Cassi Creek:
In the face of the multiple, now deadly, uprisings taking place in the Middle East this events involving Lara Logan might be considered an occupational hazard that does not affect many people. That line of reasoning is dangerously wrong.
The ongoing fight in the Middle East is not only about political reform. For it to succeed, to be anything other than just another power shift from one group of thugs to another, there must be a cultural reformation as well.
The position of women in the Arab world and in other parts of the world controlled by fundamentalist Islam is often little better than that of slaves. Personal freedoms are limited in scope and strongly denied by various religious police groups that enforce piety brutally. The males in these societies not only demand that Moslem women adhere to the 7th century lifestyle and rules demanded by the most fundamentalist of imams; they also expect non-Muslim women to follow the same patterns of behavior.
In a culture driven by fundamentalism, tribalism, and clan honor, the males still feel it is within their right to ogle, grope, and assault any woman who happens to pass near them. The assault and injuries suffered by Ms. Logan are emblematic of the treatment of all other women in the region and under the control of religious fundamentalists.
Religion, politics, employment status, educational history, membership in this club, that army; none of these in any way justify sexual assault/rape. The Egyptians need a political reformation. All the Arab states do. But equally necessary across the middle East and into Muslim Asia is the need for religious and cultural reformation. We have hundreds of journalists, photographers, correspondents, and diplomats in the region. So do the modern nations of Europe and Asia. It’s time to shine the light of modern communications onto these expressions of fundamentalist religion – all fundamentalist religion. As much as we associate such behaviors with less modern states, it can be found just as brutally expressed in the self-righteous world of the United States.
There are three articles below. Each of them bears reading and should be widely disseminated.
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/postpartisan/2011/02/cbs_shouldnt_have_withheld_lar.html
Posted at 9:53 AM ET, 02/16/2011
CBS shouldn't have withheld Lara Logan's story
By Richard Cohen
Say what you will about New York's celebrated tabloids, they know news when they see it. This is why both the New York Daily News and the New York Post devoted their front pages to the sexual assault by a mob in Cairo of CBS correspondent Lara Logan. Say what you will about CBS, it either doesn't know what news is or felt that the privacy of an employee was more important than its obligation to inform the public. It has it backwards.
Logan was sexually assaulted Feb. 11. CBS did not report the incident until yesterday, which was Feb. 16. Meanwhile, Logan was returned to Washington where she was hospitalized. Her sexual assault was clearly a brutal event, although the exact nature of it remains unclear. Whatever the case, a mob estimated to number around 200 attacked her in Tahir Square, separated her from her crew and bodyguards and severely sexually assaulted her. Ultimately, a group of Egyptian woman and about 20 soldiers rescued her.
As I'm sure even Logan would admit, the sexually assault of woman by a mob in the middle of a public square is a story. It is particularly a story because the crowd in Tahir Square was almost invariably characterized as friendly and out for nothing but democracy. In fact, some of the television correspondents acted as if they were reporting from Times Square on New Year's Eve, stopping only at putting on a party hat. In those circumstances, a mass the sexual assault in what amount to the nighttime version of broad daylight is certainly worth reporting.
Most news organizations do not name rape victims. I disagree with this policy for a number of reasons that I have written about over the years, but even if I agreed, exceptions have to be made. The awful Logan incident has to be an exception. Had another woman, say a strolling tourist, been similarly victimized, the incident would have been reported -- and the name withheld. In Logan's case, unfortunately, there was no way to withhold the name. Still, her privacy was not as important as the story.
The New York Post reports that the mob that set upon Logan yelled "Jew, Jew." This is the New York Post, so a second source would be advisable. Still, the assault and its undertones of pogromist anti-Semitism (Logan is not Jewish) is very troubling and, at the very least, suggests that not everyone in Tahrir Square that night had democracy on their mind. I feel badly for Logan and wish her well. But she's a newswoman, and what happened to her in Tahir Square was news. CBS should not have withheld that story.
http://edition.cnn.com/2011/OPINION/02/16/rogers.egypt.sexual.harrassment/index.html?hpt=C1
Egypt's harassed women need their own revolution
By Mary Rogers, CNN
February 16, 2011 -- Updated 1804 GMT (0204 HKT)
Editor's note: CNN producer and camerawoman Mary Rogers has lived and worked in Egypt since 1994. She joined CNN in 1981 and has covered conflicts in Somalia, Sierra Leone, the Congo, Iraq, Chechnya, Israel, Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon and Afghanistan. Recently she filmed the uprising in Tunisia.
Cairo, Egypt (CNN) -- Several months before the revolution, I wrote a piece for CNN.com on the sexual harassment of women in Cairo.
News of the chilling attack on CBS reporter Lara Logan, as well as other sexual assaults against women during Egypt's uprising, show that attacks against women have not gone away.
I speak from experience. While most of my days covering Tahrir Square during the last few weeks were free from harassment, there was one day when I was groped. Another colleague almost had her pants ripped off by a gang of thugs.
If you are a woman living in Cairo, chances are you have been sexually harassed. It happens on the streets, on crowded buses, in the workplace, in schools, and even in a doctor's office.
According to a 2008 survey of 1,010 women conducted by the Egyptian Center for Women's rights, 98 percent of foreign women and 83 percent of Egyptian women have been sexually harassed.
It happens on the streets, on crowded buses, in the workplace, in schools, and even in a doctor's office.
--Mary Rogers
I was walking home from dinner recently when a carload of young men raced by me and screamed out "Sharmouta" (whore in Arabic.)
Before I could respond, they were gone, but I noticed policemen nearby bursting with laughter. I am old enough to be those boys' mother, I thought.
This incident was minor compared to what happened in 1994, shortly after I moved here. It was winter, and I was walking home from the office, dressed in a big, baggy sweater, and jacket. A man walked up to me, reached out, and casually grabbed my breast.
In a flash, I understood what the expression to "see red" meant. I grabbed him by the collar and punched him hard in the face. I held on to him, and let out a stream of expletives. His face grew pale, and he started to shake. "I'm sorry. I'm sorry," he whispered.
But the satisfaction of striking back quickly dissipated. By the time I walked away, I was feeling dirty and humiliated. After a couple of years enduring this kind harassment, I pretty much stopped walking to and from work.
Of course, harassment comes in many forms. It can be nasty words, groping, being followed or stalked, lewd, lascivious looks, and indecent exposure.
At times it can be dangerous. This is what a friend told me happened to her: "I remember I was walking on the street, when a car came hurtling towards me. Aiming for me! At the last minute he swerved, then stopped, and finally laughed at me. I learned later that it was a form of flirting."
Why is sexual harassment in Egypt so rampant? There could be any number of reasons, but many point to disregard for human rights.
Before the uprising, Nehad Abu el Komsan, the Director for the Center for Women's Rights, told me that Egypt was more interested in political than public security. She said that often meant that officials focused more on preventing political unrest than addressing social ills.
Some also blame the spread of more conservative interpretations of Islam from the Gulf over the past 30 years. They say such interpretations demand more restrictive roles for women and condemn women who step outside of those prescribed roles.
Perhaps it will be people power, the same people power that brought down a regime, that will successfully combat sexual harassment.
--Mary Rogers
"Four million Egyptians went to the Gulf," el Komsan said. "They returned with oil money, and oil culture, which is not very open, related to the status of women. All of this changed the original culture of the Egyptian," she adds, "which included high respect for women."
Sara, a young Egyptian activist, told me that the concept of respect for some reason doesn't exist any more. "I think Egypt has lived a very long time in denial. Something happened in Egyptian society in the last 30 or 40 years. It feels like the whole social diagram has collapsed."
What is being done to raise awareness and combat such behavior? A law regarding sexual harassment will have to wait. The country has greater concerns now -- forming a new government; writing a new constitution; getting Egypt's economy going again and dealing massive unemployment, among other things.
The military is in charge now, and who knows when Egypt will get a new president, or parliament.
In the past, women who have been sexually harassed here have been too afraid or ashamed to speak up. That is changing slowly. In 2008, in a landmark court case, a man was sentenced to three years of hard labor for grabbing the breast of Noha Rushdi Saleh, a brave woman determined to seek justice.
The trial was covered extensively in the Egyptian press, and brought the problem of sexual harassment out in the open.
A group of young idealists are taking a personal initiative in trying to combat sexual harassment.
They are handing out pamphlets now saying: "Don't take bribes, don't drive the wrong way on a one way street, and don't sexually harass women." Perhaps it will be people power, the same people power that brought down a regime, that will successfully combat sexual harassment.
But the only real protection women can have is when the attitudes of men change.
The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Mary Rogers.
http://cnews.canoe.ca/CNEWS/MediaNews/2011/02/17/17309401.html
Nir Rosen quits over Lara Logan assault tweets
By QMI Agency U.S. journalist Nir Rosen resigned from New York University Wednesday after he wrote a series of Twitter posts that make light of a sexual assault against a foreign correspondent in Egypt.
Soon after news broke that CBS reporter Lara Logan was beaten and sexually assaulted by a group of people in Cairo's Tahrir Square after Hosni Mubarak stepped down as president of Egypt, Rosen posted negative comments about her online.
In one post, he said: “lara logan had to outdo anderson,” referring to an attack on CNN anchor Anderson Cooper during the protests in Egypt. He then added: “yes yes its wrong what happened to her. of course. but, it would have been funny of it had happened to anderson too.”
He also said Logan was “probably groped like thousands of women,” and added: “I'm rolling my eyes at all the attention she will get.”
The comments prompted Rosen's followers to call him out for his insensitive remarks, but the backlash extended beyond Twitter.
New York University's Center on Law and Security issued a statement Wednesday to announce Rosen's resignation and condemn his comments.
“Nir Rosen is always provocative, but he crossed the line with his comments about Lara Logan. I am deeply distressed by what he wrote about Ms. Logan and strongly denounce his comments. They were cruel and insensitive and completely unacceptable,” said Karen Greenberg, the centre's executive director.
“Mr. Rosen tells me that he misunderstood the severity of the attack on her in Cairo. He has apologized, withdrawn his remarks, and submitted his resignation as a fellow, which I have accepted. However, this in no way compensates for the harm his comments have inflicted. We are all horrified by what happened to Ms. Logan, and our thoughts are with her during this difficult time.”
Rosen has since deleted the offending tweets, issued an apology, and announced he is quitting Twitter.
“As someone who's devoted his career to defending victims and supporting justice, I'm very ashamed for my insensitive and offensive comments,” he wrote on the social networking site Tuesday.
“I offer my deepest apologies to Ms. Logan, her friends and her family. I never meant to hurt anyone.”
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