FEMALE JOURNALISTS FACE THREAT OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE
By AMY TEIBEL
Washington Post
Feb 28 2011
JERUSALEM — The sexual assault on CBS correspondent Lara Logan
in Egypt has trained a spotlight on the danger – ever-present but
little-discussed – facing female journalists in zones of upheaval.
Complicating matters, some say, is a fear that employers will shut
them out of choice assignments if they draw attention to the problem.
Female journalists say the threat of sexual violence is commonplace
in the world’s trouble spots, where the combination of conflict and
conservative cultural norms often creates a tense and unpleasant
working environment. Trouble can begin with an opportune grope and
deteriorate into physical assault or worse.
Photojournalist Alexandra Avakian said she fended off an attempted
rape by a commander she had known for years in Nagorno-Karabakh,
the enclave fought over by Armenians and Azerbaijanis.
“It was very difficult, but I got my hand on the door handle of his
four-wheel drive, opened it and slipped out from under him,” Avakian,
who has worked extensively with the National Geographic Society since
1995, recounted in an e-mail.
“He told me to get back in the car and drove like a madman back to
his base, but he didn’t touch me again,” said Avakian, whose work
has taken her all over the globe.
Other female journalists spoke of sexually charged talk and groping.
Sometimes a woman working in a closed, sexually repressive society
will even be assaulted by male colleagues who misinterpret social
signals. When covering a conflict, a female journalist is often the
only woman around.
“Whenever there is trouble and difficulties, women tend to be
kept away, and as a corespondent you tend to go to these places,”
said Lourdes Garcia-Navarro, National Public Radio’s Jerusalem-based
correspondent, who has covered Kosovo, Haiti, Iraq, Colombia, Mexico,
Afghanistan, Iraq, Gaza and Egypt.
“Violence often has a sexual tinge to it, especially when you’re
surrounded by young men hopped up on the difficult situation they
face,” she said. “If one person gets away with it, all of a sudden
you have dozens of hands on you.”
Women in Egypt had reported that Tahrir Square, the epicenter of the
protests that toppled President Hosni Mubarak, had been free of the
groping and leering endemic in the country. Then, on Feb. 11, Logan
was sexually assaulted and beaten on the final night of the 18-day
revolt. The Associated Press does not name victims of sexual assault
unless they agree to be identified.
Middle East-based photojournalist Heidi Levine of the French photo
agency Sipa Press, who covered the protests in the square, said the
situation quickly deteriorated as it became clear Mubarak was gone.
“All of a sudden, the chaos somehow gave permission to everybody
to grab,” said Levine, who has worked in Iraq, the Palestinian
territories, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Kosovo, Afghanistan and Egypt.
Traveling alone anywhere makes a woman vulnerable to attack. “I’ve
often reflected on how lucky I am that I haven’t been raped,” wrote
photographer Kate Brooks in an e-mail.
Many female journalists see plenty of threats in large groups,
where men can molest women without easily being identified and are
emboldened by seeing others do it.
Paula Bronstein, senior staff photographer at Getty Images, said she’s
had “so many experiences that deal with … groping and grabbing, just
complete disrespect for a woman’s body.” She said it even happened
at the funeral of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in the West Bank.
Harassment and assault are often an unwanted byproduct of conservative
mores that keep women out of the public eye. Women on the streets –
especially unchaperoned, foreign women with less recourse to punish
offenders – are viewed as fair game.
Los Angeles Times correspondent Laura King, based in Afghanistan,
says her most frightening experience was in the Balkans, where the
sexual menace “would be alcohol-fueled.” She did not elaborate.
Female journalists reported that sometimes they will not venture out
alone, and will have ready access to transport and a native speaker
at hand. If they assess a situation might be too dangerous, they will
leave the scene.
The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists has sparse data
on sexual violence against journalists, but is updating its security
handbook to address the issue, said Joel Simon, its executive director.
Female journalists say they often do not make a big deal of the sexual
menace, knowing it comes with the territory, but also fearful that
complaining could create trouble for them with their bosses.
Many had warm words for editors who worry about their safety but
do not balk at sending them on dangerous assignments. But some said
they feared bosses would hold it against them if they made too much
of the sexual assaults.
“We wouldn’t want to draw attention to ourselves as females going
off to a war zone and creating more problems out of fear we wouldn’t
be able to be sent out on an assignment,” said Levine, the Sipa
photographer.
With the assault on Logan drawing so much attention to the risk of
sexual attack, “maybe now I would be more comfortable about discussing
it than I would have in the past,” she said.
Douglas Jehl, the foreign editor at The Washington Post, said
“the security of all of our foreign correspondents is of paramount
importance to the Post and is a major consideration in all coverage
decisions, regardless of gender.” He did not elaborate.
Avakian said she hoped the Logan assault would not backfire against
women.
“I hope that it will serve to raise awareness of the challenges faced
by women journalists, and not used as an excuse not to send women to
cover conflict,” she said.
From: A. Papazian