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Attacks on journalists take on a nasty gendered twist

February 11th was the day Egypt’s president Mubarak agreed to step down, the day that the courage and persistence of the Egyptian protesters finally paid off. It was also the day when violence against journalists took on a nasty twist. A mob of about 200 people attacked a CBS television crew, separating Lara Logan, the network’s chief foreign correspondent, from her colleagues. According to reports, Logan was violently beaten and sexually assaulted for about half an hour without reprieve, until a group of women and soldiers came to her rescue. CBS released a short statement, saying the journalist had returned to the United States the next day, where she was hospitalised for a short while.

This was hardly the first time a journalist was attacked in Egypt during the protests. The Committee to Protect Journalists, an American NGO working to promote the safety of journalists (in which Logan is a board member), documented 141 cases of violence exercised against media workers. In one instance, violence led to the death of Ahmed Mohammed Mahmoud, aged 36, who was shot by a sniper, while taking pictures from his balcony.

Considering these deplorable circumstances, the attack on Logan was shocking, but not entirely surprising as violence against women often takes on a sexual character. What was more astonishing is the way the event was perceived by many commentators in the Western media world. Women suffering from rape and sexual assault are often forced to face suspicion and derogatory treatment, as they are often perceived as partly or wholly to blame for the ordeal they have endured. Still, it could have been hoped that Logan, who was doing her job like all her other male colleagues, would receive the same kind of support that the men were entitled to. Sadly, this was hardly the case. Upon her return to her homeland, the CBS correspondent had to deal with a media onslaught, rife with the typical blame-the-victim accusations, often emanating from other journalists and media commentators.

Surprisingly enough, one of the most publicised attacks on Logan came from left-winged journalist, Nir Rosen, who, just like Logan, worked in the war zones of Iraq and Afghanistan and was, up until now, a New York University fellow. News of the event broke out when Rosen started a series of tweets, which began with:

“[she] was probably just groped like thousands of other women”,

continued with:

“Lara had to outdo Anderson” [referring to the attack on CNN’s reporter Anderson Cooper and his crew the day before],

and finally ended with:

“Jesus Christ, at a moment when she is going to become a martyr and glorified we should at least remember her role as a major warmonger”.

As Rosen’s tweets began to spread, he found himself in the eye of a Media hurricane, which eventually forced him to resign from his position at the University. Subsequently, Rosen expressed many times, his regret for the apparent poor taste of his banter, claiming he had no idea the attack on Logan was of a sexual nature, a defence line many find dubious, seeing as Rosen posted a link to the CBS statement from the beginning. Rosen also later claimed to be a “staunch supporter of women’s rights”.

But not all were open to question their dealings with the affair. Debbie Schlussel, the ultra-conservative columnist and commentator, wrote in her blog claiming:

“Lara Logan was among the chief cheerleaders of this ‘revolution’ by animals. Now she knows what Islamic revolution is really all about.”

To which she added:

“So sad, too bad, Lara. No one told her to go there. She knew the risks. And she should have known what Islam is all about. Now she knows […] How fitting that Lara Logan was ‘liberated’ by Muslims in Liberation Square while she was gushing over the other part of the ‘liberation.’ ”

Schlussel goes on with her derision of the attack, spicing it up with racist remarks against Muslims and summing it up with the following flourish:

“Hope you’re enjoying the revolution, Lara! Alhamdilllullah [praise allah].”

Many other journalists and commentators could not restrain themselves from alluding to Logan’s looks. The adjective “blond” was often used.  Many articles referred to Logan as being an attractive woman and some spoke about her sexual morals. In her article, Simone Wilson of LA Weekly gave a rather extensive overview of Logan’s appearance, character, and romantic pursuits, quoting sources that called her a “marriage wrecker”.

Other journalists chose to question Logan’s professional choices, claiming that women should not put themselves in risky situations. Peter Worthington of the Toronto Sun made the claim that as a mother of two children, the journalist should never have put herself in that situation. According to him, her domestic responsibilities should have taken precedence over all other considerations. While Worthington doubted Logan’s right to report from dangerous places, basing his argument on personal assumptions about how women should fulfill their roles as mothers, many other commentators and readers simply asserted that all women putting themselves at risk should ultimately bear the responsibility of their own assault.

It is also worthy to note that this atmosphere of casting the blame quickly got leaked onto the World Wide Web within a very short amount of time, as readers posted derogatory and accusatory remarks, prompting editors to delete a good number of the comments. The LA Times, for instance, declared that it would no longer allow live postings on forums discussing this event, as these quickly filled up with comments that were both offensive to Logan and to Muslims. Mark Memmott, a journalist and blogger at NPR, had to publish a similar announcement, finding that readers’ participation in the debate was filling up with racial slurs. 

All in all, the many reactions to the assault on Logan seemed to somehow reinforce our society’s attitude towards sexual assault victims in particular, and to women in general. None of the other reporters attacked in Egypt had to face such harsh treatment, with comments on their looks, personal behaviour or professional choices, as CBS’ Lara Logan did. As long as you get beaten up, you’re status as a victim remains intact. But once the attack is transformed into a sexual one, the victim’s image is instantaneously tainted. If the victim happens to be attractive, on top of everything else, and has her love history somewhere on record, the media space quickly turns into a courtroom, with some commentators gladly endorsing the ferocious defense attorney role and crucifying the victim even before she has the chance to appear on the witness stand.

For some, Logan was guilty because she was pretty, for others because she had a sexual life, and for the rest because she was willing to risk her life for a good story. The left-winger denigrated her attack because she was a “war-monger”, and the ultra-conservative – because she was a Muslim lover (Jeffrey Goldberg from The Atlantic dubbed this quite aptly as “The Lunatic Left-Right Harmonic Rape Convergence Theory”). As for the rest, well, they just assume that as a woman, she’d better stick to covering stories about the local farmers’ market.

Rape and sexual assault are not about attraction – they are about asserting power and dominance over others. This is why women of all ages and appearances are subjected to such attacks. Denying women the recognition of their suffering, as they rightly deserve after being subjected to such a treatment, is simply a reinforcement of the first act of violence perpetrated against them. But the problem in the case of Logan goes beyond that. It’s also a reflection of how we treat women in the work place, and more specifically how we treat female journalists. When a male reporter gets roughed up or even killed, the necessity of his presence is never put into question, but when a woman is assaulted, some are quick to question why she occupies such a position in the first place. These voices seem to ignore the fact that we need women such as Logan not only because it is normal to demand that women have equal job opportunities, but simply because their disappearance from the media would do a great disservice both to journalism and to women all over the world who need to have their voices heard. Finally, in the case of sexual assault and rape cases, it is high time we stop asking the victims to alter their behaviour, but rather make these same demands towards their aggressors. After all, it is ultimately the aggressors who committed the crime.

Schlussel asserted that Logan couldn’t really be surprised by the events, as she had put herself at the mercy of “barbarians”. She also uses the most derogatory terms possible to describe Muslims, and uses the case of Logan’s attack as an example of what she deems to be their abhorring racial traits. And yet, Schussel’s treatment of Logan hardly sets her apart from the racially deformed characters she draws. We may criticise certain countries for their disregard for women, but as this story uncovers, the Western world and its media still has some way to go before it manages to truly extract itself from a culture that is so accustomed to rape.

Tags: afghanistan, ahmed mohammed mahmoud, anderson cooper, attorney, balcony considering, board member, cbs, cnns reporter, correspondent, debbie schlussel, effect, egypt, egypts, iraq, jeffrey goldberg, jesus christ, journalist, la weekly, lara alhamdilllullah, lara logan, lara logans, liberation square, mark memmott, media commentators, media onslaught, media workers, media world, mubarak, networks chief foreign correspondent, new york university, nir rosen, peter worthington, president, reporter, simone wilson, the la times, the toronto sun, toronto sun, ultraconservative columnist and commentator, united states, university subsequently rosen,

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