Action Alert: Help Victims of Sex Trafficking Seek Justice

Did you wake up this morning and think “I want to help someone today?” Well, then March 15 is where it’s at: Our End Demand Illinois campaign has new legislation in committee and we’d love your help convincing legislators that this is a bill to support. Here’s the breakdown:

What is Happening?
Many people who have been convicted of prostitution were actually victims of trafficking. The Illinois Senate Criminal Law Committee is considering SB 2191, which would allow someone to ask a judge to vacate their prostitution conviction if they were a victim of sex trafficking at the time of the offense. The bill extends the filing timeline for these victims because they often endure years of abuse at the hands of traffickers and customers before they are able to seek help. Want to learn more? Download the fact sheet here, complete with the list of supporting organizations.

When?
The Committee will have a hearing about SB 2191 tomorrow, Wednesday, March 16, 2011 at 10:35 a.m.

How Can You Help?
Call the committee members' offices TODAY, Tuesday, March 15, 2011. You can leave a message with staff answering the phones, and say "I am calling to ask the Senator to vote yes on SB 2191 when it comes up for a vote in the Criminal Law Committee." Calling all the offices will only take a few minutes of your time and will make a real impact as they consider this legislation!

Who Should You Call?

Committee Chair Michael Noland*(D)
Senator 22nd District - Elgin
(217) 782-7746
* thank Sen Noland for co-sponsoring!

Committee Vice Chair Kwame Raoul (D)
Senator 13th District - Chicago
(217) 782-5338

William R. Haine (D)
Senator 56th District - Alton
(217) 782-5247

Dan Kotowski (D)
Senator 33rd District - Park Ridge
(217) 782-3875

John Mulroe (D)
Senator 10th District - Chicago
(217) 782-1035

John J. Millner (R)
Senator 28th District - West Chicago
(217) 782-8192
* thank Sen Millner for co-sponsoring!

Tim Bivins (R)
Senator 45th District - Dixon
(217) 782-0180

Kirk W. Dillard (R)
Senator 24th District - Westmont
(217) 782-8148

Thomas Johnson (R)
Senator 48th District - Wheaton
(217) 782-8022

Let us know if you have questions!

Northwestern Incident and Porn: Things to Consider

We’ve been asked what CAASE thinks about the Northwestern University sex toy incident. If you haven’t heard about it, catch up here. Our initial concern was for the people in the audience—had they been given enough opportunity to avoid viewing this? Certainly what’s been described could have been traumatizing to anyone, but especially to those who have experienced sexual assault or abuse. We wonder if the value of witnessing this act was worth the potential trauma it could inflict on the viewers.

If you’re upset about the idea of students being exposed to this, I invite you to examine your beliefs and actions regarding pornography. I wonder what would be happening if Northwestern students had been shown this act on video instead of live on stage? Would we even be having this discussion? And really, sex acts on video deserve a lot more scrutiny than this. Why? Because, as icky as I personally think it was, the couple at Northwestern say the “performed” because they both wanted to and enjoyed it. That’s called consent. And that makes this act different from some pornography. Here’s why:

When watching porn online or on a DVD, there’s no such guarantee that the people you’re watching have given consent. Many sex traffickers are found with filming equipment and cameras with the intent to create and sell pornography. Some women in the sex industry are coerced or even physically forced to act against their will in order to create this “entertainment.” People who consume porn may unknowingly contribute to the assault and abuse of women and children, even if watching the final “product” doesn’t make that apparent.

Then there are the harms that porn causes to people who watch it. One 1994 study found that men exposed to violent pornography were six times more likely to exhibit rape behavior, and a second one in 1995 found pornography use was the strongest correlate of sexual aggression. Pornography changes the way we think about sex and the way we think about people—as objects, instead of human beings. One man interviewed about the effects of porn said:

"Porn makes more men try things. Men who are shown porn at a younger age categorize women more and see it as a harmless crime, because they don't see them as a person."

How does this relate to what happened at Northwestern? What happened at the university was sexually graphic, and that’s scandalizing and surprising a lot of people. And yet pornography is generally accepted as something that’s just part of life, and not worth examining or questioning. If you’re concerned about exposing our college students to graphic and damaging material, it’s time to take a stance on pornography.

Learn more about these issues on the CAASE resource page. Specifically we have a sheet with myths and facts, along with action steps you can take. You can also contact us to make a presentation or to host a screening of "The Price of Pleasure," a documentary on the realities of the sex industry.


-Kristin Claes is CAASE's communications manager. She can be reached at kristin@caase.org

Victory! Cook County Board Approves Amendments to Fund Rape Crisis Services by Serena Curry

Last week, the Cook County Board unanimously approved two budget amendments that will provide $275,000 in funding for six area rape crisis centers for the second consecutive year. This is a huge victory for CAASE and its partners who greatly benefit from these funds, including Rape Victim Advocates, Mujeres Latinas en Acción, and the YWCA, to name a few. Under the direction of Advocacy Director Lynne Johnson, I worked closely with Communications Manager Kristin Claes, and Advocacy intern Lindsey Lapointe to encourage County Commissioners to continue funding rape crisis services in the community.

Rape crisis services are a vital, valuable resource for rape and sexual assault survivors. In Cook County, the rape crisis centers that we work with provide around-the-clock bilingual and culturally sensitive counseling, legal and medical advocacy, and outreach services. Unfortunately, funding these services is difficult during an economic crisis, especially with the threat of State budget cuts and a lack of support from the City of Chicago. The grant that each rape crisis center receives from the County helps them to effectively serve the members of their communities, and improve each client’s quality of life.

While working with County Commissioners to advocate for funding, I was given the opportunity to meet with rape crisis providers and ask them specifically about how the grants have made an impact in their communities. I was able to collect survivors’ stories, and learn more about how absolutely crucial rape crisis services are to an individual’s mental and emotional well being. We then used this information to create a document which shared the survivors’ experiences at each rape crisis center to encourage the County Board to continue their funding.

The opportunity to meet one-on-one with clients and providers offered me a whole new perspective on CAASE’s advocacy efforts and the significance of the work that we do here. One woman that I spoke with at Mujeres Latinas en Acción explained that the services she received helped her come to terms with the fact that she is a survivor of rape, and empowered her to move forward with her life. Another woman explained that she received services that helped her re-build a relationship with her children. By working to maintain funding from the County, CAASE is helping improve survivors’ lives, and I am grateful to have had the opportunity to be a part of these efforts.

-Serena Curry is a volunteer and intern for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation.

Notre Dame Rape Victim’s Case Parallels Experiences of Women in Chicago

The Chicago Tribune has a story today about a Notre Dame student who reports being sexually assaulted and how her family is speaking out about the treatment she received in the wake of her attack. The writers draw parallels to the case of Lizzy Seeberg, who took her own life this fall after allegedly being raped by a Notre Dame football player.
We are saddened and angry for both of these women and their families, and we want you to know that there are many, many people here in Chicago who are going through similar experiences in the wake of a sexual assault. CAASE and our partners in the community are witnessing an epidemic of victims who are attacked by acquaintances and who find a lack of resources to hold their perpetrators accountable.

The terrible reality is that people who are assaulted are often doubted at every turn—by police, prosecutors, and even their own loved ones. The problem of disbelief is often worse for women like those at Notre Dame who were attacked by acquaintances during incidents involving alcohol. Rather than believing these women and continuing a fair investigation that could lead to a trial, it seems that university officials did everything they could to protect the attackers from prosecution. CAASE sees the same issues here in Chicago, and we fight to counteract this through direct legal representation and advocacy. We must believe people who come forward after they are assaulted.

Our legal director, Kaethe Morris Hoffer, helps rape survivors to navigate the criminal justice system and to seek out options in civil court. She is a compassionate advocate for victims’ rights, and thanks to a generous grant from the Department of Justice, CAASE’s capacity to offer these free services is expanding. Kaethe meets with survivors and their families every week who simply want to be treated fairly.

The Tribune quotes the victim’s father as saying: "If there was a prompt, thorough and comprehensive investigation conducted and they came to the conclusion in consultation with the prosecutor that they could not successfully prosecute the individual, I would rely on that.” In Chicago even this approach doesn’t guarantee justice, as there is a lack of transparency about the way the Cook County State’s Attorney approaches sexual assault cases.

A study released last week by the Chicago Justice Project revealed that it is rare for the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office to pursue felony assault charges. The report states that while the police had filed more than 1,500 incident reports, only 288 sexual assault cases were approved for felony charges in 2009. That means fewer than 20% of reported sex crimes are being tried as felonies in Cook County.

The Notre Dame victim’s experience mirrors that of many people in Chicago—victims are kept in the dark about their cases, and they are asked over and over again if they really want to go through with pursuing charges. Even if the victim does stick with it, prosecutors may reject the case during their felony review process. The Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office declined to provide data or information about their felony review process for the CJP report. Until the State’s Attorney’s Office provides transparency and more complete data, it is nearly impossible for advocates to analyze and improve our community’s response to rape.

CAASE urges the Chicago community to read the CJP report about our local law enforcement’s response to rape. Be educated about the realities of this problem right here at home, and know that CAASE stands with survivors of sexual assault every day as they seek justice. We know that our services are needed more than ever.

To learn more about CAASE’s legal services for survivors of sexual harm, click here.

Photo courtesy of Nigsby.

V-Day Love for Iowa Rape Crisis Center's Ad

Today is V-Day, and we’re celebrating people who work to end violence against all people. Chicago is lucky to have a strong community of people who care deeply about the causes of violence and are working to stop them. To that end, CAASE is sponsoring a mayoral forum tomorrow with other organizations who also address these very issues—it’s free and open to the public, and starts at 6 p.m. at Chicago-Kent College of Law in the Loop. Learn more about the event here.

On a day that’s also about showing your love for the people and causes you care about, we’d like to extend a word of support to a rape crisis center in Iowa called Riverview Center. Their innovative ad campaign is working to prevent rape, but they’re using a message that many people don’t want to hear: "You’re not born to be a rapist, you're not born to beat up your husband or wife, you learn it," said Josh Jasper, the head of the center, which helps domestic violence and rape survivors in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Illinois. Check it out:




This ad is completely right-on, but it's making a lot of people mad. I think it’s making viewers uncomfortable because it addresses key misconceptions about rape. We need to stop blaming victims and start holding rapists accountable. When I was in college, they taught self-defense to women and encouraged us to carry pepper spray or a rape whistle. There was no discussion about what consent really means and the role that men and boys have in stopping rape. More than 80% of sexual assaults happen between acquaintances—women don’t expect to be raped by their boyfriends, their family members, their friends. Unless we start talking to boys at a young age about rape a violence, and how they can stop it, we aren’t addressing the real problem. There are, however, many organizations across the country that are led by men and are working to end violence against women. CAASE has compiled a list of these wonderful groups here, let us know if you know of other organizations that should be listed.

In local news, there’s going to be a report on Fox 32 tonight at 9 p.m. about the issue of rape in Chicago and how it’s reported and prosecuted. We’ll be tuning in, and look for more on the topic this week.

-Kristin Claes is the communications manager for the Chicago Alliance Against Sexual Exploitation

Wired and Venkatesh Perpetuate Prostitution Myths

The connection between people who buy sex (usually men) and trafficked victims still seems to be a tough one for some members of the media.

We were furious after reading Wired magazine’s latest issue has a piece from Sudhir Venkatesh, “How Tech Tools Transformed New York’s Sex Trade.” The piece glamorizes high-end prostitution, ignores the violent reality faced by many prostituted people and downplays the harm caused by people who buy sex. Venkatesh has many things wrong in this article, so I have addressed just a couple below. I’m sure our readers are going to spot plenty more. Please chime in in the comments here, and over on Wired, and let the world know that we won’t stand for the glamorization of the sex trade.

Venkatesh asserts that women who are high-end escorts experience less violence than women whose bodies are sold on the street. Other studies have shown that the relative rates of physical violence in indoor prostitution are on par with street-based activity. Some studies have actually found that those who engaged in indoor prostitution suffer from higher rates of mental health disorders, such as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, from their trauma than those who engaged in outdoor prostitution.

Venkatesh portrays prostitution as a lucrative “business” for the women he’s interviewed. Most women in prostitution are under the control of a pimp or trafficker and keep very little of the money they make, if they get to keep any at all. Pimps exact control and make money by taking cash from women and providing the minimal amount of support necessary to keep women in the trade.

Make sure to leave a comment here, and over at Wired. Thanks.

P.S. I’ll be using the #trafficking and #wired tags to get people engaged in the issue on Twitter. Check us out @TheCAASE

Photo by Cory Piña, Creative Commons License

Are We Ready to Satirize Rape Myths?

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	Mon - Thurs 11p / 10c
Rape Victim Abortion Funding
www.thedailyshow.com
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Are we ready to laugh about rape? When so many people don’t comprehend the realities of sexual assault in the United States, I wonder if we’re ready to chuckle all-knowingly at a satirization of pervasive myths about rape. Well, ready or not, the Daily Show tackled the “No Taxpayer Funding for Abortion Act” with scathing satire from comedian Kristen Schaal. With a straight face and Jon Stewart as her foil, she takes on the alarming concept of “forcible rape” being different from “regular rape-rape” and highlights how essential (and yet quite rare) it is that federal funding is available for abortion. When Kristin describes something as “rape-ish”, I wonder how many people laughed just because they were uncomfortable, not because they understood the absurdity of what she was saying. Do you think it was clear? Some are crediting Schaal with victory after the bill’s sponsors removed “forcible” from the bill. If you haven’t told your representative how you feel about this bill, take a minute now to do so.