Victoria Brownworth

for most people, the polanksi arrest and subsequent hand-wringing from the pro-child-rape contingent (there’s nothing else to call people who support a man who raped a child orally, anally and vaginally after drugging her) is yesterday’s news.

those of us for whom rape is not passe feel differently. the polanski case is not over. nor is rape.

rape isn’t yesterday’s news, and we are not–no matter what some say–living in a post-feminist world where rape doesn’t count.

jamie leigh jones isn’t a name as well-known as that of roman polanski or even roman polanski’s victim, samantha geimer. jamie leigh jones was gang-raped in iraq. sen. al franken (D-MN) wanted to make sure what happened to her never happened to another woman working for our government. it wasn’t complex–it was just allowing victims of assault to seek justice. we used to call that democracy in action.  

here are the facts, via ThinkProgress: 

In 2005, Jamie Leigh Jones was gang-raped by her co-workers while she was working for Halliburton/KBR in Baghdad. She was detained in a shipping container for at least 24 hours without food, water, or a bed, and “warned her that if she left Iraq for medical treatment, she’d be out of a job.” (Jones was not an isolated case.) Jones was prevented from bringing charges in court against KBR because her employment contract stipulated that sexual assault allegations would only be heard in private arbitration.

Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) proposed an amendment to the 2010 Defense Appropriations bill that would withhold defense contracts from companies like KBR “if they restrict their employees from taking workplace sexual assault, battery and discrimination cases to court.” Speaking on the Senate floor  Franken said:

The constitution gives everybody the right to due process of law … And today, defense contractors are using fine print in their contracts do deny women like Jamie Leigh Jones their day in court. … The victims of rape and discrimination deserve their day in court [and] Congress plainly has the constitutional power to make that happen.

that’s the story–both jones’ and franken’s. her tale is grim beyond belief and what’s more awful is that it took the most junior senator in the entire senate to try and right that wrong. bravo, franken!

in what parallel universe is gang rape incidental?

the jones/franken story does not end with franken’s amendment, of course, because decency seems to be low on the list of concerns for members of congresss.

 30 republicans voted against the provision, among them sen. david vitter (R-LA), who is best known for having patronized brothels in new orleans and having a fetish for being diapered and sen. john ensign (R-NV) who was just caught in a sex scandal involving lots of money and a former co-worker. john mccain (R-AZ) also voted for gang rape of women. the father of daughters.  

today, the 30 republicans for gang-rape (the names of the others are posted at the end of this column, so you can contact them and ask them why they support the gang rape of american women working in iraq) got a nod from a decorated war hero, WWII veteran sen. dan inouye (D-HI). 

at 85, inouye has served in congress longer than almost anyone–since 1959. he is the second most senior member of congress (after robert byrd). he’s distinguished himself over his years of service in the house and senate in many ways. but  now, as chair of the appropriations committee, he’s considering deleting  franken’s provision.

apparently the lives of women are not as important as defense contracts. just like the lives of 13-year-olds are not as important as those of esteemed film directors.

let me say again–i expect the republicans to act like the thugs they are (ten republicans voted for the franken amendment, however, which does make one wonder why they are still republicans). but we need better democrats. democrats with spine and with integrity. why would someone of inouye’s stature do something so puerile? the lives of rape victims matter.

but to whom?

 here’s another tidbit from the “rape is over” file:

health insurers consider rape a pre-existing condition.

if you have been raped and you have an exam and you get the drugs usually given to rape victims—HIV and other STD preventatives as well as the morning after pill–you qualify as having a pre-existing condition because your rapist might have infected you with HIV or another STD. because you were raped.  

here’s one account taken from the investigative report done by Huffington Post’s Danielle Ivory in today’s story (http://www.alternet.org/story/143426/):

A 38-year-old woman in Ithaca, N.Y., said she was raped last year and then penalized by insurers because in giving her medical history she mentioned an assault she suffered in college 17 years earlier. The woman, Kimberly Fallon, told a nurse about the previous attack and months later, her doctor’s office sent her a bill for treatment. She said she was informed by a nurse and, later, the hospital’s billing department that her health insurance company, Blue Cross Blue Shield, not only had declined payment for the rape exam, but also would not pay for therapy or medication for trauma because she “had been raped before.”

Fallon says she now has trouble getting coverage for gynecological exams. To avoid the hassle of fighting with her insurance company, she goes to Planned Parenthood instead and pays out of pocket.

let’s be sure we keep giving the health care industry whatever it is they want. last week we discovered that domestic violence was a pre-existing condition. this week it’s rape. maybe it’s just being a that woman is the pre-existing condition.—-vab 

here are the senators who voted for the gang rape of women: Alexander (R-TN), Barrasso (R-WY), Bond (R-MO), Brownback (R-KS), Bunning (R-KY), Burr (R-NC), Chambliss (R-GA), Coburn (R-OK), Cochran (R-MS), Corker (R-TN), Cornyn (R-TX), Crapo (R-ID), DeMint (R-SC), Ensign (R-NV), Enzi (R-WY), Graham (R-SC), Gregg (R-NH), Inhofe (R-OK), Isakson (R-GA), Johanns (R-NE), Kyl (R-AZ), McCain (R-AZ), McConnell (R-KY), Risch (R-ID), Roberts (R-KS), Sessions (R-AL), Shelby (R-AL), Thune (R-SD), Vitter (R-LA) and Wicker (R-MS).