The two stories that dominated women’s news for me this week both, in very different ways, involve serious abuse of girls and women. In San Francisco, it was revealed that DNA from a victim’s rape kit was used as evidence in a case against her years later. And the whole women’s figure skating competition was called into question when a 15-year-old Russian skater’s drug test came back positive for a banned heart medication just as the games were starting and she was already in Beijing, and she was allowed to skate because of her age, though medals would not be awarded if she earned a medal until the investigation was complete. This diary will deal mostly with these two stories.
Victim DNA On File?
A case came to light in San Francisco in which DNA used as evidence in a current case was found to have been taken from a rape victim as part of a rape kit. Victim DNA is sometimes used to avoid confusion when analyzing DNA from the kit. It is disturbing that such DNA is kept in a law enforcement data base for years after the rape kit analysis is done. If the San Francisco police department has been doing this and then using it against the victim years later, several questions are raised: whether any women in San Francisco have been convicted an the basis of such evidence; whether other police departments in California — or anywhere else — have such a practice and have perhaps used such evidence to convict women in unrelated crimes; and how to find and remedy such cases.
Rape is already under-reported. Police often treat victims with suspicion, or simply accept a denial from an accused rapist. In those cases that actually make it to court, the victim/survivor is actually put on trial. And in those cases that result in conviction, sentencing is often a joke, with judges regarding the convicted rapist like the real victim. Many such cases have been reported in this series over the years.
And when a traumatized woman actually submits to the collection of a rape kit, which is a lengthy and very invasive procedure, there is no guarantee that the rape kit will actually be tested. In 2015 I wrote about the backlog of untested rape kits held in police stations closets, often for years.
Every step of the way, the system far too often inflicts further trauma. I don’t know why I find this further kind of victimization shocking.
"Rapes and sexual assault are violent, dehumanizing, and traumatic. I am disturbed that victims who have the courage to undergo an invasive examination to help identify their perpetrators are being treated like criminals rather than supported as crime victims," [District Attorney Chesa] Boudin said in a press release Monday.
The DA's office said it learned about the practice last week in connection with a case that involved a victim of sexual assault who was identified as a suspect in an unrelated property crime years after the assault.
It was unclear whether anyone had been convicted on the basis of evidence collected in this way, the office added.
www.npr.org/...
In the San Francisco case, the DA has dropped the charges against the woman involved.
Officials said the case violated the woman's Fourth Amendment rights, which protect people from unreasonable searches and seizures.
"This is illegal," Rachel Marshall, a spokeswoman for the district attorney told NPR on Thursday.
Marshall said Boudin's office only learned about the practice after prosecutors combed through hundreds of pages of documents related to the 2021 felony property crime. In going through evidence, they uncovered that the San Francisco Police Department searches a database that includes DNA collected from sexual assault victims to identify possible suspects. The San Francisco Chronicle, which was given permission by the DA to review the documents, found the woman had submitted to the medical examination after an alleged rape in 2016.
www.npr.org/...
The Women’s Figure Skating Controversy
I’m not a real sports fan, but I do enjoy watching figure skating, so I have been following the Olympics events. I’m most interested in ice dancing and pairs, but it’s been hard not to become engrossed in the drugging controversy involving the 15-year-old Russian skater Kamila Valieva. Valieva was the favorite to win the gold medal in the women’s event. She was a joy to watch in the team event that came early in the games. But then a drug test came back that was positive for a banned heart medication that is believed to enhance performance. Why the test hadn’t been reported weeks before the games started is questionable in itself. But because she is only 15 she is considered a “protected person,” which for some unfathomable reason means she would be allowed to skate while the matter is investigated, but there would be no medals awarded for the team event (which Russia won), and if she placed in the top three in the individual event, no medals awarded during the Olympics either, until the investigation is complete.
Women’s figure skating is like gymnastics — girls are at their peak abilities before their bodies are mature. This leaves them ripe for abuse of all kinds, and the stress adolescent girls face about their bodies are increased exponentially and there is often physical damage done. The Olympic committee is considering raising the minimum age from 15 to 17, but they can’t control that. And it wouldn’t address the structures that allow such abuse to continue. We saw that with the sexual abuse of dozens of young gymnasts in this country of over many years. When abusers are considered a necessary part of winning teams, they stay; the athletes come and go quickly in these sports. And there is little motivation to change this. And not only in women’s sports — we see it in college football as well.
Valieva’s story this week has been pitiful. Former Olympian skaters were unanimous that allowing her to skate was harmful to her and to the other skaters; the rules are clear — you skate clean or you don’t skate. None of the winning teams will go home with medals. If Valieva placed high in the women’s event, none of the winners would get medals, and why should they be deprived of their moment of glory? But no adults acted as buffers for Valieva or helped her deal with the pressure.
Valieva, at the center of a doping scandal, finished fourth and wandered around the rink in tears after a disastrous free skate. Anna Shcherbakova won, but said she felt empty inside. Alexandra Trusova, the silver medalist, was crying and enraged because she thought she deserved to win, and just wanted her mother.
Finding a way to protect teenagers inside an authoritarian sports system like Russia’s will be challenging. No doubt girls and women fear speaking out because of possible reprisal against them or their families. Setting up an independent group to provide oversight there is not as easy as it sounds.
www.nytimes.com/…
The pressure of the days following that news clearly affected the young girl. She stumbled multiple times and fell during her routine. Afterwards, she looked dejected and threw her hand in the air. When she skated off the ice, she broke down in tears.
"You could see this chilling atmosphere, this distance" from Valieva's coaches when she gets off the ice, Bach said. "I'm very concerned."
The chilling atmosphere was also apparent up close. Valieva's controversial coach, Eteri Tutberidze, could be heard on live television asking the dejected Valieva in Russian: "Why did you stop fighting? Explain it to me, why? You let it go after that axel."
www.npr.org/...
She got no hugs from her coaches. I saw some other skaters asked what they would say to her if they could. All three said they just wanted to hug her.
Other Stuff
Here is a petition on behalf of an innocent women scheduled to be executed in April.
From the petition page:
Melissa Lucio is facing execution on April 27, 2022, in Texas for the murder of her 2-year-old daughter Mariah — a crime that never occurred. Mariah died two days after accidentally falling down a steep flight of stairs and Melissa has maintained her innocence on death row for more than 14 years.
…
The State of Texas presented no physical evidence establishing that Melissa ever abused Mariah or any of her children. In fact, thousands of pages of Child Protective Services records show that Melissa’s 12 children never said she was violent with them.
Yet in 2008, Melissa was convicted based on statements she made to law enforcement in Cameron County after more than five hours of coercive interrogations that began the same night her youngest child died and continued until 3:00 a.m. the next day. After hours of relentless, aggressive interrogation in the presence of armed detectives, she broke down and told investigators what they wanted to hear to make the questioning stop: “I guess I did it. I’m responsible.” She was pregnant with twins the night of the interrogation.
innocenceproject.org/...
Why am I not surprised by this:
After decades of growth, the number of high school girls who take Advanced Placement math exams is now almost the same as the number for boys. In 1997, 83 girls for every 100 boys took an AP math exam. By 2019, that number rose to 96 for every 100 boys.
But when it comes to getting top scores on an AP math exam, boys still outnumber girls. In 1997, 52 girls for every 100 boys made the top score. By 2019, that number [only] rose to 69 for every 100 boys [and] those scores can be an important predictor of who pursues a STEM career.
theconversation.com/...
And in my wonderful home state, where anti-abortion bills are only outnumbered by voting restriction bills:
Details: Doctors who perform abortions after the 15th week of pregnancy could lose their medical licenses or end up in state prison for a year.
What they're saying: "Arizona politicians are banking on the Supreme Court upholding Mississippi’s 15-week abortion ban so they can quickly strip Arizonians of their rights and begin enforcement," said Planned Parenthood Arizona CEO Brittany Fonteno said in a statement.
Flashback: Arizona's governor was among 12 Republican governors who have asked the Supreme Court to overturn Roe v. Wade.
Fears of violence among Asian-American women grows after two murders in less than a month.
Impacts of violence and racism are disproportionately felt by women in targeted groups, said Sung Yeon Choimorrow, executive director of the National Asian Pacific American Women’s Forum, and the brutality endured by Asian Americans long predates the pandemic. But with footage of attacks circulating over the last two years, hate against Asians has become viral.
“When the pandemic-related violence against particularly East Asians started happening, people were talking about it as if it’s the first time we’re experiencing this,” she said. “Now people are paying attention. Now they want to know. All of a sudden, there’s interest.”
The Atlanta spa shootings brought to the forefront the intersection at which Asian women have always existed in this country, she said. In the crosshairs of hypersexualization and racism, they face more aggression but are believed less. Out of the 3,800 anti-Asian hate incidents reported to Stop AAPI Hate between March 2020 and March 2021, 68 percent were by women.
www.nbcnews.com/...
Nurse Blake’s petition calling for safe staff to patient ratios in hospitals, and went viral.
For decades, the United States healthcare system has understaffed healthcare workers to cut costs. Nurses, doctors, respiratory therapists, CNAs, occupational therapists, pharmacists, social workers - healthcare workers of all disciplines have been intentionally understaffed to maximize profits for hospital systems.
These staffing decisions come at a cost to patients’ safety. Healthcare workers need adequate time and resources to safely care for their patients.
For every additional patient a nurse cares for, a patient’s risk of dying increases by as much as 7% (Aiken 2014).
Unsafe staffing is contributing to workplace injuries, burnout, and the Great Resignation of healthcare workers.
Patients and healthcare workers alike NEED safe staffing ratios.
www.change.org/...