Empowering sexual assault survivors
Women across the globe are coming forward with accounts of their own experiences of being sexually assaulted. Especially in the United States, more are speaking out against those who assaulted them in the past, refusing to stay silent anymore despite the clear power dynamics at play. It’s often difficult to speak out against someone with immense influence and/or wealth, yet these allegations have encouraged others to tell their own stories.
The Washington Post recently published a story detailing the accounts of five women, supported by 30 sources, who alleged that Roy Moore, the Republican nominee in the special election for an Alabama Senate seat, pursued them romantically and engaged in sexual contact with them while they were teenagers. In the days since the publication of the story, two more women have come forward with similar allegations against Moore.
The most serious of those allegations is from Leigh Corfman, who says that Moore pursued and sexually assaulted her when she was 14. Instead of directly denying the allegations or accepting responsibility for his actions, Moore admits to dating young women, but denies any wrongdoing on his part. While it’s important for our legal system to recognize Moore as innocent until proven guilty, the overwhelming amount of evidence indicates that these allegations should be taken seriously.
Despite this evidence, Moore is still a candidate running for Congress. We cannot continue to allow those who perpetuate a culture of disrespect toward and even violence against women to sidestep all responsibility, let alone represent the citizens of this country in Congress.
On the other side of the political aisle, Senator Al Franken (D-MN) has been accused by four women of non-consensual touching. Leeann Tweeden, a news anchor in Los Angeles, accused Franken of kissing her without her consent on a United Service Organizations tour in 2006, when Franken was a popular writer and comedian. Tweeden shared a photo from that tour that shows Franken appearing to grope her while she was asleep.
Franken is one of the few accused who released an attempt at a sincere apology in response to each of the allegations. To Tweeden, Franken said, “as to the photo, it was clearly intended to be funny but wasn’t. I shouldn’t have done it.” Tweeden has since accepted the apology.
It’s important to recognize inappropriate actions, but a larger step is for everyone to realize that jokes about groping another’s body or disrespecting someone’s body will never be “funny.”
Clearly, sexual harassment and assault in politics is not a partisan problem.
Amidst the outcry over these two cases of recent allegations, Congress is only now moving to make sexual harassment training mandatory for all Representatives, Senators and Congressional staffers. Currently, Congress members have the option of requiring their offices to have mandatory sexual harassment training, which speaks to the low priority our representatives have given to such an important issue.
The most recent allegations against Representative John Conyers (D-MI) have revealed that the process through which Congress’s Office of Compliance handles sexual harassment complaints is opaque, fails to sufficiently protect or defend victims and mostly functions to cover up allegations against elected officials. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand (D-NY) and Representative Jackie Speier (D-CA) introduced an act to improve the transparency and accountability of this process in the House and Senate. At the same time, however, the federal government alone is left with painful contradictions. In 1991, the Senate confirmed Clarence Thomas to the Supreme Court, albeit by a close margin, despite the allegations and testimony of Anita Hill, a former aide to Thomas who accused him of gross sexual harassment. Thomas still sits on the court today.
Most college students, born in 1995 or after, probably know about the Clinton-Lewinsky scandal, but aren’t aware that former President Bill Clinton was also accused of rape and sexual assault by three other women between his time as governor of Arkansas and his time in the White House. These allegations surfaced around the time of the impeachment proceedings. Despite his impeachment, Clinton never resigned; instead, he and finished his second term.
However, these allegations haven’t been exclusively directed at politicians. Many of us are perhaps more aware of the recent allegations against cultural and entertainment figures, like Kevin Spacey, Harvey Weinstein and Louis C. K. The allegations against Weinstein are particularly disturbing due to the number of women who have come forward and the egregious abuse of power.
C.K also abused his power as a gatekeeper in the comedy industry. But his behavior is additionally troublesome, given that his comedy, includes jokes about his “sexual perversion” and reflects his alleged harassment of women. C.K. faces much less severe consequences compared to those facing sexual assault charges, but his comments still contribute to a culture that normalizes sexual harassment. No one should have to constantly fear being taken advantage of.
We’re moving in a positive direction by recognizing and supporting survivors of sexual assault, but there’s still work to be done. As a generation, we need to define our standards. It is not okay to objectify anyone else. It is not okay to touch someone without their explicit permission and earnest agreement. It is not okay to make someone else feel uncomfortable by making demeaning sexual jokes or jokes about non-consensual sexual contact.
We cannot let someone escape the consequences of doing any one of these inappropriate actions purely because of their power. The system is already starting to break apart these power dynamics by responding to those who commit sexual misconduct. Spacey was suspended from “House of Cards.” C.K. faces backlash from media organizations and a cancelled movie release. More recently, Charlie Rose was suspended by both CBS and PBS while he faces sexual harassment allegations from eight women.
The current culture that accepts disrespect and misconduct will only be reformed if we redefine our expectations. It is our responsibility to voice our outrage at those who objectify others without consequence. We hope these small steps will encourage more to speak out against wrongdoings and stop allowing victims to be silenced.
– The Hawk Staff