~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WASH RAG published by Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available on-line ASAP at http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/index8 along with earlier issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 7, Number 2 April, 1999 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Anita Award Goes to Walker, Texas Ranger Around the USA Around The World Around Our Schools Around South Dakota Around inside my head ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ANITA AWARD GOES TO WALKER, TEXAS RANGER ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Women Against Sexual Harassment is pleased to present the Anita Award to WALKER, TEXAS RANGER. The exact wording of the award is: This certificate is presented to Chuck Norris and the actors and producers of WALKER, TEXAS RANGER in recognition of their outstanding programming with respect to issues concerning the empowerment of women, children, the handicapped, minorities and the poor. On the surface, WALKER, TEXAS RANGER seems to be a macho series about violent men. Indeed, there is quite a lot of violence in the programming, since the star of the series, Chuck Norris, is a former world karate champion. But in truth, most of the violence is directed towards individuals who have grossly violated the rights of their victims. No act of violence against an innocent person ever goes unpunished. There are several levels of appreciation I have found for this series. First, I found that Walker and those associated with him are continuously encouraging victims to empower themselves by learning self-protection, and by associating with others who have been similarly mistreated by their abusers. Several installments concern a support group for victims of spouse abuse which Assistant District Attorney Alexandra Cahill, played by Sharee Wilson, has started, and how they are able to play a part in stopping their abusers from further victimizing them. A woman in a non-traditional profession (construction) who tries to blow the whistle when she sees substandard practices is stalked and harassed by her employer, and Walker and his associates help her out. Another is being stalked by an ex-husband, and the charges are investigated and the perpetrator is apprehended and punished. The poor are helped to get jobs and youth in trouble with the law are put into a boot camp where they are taught discipline. Youth at risk go camping and backpacking with plenty of encouragement and attention from Walker and his associates. Even a child pornographer is caught and his victim released. This does not mean that wealthy people are to be victimized, as in some programs, they have also been protected. But this is not at the expense of the disadvantaged. On another level, I found it laudatory that the series has such a diverse group of major players. Walker is a part Cherokee Native American, Alex Cahill is white middle class, James Trivet, a former Dallas Cowboys Quarterback, played by Clarence Gilyard, is black, and C. D. Parker, played by Nobel Willingham, is a retired Texas Ranger who occasionally helps out in a pinch, and runs a bar where they celebrate all of their victories. Add to that a Mexican American rookie ranger, some Oriental clients, and you have an American hodge-podge of nationalities that works. This may surprise some, but I found it laudatory that the bad guys were also diverse, including not only whites, but women, Orientals, and some Blacks, Native Americans, and Hispanics, although the tendency is to depict them as being forced to cooperate with those in charge or to have complied because they could benefit financially. The major players work together, occasionally quarrel, play practical jokes on one another, and interact in generally positive ways. Not that they don't disagree, but when they do, they keep communicating until they can come to a mutual agreement. In fact, the conflict resolution in this series is something that children and adults alike can benefit from viewing. Even if Trivet is the butt of a practical joke, he doesn't come out of it with both guns blazing, but in the end, they are all still friends, and we know that even a former Quarterback for the Dallas Cowboys and a Texas Ranger can take a joke. Occasionally, Walker and a friend that runs a karate school, get into the ring and compete in order to work off frustrations. Their power is always shown to be under control and to be used to help others, not to brutalize and manipulate them. In fact, this is yet another level at which I can appreciate this series. Walker and the men he works with do not have to control and brutalize others (including women and children) in order to express their masculinity. They are able to do so very effectively by controlling their strength and using it in socially positive ways. I think that both the students who were responsible for the killing in Littleton and those that teased and tormented them until they did it would have benefited from watching them express their masculinity in ways that do not harm others. I have been impressed that Alex Cahill has a power position and is respected by her associates. Neither does she pull rank on Walker and the others, nor do they trivialize her position. Their relationship would be one that any mother would like to see her daughter watching. At times she is active in the capture of criminals. At others, she is rescued as a helpless victim. In fact, at times some of the men in the series get in over their heads and have to be rescued as well. It is no shame to ask for help when you need it. In a number of episodes, Walker and his associates are shown to be active in community service projects, feeding the poor on Thanksgiving, organizing youth participation in camping and hiking, women spouse abuse victims in support groups, etc. That these individuals care about the people they are sworn to protect is understood. They respect the poorest of the poor, getting tips on criminal activity not only from working people, but from bums and the mentally retarded. There is a spin-off of this series, SONS OF THUNDER, and it is hoped (and it seems to be) that this series will continue to depict a society in which individuals of diverse backgrounds interact in positive ways to protect those who often are unable to protect themselves against overwhelming violence from criminals, whose only interest is the exploitation of the helpless in order to amass huge amounts of resources for their own enrichment. A recent episode depicted them taking on a case with no hope of being paid, but ending up with a large payoff because the case helped the government catch a criminal with a price on his head. Perhaps it is a little bit too good to be true, but it does depict a society we would like to at least recognize with our award. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Around the USA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AAUW's OUTLOOK for the spring of 1999 contained a delightful article about Ruth Bader Ginsberg, "The High Court's Advocate for Women." Justice Ginsberg grew up in Brooklyn, New York. She attended Cornell University, and married her husband Martin, who also was a law student there, on graduation. She attended Harvard Law School, then Columbia Law School at a time when both the student bodies were almost exclusively male. When she graduated in 1960, she was refused by the top Manhattan law firms. She was also refused for a clerkship in the Supreme Court by Felix Frankfurter, who is quoted as saying that he "just wasn't ready to hire a woman." Today, he would find himself in court in a discrimination suit for saying the same thing, but in the '60's, that was an acceptable comment. In 1963, she took a teaching post at Rutgers University, only the second law school teaching post in the country to go to a woman. She took a sex discrimination suit for the ACLU in 1970. It was Reed vs. Reed, which is known as a turning point in the history of declaring differential treatment of women and men unconstitutional. It used the 14th amendment to declare that its Equal Protection Clause protected women's rights. She then became the director of the ACLU's Women's Rights Project. She argued six cases between 1972 and 1980. She used male plaintiffs to prove that the way the laws were being interpreted hurt men as well as women. After 13 years on the U. S. Court of Appeals, she was appointed to the Supreme Court by -- guess who -- Bill Clinton. Maybe this is all that Whitewater and Monica Lewinski were ever about! As Justice Ginsberg, Ruth Bader Ginsberg authored the 1996 ruling of the Supreme court that opened the Virginia Military Institute to women. Some say, she may be the successor to Chief Justice William Renquist. I would like to repeat here her quote from OUTLOOK: I remain an advocate of the Equal Rights Amendment . . . because I have a daughter and a granddaughter . . . I would like the legislature of this country and of all the states to stand up and say, 'We know what that history was in the nineteenth century, and we want to make a clarion call that women and men are equal before the law, just as every modern human rights document in the world does since 1970.' I'd like to see that statement made just that way in the United States Constitution." I must interject here that I have disagreed with this because I feel that an equal rights amendment would tend to discriminate women from men by saying that women are not persons but need separate protection. I believe that could be used against women in the future, much as the forced equal opportunities was after such strict guidelines were legislated. However, I must say that I am impressed by her credentials, and admit that she may be right. Perhaps I am still trying to "fit in" to the male aristocracy by not complaining too much! In the Sioux Falls Argus Leader of May 3, 1999, there was a brief announcement in a back page, that the first woman in history, Nancy Mace, is about to be the first woman to graduate from the Citadel. I can't help but comment on the difference between the front page coverage of the objections of the Citadel's administration and student body to the first women to attend, and the low-key nature of this announcement. U. S. News and World Report in its September 1998 issue, has an article about the confusion among feminists about President Clinton. To some extent, is is frustrating to have someone who has done so much to help women get into powerful positions do something as embarrassing as he did. I have felt frustration and anger about it many times, just as the women quoted in the article. They include Meg Wolitzer, Phyllis Rose, Wendy Wasserstein, Andrea Dworkin, and Deirdre Blair. The conclusion: it's all politics. I think they're right. The CBS Evening News on February 13 reported that every year, 1.9 million women are physically abused and 1 million are stalked. Those are staggering statistics. On March 2, the CBS Evening news reported that 1000 women have filed a class action suit against Merrill Lynch. They claimed that they were being paid less and got fewer referrals. Merrill Lynch claims that there was no pattern of discrimination. That was the last day for women to join the suit, so I don't expect that any legal action has taken place since then, or at least it has not come to my attention. We hear from our correspondent, Pat, in Alabama that her daughter works in a home for battered women there, and we hope that she will share some of her experiences with us in the future. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Around The World ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Nightline on ABC carried a number of very interesting programs about women in February. On February 9, they had a program about a woman of European heritage who grew up in Japan. Her name is Beate Gordon Sirota, and the name of the program was "The Only Woman in the Room." Her father was a musician working in Japan, and she grew up in Imperial Japan. By the time she was old enough to go to college, Europe was embroiled in World War II, so she was sent to the US and her parents returned to Japan on the last ship before Pearl Harbor. When the war was over, she applied to the US Government and because she spoke Japanese, she was sent to Japan immediately. She arrived in 1945 and found the country totally destroyed. McArthur intended to rebuild and democratize Japan. She was 22, and was called by General Whitney to help draft Japan's new constitution. She was put into civil rights assigned to Women's Rights, and was the only woman working on this project. She got a jeep and combed libraries for different European constitutions. She saw to it that the fundamental and social welfare rights were written into it. As a result, the constitutional rights of Japanese women are greater than of this country, at least on paper. She is a hero of Japanese women, and has been greatly honored in that country. On February 15, Nightline on ABC had a program about honor killing in Pakistan. Women suspected of the slightest immoral act are murdered by family members even if there is no proof. Shortly after this, I received a petition titled "The Taliban's War on Women," which discussed the way women are being treated in Afghanistan. This discussion was appalling, and it is hard to imagine that a government has taken such little regard against half of its citizens, even while a woman was presiding over the government. This lends some credence to my charges that some women are little more than men with tits. In order to get the power and respect that they want, they prostitute any feminist ideals and literally become men mentally. The consequence of their increasing loss of rights has resulted in an alarming increase in suicide among women. This could be signed and passed on to others to sign, and we did forward it to many addresses on our mailing list. We experienced many problems in this e-mail, tried to sort out as many as we could, but were never able to get an e-mail delivered to the originator of the petition, given as G.D.Chryssides(bleep)wlv.ac.uk. Whether this was because of a typo in the address or some glitch in the internet is not known, but we did try at least three times to send a copy of this newsletter to her, and never were able to do so without it being returned. An article in the October issue of U. S. News and World Report addressed a problem prevalent in China which seems to contradict the value in which women are held. Apparently, China's low birth rate has led to a dearth of marriageable women. To compensate for this, men have been kidnapping women and forcing them into marriages in which they are abused and exploited. The Chinese police rescued 88,000 women from kidnappings between 1991 and 1996. The government reported also that in the same period, 143,000 traffickers in the slave trade were caught and prosecuted. Human rights groups noticed that these figures do not match, and suggest that the actual number of kidnapped women is much higher than is reported. Part of the reason for the disparity is that so many female babies are aborted or abandoned to orphanages where they often die. One would expect that this would raise the value of the life of a female child, but this seems not to have happened. The laws of economics would indicate that anytime a product demand is higher than production, that raises the value for it. It is possible that in time, this will take place, but China's traditional lack of respect for women will probably take some time to correct. Our Australian director, Esther Lyons, has published a book, titled UNWANTED, which is available at: http://www.gtjl.com.au/unwanted/. It discusses a subject that is much ignored if not swept under the carpet, the illegitimate children of a Catholic priest who are abandoned by him on his transfer. It is a shocking expose. She grew up in India, and has migrated to Australia, where she now lives. If you are interested in this subject, I know that Esther would like to hear from you at: lyonsfab(bleep)gtjl.com.au. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Around Our Schools ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ There have been a number of items about harassment in the schools, the most important being the suit by the mother of LaShonda Davis of Hubbard Elementary School in Monroe County, Georgia. She had been the object of crude remarks and groping by a fifth-grade boy. The episodes had been reported, but school officials did nothing to stop the boorish behavior. After repeated complaints by her mother and other relatives to the school, the mother, Aurelia Davis, went to the police and the boy pled guilty to sexual battery. Then she sued the Board of Education under Title 9 on the grounds that the law bars sex discrimination by schools that receive federal money. The Federal Appeals Court in Atlanta threw out the suit on the grounds that the law does not apply to cover harassment by a fellow student. The Clinton Administration and lawyers for the Davis family urged the Justices of the Supreme Court to reverse the ruling. The school board, on the other hand, argued that it was unfair to apply adult standards to the behavior of children. But numerous articles indicate that the harassment of children by their classmates should not be tolerated or ignored, as it leads to emotional problems and poor grades. “THE PROFESSORS,” a column appearing in the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, reports that 10 to 15 percent of school children say that they are regularly bullied. They recommend a book written locally by John Hoover and Ronald Oliver, "The Bullying Prevention Handbook: A Guide for Principals, Teachers and Counselors." It is available from National Education Service, 1252 Loesch Round, Bloomington, Indiana 47402. Another article in the Argus Leader on October 20 1998, written by Linda Temple and quoted from USA TODAY, indicates how difficult it makes for the victim to function in school, and how much it effects their grades. She encourages early intervention in harassment cases in order to change the perpetrator's behavior. The recent events in Littleton, Colorado certainly indicate that bullying and harassment of students should never be taken lightly. In truth, if the victims had been girls, nothing untoward would probably have taken place because girls, like women, are less likely to react violently to harassment. I don’t think that anyone is taking the complaints of the boys that athletes were held to a different standard of behavior than everyone else serious enough. All of us have chaffed under such unfair discrimination, and much as many idolize athletes, good sportsmanship would demand that they not have an unfair advantage in other matters. In an almost bizarre prognostication, Judith Ladd, president of the American School Counselors Association, is quoted in the article as saying that school violence is becoming "more vicious." I'm sure that at the time she said that, even she did not know how much violence would result from it. The New York Times carried a report in it's March 7 issue about the sexual harassment issues resulting from the growth in women's sports. The gist of the article is that the male coaches of female athletes cultivate the attention of star players and then demand special attention from them. The report says that statistics on this problem are misleading because athletes are hesitant to report this treatment for fear of losing their spots on the teams. One of the reason that this problem is so prevelant is because there are so few female coaches. In track, they say 18 percent are women, in swimming, 22 percent. Since title IX has led to such an increase in the amount of participation in sports by women, this is strangely being blamed for the increase in sexual harassment charges by athletes against coaches. The charges involve schools like North Carolina, Syracuse, and Ohio. A South Carolina basketball player who sued her coach for harassment, Amanda Henderson, who was sexually abused by her coach, went on on to play basketball in college. She is quoted as saying, "Whenever I see a male coach, I'm cautious; I'm wondering if he's in it for the same reason Coach Sutton was, if he's another manipulator." This rings true to me. How often I have thought that when walking in to the office of a manager or even for a job interview. I had to quit going for job interviews, because I started asking questions like, "Who do I have to sleep with to get the job," and that is not the kind of an attitude that gets one hired. When you are exposed to treatment of this kind, it forever alters your attitude towards every male you will ever come into contact with in your life. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Around South Dakota ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A number of items in the region have caught my attention. Unfortunately, getting sufficient information on some of them has been difficult. In the first case, according to a Rapid City Journal article on February 20, 1999, Applebees in Rapid City, South Dakota, has been ordered to pay nearly $150,000.00 to four former employees who say that they were sexually harassed while they were employed there. Susan Rifenberick, Kathleen Leipold, Kathleen Albe and Lisa Wagner were said to be pleased at the verdict. They had claimed a hostile work environment and what they called "constructive discharge," in other words, the work place was made so unpleasant that the employee was forced to quit. There were unsolicited and unwelcome verbal and physical conduct of a sexual nature. This was said to be sufficiently pervasive to create an intimidating work environment which was insulting and abusive to female employees. Either they were terminated or had their hours cut back until they had to quit. As in all such cases, Applebees brought forth female employees who claimed that there was no such harassment, but logically, not A does not imply B. The jury awarded punitive and compensatory damages as well as lost wages. The owners of Applebees, Porter Apple Co., plans to appeal. They say that they had a retraining program on sexual harassment awareness and practices before the complaints were filed. Because I had so many problems getting ahold of this article, it seems to me that this is apparently how those who use sexual harassment to control and manipulate women operate, as my article about the Anita award, which I had put on a floppy disk that was not on line, had sent it by e-mail for someone else to read, and had updated, was suddenly not accessible. My international list, which I had printed the last time I was working in AmiPro, WITH THE WRONG LABEL, is suddenly overlaid with the label it was supposed to be printed with. I never save my labels, as they are already correct and all that would do would be to change the data used with it. My on-line international list, which has had the links operating for four or five months, suddenly is not linking after the first page. It appears to my delight that I am getting under their skin. Yipee! Another item that slipped by the censors is an item about the recall of the Whitewood, South Dakota Mayor. He claimed that his recall had been incited by the sexual harassment charges against the police department which his office had been investigating. Since this is how I believe most sexual harassment cases are halted, it seems appropriate to mention it here. I think that the whole Monica Lewinski and related charges were nothing but a pressure tactic to try to get Clinton to back off on his support of women's issues. Whether other women appreciate this or not, I am impressed that he never wavered in his dedication to abortion rights and to appointing women to positions of power. It also seems to be of interest that it was not the sexual harassment charges that KELO TV put on its 10:00 news on April 15, but the recall of the Mayor. The sexual harassment did not merit coverage. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Around Inside My Head ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We have recently been impressed that there seems to be a shift in the relations between the west and the near east that seems to have coincided with the increased status of women in western countries. Although there have always been differences between Moslem countries and non-Moslem countries, the virulence of their opposition seems to have accelerated as women achieve more status. Indeed, we have to wonder if the status of women is not a basic ingredient in the Arab-Israeli conflict. I have recently found that a sinus condition I have suffered from for many years is very similar to a condition called "Gulf War Syndrome." I have posted on the Gulf War Vets Bulletin Board to suggest that the cause for it may be the same of my problem, sinus parasites. I have also suggested that the parasites which the Gulf War Veterans may have picked up during the Gulf War might have been an intentional infection, a blow in the battle against women serving in the military who performed valiantly in the Gulf War, and the men who often supported them. It has further occurred to me that the Militia movement in this country has also paralleled the increased prominence of women in public life, and that the objects of their wrath seem to be those organizations that most often have women in large numbers employed in responsible positions. Perhaps the militia movement is more of a war against women's rights than against government per se. Maybe the government is only the conveyer of their anathema, women in responsible positions. It is often noted that the members of militias are extremely conservative, anti-abortion, and there are few if any women associated with the militias themselves. In addition, the men are almost without exception former military men themselves, and I wonder if they weren't put into a position of answering to a woman in the military, so that when they got out, probably as soon as they could, they responded by organizing in a war against the government that is responsible. It's just a thought. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Women Against Sexual Harassment is an organization of women who are trying to change the past indifference towards women experiencing sexual harassment. To this end, we publish The Wash Rag every few months, and maintain a web site which contains the following: Several recent issues of The Wash Rag online. The International List of women concerned about sexual harassment. A page containing all of the back issues of The Wash Rag available in Microsoft Notepad .TXT format as well as most available in Microsoft Publisher98 .PUB format for printing. A feminist humor link. A survey form still under construction. In the future, we will get a non-ornamented version of the site, which can be chosen from the opening page, for those with less powerful computers to access. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ This on-line version of THE WASHRAG is being sent to you free. A print version can be obtained by subscribing. In the US, send $10.00 to Women Against Sexual Harassment, P. O. Box 164, Canton, SD 57013-0164. Outside the US, send $20.00 to join. E-mail comments can be sent to ta_shi(bleep)dtgnet.com. If you know of anyone you think might be interested, just send us their e-mail address and we will put them on our e-mail mailing list. You can get a free copy of the latest print issue of THE WASHRAG by sending a SASE to Women Against Sexual Harassment at P. O. Box 164, Canton, SD 57013-0164. If you do not wish to receive further copies of this newsletter, indicate your preference to ta_shi(bleep)dtgnet.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ copyright 1999 Tesseract Publications