venues in which to resolve these cases are on campus.

Out of options, Russell pursued her case through the with the campus based process. The Center then describes how these panels work from school to school.

Internal disciplinary panels, like the UVA Sexual Assault Board, exist in various forms on most campuses. But they're not the only way schools handle rape allegations. For decades, informal proceedings run by an administrator have represented the most common method to adjudicate disciplinary matters. Typically, an administrator meets with both students, separately, in an attempt to resolve a complaint. Occasionally, they "mediate" the incident. Officials find such adjudication appealing in uncontested situations. If a dean elicits a confession, says Olshak, of Illinois State, who headed the student conduct association in 2001, "We'll be able to resolve the complaint quickly, easily, and without the confrontation of a judicial hearing." Resolution, as in formal hearings, can mean expulsion, suspension, probation, or another academic penalty, like an assigned research paper. By all accounts, informal processes take place almost as frequently as formal ones ; at UVA, for example, the administration has held 16 hearings since 1998, as compared to 10 informal meetings.

And these proceedings can turn out positively for student victims. In January 2005, Carrie Ressler, then a junior at Concordia University, near Chicago, reported being raped by a football player after attending a party in his dorm. On January 19, within hours of the alleged assault, the police arrested the student athlete; by October, he'd pled guilty to battery for "knowingly [making] physical contact of an insulting nature," court records show.

At Concordia, Ressler's report landed on the desk of Dean of Students Jeffrey Hynes. The morning of the arrest, the dean summoned her to his office. "He told me he'd be telling the perpetrator he needed to leave by choice," she remembers Hynes saying. "If not, he'd be expelled." Within days, the athlete had left Concordia. Hynes declined to comment on Ressler's case.

"The dean acted in my interests," Ressler says. She recognizes, though, that the informal adjudication served the university's interests, too. "I got the sense from the dean that the school wanted to keep this case hush-hush."

Resolving the cases speedily and quietly are in the school's best interest, from a publicity and liability standpoint. But what happens when this emphasis on discretion begins to help the assailant?

More formal proceedings are sometimes no less shrouded. College disciplinary hearings, unlike courts, lack the trappings of transparency - campus spectators. Advocates can't attend unless serving as "advisers" to students. Only integral participants like board members or administrators have any clue when a hearing occurs. "They're secret because they're closed," says S. Daniel Carter, of Security on Campus Inc., a watchdog group.

Administrators see it differently, arguing that there are important distinctions between "secrecy" and "privacy." They can't open up internal proceedings - formal or informal - because that would amount to granting access to private educational records, which FERPA prohibits, they say. But that doesn't mean they're operating in secret. "Not providing private information to the rest of the world is respecting confidentiality and respecting FERPA as a law," says Mary Beth Mackin, assistant dean of student life at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater. And while proceedings remain hidden to outsiders, administrators maintain they're conducted so students feel they're as open as possible.

Lisa Simpson would probably disagree. Her allegations of rape at the University of Colorado at Boulder blew open a scandal of sexual assault allegations against football players and recruits in 2004; three years later, her Title IX lawsuit brought against CU ended in a $2.85 million settlement in her favor. Yet she found CU's judicial process a mystery. In December 2001, Simpson, then a CU sophomore, alleged she was raped by five football players and recruits during a beer-soaked party. They claimed she was a willing participant. Within days, Simpson's rape report made its way to CU's judicial affairs director, Matthew Lopez-Phillips. During a meeting in his office, she recalls him relaying how a panel of students, faculty, and staff would adjudicate. At the time, CU's official conduct code stated that alleged victims would generally be expected to participate in the process by "providing testimony at the formal hearing of the accused," among other things.

But Simpson never appeared before a panel. No panelist interviewed her about the report, or the victim impact statement she filed. Even after her five-year legal battle against CU over its response to her case - a battle that sparked a broader investigation, as well as systematic reform - she has no idea what transpired before the panel, or if it actually even existed. CU documents obtained by the Center show one accused student underwent a formal hearing as a result of Simpson's report; three others had informal, administrative proceedings. But some CU documents on the panel remain sealed by protective order, and only one includes a list of 17 possible panelists. Court records have revealed the identity of only one panelist. "For all I know," Simpson says, "it could have been a panel of athletic coaches."

The report returns to Russell's experience. Bound by the school's repeated admonishments that all proceedings were confidential, she and the student she accused were to both come before the panel and present their case. The person she accused had this to say:

Russell and the alleged assailant agreed on initial details - they ran into each other at a bar; he ended up at her dorm; she offered him an air mattress to sleep. But they painted different pictures of what transpired next. The man, Russell said, grabbed her from behind, ignored her pleas to stop, and "used [me] for his sexual need." Russell, the man countered, "tacitly agreed to have sex," demanding a condom, and never saying no. "Not all my actions would in a day-to-day situation be considered kosher," he wrote in his April 23, 2004 defense. "But none of my actions broached or even swept near the arena of rape."

So, something was amiss. He just didn't think it was rape.

Interesting.

I wonder if he would have seen things differently if, instead of looking for the absence of a no, the cue to continue sexual activity was universally understood as an enthusiastic yes. However, Russell didn't realize how deeply ingrained this type of thinking is until the panel came back with its decision. The report continues:

Kathryn Russell didn't think much about her school's policy until things went badly. At the hearing, board members asked questions making her wonder about their training - "Did it occur to you to perhaps leave the room?" "Why not just shut the door [on him]?" Sources familiar with the UVA board's training describe it as extensive; in 2004, the school required members to undergo a day of preparation featuring a videotape and reading materials, as well as sessions with outside experts on campus sexual assault. One previous board member describes Russell's panelists as open-minded and thoughtful. But the panel also judged her complaint using a "clear and convincing" evidence standard, which the Education Department ruled, in one 2004 case, is higher than Title IX authorizes - and which victim advocates argue is illegal.

In the end, the student Russell accused was found "not responsible" for sexual assault. The board instead slapped him with a verbal reprimand. "We … believe that you used very bad judgment," Sisson declared. The case resulted in one of nine "not-responsible" verdicts the UVA board has handed down over the past decade, as compared to seven responsible ones.

"You can have a bad sexual experience but not be sexually assaulted under the university's definition and standard of evidence," says the prior UVA board member.

Russell saw it differently. "It was just a charade," she said.

Russell isn't the only one who found herself pressured into accepting an unsatisfactory decision.

In November 2003, Mallory Shear-Heyman, then a sophomore at Bucknell University in Pennsylvania, underwent a confidential mediation after reporting being raped in her dorm by a fellow student. Mediations became popular in disciplinary matters involving sexual assault earlier in the decade, and remain common today - despite controversy. In 2001, the Education Department deemed mediations improper partly because they carry no punishment. And while mediation is generally considered effective for resolving interpersonal conflicts, the department - and many critics - argue that it falls short in instances of sexual violence. The reason: an intimidating element exists between victims and their assailants because, like other serious assault, sexual assault is a violent act "In some cases," the department states in its guidance document, referring to sexual assault cases, "mediation will not be appropriate even on a voluntary basis."

But Bucknell administrators defend their use of the practice, which they now call "voluntary facilitated dialogue," precisely because it only occurs at the request of an accusing student, with the willing participation of an accused student. Any power imbalance, they argue, is evened out by the presence of two administrators - one male, one female - guiding the conversation and assuring a comfortable setting. "Our students have really been key spokespeople for indicating they want some sort of option to have this dialogue," says Kari Conrad, judicial administrator for sexual misconduct. "We feel confident in keeping this process as a responsible response."

Shear-Heyman remembers Bucknell officials portraying the off-the-record session as an attractive way to confront the accused student, "as if it were the best option ever." Confidentiality, they relayed, would allow for more open and honest discussion. She was presented with a waiver, which specified that "information first disclosed during mediation may not be used in any subsequent internal University proceeding."

But Shear-Heyman wouldn't grasp the waiver's implications until the accused student, she says, implicated himself. Bucknell records show the student apologized to her in instant messages, admitting "b/c you got hurt, yes," what had occurred was rape. She says he repeated the admissions before the two deans who participated in the mediation - Gerald Commerford and Amy Badal. The waiver did not prevent Shear-Heyman from pursuing outside remedies. But the deans, she says, gave her the strong impression that she couldn't use what had occurred in the session - on or off campus. When she later considered pursuing criminal charges, she says, the deans claimed not to remember the accused student's alleged admissions.

In response to the painful facts pulled into sharp focus by the study, Feministing points to The Campus Accountability Project, a joint effort by SAFER and V-Day. The Campus Accountability Project has set a three year time frame to gather data on the school sexual assault policies, reach out to activists looking to challenge unfair policies, and prepare a new report based on their findings.

*Here, allegedly is used only because no conclusion was reached in this case in the court of law.

Sexual Assault On Campus Shrouded In Secrecy (First In A Series) [The Center For Public Integrity]
Campus Sexual Assault: A New Report And Reform Effort [Feministing]
Campus Accountability Project [Safer.org]

Earlier: What's Being Taught In College Rape Prevention Programs?

KBR has released a typically douchey statement:

"However, the decision validates what KBR has maintained all along; that the arbitration process is truly neutral and works in the best interest of the parties involved."

However, their actions tell a different story. Unlike Jamie Leigh Jones, (who won the right to take her lawsuit to court), Barker's claim was kicked back to arbitration. Now that the settlement is in Barker's favor, KBR is still trying to fight their own system:

Barker said she was upset KBR is trying to modify the award.

"They are still dragging it out," she said. "They didn't win and now they want to amend the award. You can't with binding arbitration. How is that fair?"

(Image via ABC News)

Woman Awarded $3M In Assault Claim Against KBR [TPM]

Earlier: Jamie Leigh Jones Takes On Pro-KBR Senators On Rachel Maddow
Republicans: Defending Rape Victims Is A "Political" Move
Sen. Franken Fights KBR On Behalf Of Rape Victims
After 2 Years, Court Rules Gang Rape Unrelated To Employment
Iraq Sexual Assault Victim: "I Felt Safer On The Convoys With The Army Than I Ever Did Working For KBR"

According to Thomas MacAulay Millar of Yes Means Yes!, via the Washington City Paper's Sexist blog, researchers David Lesak and Paul M. Miller asked 1882 college students the following questions:

1) Have you ever attempted unsuccessfully to have intercourse with an adult by force or threat of force?
2) Have you ever had sexual intercourse with someone who did not want you to because they were too intoxicated to resist?
3) Have you ever had intercourse with someone by force or threat of force?
4) Have you ever had oral intercourse with someone by force or threat of force?

As the Sexist's Amanda Hess points out, you'd think no guy would admit to any of these acts. But 120 respondents, or 6% of the sample (which, by the way, was ethnically diverse, and included older students, up to the age of 71), answered yes to at least one of the questions. 76 of those men had committed more than one rape or attempted rape — these recidivists averaged 5.8 offenses. That is, writes Millar, "just 4% of the men surveyed committed over 400 attempted or completed rapes."

The study had two important implications. One is that rapists aren't really all that secretive about their activities — as long as you don't come right out and call it "rape." The other is that one common assumption about date rape or "gray rape" — that it's usually the result of miscommunication and happens when good guys get the wrong idea — appears to be wrong. As Hess says, we hear a lot about "the acquaintance who 'misreads' the situation and 'goes too far'" and "the longtime friend who genuinely thought you had consented, and is shocked when you tell him that, no, it was rape." When we conceive of acquaintance-rapists this way, solutions tend to be woman-focused — women need to say 'no' louder, to avoid sending mixed signals, or, most upsettingly, to accept that the vagaries of sex are such that occasionally someone will just "accidentally" rape them. This thinking also trivializes date-rape and rape involving alcohol, leading to scenes like the one in Observe and Report (pictured above) in which sex with an unconscious woman is played for laughs. But Lisak and Miller's research shows that many acquaintance-rapists aren't just nice guys who screwed up once — they have a history of repeated assault. Rape isn't just an unfortunate feature of everyday male-female relations — it's a crime committed disproportionately by a few. And yet rather than being ostracized, these few are frequently protected by those who say, in Hess's words, "He's my friend, so he can't be a rapist." Hess continues, "We need to reverse that equation-'He's a rapist, so he can't be my friend.'"

Rapists Who Don't Think They're Rapists [Washinton City Paper]
Meet The Predators [Yes Means Yes!]

The site, which went up in August, was shut down recently, but Reverend David Russell, an outgoing master at Wesley College, tells the Sydney Morning Herald that the Facebook page is simply an encapsulation of the rape culture that has pervaded the campus for some time. "This is a story that has to be told," Russell says, "there is no question in my mind, women are seen as meat. That is the awful, ugly truth of it.''

The site has already been condemned by the University, the New South Wales Police sex crimes unit, and the New South Wales Rape Crisis Centre, and New South Wales Minister for Women, Linda Burney, rightly tells ABC Australia that "The idea that a group of young men that are going to become leaders within our community - leaders in the law, leaders in medicine, leaders in business - studying at an elite college, at an elite university, think it's OK to post information like this encouraging rape on a website is absolutely abhorrent.

The question that remains, however, is why Facebook allowed a pro-rape group to exist on the service to begin with. This is a social networking site that refuses to let women post pictures of themselves breastfeeding, mind you, but it's okay to make a "hilarious" pro-rape group in the "Sports and Recreation" category? The group was public, by the way, accessible to anyone and visible to all. Interesting, isn't it, that in the eyes of Facebook, a woman shouldn't be allowed to show her breasts while feeding her child, but it's perfectly acceptable for men to make a highly public "sport" out of rape.

Detective Superintendent John Kerlatec of the New South Wales Police sex crimes squad tells the Herald that "this is the first occasion I have heard of a Facebook site being set up to promote, or publicise ... sexual assault or any other behaviour that is criminal behaviour.'' Something tells me that it won't be the last, unless Facebook starts paying as much attention to the rape culture brewing on the boards as they do to pictures of new mothers just trying to feed their kids.

Pro-Rape Facebook Group Condemned [The Australian Broadcasting Corporation]
Facebook And Sexual Violence, Assault [Sydney Morning Herald]
Facebook's Breastfeeding Ban [LATimes]

The rally, held last night, included a candlelight vigil, as well as prayer, songs, and dancing. Pastor Jim Wheeler read the victim's statement, which said, in part,

Violence is always the wrong choice. We realize people are angry about this. But let the anger cause change, change that is necessary to keep our children, our neighbors and our friends safe.

It's an important message, especially given that according to the San Francisco Chronicle, some Richmond residents have been talking about "exacting vigilante violence" against both the rapists and onlookers. It's depressing that Richmond couldn't protect the young victim before the rape happened, and is instead responding with violent impulses after the fact — but calls for the bodily harm of perpetrators are understandably common after rape. The victim's statement shows surprising maturity given her age (she is 15) and all she's been through — she's right that her neighbors should let the justice system handle her attackers, and channel their anger into making sure nothing like this happens again.

School officials are now working to improve security with cameras, improved lighting, and fences. According to West Contra Costa School District superintendent Bruce Harter, these measures have been in the works for a long time, but administrators "couldn't find the money until now." Some in the community are calling for volunteers to help with campus security. And students are treating the rape as a wake-up call — says junior Janet Gutierrez, "I'm not scared to be in school. But I'm not going to walk around outside, especially when it's dark." Rev. Andre Shumake, who issued the call for volunteers, says he hopes the rape can be a "teachable moment."

While it's good that Richmond is taking steps to make its children safer, a better time for teaching would have been before a 15-year-old girl was brutally gang-raped after her homecoming dance. It's sad that school officials couldn't "find" the money for security until after a heinous crime took place, and sad that students have begun "talking intently about how to combat violence toward women" only after a terrifying example of such violence took place. The victim didn't deserve to be an object lesson in the need for better security and community values, and her statement is especially admirable given that she has every right to be enraged. The fact that she still has to speak out against violence should be a sobering rebuke to a community that failed her.

Rape Victim: Violence 'Always The Wrong Choice' [SF Chronicle]
School Tries To Tighten Security After Gang Rape [AP, via MSNBC]

[Richmond, California; November 2. Image via Getty]

RICHMOND, CA - NOVEMBER 02: A woman looks on during a prayer vigil for a fifteen year-old rape victim in front of Richmond High School November 2, 2009 in Richmond, California. Faith leaders held a prayer vigil at Richmond High School to show support for a fifteen year-old student who was gang raped by several men while attending a homecoming dance. Six arrests have been made in the case. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

• The suspects range in age from 15 to 21 and included a 17-year-old boy who turned himself in and a former Richmond High School student. Richmond, California Police Lt. Mark Gagan said, "These suspects are monsters. And, I don't understand how this many people capable of such atrocious behavior could be in one place at one time." • A lawyer for Susan Finkelstein, the Phillies fan accused of offering sex for World Series tickets, said her post on Craigslist saying she'd get "creative" with payment, "was a variation of 'will work for food.' It doesn't mean she was a prostitute.'" Attorney William Brennan denied an undercover police officer's claim that she offered him sex for tickets and added, "You're talking about a 43-year-old woman who was overcome by Phillies fever. All she was looking to do was take her husband to a World Series game. You know that Madonna movie Desperately Seeking Susan? This was Susan Desperately Seeking.'" • Edward Ates of Florida testified in court today that he couldn't have killed his son-in-law because he is too fat to commit the crime. Paul Duncsak, who was in a child custody dispute with Ates daughter, was shot in his home in 2006. Ates says he weighed 285 lbs at the time and wouldn't have had the energy needed to climb and descend the staircase where prosecutors say the killer was perched when he shot Duncsak. • A Utah judge has sentenced 21-year-old Leo Harrison to prison for accepting $150 from a pregnant girl to help her kill her fetus. Harrison was facing 21 years in prison for pleading guilty to second-degree felony attempted murder, but the judge sentenced him on a charge of third-degree "attempted killing of an unborn child" under Utah's anti-abortion statute, which means he could serve up to 20 years in prison.The woman, who gave birth to a healthy baby, pleaded no contest to second-degree felony criminal solicitation to commit murder for paying Harrison to assault her. • Using forceps if a woman is having difficulty during the "pushing" stage of labor has fallen out of favor, but a new study found that trying forceps instead of immediately performing a C-section does not raise the risks to the baby in most cases. A study of 3,200 women who had an unplanned C-section found that when cases in which there was already a problem with the fetal heart rate were excluded, the rate of complications were the same whether forceps were tried before a C-section or not. • While many Indian women are acting as surrogate mothers, more than half a million Indian women die every year due to pregnancy complications, despite government programs guaranteeing free obstetric care. According to Human Rights Watch, India is doing a poor job of monitoring how maternal health programs are implemented. UNICEF estimates that for every maternal death, there are 20 to 30 cases of other complications including obstetric fistulae, uterine prolapse, infertility, vaginal scarring, and sepsis. • A Spanish study of contraceptive use by 11,000 women from 14 European countries found that after condoms, the pill is the most popular contraceptive method. IUDs are the most popular long-acting contraceptive, but only 10% of women surveyed use them and most are over 30 years old. • Scientists at the Institute of Neuroscience in Alicante, Spain say they've figured out the secret behind Mona Lisa's smile. They say the smile depends on what cells in the retina pick up the image. Sometimes the image is transmitted to the brain on one channel and you see the smile and sometimes another channel takes over and you won't see it. • In a session on grieving during The Women's Conference in California, Maria Shriver said she's been telling people she's OK since her mother's death two months ago but, "the real truth is that I'm not fine... The real truth is that my mother's death has brought me to my knees. I had feared this my entire life... She was my hero, my role model, my very best friend. I spoke to her every single day of my life. I tried really hard when I grew up to make her proud of me." • According to a UC Irvine study, 30 percent of Americans have a gene variant that is linked to performing 20 percent worse on a driving test than people without it. Previous studies have found that in people with a BDNF gene variant, which supports communication among brain cells, a smaller portion of the brain is stimulated when doing a task than in people with a normal BDNF gene. • Check out Live Science's guide to everything you always wanted to know about constipation but were afraid to ask here. (Paging Tracie Egan.) • Accused murderer Drew Peterson is suing JP Morgan Chase because he says the company violated truth-in-lending laws by cutting off his home-equity credit line in May. He says he is now unable to post bond and pay his lawyers, and said if his accounts remain frozen he'll ask the court to approve taxpayer money to fund his defense. • Germany's Lutheran Church Margot Kaessman is one of only two women to serve as bishop in Germany's Protestant church. • Indiana University researchers studied workplace politics at an urban elementary school and found that people who are targets of gossip are negatively evaluated during formal work meetings, but gossip can be derailed by changing the subject, targeting someone else for criticism, or by pre-emptive comments that are positive. "When you're sitting in that business meeting, be attentive to when the talk drifts away from the official task at hand to people who aren't present," said sociologist Tim Hallett. "Be aware that what is going on is a form of politics... that can be a weapon to undermine people who aren't present. But it also can be a gift. If people are talking positively it can be a way to enhance someone's reputation." • Sasha and Malia Obama were given the H1N1 vaccine last week after it was made available for D.C. schoolchildren. The President and First Lady still haven't been vaccinated. • Sarah Palin has responded to Levi Johnston's claim on CBS' Early Show that she repeatedly referred to her son Trig as "retarded" saying, "Trig is our 'blessed little angel' who knows it and is lovingly called that every day of his life. Even the thought that anyone would refer to Trig by any disparaging name is sickening and sad... Consider the source of the most recent attention-getting lies — those who would sell their body for money reflect a desperate need for attention and are likely to say and do anything for even more attention." • Rep. Alan Grayson, a Florida Democrat, says it was inappropriate for him to call Federal Reserve advisor Linda Robertson a "K Street whore." "I offer my sincere apology," Grayson said in a statement. "I did not intend to use a term that is often, and correctly, seen as disrespectful of women." • The Australian Sex Party has nominated Marianna Leishman (a.k.a. Zahra Stardust), for a December election to fill a vacant seat in the Australian House of Representatives. Leishman is a feminist writer/pole dance instructor who has worked at the United Nations and has a law degree. She said in a statement, "In an area that claims 50 years of conservative representation from white, heterosexual, able-bodied, suited, male protagonists, the Australian Sex Party is excited to provide a modern, outward looking female candidate." On her agenda is legalizing gay marriage and abortion, examining child sex abuse in religious institutions, and pushing for more sex education in schools. •

The victim was leaving the dance in Richmond, CA — a suburb of San Francisco, not too far from Antioch, where Phillip Garrido held Jaycee Dugard — when a classmate invited her to drink with him in a secluded area near the school. She agreed, becoming so inebriated that she fell over, at which point as many as seven young men raped her, beat her, took photographs, and stole her jewelry. They assaulted her for two-and-a-half hours, injuring her so badly that she had to be flown from the scene in critical condition.

A gang rape always has the added awfulness that the rapists are comfortable enough with their crime to commit it in front of others. This case is especially bad because the girl's attackers continued in front of multiple witnesses, assuming that they would do nothing. That assumption was correct. In fact, it was someone hearing about the assault at a local house party who called the cops. Richmond police lieutenant Mark Gagan said, "What makes it even more disturbing is the presence of others. People came by, saw what was happening, and failed to report it."

At first I thought this was a Kitty Genovese situation, in which indifferent bystanders failed to help a crime victim. In fact, it's worse. CNN's Nick Valencia writes that, "as many as 15 people, all males, stood around watching the assault, but did not call police or help the victim." Gagan adds, "As people announced over time that this was going on, more people came to see, and some actually participated." This isn't a case of people turning their heads away and saying "none of my business." It's a situation in which 15 boys and men (one suspect in custody is 19, the other 15) treating public, brutal assault as a form of entertainment.

Anyone who went to a big, rough high school has seen this happen with a fight — everybody in the school rushes to the scene, cheering, booing, and even joining in as kids beat each other up. This practice is bad enough, exposing teen bloodlust and lack of compassion, but adding sexual assault to the mix makes the onlookers' situation all the more heinous. That all said onlookers were male seems important here — were they so afraid of having their masculinity questioned that they couldn't say anything? Or, more disturbingly, were they enthusiastic about the event, participating, however vicariously, in some kind of conquest? Whatever the case, not one, not two, but fifteen young men watched a gang-rape take place and essentially chose to side with the rapists — as Yes Means Yes would say, "that's rape culture."

Image via CNN.

Witnesses Did Not Report Gang Rape [UPI.com]
Police: Gang Rape Outside School Dance Lasted Over Two Hours [CNN]
Teens held over homecoming dance gang rape [AP, via MSNBC]
Police Arrest Second Teen In Connection With Vicious Assault On 15-Year-Old Girl [Contra Costa Times]

We open in the Sterling Cooper offices, on an unspecified Friday afternoon in August 1963, and Manhattan, for the most part, has emptied out. Even the Sterling Cooper secretaries, as the particularly nasty Pete Campbell and Ken Cosgrove have learned, are skipping town. "Why is it a man on his own is an object of pity when she's really the one you should feel sorry for?" Pete asks as his secretary leaves his office. Answer: Because it's the early 1960s and you're a rapist asshole?


Pete, always the unrepentant capitalist, has not given up on his curiosity for - and potential conquest - of the African-American market. In this opening scene, he is seen thumbing through the March 1963 issue of Ebony - strange, since by that point, the September issue, devoted to the 100th anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, would have been on newsstands. (A souvenir, of sorts?) The issue, starring a radiant Shirley Bassey, features no fewer than three ads for televisions, none of them Admirals. More interesting than the ad buys, which are dominated by companies shilling spirits, cigarettes, hair straighteners and feminine hygiene products, is the journalism, which speaks to the coming civil rights and women's movements by way of a feature on the then 21-year-old Cassius Clay ("a blast furnace of race pride"), a profile of Eunice Adabunu of Togo (described by Ebony headline writers as a "feminist power"), a short piece on a girls' track coach in Hawai'i ("Chicagoan raps notion that athletic girls lack appeal" - shades of Obama?), and articles on interracial families and the biracial Ms. Bassey.


"I want to integrate my coffee." That's a quote from Cassius Clay, soon to be better known as Muhammad Ali. Later this month, on August 28, Martin Luther King will deliver his famous 'I Have A Dream Speech' and (continue to) change the course of history.


Speaking of dreams: Back at the Draper household, family life seems to have returned to some sort of uneasy equilibrium. The children are frolicking among the fireflies, Don is passed out in front of primetime television, and Sally, in particular, seems surprisingly interested in taking her big-girl cues from Betty, who leaves behind the drudgery of errand-running for silk scarves and scarlet lipstick.


The reason for the silk and lipstick? Betty is on her way to a meeting with the Ossining City Council in the hopes that she and the other local Junior League ladies can stop the proposed water tower on the nearby reservoir. When the dashing Henry Francis finally turns up, her expression goes from zero to sexty.


Speaking of facial expressions, I'm beginning to believe that Francine knows something everyone else doesn't.


Henry's mini-seduction scene beside Betty's father's car - souvenir alert! - was striking for its tenderness. ("Dear God, did I make her happy? Because that makes me happy"? Even I swooned. Where's the fainting couch when you need it?) Despite the fact that she soon runs off to Europe with her actual husband, I have a feeling that this not the last she'll see - or taste - of Mr. Francis.


The attentions of a man decidedly more mature, attentive and powerful than her own formidably talented husband seem to have awakened something in Betty; she's literally dancing. Even Don notices a change, which presents an interesting conundrum: How long will he indulge Betty's own declarations of independence, embrace of her own power and capabilities, or parroting of politics-speak before he goes from admiring to annoyed?


Back in Manhattan, Pete Campbell has made his way to Bonwit Teller to see what he can do on behalf of his neighbor's buxom German au pair, Gertrude, who, as we learned earlier, is bereft after having soiled her employer's party dress. And who's this? It's Joan, industrious and competent as ever - although the smearing of kohl around her eyes can't disguise her inner sadness and shame at being reduced to patrolling the Republic of Dresses...or her marriage to a loser medicine man.


Roman holiday! Summoned by Conrad Hilton, Don (and Betty) make their way across the Atlantic to Rome's Waldorf-Astoria, where, rather than playing to her weaknesses and vulnerabilities, as she has done so often this season, Betty openly exhibits her shrewd understanding of the power that men wield, and the currency - two dollars for the bellhop? she asks - that comes with it. I especially loved the look of shock and awe on Don's face after Betty, rather than passing the calling Conrad Hilton off to her husband, more than held her own with the hotel magnate.


La Dolce Vita: Later that evening, while waiting for Don and Connie to appear for dinner, Betty hits the hotel bar in her bombshell, best costume of the day. The shock (and awe) waves are palpable...


...and not just because of the golden beehive, liberally-applied eye makeup or slinky black column dress: Betty's entire carriage and countenance have straightened considerably, and the manner in which she and Don regard one another in this performative moment of faux seduction is stunning, and sexy as hell. Contrast this image - via the post-sex photo up top - of Betty luxuriating the next morning with her look of forced "repose" on her fainting couch a week earlier. Are Mad Men writers setting up Betty for her own Eat Pray Love, 60s edition?


Speaking of sex, on the other side of the Atlantic...


I didn't - and still don't - know what to make of Pete's rape of Gertrude the German au pair, other than that it was a profoundly disgusting, and depressing, moment, and yet wholly unsurprising. (Pete's query to his secretary - "What are you doing this weekend?" - is now, in retrospect less strange and much more sinister, as is his promise to Gertrude by the garbage chute that he is "not going to get you in trouble.") Pete's abuses of power - courtesy of his sex, race and station in life - so often take the form of abuses against women - objects that, like the Bonwit Teller dress, can be stained and returned or discarded with little to no repercussions. (The significance of Pete the rapist returning the stained dress to Joan, of all people, was probably not lost on anyone.) And his crimes are aided and abetted by everyone around him: His male neighbor, whose sole complaint following the assault is that his au pair is now using up all his Kleenex; his own wife, whose growing realization of her husband's infidelities never amount to anything more than a few fluttering eyelids and freshly-prepared fruit salads. "Don't leave me alone anymore," he tells Trudy later, skillfully deflecting blame for his transgressions onto her.


Other moments: Back in Ossining, Betty gazes balefully at the eyesore that is her hastily-purchased fainting couch, then summons Sally for lesson on life, love, and first kisses - "A first kiss is very special. Every kiss after that is a shadow of that kiss. You go from being a stranger to knowing someone" - the first example of sensitive parenting we've seen from Betty in weeks. Will it last?


...probably not.

The opening quotes of the report are heart wrenching:

It is not yet safe to be a woman here. It won't be safe until there is justice and until violence against women is taken seriously.

- - Chadian journalist interviewed in Abéché, Eastern Chad

I remember one woman asking me if there was anywhere she could go and feel safe. I didn't know what to answer because I don't think there is an answer.

- - Aid worker, interviewed in Abéché

The report goes on to detail many of the internal issues within the camp, the lack of safety when women leave the camp to look for necessities like firewood or straw, and how often bandits and other local criminals prey on women refugees.

And that's just the dangers outside of the camps.

Inside UN territory, the nightmare for many women continues:

Mariam, a 22-year-old mother of two was raped in Gaga Refugee Camp by a man working with an international organization operational in the camp. She has been a refugee in Chad for more than six years, since the beginning of the conflict in Darfur. For the last three years she has worked as a social worker for an international NGO in the camp. In that capacity, she worked in the camp with a Chadian man. It is this man who attacked her.

On 17 April 2009, Mariam and her Chadian co-worker went to visit a sick elderly woman in the camp. On their way, they passed close to Mariam's hut and the man asked if they could stop for a drink of water. They did. When Mariam brought the water to him, he grabbed her from the back. She shouted, but he then grabbed her by the throat, muffling her cries and making it hard for her to breathe. He then raped her. It was the middle of the day, and her husband and neighbours were not present. But then a neighbour came back to his hut while Mariam was still being raped. She saw him and shouted out. The man looked, saw what was happening and yelled at Mariam's aggressor, who then ran out of the hut and fled from the camp. He is reported to have fled to Abéché. Mariam went to the clinic inside Gaga camp. She informed her organization and her husband about what had occurred. The international NGO fired the man, who is rumoured to still be at large in Abéché.

It is not clear by the end of August 2009 if further legal action was taken against him. Mariam's husband filed a complaint with the security branch of the National Commission for Reception and Settlement of Refugees, Commission Nationale d'Accueil et de Réinsertion des Réfugiés,(CNAR). The complaint was reportedly forwarded to local Chadian authorities but neither Mariam nor her husband has been informed of any further investigation or proceedings at the end of May 2009. Mariam continued to work with the same organization. She told Amnesty International, however, that she felt increasingly distressed about what happened to her, and feels that others do not care much and are doing little to provide her with assistance or support.

In addition to sexual violence, there is also physical violence:

In June 2008, the president (representative) of the refugee committee at Farchana Camp ordered a number of refugees to beat a group of five girls who he accused of misbehaving. The girls were severely beaten and later received medical treatment in the camp clinic. A complaint was filed with local officials against the representative of the refugee committee. He was later charged with assault and convicted.

Girls have also reported being sexually propositioned by school teachers in the camps, as well as being forced into marriages by local custom or as "reparations" for rape.

The report provides recommendations for each player as to how the camps could improve, and provides a lengthy list for MINURCAT (the United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad). Amnesty International suggests:

• Ensure MINURCAT includes gender advisors who can monitor the situation of women and girls, assist women's representatives in advocating for services to improve their safety, ensure that all MINURCAT staff are working to improve the protection of the human rights of women and girls and ensure improved training of MINURCAT and DIS staff involved in investigating crimes of sexual violence against women and girls.
• Ensure that any person reporting sexual violence has prompt access to medical care.
• Work with the Chadian government to set up an effective DIS vetting process and ensure
  that those reasonably suspected of crimes under Chadian and international human rights law
  are excluded from the DIS pending a prompt, effective, independent and impartial
  investigation and prosecution process.
• Ensure appropriate training of DIS officers with respect to the establishment of a
  database to record crimes, including sexual and gender-based violence, and the conduct of
  investigations of alleged human rights violations.
• Ensure that effective forensic investigation techniques, which respect World Health
  Organization guidelines for medico-legal care of victims of sexual violence, are available for
  use in investigations of sexual assault.
• Ensure that the security of refugees both inside and outside refugee camps in eastern
  Chad is effectively guaranteed by both MINURCAT military forces and the DIS, by means of regular patrols around all 12 refugee camps in eastern Chad and the provision of escorts for women and girls at their request when they venture outside refugee camps.
• Work with the UNHCR, other UN agencies and international humanitarian organizations operational in and around refugee camps, and refugee women and girls themselves, to develop comprehensive strategies to address the causes and circumstances of sexual violence, including factors that compel women and girls to travel outside refugee camps.
• Insist that Chadian authorities bring to justice suspected perpetrators of rape and other violence against refugee women and girls and ensure that survivors have adequate support, protection and full reparations.
• Monitor reports of rape and other violence against refugee women and girls which are lodged with the Chadian authorities and follow-up with authorities ihttp://publish.jezebel.com/ged/newn order to ensure that all possible action is taken to investigate these crimes.

However, as if proving that the hardest part of fighting a rape culture (in any part of the globe) are entrenched attitudes, the spokesperson of MINURCAT, Michel Bonnardeaux responded to Reuters by explaining that things aren't as bad as they seem:

"Given what they have, they do a very good job," he said.

"I think it (the report) is a little hasty and based in a fairly small sample and a short visit. I would invite the researchers to come back and have some better statistics to get a better picture ... The situation is certainly better that it was than a year ago."

Is that so? Now, admittedly, I haven't come across a whole lot of news about conditions in the camps. However, one image that has stuck with me for the last year is this picture from Hungry Planet: What the World Eats which shows the amount of food this refugee family in a camp in Chad survives on for one week:

Now, I suppose we could say they have food, which is important. But at the same time, that small amount doesn't really seem like enough. I feel the same way about the remarks in regard to efforts regarding sexual violence. The camp is better than what so many people fled from, but it is still a difficult existence. And we need to start taking these issues seriously, instead of just pointing to the worst case scenario as a defense.

Luckily, someone with sway and power is taking this issue very seriously - Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton. In addition to making women's rights a cornerstone of her platform, she has set her sights on eliminating rape as a tool of war:

Secretary Clinton, who has committed to making women's issues a "centerpiece" of her work as the Obama administration's chief diplomat, will chair a session of the UN Security Council on women, peace, and security. At the session Wednesday, she'll promote a US-sponsored resolution that seeks to expand and strengthen a measure approved last year, which condemns the use of rape in conflict and characterizes it as a threat to peace and security.
Clinton was moved to seek additional action against the growing use of rape as a result of her visit to the Democratic Republic of the Congo in August. She met with some of the estimated 200,000 victims of sexual violence in the country's war-torn eastern region.

"Meeting with survivors of rape, which is now used increasingly as a tool of war, was shattering," Clinton told a New York audience in the run-up to last week's UN General Assembly meeting. Addressing a separate gathering of female heads of state and foreign ministers, she said, "There are people who say, 'Well, women's issues is an important issue, but it doesn't rank up there with the Middle East or Iran's nuclear threat or Afghanistan and Pakistan.' I couldn't disagree more."

The U.N. is also scheduled to create a coordinator position to help end systemic rape and violence against women in times of war. For the millions of women around the globe impacted by this issue, it isn't a moment too soon.

"No Place For Us Here: Violence Against Refugee Women In Eastern Chad" [Amnesty International]
Mandate [MINURCAT]
Darfur Refugees Raped In Chad Camps: Amnesty [Reuters]
Hungry Planet: What The World Eats [Amazon]
Clinton To Chair Security Council Session On Sexual Violence [Christian Science Monitor]
U.N. To Adopt Post For Women Caught In War [UPI]

Earlier: Hillary Clinton Tackles Economics, Terrorism, Microlending In NY Times Profile

Seriously, after Matt Lauer asks her what she can tell us about Polanski personally, as someone who's kept in touch with him over the years, the first words out of her mouth are, "Roman is a brilliant director." He's also a "philanthropist," a "humanitarian" and a "good guy," and wait, I don't know if I mentioned this yet, "He's brilliant as well."

You know, all of these things may very well true. Can I just point out that none of them rules out his also being a child rapist? As Bitch Ph.D.'s M. Leblanc said on Twitter yesterday, "I really am baffled by how hard people find it to accept that great artists can do terrible things. Where have you been for all of history?"

Lauer asks Tate what she'd say to those of us asking questions like that, and she tells us that back in the '70s, Polanski was in custody for 4 months — 4 months, 42 days, tomayto, tomahto — that the shrinks judged him not to be a pedophile*, and then, here it comes! "There's rape, and then there's rape." Actually, Debra, I think the legal term you're looking for is "rape-rape." (Ask Whoopi Goldberg about it.)

She continues, "It was determined that Roman did not forcibly have sex with this young woman." Really? Was that determined by someone other than Roman Polanski? 'Cause I sure haven't seen anything indicating it was. The charges involving issues of consent were dropped because he agreed to a plea bargain — you know, the one he skipped town before being sentenced for? But for all the talk about how the victim has forgiven him and doesn't want to see this drag out, I haven't heard anything about her saying, "He didn't put his penis in me while I said no. First in my vagina, then in my anus. After raping me orally. He actually did none of that! Sorry for the confusion!"

And yet, Tate assures us, "It was a consensual matter. I am a victim's advocate, and I know the difference." And that is where I lose any respect I might have had for Debra Tate (and also where my head explodes). First, as far as I know, she's an advocate for families like hers, who have lost loved ones to murder, not for rape victims. Second, even if she were an advocate for child rape survivors, her opinion would still be just that. As it is, I don't even have snark for someone who says, "I work with victims of violent crime, therefore I have special knowledge that allowed me to determine conclusively that this 13-year-old was lying when she said my ex-brother-in-law kept putting his penis in her, long after she said no." I just... yeah.

*No word on whether they would have called the forty-something man who went on to have a relationship with 15-year-old Nastassja Kinski an ephebophile, instead.

For those unfamiliar with the latest in this case, Ndonye has recanted her initial accusation that the men, one of whom was also a Hofstra student (he's being questioned in the pic above), tied her up and raped her in a dorm bathroom. She now says the sex was consensual. According to New York's WCBS,

Prosecutors say she cracked and confessed when the lawyer for two of the four men falsely accused provided a cellphone video that showed consensual sex, and no ropes or screams, as she had initially reported.

The lawyer wouldn't say who recorded the so-called sexcapade, but said it looks "like a porn movie." Prosecutors say the rape allegations against a Hofstra student and four of his friends who are not enrolled at the university may have all been a cover story made up because she was worried about what her jealous boyfriend would say.

This scenario is pretty upsetting, in part because of WCBS's language — if reporting a rape means lawyers will force you to watch your own "sexcapade" until you "crack," no wonder more women don't do it. But the under-reporting of rapes (the British government, for reference, believes 95% of rapes there go unreported) isn't the issue that has people incensed in the case. Readers like the one I mentioned above (who also says "incidents is like this and my own experience with women making false accuations is why I and a lot of other men tune out feminist propaganda and don't automatically believe a women who says she was raped the minute she claim it") are concerned with over-reporting, with women who haven't actually been raped but claim that they have. But contrary to our reader's assumption, this isn't an us-vs.-them scenario, a war between feminists who want to protect rape victims and men who want to avoid false accusations. Amanda Hess of the Washington City Paper's Sexist blog handily explains why both these groups should be on the same side. She writes,

I can't recall how many times I've seen a discussion of a rape accusation devolve into the one side arguing why the accuser should be believed, and the other side arguing that the accuser should be discredited. [...] The meaningless squabbles between the two camps tend to overlook the fact that people concerned about rape and people concerned about fake rape accusations are both fighting against the same thing: rape culture.

She goes on to explain,

Both rape and rape accusations are products of the roles assigned by rape culture. In the traditional seduction scenario, a woman is expected to not desire to have sex, and to only submit after the man has successfully coerced her into submission. When the preferred model for consensual sex looks a hell of a lot like rape, an array of fucked-up scenarios are inevitable: the woman never wanted to fuck the guy, refuses to submit, and is raped; the woman submits to the man's coercion in order to avoid other negative consequences (like being raped); the woman had desired the sex all along, but must defend her femininity by saying that she had been coerced into sex.

By way of example, Hess offers this fun tidbit from Paul Elam of Men's News Daily:

In what has become a more or less common turn of events, the female Hofstra University student that accused five men, including one classmate, of gang raping her in a school dormitory bathroom has recanted the charges. That's legal and media speak for admitting she cheapened herself by taking on five men willingly on a men's room floor and lied about it later out of what little capacity for shame she had.

The rest of Elam's column is pretty extreme, and I don't especially recommend reading it. But what's all too common is his assumption that a woman "cheapens" herself by having group sex in a way that the men involved apparently don't. In fact, as Hess points out, women are often thought to cheapen themselves by wanting any kind of sex at all — but especially if that sex is casual, or perceived as deviant in any way.

Obviously, this isn't an excuse for women to falsely accuse men. And despite the prosecutors' "boyfriend" comment, we can't be sure why Ndonye accused the men in the first place. But if we all work to promote a culture of radical consent, in which it's okay for women to want sex, okay for men to want women who want sex, and expected for both parties to respect each other rather than conquering, convincing, or coercing, then we'll almost definitely reduce both rapes and false accusations. If, on the other hand, we keep arguing about whether rape or rape accusations is a bigger problem — without recognizing that they often have the same fundamental root — then men and women will just keep ruining each others' lives.

Video Of Hofstra Rape Hoax Gets Accuser To Recant [WCBS]
D.A.: Hofstra Student Made Up Gang Rape Story [WCBS]
False Rape Accusations And Rape Culture [The Sexist]
Katie Price: Why She Should Name Her Rapist [The F Word]

There are a number of Mennonite settlements in eastern Bolivia, most of which were founded in the mid-20th century and have become thriving farming communities. In the religious colonies, traditional Plattdeutsch is spoken and the 2,000 or so Mennonites hold largely to the way of life and teachings of the sect's 16th-century Dutch Protestant founders. They are insular and handle most legal matters themselves - and it takes something really big to force them to sacrifice their much-valued privacy.

This is big. As a terrific Guardian profile details, it's come out that in the past few years as many as 300 women and girls have been raped - from children as young as five to elderly women. Details are still emerging, as it's believed that many of the women were drugged before raping and don't remember much - or only know that they woke up with their nightclothes disarranged and felt pain for days afterwards. Some women were aware of the attacks, but were too ashamed to bring the cases to light. It's thought that eight men from the community are responsible - perhaps even working in a semi-organized "ring" - although there may be more. And elders have reason to believe the rapists also attacked women in other, more conservative communities, in which victims are refusing to come forward.

The close-knit community is devastated - although one elder's remarks are chillingly revealing.
"I thought I knew them quite well, but I remember they were not hard workers...There was always talk about those things happening here; there was a woman who said so, but no one believed her." Indeed, the men were apprehended not based on any woman's accusations but because elders became suspicious when some of the men were late to the fields - an indication of moral sloth. When the scope of the problem became clear, they decided to hand the men over to Bolivian authorities. Says one elder, "This was way too big to deal with...That is why we handed these people to the Bolivian authorities. We don't want them back."

Numerous victims suffered injuries and have been examined by forensic specialists. But there are other consequences: One woman, raped while pregnant by her brother, as a result went into premature labor and the baby's health and survival are in question. And then there's the stigma: as might be expected in such a conservative society, virginity is highly valued in a wife. At least parents seem to be taking a fairly humane view. Says one father, "I hope that when they turn 18 or 20, they will get married, because it was not their fault...I hope they won't have problems in finding a husband. But I don't know."

Now the community is gripped by fear, with some families sleeping in their basements and padlocking their doors, and some husbands and fathers even questioning their commitment to non-violence. However, what struck me is that this isn't new - it's just been acknowledged. If anything, surely women are far safer now that the issue is in the open and men stand ready to protect them. It was the silence that compounded the threat. While it would be reductionist to suggest that rape is a natural consequence of this way of life - not to mention a grave insult to the many Mennonite men who'd never do such a thing - it can't be denied that in some cases there seems to be a connection between the isolation of such communities, and the shame associated with it, that, if it doesn't encourage rape, at least fosters a culture of silence that allows it to happen. The words of one of the rapists are especially terrifying: "I raped about 23 women . . . I cannot say why, but after the first time it became a habit and I used to do it twice a week."

Of course, there are sick people in every group - and the lurid shock of such stories in communities dedicated to God and simplicity always makes them more striking - but any culture that places the onus on the woman, and shames her for a lack of purity, allows a rapist to take advantage of the dynamic. In short, were this truly not tolerated, were it not ignored, it could not have happened on such a shocking scale. Periodically, there have been stories from the Amish community of systemic rapes - frequently within families. Often these lead to revelations of more abuse. Are these people more prone to rape? Surely not - but the cultures foster concealment, shame, and, it would seem, a lot of confusion about sexuality.

If there is anything encouraging about this horrible story, it's the readiness with which the community took the crimes to the police; the open discussion of the crimes - as well as things like forensic exams, surely difficult for very sheltered women - and the lack of apparent victim-shaming. One hopes it will also foster an atmosphere of intolerance for sex crimes. As one man - whose mother, wife, sister, cousins, aunt and pregnant sister-in-law have all been raped - says, "This has changed us. This has changed us for ever." The question is - how?

'The Work Of The Devil': Crime In A Remote Religious Community [Guardian]
Sexual Abuse In The Amish Community [ABC]
Rape Rampant In Amish Communites [Crime Library]

Friedman writes,

At about this time every year, adult anxiety about sexual assault reaches a tipping point and gives way to an avalanche of advice to young women from campuses, commentators, and parents alike: Don't hook up! Don't dress provocatively! Watch your drink! Actually, don't drink at all! Always stay with a friend! Don't stay out too late! Don't walk home alone! Etcetera, etcetera, ad nauseam.

And every year, it fails to work. A 2007 Department of Justice-funded trend analysis of rape studies over time revealed that rates of rape haven't declined in the past 15 years — in fact, they may be increasing.

Even though I know that, for my own safety, I need to be aware of the potential threat of assault, it frustrates me that managing the threat is so often treated as women's responsibility. Though I found The Gift of Fear's tips on avoiding assault and stalking useful, I didn't like the implication that it was women's job to keep themselves safe from the inevitable threat of men. Many take the pragmatic view that rape is endemic and women should just accept the curtailment in their lives that's necessary for self-defense. But the older I get, the more jealous I am of men's freedom to walk around by themselves at night, and I think I can protect myself while also acknowledging that I shouldn't have to.

The fall that I entered graduate school, a number of women were groped on the street late at night. The gropings grew in frequency until finally a woman was attacked by a stranger who broke into her apartment. The police eventually arrested someone in conjunction with one of the incidents; all the other cases are still open. Instead of hearing about more arrests, we heard that most of the women groped have been wearing skirts, and that the assaults would likely die down in the wintertime when girls covered up and the nights dipped below freezing.

I found this link with the weather rather telling. Too often, we're asked to accept sexual assault as though it's an act of God, something that just happens, like rain. It's our job to carry an umbrella to avoid getting wet. But rape and other forms of assault are acts of men (and sometimes women), and we should be trying harder to stop them at the source. Friedman offers the following suggestions:

Schools would stop telling girls to mind their liquor so they don't "get themselves" raped and start teaching young men that alcohol is never an excuse to "get away" with anything. They would offer bystander training, so that all students on campus know what it looks like when someone's sexual boundaries are being violated and what to do if they see that happening. They would teach students that the only real consent is the kind that's freely and enthusiastically given, removing the "she didn't exactly say no" excuse that too many rapists hide behind. And their campus policies would support prevention, recovery, and justice, not dismissiveness, victim-blaming, and denial.

Ending sexual assault still seems like a pie-in-the-sky idea, even to me. I'll admit that the first time I saw "Stop Rape" graffitied in an alleyway in my college town, I let out a bitter laugh. But maybe I'd feel less like that if the schools I went to had been better at "taking responsibility for rape prevention off of the potential victims and placing it where it belongs — with the potential perpetrators and with the adults and institutions whose job it is to keep young people safe." And maybe if colleges — and everyone responsible for teaching young people — followed Friedman's suggestions, then the women who come after me won't have to live in fear.

Combating The Campus Rape Crisis [The American Prospect]

Earlier: The Gift Of Fear: How To Prevent Another Gym Rampage

• Orobator was sentenced to life in prison for smuggling heroin and returned to Britain to serve her sentence of life in prison in Britain a few weeks ago. She was originally facing a firing squad but was spared after she mysteriously became pregnant while in an all-women's prison. Her child is due next month. • Almost 4,000 women in England were forced to give birth outside of maternity wards last year. The number of women who gave birth in other hospital wards, hallways, waiting rooms, or in hospital parking lots increased by about 500 since 2007 and Conservatives are blaming hospital overcrowding and overextended midwives. • The Michigan chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations will sue Judge J. William Callahan, for forcing Raneen Albaghdady to remove her head scarf in June, saying "no hats in the courtroom." A lawyer for the council says, "This judge targeted a Muslim woman's religious attire, but he could just as easily have demanded the removal of a Sikh turban, a Jewish yarmulke or a Catholic nun's habit." Callahan's spokesman says he would have left her keep the scarf on if she had told him it had religious significance to her. • Sad irony? A 16-year-old blind and deaf dog belonging to Robin Starr, the CEO of the Richmond Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, died after he was left in a hot car for four hours. Starr's husband put the "Louie" in the car as she was getting ready because she often took him to work, but he forgot to tell Starr. By the time she realized Louie was in the car it was too late and he died of kidney failure. • NCSU's Women's Center and other campus advocacy groups were not able to stop a showing of the film based on Tucker Max's book I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell or an appearance by Max taking place tonight on the campus. The groups say the film contains sexist and racist phrases and promotes rape culture. Though they couldn't shut down the event they'll be protesting, "everything about Tucker Max and what he stands for." • Canadian researchers say visiting grandparents may prevent toddlers from forming negative stereotypes about old people. "We've been able to show really early on that kids, when they're just starting to talk, have established beliefs about older people," said one researcher. "We're seeing what we could call ageism by about age three." • Florida's appeals court will review the state's ban on adoptions by homosexuals. In 2008 a Miami-Dade County judge ruled that a law banning Martin Gill and his partner from adopting two young boys is unconstitutional, but state attorneys say the judge was legislating from the bench and the decision should be make by lawmakers. • A Sydney, Australia couple is being sued by Roseville College for $20,000 in unpaid tuition, but the parents say they shouldn't have to pay because the school failed to stop bullying which led one of their four daughters hurting herself. The parents say teachers were aware that their daughter was being harassed in 7th and 8th grade but did nothing and the girl's adviser told her to "simply ignore the bullies." After more bullying, the girl cut herself several times with a razor. • Ronald Douglas McGowan of Southern California will stand trial for the rapes of four women, including one who prosecutors say bit off part of his tongue in self-defense during an attack in her apartment. He was arrested in the emergency room where he went for treatment. His tongue couldn't' be reattached. • Researchers have found that Runaway Intervention Program, a program in which nurses help sexually exploited runaway girls reconnect to family, school, and healthcare effectively reduces trauma. "Remarkably, by six and 12 months into the program, the girls had improved so much that in most areas they were indistinguishable from girls in school who had never been abused," said a researcher. • In a revised edition of her biography, Veronica Lario says she wants a divorce from Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who has been involved in several sex scandals, because "I cannot condemn myself to be his wetnurse and I cannot stop him from making himself ridiculous before the world." •

[Goma, Congo; August 10. Image via Getty]

Nurses at the Heal Africa clinic in Goma take a young Congolese woman back to her ward after she underwent surgery to repair serious physical damage suffered after being raped. Doctors at the Heal Africa Clinic in Goma treat women who have been sexually abused and in the majority of the cases, due to the violent and vicious nature of the attacks develop serious physical problems. While being treated at the clinic, the women stay at a transit home inside the clinic where they are treated physically and psychologically. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton in what she considers a highlight of her trip to Africa will visit Goma on August 11, 2009, the war-torn east of DR Congo, where the United Nations says nearly 3,500 women have been raped since the beginning of the year. Hundreds of thousands of women have become victims of brutal rape usually perpetrated by a groups on armed men who have engaged in armed conflict in the region for almost a decade and who use rape as a weapon of war. AFP PHOTO/Roberto SCHMIDT -MORE IN IMAGE FORUM- (Photo credit should read ROBERTO SCHMIDT/AFP/Getty Images)