a culture of violence against women--more than rape kits

[niyad]

Published on Tuesday, September 16, 2008 by RH Reality Check
A Culture of Violence Against Women: More Than Rape Kits
by Amie Newman
Americans have recently learned that during the 1990s, Wasilla, Alaska, then under the mayoralty of Sarah Palin, charged victims of sexual assault for the rape kits used for evidence collection.

Attacks from progressives have been swift and harsh. There is good reason to hunt down the facts about the rape kits. But the larger issue - of rape, sexual assault and how we deal with violence against women in this country - has been overlooked.

First the facts:

Last week new evidence arose revealing that under Palin's administration, Wasilla cut funds that paid for the rape kits and shifted the burden onto the victims themselves or their insurance companies (kits generally cost between $500-$1200). Under Wasilla Police Chief Irl Stambaugh, the town had included the cost of rape kits in the budget. But Palin fired Stambaugh and replaced him with Charlie Fannon, who then took the money out of the budget - a budget Palin approved. Fannon evidently did not have a problem with billing victims, though he admitted that he would rather see the perpetrator pay for the rape kits (without elaborating on how that realistically or successfully might occur).

The town law did not change until Alaska state legislators got wind of what was happening (in Wasilla and other small towns) and introduced a bill, signed into law in 2000, making it illegal for "any law enforcement agency to bill victims or victims insurance companies for the costs of examinations that take place to collect evidence of a sexual assault or determine if a sexual assault did occur."

Fannon immediately objected, stating in an article on May 23, 2000 that "...the law will require the city and communities to come up with more funds to cover the costs of the forensic exams...I just don't want to see any more burdens on the tax payer." Fannon did not explain why rape victims should pay for their evidence collection kits while victims of burglary, for example, would not.

. . . . .

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/16-8

[philly_bob]

1. A culture that "defers" to the wife of an alpha male like Todd Palin...

is not necessarily a society that respects women. She's the queen. The other women -- perhaps less attractive and accomplished, perhaps not attached to a man -- are unprotected, victims of both the lower-status men and of the higher-status females.

(I know, I know. Everybody says stop talking about Sarah & Alaska and start talking about Obama & McCain & the economy, but frankly, just among us DUers, I find McCain's choice of Palin fascinating, exposing a profound flaw of Republican judgment and offering a frightening glimpse into the conservative personality.)

[Naturyl]

2. This culture hates victims.

Americans are so insecure and simultaneously arrogant that to be victimized is virtually a sin. The term "victim" itself has become a bad word. Never call yourself a victim (even when you are)!

Victims, in the mind of this culture, are to be punished. In the Orwellian thinking of these bizarre people, this will discourage further victimization.

"I learned my lesson and won't be a victim anymore!" This implicitly accepts the blame for one's own victimization. It's very primitive, backward, socially Darwinian thinking.