We recently had a fire drill at Refugee Resettlement. This was the first fire drill since I started working there in August of last year. This drill taught me that after ten months of working with refugees, I still assume a few things I should not (or maybe a lot of things).
I did not realize that the clients who were in my office during the fire drill wouldn’t know to leave the building (but really, why would they know what it was and what to do?). I our defense (mine and the client’s), no actual alarm was going off--someone was blowing a whistle. After the person blowing the whistle was someone else saying “this is a fire drill.”
I got up to leave the room, but my clients did not. I stepped into the hall and was about to start walking to the door, but then realize my clients were still sitting in my office. I had to tell them a couple of times that we had to leave the building before they got up and followed me to the hall.
Had there been an actual fire alarm going off, I would have known what to do, but would my clients? And if I simply assumed they knew what a fire drill was, what else am I still assuming after ten months?
Sunday, June 26, 2011
Tuesday, June 7, 2011
Victim Blaming in Reporting on Sexual Crimes Against Women
There always seems to be some kind of sex scandal going on with politicians whether, it's affairs or prostitutes or lewd photo sharing. A you probably know, a few weeks ago Dominique Strauss-Kahn the French chief of IMF was accused of molesting a housekeeper at the hotel where he was staying. This may be the start of a new trend: on May 29th , an Egyptian bank executive, Abdel Salam Omar was also accused of molesting a housekeeper in his hotel room.
The media loves these types of stories and I generally like to ignore them, but of some reason while I was at the gym last week I watched the CNN report on the latest hotel indecent. Of course it concerns me that this type of thing happens, but what really caught my attention was how the media covered it.
While the little bit I heard about the first of these two events focused on Strauss-Kahn, his questionable past, and how this would cost him politically. The CNN report I saw on the more recent even focused on the housekeeper (though they kept referring to her as the “maid”).
Apparently, Omar called room service to bring him tissues, and when the housekeeper brought them he tried to molest her. The reporter said something along the lines of “it isn't clear why she went into the room in the first place, but when she did he shut the door, blocking her escape” (read: she should have known better and did something wrong; therefore, she holds some of the blame for what happened to her).
Victim blaming is an old favorite when it comes to assault, molestation, and rape—as well as many other crimes, but especially those perpetrated against women (why was she out alone at night? She shouldn't wear such a short skirt. She was asking for it by showing so much skin and flirting so much. And on and on and on, I think we all know how a lot more similar lines).
The next part of the report said that the housekeeper immediately reported the attack to her supervisor who told her to report it again in the morning, which she did. The supervisor is now under suspension (why not fired?). As the CNN report said, this delay could compromise potential physical evidence. It was probably an attempt to brush off the indecent or protect the hotel from bad press, or maybe the supervisor didn't believe the woman as happens so often in cases of sexual assault and rape or maybe he didn't see it as that big or a deal.
The reporter then went on to ask why, if these incidents are so common, don't they get reported more? The answer they came up with was that many hotel housekeepers are immigrants and are afraid to say anything. I believe that is probably a big part of the answer since it's true that many (if not most) housekeeping jobs in large cities are held by immigrants (many, many of the female clients at Refugee Resettlement work as housekeepers at various hotels in the greater Buffalo area). I would be afraid to report an assault too if I didn't feel confident in my English and was afraid to lose my job that wasn't easy to get in the first place. Many immigrants are also often unaware of their rights.
However, I think it's more than the simple story of a scared immigrant. Who will believe you? Maybe not your supervisor who you report it to. If he or she does believe you, then what will you have to do? I going to the police is scary, overwhelming, and a violation of its own kind. Then, what if you have to go to court with people scrutinizing you and questioning if you were really molested, raped, or assaulted (that's not to say that men and women accused of this type or crime are always guilty, but it's an extremely difficult thing for a victim to go through). And then there is the victim blaming again. Also, victim blaming is often internalized so victims come to believe that what happened to them actually is their fault. Even all of these things are still a simplified, short version of the long list of things that could keep a victim from reporting a crime.
That was basically the whole CNN report and the whole thing stunk of sexism and victim blaming—it's the kind of news story I've heard lots of times before, but it never stops angering me. The way news stories are reported on is important and has a huge effect on how the consumers of media feel about the events and the larger issues they're related to. For a person who hasn't thought about what victim blaming is or the implications of language (“maid” vs. “housekeeper”), this type of reporting sends a strong sexist message that women are to blame when they're assaulted or raped and that keeps the focus off their perpetrators, who are usually men. This type of message contributes to the attitudes that allow these assaults to happen and contributes to the low rates of reporting when it comes to sexual assault and rape.
So, why did the housekeeper go into Abdel Omar's room? Answer: It doesn't matter. No one should ever be molested or assaulted or raped. Period.
The media loves these types of stories and I generally like to ignore them, but of some reason while I was at the gym last week I watched the CNN report on the latest hotel indecent. Of course it concerns me that this type of thing happens, but what really caught my attention was how the media covered it.
While the little bit I heard about the first of these two events focused on Strauss-Kahn, his questionable past, and how this would cost him politically. The CNN report I saw on the more recent even focused on the housekeeper (though they kept referring to her as the “maid”).
Apparently, Omar called room service to bring him tissues, and when the housekeeper brought them he tried to molest her. The reporter said something along the lines of “it isn't clear why she went into the room in the first place, but when she did he shut the door, blocking her escape” (read: she should have known better and did something wrong; therefore, she holds some of the blame for what happened to her).
Victim blaming is an old favorite when it comes to assault, molestation, and rape—as well as many other crimes, but especially those perpetrated against women (why was she out alone at night? She shouldn't wear such a short skirt. She was asking for it by showing so much skin and flirting so much. And on and on and on, I think we all know how a lot more similar lines).
The next part of the report said that the housekeeper immediately reported the attack to her supervisor who told her to report it again in the morning, which she did. The supervisor is now under suspension (why not fired?). As the CNN report said, this delay could compromise potential physical evidence. It was probably an attempt to brush off the indecent or protect the hotel from bad press, or maybe the supervisor didn't believe the woman as happens so often in cases of sexual assault and rape or maybe he didn't see it as that big or a deal.
The reporter then went on to ask why, if these incidents are so common, don't they get reported more? The answer they came up with was that many hotel housekeepers are immigrants and are afraid to say anything. I believe that is probably a big part of the answer since it's true that many (if not most) housekeeping jobs in large cities are held by immigrants (many, many of the female clients at Refugee Resettlement work as housekeepers at various hotels in the greater Buffalo area). I would be afraid to report an assault too if I didn't feel confident in my English and was afraid to lose my job that wasn't easy to get in the first place. Many immigrants are also often unaware of their rights.
However, I think it's more than the simple story of a scared immigrant. Who will believe you? Maybe not your supervisor who you report it to. If he or she does believe you, then what will you have to do? I going to the police is scary, overwhelming, and a violation of its own kind. Then, what if you have to go to court with people scrutinizing you and questioning if you were really molested, raped, or assaulted (that's not to say that men and women accused of this type or crime are always guilty, but it's an extremely difficult thing for a victim to go through). And then there is the victim blaming again. Also, victim blaming is often internalized so victims come to believe that what happened to them actually is their fault. Even all of these things are still a simplified, short version of the long list of things that could keep a victim from reporting a crime.
That was basically the whole CNN report and the whole thing stunk of sexism and victim blaming—it's the kind of news story I've heard lots of times before, but it never stops angering me. The way news stories are reported on is important and has a huge effect on how the consumers of media feel about the events and the larger issues they're related to. For a person who hasn't thought about what victim blaming is or the implications of language (“maid” vs. “housekeeper”), this type of reporting sends a strong sexist message that women are to blame when they're assaulted or raped and that keeps the focus off their perpetrators, who are usually men. This type of message contributes to the attitudes that allow these assaults to happen and contributes to the low rates of reporting when it comes to sexual assault and rape.
So, why did the housekeeper go into Abdel Omar's room? Answer: It doesn't matter. No one should ever be molested or assaulted or raped. Period.
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