Just the other day I was out on my favorite social networking site when a video popped up on one of the pages I follow. It came out of the Rape Crisis Scotland’s “Not Ever” campaign in an attempt to debunk the myth that “women don’t “ask” to be raped, not ever.” The group in Scotland has recently premiered its first TV spot to work on the alarming prevalence of victim-blaming attitudes there. This is something the United States should consider as well!
The video, in a nutshell, went like this: A pretty girl in a bar is wearing a short skirt. Across the room a guy catches a glimpse of her and says to his friend: “Check out that skirt – she’s asking for it!” Then the video cuts to earlier in the day when the girl is shopping for something to wear that night. She’s in the store and the saleslady asks her if she needs some help. The girl replies: “Yeah, thanks, I’m going out tonight and I want to get raped. I need a skirt that will encourage a guy to have sex with me against my will.” The clerk excitedly says: “The blue one. Definitely the blue one.”
What?!? Are you kidding me? Are they serious? Women don’t flirt, drink or dress the way they do to get raped! The ad goes to show you how absurd that theory is.
The myth that sexual violence can be the victim’s fault if she dresses seductively, “leads” someone on, or says “no” when she really mean “yes” is simply that, a myth! Blaming the victim for the crime is the result of a myth that sexual violence is nothing more than sex. The fact is that sexual violence is a crime of power, a way for the powerless to feel stronger. It has nothing to do with the way someone dresses, acts or how much she’s had to drink. The law is, “NO MEANS NO.”
Do we ask a victim of a robbery at gunpoint if he struggled with the robber? No.
Do we ask him if he screamed or cried out? No.
Do we ask about his past and whether he’s given money away willingly before? Probably not without some other questions being asked. Most likely he has given money away willingly. He’s probably got a reputation for donating money to some organization.
How do we know that this wasn’t a set up for him to have his money taken away with force? We don't. We ask him what time this robbery occurred? He tells us at 11PM. What? 11PM? What was he doing out on the street at 11PM? He replies he was walking? Doesn’t he know that it’s dangerous to be walking out on the street that late at night? Wasn’t he aware that he could be held up or robbed? Oh, then we can ask, “What were you wearing?” Was it an expensive suit? Oh, I see, he was walking around on the streets late at night in a suit that shouted out that he had money. We might think that he was asking for it.
Does this happen to our robbery victim? No, we don’t ask these questions for this type of crime. Why do we ask those same questions to a rape victim?
She wasn’t asking for it. As if…
http://www.salon.com/life/broadsheet/2010/07/13/not_ever_rape
This topic of sexual assault is always current and relevant, especially to people who work in this field. To dispell myths of sexual assault is a very difficult thing. As advocates working to do this, it seems like we are always swimming upstream. We have to work to change the thoughts of many individuals. There are so few that believe that the victim isn't to blame; much more believe that the woman (victim) puts herself in that situation. Whatever happens to her is her fault. As advocates we need to shift the blame to the perpetrator; that would be the person who chose to rape the victim. It doesn't matter what the victim was doing, or where the victim was, she didn't deserve to be raped. Many times victims may make some bad decisions that put themselves at a higher risk but the end result should NEVER be rape.
Saturday, July 17, 2010
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Progress Report
The overall purpose of this progress report is to discuss how effectively our group has been able to put together a plan to help raise/save funds for The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) to get it out of the budget crisis that has plagued the entire nation. We believe that if the economy continues down the road it currently on, the university will have to raise tuition again for all students, scholarships will be cut, classes will be cut due to instructor manning, ultimately leading to USM closing its doors.
Our group was established in June 2010 during the summer class of ENG333. It consists of Jill Bailey, Shardae Foley, Sarah St. Pierre, and myself, Christine McGill. At the direction of our instructor, Ms. Jill Robinson, we were given the instruction of brainstorming what type of intervention we wanted to pursue. We chose to do a fundraiser weekend, which we will call “Keep the Eagles Soaring”. The theme will be “Don’t Let Our Eagles Become Extinct”. We have met weekly. Our first meeting was on June 26, 2010. We plan on meeting more frequently as required as the date for the event gets closer. The fundraiser weekend will culminate on July 31-August 1, 2010. I fully expect us to meet the challenge of a successful fundraiser for USM.
As of this report being published, we are on target! We have pitched our proposal to USM administration and it has been accepted. After the proposal was accepted, Ms. Bailey began to assess which organizations on USM we could talk to about joining in on the fundraiser and what they would be interested in doing. Our next step is to start advertising for the event (my department). We will design fliers, mailers, posters, contact WUSM, and the Student Print. We will mail applications out to all organizations, clubs, activities on and/or associated with USM. Those applications should be emailed, faxed or mailed back to Ms. St. Pierre, who will work in conjunction with Ms. Foley to determine and keep track of who is doing what for the event weekend. The week prior to the event, we will confirm attendance, gather the donations received and begin the set up on campus. On the day of the event, we plan on having lots of fun!
There were a couple of problems that we thought we thought we ran into. The first problem we felt we had as a group was that we fully didn’t understand that we needed to have our first Skype meeting with our instructor. This misunderstanding caused us to meet again the following evening and work things out. The other problem that I have specifically is that it is difficult for all of us to meet at specific times and that when we do meet, our time is so short and precious that we don’t get all the information to everyone. We have fixed this problem with text messages and email. One final issue that I can think of that may arise is during the event weekend is our weather in southern Mississippi. It is so hot and humid. There may be a problem with the heat and/or storms. We cannot predict what the weather will be doing, and do not have a rain location or date.
I would strongly suggest that there be a maximum effort of all USM students, faculty, administration, alumni and local business to participate in this event. All parties named have a vested interest in keeping USMs doors open for current and future students.
Overall, I believe that this can be a fruitful event for USM. If this proves to be beneficial in assisting to help alleviate raising the cost of tuition, keeping scholarships alive, keeping qualified instructors on board, and preventing classes from being cancelled then perhaps the administration will look for future events such as these to “keep our Eagles soaring.”
Thank you for your time. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at christine.mcgill@eagles.usm.edu.
Our group was established in June 2010 during the summer class of ENG333. It consists of Jill Bailey, Shardae Foley, Sarah St. Pierre, and myself, Christine McGill. At the direction of our instructor, Ms. Jill Robinson, we were given the instruction of brainstorming what type of intervention we wanted to pursue. We chose to do a fundraiser weekend, which we will call “Keep the Eagles Soaring”. The theme will be “Don’t Let Our Eagles Become Extinct”. We have met weekly. Our first meeting was on June 26, 2010. We plan on meeting more frequently as required as the date for the event gets closer. The fundraiser weekend will culminate on July 31-August 1, 2010. I fully expect us to meet the challenge of a successful fundraiser for USM.
As of this report being published, we are on target! We have pitched our proposal to USM administration and it has been accepted. After the proposal was accepted, Ms. Bailey began to assess which organizations on USM we could talk to about joining in on the fundraiser and what they would be interested in doing. Our next step is to start advertising for the event (my department). We will design fliers, mailers, posters, contact WUSM, and the Student Print. We will mail applications out to all organizations, clubs, activities on and/or associated with USM. Those applications should be emailed, faxed or mailed back to Ms. St. Pierre, who will work in conjunction with Ms. Foley to determine and keep track of who is doing what for the event weekend. The week prior to the event, we will confirm attendance, gather the donations received and begin the set up on campus. On the day of the event, we plan on having lots of fun!
There were a couple of problems that we thought we thought we ran into. The first problem we felt we had as a group was that we fully didn’t understand that we needed to have our first Skype meeting with our instructor. This misunderstanding caused us to meet again the following evening and work things out. The other problem that I have specifically is that it is difficult for all of us to meet at specific times and that when we do meet, our time is so short and precious that we don’t get all the information to everyone. We have fixed this problem with text messages and email. One final issue that I can think of that may arise is during the event weekend is our weather in southern Mississippi. It is so hot and humid. There may be a problem with the heat and/or storms. We cannot predict what the weather will be doing, and do not have a rain location or date.
I would strongly suggest that there be a maximum effort of all USM students, faculty, administration, alumni and local business to participate in this event. All parties named have a vested interest in keeping USMs doors open for current and future students.
Overall, I believe that this can be a fruitful event for USM. If this proves to be beneficial in assisting to help alleviate raising the cost of tuition, keeping scholarships alive, keeping qualified instructors on board, and preventing classes from being cancelled then perhaps the administration will look for future events such as these to “keep our Eagles soaring.”
Thank you for your time. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me at christine.mcgill@eagles.usm.edu.
Friday, July 2, 2010
Beginning the Job Search
Job Openings/Opportunities:
Qualifications, Skills, Experiences Required
I have applied for the Sexual Assault Response Coordinator position in the past (not this specific one), but did not qualify because I do not possess the experience at the next lower level. One thing that I believe will help me for further announcements will be the completion of my bachelor's degree. I believe I would qualify for this position outside of the Air Force Merit Promotion system. I would need to apply as an external candidate. Having almost 20 years Civil Service experience, I'm reluctant to leave the Department of Defense. This current announcement is with a job service (contractor) that is not related to the military. This means that I would have to leave Civil Service. I'm not willing, at this time, to do that.
Qualifications, Skills, Experiences Required
1. Sexual Assault Response Coordinator
- Bachelor's Degree in Social Work, Sociology, Psychology, Criminal Justice or related social or behavioral science with one year's experience working with adolescent/adult sexual assault victims OR
- Four year's experience working with adolescent/adult sexual assault victims
- Social services program management experience
- Knowledge of family violence dynamics, sexual assault, local community resources, and federal and state laws pertaining to domestic violence, sexual assault and family law. Knowledge of the military, Department of Defense and Family Advocacy Program
- Ability to develop program management plans and adhere to them. Ability to assess program effectiveness. Ability to maintain accurate statistical framework for program data collection and reports.
- Ability to understand, be sensitive to, and have empathy for victims. Ability to develop trusting helping relationships and to work effectively with individuals and families from diverse racial, ethnic, and socioeconomic backgrounds.
- Ability to intervene in crisis situations, using sound professional judgment, ethical practice, and common sense.
- Ability to work cooperatively with military and civilian medical, social service, law enforcement, and legal personnel on behalf of victims.
- Skilled in oral and written communications.
- Knowledge of Microsoft Office Suite. Skilled in the use of office software applications to prepare management reports and use software to develop information; able to enter data in required management reports.
- Knowledge of local, state, and federal laws and military regulations pertaining to victims of sexual assault.
- Bachelor's Degree in Criminal Justice, Sociology, or related field.
- One year in caseload management of offenders in a correctional setting required OR an equivalent combination of education and related work experience required.
- Certified law enforcement officer experience OR correctional/detention experience preferred.
3. Correctional Officer
- Age requirement: a maximum entry age of 36. If you are above the max entry age and have prior federal law enforcement coverage, you must submit an SF-50 at the time of interview.
- US Citizenship required.
- Successful completion of a full 4-yr course of study in any field leading to a bachelor's degree from an accredited college or university.
- Nine semester hours or 14 quarter hours of graduate study, from an accredited school in Criminal Justice, Criminology, Social Science, or another field of study related to the position such as law OR
- One year specialized experience in the following areas: correctional officer, detention officer, police officer, border patrol agent, state trooper, sheriff, park ranger, deputy sheriff supervising inmates in a jail, or mental health residential facility worker
4. Sector Enforcement Specialist
- One year specialized experience that includes coordinating extensive law enforcement activities using a variety of communications equipment, retrieving, analyzing, and interpreting sensitive law enforcement data from a variety of sources in response to requests for information; and making critical decisions in conjunctions with searches of automated databases in stressful and emergency situations to assist law enforcement officials OR
- Completion of a master's or equivalent graduate degree or 2 full years of progressively higher graduate education leading to such a degree in an accredited college or university, or a L.L.B. degree may be substituted for experience at the GS-9 level.
My current position as a Program Technician in a Sexual Assault Prevention and Response Office puts me in the perfect position to qualify as the first job in the listing, Sexual Assault Response Coordinator. This would be the next stepping stone in my career progression, especially once I finish my bachelor's degree.
I have already worked for over 5 years in this field. I have been a Volunteer Victim Advocate working with victims of sexual assault. I have done this with working with Department of Defense and in the civilian sector working with a non-profit organization. I have had the 40 hour Air Force Victim Advocate training and the 40 hour Air Force Sexual Assault Response Coordinator course. I have certificates for both of these training sessions.
I have also spent over 17 years within the Department of Defense system as a Secretary for various organizations in several locations. With this job, I bring the knowledge of the operations of an office and organization. I am fluent in Microsoft Office Suite. I understand the functions of an office budget. I work well under stress to accomplish tasks.
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