Tag: Sexual

Categories
Health

Mike Bloomberg, Women, and Sexual Harassment Allegations: An Explainer


DeMarse has also not commented on the booklet—she has signed a non-disclosure agreement.

“Kill it”

Sekiko Sakai Garrison, a Bloomberg employee from 1989 until her firing in 1995, who led the sales of Bloomberg Terminals, sued Bloomberg and his company after being fired, according to documents published by the Washington Post. She claimed in her lawsuit that male Bloomberg employees from the CEO on down “engaged in a pattern and practice of sexual harassment, sexual degradation of women, and discrimination,” that she and other saleswomen were encouraged by Bloomberg and other male employees to wear “sexually provocative” clothing, and that she endured personal comments about her Japanese nationality.

According to the suit, when Garrison told Bloomberg of her pregnancy in 1995, Bloomberg told her to “kill it!” and that he repeated the comment when she asked him to, sure she had misheard it. Another former Bloomberg staffer, David Zielenziger, told the Washington Post that he heard Bloomberg say “Are you going to kill it?” to Garrison, in response to her pregnancy. “He talked kind of crudely about women all the time,” Zielenziger said. Another Bloomberg employee confirmed to the paper that Garrison reported the interaction to him at the time, though he didn’t overhear it personally.

In the lawsuit, Garrison claimed that she had heard Bloomberg make a series of similarly inappropriate statements:

To a female employee after a disappointing business meeting:
“If [the clients] told you to lay down and strip naked so they could fuck you, would you do that too?”

To a group of female employees after a male employee announced his engagement:
“All of you girls line up to give him a blow job as a wedding present.”

To Garrison, when she wasn’t included in a photo opportunity:
“Why didn’t they ask you to be in the picture? I guess they saw your face.”

To a female employee struggling to secure childcare:
“It’s a fucking baby! All you need is some black who doesn’t even have to speak English to rescue it from a burning building.”

Bloomberg denied the allegations, and said that he was cleared by a polygraph test, but did not release the test. Bloomberg and Garrison reached a settlement. She has signed a non-disclosure agreement.

“I’d like to do that piece of meat.”

Mary Ann Olszewski sued Bloomberg LP in 1996, according to documents published by Business Insider. She claimed in the suit that “Bloomberg, through its male managers and employees from Chief Executive Officer Michael Bloomberg on down, engaged in a pattern and practice of sexual harassment and sexual degradation of women.” In the suit she alleges that she heard Bloomberg make comments including, “I’d like to do that piece of meat,” and that Bloomberg repeatedly tried to look up her skirt. Olszewski’s suit also seems to corroborate Garrison’s allegation, when it cites Bloomberg saying, “Kill it” to Garrison when he learned of her pregnancy. But the most significant subject of the suit is her claims that she was raped by another Bloomberg employee during a trip she made on behalf of the company. (Garrison’s suit also alleges that Olszewski was sexually harassed and raped.)

According to the Olszewski’s suit, she reported the rape and asked to be re-assigned but was fired shortly after. In a deposition excerpted in the Village Voice, Bloomberg cast doubt on Olszewski’s story, saying, “My personal belief is that we have an allegation without proof.” He said that “satisfactory proof” that Olszewski’s allegation was “genuine” would be “an unimpeachable third-party witness.” When pressed to explain how there could possibly be such a witness, he said “There are times when three people are together.”

According to the Village Voice, the case was dismissed after Olszewski’s attorney missed a filing deadline.

“Drugged and raped”

Margaret Doe is the pseudonym of a woman who sued Bloomberg and Bloomberg LP in 2016, according to documents published by Business Insider. According to the suit, she was “drugged and raped”, and “tormented” by another Bloomberg employee. Doe sued Bloomberg as well as the company which, according to the complaint, had a rampant “drug culture,” and she further accused Bloomberg of encouraging “sexist and sexually charged behavior.” Bloomberg, Bloomberg LP, and the employee have all denied Doe’s allegations, and a judge removed Bloomberg from the suit.

Bloomberg—a New Yorker, billionaire, businessman—has billed himself in election materials as a Good Guy version of Trump. He even spent campaign ads skewering Trump for calling Hillary Clinton “such a nasty woman.” Maybe soon, Trump will run ads featuring Bloomberg’s on the record comments on a random woman’s ass.

Jenny Singer is a staff writer for Glamour. You can follow her on Twitter.





Source link

Categories
Health

Harvey Weinstein Has Been Found Guilty of First Degree Sexual Assault and Third Degree Rape


A New York jury has returned a verdict in the Harvey Weinstein trial. The disgraced movie mogul has been found guilty on two counts—a criminal sexual act against former Project Runway production assistant Miriam Haley and rape in the third degree of an unnamed victim. He was acquitted of two counts of predatory sexual assault and one count of rape in the first degree against Jessica Mann, according to CNN.

The jury of seven men and five women took five days to deliberate before the verdict was announced on February 24. Weinstein will face a minimum five-year sentence on the charges.

It was the stories of Weinstein’s harassment and abuse of women, as documented by Megan Twohey and Jodi Kantor for the New York Times and Ronan Farrow for the New Yorker, which set off the new era of #MeToo. (The hashtag was first coined by activist Tarana Burke.) Weinstein denied their claims, but the prosecution called numerous witnesses during the trial, including actors like Annabella Sciorra and Mann to discuss their own allegations against Weinstein.

On Friday afternoon, according to the Hollywood Reporter, the jury was seemingly deadlocked on the two most serious charges of predatory sexual assault, which carried a possible life sentence, but was unanimous on the three lesser charges. Weinstein was ultimately acquitted of the two counts of predatory sexual assault, and an alternative count of rape in the first degree.

“Thank you for the care and concentration, concern, and attention you have given to your deliberations,” Judge James Burke reportedly told the jury before their dismissal.

Weinstein faces a minimum of five years in prison with a 25-year maximum for the sexual assault charge and 18 months to four years for the third-degree rape. Sentencing for Weinstein in this case is scheduled for March 11, and Weinstein still faces four charges of sexual assault in Los Angeles.



Source link

Categories
Health

10 Sexual Wellness Products From Verishop to Spice Up Valentine's Night


Leave it to Verishop, our new favorite online shopping destination to heat up your Valentine’s Day with its chic sexual wellness products. The site—known for its Instagrammable curation of fashion, beauty, and home decor—has a small but mighty lineup of toys, books, and oils at a range of price points to spice up your life. Whether you’re planning a steamy rendezvous with a special someone or are riding solo, adding a sleek toy or a sexy book to your cart isn’t a bad idea—especially since Verishop offers free one-day shipping with no minimum purchase value required. That’s right, you’ll get all your goods in time for V-Day, so go ahead and add to cart.

Psst..there are more Valentine’s Day gifts this way.

All products featured on Glamour are independently selected by our editors. However, when you buy something through our retail links, we may earn an affiliate commission.



Source link

Categories
Health

Sex Education Season Two: We've Seen Sexual Assault on TV Before—But Never Like This


She continues, “Unless it is rape, [many of us] feel like we can’t really talk about it or that we have to take it in our stride and even laugh about it. We’ve turned them into little funny anecdotes rather than actually dealing with the fact that might have traumatized us on some level.” It’s like society has given us a hierarchy of sexual assault, she explains. “If you’re somewhere near the top then it’s like, ‘Oh, that’s OK. You’re allowed to be upset by this one.’ But anything lower you feel like maybe you’re a bit of a drama queen.”

TV shows have shown sexual assault before, of course, but this Sex Education storyline is new: Rarely does a series take an incident that isn’t rape and spend so much time over the course of a season unraveling the emotional layers that follow. Aimee’s experience isn’t relegated to a one-episode arc. Instead, the whole rest of the season checks in on her well-being and healing after the incident. It sends a clear message: Whatever the circumstances, any sexual assault is traumatic.

“It’s about what happens when you suppress that trauma and you don’t deal with it,” Wood says. “And it’s about women coming together and being that support system as Maeve, Ola, and many of the others do for Aimee at the end. Sometimes you need people to give weight to your problems and to give you permission to feel the damage of something. Sometimes you just need someone to go, ‘You’re allowed to feel shit about this.'”

Sam Taylor/Netflix

The way that Aimee’s boyfriend, Steve, responds is also key. She has trouble being intimate with him—even cuddling is hard—but he never pressures her and invites her to open up when she’s ready, on her terms. That support only makes their relationship stronger, Wood says.

“Even though it’s such an unfortunate way to grow, it’s a huge turning point in her life,” she explains. “Much like what she learnt in season one by taking ownership of her body and that masturbation montage, this does the same, even though it stems from an awful situation. She becomes so much more empowered because of it…but it takes a long time.”

After season one, Wood says women would often come up to her to talk about the female orgasm and masturbation. Now, she’s ready to hear from women who have buried their own trauma. “I’m so grateful we’re telling this story,” she says. “The conversations that I’ve had with young women is just so incredible. I’ve had so many conversations, even with my friends, that I would never have had if not for this show. We never spoke about [these things]. And now we do.”

Season two of Sex Education is now streaming on Netflix. Jessica Radloff is the Glamour West Coast editor.



Source link

Categories
Health

How a Grey's Anatomy Episode Led to an Increase in Sexual Assault Awareness


We may be living in the age of too much content (because really, who can get to it all?!?), but a new study shows that one single episode of popular television can still make a big impact on the world. Grey’s Anatomy has been in our lives since it premiered on ABC in 2005, and over the past 15 seasons fans have seen many powerful and emotional episodes. But one, in particular, from last March is proving to have a lasting effect on awareness around sexual assault.

“Silent All These Years” first aired on March 28, 2019 and featured a storyline with a patient named Abby, who Dr. Jo Karev and Dr. Teddy Altman learn has been sexually assaulted. At the time, I wrote about how sensitively the show handled the issue of consent on many levels, but particularly how the doctors treated Abby as they examined her. The episode culminated in an emotional moment where female doctors, nurses, and other hospital staff line the hallway as Abby was taken into surgery because every male face she sees reminds her of her attacker.

At the end of the show, Ellen Pompeo did a PSA for viewers about reaching out for help if they had been affected by sexual violence, and gave information about contacting the National Sexual Assault Hotline operated by the Rape, Abuse & Incest National Network, or RAINN (800-856-HOPE or via online chat hotline.rainn.org/online/). And now a new study is showing the real-life impact of the show.

Researchers at the Oklahoma State University Center for Health Sciences studied search trends on Google and Twitter for two weeks before and one week after the episode aired. They monitored terms like “Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network,” “RAINN,” “sexual assault,” “rape,” “sexual assault hotline,” and tweets mentioning @RAINN. They also collected data from RAINN on call volumes in the 48 hours after the episode aired.

“Engagements with the @RAINN Twitter account and tweets mentioning ‘sexual assault hotline’ increased by 1,097% the day after the episode,” researcher Trevor Torgerson told Reuters Health. They also found the National Sexual Assault Hotline call volume increased by 43% in the 48 hours after the episode, and the volume of searches for the term “RAINN” was 41% larger than expected, and search volumes for “rape” and “sexual assault” were 8% and 9% higher, respectively. In addition, the number of tweets mentioning “sexual assault hotline” and “RAINN” were 1,995% and 292% higher than usual.

“An adored actress, such as Ellen Pompeo, may be able to convince someone to seek help in a way that ‘only’ flashing the hotline number may not be able to. That being said, if flashing the hotline number is all that can be done, we would agree there is a benefit to it,” Torgerson said.

Whatever the factors, it’s incredible to see the impact that one episode of television (in this case, Grey’s Anatomy) can have on the world.



Source link

Categories
Health

‘Reiki Helped Me Heal from the Trauma of Sexual Assault’


Trigger Warning: This article contains descriptions of sexual trauma.

I’ve recently become one of those people who is into reiki—aka “energy healing,” a form of alternative medicine. This is a complete shock to me—I generally raise my eyebrows at mentions of “chakras” and “attuning”—but I’m now that girl. Whenever it comes up in conversation that I’ve not only tried reiki but actually find it really powerful, I tend to get one of two responses (both of which involve raised eyebrows). Version one goes, “Oh, I’ve always been interested in trying that!” Version two goes, “Oh, wow,” accompanied by a studious sip of a drink.

I first encountered reiki two years ago—about nine and a half years after I was raped at a party. I didn’t tell anyone because I didn’t realize that’s what it was (I told myself it was my fault for drinking underage, for going to his room). I chalked it up to a Bad Night.

For seven years, I didn’t think about it much until it hit me while getting sunburned on a beach in Málaga: Of course it was rape; I had just been conditioned to see it otherwise.

This was right before the start of #MeToo in late 2017, and as the movement rose like a tidal wave, its presence was constant in my life: In my weekend work editing and writing, in group messages with friends, on the news screens in the subway as I rode to yoga. It felt like something real, something wild, was happening. But the rape, something I had thought about only occasionally for all that time, suddenly began to persistently haunt my thoughts—always pacing, waiting for a vulnerable, split-second lull to barge in. And when it did, it took up the room.

Yoga, which I once looked forward to as a way to slow down my thoughts, devolved during this time into a game of roulette: Either I would find peace during the vinyasa flows or deep yin sequences, my mind swaddled in calm—or frames from the Bad Night and the morning after would replay, visual and emotional impressions looping like a nightmare GIF. Once, I had a panic attack; a few times, I cried.

I did think about seeing a therapist several times throughout 2018, but I always found an excuse not to: I was tending to a fledgling start-up I co-founded, I was trying to build a travel writing career, I was navigating a long-distance open relationship. I just didn’t have the energy to figure out finding a therapist in a foreign country (I live in Germany)—and my insurance, very much basic-need coverage at the time, wouldn’t have covered it anyway.

A year and a half later, I and my mental defenses were worn down. Thoughts about my assault were breaking through more and more often, to the point where the traumatic memory GIF was an almost-constant presence in the back of my head. I felt drawn out. So I booked a week-long yoga retreat in Thailand. I told friends and family I was taking a social media-free vacation, doing yoga, reading a Kindle-pile of books, and drinking gin on the beach. Privately I was also intent on an exorcism of the trauma. I was hoping that by putting myself through six days of yoga, I’d somehow have a breakthrough, whatever that looked like. I signed up for yoga and pilates classes, and on a whim, a reiki session.

What Is Reiki?

Reiki is a Japanese “energy healing” practice. During a reiki session, a practitioner stands around you, hovering their hands over you and sometimes placing them gently on you. I was skeptical but I figured it was worth a try.



Source link