Correction and Apology

 

 In regards to my earlier post “98 percent of women report street harassment“:By my own superficial research into Holly Kearl’s  thesis, as reported by CNN, I misrepresented the means and ends of her paper. Kearl herself clarified her intetions in the comment section of my post:

“My survey wasn’t meant to be representative of the larger population. I specifically targeted people I thought would be feminists and thereby might know about anti-street harassment websites like the HollaBacks. That was more what my thesis focused on - how were people responding to and combating street harassment, and did they use these websites? I sent the survey to women’s studies listservs and other feminist groups, so I knew the data was skewed and stated that in my thesis when I talked about the data from my survey. The survey was just one component of how I gathered data. Most of my data came from reading 706 postings on 6 anti-street harassment websites which offered me voluntarily given, first-hand accounts of how people had been harassed, how they reacted, and how they used the websites. In the survey, asking people if they had been harassed was a side question to the ones I was more interested in - how did people respond and what did they think of the hollaback websites…and the information about how many people had been harassed warranted two sentences in my 129 page thesis…”

“It’s been hard having the large scope of my thesis reduced to a few sentences put in a context not of my choosing with a headline and photo I would never have chosen either.”

I can only say that I known of the methodologies of the research and the ends to them, I’d had framed the piece entirely differently. I cannot imagine how it must feel to have months and years of work reduced to soundbites and thrown into the winds of commentary. I offer my sincerest apologies for hardships incurred by my misrepresentations and hasty research.

For more information on Kearl’s thesis and anti-street harassment activism, please visit her website.

 

Progressives and progress

Tonight’s the night for depressing statistics: two out of ten  white voters in the West Virginia primary said race was a factor in selecting a candidate.

98 percent of women report street harassment

CNN, by way of LifeWire, reports on survey by Holly Kearl, a former graduate student at George Washington University, on street harassment or “catcalling,” and the results depress:

 

[Kearl] found that 98 percent of respondents experienced some form of street harassment at least a few times, and about 30 percent reported being harassed on a regular basis.

 

The number surprised me, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it were true, though I call into question Kearl’s methods.  The “study” only informally surveyed 225 people by email. That figure seems rather too small to produce any meaningful population representation—if Mss. Kearl is even looking for quantitative results.

Also, the survey was done anonymously by email. I would think—Speaking as someone with no data-mining or psychology qualifications working off pure speculation—voluntary response surveys might skew results towards neutral or even positive responses to harassment, a few of which the article quotes. Someone deeply affected by harassment would seem to be not in the best of places to answer questions about it for a stranger over the Internet, possibly the most unaccountable of mediums. 

 

But even if figures are inflated (or underreported) or reactions skewed, or the reporting framed under a dismissive headline, talking about street harassment seems the best thing to do about it. Women know they are not alone, but in fact in good company.

 

Also, is anyone else surprised to find CNN has file photos of a gang of men ogling a semi-scantily-clad woman just lying around on hand?

Summer Reading List

This summer, I am terribly excited to read books that I get to pick!  I am absolutely stoked.  (I am wearing my stoked face right now–it’s a shame you can’t see it.  It’s particularly stokey today.)

I have several books on my list so far–mostly fiction and criticism.  On the list so far: Suite Francais, Certain Women, and Education of Henry Adams. But I am looking for some fun social philosophy/feminist theory stuff to read as well.  (Jessica Valenti is first on the list, natch.)

So, what are you guys planning to read?  What would you recommend to read over summer?  Please share your thoughts!

Anonymous Rape Kits Now Funded by Feds

Props to Feministing for this link!

Now, the government is going to fund emergency rape kits for any adult victims of sexual assault, regardless of whether they wish to file a police report at that time.  The kits can be done anonymously, and any evidence gathered will be kept and stored in a separate folder in case the victim wants to press charges at a later time.  Needless to say, this is encouraging news, and this policy will certainly make it easier for victims of sexual assault to receive justice–on their terms:

“Sometimes the issue of actually having to make a report to police can be a barrier to victims, and this will allow that barrier to cease, to allow the victim to think about it before deciding whether to talk to police,” said Carey Goryl, executive director of the International Association of Forensic Nurses.

Good intentions, atrocious execution

                You’ve all probably read Feministing’s post on the anti-female genital mutilation ad depicting a victim as a sex toy. I was immediately reminded of another well-meaning but horribly offensive campaign to raise awareness for the genocide in Sudan. MTV has launched an on-line game, “Darfur is Dying,” in which players take on the role of a Sudanese refugee who has to complete tasks like “Forage for Water” while avoiding animated Janjaweed militants.

                I find it hard to believe the game’s creators had anything but the best intentions in mind, but the idea of turning an ongoing genocide into a game undercuts the gravity of the situation. Can you imagine if a survivor were to come across the game, to see cartoonish rendrings of “refugees” playing out the struggle for their lives in a game for fun?

                Everything that can be ought to be done to avert both tragedies; but I cannot but help these two campaigns do more harm than good.  

DNA Base Expansion

Laura Neuman, a rape victim, is fighting to expand this country’s DNA database.  Specifically, she wants anyone arrested for a violent crime to have their DNA put into the database.  Had this been done earlier, the rapist that attacked her–and quite possibly at least 20 other women–would have been discovered and charged much sooner.

This sounds like a good idea–making sure that rapists and murderers are more likely to be caught within a reasonable amount of time makes sense.

However, there are also many individuals and groups–including people from the ACLU–who object to the automatic “DNA fingerprinting” of all people arrested for violent crimes.  They argue that collecting DNA samples is much more invasive than actual fingerprinting, and that storing so many people’s DNA will lead to abuses and serious mistakes that might lead to innocent people being arrested for crimes they did not commit.  Furthermore, if anyone who is simply arrested for–not charged with–committing a crime, racism will almost certainly play a role here, since police are more likely to arrest a person of color than a white person.

So, what do you guys think?  I believe very strongly in privacy, but I also believe that people who commit violent crimes need to be caught–rehabilitated if possible, and off the streets if they cannot be rehabilitated.  And, if there are safeguards to ensure that DNA alone will not be enough to convict a person, I don’t really think an expanded database will lead to a potential for abuse and wrongful conviction.

In any case, I have the utmost respect for Neuman, and I think that we need to listen carefully to what she has to say, and, if not put into practice an automatic DNA fingerprinting at each arrest, at least make the system more efficient so that serial rapists are stopped.

How I spent my summer guilt-trip

Finally, I am returned to the fiber-optic embrace of the Internet!

I apologize, mostly to my co-bloggers, for the delay in postings. All Mothers Day, I was paraded before various neighbors and relatives to prove I had, in fact, survived four months in Milwaukee. Saturday and Friday before, I spent the next two days either in transit, or packing and unpacking baggage material and emotional of my sister and myself. It was a long, infuriating, unproductive trip that provided me only one incidence of liberal guilt to contemplate.

Quick hit: Who loves yogurt?

Or better yet, who loves making fun of yogurt commercials??  I do!  I just had to share this video that I saw on feministing.  Enjoy.  It’s fricken hilarious.

It’s not letting me embed the video for some reason, so just click here to see it.

Happy Mother’s Day!

Here’s to all the moms out there!

You are awesome, hardworking people, and you deserve to get more than just one day of recognition.

Cheers, and Happy Mother’s Day!