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Female Journalists Face Threat Of Sexual Violence

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  • Female Journalists Face Threat Of Sexual Violence

    FEMALE JOURNALISTS FACE THREAT OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE
    By AMY TEIBEL

    Washington Post
    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2011/02/28/AR2011022802110.html
    Feb 28 2011

    JERUSALEM -- The sexual assault on CBS correspondent Lara Logan
    in Egypt has trained a spotlight on the danger - ever-present but
    little-discussed - facing female journalists in zones of upheaval.

    Complicating matters, some say, is a fear that employers will shut
    them out of choice assignments if they draw attention to the problem.

    Female journalists say the threat of sexual violence is commonplace
    in the world's trouble spots, where the combination of conflict and
    conservative cultural norms often creates a tense and unpleasant
    working environment. Trouble can begin with an opportune grope and
    deteriorate into physical assault or worse.

    Photojournalist Alexandra Avakian said she fended off an attempted
    rape by a commander she had known for years in Nagorno-Karabakh,
    the enclave fought over by Armenians and Azerbaijanis.

    "It was very difficult, but I got my hand on the door handle of his
    four-wheel drive, opened it and slipped out from under him," Avakian,
    who has worked extensively with the National Geographic Society since
    1995, recounted in an e-mail.

    "He told me to get back in the car and drove like a madman back to
    his base, but he didn't touch me again," said Avakian, whose work
    has taken her all over the globe.

    Other female journalists spoke of sexually charged talk and groping.

    Sometimes a woman working in a closed, sexually repressive society
    will even be assaulted by male colleagues who misinterpret social
    signals. When covering a conflict, a female journalist is often the
    only woman around.

    "Whenever there is trouble and difficulties, women tend to be
    kept away, and as a corespondent you tend to go to these places,"
    said Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, National Public Radio's Jerusalem-based
    correspondent, who has covered Kosovo, Haiti, Iraq, Colombia, Mexico,
    Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza and Egypt.

    "Violence often has a sexual tinge to it, especially when you're
    surrounded by young men hopped up on the difficult situation they
    face," she said. "If one person gets away with it, all of a sudden
    you have dozens of hands on you."

    Women in Egypt had reported that Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the
    protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, had been free of the
    groping and leering endemic in the country. Then, on Feb. 11, Logan
    was sexually assaulted and beaten on the final night of the 18-day
    revolt. The Associated Press does not name victims of sexual assault
    unless they agree to be identified.

    Middle East-based photojournalist Heidi Levine of the French photo
    agency Sipa Press, who covered the protests in the square, said the
    situation quickly deteriorated as it became clear Mubarak was gone.

    "All of a sudden, the chaos somehow gave permission to everybody
    to grab," said Levine, who has worked in Iraq, the Palestinian
    territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Egypt.

    Traveling alone anywhere makes a woman vulnerable to attack. "I've
    often reflected on how lucky I am that I haven't been raped," wrote
    photographer Kate Brooks in an e-mail.

    Many female journalists see plenty of threats in large groups,
    where men can molest women without easily being identified and are
    emboldened by seeing others do it.

    Paula Bronstein, senior staff photographer at Getty Images, said she's
    had "so many experiences that deal with ... groping and grabbing, just
    complete disrespect for a woman's body." She said it even happened
    at the funeral of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank.

    Harassment and assault are often an unwanted byproduct of conservative
    mores that keep women out of the public eye. Women on the streets -
    especially unchaperoned, foreign women with less recourse to punish
    offenders - are viewed as fair game.

    Los Angeles Times correspondent Laura King, based in Afghanistan,
    says her most frightening experience was in the Balkans, where the
    sexual menace "would be alcohol-fueled." She did not elaborate.

    Female journalists reported that sometimes they will not venture out
    alone, and will have ready access to transport and a native speaker
    at hand. If they assess a situation might be too dangerous, they will
    leave the scene.

    The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has sparse data
    on sexual violence against journalists, but is updating its security
    handbook to address the issue, said Joel Simon, its executive director.

    Female journalists say they often do not make a big deal of the sexual
    menace, knowing it comes with the territory, but also fearful that
    complaining could create trouble for them with their bosses.

    Many had warm words for editors who worry about their safety but
    do not balk at sending them on dangerous assignments. But some said
    they feared bosses would hold it against them if they made too much
    of the sexual assaults.

    "We wouldn't want to draw attention to ourselves as females going
    off to a war zone and creating more problems out of fear we wouldn't
    be able to be sent out on an assignment," said Levine, the Sipa
    photographer.

    With the assault on Logan drawing so much attention to the risk of
    sexual attack, "maybe now I would be more comfortable about discussing
    it than I would have in the past," she said.

    Douglas Jehl, the foreign editor at The Washington Post, said
    "the security of all of our foreign correspondents is of paramount
    importance to the Post and is a major consideration in all coverage
    decisions, regardless of gender." He did not elaborate.

    Avakian said she hoped the Logan assault would not backfire against
    women.

    "I hope that it will serve to raise awareness of the challenges faced
    by women journalists, and not used as an excuse not to send women to
    cover conflict," she said.




    From: A. Papazian
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