Category: Sexual Harassment

‘Survival sex’, ‘mob justice’ and more: the first independent study of abuse in the Australian Defence Force is damning | The Conversation

This harrowing account of institutional military abuse draws on interviews with nearly 70 survivors and analyses every review and inquiry into military culture (35 in total) since the Vietnam War.

In the 1980s, women constituted 6.5% of the ADF. By the 1990s, that percentage had nearly doubled, and today, women make up around 20% of the Australian military. As gender demographics in the ADF shifted, sexual violence was increasingly deployed against women. Wadham and Connor argue the growing presence of women intensified the sexualised culture of the military to reiterate the “white, hypermasculinist” fraternity.

Date rape was a strategy for humiliating women and destroying their reputation. Sexual assault was often done by superiors, in view of other serving members, and always followed by a “code of silence, victim-blaming and discouragement from commanders and military police”. One interviewee sought support after being assaulted, but was warned by the military psychologist: “Defence doesn’t look fondly on people that see a psychologist.”

Constant threats and acts of violence from peers led some women to be coerced into “survival sex” in exchange for protection. In one of the saddest testimonies of the book, a young aviator was coerced into sleeping with her sergeant for years to prevent other abuse. “Then I found out that he was actually one of the people behind the stalking and sexual assault that had happened […] that went on for years.”

Sexual violence against women was underpinned by a deeply misogynist culture. Harassment of women was a “daily occurence” in the 1980s. By the 1990s, women reported practices such as “pornos in the mornos” – watching porn at morning tea in communal spaces. Harassment and intimidation continue to this day: in 2018, one woman reported she was “choosing not to eat, not to go out, not to do any sites” to avoid the executive officer constantly harassing her. When she reported him, she was told “I would have had a better case if I let it progress to rape”.

Wadham and Connor cite a 1993 book of cadet slang that included over 300 abusive terms that reduced women to literal sexual objects. These included: “a body to wank into, cum bucket, fuck bag, life support system for a cunt”. This language was part of daily training, imbued in the culture from the top down.

One veteran reported that her instructor “would talk about where to get the cheapest sex in Asia and how to get the daughter thrown in for a dollar”. The authors analyse the function of banter in the military, explaining that “lingo” works to “create a shared culture”, but can also be used to “target, exclude, belittle”. Sexualised “banter” was frequently used to alienate women and was “the first step in creating cultures of abuse and violence”.

Source: ‘Survival sex’, ‘mob justice’ and more: the first independent study of abuse in the Australian Defence Force is damning

Law Council of Australia recognises positive duty to fight sexual harassment | Australasian Lawyer

The Council’s leaders supported the approach under the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 (Cth), which made it a positive duty to take reasonable measures to eliminate sexual harassment as much as possible and which introduced obligations for the legal profession to actively address the problem.

The Council’s directors recognised that the profession should move away from traditional power structures and should address underlying contributors if it wishes to eliminate sexual harassment and discrimination.

Those interested can read the statement of the Council.

Source: Law Council of Australia recognises positive duty to fight sexual harassment | Australasian Lawyer

We need to talk about how some men are ruining the gym experience for women

A jaw-dropping 70 per cent of women have experienced a negative interaction in the gym that has left them feeling uncomfortable – at the hands of a man, according to Fitrated. Women have been inclined to accept this as the norm and alter their workout routines accordingly to avoid harassment.

From being watched, unwanted flirtation, mansplaining, being followed, body criticisms, physical contact and sexual harassment, the concerning catalogue of negative experiences has driven women to avoid certain areas of the gym – or quit altogether. What’s worse, this type of behaviour is becoming increasingly normalised with a ‘boys will be boys’ attitude and very few consequences given by the gyms themselves.

Source: We need to talk about how some men are ruining the gym experience for women

Sexual violence ‘disturbingly common’ as research shows one in five admit to it | SMH

More than one in five adult Australians, including more than a quarter of men, say they have perpetrated at least one form of sexual violence – and one in 14 people had done so in the past 12 months.

In one of the first studies into self-reported perpetration of sexual violence, the Australian Institute of Criminology found 22 per cent of a representative national sample of 5000 people said they had committed some form of it since the age of 18.

Pressuring someone for dates or sex, emotionally or psychologically manipulating someone to participate in sexual activity, and non-consensual kissing or touching were the most common forms of sexual violence people said they had committed in the past 12 months.

Just over one in 10 respondents (11.4 per cent) said they had perpetrated sexual assault during adulthood, 2.7 per cent said they had had intercourse without the victim’s permission – which is rape – and 2.4 per cent had removed a condom during sex, a practice known as stealthing.

“Importantly, while one in six women reported perpetrating some form of sexual violence during adulthood … this was primarily attributable to their rates of sexual harassment and coercion perpetration,” the authors noted.

“These forms of sexual violence were the items with the smallest differences between men and women. In contrast, rates of perpetration of all forms of sexual assault and IBSA [image-based sexual abuse] were two to five times higher for men than women.”

Campaign group Our Watch’s chief executive, Patty Kinnersly, described the data as shocking and said it showed the gendered nature of sexual violence. “The volume of perpetrators demonstrates the need for efforts to end violence against women to be targeting the whole population,” she said.

“The evidence shows that the underlying drivers of violence against women, including sexual violence, are rigid gender stereotypes, gender inequality and disrespect. These attitudes and the violence they drive can be prevented.”

Source: https://www.smh.com.au/national/sexual-violence-disturbingly-common-as-research-shows-one-in-five-admit-to-it-20240709-p5js7y.html?

‘Do you like this position?’: The workplace rife with shocking sexual harassment

A Herald investigation has found sexual harassment of female staff is rife, but is often buried or ignored within NSW Corrective Services, the arm of the state government’s Department of Communities and Justice that’s responsible for running prisons.

Yet despite years of reports and data showing there have been significant sexual misconduct problems in at least 14 of Corrective Service’s work sites, it failed to implement key policies to stop it, forcing the workplace safety regulator to step in.

SafeWork NSW issued six improvement notices to Corrective Services between October 2023 and March this year warning that the department’s response to sexual misconduct was deficient across a host of measures and was putting workers at risk.

Staff from the Herald spoke to people who told their stories on the condition of anonymity to preserve their jobs and protect themselves from retribution. They say they have been enduring harassment for years, but have been too scared to report it, or their reports have not been acted upon.

They are speaking up now after a Special Commission of Inquiry into a staff member, Wayne Astill, who was convicted of raping 14 female inmates over five years, found a toxic culture of cover-up within the organisation and exposed myriad procedural failures (he is appealing against his convictions).

In a 2022 case, corrections officer Glenn Anthony Ash was convicted in Bathurst Local Court of 11 offences against colleagues at a Central West prison, including sexually touching without consent, carrying out a sexual act on another without consent, and assault with an act of indecency.

The incidents included asking colleagues to touch his penis, rubbing their backs and necks despite being told to stop, and masturbating in one complainant’s office. He also asked a complainant to “rearrange him” while unzipping his pants.

The Ash case prompted an independent review of the centre at which he worked, which led to misconduct proceedings against three more staff members. The results of the review have not been made public.

[T]he women who spoke to the Herald said in most cases the victims do not come forward, either because they feared retribution from the “boys’ club” or because if they did, no action was taken. The male officers protected each other.

“I know if I report anything it backfires on me,” said a different woman, who has had multiple experiences of serious harassment over her career. “We’re surrounded by toxicity. Colleagues are often more toxic than inmates. You have a false sense of security, you think if someone is wearing blue they have a strong sense of morals. But they don’t.”

The Herald approached Corrections Minister Anoulack Chanthivong for comment, but he did not provide any.

Source: 12ft

Teenage boys are being ‘bombarded’ with misogynist content online. It’s making its way into the classroom – ABC News

News stories about the rise of misogynistic behaviour in schools are inescapable at the moment. Female teachers and students are facing harassment and sexual abuse in classrooms across the country.

It’s a trend that has risen in the dark shadow of social media personality Andrew Tate and other anti-feminist or anti-women content influencers in the so-called ‘manosphere’, and it’s pushing some female teachers to breaking point.

News stories about the rise of misogynistic behaviour in schools are inescapable at the moment. Female teachers and students are facing harassment and sexual abuse in classrooms across the country.

It’s a trend that has risen in the dark shadow of social media personality Andrew Tate and other anti-feminist or anti-women content influencers in the so-called ‘manosphere’, and it’s pushing some female teachers to breaking point.

As part of her research at Monash University, Dr Westcott spoke to 30 female teachers from across Australia and from all sectors including independent, faith-based and government schools. She says teachers are facing a rise in misogynistic behaviour.

“There was also a level of sexism and sexual harassment that teachers were experiencing that they hadn’t previously. For some women, it was constant and unrelenting in nearly every class that they taught,” Dr Westcott says.

“One woman reported to us that a student said to her, ‘Miss, your boobs look really good today’. A male student spat in his teacher’s water bottle. As well as gendered slurs like, ‘Why are the girls here? They don’t need an education. They can just make an OnlyFans account’.

Source: Teenage boys are being ‘bombarded’ with misogynist content online. It’s making its way into the classroom – ABC News

SPAIN: Male Soldier Who Identifies As A “Lesbian” Sues Military For €50,000 After Being Denied Access To Women’s Washrooms – Reduxx

A soldier in Spain is suing the Ministry of Defense for almost €50,000 after accusing officials of not properly facilitating or accomodating his “gender transition.” Francisco Javier López, 43, recently announced he identified as a lesbian, but that he would not be changing his name or physical appearance in any way.

“I’m not going to get an amputation, nor will I have any surgery,” López told Spanish media. “I am happy with my body and I like women.” He continued by revealing his alleged motivations for the change, stating: “I realized some things and I felt like a woman. For example, I’m a beautician, and I feel better talking to women than men.”

López is the father of an underage girl, and, just months prior to deciding to change his sex marker, he appeared on a dating reality show called First Dates. During his time on the show, he confessed to liking “long hair and high heels,” and also said he had a “high heel shoe fetish.”

But the Army refused his request, claiming that there were space issues and that the women’s facilities were already over-occupied. After filing a complaint, the Army then told López that the expansion of the female locker rooms were underway, and offered him access to the women’s senior command locker rooms on a fixed schedule in the interim. López would have been able to use those facilities at set times, preventing the female soldiers from having to interact with him in the intimate space.

But López believed that those measures were unfair, and said he felt discriminated against because of his transgender status.

The surge in men rushing to change their gender markers has been denounced by some trans activists as “trans fraud,” despite the fact that they had been the ones to campaign to relax self-identification requirements.

Source: SPAIN: Male Soldier Who Identifies As A “Lesbian” Sues Military For €50,000 After Being Denied Access To Women’s Washrooms – Reduxx

Teen arrested after girls targeted in AI photo scandal

A teenage boy has been arrested after fake nudes of female students from a Melbourne private school were created with artificial intelligence and circulated online.

Fifty girls in years nine to 12 at Bacchus Marsh Grammar, north-west of the city, were targeted, according to principal Andrew Neal.

Source: Teen arrested after girls targeted in AI photo scandal

‘I like seeing you bend down’: Shocking levels of sexual harassment in retail sector | SMH

New research has exposed the extent of sexual harassment in the retail industry, in which vulnerable, young workers are routinely subjected to gendered and sexualised comments from strangers, co-workers and bosses.

The harassment was often subtle, involving hard-to-confront behaviour such as leering, staring, hovering or inappropriate but not overly sexual comments. Usually, it was less about sexual desire than exerting power or status.

Workers were also harassed by their bosses and co-workers, the report found, yet systems to identify, report, and act upon such behaviour in an industry with high turnover varied widely in quality, frequency and effectiveness between employers.

Data shows one in two women and one in four men working in retail have experienced harassment in the past five years. The most common form was sexually suggestive comments, followed by invasive questions and staring or leering.

Source: 12ft

‘We will not tolerate it”: ABC survey identifies bullying, sexual harassment in workplace. | TV Tonight

The results of an ABC Workplace Survey has found more work needs to be done to stamp out bullying and sexual harassment.

Respondents were asked whether they had personally experienced sexual harassment while working in the News division, at work or in locations associated with work. Thirteen per cent answered Yes.

Respondents were also asked whether they had personally experienced bullying at the ABC. Twenty-five per cent answered Yes, with the most commonly identified behaviours being intimidation and belittling and humiliating comments.

Source: ‘We will not tolerate it”: ABC survey identifies bullying, sexual harassment in workplace. | TV Tonight