According to Gateway Pundit, Jim Hoft, "Lara Logan is lucky she's alive. Her liberal belief system almost got her killed on Friday. This talented reporter will never be the same."
I almost spilled my coffee when I read this on Media Matters this morning. Thinking it must be a mistake, I read on:
Why did this attractive blonde female reporter wander into Tahrir Square last Friday? Why would she think this was a good idea? Did she not see the violence in the square the last three weeks? Did she not see the rock throwing? Did she miss the camels? What was she thinking?
Well, Jim, here's a newsflash: this is sexist BS, pure and simple. Lara Logan didn't wander. She wasn't in Tahrir Square because she took a wrong turn. She knew exactly where she was and why. Lara Logan was in the square on purpose, covering the revolution in Egypt because IT'S HER JOB. What in the world does attractive and blonde have to do with it? Are you suggesting that she was inviting rape because she is an attractive blonde? Did anyone suggest that Anderson Cooper was attacked repeatedly in Cairo because he is handsome or that Google executive, Wael Ghonim, was kidnapped because he is young and "cute"?
I am tall, blonde and the hardworking founder of Mountain2Mountain, a nonprofit organization working to advance gender equity in Afghanistan and create opportunity for woman and girls. Some may say that I am attractive.
I read most of the online commentary and media coverage about my work in Afghanistan and the comment "tall and blonde" is a frequent lead to stories about me. I get it. I'm tall and blonde, and I stand out in Afghanistan. Does this make me, or Lara Logan, ineffective at what we do? Does it mean we shouldn't go about our work because of how we look? Judge us on the work we do, not on what we look like.
Even more despicable is your use of a woman's attractiveness as an excuse for sexual assault. My own rape and assault was a long time ago, very few people knew about it, and I wasn't a public figure like Lara. Luckily for me, years later, when I did talk about it publicly, it was not front-page news. You should not castigate Lara Logan because she's an "attractive blonde female reporter." She is a reporter who, while heroically covering one of the most important events of the decade, was the victim of a terrible crime. Period.
The other thing that disturbs me about the coverage is pinning the attack on culture. The Daily Beast article states: "Logan faced an ugly side of Egypt that Egyptian and foreign women here are all too familiar--and fed up--with." I can only imagine how the Fox News coverage will spin this into the Islamaphobia-sphere.
Women all over the world are facing the "ugly side" of culture, and we are fed up with it. Congolese women are raped as weapons of war and as a means to frighten and control them. Afghan women are jailed or ostracized for being raped and brutalized and, to add insult to injury, often victimized and assaulted inside the prison by male guards. Women are raped systematically in war zones and developing countries for a variety of reasons that dehumanize them.
But let's not forget what happens right here at home.
My own rape was in Minnesota. My sister's was in Colorado. Every two minutes, someone in the United States is sexually assaulted. That's 1 in 6 women. While rape victims are not routinely jailed as they are in some countries, neither are their attackers. The Rape, Abuse and Incest National Network (RAINN) estimates that only 6% of rapists will ever spend a day in jail.
News came out this week that Donald Rumsfeld and Robert Gates are being sued over their failure to deal with the cases of rape and sexual assault in our own military. A group of American servicemen and women accuse the two of failing "to take reasonable steps to prevent plaintiffs from being repeatedly raped, sexually assaulted and sexually harassed by federal military personnel."
Sexual assault is not a problem that belongs only to the Middle East, the developing world and war zones. This is a systemic problem that spans the globe, including our own backyard. It is rooted in how we value women. How do you change perceptions of value and respect? Things will never change until violence against women moves from a women's right issue to a human rights issue that EVERYONE gets behind. Using World Bank data for 2008, there were 2,982,865,203 women of all ages; approximately 44.3% of the total world population. Nearly 3 billion mothers, daughters, sisters, and friends.
Recently, Ben Affleck said, "As long as violence against women, sexually or otherwise, remains exclusively a women's issue, it will always be an issue. We men must own this and we must recognize it as vital to our own survival. And we must help our brothers see it as such."
Rape is a weapon of control and of power. Until we all stand up and take a hard look at the realities of perception, accusation, and systematic dehumanization that occur all around us, this "problem" will never be resolved.
Jim. You owe Lara Logan an apology. And another three billion for every women in the world.
Follow Shannon Galpin on Twitter: www.twitter.com/sgalpin
I'm glad that this article pointed out the facts of the worldwide problem of violence against women. I agree that women should be able to go anywhere and do anything, but that is not reality. Every woman must make her own choices about personal safety (just as Lara Logan did). What is safe to one woman may not be to another. We need to stay informed, do research, and follow our own instincts. Blessing to those brave enough to go where I would not go. Let us never stop speaking up and never give up until this crime is gone forever.
"Rape is a weapon of control and of power" and so is the false accusing of rape. What angers me about Affleck and the rest is that they ignore when women lie about rape, they ignore when women themselves are the abusers,it's rarely covered when women are the sexual predators in our schools..equal rights means equal treatment and equal coverage.
I won't argue with that, but it's rather a tangent here and takes away from the very important point that the writer is trying to make. In the specific piece the blog writer is referencing here, Jim Hoft is not mentioning Logan's blondeness and attractiveness because he cares about her more. Rather, he is directly connecting it to the sexual violence that was perpetrated on her.
And therefore, the writer has every right to take him to task, and ask: "What in the world does attractive and blonde have to do with it?"
Having said that I can also say that if this women was black and unattractive the media would not be covering the story as much if at all. That of course is wrong, but that is how the world works. Deny it and you see the world through white not rose colored glasses.
You knew what my general point was, didn't you?
Do you honestly think or believe that the media coverage over this story would have been similar or comparable if Lara Logan had been a kinky short-trimmed haired black female reporter instead of the "blonde attractive" reporter that she is?
I don't ask this to justify in any way what happened to her, nor to justify the way she was depicted in those media reports you cite.
I am only pointing this out to elucidate the fact that in our society people are first and foremost primarily identified and categorized on the basis of their looks and appearance.
And a large determinant of how we look is race.
And as it happens not all races can qualify under the "blonde" and consequently or ultimately "attractive" moniker.
Again, I'm not saying it's right. It just happens to be how society works.
You asked what does "blonde" have to do with it?
Well watch any episode of Nancy Grace's show or other missing person reports and see how many young attractive "blonde" blue-eyed or just basic white missing kids or women are profiled versus black, latino or other minorities who live in areas of far greater risk and then you might begin to understand what "blonde" has to do with it.
It's always amusing to minorities when white people get upset over some other white person (indirectly) pointing out the fact that they (white people) actually matter more in society, primarily because of their race.
Women all over the world are facing the "ugly side" of culture, and we are fed up with it. "
very well-said. thank you.
There are at least one statistic and one quote without identified sources and/or links. The two I'm referring to are: "Using World Bank data for 2008...4.3% of the total world population." and "Recently, Ben Affleck said...see it as such." ". PLEASE update this blog post with the sources if possible; it would strengthen the piece (and enable confidence in quoting these sections).
To Shannon:
EXCELLENT article, thank you!
To Everyone:
I agree 100% that rape is a human issue. As we discuss, let's remember that Lara Logan is one face, one example of an enormous, systematic problem, and keep the focus on RAPE - why, how our society/our justice system/individuals in our society (and the world) reacts, and what we can do about it.
It's important to recognize that men are also victims of rape, that women are also rapists, that rapes in which victim/rapist are of the same gender do occur (even among women). Rape also has an affect beyond the victim. The family/friends, etc. of the victim suffer, and fear of attack affects many of us. Also important to remember that women are more likely to be attacked by someone they know. (sources: sas.gmu.edu/brochures/WorldStats2005.pdf ; http://www.rainn.org/statistics )
The POSSIBILITY of being RAPED or otherwise ATTACKED is something I face every day. But I REFUSE to allow fear to dictate my life.
BRILLIANT!
If I fail to wear a seat belt, do I "invite" a traffic fatality? Well no, not really. I'm taking a risk by not protecting myself, but it's not as if I WANT to die in a traffic accident.
Very few (if any) people are attributing any of the blame for what happened to Ms. Logan. What some are doing is suggesting that the CBS staff in charge of assigning and protecting it's reporters learn the following equation:
Stunningly gorgeous reporter + 200 unruly & rowdy males = TROUBLE
Again that is not Ms. Logan's fault. It is the fault of mob insanity, a culture degrading to & oppressive of women, and male biology....all combined.
Is it "sexist" to suggest that additional measures be taken to protect a woman in certain circumstances? Maybe. But, it's also common sense.
Ugh.