Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Women's Views on News

Women's Views on News

Launch of campaign protesting dinner event with rapist Mike Tyson

Posted: 23 Jul 2012 05:55 AM PDT

Sarah Cheverton
WVoN co-editor and
Aurora New Dawn Writer in Residence

A service working with victims and survivors of domestic and sexual violence has launched a campaign calling for the cancellation of a VIP dinner event with convicted rapist Mike Tyson to be held at Portsmouth Guildhall, Hampshire.

Tyson was convicted for six years in 1992 after raping an 18 year old woman, but served only three years.

His attitudes and behaviour towards women have been called into question many times, before and since, including as described in a recent article by Mary Elizabeth Williams and during a highly offensive commentary (Trigger Warning) last year featuring Tyson’s opinions on Sarah Palin’s love life.

Initial advertising for the event – scheduled for October – on the Guildhall’s website drew attention to Tyson’s “controversial behaviour both inside and outside the ring.”

Following protests, this sentence was removed and a new webpage for the event published, but the original page still remains live.

The advertising appears to nod towards Tyson’s continued notoriety, resulting not only from his career as a heavyweight boxer but also from his outspoken views, attitudes and past actions towards women.

Tyson’s reputation as a misogynist was also raised in his trial – interestingly enough by his own defence counsel, who used what is known as the ‘trash defence’.

According to a report from People magazine following Tyson’s conviction in 1992, he was portrayed by his own defence team as “a crude-mannered punk who paws, fondles and gropes every woman he sees.”

In 2003, during an interview with Fox News’ Greta Van Susteren, Tyson described the woman he raped as “a lying, reptilian, monstrous, young lady. I just hate her guts. She put me in that state where, I don’t know, I really wish I did know. Now I really do want to rape her and her mama.”

Aurora New Dawn, a Hampshire-based advocacy and campaign organisation, has launched an online petition calling on the operators of Portsmouth Guildhall to cancel the event.

“By inviting a convicted rapist to speak at one of the leading venues in Portsmouth the Guildhall goes against the hard work that the city has undertaken to ensure that survivors of rape feel valued, safe and believed,” states the petition.

It goes on to point out that: “Fewer than 6% of rapists are convicted for their offence. Victims and survivors struggle to be believed and – even when there is a conviction, as in this case – are still confronted with an organisation choosing to champion a rapist.”

Responding to the online petition, manager of Portsmouth Guildhall, Andy Grays said:

“The Guildhall works with many promoters who hire the venue to put on a wide variety of concerts, some of whom feature controversial artists.

“Within reason our position must remain neutral otherwise we start to go down a path which requires a subjective view of the content of every artist that puts on a concert at the venue.

“I certainly recognise and understand your position and I have asked the promoter to tone down the description of Mike Tyson, and you should see this reflected on our website.”

The petition is being promoted this week by the Change.org campaign team and is circulating widely in women’s rights networks, including British author and broadcaster Bidisha, who has also written for us here at WVoN.

Rape Crisis has also condemned the event, warning it sends a message that “money speaks louder than humanity.”

Christina Diamandopoulos of Rape Crisis said “Any offender convicted of sexual violence cannot be counted a legend or hero in any sense without diminishing the importance and seriousness of rape and sexual assault.

“The message to survivors and to women being victimised, at present, is that ‘society does not think you are important and your suffering is not important. It may have the effect of silencing women or deterring them from coming forward.”

You can sign the online petition here.

New film highlights extent of sexual violence in Malawi

Posted: 23 Jul 2012 04:00 AM PDT

Catherine Scott
WVoN co-editor 

Theresa Malila, founder of Somebody Cares Ministries, works with churches in Malawi to educate people about the problem of gender-based violence, and encourage community leaders to take a strong stance and help to end it.

Malila is spreading her message via a powerful short film, which tells the harrowing tale of Rose, a Malawian woman who was raped at knifepoint and became HIV-positive as a result. A 2004 study showed that 55% of Malawian women had been raped or forced to have sex.

The film also looks at the failure to detect child sexual abuse because the perpetrators are protected by the community.

Malila says during the film,”When I see the children that are being raped, the age groups, I cannot believe it…I ask myself, does God see this?”.

She has brought together 250 villages and 1000 churches in Malawi, focusing on the need for community improvement.

Her goals include better resources for sexual assault survivors, improved medical services and awareness surrounding HIV, and strategies to empower women, such as microfinance loans for starting small businesses.

Malila’s work is endorsed by Tearfund, a Christian charity which last year launched a report called Silent No More with the Archbishop of Canterbury. The report looked at how the global church can use its platform to address the worldwide problem of sexual violence.

Malila is committed to “raise an army that will speak out, that will not be silent.”

Iran warns star actresses to cover up when abroad

Posted: 23 Jul 2012 02:30 AM PDT

Kirstie Imber
WVoN co-editor

Iranian actresses who fail to follow strict Islamic dress codes when attending foreign award ceremonies could be banned from travelling abroad, the country's attorney general has warned.

Although the comments were not aimed at specific actresses, it is thought that the official warning referred to rising stars such as Leila Hatami, who featured in the internationally acclaimed film "A Separation" which won multiple awards this year including an Oscar for best foreign film.

Gholam Hossein Mohseni-Ejei, a former intelligence minister, suggested that violating religious rules by leaving their heads uncovered or wearing inappropriate clothing could derail their movie careers.

According to reports, Mohseni-Ejej claimed that:

“Regarding this issue, a few people are banned from leaving the country. These people have been invited abroad to take part in a ceremony and under the pretext of receiving an award. Then they have been ensnared in certain people’s traps.

“Those people, after taking pictures of their baits, forced them to undertake activities and based on the photographs, they have blackmailed their victims and taken them to a place where they shouldn’t. Of course, some of these people, after returning to Iran, are banned from leaving the country.”

Just last month Hatami was criticised by Iran’s deputy police chief, Bahman Kargar, for her outfit and for shaking hands with men at the Cannes film festival. The actress was pictured wearing a headscarf and a long-skirt, yet she wore full make-up and her neck was obviously exposed.

“Where does this behaviour stand in the revolution we carried out?” asked Kargar, who compared her unfavourably to a Bosnian-Muslim actress at the ceremony.

Whilst it is not yet clear whether the authorities will impose a travel ban on Hatami, reports suggest that the actress will receive the same treatment as Golshifteh Farahani, who caused controversy when she acted partly unveiled in the Hollywood film "Body of Lies" with Leonardo Di Caprio in 2008.

Farahani also sparked criticism when she left Iran for Paris and subsequently posed naked in the magazine Le Figaro, as a protest against Islamic restrictions on women’s dress. The authorities later warned her she was no longer welcome in Iran (see WVoN story).

The Islamic hijab (dress code) is enforced by law in Iran, and requires women to cover their heads with a headscarf and wear loose clothing when out in public.

Questions over alleged sex trafficking in Australian mining towns

Posted: 23 Jul 2012 01:00 AM PDT

Laura Bridgestock
WVoN co-editor

Police in Australia have raised concerns that the country's mining towns are being increasingly targeted by sex traffickers.

In particular, they say young women from south east Asia are being exploited.

Paul Biggin, the police district inspector for the Mount Isa region of Queensland, said: "They are working on a fly-in, fly-out basis, two weeks here, two weeks in the next town and so on.

"They are being advertised as available in the local newspapers, and they are coerced or threatened into doing it."

However, the Scarlet Alliance, which represents sex workers in Australia, says the problem has been exaggerated.

The organisation's president, Elena Jeffreys, said: "Australia’s anti-trafficking laws have resulted in thousands of raids, resources devoted to surveillance and investigations, but have found very little evidence of trafficking."

Biggin has admitted that pinning down numbers is very difficult, largely because many trafficked women are unwilling to speak to the police. He said this is sometimes because of previous negative experience with the authorities, in other countries.

He added: "Whenever we have an operation to target them, they come into the station and you can see that they are being controlled mentally and physically and it’s very difficult to get them to open up to authority and enable us to help them.”

Prostitution itself is not illegal in Australia, but individual Australian states have laws regarding pimping and brothels.

Inspector Biggin has just been selected for the Donald Mackay Churchill Fellowship, a grant awarded for research in the field of combatting organised crime. He will use the award to visit other countries to see how sex trafficking is being tackled elsewhere.