~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THE WASH RAG published by Women Against Sexual Harassment ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Available on-line ASAP at http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG/index8.html along with earlier issues ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Issue 7, Number 3 July, 1999 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Contents ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Keeping Control International Circle K Estrogen Patches ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ MAKING LEMONADE ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The story that I had intended to put into this spot has been lost. I received it from Ruby Starr just as I was finishing my last issue, and put it all into my file for the next issue. Now, it seems to have vanished into that void where all vanished material goes. So–o-o-o after a few days of sulking, I made a trip to the public library and got copies of all of the articles that have appeared in the local paper about sexual harassment in the past couple of years. Back in February of 1998, the Argus Leader published a graph which shows that girls are consistently exposed to more sexual harassment than boys are. In the 9th and 10th grades, they are exposed to almost twice as much, in the 11th grade, they are exposed to 14% more, and in the 12th grade, they are exposed to exactly twice as much. Respectively, 67%, 67%, 57% and 59% of girls reported sexual harassment, apparently by other students. The source was the South Dakota Department of Education. Kristine Erdahl, who had made a sexual harassment claim against Dennis Groff, a former Pennington County States Attorney, was the topic of a March 20, 1998 Argus Leader article. Erdahl claimed that Groff had intimidated her, Groff claims that the relationship was consentual, and that there were no strings attached. Same-o, same-o. I feel about this situation the same way that Oprah Winfrey feels about adults molesting children. Oprah says that she doesn’t care if a child walks naked through the house, makes suggestive comments, throws herself at the offending adult, that the adult is in control, and is responsible for any sexual activity with a child. I feel that the supervisor is in control, and should avoid sexual contact with employees. He is always in power, and that power is a tool for manipulation. A June 28th article discusses the Supreme Court’s decision to make employers responsible for the actions of managers who sexually harass employees. The article lists several options that employees have in dealing with sexual harassment: Fight back and suffer the consequences in hostile territory, keep quiet and suffer the consequences in hostile territory, leave the hostile territory and suffer other consequences. The Supreme Court ruling is expected to improve victims treatment by getting employers’ attention. A November 9, 1998 item notes that the EEOC is suing G&N Enterprises, Inc., the parent company of Western Way Work Warehouse in Sioux Falls for sexual harassment. Manager James Greenfield of the company is accused of sexually harassing a woman who worked for him and then firing her in April of 1997. The store’s owner is Greenfield’s father, Harvey Greenfield, who was told of the harassment but did not take any action against his son and even sanctioned her firing. Since no further article occurs on this matter, it must either still be being litigated, or the EEOC lost the case. A January 17, 1999 editorial by Shirley Ragsdale is in response to the Supreme Court hearing the case of LaShonda Davis, which was covered in an earlier issue of The Wash Rag. The Supreme Court decision was in support of the case, and Shirley Ragsdale’s editorial was also in support of it. I could not believe that on February 15, 1999, someone named Garn E. Kuiper of Sioux Falls wrote a letter to the editor regarding the “sexual harassment” that the President supposedly exercised against Paula Jones. I have already expressed my opinion that anyone who thinks that the President sexually harassed anyone does not understand what sexual harassment really is. I still say that any woman naïve enough to go into a hotel room alone with a man must be incredibly dumb if she does not expect him to come on to her. A May 25th article covers the Supreme Court ruling on the La Shonda Davis case, and calls attention to the fact that schools are liable for the treatment of students attending the school. Duh! If they aren’t responsible,what are they doing pretending that they are running the schools? You know, this wasn’t a bad idea at all. And to think that if someone had not removed materials from my files, I would never have gotten off my derriere and gone down to the public library to research this material. It almost seems like a fortuitous happening to me now. Not only that, I found out how I can access the index and get copies of New York Times articles. And to think that I have been settling for whatever happened to be on radio or TV news, or in the newspapers I picked up to read! As long as I could get enough material for an issue, I was satisfied with it. Now I can pick and select what is most important. I am almost grateful to whoever made off with my materials. The information from Ruby Starr, who is a sexual harassment advocate in the Washington, DC area, about sexual harassment at an Air Force installation, is replaceable, and will appear in subsequent issues. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ IN THE MEDIA ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The most interesting story that has been in the media about sexual harassment recently has been the female wrestler who claims that she was sexually harassed by her manager or trainer. This really is almost unbelievable. That a man would take on a professional wrestler, regardless of sex, to harass seems impossible. Sorry that I didn’t document this, but I had guests for a while, and this never was in any paper I read. On July 7, Law and Order had a very knowledgeable episode about the sexual harassment of female inmates by guards. It is encouraging to see programs accurately portray sexual harassment, and this was very well done. On June 8, Bill Moyers had a “Freedom of Speech” special on PBS. This discussed the way vast financial resources are brought to bear by special interests to defeat candidates. This virtually eliminates the discussion of controversial issues (like sexual harassment) by the media itself. It is sort of scary to see how money is used to manipulate the public. What makes it the most frightening, is the knowledge that because of the way women are excluded from high-paying positions, we women are in the poorest position to both wield this kind of power, or to react when it is brought to bear against us. A rerun of Nash Bridges last night regarded a former policeman who had been put in prison for spouse abuse by his wife, still a police officer, and a detective. On getting out, he begins a campaign of harassment against his ex-wife and the detective, which includes him murdering his ex-wife’s current boy friend. I can hardly express enough my appreciation of programming which addresses this in a realistic manner. Discussion of how men who have a record of abuse will retaliate against those who have resisted them as well as anyone who has aided them helps others understand how hard it is for victims to stop the abuse. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ THIS AND THAT ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Why did they call me a housewife, when I was never married to a house? And they call a male spouse a “husband” — but the one I had, never husbanded anything. I was the one who had the task of collecting and maintaining everything he claimed as his own. Anne ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ At the Weyerhaeuser shop, one guy actually had the guts to slap me on the butt. I had a dirty, wet and bleachy MOP that I, without thinking, hit him in the butt full force [with]. I don’t think I will have any more problems. [D…] ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Man says to God: “God, why did you make woman so beautiful?” God says: “So you would love her.” “But God,” the man says, “why did you make her so dumb?” God says: “So she would love you.” ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ KEEPING CONTROL ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ A recent issue of the newsletter of the Nebraska Domestic Violence Sexual Assault Coalition makes a link between animal cruelty and domestic violence. Having experienced this myself, I can attest to the validity of it, and others I have corresponded with have as well. According to the article, the abuser is using any means he can to establish and maintain control over their victim and her actions. They may do this by harming or destroying items which the victim holds dearest. They have found that this is often the family pet. I believe that this is the area where I completely lost respect for my harassers. That they would injure and poison my pets in order to retaliate against me not doing what they wanted seems totally repugnant to me, and indicates just how depraved harassers as a group are. Recent events recounted to me by our representative in the Northwest have also impressed on me again how much money is used to manipulate women. She divorced her husband after years of abuse, and was able to get maintenance. But he immediately moved to the Southeast, and is playing games with her as to when and where her money will be received. Having experienced the same for a number of years, and that with young children to take care of, I can sympathize with her anxiety. Since an automatic deposit to her account would allow her to move and not inform her ex– of her current address, his refusal to do this comes across as a blatant manipulation. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ We are especially pleased to hear that the Circle K stores in Arizona are actively fighting domestic abuse. They have at their own expense printed up domestic violence brochures and are making them available at their stores. Since this is a chain of convenience stores, that makes them easily available to a large number of individuals. These brochures include information about how to recognize domestic violence, a safety plan for escape and the telephone numbers for local shelters as well as an 800 toll-free hotline. Could we but get businesses everywhere that committed to the elimination of sexual harassment! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ESTROGEN PATCHES? ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In a recent Argus Leader article, Leslie Boyd of Gannet News Service angrily denounced advertisements for the new estrogen patch as feeding the myth that women are out of control during menopause. Of course, there is no denying that women do experience unpleasant symptoms during menopause, but what Leslie points out, is that men often are difficult to deal with, too, and at times, the reason women have so many problems coping is exactly that, men can be difficult to deal with. A friend I showed the article to commented that her daughter had read that the reason women become more aggressive after the onset of menopause, is because of increased amounts of testosterone in their blood streams. Do I have this right? Does that indeed mean that the reason men have been complaining about women becoming difficult to deal with after starting menopause is because they are behaving like the men have all their lives? Men are grasping at straws. The fact is, that older women are harder for men to deal with than younger women, and they are using menopause as an excuse to ridicule them. The fact is that younger women, being less experienced, are more easily manipulated. Older women, having been around the block a few times, are harder to manipulate. Advertisements like this do fan the flames and bolster the myth. We should object to them. We should also recognize that this whole thing is a subterfuge, allowing men to pretend that the real issue has nothing to do with the increased skills that older women have developed, but only the temperament they display because of menopause. That lets them treat it, and the woman concerned, like a joke. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ WE’RE ON THE WEB http://members.tripod.com/~WASHRAG ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 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. 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