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Archives for August 2012

DC Groper Admits to 8 Attacks, Will Likely Face Almost No Punishment

August 31, 2012 By HKearl

In early July, Washington, DC resident Liz Gorman was sexually assaulted in DC’s Dupont Circle. The next day Liz, who immediately reported the incident to the Metropolitan Police Department, wrote about her experience on the Collective Action for Safe Spaces blog. By Friday, the post had set off a viral reaction, both locally and nationally. Fast forward to late August and we have some good and bad news.

The Good News: After Liz and then four other women reported the alleged assailant, the DC Police looked for him and found him.

Via The Washington Post:

“The police did interviews, took statements, watched hours of security video until they froze the frame there — right there! — and found the jerk on the bike, his victim screaming next to him.

Then they caught the guy they believe is responsible for the attacks. Oscar Mauricio Cornejo-Pena even told them: Yup, he did it. He was a most helpful suspect, even offering up some crimes the cops didn’t know about.

“He admitted that he committed numerous similar offenses, possibly eight or more,” according to the charging documents drawn up by Officer Alexander MacBean.”

Thank you, DCPD! This story illustrates just how often harassers are repeat offenders. Most people don’t harass others, but some people harass a lot of other people.

The Bad News: He wasn’t charged for assaulting Liz, only the other four women. Plus, his conviction is pretty weak.

Also via The Washington Post:

“He was charged with “misdemeanor sexual abuse (with aggravating circumstances),” which, according to D.C. Official Code, is punishable by jail time of “not more than 180 days, and, in addition, may be fined in an amount not to exceed $1,000.”

That means that terrorizing women who are walking down the street, roughing them up and grabbing their privates gets you the same punishment as attending a cockfight, impersonating a police officer, trespassing on someone’s lawn or selling a fake Gucci purse.

In the District, sentencing guidelines say that a person who breaks into a vending machine or a parking meter should get more jail time (up to three years) and pay a bigger fine (up to $3,000) than a sociopath who violates women on the street….

The truth is, he’s probably not going to get any real jail time, said Chai Shenoy, a lawyer who specializes in sexual assault and who runs a group in the District, Collective Action for Safe Spaces.

Of the cases she has taken on, the ones where women are groped on Metro, violated on the street or attacked in their neighborhoods, she has never had a criminal conviction for that type of street harassment.

“We applaud the police for taking the crimes seriously, using their resources and working hard to make an arrest,” she said. “But it’s a double-edged sword. We want police to take these crimes seriously, we want prosecutors to take these crimes seriously and then, at the end of the day, we have sentencing guidelines that won’t provide justice.”

And that’s what we’re up against. Even if/when we report harassers and even if/when the police take it seriously and find them, the penalties are pretty weak. So, it can make you wonder if it’s even worth the time or energy. As hard as prevention is, it’s going to be the best way to stop street harassment for the next generation.

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Filed Under: News stories, street harassment Tagged With: collective action for safe spaces, DC, dupont circle, groping, Liz Gorman, sexual assault, street harassment

Really, Bowlmor?: “Getting jumped in an alley has never been this much fun”

August 31, 2012 By HKearl

This unacceptable ad was seen and photographed on the Q train in New York City by someone at Equality Now. She added the “Trigger Warning” message.

The full text of ad reads, “Getting jumped in an alley has never been this much fun.”

Clearly, the writer has never actually been jumped in an alley, nor has someone they care about. It is not fun.

Has anyone else seen this ad? I’m thinking about doing a Change.org petition to ask that it be taken down because of how offensive it is, but I want to know more about it first.

In the meantime, you can contact Bowlmor Lanes and the NYC Transit Authority directly to let them know this subway ad is inappropriate and must go!

Website:
• http://www.bowlmor.com/about/
• http://mta-nyc.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/mta_nyc.cfg/php/enduser/ask.php

Facebook:
• https://www.facebook.com/BowlmorLanes
• http://www.facebook.com/MTA.info
• http://www.facebook.com/pages/MTA-New-York-City-Transit/232635164606

Twitter:
• https://twitter.com/bowlmorlanes
• http://twitter.com/mtainsider
• http://twitter.com/nyctsubwayscoop
• http://twitter.com/nyctbusstop
• http://twitter.com/MetroCardCity

H/T to Collective Action for Safe Spaces
UPDATE: After the Huffington Post covered the ad, Bowlmor emailed them this response:

“We are surprised and disappointed that our recent advertisement – intended to be a humorous play on the words “bowling alley” – has been misinterpreted to advocate violence against women. Our company – consisting of hundreds of talented men and women – does not support abuse or violence in any form. Since its inception, Bowlmor Lanes has strived to be socially responsible and offer a family-friendly environment to our customers. We offer our sincere apologies to anyone who was offended by this advertisement. The campaign in question was scheduled to run throughout Aug. 2012, and is no longer in circulation. There are no plans to generate this campaign again.”

It’s too bad they don’t understand why this ad is offensive, but hey, at least they say they wont use it again.

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Filed Under: street harassment Tagged With: Bowlmor, MTA, NYC, offensive ads, q train, sexual violence

“This was violent and unacceptable”

August 30, 2012 By Contributor

Yesterday as I was walking to my parents house,  some men shouted “whore” at me as they drove by. To the group of young men in the SUV who caught me off guard, and to the silent other pedestrians and drivers, this was violent and unacceptable.

– Anonymous

Location: North Toronto, Canada

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

“Hey baby” in a stairwell

August 29, 2012 By Contributor

I was at my office today walking up the stairs and two guys came loudly tromping down the stairs at me. No one ever takes the stairs so it was sort of surprising and then suddenly one of them interrupts his conversation with his coworker to be all, “Hey baby” at me. I couldn’t believe it! I’m at WORK, for chrissakes. I was so appalled that I actually stopped walking and then turned around and said, “My name is *Aerin*” really assertively. They both stared at me like I was something they’d never seen before and then the guy actually told me his name, like we were being introduced by a coworker.

– Aerin

Location: St. Louis, MO

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

“I am being street harassed in my own backyard”

August 28, 2012 By Contributor

I live in a nice area on the outskirts of the city. We just moved here about 10 months ago and I’ve loved everything about it — well almost. Our house is next to a somewhat busy road with a chain link fence around our 2 acres. I am a very energetic person who loves being outdoors and physical activity. We have a trampoline that I use daily. It’s one of my ways to de-stress after a long day. At first people just stared, which I understood since we are new here. Then cars would slow down…which was a bit creepy but I just shrugged it off. Then it escalated to lewd hand-motions, yelling, and stopping their cars to watch all together. I can’t believe this, I am being street harassed in my own backyard.

So I just stopped jumping during the day and just waited til night. (which majorly sucks for me since it’s summer and night is when the Mosquitos come out.) So I switched my exercising to running in the mornings. Thinking no one would bother me at 6 in the morning, well I was wrong. Now I just stay inside most of the time, which is hard because I love the outdoors so much! I just don’t want it to escalate to the point that they come on my property, I mean they already know where I live, which is terrifying. The thing that really gets me is that, I do not live in a bad area, some of the houses around here are 700k-1 mil. Most of these people that shout obscenities at me are yelling from their new BMW’s.

– Marissa

Location: Las Cruces, NM

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Filed Under: Stories, street harassment

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