|
May 29, 1998
Dear Director:
Please consider two hypothetical scenarios: 1) A male employer informs a 25-year-old female employee that she will not be considered for advancement unless she allows him to massage her buttocks. 2) A male school principal informs a 15-year-old schoolgirl that she will not be permitted to attend classes for the next three days unless she submits to his whacking her on the buttocks with a wooden board.
What are the essential differences between these two cases? Which of the two would you consider to be a more egregious violation of a defenseless victim? If you had to choose, which victim is in more urgent need of protection?
Bear in mind, the beating is more painful and more dangerous than the massage, the schoolgirl is probably more dependent on the adults in her world and less resourceful in defending her own interests, and the psychological consequences to her are more apt to be long-term, setting her up for future victimization by other presumed authority figures, e.g., boyfriend, husband, employer--anyone with the power to demand cooperation and to hurt her if she fails to do so.
At this time, thanks largely to the efforts of such organizations as yours, nowhere in the U.S. are employers legally permitted to demand sexual favors as a quid pro quo for job security or advancement. However in the public school systems of 23 states, thinly disguised sexual favors can be, and are being, coerced from children with impunity. According to the most conservative estimates, legal beatings of schoolchildren number about 1/3 million incidents per year and many of those beatings are inflicted by adult males on under-age females. The purpose here is not to make a moral distinction between the mistreatment girls as compared to that of boys, but to present the issue in terms of your particular mission: the protection of women. We deem any form of deliberate infliction of pain directed at the pelvic area of a non-consenting, under-age person, irrespective of gender, to be a sexual violation.
Ironically and tragically, to date no major women's advocacy organization that we are aware of has addressed this issue. It seems clear to us that one way (arguably the best way) to empower grown women, would be to stop systematically disempowering young girls. That could be achieved with relative ease and speed. Virtually every other advanced nation, and more than a few developing nations, have already given schoolchildren statutory protection from disciplinary beatings. Seven European nations have now extended that protection to children in their homes.
Enclosed [linked below] is a copy of "Rape: Lesson No. 1," a young woman's account of her experience with "discipline" while a student at Seabreeze High School, Daytona Beach, Fla. in 1984. It speaks eloquently to this issue and should be read by everyone concerned about violence against women.
In closing, we invite you to share copies of this letter and "Rape: Lesson No. 1" with your board members, staff and membership. We hope that your organization will decide that now is the time to protect schoolgirls from sexual violence disguised as discipline. To ignore their plight is to do a gross disservice to all women and to all society. Please keep us apprised of your plans in this regard. You may count on our cooperation in every way.
Sincerely,
Jordan Riak,
Executive Director
Parents and Teachers Against Violence in Education (PTAVE)
In June and July of 1998, PTAVE mailed the above letter, with a copy of "Rape: Lesson No. 1," to the below-listed organizations:
National Organization for Women, Washington, D.C.
NOW, California State Action Center, Sacramento, CA
The Thursday Group, Riverside, CA
The Women's Coalition, Rialto, CA
Equality Network, Lowell, IN
Challenging Media Images of Women, Framingham, MA
NOW-San Gabriel Valley, West Covina, CA
NOW - Pomona Valley C/O YWCA, Pomona, CA
National Organization for Women - Losa Angeles, Beverly Hills, CA
The Activist, Los Angeles, CA
Unitarian Universalist Women's Federation, Cambridge, MA
WAND: Women's Action for New Directions, Arlington, MA 02174
Black Women for Policy Action, Cambridge, MA
International Women's Tribune Center, Inc., New York, NY
National Council of Women of the USA, Inc., New York, NY
Religious Women for Equality, New York, NY
Women's Action Alliance, New York, NY
Women's Environment & Development Organization, New York, NY
NYWA: New York Women's Agenda, New York, NY
National Council of Women, New York, NY
International Feminist Against Traffic in Women, New York, NY
NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund, Project on Equal Education, New York, NY
American Association of University Women / NY. New York, NY
Connecticut Womens Education & Legal Fund, Hartford, CT
National Organization for Women of Greater Boston & Massachusetts, Boston, MA
PLEN: Preparing Women to Lead, Douglas College, New Brunswick, NJ
National Equal Rights Council, New York, NY
International Women's Rights Action Watch, New York, NY
American Civil Liberties Union Women's Rights, New York, NY
Cuny Women's Coalition, New York, NY
Women for Radical and Economic Equality, New York, NY
The Religious Network for Equality for Women, New York, NY
Feminists Concerned for Better Feminist Lead, New York, NY
Women Leaders On-Line, White Plains, NY
Women On The Job, Port Washington, NY
Women's Issues & Action Forum. Chatham College, Pittsburgh, PA
Women's International League for Peace, Philadelphia, PA
Older Women's League, Washington, D.C.
Women's Law & Public Policy, Washington, D.C.
National Woman's Party, Washington, D.C.
Association for Women in Science, Washington, D.C.
Women's Political Network of Pennsylvania, Newton, PA
National women's Conference, Washington, D.C.
Women's Technical Assistance Project, Washington, D. C.
Clearinghouse on Women's Issues, Washington, D. C.
Women's Institute for Freedom of the Press, Washington, D.C.
WEAVE, Worchester, MA
Women Against a Violent Environment, (WAVE), Rochester, NY
Women's Self-Defense Alliance, New Haven, CT
The Empower Program / Women's Way Self-Defense, Bethesda, MD
Safe Schools Coalition Against Campus Sexual Assault, Holmes Beach, FL
Silent Witness National Initiative, Minneapolis, MN
Violence Against Women Coalition, Minneapolis, MN
Center for Non-Violence, Fort Wayne, IN
Violence Intervention Project, Ada, MN
Commission for Prevention of Violence Against Women, Santa Cruz
Clearinghouse of Femicide, Berkeley, CA
Women's Safety Project, San Fransisco, CA
Community United Against Violence, San Fransisco, CA
Powerful Choices, Seattle, WA
Los Angeles Commission on Assaults Against Women, Los Angeles, CA
Violence Intervention Project, Crookston, MN
Survivors of Stalking, Tampa, FL
Another Way / End Violence Now, Lilburn, GA
The Purple Ribbon Project, Williamsburg, VA
PREPARE, New York, NY
SAMHATI, Falls Church, VA
Cape Ann / North Shore NOW, Gloucester, MA
The Clothesline Project - Cape Cod Women's Agenda, Brewster, MA
Minnesota Higher Education Center Against Violence & Abuse, St. Paul, MN
The Global Fund for Women, Palo Alto, CA
Institute for Women Law & Development, Washington, D.C.
Association for Women in Psychology, Dept. of Education / Tufts University, Medford, MA
Violence & Victim's Family Research Lab, University of New Hampshire, Durham, NH
CIRCLES: Buffalo Women's Law Journal, SUNY Law School, Buffalo, NY
Battered women's Justice Center / Pace University Law School, White Plains, NY
Sexual Violence Program, University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN
The Safer Society Foundation, Brandon, VT
Women Organized Against Rape (WOAR), Philadelphia, PA
Coalition Against the Sexual Abuse of Children, Washington, D.C.
|