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Aug 192009
Aug 182009
Irene Weiser of Stop Family Violence has issued the following statement and call to action regarding the Marriott’s horific treatment of the woman who was raped in the parking garage of their Stamford, RI hotel:
“Jane Doe was viciously assaulted by a rapist in 2006, and is being viciously assaulted again now by a calloused corporation that has put its bottom line above human decency. There is nothing in the Marriott’s latest statement to indicate Marriott takes any responsibility for what happened to the survivor, nor any evidence that they wish to end her ongoing suffering by settling the lawsuit. Rather, the statement merely signals a change in legal strategy because the public relations fallout from their bullying legal tactics are hurting business.”
“The statements and actions by Marriott International were cruel and heartless and no doubt have added to the rape survivor’s trauma. What’s more, Marriott’s actions have sent a chill to women everywhere since fear of being blamed and ruthless legal tactics are key reasons that survivors don’t report this all-too-common demeaning and brutal crime.”
“It is time for society to stop blaming survivors of rape for the crimes committed against them and to start placing the blame squarely where it belongs – on the men who perpetrate these acts and on societal attitudes that excuse men’s violence and condone the degradation of women.”
Marriott International’s August 14 press release states, “unfortunately this situation has created a mistaken impression that Marriott lacks respect and concern for Ms. Doe or other victims of violent crime.”
StopFamilyViolence.org calls on Marriott International Inc. to clear up this ‘mistaken impression’ and show true respect for Ms. Doe and all women by taking the following actions:
1. Issue a public apology to Ms. Doe regarding the calloused legal tactics that were used against her in which Marriott accepts responsibility for not providing a safe environment and expresses regret for the trauma their legal strategy and negligence have caused.
2. Stop pursuing a trial and instead settle the case with Jane Doe for the damages she seeks.
3. Become a leader for the hotel industry and make the respect and safety of women a top priority at all Marriott properties by doing the following:
a) Ensure that all Marriott properties have adequate lighting and security cameras indoors, outdoors and in parking garages. Provide parking escorts 24/7 if asked and make it clearly known that Marriott provides this service. (Alternatively – provide valet parking for all at no additional charge.)
b) Screen all job applicants and current employees and refuse to employ anyone with a history of domestic violence, sexual assault, stalking or child abuse.
c) Become a member of the Corporate Alliance to End Partner Violence and develop human resource policies to protect employees who are victims of domestic violence, sexual assault or stalking.
d) Make annual financial and in-kind contributions to the sexual assault and domestic violence organizations that serve the communities where Marriott properties are located.
e) Remove “Adult videos” from in-room movie selections in all Marriott properties. More than anything else in our culture, pornography legitimizes men’s degradation and sexual abuse of women.
For previous coverage of this issue on the FPN blog, click here.
Aug 182009
After what the Hartford Courant calls “days of backlash” of which FPN is proud to be a part (see here and here),
A Marriott hotel abandoned a defense Monday in a lawsuit brought by a Connecticut woman raped at gunpoint in a Stamford garage in front of her young children — that she was careless and partially at fault.
The woman also accused Marriott in June of indirectly exposing her and her children’s identity by seeking subpoenas for the depositions of her Pilates instructor, friends and tennis partners, a house cleaner and a baby sitter.
Attorneys needed to determine the effect of the crime on the victim, said Marriott attorney Donald Derrico, noting that the subpoenas haven’t been issued. The hotel will decide whom to subpoena on a case-by-case basis, he said.
“Her name was never, ever, ever disclosed to anyone,” Derrico said.
Well no, it didn’t have to be, no doubt the people involved could figure it out for themselves.
The defense claim was made before attorneys finished taking the victim’s deposition, Derrico said, “so as not to waive a potential defense.” He said that Marriott officials asked his law firm to withdraw the claim in July, but that his associate had not done so because his mother died.
The my associate’s Mom died excuse? Really?
It gets better. The Stamford Advocate reports that,
An attorney for the Marriott Hotel & Spa in Stamford said it is not responsible for a lawsuit’s defense that a local woman’s negligence led to her rape in the hotel’s garage in 2006 and had requested the claim be withdrawn weeks ago.
“From its inception, the legal case involving this tragic incident has been handled by the insurance company and its lawyers under the terms of the hotel’s insurance policy, as is customary where an insurance company bears the risk of loss,” said Stamford attorney Marc Kurzman in a statement from the hotel. “Interestingly enough, when we recently learned of this defense we requested that it be withdrawn.”
Kurzman said the Stamford Marriott staff are “surprised and distressed” by The Advocate’s coverage of the lawsuit filed by the victim. He said there is a “mistaken belief that the Marriott’s ownership and management was somehow responsible for the ‘blame the victim’ defense asserted in the legal papers.”
Mistaken belief? Um, that’s nice that you requested that it be withdrawn but let’s use this analogy–if I go to my health insurance company and tell them their coverage sucks and it costs too much and I’m going to go to another company, they are going to be rolling on the floor laughing and wishing me the best of luck. But I’m betting that Marriott’s business is a fair chunk of change for any insurance company (interesting that no one seems to be mentioning the insurance company’s name) and maybe possibly you could have demanded it be withdrawn and taken swift action when it came to light that it hadn’t been.
And then, without explanations, excuses, or other qualifiers, you could apologize to this woman and settle the case quietly and to her satisfaction. And after all this damned ruckus, it better be a very large settlement.
Aug 172009
And this presupposes their husbands will let them come vote in the first place. This is NOT democracy in action. Via the HuffPo:
Millions of Afghan women will be denied their chance to vote in presidential elections this week because there aren’t enough female officials to staff the women-only polling stations.
Women’s activists said the Independent Election Commission (IEC), which is organising the polls, still needs to recruit 13,000 women before Thursday’s elections.
The IEC refused to comment on recruitment figures, but papers leaked to The Independent suggest the shortfall is much worse, at more than 42,000.
Without female staff to operate the strictly segregated stations, and more importantly, without female searchers to frisk women voters as they arrive at those stations, conservative men across the country will ban their wives and daughters from taking part.
Aug 172009
While terribly disheartening, as the Feminist Peace Network has been saying since the U.S. first invaded Afghanistan, expressions of concern for women’s human rights are only window-dressing, the lives of Afghan women are callously being used as bargaining chips, to be gambled for political power and control. Via The Times Online (UK):
(T)he United States and Britain are now opposed to any strong public protest because they fear that speaking out could disrupt Thursday’s election, according to two sources familiar with the donors’ meeting.
“There was a disagreement over how to respond,” one of the sources said. “The British and Americans were reluctant to speak out.” The controversy exposes the contradictions between Afghanistan’s traditional values and Western efforts to instill democracy and human rights after toppling the Taleban.
More to the point it exposes the misogynistic reality of the American and British definition of democracy.
