The Irish Times has a good article about sexual harassment and sexual violence, leading with the story about Dominique Strauss-Kahn, the head of the International Monetary Fund, who was arrested and charged with the attempted rape of a hotel employee.
“All sexual violence is an abuse of power. It doesn’t matter whether it’s the head of an internationally renowned body or the most popular guy at your local bar,” says Cliona Saidlear of Rape Crisis Network Ireland. Saidlear is responding to a story that made international headlines this week when Dominique Strauss-Kahn, who had been staying at the Sofitel hotel in Manhattan last week as the head of the International Monetary Fund, was arrested and charged with the attempted rape of a hotel employee who had gone to clean his room. That Strauss-Kahn, who resigned from the IMF on Wednesday, was such a powerful and influential man has meant the fallout from the alleged attack is being analysed all over the world.”
The article includes several stories that women submitted to the blog Harassment Monologues and there was even one about street harassment:
“She describes being yelled at by construction workers who went on to launch a sexually explicit verbal attack. “I was very shocked, and I reacted by striking an aggressive stance, locking eye contact and shouting, ‘You f***ing sick monster!’ I then told my mother about the incident, and she couldn’t understand why I was so angry. I was angry because I was shocked and felt violated. In any other context, roaring at someone in the street and giving them a shock is called harassment or antisocial behaviour. But for some reason, when it’s in the context of male sexual behaviour towards a female, it’s totally okay. It makes me sick.”
How true. And really, how true of all gender-based sexual harassment/sexual assault. Treating women like shit is okay all over the world and that’s got to end. We’ve got to keep speaking out to counter that attitudes and belief.
The explosion of news stories and dialogue that’s occurred this week around the Strauss-Kahn alleged attempted rape and the way it is shedding light on sexual abuse by powerful people only happened because his alleged victim spoke out and reported it. While we may not each get that kind of worldwide response when we speak out, unless our harassers/abuser is similarly very powerful, we can still make a difference and help create incremental change by telling our stories, reporting illegal abuse, and believing others who speak out.
