5/30/07
sex crime & prostitution rate
Sex crimes and prostitutionOutposts of Empire:
The case against foreign military bases, TNI, March 2007
The heady mix of machismo and militarism that pervades US army bases generally means trouble for relations with local women. The areas surrounding many bases have high levels of prostitution, while the government agreements protecting US soldiers from prosecution mean that sex crimes are rarely met with adequate severity.
Contents
The heady mix of machismo and militarism that pervades US army bases generally means trouble for relations with local women. The areas surrounding many bases have high levels of prostitution, while the government agreements protecting US soldiers from prosecution mean that sex crimes are rarely met with adequate severity.
US military authorities have tended toward the idea that prostitution provides a useful way for soldiers stationed thousands of miles from wives or girlfriends to “let off steam”। The welfare of the women providing these “rest and recreational” opportunities is rarely of concern: prostitution around bases and ports used by US navy ships in the Philippines and Thailand fuels the trafficking of women throughout south-east Asia, while living conditions and standards of health amongst sex workers are often low. The attitude of US army doctors to local women seeking HIV tests illustrates military attitudes – women are tested to ensure that they are a safe, HIV-free commodity for the soldiers, but are not offered safe sex advice or supplies to protect themselves.
While military chiefs are able to dismiss the welfare of sex workers as an issue of the womens professional choice, reality shows a more complex situation, with many women not selecting this as a profession but regarding themselves as genuine partners who are then shocked to find themselves abandoned when military personnel move on. It is estimated that since 1945 there have been 50,000 unacknowledged children of US soldiers in the Philippines alone, and these receive none of the benefits of US military families, such as healthcare, housing and education. Similar problems have been reported around US bases in Germany and the UK.
The most extreme examples of the use and abuse of women by the US military are found in the high rate of sex crimes, including pedophilia, around army bases. High profile examples, such as the grotesquely sexualised murder of a young woman bar worker by a US serviceman in Korea in 1992 and the rape of a 12 year old girl in Okinawa by three GIs in 1995 are just the visible end of the everyday difficulties faced by women and girls in base towns from Honduras to Guam to Labrador. Studies from the US occupation of Japan in the 1950s show soldiers giving rape victims rationed food items, in order to turn the crime – at least in the perpetrator's eyes – into a commercial event encouraged by military policy. In its continued condoning of the use of large-scale prostitution and its refusal to take responsibility for the safety of women around its bases, the US military's attitudes continue to facilitate the use of women as objects in this way.
Okinawa
Seventy-five per cent of the US bases in Japan are concentrated on Okinawa, a tiny island occupying just 0.6 per cent of the country’s land area. These occupy many of the island’s best agricultural and fishing sites, as well as causing serious environmental and noise pollution. The bases have resulted in high crime rates, and a disturbing level of sexual violence, as Suzuyo Takasato of Okinawa Women Act Against Military Violence, explains:
Okinawa is a place where the armed forces have learnt how to kill and hurt people in close proximity to the local population for more than 60 years। This situation breeds a structural violence, rather than one that can be understood simply in terms of the crimes of individual soldiers.
When a 12-year-old girl was raped by three US soldiers in September 1995, an infamous case, the shock was too enormous for society to remain silent. But there is a long history of violence and harassment on Okinawa derived from the presence of the US bases.
In the post-war period, including after the Battle of Okinawa and during the Korean War, the whole of Okinawa turned into a land without law। US soldiers raped women, threatening them at gunpoint in crop fields and on the streets, and even abducting them in front of their families. Many unwanted and forced pregnancies resulted as female Okinawans of all ages were targeted. The victims of sexual violence on the island included a nine-month old baby in 1949 and a little girl of six years old, who was raped and killed in 1955.
“During the Vietnam War, the terrible violence committed by US soldiers, operating in an extremely unstable and frantic psychological condition was also directed towards women working in areas surrounding the US bases. At that time, two to four people were strangled to death each year, and many women in the area lived in fear of this fate.
Okinawa reverted to Japanese administration in 1972 but the violence continued, and even became more chronic। There were a number of rapes and attempted rapes, as well as sexual abuse in public areas and even a case where a private house was invaded. The victims included a 10 year-old girl and a 14 year-old girl.
When the 1995 rape case of a girl happened, I was hosting a workshop with other Okinawan women at the Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing on the topic of ‘Military Violence against Women in Okinawa’। When we returned home and learnt more about the case, we decided to break the silence that was a supplement to the violence. We established ‘Okinawa Women Act against Military Violence’, an association to stop military power and violence. At the same time, we opened the ‘Rape Emergency Intervention Counseling Centre – Okinawa’, which offers supports to the victims of sexual violence. We made a chronology of sex crimes against women by US soldiers in the post-war period, which shed light on the previously unknown level of this violence. We also organised a ‘Peace Caravan to the USA’ in 1996 and 1998 to make US citizens aware of the realities of their soldiers’ activities and discuss with them. In 1997, we formed the ‘East Asia-US-Puerto Rico Women’s Network Against Militarism’ together with women from the Philippines, Korea, the USA and Puerto Rico, where we share our experiences on the negative impacts of the bases to women, children and environment, learn collectively from our own activities, and support each other. In Okinawa itself, 34 organisations came together in 1999 to launch the ‘Okinawa Citizens’ Network’, of which I am one of the coordinators.
The bases remain, however, and a new ‘floating’ facility is being constructed in Henoko Bay, also in Okinawa province, as a replacement for the dangerous Futenma base. A citizens’ referendum showed a clear ‘no’ to this new base, while various citizens’ groups engaged in resistance actions on the sea for more than 600 days, forcing construction plans to stop. It was the victory of the power of hope: believing in life, peace and co-existence.
prostitution ligal or iligal
Prostitution is consuming thousands of girls and women and reaping enormous profits for organized crime in post-communist countries। In addition, each year, several hundred thousand women are trafficked from Eastern European countries for prostitution in sex industry centers all over the world. The practices are extremely oppressive and incompatible with universal standards of human rights. The sex trade is a form of contemporary slavery and all indications predict its growth and expansion into the 21st century.
Approximately three-fourths of the women who are recruited and trafficked are unaware that they are destined for strip clubs, brothels, or the street, where they are sold to eager male buyers। Most of the women are seeking to escape poverty, violence and lack of opportunities, but once they are under control of pimps or traffickers, they are "seasoned" into prostitution by physical and sexual violence and economic coercion. With no recourse, the women submit in the hope of eventually earning enough money to buy their way out of debt bondage or finding a way to escape. Women's compliance to multiple unwanted sexual acts results in trauma to the mind and body. Survivors of prostitution often report that each act of prostitution felt like a rape. In order to endure the multiple invasions of the body women use drugs and alcohol to numb the assaults to their dignity and bodily integrity. Eventually, the woman's physical and emotional health is destroyed.
Above all, state bodies and non-governmental organizations should understand that prostitution is a demand market created by men who buy and sell women's sexuality for their own profit and pleasure। Legal reforms should therefore create remedies that assist victims and prosecute perpetrators.
Most existing laws concerning prostitution were formulated on the assumption that prostitution is immoral activity, with women being the most immoral participants. Therefore, laws that ban prostitution usually criminalize the women. By listening to women's experiences of prostitution and moving beyond moralistic analyses, women's rights groups have defined prostitution to be sexual exploitation and a form of violence against women. All legal reforms should be based on this understanding. Therefore, states should decriminalize prostitution for women-that is, stop punishing women for being prostituted. Considering the documented harm to women who are trafficked and prostituted, it is only logical that women should not be criminalized for being the victim of those abuses. Decriminalization also means that women will not fear arrest if they seek assistance and may be more likely to testify against pimps and traffickers.
there absolutely should be no decriminalization for pimps, traffickers, brothel owners, or the men who buy women in prostitution। All legal reforms should aim to stop these perpetrators and profiteers.
Prostitution should not be legalized। Legalization means that the state imposes regulations under which women can be prostituted. In effect, regulation means that under certain conditions it is permissible to exploit and abuse women. In several Eastern European states "tolerance zones" are being considered; in other states there are proposals for legalization. Most arguments in favor of legalization are based on trying to distinguish between "free" and "forced" prostitution and trafficking. Considering the extreme conditions of exploitation in the sex industry, those distinctions are nothing but abstractions that make for good academic debates. They are, however, meaningless to women under the control of pimps or traffickers. Certainly, the sex industry doesn't differentiate between "free" and "forced," and my research reveals that men who buy women and children in prostitution don't differentiate either. Legalization and regulation aim to redefine prostitution as a form of work, indicated by the use of the term "sex work." The renaming may clean up the image of prostitution, but it doesn't end the violence and exploitation. It only allows criminals and members of organized crime rings to become legitimate businessmen and work hand-in-hand with the state in marketing women's bodies. In the Netherlands, where two-thirds of the women in prostitution are immigrants and one-half of them are trafficked illegal immigrants, legalization has, in fact, increased prostitution and trafficking.
Prostitution is an extreme form of gender discrimination. Legalization of this violence to women restricts women's freedom and citizenship rights. If women are allowed to become a legitimate commodity, they are consigned to a second-class citizenship. Democracy is subverted.
Women's bodies and emotions must belong to them alone. They must not be traded or sold. The sex industry targets and consumes young women, usually under age 25, often girls in their teens. If a state permits prostitution to flourish, a certain portion of each generation of young women will be lost. Prostitution causes extreme harm to the body and the mind. Women who survive the beatings, rapes, sexually transmitted diseases, drugs, alcohol, and emotional abuse, emerge from prostitution ill, traumatized, and often, as poor as when they entered.
The enormity of the sex trade throughout the world is overwhelming, but the only way to proceed is to acknowledge the violence and exploitation for what it is and create remedies accordingly. Legalization will only benefit traffickers and pimps and compromise individual women and the status of women in the long run. In the words of one survivor of prostitution: "Legalization will not end abuse; it will make abuse legal."
Author
Donna M. Hughes has been an activist in the feminist anti-sexual violence and exploitation movement since the early-1980s. She holds the Eleanor M. and Oscar M. Carlson Endowed Chair in Women's Studies, and is the Director of Women's Studies at the University of Rhode Island, USA.
Approximately three-fourths of the women who are recruited and trafficked are unaware that they are destined for strip clubs, brothels, or the street, where they are sold to eager male buyers। Most of the women are seeking to escape poverty, violence and lack of opportunities, but once they are under control of pimps or traffickers, they are "seasoned" into prostitution by physical and sexual violence and economic coercion. With no recourse, the women submit in the hope of eventually earning enough money to buy their way out of debt bondage or finding a way to escape. Women's compliance to multiple unwanted sexual acts results in trauma to the mind and body. Survivors of prostitution often report that each act of prostitution felt like a rape. In order to endure the multiple invasions of the body women use drugs and alcohol to numb the assaults to their dignity and bodily integrity. Eventually, the woman's physical and emotional health is destroyed.
Above all, state bodies and non-governmental organizations should understand that prostitution is a demand market created by men who buy and sell women's sexuality for their own profit and pleasure। Legal reforms should therefore create remedies that assist victims and prosecute perpetrators.
Most existing laws concerning prostitution were formulated on the assumption that prostitution is immoral activity, with women being the most immoral participants. Therefore, laws that ban prostitution usually criminalize the women. By listening to women's experiences of prostitution and moving beyond moralistic analyses, women's rights groups have defined prostitution to be sexual exploitation and a form of violence against women. All legal reforms should be based on this understanding. Therefore, states should decriminalize prostitution for women-that is, stop punishing women for being prostituted. Considering the documented harm to women who are trafficked and prostituted, it is only logical that women should not be criminalized for being the victim of those abuses. Decriminalization also means that women will not fear arrest if they seek assistance and may be more likely to testify against pimps and traffickers.
there absolutely should be no decriminalization for pimps, traffickers, brothel owners, or the men who buy women in prostitution। All legal reforms should aim to stop these perpetrators and profiteers.
Prostitution should not be legalized। Legalization means that the state imposes regulations under which women can be prostituted. In effect, regulation means that under certain conditions it is permissible to exploit and abuse women. In several Eastern European states "tolerance zones" are being considered; in other states there are proposals for legalization. Most arguments in favor of legalization are based on trying to distinguish between "free" and "forced" prostitution and trafficking. Considering the extreme conditions of exploitation in the sex industry, those distinctions are nothing but abstractions that make for good academic debates. They are, however, meaningless to women under the control of pimps or traffickers. Certainly, the sex industry doesn't differentiate between "free" and "forced," and my research reveals that men who buy women and children in prostitution don't differentiate either. Legalization and regulation aim to redefine prostitution as a form of work, indicated by the use of the term "sex work." The renaming may clean up the image of prostitution, but it doesn't end the violence and exploitation. It only allows criminals and members of organized crime rings to become legitimate businessmen and work hand-in-hand with the state in marketing women's bodies. In the Netherlands, where two-thirds of the women in prostitution are immigrants and one-half of them are trafficked illegal immigrants, legalization has, in fact, increased prostitution and trafficking.
Prostitution is an extreme form of gender discrimination. Legalization of this violence to women restricts women's freedom and citizenship rights. If women are allowed to become a legitimate commodity, they are consigned to a second-class citizenship. Democracy is subverted.
Women's bodies and emotions must belong to them alone. They must not be traded or sold. The sex industry targets and consumes young women, usually under age 25, often girls in their teens. If a state permits prostitution to flourish, a certain portion of each generation of young women will be lost. Prostitution causes extreme harm to the body and the mind. Women who survive the beatings, rapes, sexually transmitted diseases, drugs, alcohol, and emotional abuse, emerge from prostitution ill, traumatized, and often, as poor as when they entered.
The enormity of the sex trade throughout the world is overwhelming, but the only way to proceed is to acknowledge the violence and exploitation for what it is and create remedies accordingly. Legalization will only benefit traffickers and pimps and compromise individual women and the status of women in the long run. In the words of one survivor of prostitution: "Legalization will not end abuse; it will make abuse legal."
Author
Donna M. Hughes has been an activist in the feminist anti-sexual violence and exploitation movement since the early-1980s. She holds the Eleanor M. and Oscar M. Carlson Endowed Chair in Women's Studies, and is the Director of Women's Studies at the University of Rhode Island, USA.
sexual assault
Sexual Assault
Sexual assault is any kind of sexual activity committed against a woman's will. Whether the rapist uses force or threats of force is irrelevant. Men use different kinds of force against women, from pressuring us for a goodnight kiss to withdrawing economic support from wives to using weapons. Rape is a legal term that is defined slightly differently in each state. Most state laws define rape in terms of penetration, with the use of force, and without the person's consent. Penetration can be with the penis or other instruments like bottles or sticks, and can be perpetrated in the vagina, anus, or mouth.
Sexual assault is always traumatic. When we are raped, survival is our primary instinct, and we protect ourselves as best we can. Some women choose to fight back; others do not feel we can. IF YOU WERE RAPED AND ARE NOW READING THIS CHAPTER, YOU DID THE RIGHT THING BECAUSE YOU ARE ALIVE.
Rape is more likely to be committed by someone we know than by a stranger.15 Contrary to common stereotypes, the vast majority of rapes occur between members of the same racial group.16 Most rapists lead everyday lives, go to school, work, and have families and friends.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Toward an Understanding of Male Violence Against Women
Race, Class, and Violence Against Women
Blaming the Victim
Sexual Harassment
Domestic Violence
Sexual Assault
Incest and Sexual Abuse of Children
The Sex Industry
Defending Ourselves Against Violence
Ending Violence Against Women
Notes
Resources
Common Reactions of Sexual Assault Survivors
Rape is frequently a private crisis owing to the isolation that many survivors feel because of a lack of support or the tendency of some to blame us. This creates a unique and difficult set of reactions that may also be experienced by women who have been battered, sexually harassed, abused as children, robbed violently, or hurt by other forms of violence. (In fact, sexual assault and battering often go hand in hand.)
While no two women respond in the same way, many feelings are common among survivors. You may experience a wide range of reactions immediately after the assault or years later. You are coping with a difficult situation that never should have happened in the first place. There is no one correct or preferred way to deal with the feelings and reactions you may find yourself having. As you move through a healing process, different reactions may intensify or lose intensity. You may experience feelings that you thought you had already addressed.
Self-blame and feelings of guilt. This is probably one of the most common reactions because of the false yet common myths about rape. We may feel humiliated, ashamed, or embarrassed about what we were forced or coerced to do. We often feel responsible for decisions that we made before the assault that we (or others) may later think led to the assault. Even talking about the sexual assault can be difficult because we risk being disbelieved or rejected. THE TRUTH IS THAT RAPE IS NEVER THE FAULT OF THE VICTIM.
Like many victims of sexual attacks, I was silenced by my shame, guilt, and the mistaken belief, reinforced by the police and society in general...that I was "responsible" for what these men did to me. It is that silence that revictimizes rape and incest victims, over and over again, and I won't be silent anymore.
Fear, terror, and feeling unsafe. Intense fear may be experienced in many aspects of a woman's life. If you feared for your life or the lives of others during the assault, you may be afraid that the perpetrator will return. You may find that fear and terror become generalized to other areas or to situations that are similar to the assault.
There is nowhere that feels safe anymore. When I'm home I'm afraid that someone will break into my house; when I'm out, I'm afraid that I'll be attacked. My guard is always up.
Anger and rage. While it is normal to feel angry, this emotion can be difficult for women to express. We have been socialized to be nice, to hide our anger. For many women, directing anger toward the perpetrator may feel too threatening or may bring intense feelings of terror. You may sometimes direct your feelings of anger toward others in your life, where it feels safer. While this can be confusing for loved ones, it is normal.
I feel angry all of the time, even toward people who had nothing to do with the rape like my kids and my co-workers.
Anger turned inward. If you have a hard time recognizing or expressing anger, you may turn it inward. This can lead to forms of depression and suicidal thoughts, feelings, or even attempts. If you experience signs of depression that are long-lasting and don't seem to be alleviated by talking about it with friends, consider seeking help through counseling. Many communities have specialized mental health services for survivors of sexual assault.
I barely manage to function all day. When I wake up in the morning I just want to stay in bed. I feel like there is a dark cloud following me around. I feel sad and can't remember what it feels like to be happy.
Grief and loss. You may experience loss in many ways. For many women, rape or abuse may have conflicted with our ideas of whom we can trust or where we are safe. Throughout the healing process, you may experience grief over parts of your life that you felt you missed. Some survivors talk about a loss of innocence or a loss of their sense of power.
I feel like a part of me died, like my life will never be the same. Because I was raped by my boyfriend as a teen, I feel like I missed the chance to have a normal adolescence when everyone says those should have been the best years of my life.
Loss of control, powerlessness. Rape and sexual abuse rob women of the power and control that they have in that moment. You may feel powerless in general or in certain situations.
My life is not my own anymore; what's the use of making decisions when I have no power to change my life?
Isolation. You may feel as though no one can possibly understand. Or you may feel embarrassed that your healing process is taking as long as it is. Family members may be encouraging you to "just put it in the past" or "get on with your life" while your feelings are still very real and troubling. You may not want to talk to anyone about the rape for fear of being disbelieved or rejected.
I can't think of anyone that I can trust or talk to. I just want to be by myself even though I feel lonely.
Flashbacks and nightmares. Flashbacks and nightmares can feel overwhelming and frightening, although they are common and normal. A flashback is a memory that is experienced with one or more of the physical senses. A nightmare is a dream that sometimes involves aspects or pieces of the assault but can be combined with other events or aspects of the person's life.
I close my eyes to go to sleep and all I can see is the rape. I feel as though it is happening to me over and over.
Triggers: seasons, smells, circumstances. Survivors remember being raped with all of our senses. Triggers are circumstances that are the same or similar to those that occurred during the rape and that bring up feelings related to the rape. Certain smells, sights, places, or even times of the year may bring about feelings related to the assault.
Every year around this time I start to feel sad and have trouble sleeping. Because I was raped during the springtime, the signs that make everyone else happy make me feel isolated and nervous.
Changes in sexuality, intimacy. Changes in sexuality are common for women who have been sexually assaulted. While you may experience fear and aversion to sex and intimacy, on the other hand you may want to have more sexual experiences than before the rape. This may change throughout your healing process.
I want my partner's support, but I can't stand the idea of having sex. Even though it's been almost a year since the rape, I feel afraid of getting too close. I'm afraid that he'll touch me and that I'll react as if my partner is the rapist.
Spiritual crisis. Sexual assault often results in an intense spiritual crisis, especially for those who have operated within a spiritual framework before the rape. You may feel angry at a supreme being or may lose your faith completely. You may be told that the rape is a punishment for your "sins." The crisis of rape can create a crisis of self at a very personal and deep level.
The God that I believed in would never allow something like this to happen. I've lost my faith and sense of who I am.
Empowerment: Finding Ways to Regain Your Life
If you were sexually assaulted, you may have experienced any number of these reactions and others not listed here. The process that you are going through may feel overwhelming and never-ending. Yet, it is very much a process of healing and empowerment. You have had your sense of control taken away as a result of the rape, and healing can occur when you begin to regain a sense of power. Reflecting on the following points can help you move through the healing process:
Sexual assault was not your fault. Myths about sexual assault get expressed in any number of destructive ways: "It must have been who she was, what she was wearing, where she was...." These have nothing to do with the fact that you were assaulted. You did not ask to be violated, and you did not do anything to deserve it.
You made the best choices and decisions you were able to make. You may have been forced to make life-or-death decisions before, during, and after the assault. Even if you feel you would make a different decision today, whatever you did at the time was okay.
There is no right way to feel or to heal. Your reactions and your healing process are connected to who you are as a person. Your culture and economic background can influence your healing process in both negative and positive ways.
You deserve support. Reach out to whomever you think can be a support person to you. There are rape crisis centers in most locations across the country. You may prefer to talk with a family member or friend, a clergy member, or a counselor. You may decide to find a support group, or try other kinds of healing support based on art, music, writing, physical activity, or meditation.17
Believe in your strength and your capacity to heal. While the process of healing may take time and may be difficult, you will find ways to reclaim the strong and capable parts of yourself.
Medical Considerations
If you have been raped, the first thing you may want to do is take a shower or bath and try to forget what happened. What you do is completely your decision, but consider two things:
It is very important both physically and emotionally that you receive medical attention as soon as possible, even if you have no obvious injuries.
Don't bathe or shower if you think you may later decide to prosecute, as you will wash away evidence that may be crucial to your case.
If you decide to go to a hospital, try to have a friend, relative, or local rape crisis counselor go with you to act as an advocate on your behalf. If you feel reluctant to go because you may not be able to afford it, be aware that most states have passed legislation that assures that rape exams are free of charge. If you go to the hospital, bring a list of any medications that you are taking, bring a change of clothing if you're still in the same clothes; if you have changed clothes, bring the clothing that you were wearing during the assault.
At the hospital, you have three basic concerns: your emotional well-being; medical care; and the gathering of evidence for a possible prosecution. You can refuse to be examined for evidence if you are absolutely sure that you will not want to prosecute. Some hospitals have specialized programs that attempt to assure that sexual assault survivors are given the best treatment possible. These programs are staffed by nurses or doctors who receive extensive training in the medical, legal, and emotional issues associated with sexual assault. They are set up to provide medical exams that are sensitive and provide the best evidence possible for prosecution.
Physical injuries to any part of the body can result from a rape; therefore, a thorough examination is necessary. That examination should include and/or result in the following:
A verbal history of the sexual assault and of related medical concerns. You will be asked to give a detailed description of the assault, which will be written down. While it may be difficult to talk about these details, they are important so that the medical provider will know where to check for injuries and where to document evidence such as bruises, scrapes, or other injuries. Pictures may be taken or evidence collected that wouldn't be noticed unless this information is known. Sometimes bruises may emerge later, in which case you should be encouraged to call the examiner back so that they can be added to your record. You will also be asked some questions that may seem unrelated, such as whether you have had sexual activity recently, whether you may be pregnant, and whether you use any birth control methods.
A pelvic exam. In collecting evidence, the practitioner will look for the presence of semen. (It is also possible to be raped vaginally with no semen or sperm present.) She or he will also comb your pubic hair for the possible presence of the man's pubic hair. All this medical evidence will be available to others, including the police, only with your written permission. You or the person with you at the hospital should check the record for accuracy and objectivity as soon as possible after the exam. If possible, do this while the doctor is still present. (If you were raped vaginally, see chapter 24, Selected Medical Practices, Problems, and Procedures, for more information about a pelvic exam. You will get a rectal exam if you were raped anally.)
Examination and treatment of any external injuries. The practitioner will examine you for any external injuries and may photograph bruises or other marks to document the assault.
Treatment for the prevention of sexually transmitted disease (STD). The practitioner will want to give you two shots of antibiotic in your buttocks. If you don't want this, be sure to say so. (Some women may not want to be given an antibiotic unless an STD is diagnosed; however, it is used as a preventive measure). Some STDs are not detectable until six weeks later, so it is a good idea to return for a six-week checkup (see chapter 14, Sexually Transmitted Diseases).
Treatment for the prevention of pregnancy. If you suspect that you will become pregnant as a result of the rape, the doctor or nurses may offer you emergency contraception (see chapter 13, Birth Control). A pregnancy resulting from rape cannot be detected until several weeks later. If you find that you are pregnant and are considering abortion, see chapters 16, Unplanned Pregnancies, and 17, Abortion.
Information about AIDS/HIV. There is a chance that you could contract HIV through a sexual assault. Should you want to, it may be possible to get immediate morning-after" medication to treat potential HIV infection. If you are offered testing for HIV, be aware that it's too soon for HIV antibodies to show up from the assault. Also, testing results could become a part of your medical and legal record and could be used against you. For information see chapter 15, HIV, AIDS, and Women.
A follow-up exam. Although you may feel physically recovered shortly after the rape, a follow-up visit, to include tests and treatment for STDs and a pregnancy test if indicated, will assure you that you are taking care of yourself.
It is common for survivors of sexual assault to experience changes in overall physical health. Some find that their sleep and eating patterns change. Some experience headaches, body aches, stomach and intestinal problems, and fatigue. Some cope with the emotions with drugs or alcohol. While all of these are normal, it is important to take care of yourself and get help if any of them persist or get worse over time.
Ever since I was raped, my body doesn't feel like my own. I have pain in my back and I'm always on the alert for signs of sexually transmitted infections.
Legal Considerations It is never easy to decide whether to prosecute a rapist. While improvements have been made in the legal system, prosecution can still be a painful and difficult process. Most communities have rape crisis centers that provide advocates as you move through the legal system. In many places there are victim/witness advocates in the offices of local district attorneys who can provide information and support. In some states you can report a rape anonymously or without prosecuting. Whether you report it or not, write down everything that you can remember, so that if you do decide to prosecute later on, your statement will be accurate. As you are deciding whether or not to prosecute, here are several things to keep in mind:
Because the legal system can be confusing and difficult, it will help tremendously to have a friend or rape crisis counselor with you throughout the process.
You will have to prove that you were sexually assaulted against your will and that the man used force or threatened force against you.
Rape is a crime against the state. It is prosecuted by the district attorney's office. You will be the state's witness, and you will not have your own lawyer unless you can arrange for one to advise you.
A trial can last from six months to several years. You will need to be prepared to continue thinking and talking about the rape for a long time, including giving an account of the event over and over while people judge whether you are telling the truth.
You will need to prepare yourself for any outcome. Rape is one of the most difficult crimes to prove. Remember that even if your case does not end in a conviction, this does not mean that the rape didn't happen or that you didn't do your best to prosecute.
What to Do If Someone You Care About Has Been Sexually Assaulted
If you are a friend or family member of someone who has been sexually assaulted, you may feel that you don't know what to say, or you may have feelings of your own that get in the way of supporting her. You can be most helpful if you keep in mind that she is capable of healing and that you are capable of providing support. You are being supportive when you do these things:
Validate and believe her. If she feels ashamed or guilty, reassure her that the rape was not her fault and that her feelings are normal. Although you feel you might have reacted differently, remember that her reactions are uniquely hers.
Help create a safe place for the survivor. Help her to think about what changes, if any, she would like to make that will help her feel safer, whether related to her physical surroundings or to how she interacts with people at home or at work.
Allow her to express a full range of feelings. The feelings of a survivor of sexual assault can be very strong. Expressing these powerful feelings in a safe environment is an important part of the healing process. If you can feel comfortable supporting her in expressing her feelings, this can be very helpful.
Offer options, not advice. Survivors often struggle with important and complex decisions. You can be most helpful by helping her identify all of the options available and supporting her in her decision-making.
Dispel myths about rape. You can help empower a woman who has been sexually assaulted by being prepared to help her dispel destructive myths about rape and by assuring her that you do not believe these false ideas.
Advocate. She may need someone to help ensure that her feelings are validated and her rights are upheld in the medical or legal system.
Believe in the possibility of healing. Let her know that you believe that healing is possible and that she has the strength and capacity to heal.
Protecting Ourselves and Each Other from Rape*
Even though most sexual assaults are committed by someone we know rather than a stranger, we can take some steps to protect ourselves. Listing these suggestions reminds us how wrong it is for women to be and to feel unsafe in our homes and our communities. Yet, until men stop raping women, we need to take precautions. The most effective protection comes from being with other women. Arrange to walk home together. Set up a green-light or safe-house program in your neighborhood. Get to know the women who live in your apartment building or on your street.
Safety at home. Make sure that entrances are well lit and that windows and doors are securely locked. Use only your last name on your mailbox. Find out who is at your door before opening it to anyone.
Safety on the street. Be aware of what is going on around you. Walk with a steady pace, looking as if you know where you are going. Dress so you can move and run easily. Walk in the middle of the street, avoiding dark places and groups of men. If you fear danger, yell "Fire," not "Help" or "Rape." Carry a whistle around your wrist. Always check the backseat of your car before getting in and keep the car doors locked while driving. Avoid groups of men on public transportation. If you can possibly avoid it, don't hitchhike; it is just too dangerous.
Safety in social situations. Pay attention to how you feel and trust your instincts. If you want to end a date or leave a party, say so, even if you are afraid or embarrassed. If you drink alcohol, keep an eye on your drink. Drugs are available that can be slipped into drinks to tranquilize a woman and create a blackout. For example, a drug called Rohypnol, or "Roofies," causes severe memory loss so that a woman can be raped but will not be able to remember anything.
These tactics can help you, but they are not foolproof. Practice tactics for the situations that make you feel most at risk and least powerful. Try to remain calm and to act as confident and strong as you can.
Copyright © 1984, 1992, 1998 by the Boston Women's Health Book Collective. All rights reserved. Published by Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
Sexual assault is any kind of sexual activity committed against a woman's will. Whether the rapist uses force or threats of force is irrelevant. Men use different kinds of force against women, from pressuring us for a goodnight kiss to withdrawing economic support from wives to using weapons. Rape is a legal term that is defined slightly differently in each state. Most state laws define rape in terms of penetration, with the use of force, and without the person's consent. Penetration can be with the penis or other instruments like bottles or sticks, and can be perpetrated in the vagina, anus, or mouth.
Sexual assault is always traumatic. When we are raped, survival is our primary instinct, and we protect ourselves as best we can. Some women choose to fight back; others do not feel we can. IF YOU WERE RAPED AND ARE NOW READING THIS CHAPTER, YOU DID THE RIGHT THING BECAUSE YOU ARE ALIVE.
Rape is more likely to be committed by someone we know than by a stranger.15 Contrary to common stereotypes, the vast majority of rapes occur between members of the same racial group.16 Most rapists lead everyday lives, go to school, work, and have families and friends.
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Toward an Understanding of Male Violence Against Women
Race, Class, and Violence Against Women
Blaming the Victim
Sexual Harassment
Domestic Violence
Sexual Assault
Incest and Sexual Abuse of Children
The Sex Industry
Defending Ourselves Against Violence
Ending Violence Against Women
Notes
Resources
Common Reactions of Sexual Assault Survivors
Rape is frequently a private crisis owing to the isolation that many survivors feel because of a lack of support or the tendency of some to blame us. This creates a unique and difficult set of reactions that may also be experienced by women who have been battered, sexually harassed, abused as children, robbed violently, or hurt by other forms of violence. (In fact, sexual assault and battering often go hand in hand.)
While no two women respond in the same way, many feelings are common among survivors. You may experience a wide range of reactions immediately after the assault or years later. You are coping with a difficult situation that never should have happened in the first place. There is no one correct or preferred way to deal with the feelings and reactions you may find yourself having. As you move through a healing process, different reactions may intensify or lose intensity. You may experience feelings that you thought you had already addressed.
Self-blame and feelings of guilt. This is probably one of the most common reactions because of the false yet common myths about rape. We may feel humiliated, ashamed, or embarrassed about what we were forced or coerced to do. We often feel responsible for decisions that we made before the assault that we (or others) may later think led to the assault. Even talking about the sexual assault can be difficult because we risk being disbelieved or rejected. THE TRUTH IS THAT RAPE IS NEVER THE FAULT OF THE VICTIM.
Like many victims of sexual attacks, I was silenced by my shame, guilt, and the mistaken belief, reinforced by the police and society in general...that I was "responsible" for what these men did to me. It is that silence that revictimizes rape and incest victims, over and over again, and I won't be silent anymore.
Fear, terror, and feeling unsafe. Intense fear may be experienced in many aspects of a woman's life. If you feared for your life or the lives of others during the assault, you may be afraid that the perpetrator will return. You may find that fear and terror become generalized to other areas or to situations that are similar to the assault.
There is nowhere that feels safe anymore. When I'm home I'm afraid that someone will break into my house; when I'm out, I'm afraid that I'll be attacked. My guard is always up.
Anger and rage. While it is normal to feel angry, this emotion can be difficult for women to express. We have been socialized to be nice, to hide our anger. For many women, directing anger toward the perpetrator may feel too threatening or may bring intense feelings of terror. You may sometimes direct your feelings of anger toward others in your life, where it feels safer. While this can be confusing for loved ones, it is normal.
I feel angry all of the time, even toward people who had nothing to do with the rape like my kids and my co-workers.
Anger turned inward. If you have a hard time recognizing or expressing anger, you may turn it inward. This can lead to forms of depression and suicidal thoughts, feelings, or even attempts. If you experience signs of depression that are long-lasting and don't seem to be alleviated by talking about it with friends, consider seeking help through counseling. Many communities have specialized mental health services for survivors of sexual assault.
I barely manage to function all day. When I wake up in the morning I just want to stay in bed. I feel like there is a dark cloud following me around. I feel sad and can't remember what it feels like to be happy.
Grief and loss. You may experience loss in many ways. For many women, rape or abuse may have conflicted with our ideas of whom we can trust or where we are safe. Throughout the healing process, you may experience grief over parts of your life that you felt you missed. Some survivors talk about a loss of innocence or a loss of their sense of power.
I feel like a part of me died, like my life will never be the same. Because I was raped by my boyfriend as a teen, I feel like I missed the chance to have a normal adolescence when everyone says those should have been the best years of my life.
Loss of control, powerlessness. Rape and sexual abuse rob women of the power and control that they have in that moment. You may feel powerless in general or in certain situations.
My life is not my own anymore; what's the use of making decisions when I have no power to change my life?
Isolation. You may feel as though no one can possibly understand. Or you may feel embarrassed that your healing process is taking as long as it is. Family members may be encouraging you to "just put it in the past" or "get on with your life" while your feelings are still very real and troubling. You may not want to talk to anyone about the rape for fear of being disbelieved or rejected.
I can't think of anyone that I can trust or talk to. I just want to be by myself even though I feel lonely.
Flashbacks and nightmares. Flashbacks and nightmares can feel overwhelming and frightening, although they are common and normal. A flashback is a memory that is experienced with one or more of the physical senses. A nightmare is a dream that sometimes involves aspects or pieces of the assault but can be combined with other events or aspects of the person's life.
I close my eyes to go to sleep and all I can see is the rape. I feel as though it is happening to me over and over.
Triggers: seasons, smells, circumstances. Survivors remember being raped with all of our senses. Triggers are circumstances that are the same or similar to those that occurred during the rape and that bring up feelings related to the rape. Certain smells, sights, places, or even times of the year may bring about feelings related to the assault.
Every year around this time I start to feel sad and have trouble sleeping. Because I was raped during the springtime, the signs that make everyone else happy make me feel isolated and nervous.
Changes in sexuality, intimacy. Changes in sexuality are common for women who have been sexually assaulted. While you may experience fear and aversion to sex and intimacy, on the other hand you may want to have more sexual experiences than before the rape. This may change throughout your healing process.
I want my partner's support, but I can't stand the idea of having sex. Even though it's been almost a year since the rape, I feel afraid of getting too close. I'm afraid that he'll touch me and that I'll react as if my partner is the rapist.
Spiritual crisis. Sexual assault often results in an intense spiritual crisis, especially for those who have operated within a spiritual framework before the rape. You may feel angry at a supreme being or may lose your faith completely. You may be told that the rape is a punishment for your "sins." The crisis of rape can create a crisis of self at a very personal and deep level.
The God that I believed in would never allow something like this to happen. I've lost my faith and sense of who I am.
Empowerment: Finding Ways to Regain Your Life
If you were sexually assaulted, you may have experienced any number of these reactions and others not listed here. The process that you are going through may feel overwhelming and never-ending. Yet, it is very much a process of healing and empowerment. You have had your sense of control taken away as a result of the rape, and healing can occur when you begin to regain a sense of power. Reflecting on the following points can help you move through the healing process:
Sexual assault was not your fault. Myths about sexual assault get expressed in any number of destructive ways: "It must have been who she was, what she was wearing, where she was...." These have nothing to do with the fact that you were assaulted. You did not ask to be violated, and you did not do anything to deserve it.
You made the best choices and decisions you were able to make. You may have been forced to make life-or-death decisions before, during, and after the assault. Even if you feel you would make a different decision today, whatever you did at the time was okay.
There is no right way to feel or to heal. Your reactions and your healing process are connected to who you are as a person. Your culture and economic background can influence your healing process in both negative and positive ways.
You deserve support. Reach out to whomever you think can be a support person to you. There are rape crisis centers in most locations across the country. You may prefer to talk with a family member or friend, a clergy member, or a counselor. You may decide to find a support group, or try other kinds of healing support based on art, music, writing, physical activity, or meditation.17
Believe in your strength and your capacity to heal. While the process of healing may take time and may be difficult, you will find ways to reclaim the strong and capable parts of yourself.
Medical Considerations
If you have been raped, the first thing you may want to do is take a shower or bath and try to forget what happened. What you do is completely your decision, but consider two things:
It is very important both physically and emotionally that you receive medical attention as soon as possible, even if you have no obvious injuries.
Don't bathe or shower if you think you may later decide to prosecute, as you will wash away evidence that may be crucial to your case.
If you decide to go to a hospital, try to have a friend, relative, or local rape crisis counselor go with you to act as an advocate on your behalf. If you feel reluctant to go because you may not be able to afford it, be aware that most states have passed legislation that assures that rape exams are free of charge. If you go to the hospital, bring a list of any medications that you are taking, bring a change of clothing if you're still in the same clothes; if you have changed clothes, bring the clothing that you were wearing during the assault.
At the hospital, you have three basic concerns: your emotional well-being; medical care; and the gathering of evidence for a possible prosecution. You can refuse to be examined for evidence if you are absolutely sure that you will not want to prosecute. Some hospitals have specialized programs that attempt to assure that sexual assault survivors are given the best treatment possible. These programs are staffed by nurses or doctors who receive extensive training in the medical, legal, and emotional issues associated with sexual assault. They are set up to provide medical exams that are sensitive and provide the best evidence possible for prosecution.
Physical injuries to any part of the body can result from a rape; therefore, a thorough examination is necessary. That examination should include and/or result in the following:
A verbal history of the sexual assault and of related medical concerns. You will be asked to give a detailed description of the assault, which will be written down. While it may be difficult to talk about these details, they are important so that the medical provider will know where to check for injuries and where to document evidence such as bruises, scrapes, or other injuries. Pictures may be taken or evidence collected that wouldn't be noticed unless this information is known. Sometimes bruises may emerge later, in which case you should be encouraged to call the examiner back so that they can be added to your record. You will also be asked some questions that may seem unrelated, such as whether you have had sexual activity recently, whether you may be pregnant, and whether you use any birth control methods.
A pelvic exam. In collecting evidence, the practitioner will look for the presence of semen. (It is also possible to be raped vaginally with no semen or sperm present.) She or he will also comb your pubic hair for the possible presence of the man's pubic hair. All this medical evidence will be available to others, including the police, only with your written permission. You or the person with you at the hospital should check the record for accuracy and objectivity as soon as possible after the exam. If possible, do this while the doctor is still present. (If you were raped vaginally, see chapter 24, Selected Medical Practices, Problems, and Procedures, for more information about a pelvic exam. You will get a rectal exam if you were raped anally.)
Examination and treatment of any external injuries. The practitioner will examine you for any external injuries and may photograph bruises or other marks to document the assault.
Treatment for the prevention of sexually transmitted disease (STD). The practitioner will want to give you two shots of antibiotic in your buttocks. If you don't want this, be sure to say so. (Some women may not want to be given an antibiotic unless an STD is diagnosed; however, it is used as a preventive measure). Some STDs are not detectable until six weeks later, so it is a good idea to return for a six-week checkup (see chapter 14, Sexually Transmitted Diseases).
Treatment for the prevention of pregnancy. If you suspect that you will become pregnant as a result of the rape, the doctor or nurses may offer you emergency contraception (see chapter 13, Birth Control). A pregnancy resulting from rape cannot be detected until several weeks later. If you find that you are pregnant and are considering abortion, see chapters 16, Unplanned Pregnancies, and 17, Abortion.
Information about AIDS/HIV. There is a chance that you could contract HIV through a sexual assault. Should you want to, it may be possible to get immediate morning-after" medication to treat potential HIV infection. If you are offered testing for HIV, be aware that it's too soon for HIV antibodies to show up from the assault. Also, testing results could become a part of your medical and legal record and could be used against you. For information see chapter 15, HIV, AIDS, and Women.
A follow-up exam. Although you may feel physically recovered shortly after the rape, a follow-up visit, to include tests and treatment for STDs and a pregnancy test if indicated, will assure you that you are taking care of yourself.
It is common for survivors of sexual assault to experience changes in overall physical health. Some find that their sleep and eating patterns change. Some experience headaches, body aches, stomach and intestinal problems, and fatigue. Some cope with the emotions with drugs or alcohol. While all of these are normal, it is important to take care of yourself and get help if any of them persist or get worse over time.
Ever since I was raped, my body doesn't feel like my own. I have pain in my back and I'm always on the alert for signs of sexually transmitted infections.
Legal Considerations It is never easy to decide whether to prosecute a rapist. While improvements have been made in the legal system, prosecution can still be a painful and difficult process. Most communities have rape crisis centers that provide advocates as you move through the legal system. In many places there are victim/witness advocates in the offices of local district attorneys who can provide information and support. In some states you can report a rape anonymously or without prosecuting. Whether you report it or not, write down everything that you can remember, so that if you do decide to prosecute later on, your statement will be accurate. As you are deciding whether or not to prosecute, here are several things to keep in mind:
Because the legal system can be confusing and difficult, it will help tremendously to have a friend or rape crisis counselor with you throughout the process.
You will have to prove that you were sexually assaulted against your will and that the man used force or threatened force against you.
Rape is a crime against the state. It is prosecuted by the district attorney's office. You will be the state's witness, and you will not have your own lawyer unless you can arrange for one to advise you.
A trial can last from six months to several years. You will need to be prepared to continue thinking and talking about the rape for a long time, including giving an account of the event over and over while people judge whether you are telling the truth.
You will need to prepare yourself for any outcome. Rape is one of the most difficult crimes to prove. Remember that even if your case does not end in a conviction, this does not mean that the rape didn't happen or that you didn't do your best to prosecute.
What to Do If Someone You Care About Has Been Sexually Assaulted
If you are a friend or family member of someone who has been sexually assaulted, you may feel that you don't know what to say, or you may have feelings of your own that get in the way of supporting her. You can be most helpful if you keep in mind that she is capable of healing and that you are capable of providing support. You are being supportive when you do these things:
Validate and believe her. If she feels ashamed or guilty, reassure her that the rape was not her fault and that her feelings are normal. Although you feel you might have reacted differently, remember that her reactions are uniquely hers.
Help create a safe place for the survivor. Help her to think about what changes, if any, she would like to make that will help her feel safer, whether related to her physical surroundings or to how she interacts with people at home or at work.
Allow her to express a full range of feelings. The feelings of a survivor of sexual assault can be very strong. Expressing these powerful feelings in a safe environment is an important part of the healing process. If you can feel comfortable supporting her in expressing her feelings, this can be very helpful.
Offer options, not advice. Survivors often struggle with important and complex decisions. You can be most helpful by helping her identify all of the options available and supporting her in her decision-making.
Dispel myths about rape. You can help empower a woman who has been sexually assaulted by being prepared to help her dispel destructive myths about rape and by assuring her that you do not believe these false ideas.
Advocate. She may need someone to help ensure that her feelings are validated and her rights are upheld in the medical or legal system.
Believe in the possibility of healing. Let her know that you believe that healing is possible and that she has the strength and capacity to heal.
Protecting Ourselves and Each Other from Rape*
Even though most sexual assaults are committed by someone we know rather than a stranger, we can take some steps to protect ourselves. Listing these suggestions reminds us how wrong it is for women to be and to feel unsafe in our homes and our communities. Yet, until men stop raping women, we need to take precautions. The most effective protection comes from being with other women. Arrange to walk home together. Set up a green-light or safe-house program in your neighborhood. Get to know the women who live in your apartment building or on your street.
Safety at home. Make sure that entrances are well lit and that windows and doors are securely locked. Use only your last name on your mailbox. Find out who is at your door before opening it to anyone.
Safety on the street. Be aware of what is going on around you. Walk with a steady pace, looking as if you know where you are going. Dress so you can move and run easily. Walk in the middle of the street, avoiding dark places and groups of men. If you fear danger, yell "Fire," not "Help" or "Rape." Carry a whistle around your wrist. Always check the backseat of your car before getting in and keep the car doors locked while driving. Avoid groups of men on public transportation. If you can possibly avoid it, don't hitchhike; it is just too dangerous.
Safety in social situations. Pay attention to how you feel and trust your instincts. If you want to end a date or leave a party, say so, even if you are afraid or embarrassed. If you drink alcohol, keep an eye on your drink. Drugs are available that can be slipped into drinks to tranquilize a woman and create a blackout. For example, a drug called Rohypnol, or "Roofies," causes severe memory loss so that a woman can be raped but will not be able to remember anything.
These tactics can help you, but they are not foolproof. Practice tactics for the situations that make you feel most at risk and least powerful. Try to remain calm and to act as confident and strong as you can.
Copyright © 1984, 1992, 1998 by the Boston Women's Health Book Collective. All rights reserved. Published by Touchstone, a division of Simon & Schuster Inc.
5/29/07
Armenian Prostitutes in Turkey
Armenian Prostitutes in turkey
A few months ago, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in a speech that Turkey hosts around 40,000 Armenian citizens। What are so many Armenians doing in different locations within Turkey? They are mainly in trade, working in the service industry, or, painful as it is to admit it, involved in the sex business. Armenians are going to a country with whomArmenia does not even have diplomatic relations. This means that Armenian citizens can expect no support from their country if their rights are violated in Turkey or if, for example, they are involved in an accident of some sort. Although we don't have diplomatic relations, traveling to Turkey is easy and inexpensive. There are a number of travel agencies in the center of Yerevan where you can get an entry visa and a bus ticket to different destinations in Turkey from various Armenian cities. A large percentage of travelers to Turkey choose to go by bus.
The Armenian authorities do not have any clear numbers regarding Armenian prostitutes in Turkey. Our preliminary investigation suggests that there are more Armenian prostitutes in Turkey than there are in the United Arab Emirates. Clearly, most women are driven to prostitution by necessity. It is women in socially vulnerable groups - those who cannot feed their children or their parents- that are usually the ones who end up choosing the path of prostitution.
Ruzanna Movsisyan, a resident of Vanadzor, was the plaintiff in a trial that came to an end in that city on November 24 th . She was found guilty of human trafficking by the Court of First Instance of the Lori Marz, Judge Borik Grigoryan presiding, in violation of Part 2, Point 1 of Article 132 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to four years in prison. Movsisyan, the mother of two children, had been in dire straits financially. Her husband had gone to Russia years ago and the family hadn't heard from him since. The 33-year-old woman was left to bear the burden of supporting the family alone. And so one day she joined her friend Anush to work as a prostitute in Turkey. The investigation did not reveal who Anush was; the criminal file describes only "one Anush". Ruzanna Movsisyan has revealed next to nothing about her. Investigators did not manage to learn exactly how Movsisyan and her friend got to Turkey. There are a number of pimps in Turkey who have recruiters in Armenia. In Armenia's small cities, everyone knows who they are. But they work freely and enjoy impunity. We will provide more on them in future articles.
Movsisyan and her friend first worked as prostitutes at a hotel in Trabzon, after which they were moved to Konya where they continued to work under the supervision of Murat, a Turk, and his lover Arzu। Murat and Arzu proposed that Movsisyan recruit girls in Armenia and bring them to Turkey for prostitution. She agreed and called one of her acquaintances, whom we shall call A.V., a waitress at a Vanadzor cafe. A.V was also a divorcée in financial need. In the ensuing telephone conversation, Movsisyan offered A.V. a high-paying job at a café. She agreed and left for Konya via Trabzon. Movsisyan met A.V. there with her Turkish colleagues and took her to an apartment, where they were guarded by young Turks. That was where Movsisyan first revealed to A.V. that she had to work as a prostitute. A.V. refused and demanded to return to Armenia. The Turks promised to let her go once she returned her travel costs. Murat and Arzu took her passport from her to prevent her escaping from the country. A.V. was thus forced to work as a prostitute. After paying her debts and promising to recruit women upon her return to Armenia, A.V. was set free. She returned to Trabzon and made money washing the clothes of the Armenian women who lived there. A.V. returned to Armenia in August 2005, after having spent around 20 days in Turkey.
Ruzanna Movsisyan pleaded guilty in court. She was not an organizer in this racket; she got caught in the net herself when she first ended up in Turkey. Investigators have not yet discovered how Movsisyan and her friend got to Turkey, or who took them there from Vanadzor.
The court could have made an exception in Movsisyan's case, since she is the mother of two children, one of whom suffers from Familial Mediterranean Fever. By imprisoning this mother of two the court achieved little. Who will feed her children now? And who is to blame for the fact that it was the need to provide for them that sent the woman to work as a prostitute in Turkey?
A few months ago, Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan stated in a speech that Turkey hosts around 40,000 Armenian citizens। What are so many Armenians doing in different locations within Turkey? They are mainly in trade, working in the service industry, or, painful as it is to admit it, involved in the sex business. Armenians are going to a country with whomArmenia does not even have diplomatic relations. This means that Armenian citizens can expect no support from their country if their rights are violated in Turkey or if, for example, they are involved in an accident of some sort. Although we don't have diplomatic relations, traveling to Turkey is easy and inexpensive. There are a number of travel agencies in the center of Yerevan where you can get an entry visa and a bus ticket to different destinations in Turkey from various Armenian cities. A large percentage of travelers to Turkey choose to go by bus.
The Armenian authorities do not have any clear numbers regarding Armenian prostitutes in Turkey. Our preliminary investigation suggests that there are more Armenian prostitutes in Turkey than there are in the United Arab Emirates. Clearly, most women are driven to prostitution by necessity. It is women in socially vulnerable groups - those who cannot feed their children or their parents- that are usually the ones who end up choosing the path of prostitution.
Ruzanna Movsisyan, a resident of Vanadzor, was the plaintiff in a trial that came to an end in that city on November 24 th . She was found guilty of human trafficking by the Court of First Instance of the Lori Marz, Judge Borik Grigoryan presiding, in violation of Part 2, Point 1 of Article 132 of the Criminal Code and sentenced to four years in prison. Movsisyan, the mother of two children, had been in dire straits financially. Her husband had gone to Russia years ago and the family hadn't heard from him since. The 33-year-old woman was left to bear the burden of supporting the family alone. And so one day she joined her friend Anush to work as a prostitute in Turkey. The investigation did not reveal who Anush was; the criminal file describes only "one Anush". Ruzanna Movsisyan has revealed next to nothing about her. Investigators did not manage to learn exactly how Movsisyan and her friend got to Turkey. There are a number of pimps in Turkey who have recruiters in Armenia. In Armenia's small cities, everyone knows who they are. But they work freely and enjoy impunity. We will provide more on them in future articles.
Movsisyan and her friend first worked as prostitutes at a hotel in Trabzon, after which they were moved to Konya where they continued to work under the supervision of Murat, a Turk, and his lover Arzu। Murat and Arzu proposed that Movsisyan recruit girls in Armenia and bring them to Turkey for prostitution. She agreed and called one of her acquaintances, whom we shall call A.V., a waitress at a Vanadzor cafe. A.V was also a divorcée in financial need. In the ensuing telephone conversation, Movsisyan offered A.V. a high-paying job at a café. She agreed and left for Konya via Trabzon. Movsisyan met A.V. there with her Turkish colleagues and took her to an apartment, where they were guarded by young Turks. That was where Movsisyan first revealed to A.V. that she had to work as a prostitute. A.V. refused and demanded to return to Armenia. The Turks promised to let her go once she returned her travel costs. Murat and Arzu took her passport from her to prevent her escaping from the country. A.V. was thus forced to work as a prostitute. After paying her debts and promising to recruit women upon her return to Armenia, A.V. was set free. She returned to Trabzon and made money washing the clothes of the Armenian women who lived there. A.V. returned to Armenia in August 2005, after having spent around 20 days in Turkey.
Ruzanna Movsisyan pleaded guilty in court. She was not an organizer in this racket; she got caught in the net herself when she first ended up in Turkey. Investigators have not yet discovered how Movsisyan and her friend got to Turkey, or who took them there from Vanadzor.
The court could have made an exception in Movsisyan's case, since she is the mother of two children, one of whom suffers from Familial Mediterranean Fever. By imprisoning this mother of two the court achieved little. Who will feed her children now? And who is to blame for the fact that it was the need to provide for them that sent the woman to work as a prostitute in Turkey?
5/22/07
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IndiaIndian National Anthem
IndiaIndian National Anthem
= 40 bmp 4888*, (hold 4), (hold 3)9, (hold 2)8, (hold 3)9, (hold 1)8#, (hold 2)9, 29, (hold 6)88**, (hold 7)9, (hold 2)*, (hold 3)8, 499#, (hold 5)88, (hold 4)9#, (hold 4)8#, (hold 3), (hold 5), (hold 4)9#, (hold 3)8, (hold 2)9, (hold 4)8, (hold 4), (hold 3)9, (hold 2)8, (hold 3)9, (hold 1)8#, (hold 2)9, 29, (hold 6)88**, (hold 7)9, (hold 2)*, (hold 3)8, 499#, (hold 5)88, (hold 4)9#, (hold 4)8#, (hold 3), (hold 5), (hold 4)9#, (hold 3)8, (hold 2)9, (hold 4)8#, (hold 5), (hold 6)9, (hold 6)8, (hold 6)9, (hold 6), (hold 5)8, (hold 7), (hold 6)9, (hold 4)8#, (hold 5), (hold 7)99, (hold 6)88, (hold 5), 499, (hold 4)88, (hold 4), (hold 3), (hold 3), (hold 2)9, (hold 2)8, (hold 2), (hold 1)#, (hold 7)**, (hold 6)9 IndonesiaIndonesia National Anthem = 100 bmp (hold 7)8, 18*, 299, (hold 7), 788, (hold 6)9, 68, 599, (hold 2), 08, (hold 2)8, 28, 399, 2, 1, 7**, 69, 08, (hold 6)88, 78, 199*, (hold 6), 688, (hold 5)9, 58, 499#, (hold 3), 08, (hold 2)8, 28, 499#, 3, 2, 1, 79** ItalyItaly National Anthem = 125 bmp 0, 5, (hold 5)8, 68, 5999, 38*, (hold 3)8, 48, 3999, 38, (hold 5)8, 48, 3999, 28, (hold 3)8, 28, 1999, 38, (hold 7)**, (hold 7)88, (hold 1)9*, 28, 19, 7**, 699, 18*, 78**, 1*, 299, 58**, 39*, 48
ScotlandScotland Nation Anthem
ScotlandScotland Nation Anthem
= 125 bmp 1, 18, 08, 28, 39, 1, 3, 5, 19*, 18, 08, 78**, 19*, 5**, 3, 1, 49, 68, 08, 48, 39, 5, 3, 1, 29, 58, 08, 68, 59, 78, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2, 19, 08
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5/16/07
The Voter Fraud Fraud
The Voter Fraud Fraud
When allegations surfaced of voter fraud or voter suppression in key states in the 2004 presidential election, the federal Election Assistance Commission ordered a study to "determine the quantity and quality of vote fraud and voter intimidation on a national scale."
Two consultants, one Republican (Job Serebrov) and one Democrat (Tova Wang), were hired to draw up a preliminary overview based on interviews, news stories, applicable case law, government reports, position papers from advocacy groups, and academic studies. In their "predecisional" draft (excerpted below and on the following four pages) Serebrov and Wang reported that "the only interviewee who believe[d] that polling place fraud is widespread" was Jason Torchinsky of the American Center for Voting Rights, a conservative organization that's been accused of fronting for the GOP. (It's Republicans who typically complain about voter fraud, because the allegations are usually directed at minority and low-income voters who tend to vote Democratic.) Most other interviewees, though not unanimous, showed "widespread... agreement that there is little polling place fraud" (page four). Nonetheless, the draft report observed, the Justice department's public integrity section is pursuing voter fraud cases energetically: "While the number of election fraud related complaints have not gone up since 2002 … the number of indictments the section is pursuing" against "alien voters, felon voters, and double voters" has risen substantially (page five).
Serebrov and Wang submitted their initial findings to be "vetted and edited" by an Election Assistance Commission working group. That's when the hackwork began.
The final report asserts, falsely, that "there is a great deal of debate on the pervasiveness of fraud in elections." Wang, the Democrat, has objected in writing that this and other revisions were made "without explanation or discussion."
A gag order in the original contract forbids her to discuss the matter. Serebrov, the Republican, isn't happy either. The New York Times reported that he complained to a staffer for the Election Assistance Commission that neither consultant "was willing to conform [their] results [to] political expediency," and that Serebrov "could care less that the results are not what the more conservative members of my party wanted.''
When allegations surfaced of voter fraud or voter suppression in key states in the 2004 presidential election, the federal Election Assistance Commission ordered a study to "determine the quantity and quality of vote fraud and voter intimidation on a national scale."
Two consultants, one Republican (Job Serebrov) and one Democrat (Tova Wang), were hired to draw up a preliminary overview based on interviews, news stories, applicable case law, government reports, position papers from advocacy groups, and academic studies. In their "predecisional" draft (excerpted below and on the following four pages) Serebrov and Wang reported that "the only interviewee who believe[d] that polling place fraud is widespread" was Jason Torchinsky of the American Center for Voting Rights, a conservative organization that's been accused of fronting for the GOP. (It's Republicans who typically complain about voter fraud, because the allegations are usually directed at minority and low-income voters who tend to vote Democratic.) Most other interviewees, though not unanimous, showed "widespread... agreement that there is little polling place fraud" (page four). Nonetheless, the draft report observed, the Justice department's public integrity section is pursuing voter fraud cases energetically: "While the number of election fraud related complaints have not gone up since 2002 … the number of indictments the section is pursuing" against "alien voters, felon voters, and double voters" has risen substantially (page five).
Serebrov and Wang submitted their initial findings to be "vetted and edited" by an Election Assistance Commission working group. That's when the hackwork began.
The final report asserts, falsely, that "there is a great deal of debate on the pervasiveness of fraud in elections." Wang, the Democrat, has objected in writing that this and other revisions were made "without explanation or discussion."
A gag order in the original contract forbids her to discuss the matter. Serebrov, the Republican, isn't happy either. The New York Times reported that he complained to a staffer for the Election Assistance Commission that neither consultant "was willing to conform [their] results [to] political expediency," and that Serebrov "could care less that the results are not what the more conservative members of my party wanted.''
5/15/07
Warming Proposals
The presidential candidates and climate change
ONE OF THE benefits of being in the second tier of presidential candidates is feeling freer to promote worthy ideas that might seem too risky to a front-runner. That may be the case with Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), whose plan to tackle climate change involves a bold move for any politician: a new tax -- in this case, on carbon emissions. "You cannot be serious about acting on the urgent threat of global warming, about making us less captive to Middle East oil, or investing in renewable energy, unless you have a corporate carbon tax that eliminates the last incentive there is to pollute -- that it's cheaper," Mr. Dodd said in a speech last month.
He would spend the $50 billion in annual revenue on research into renewable technologies. And he would couple the tax with legislation to mandate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and raise automobile fuel economy standards to 50 miles per gallon by 2017. Mr. Dodd's tax proposal in particular goes far beyond the standard fare of the better-known Democratic candidates, who advocate a cap-and-trade approach to spur companies to reduce emissions combined with other incentives to increase production of renewable energy and to cut consumption.
Under a cap-and-trade system, government would set a limit on the total amount of carbon dioxide that could be emitted. It would issue allowances to companies that emit CO{-2}, which would be able to buy and sell these rights. The theory is that the market would reward those able to reduce their emissions and make money from selling the rights. This has been a promising approach, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in particular deserves credit for pushing it, especially within a party of global warming skeptics and 2008 opponents who have little to say on the subject.
In theory, a well-designed cap-and-trade system -- one that does not simply hand out allowances but auctions some off, that applies across all sectors of the economy and that has some flexibility to keep energy prices stable -- could achieve the same ends as a carbon tax. In practice in Europe, cap and trade, at least in its early stages, has proved ineffective and susceptible to manipulation. Those who advocate this approach -- including not only Mr. McCain but Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards -- ought to explain why this cumbersome system is better than a straightforward tax.
Conversely, Mr. Dodd and other backers of a carbon tax need to address its drawbacks, which are a matter of both political feasibility and conceptual design. What happens to particularly emissions-intensive sectors such as the coal industry, for instance, when an across-the-board carbon tax is imposed? Is a political system in which tax hikes are electoral poison capable of adopting a carbon tax, or is cap-and-trade more likely to win support? Would a tax end up being so riddled with loopholes as to be ineffective?
Mr. Dodd would combine a tax with emission caps, which he says are necessary for certainty in emission reductions, but the details of how those two approaches would work together are fuzzy.
Neither a U.S. cap-and-trade system nor a U.S. carbon tax will, in itself, deal with the daunting truth that the greatest growth in greenhouse emissions is in the developing world, particularly China and India. But a domestic policy that encourages the development of alternative technologies could reap a double benefit, generating U.S. sales of these innovative products overseas and helping address greenhouse gas emissions there as well.
ONE OF THE benefits of being in the second tier of presidential candidates is feeling freer to promote worthy ideas that might seem too risky to a front-runner. That may be the case with Sen. Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.), whose plan to tackle climate change involves a bold move for any politician: a new tax -- in this case, on carbon emissions. "You cannot be serious about acting on the urgent threat of global warming, about making us less captive to Middle East oil, or investing in renewable energy, unless you have a corporate carbon tax that eliminates the last incentive there is to pollute -- that it's cheaper," Mr. Dodd said in a speech last month.
He would spend the $50 billion in annual revenue on research into renewable technologies. And he would couple the tax with legislation to mandate reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and raise automobile fuel economy standards to 50 miles per gallon by 2017. Mr. Dodd's tax proposal in particular goes far beyond the standard fare of the better-known Democratic candidates, who advocate a cap-and-trade approach to spur companies to reduce emissions combined with other incentives to increase production of renewable energy and to cut consumption.
Under a cap-and-trade system, government would set a limit on the total amount of carbon dioxide that could be emitted. It would issue allowances to companies that emit CO{-2}, which would be able to buy and sell these rights. The theory is that the market would reward those able to reduce their emissions and make money from selling the rights. This has been a promising approach, and Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) in particular deserves credit for pushing it, especially within a party of global warming skeptics and 2008 opponents who have little to say on the subject.
In theory, a well-designed cap-and-trade system -- one that does not simply hand out allowances but auctions some off, that applies across all sectors of the economy and that has some flexibility to keep energy prices stable -- could achieve the same ends as a carbon tax. In practice in Europe, cap and trade, at least in its early stages, has proved ineffective and susceptible to manipulation. Those who advocate this approach -- including not only Mr. McCain but Democrats Hillary Rodham Clinton, Barack Obama and John Edwards -- ought to explain why this cumbersome system is better than a straightforward tax.
Conversely, Mr. Dodd and other backers of a carbon tax need to address its drawbacks, which are a matter of both political feasibility and conceptual design. What happens to particularly emissions-intensive sectors such as the coal industry, for instance, when an across-the-board carbon tax is imposed? Is a political system in which tax hikes are electoral poison capable of adopting a carbon tax, or is cap-and-trade more likely to win support? Would a tax end up being so riddled with loopholes as to be ineffective?
Mr. Dodd would combine a tax with emission caps, which he says are necessary for certainty in emission reductions, but the details of how those two approaches would work together are fuzzy.
Neither a U.S. cap-and-trade system nor a U.S. carbon tax will, in itself, deal with the daunting truth that the greatest growth in greenhouse emissions is in the developing world, particularly China and India. But a domestic policy that encourages the development of alternative technologies could reap a double benefit, generating U.S. sales of these innovative products overseas and helping address greenhouse gas emissions there as well.
5/14/07
Resident rides across America for Boys & Girls Club
Resident rides across America for Boys & Girls Club
Thu May 10, 2007, 08:06 AM EDTWatertown TABLifelong resident Harry Parsekian, 71, is biking across the U.S. to raise money for the Watertown Boys and Girls Club. He starts the ride in L.A. on Sunday.By Jillian Fennimore, Staff Writer GateHouse News ServiceFollow Harry’s journey Keep tabs on Harry Parsekian’s bike ride from L.A. to Boston by logging on to www.harrybikesamerica.org , which goes live soon.To support his fundraising mission, checks can be made to “Boy’s and Girls Clubs of Watertown — Harry’s Bike America” and mailed c/o Boy’s and Girls Club of Watertown, 25 Whites Ave., Watertown MA 02472.Harry Parsekian likes adventure.
The wind in his hair, the earth under his feet and the anticipation of the unexpected.But what’s adventure for the 71-year-old lifelong Watertown resident?How about biking 3,400 miles across the country in 50 days?“If not now, when?” asked Parsekian, who is also a marathon runner and exercise enthusiast.
There’s a certain motivation behind the journey Parsekian has been waiting to tackle for years. With every mile he pedals, he plans to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Watertown, and to provide an incentive for kids to keep active.“It is good to give to the coming generation of young people and to the communities that enabled us to have the success that we have enjoyed,” he said.Money is also being raised for the Boys & Girls Club in South Boston, where Parsekian operates his real estate business.
Allen Gallagher, director of the Boys & Girls Club in Watertown, said money collected from pledges and donations would go a long way. A donor will match whatever Parsekian raises, he said.“We need room to grow,” Gallagher said about the tight space inside the Whites Avenue building. “There would be more things to do for kids if we had room to do it in.”He said they are currently working with an architectural firm to see if building a second floor would be feasible.The club is celebrating its 35th anniversary this weekend. Since 1972, the club has opened its doors to any boy and girl in Watertown and surrounding communities. Gallagher said they average about 125 kids a day who come to swim, play in the gym, use computers, do homework, and make arts and crafts.
Their total membership averages about 500-600 children each year.With tight budgets for many towns and cities across the state, Parsekian said that less money is being allocated for social and communities activity for young people.He said the most important thing is to get involved, but more importantly, get fresh air.“Thomas Jefferson said ‘a healthy body is a healthy mind.’ Just going out and riding a bike is an adventure,” said Parsekian.Starting Sunday, Parsekian will dip his rear tire in the Pacific Ocean and head off from Los Angeles with a pack of 34 others invested in the cross-country trip. Fifty days later, they will dip their front tires in the Atlantic Ocean and be welcomed by fans and supporters at Revere Beach after their trek.Parsekian said he is particularly looking forward to biking through the Southwest — especially the Mojave Desert and Sedona, Ariz.
The group plans to average 80 miles a day. The oldest among them is 80.“We will get to know the depth and breadth of the United States of America,” he said.But Parsekian is no stranger to physical challenges.He has been running since the early ’80s and was one of the founding members of the famous L Street Running Club and the “Noon Time Nuts” of South Boston, as well as a member of the L Street Brownies. He has run 20 consecutive Boston Marathons, biked across Armenia and Karabagh in 2006, climbed Mt. Ararat in 1986, and has traveled to many countries throughout the world.“When he wants to do something, he does it,” said his son, Mark Parsekian.The elder Parsekian said he is fascinated by the variety of peoples and cultures he encounters during his trips.“It’s not about luxury for me,” he said. “Being face-to-face with America’s diverse cultures, peoples and raw geographical terrain is what makes this nation great, and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Thu May 10, 2007, 08:06 AM EDTWatertown TABLifelong resident Harry Parsekian, 71, is biking across the U.S. to raise money for the Watertown Boys and Girls Club. He starts the ride in L.A. on Sunday.By Jillian Fennimore, Staff Writer GateHouse News ServiceFollow Harry’s journey Keep tabs on Harry Parsekian’s bike ride from L.A. to Boston by logging on to www.harrybikesamerica.org , which goes live soon.To support his fundraising mission, checks can be made to “Boy’s and Girls Clubs of Watertown — Harry’s Bike America” and mailed c/o Boy’s and Girls Club of Watertown, 25 Whites Ave., Watertown MA 02472.Harry Parsekian likes adventure.
The wind in his hair, the earth under his feet and the anticipation of the unexpected.But what’s adventure for the 71-year-old lifelong Watertown resident?How about biking 3,400 miles across the country in 50 days?“If not now, when?” asked Parsekian, who is also a marathon runner and exercise enthusiast.
There’s a certain motivation behind the journey Parsekian has been waiting to tackle for years. With every mile he pedals, he plans to raise money for the Boys & Girls Club of Watertown, and to provide an incentive for kids to keep active.“It is good to give to the coming generation of young people and to the communities that enabled us to have the success that we have enjoyed,” he said.Money is also being raised for the Boys & Girls Club in South Boston, where Parsekian operates his real estate business.
Allen Gallagher, director of the Boys & Girls Club in Watertown, said money collected from pledges and donations would go a long way. A donor will match whatever Parsekian raises, he said.“We need room to grow,” Gallagher said about the tight space inside the Whites Avenue building. “There would be more things to do for kids if we had room to do it in.”He said they are currently working with an architectural firm to see if building a second floor would be feasible.The club is celebrating its 35th anniversary this weekend. Since 1972, the club has opened its doors to any boy and girl in Watertown and surrounding communities. Gallagher said they average about 125 kids a day who come to swim, play in the gym, use computers, do homework, and make arts and crafts.
Their total membership averages about 500-600 children each year.With tight budgets for many towns and cities across the state, Parsekian said that less money is being allocated for social and communities activity for young people.He said the most important thing is to get involved, but more importantly, get fresh air.“Thomas Jefferson said ‘a healthy body is a healthy mind.’ Just going out and riding a bike is an adventure,” said Parsekian.Starting Sunday, Parsekian will dip his rear tire in the Pacific Ocean and head off from Los Angeles with a pack of 34 others invested in the cross-country trip. Fifty days later, they will dip their front tires in the Atlantic Ocean and be welcomed by fans and supporters at Revere Beach after their trek.Parsekian said he is particularly looking forward to biking through the Southwest — especially the Mojave Desert and Sedona, Ariz.
The group plans to average 80 miles a day. The oldest among them is 80.“We will get to know the depth and breadth of the United States of America,” he said.But Parsekian is no stranger to physical challenges.He has been running since the early ’80s and was one of the founding members of the famous L Street Running Club and the “Noon Time Nuts” of South Boston, as well as a member of the L Street Brownies. He has run 20 consecutive Boston Marathons, biked across Armenia and Karabagh in 2006, climbed Mt. Ararat in 1986, and has traveled to many countries throughout the world.“When he wants to do something, he does it,” said his son, Mark Parsekian.The elder Parsekian said he is fascinated by the variety of peoples and cultures he encounters during his trips.“It’s not about luxury for me,” he said. “Being face-to-face with America’s diverse cultures, peoples and raw geographical terrain is what makes this nation great, and I am proud to be a part of it.”
Interview with Armenian Studies Professor Dickran Kouymjian
Interview with Armenian Studies Professor Dickran Kouymjian
May 10, 2007Fresno State NewsTo prepare an article for Spring 2007 edition of FresnoState magazine on the impact of Fresno State’s Armenian Studies Program, Fresno freelance writer Lisa Lieberman interviewed founder Dr. Dickran Kouymjian in Paris via e-mail. Here is that exchange:Q. What is your own family history with regards to Armenia? When and how did your parents/grandparents come to the United States?A. My mother, Zabelle Calusdian, born in Samsun on the Black Sea coast of the Ottoman Empire in 1906, was left an orphan along with a brother, Arshavir.
Their father, Dikran (a teacher and later a commercial agent after whom I was named), sent the youngest children to stay with a Greek family, but was arrested with other Armenian notables and killed at the start of the genocide in 1915.My grandmother was sent off on the death march in the Syrian desert with the older siblings (my mother saw them leave in a wagon). After the war ended in 1918, my mother was placed in an Armenian orphanage in Constantinople (now Istanbul). It was there that her uncle, Levon Calusdian, already settled in Chicago, found their names among the lists of orphans circulated by American and Armenian relief organizations and arranged for their passage to the U.S. and from New York to Chicago by freight wagons.She was adopted by a well-to-do Armenian family in the Oriental rug business and was able to attend senior high school. My father, Toros Kouymjian, born in Talas-Caesarea (today Kayseri), grew up in Smyrna (today Izmir). He attended the school of the Armenian Catholic Mekhitarist fathers, whose headquarters is on the island of San Lazzaro in the Venice Lagoon.
He was also a noted singer in the Church of St. Stephen in Smyrna.In late 1920, at about age 20, he sort of ran away from home with the blessing and connivance of his grandmother. He made it to Chicago before the dramatic events of 1922, when Smyrna was attacked and burned to the ground by the Turkish forces under Ataturk, resulting in the massacre of the Greek and Armenian population. Much of his family was able to flee, probably through the help of commercial contacts, for my grandfather was a classic “Smyrna merchant."They made their way to Naples, and from Italy to Bucharest, Romania, where there had been a very old Armenian colony. In Chicago, my father worked the usual hard jobs available to immigrants but also got a scholarship from a Chicago Women's Group to study voice at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. After a few years, as he told it, he got tired of taking money from the women and eventually, with his best friend and other young Armenians, he was hired by another large Armenian oriental rug firm.He continued his singing.
He met my mother at an Armenian ball. From Chicago they made two trips to visit my father's family in Romania. On the second, in 1934, my mother was pregnant with me and I was born in Tulcea, Romania, as was my brother, Armen, two years later. They stayed in Romania until 1939 when WWII broke out and the American Embassy advised my father and mother to get back to the U.S. After a harrowing trip, because the war had in fact started, I finally got to America and Chicago at age five in November 1939.My wife’s parents, Kayane and Garabed Kapoian, had a similar experience. Her mother was born in the Smyrna region, too, and in 1922, she, her mother and grandmother were literally fished out of the bay by a Greek ship during the destruction of the city, while her father was killed. For eight years, they made and sold lace in Athens until they could come to Paris.
Her father was from the northeast of historic Armenia, Artvin, then under Russian control, and he became orphaned at an older age and escaped after the Russian Revolution of 1917, eventually studying to be a monk at San Lazzaro. From there he went to Paris, married and raised three daughters.Though I spoke Romanian, Armenian and some English before getting to the U.S., my parents felt that English had to be spoken in the house to help us along as we started school. I lost all other languages slowly, but Armenian came back as a young adult.Q. What got you interested in Armenian Studies and how long have you been involved in this program?A. This is a question of personal archeology. My undergraduate work moved from physical chemistry to engineering and, finally, European cultural history after I got bored with the sciences in which I had always excelled. That was at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, which had an enormous liberating effect on me.
I wanted to learn everything and study everything. I was lucky to have such history professors as George Mosse for European cultural history and Michael Petrovich for Russian intellectual history.
But graduation in January 1957 (it took me an extra semester because I had changed majors so many times) as the Korean War was ending, meant the Army.After a contractual six months as an officer in the Washington, D.C., area, I headed to Brussels in mid-1958 for the World's Fair as a freelance journalist with Down Beat, the jazz magazine, and by the end of the fair hooked up with a Canadian journalist, Paul Davis, to form the International Press Service.We headed out to Beirut as the Lebanese civil war was winding down, but the revolution in Iraq was still major news. We covered it from Beirut. While there, I decided that since there was an American University I should work at an M.A., and decided the most valid field would be Arab Studies. Thus, I got started in graduate work and in what we then called Oriental Studies.I kept up the journalism to earn a living. For instance, in the summer of 1959 I went overland to India for IPS to interview the Dalai Lama, who had just fled from Tibet and was in northern India near the border. I also gave a half-dozen interviews on All India Radio.In the second Beirut year, I was hired full time as an instructor in the university's General Education Program and in the English Department. It took three years to write the thesis and get the M.A., but by then I liked teaching and studying enough to look at doctoral programs in the field.
Finally I opted for Columbia for two reasons: I was given a teaching job in Columbia College's G.E. program (by then I felt I was an expert, especially since the American University of Beirut program was modeled on that of Columbia) and there was a program in Armenian in the Near Eastern Languages and Literature Department. My feeling was that if I was going to work in the Near Eastern field, why not Armenian, about which I had both some knowledge and interest.At Columbia, I was confronted by much the same personal need to do more than one thing: teaching and taking classes seemed not enough. The first year in New York, living in Greenwich Village, I got involved in the restaurant business with a casual friend, Haroutiun Derderian, an architect who studied with Buckminster Fuller at the University of Minnesota. He had just taken over a restaurant on Waverly, appropriately named Harout's. We opened only at night, so we could attend to things after our respective day jobs. I was what you might call a junior partner.It was one of the great Village hangouts of the early 1960s. On weekends we had Armenian music and gave the first real start to George Mgrdichian, the famous oud player who died last year. For a time we also allowed a jazz operation to run in the cellar with two young, innovative musicians, the saxophonist Archie Shepp and the clarinetist Steve Lacy. Steve died in Paris a couple of years ago.
Archie is still going strong.By 1964, I was advised by my professors that I had better stop teaching and think about my comprehensive Ph.D. exams, including the four language exams, two Oriental languages beside Armenian and two Western languages. As far as I can remember they were Arabic, Turkish, Russian and French.So I stopped teaching, but in that same year began a literary agency, American Authors Inc., with offices on Madison Avenue. I still kept the (one has to eat!). With exams out of the way, I started in earnest on my doctoral thesis, which centered around numismatics and Armenia. It was an ambitious attempt to analyze the history of Armenia and the surrounding regions in the 11th to the 13th centuries, based primary on the Islamic coins of the period.But many things, fortunately, got in the way.
Meeting my future wife, Angèle Kapoïan, a French Armenian who was teaching French language and literature as a visiting professor at the Chapin School on the Upper East Side near where I was living. We met at the restaurant. We married in the early summer of 1967 at City Hall with my lawyer, Bruce McMarion Wright, later the famous Judge Wright, as best man.Bruce had been the lawyer of many jazz musicians – Miles Davis, Art Blakey and others. He was a major figure in Harlem and was urged to run for mayor of New York more than once. He was also a great poet and a great lover of Paris. He passed away two years ago.Just before marriage and almost finished with the doctoral thesis (defended it in 1969), I was offered positions at several universities. I finally opted for one with the American University of Cairo as assistant director of the Arabic Studies Program. I signed the contract one day before the Six Day War in May 1967, and sold American Authors Inc.After a second marriage (to the same person, of course) in the Armenian Church in Paris, we headed toward Cairo but had to stay in Istanbul until early 1968 because Americans were not given visas for Egypt for months after the war. Following four years in Cairo, I was offered a job back at the American University of Beirut in the History Department.
It was there that I finally started teaching Armenian history and art in addition to the history of the Near East. We stayed in Beirut until the civil war broke out in 1975; we were able to get the last plane out the day after classes ended, but all our possessions and whatever money we had stayed in Beirut for nearly two years.We took refuge with my in-laws in Paris and looked for any kind of work. After odd jobs, the American University of Paris hired my wife and me. It was from Paris that I applied for the new post in Armenian Studies created at Fresno State.And finally we get to your question!I came out for an interview and was chosen and given a tenure track contract to start in the fall of 1976. I said I would accept only a one-year visiting professorship (I had never seen Fresno before) and that I could only start my teaching in the spring 1977 semester.
My charge was to restart an Armenian Studies Program that had faded away after the tragic death of Professor Louise Nalbandian in December 1973 and the retirement of Professor Arra Avakian.I started by developing completely new history, art history and language and literature courses. When my one-year visiting professorship was up, I returned to Paris to teach a contractual semester again at the American University. In the fall of 1978 I came back to Fresno on a tenure contract. I have been here ever since. From the beginning, I took very seriously my initial charge to establish a major undergraduate Armenian Studies Program.Q. What makes the Armenian Studies program in Fresno unique compared to other similar programs throughout the country or throughout the world?
A. Is it unique? I suppose so, because it has been functioning now for 30 years and there are 100-200 students enrolled each semester in a wide range of classes.With two full-time faculty and an annual Kazan Visiting Professor, we certainly have the largest instructional staff on the undergraduate level in the U.S. We have the most students of any other program (perhaps more than all the others combined, someone once remarked) and the largest and most varied course offerings in Armenian studies. We offer language, literature, history, art and architecture, film, music (from time to time) and genocide studies.Why has this come about? Because I and my younger colleague and former student, Barlow Der Mugrdechian, worked hard to make it happen.
We also have the oldest and, perhaps, the only Armenian university program student newspaper, Hye Sharzhoom (Armenian Action), anywhere in the world, now in its 28th consecutive year, I believe.From the very beginning, I realized that even with a large number of American-Armenian or part-Armenian students on campus, a program could not be sustained without mechanisms that would institutionalize the program. That was my key word -- “institutionalization.” I quickly developed a new course, “Introduction to Armenian Studies," which was accepted into the General Education Program.Then Armenian language also became an optional requirement to fulfill the university’s language requirement. In time, a literature course and an art course became options in the G.E. Program.
Today our students are divided half and half between Armenian and non-Armenians and in some classes there are 10 non-Armenians for every Armenian.Our program also has sponsored its own lecture series for some 20 years, a way to bring the community to campus and to expose our students to other and varied voices.Q. What kind of work are you doing abroad? What kinds of work have your students done or are doing in Armenia?A. In October 2006, I was in Armenia to be honored by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, on the occasion of the Armenian translation and publication of the “Album of Armenian Paleography,” a massive study of the evolution of Armenian script through an analysis of date manuscripts. The album was compiled by me and professors Michael Stone of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Henning Lehmann of Aarhus University in Denmark.
The Catholicos was so impressed by the volume, which was published in 2002, that he insisted on sponsoring an Armenian translation.For the past year and a half, I have been actively involved in “Arménie mon amie, l'Année de l'Arménie (The Year of Armenia in France),” which started Sept. 21, 2006, Armenian Independence Day, and finishes July 14, 2007, Bastille Day (the French July 4). Last year it was "The Year of Brazil" and the year before "The Year of China." So it is quite an event that such a small country is being honored with hundreds of museum exhibits, concerts, theatrical performances, conferences, etc., some say 800 different events in 40 French cities.The largest and most splendid exhibition ever of medieval Armenian Christian art opened Feb. 22 at the Louvre Museum: 210 objects, including about 30 massive (up to 2 tons each) khatchkars (cross-stones, unique to Armenia) and a catalogue of 470 pages.
I participated from the beginning, writing two chapters and describing and analyzing 18 liturgical objects from the Treasury of Holy Etchmiadzin, the headquarters of the Armenian church.But that is just one of seven or eight exhibits I have worked on. Two major exhibits on the great Soviet-Armenian filmmaker and artist Sergei Paradjanov are being held, one at that the Beaux-Arts Museum and the other a retrospective of all his films at both the Magic Cinema in Paris and the Cinémateque in Toulouse. For each of these I wrote essays and lent literally hundreds of documents and photos I either took of Paradjanov or which are in my archives. Both exhibits have impressive catalogues and the cover and the poster for the Beaux-Arts show used one of my own photos of Paradjanov.A first-of-its-kind exhibition was at the Institut du monde arabe (Paris's very remarkable Islamic art museum) devoted to Armenian photographers in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenians got into photography in the 1850s and quickly had a near monopoly in the profession until the Genocide of 1915-23. The major photographers in Constantinople and other cities of what is now the Republic of Turkey and those in Syria, Jordan, Palestine-Israel, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and even Cyprus were Armenian. I was a close adviser on this exhibit, though my only written contribution is an essay in the museum's quarterly, Qantara, on Armenian photographers.Outside of Paris, the largest exhibit ever held on Armenian textiles and liturgical objects was mounted in Lyon at the Museum of Textiles and the Fourvière Museum. For the first time, 15 large Armenian altar curtains of unimaginable beauty, dating from the late 17th to the 19th century and originating from Armenian communities from Constantinople to Madras, India, were on display. For some 20 years, I have been pushing for such an exhibit and I am pleased that this remarkable heritage in cloth was available to all. I wrote a good deal of the large catalog accompanying the exhibit.Another blockbuster exhibit, like that of the Louvre, opened in Marseille at the old renovated medieval hospital (La Vielle Charité), “Armenia: the Magic of Writing." It emphasizes Armenia's 1,600-year love affair with the alphabet invented by the monk Mesrop in the early fifth century. Nearly 300 objects in all the arts including many, many illustrated manuscripts, all items with clear inscriptions, were presented, with emphasis on the inscriptions.The exhibit was directed by the historian Claude Mutafian, who was responsible for the large exhibit of Armenian art at the Vatican some years ago.
Unlike the Louvre exhibit, which used only items from the various museums in Armenia, the Marseille exposition borrowed works of art from museums and private collections in the major European centers and the United States. Items came from UCLA, the New York Public Library, the Getty Museum, the Walters Gallery in Baltimore, the Boston Public Library and the J. P. Morgan Library in New York. I collaborated closely with Prof. Mutafian, an old friend, and helped him with many loans in addition to writing five chapters and describing a large variety of objects for the 500-page catalogue.In June [2007], two other exhibits will open in the south, one at Arles and the other again at Marseille, for which I have been helping out and writing. In early July I have been invited to present William Saroyan's relationship with Hollywood and filmmakers at the annual conference on literature and letter writing (Saroyan was a champion) at the Château de Grignan near Montpellier.
In addition to all of this, there are lectures and symposia I am involved in during this Year of Armenia. I am sure I have forgotten a lot, but it does give you an idea of how much the public will hear about Fresno State through one of its Armenian studies professors.As for our students and Armenia, we have had an exchange program for years, but more productive have been summer study sessions in Armenia for students led by Barlow Der Mugrdechian.Q. What are your goals for the program at Fresno State and for the Armenian community in general?A. Many of the goals I set three decades ago have already been realized. An institutionalized Armenian Studies Program giving a 24-26 credit minor (nearly as much as some majors) with required courses in all areas. It is a very active program. It has proved impossible to form a major – that is, a department – because in general a minimum of five faculty members is needed.This is a budget handicap for us since we do not qualify for a secretary paid by the university. We have an annual banquet and a fund drive, which we use primarily to pay for a secretary.We also have built up a substantial scholarship fund through nearly 20 permanent endowments. We currently have about $75,000 a year to distribute.In 1988, after a rather quick fund drive, the Haig and Isabelle Berberian Endowed Chair in Armenian Studies was established. It was the first active endowed chair on the Fresno State campus and the first full-time chair in any of the 23 CSU campuses. It was a real pioneering experience for me as the first incumbent.
The major donors, Dianne and Arnold Gazarian, named the chair after Dianne's father, who I knew well as a generous community leader.Thanks to another endowment, we have a permanently endowed Henry Kazan Visiting Professorship of Modern Armenian Studies. Henry Kazan and his wife Victoria, now both deceased, came to visit Fresno from New York, having never had any ties with the university or the city, but attracted by the Armenian Studies Program.In quick succession, endowments were established for a professorship and another major fund named after Victoria Kazan for the general support of the program, its publications, and activities.Q. What are the current goals for the Armenian Studies Program?A. Creation of some sort of B.A. program jointly with the Department of Art, History or Literatures and Foreign Languages.
It would be for those students who want to get a B.A. with a concentration in Armenian Studies and who want to go on to do doctoral work at any one of a number of universities that offer such a possibility: Harvard, Columbia, Michigan, UCLA and perhaps, soon, UC Berkeley. It is true that over the decades there has developed a certain fear of making university teaching in the humanities a career, but there is always the highly motivated student.Establishing a Center for Armenian Studies in a separate building or separate part of an existing building is another goal. This has been a dream from the beginning. When I was hired in 1976, there was an active project to build an Armenian Museum on campus in honor of Louise Nalbandian. The location was approved and the plans were drawn for an ambitious $5-million stone structure with stylistic influences from medieval Armenian architecture.An economic downturn did not allow it, but the project in other forms has been revived from time to time, and we are hoping in the context of the current major university fund drive to be able to finally realize this project.
It would house the program and its vast archives now scattered on- and off-campus because of space issues. It would also have a small museum for permanent and temporary exhibits, which in part would house the very large collection of the painting and sculpture of Fresno artist Varaz Samuelian, who willed his art to the program..The center also would have classrooms, a specialized library and a small auditorium. It would become an important research center for Armenian studies because of the material we have assembled over 30 years.Q. What are your program's biggest contributions to the local community?
A. Surely it has been making the large and active Armenian community, with its many churches, cultural organization and political parties, feel that there is one place that can be considered home to them all, namely the campus. Our lecture series and annual banquet are ways of making sure that the community sees the campus as a user-friendly place. In this respect, I think we have succeeded very well.Our courses also draw community members, as well as students, to attend the lectures of our Kazan visiting professor.
We have an active Armenian Alumni Association with very loyal graduates of the program. We previously had a very active Armenian Studies Advisory Board, which also might be revived.In addition, we have held over the years numerous conferences, concerts and art exhibits related to Armenia history and culture, including two major international conferences on William Saroyan and another coming up next year to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth in Fresno.The Armenian Studies Program also has regularly sponsored world-famous Armenian pianists in the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concert series on campus. And the Armenian community is just as strong in its support of this activity as it is in the Bulldog Foundation.It might also be worth pointing out that our Armenian Studies Program, its teachers and the campus have been very important in the only professional organization for Armenian Studies in the U.S., the Society for Armenian Studies.For nearly a decade, the secretariat has been at Fresno State.
We published its annual scholarly review, the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, on campus, as well as the society’s quarterly newsletter, which goes out to more than 200 scholars. Our Web site makes the newsletter available electronically. Barlow Der Mugrdechian has been president of the Society at least two terms and I for three; Barlow also has been past-editor of the Journal.Finally, a word must be said about our very active Armenian Studies Program Web site, one of the first, if not the first, of any academic program on campus.The last time I checked with the technical staff, we were getting more than 2 million hits a year from more than 150 countries.On the Web site, one can find not only information on the program and its scholarships and classes, but entire courses, such as Armenian Studies 20, The Arts of Armenia, which is occasionally taught entirely over the Internet.The site also houses my Index of Armenia Art, a vast database of Armenian art and architecture being continually augmented and perfected; and entire texts of articles and books by the Armenian Studies Program faculty.
It has its own site search engine to go through its thousands of pages and a Webmaster to keep track of it all.The Armenian Studies Web site can be found at armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/arts_of_armenia/index.htmTo read the Fresno State Magazine story on the Armenian Studies program, seepage 18 in the Main section at www.fresnostatenews.com/Magazine/FresnoStateMag07-Main.pdfNote: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Labels: Armenian Diaspora, Armenian Studies
May 10, 2007Fresno State NewsTo prepare an article for Spring 2007 edition of FresnoState magazine on the impact of Fresno State’s Armenian Studies Program, Fresno freelance writer Lisa Lieberman interviewed founder Dr. Dickran Kouymjian in Paris via e-mail. Here is that exchange:Q. What is your own family history with regards to Armenia? When and how did your parents/grandparents come to the United States?A. My mother, Zabelle Calusdian, born in Samsun on the Black Sea coast of the Ottoman Empire in 1906, was left an orphan along with a brother, Arshavir.
Their father, Dikran (a teacher and later a commercial agent after whom I was named), sent the youngest children to stay with a Greek family, but was arrested with other Armenian notables and killed at the start of the genocide in 1915.My grandmother was sent off on the death march in the Syrian desert with the older siblings (my mother saw them leave in a wagon). After the war ended in 1918, my mother was placed in an Armenian orphanage in Constantinople (now Istanbul). It was there that her uncle, Levon Calusdian, already settled in Chicago, found their names among the lists of orphans circulated by American and Armenian relief organizations and arranged for their passage to the U.S. and from New York to Chicago by freight wagons.She was adopted by a well-to-do Armenian family in the Oriental rug business and was able to attend senior high school. My father, Toros Kouymjian, born in Talas-Caesarea (today Kayseri), grew up in Smyrna (today Izmir). He attended the school of the Armenian Catholic Mekhitarist fathers, whose headquarters is on the island of San Lazzaro in the Venice Lagoon.
He was also a noted singer in the Church of St. Stephen in Smyrna.In late 1920, at about age 20, he sort of ran away from home with the blessing and connivance of his grandmother. He made it to Chicago before the dramatic events of 1922, when Smyrna was attacked and burned to the ground by the Turkish forces under Ataturk, resulting in the massacre of the Greek and Armenian population. Much of his family was able to flee, probably through the help of commercial contacts, for my grandfather was a classic “Smyrna merchant."They made their way to Naples, and from Italy to Bucharest, Romania, where there had been a very old Armenian colony. In Chicago, my father worked the usual hard jobs available to immigrants but also got a scholarship from a Chicago Women's Group to study voice at the Chicago Conservatory of Music. After a few years, as he told it, he got tired of taking money from the women and eventually, with his best friend and other young Armenians, he was hired by another large Armenian oriental rug firm.He continued his singing.
He met my mother at an Armenian ball. From Chicago they made two trips to visit my father's family in Romania. On the second, in 1934, my mother was pregnant with me and I was born in Tulcea, Romania, as was my brother, Armen, two years later. They stayed in Romania until 1939 when WWII broke out and the American Embassy advised my father and mother to get back to the U.S. After a harrowing trip, because the war had in fact started, I finally got to America and Chicago at age five in November 1939.My wife’s parents, Kayane and Garabed Kapoian, had a similar experience. Her mother was born in the Smyrna region, too, and in 1922, she, her mother and grandmother were literally fished out of the bay by a Greek ship during the destruction of the city, while her father was killed. For eight years, they made and sold lace in Athens until they could come to Paris.
Her father was from the northeast of historic Armenia, Artvin, then under Russian control, and he became orphaned at an older age and escaped after the Russian Revolution of 1917, eventually studying to be a monk at San Lazzaro. From there he went to Paris, married and raised three daughters.Though I spoke Romanian, Armenian and some English before getting to the U.S., my parents felt that English had to be spoken in the house to help us along as we started school. I lost all other languages slowly, but Armenian came back as a young adult.Q. What got you interested in Armenian Studies and how long have you been involved in this program?A. This is a question of personal archeology. My undergraduate work moved from physical chemistry to engineering and, finally, European cultural history after I got bored with the sciences in which I had always excelled. That was at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, which had an enormous liberating effect on me.
I wanted to learn everything and study everything. I was lucky to have such history professors as George Mosse for European cultural history and Michael Petrovich for Russian intellectual history.
But graduation in January 1957 (it took me an extra semester because I had changed majors so many times) as the Korean War was ending, meant the Army.After a contractual six months as an officer in the Washington, D.C., area, I headed to Brussels in mid-1958 for the World's Fair as a freelance journalist with Down Beat, the jazz magazine, and by the end of the fair hooked up with a Canadian journalist, Paul Davis, to form the International Press Service.We headed out to Beirut as the Lebanese civil war was winding down, but the revolution in Iraq was still major news. We covered it from Beirut. While there, I decided that since there was an American University I should work at an M.A., and decided the most valid field would be Arab Studies. Thus, I got started in graduate work and in what we then called Oriental Studies.I kept up the journalism to earn a living. For instance, in the summer of 1959 I went overland to India for IPS to interview the Dalai Lama, who had just fled from Tibet and was in northern India near the border. I also gave a half-dozen interviews on All India Radio.In the second Beirut year, I was hired full time as an instructor in the university's General Education Program and in the English Department. It took three years to write the thesis and get the M.A., but by then I liked teaching and studying enough to look at doctoral programs in the field.
Finally I opted for Columbia for two reasons: I was given a teaching job in Columbia College's G.E. program (by then I felt I was an expert, especially since the American University of Beirut program was modeled on that of Columbia) and there was a program in Armenian in the Near Eastern Languages and Literature Department. My feeling was that if I was going to work in the Near Eastern field, why not Armenian, about which I had both some knowledge and interest.At Columbia, I was confronted by much the same personal need to do more than one thing: teaching and taking classes seemed not enough. The first year in New York, living in Greenwich Village, I got involved in the restaurant business with a casual friend, Haroutiun Derderian, an architect who studied with Buckminster Fuller at the University of Minnesota. He had just taken over a restaurant on Waverly, appropriately named Harout's. We opened only at night, so we could attend to things after our respective day jobs. I was what you might call a junior partner.It was one of the great Village hangouts of the early 1960s. On weekends we had Armenian music and gave the first real start to George Mgrdichian, the famous oud player who died last year. For a time we also allowed a jazz operation to run in the cellar with two young, innovative musicians, the saxophonist Archie Shepp and the clarinetist Steve Lacy. Steve died in Paris a couple of years ago.
Archie is still going strong.By 1964, I was advised by my professors that I had better stop teaching and think about my comprehensive Ph.D. exams, including the four language exams, two Oriental languages beside Armenian and two Western languages. As far as I can remember they were Arabic, Turkish, Russian and French.So I stopped teaching, but in that same year began a literary agency, American Authors Inc., with offices on Madison Avenue. I still kept the (one has to eat!). With exams out of the way, I started in earnest on my doctoral thesis, which centered around numismatics and Armenia. It was an ambitious attempt to analyze the history of Armenia and the surrounding regions in the 11th to the 13th centuries, based primary on the Islamic coins of the period.But many things, fortunately, got in the way.
Meeting my future wife, Angèle Kapoïan, a French Armenian who was teaching French language and literature as a visiting professor at the Chapin School on the Upper East Side near where I was living. We met at the restaurant. We married in the early summer of 1967 at City Hall with my lawyer, Bruce McMarion Wright, later the famous Judge Wright, as best man.Bruce had been the lawyer of many jazz musicians – Miles Davis, Art Blakey and others. He was a major figure in Harlem and was urged to run for mayor of New York more than once. He was also a great poet and a great lover of Paris. He passed away two years ago.Just before marriage and almost finished with the doctoral thesis (defended it in 1969), I was offered positions at several universities. I finally opted for one with the American University of Cairo as assistant director of the Arabic Studies Program. I signed the contract one day before the Six Day War in May 1967, and sold American Authors Inc.After a second marriage (to the same person, of course) in the Armenian Church in Paris, we headed toward Cairo but had to stay in Istanbul until early 1968 because Americans were not given visas for Egypt for months after the war. Following four years in Cairo, I was offered a job back at the American University of Beirut in the History Department.
It was there that I finally started teaching Armenian history and art in addition to the history of the Near East. We stayed in Beirut until the civil war broke out in 1975; we were able to get the last plane out the day after classes ended, but all our possessions and whatever money we had stayed in Beirut for nearly two years.We took refuge with my in-laws in Paris and looked for any kind of work. After odd jobs, the American University of Paris hired my wife and me. It was from Paris that I applied for the new post in Armenian Studies created at Fresno State.And finally we get to your question!I came out for an interview and was chosen and given a tenure track contract to start in the fall of 1976. I said I would accept only a one-year visiting professorship (I had never seen Fresno before) and that I could only start my teaching in the spring 1977 semester.
My charge was to restart an Armenian Studies Program that had faded away after the tragic death of Professor Louise Nalbandian in December 1973 and the retirement of Professor Arra Avakian.I started by developing completely new history, art history and language and literature courses. When my one-year visiting professorship was up, I returned to Paris to teach a contractual semester again at the American University. In the fall of 1978 I came back to Fresno on a tenure contract. I have been here ever since. From the beginning, I took very seriously my initial charge to establish a major undergraduate Armenian Studies Program.Q. What makes the Armenian Studies program in Fresno unique compared to other similar programs throughout the country or throughout the world?
A. Is it unique? I suppose so, because it has been functioning now for 30 years and there are 100-200 students enrolled each semester in a wide range of classes.With two full-time faculty and an annual Kazan Visiting Professor, we certainly have the largest instructional staff on the undergraduate level in the U.S. We have the most students of any other program (perhaps more than all the others combined, someone once remarked) and the largest and most varied course offerings in Armenian studies. We offer language, literature, history, art and architecture, film, music (from time to time) and genocide studies.Why has this come about? Because I and my younger colleague and former student, Barlow Der Mugrdechian, worked hard to make it happen.
We also have the oldest and, perhaps, the only Armenian university program student newspaper, Hye Sharzhoom (Armenian Action), anywhere in the world, now in its 28th consecutive year, I believe.From the very beginning, I realized that even with a large number of American-Armenian or part-Armenian students on campus, a program could not be sustained without mechanisms that would institutionalize the program. That was my key word -- “institutionalization.” I quickly developed a new course, “Introduction to Armenian Studies," which was accepted into the General Education Program.Then Armenian language also became an optional requirement to fulfill the university’s language requirement. In time, a literature course and an art course became options in the G.E. Program.
Today our students are divided half and half between Armenian and non-Armenians and in some classes there are 10 non-Armenians for every Armenian.Our program also has sponsored its own lecture series for some 20 years, a way to bring the community to campus and to expose our students to other and varied voices.Q. What kind of work are you doing abroad? What kinds of work have your students done or are doing in Armenia?A. In October 2006, I was in Armenia to be honored by His Holiness Karekin II, Catholicos of All Armenians, on the occasion of the Armenian translation and publication of the “Album of Armenian Paleography,” a massive study of the evolution of Armenian script through an analysis of date manuscripts. The album was compiled by me and professors Michael Stone of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and Henning Lehmann of Aarhus University in Denmark.
The Catholicos was so impressed by the volume, which was published in 2002, that he insisted on sponsoring an Armenian translation.For the past year and a half, I have been actively involved in “Arménie mon amie, l'Année de l'Arménie (The Year of Armenia in France),” which started Sept. 21, 2006, Armenian Independence Day, and finishes July 14, 2007, Bastille Day (the French July 4). Last year it was "The Year of Brazil" and the year before "The Year of China." So it is quite an event that such a small country is being honored with hundreds of museum exhibits, concerts, theatrical performances, conferences, etc., some say 800 different events in 40 French cities.The largest and most splendid exhibition ever of medieval Armenian Christian art opened Feb. 22 at the Louvre Museum: 210 objects, including about 30 massive (up to 2 tons each) khatchkars (cross-stones, unique to Armenia) and a catalogue of 470 pages.
I participated from the beginning, writing two chapters and describing and analyzing 18 liturgical objects from the Treasury of Holy Etchmiadzin, the headquarters of the Armenian church.But that is just one of seven or eight exhibits I have worked on. Two major exhibits on the great Soviet-Armenian filmmaker and artist Sergei Paradjanov are being held, one at that the Beaux-Arts Museum and the other a retrospective of all his films at both the Magic Cinema in Paris and the Cinémateque in Toulouse. For each of these I wrote essays and lent literally hundreds of documents and photos I either took of Paradjanov or which are in my archives. Both exhibits have impressive catalogues and the cover and the poster for the Beaux-Arts show used one of my own photos of Paradjanov.A first-of-its-kind exhibition was at the Institut du monde arabe (Paris's very remarkable Islamic art museum) devoted to Armenian photographers in the Ottoman Empire. The Armenians got into photography in the 1850s and quickly had a near monopoly in the profession until the Genocide of 1915-23. The major photographers in Constantinople and other cities of what is now the Republic of Turkey and those in Syria, Jordan, Palestine-Israel, Iraq, Iran, Lebanon and even Cyprus were Armenian. I was a close adviser on this exhibit, though my only written contribution is an essay in the museum's quarterly, Qantara, on Armenian photographers.Outside of Paris, the largest exhibit ever held on Armenian textiles and liturgical objects was mounted in Lyon at the Museum of Textiles and the Fourvière Museum. For the first time, 15 large Armenian altar curtains of unimaginable beauty, dating from the late 17th to the 19th century and originating from Armenian communities from Constantinople to Madras, India, were on display. For some 20 years, I have been pushing for such an exhibit and I am pleased that this remarkable heritage in cloth was available to all. I wrote a good deal of the large catalog accompanying the exhibit.Another blockbuster exhibit, like that of the Louvre, opened in Marseille at the old renovated medieval hospital (La Vielle Charité), “Armenia: the Magic of Writing." It emphasizes Armenia's 1,600-year love affair with the alphabet invented by the monk Mesrop in the early fifth century. Nearly 300 objects in all the arts including many, many illustrated manuscripts, all items with clear inscriptions, were presented, with emphasis on the inscriptions.The exhibit was directed by the historian Claude Mutafian, who was responsible for the large exhibit of Armenian art at the Vatican some years ago.
Unlike the Louvre exhibit, which used only items from the various museums in Armenia, the Marseille exposition borrowed works of art from museums and private collections in the major European centers and the United States. Items came from UCLA, the New York Public Library, the Getty Museum, the Walters Gallery in Baltimore, the Boston Public Library and the J. P. Morgan Library in New York. I collaborated closely with Prof. Mutafian, an old friend, and helped him with many loans in addition to writing five chapters and describing a large variety of objects for the 500-page catalogue.In June [2007], two other exhibits will open in the south, one at Arles and the other again at Marseille, for which I have been helping out and writing. In early July I have been invited to present William Saroyan's relationship with Hollywood and filmmakers at the annual conference on literature and letter writing (Saroyan was a champion) at the Château de Grignan near Montpellier.
In addition to all of this, there are lectures and symposia I am involved in during this Year of Armenia. I am sure I have forgotten a lot, but it does give you an idea of how much the public will hear about Fresno State through one of its Armenian studies professors.As for our students and Armenia, we have had an exchange program for years, but more productive have been summer study sessions in Armenia for students led by Barlow Der Mugrdechian.Q. What are your goals for the program at Fresno State and for the Armenian community in general?A. Many of the goals I set three decades ago have already been realized. An institutionalized Armenian Studies Program giving a 24-26 credit minor (nearly as much as some majors) with required courses in all areas. It is a very active program. It has proved impossible to form a major – that is, a department – because in general a minimum of five faculty members is needed.This is a budget handicap for us since we do not qualify for a secretary paid by the university. We have an annual banquet and a fund drive, which we use primarily to pay for a secretary.We also have built up a substantial scholarship fund through nearly 20 permanent endowments. We currently have about $75,000 a year to distribute.In 1988, after a rather quick fund drive, the Haig and Isabelle Berberian Endowed Chair in Armenian Studies was established. It was the first active endowed chair on the Fresno State campus and the first full-time chair in any of the 23 CSU campuses. It was a real pioneering experience for me as the first incumbent.
The major donors, Dianne and Arnold Gazarian, named the chair after Dianne's father, who I knew well as a generous community leader.Thanks to another endowment, we have a permanently endowed Henry Kazan Visiting Professorship of Modern Armenian Studies. Henry Kazan and his wife Victoria, now both deceased, came to visit Fresno from New York, having never had any ties with the university or the city, but attracted by the Armenian Studies Program.In quick succession, endowments were established for a professorship and another major fund named after Victoria Kazan for the general support of the program, its publications, and activities.Q. What are the current goals for the Armenian Studies Program?A. Creation of some sort of B.A. program jointly with the Department of Art, History or Literatures and Foreign Languages.
It would be for those students who want to get a B.A. with a concentration in Armenian Studies and who want to go on to do doctoral work at any one of a number of universities that offer such a possibility: Harvard, Columbia, Michigan, UCLA and perhaps, soon, UC Berkeley. It is true that over the decades there has developed a certain fear of making university teaching in the humanities a career, but there is always the highly motivated student.Establishing a Center for Armenian Studies in a separate building or separate part of an existing building is another goal. This has been a dream from the beginning. When I was hired in 1976, there was an active project to build an Armenian Museum on campus in honor of Louise Nalbandian. The location was approved and the plans were drawn for an ambitious $5-million stone structure with stylistic influences from medieval Armenian architecture.An economic downturn did not allow it, but the project in other forms has been revived from time to time, and we are hoping in the context of the current major university fund drive to be able to finally realize this project.
It would house the program and its vast archives now scattered on- and off-campus because of space issues. It would also have a small museum for permanent and temporary exhibits, which in part would house the very large collection of the painting and sculpture of Fresno artist Varaz Samuelian, who willed his art to the program..The center also would have classrooms, a specialized library and a small auditorium. It would become an important research center for Armenian studies because of the material we have assembled over 30 years.Q. What are your program's biggest contributions to the local community?
A. Surely it has been making the large and active Armenian community, with its many churches, cultural organization and political parties, feel that there is one place that can be considered home to them all, namely the campus. Our lecture series and annual banquet are ways of making sure that the community sees the campus as a user-friendly place. In this respect, I think we have succeeded very well.Our courses also draw community members, as well as students, to attend the lectures of our Kazan visiting professor.
We have an active Armenian Alumni Association with very loyal graduates of the program. We previously had a very active Armenian Studies Advisory Board, which also might be revived.In addition, we have held over the years numerous conferences, concerts and art exhibits related to Armenia history and culture, including two major international conferences on William Saroyan and another coming up next year to mark the 100th anniversary of his birth in Fresno.The Armenian Studies Program also has regularly sponsored world-famous Armenian pianists in the Philip Lorenz Memorial Keyboard Concert series on campus. And the Armenian community is just as strong in its support of this activity as it is in the Bulldog Foundation.It might also be worth pointing out that our Armenian Studies Program, its teachers and the campus have been very important in the only professional organization for Armenian Studies in the U.S., the Society for Armenian Studies.For nearly a decade, the secretariat has been at Fresno State.
We published its annual scholarly review, the Journal of the Society for Armenian Studies, on campus, as well as the society’s quarterly newsletter, which goes out to more than 200 scholars. Our Web site makes the newsletter available electronically. Barlow Der Mugrdechian has been president of the Society at least two terms and I for three; Barlow also has been past-editor of the Journal.Finally, a word must be said about our very active Armenian Studies Program Web site, one of the first, if not the first, of any academic program on campus.The last time I checked with the technical staff, we were getting more than 2 million hits a year from more than 150 countries.On the Web site, one can find not only information on the program and its scholarships and classes, but entire courses, such as Armenian Studies 20, The Arts of Armenia, which is occasionally taught entirely over the Internet.The site also houses my Index of Armenia Art, a vast database of Armenian art and architecture being continually augmented and perfected; and entire texts of articles and books by the Armenian Studies Program faculty.
It has its own site search engine to go through its thousands of pages and a Webmaster to keep track of it all.The Armenian Studies Web site can be found at armenianstudies.csufresno.edu/arts_of_armenia/index.htmTo read the Fresno State Magazine story on the Armenian Studies program, seepage 18 in the Main section at www.fresnostatenews.com/Magazine/FresnoStateMag07-Main.pdfNote: Above are excerpts from the article. The full article appears here. Clarifications and comments by me are contained in {}. Deletions are marked by [...]. The bold emphasis is mine.
Labels: Armenian Diaspora, Armenian Studies
5/13/07
Lbanon
Statistics about Lebanon 03.
August 2006 0946hrs Part of Haitham's adventure in Lebanon, War
This is just to add some background (which may be polemic at times, I admit) to the daily news of these days.
1. Lebanon has 18 religious communities.
2. It has 40 daily newspapers.
3. It has 42 universities.
4. It has over 100 banks (that is banks and not branches of a bank).
5. 70% of the students are in private schools.
6. 40% of the Lebanese people are Christians (this is the highest percent all the Arab countries).
7. There’s 1 doctor per 10 people in Lebanon (In Europe & America, there’s 1 doctor per 100 people).
8. The name LEBANON appears 75 times in the Old Testament.
9. The name CEDAR (Lebanon’s tree) appears 75 times too in the Old Testament.
10. Beirut was destroyed and rebuilt 7 times (this is why it’s compared to The Phoenix).
11. There are 3.5 Million Lebanese in Lebanon.
12. There are around 10 Million Lebanese outside Lebanon.
OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:
1. Lebanon was occupied by many countries: Egyptians-Hittites-Assyrians- Babylonians- Persians- Alexander the Great’s Army- the Roman Empire-Byzantine- the Arabian Peninsula-The Crusaders-the Ottoman Empire- Britain-France- Israel- Syria.
2. Byblos (city in Lebanon) is the oldest, continuously inhabitated city in the world.
3. Lebanon’s name has been around for 4,000 yrs non- stop (it’s the oldest country/ nation’s name in the world).
4. Lebanon is the only Asian/African country that doesn’t have a desert.
5. There are 15 rivers in Lebanon (all of them coming from its own mountains).
6. Lebanon is one of the most populated countries in its archeological sites, in the world.
7. The first alphabet was created in Byblos (city in Lebanon).
8. The only remaining temple of Jupiter (the main Roman god) is in Baalbeck, Lebanon (The City of the Sun).
9. The name of BYBLOS comes from the bible.
10. Lebanon is the country that has the most books written about it.
11. Lebanon is the only non-dictatorial country in the Arab world (it has a President!).
12. According to Christianity Jesus Christ made his 1st miracle in Lebanon, in Sidon (The miracle of turning water into wine).
13. The Phoenicians (Original People of Lebanon) built the 1st boat, and they were the first to sail ever.
14. Phoenicians also reached America long before Christopher Columbus did.
15. The 1st law school in the world was built in Lebanon, in Downtown Beirut.
16. People say that the cedars were planted by God’s own hands (This is why they’re called “The Cedars of God”, and this is why Lebanon is called by many “God’s Country on Earth.”
August 2006 0946hrs Part of Haitham's adventure in Lebanon, War
This is just to add some background (which may be polemic at times, I admit) to the daily news of these days.
1. Lebanon has 18 religious communities.
2. It has 40 daily newspapers.
3. It has 42 universities.
4. It has over 100 banks (that is banks and not branches of a bank).
5. 70% of the students are in private schools.
6. 40% of the Lebanese people are Christians (this is the highest percent all the Arab countries).
7. There’s 1 doctor per 10 people in Lebanon (In Europe & America, there’s 1 doctor per 100 people).
8. The name LEBANON appears 75 times in the Old Testament.
9. The name CEDAR (Lebanon’s tree) appears 75 times too in the Old Testament.
10. Beirut was destroyed and rebuilt 7 times (this is why it’s compared to The Phoenix).
11. There are 3.5 Million Lebanese in Lebanon.
12. There are around 10 Million Lebanese outside Lebanon.
OTHER INTERESTING FACTS:
1. Lebanon was occupied by many countries: Egyptians-Hittites-Assyrians- Babylonians- Persians- Alexander the Great’s Army- the Roman Empire-Byzantine- the Arabian Peninsula-The Crusaders-the Ottoman Empire- Britain-France- Israel- Syria.
2. Byblos (city in Lebanon) is the oldest, continuously inhabitated city in the world.
3. Lebanon’s name has been around for 4,000 yrs non- stop (it’s the oldest country/ nation’s name in the world).
4. Lebanon is the only Asian/African country that doesn’t have a desert.
5. There are 15 rivers in Lebanon (all of them coming from its own mountains).
6. Lebanon is one of the most populated countries in its archeological sites, in the world.
7. The first alphabet was created in Byblos (city in Lebanon).
8. The only remaining temple of Jupiter (the main Roman god) is in Baalbeck, Lebanon (The City of the Sun).
9. The name of BYBLOS comes from the bible.
10. Lebanon is the country that has the most books written about it.
11. Lebanon is the only non-dictatorial country in the Arab world (it has a President!).
12. According to Christianity Jesus Christ made his 1st miracle in Lebanon, in Sidon (The miracle of turning water into wine).
13. The Phoenicians (Original People of Lebanon) built the 1st boat, and they were the first to sail ever.
14. Phoenicians also reached America long before Christopher Columbus did.
15. The 1st law school in the world was built in Lebanon, in Downtown Beirut.
16. People say that the cedars were planted by God’s own hands (This is why they’re called “The Cedars of God”, and this is why Lebanon is called by many “God’s Country on Earth.”
Rethinking) Gender
(Rethinking) Gender
A growing number of Americans are taking their private struggles with their identities into the public realm. How those who believe they were born with the wrong bodies are forcing us to re-examine what it means to be male and female.
May 21, 2007 issue - Growing up in Corinth, Miss., J. T. Hayes had A legacy to attend to. His dad was a well-known race-car driver and Hayes spent much of his childhood tinkering in the family's greasy garage, learning how to design and build cars. By the age of 10, he had started racing in his own right. Eventually Hayes won more than 500 regional and national championships in go-kart, midget and sprint racing, even making it to the NASCAR Winston Cup in the early '90s. But behind the trophies and the swagger of the racing circuit, Hayes was harboring a painful secret: he had always believed he was a woman. He had feminine features and a slight frame—at 5 feet 6 and 118 pounds he was downright dainty—and had always felt, psychologically, like a girl. Only his anatomy got in the way. Since childhood he'd wrestled with what to do about it. He'd slip on "girl clothes" he hid under the mattress and try his hand with makeup. But he knew he'd find little support in his conservative hometown.
A growing number of Americans are taking their private struggles with their identities into the public realm. How those who believe they were born with the wrong bodies are forcing us to re-examine what it means to be male and female.
May 21, 2007 issue - Growing up in Corinth, Miss., J. T. Hayes had A legacy to attend to. His dad was a well-known race-car driver and Hayes spent much of his childhood tinkering in the family's greasy garage, learning how to design and build cars. By the age of 10, he had started racing in his own right. Eventually Hayes won more than 500 regional and national championships in go-kart, midget and sprint racing, even making it to the NASCAR Winston Cup in the early '90s. But behind the trophies and the swagger of the racing circuit, Hayes was harboring a painful secret: he had always believed he was a woman. He had feminine features and a slight frame—at 5 feet 6 and 118 pounds he was downright dainty—and had always felt, psychologically, like a girl. Only his anatomy got in the way. Since childhood he'd wrestled with what to do about it. He'd slip on "girl clothes" he hid under the mattress and try his hand with makeup. But he knew he'd find little support in his conservative hometown.
BODY IN SHOWER
Dope on a SoapCaffeinating your body in the shower.
By William Saletan
(For the latest columns on moral evolution, selling your organs, and abortion and ultrasound, click here.)
Canadians are evading their country's ban on buying human eggs. Methods: 1) Answer ads from one of the Canadian women who offer their eggs on the Internet. Sign a document pledging not to exchange money in the transaction, then pay her cash. 2) Take a "fertility vacation" to the U.S., where egg buying is legal. 3) Buy eggs in the U.S., make your embryos there, then drive the frozen embryos across the border and have them implanted in Canada. Canadian egg price: $5,000 to $7,000 per cycle. U.S. price: $3,000. Canadian government's view: We outlawed egg buying because Canadians want a ban. Rebuttal: These Canadians don't, and all you've done is raise the price. (For Human Nature's take on the emerging business of customized embryo manufacture, click here.)
Update on caffeinating your life: 1) An entrepreneur is trying to persuade Krispy Kreme and other companies to sell his caffeinated pastries. Rationale: "There's some mornings that I'd like juice instead of coffee but I still want that caffeine kick." 2) A company is selling sunflower seeds infused with caffeine and other stimulants copied from energy drinks. Company's spin: "You can't consume a sunflower seed as fast as, say, you could guzzle a 10-ounce or a 12-ounce can of a beverage, and you also don't have that sugar.
So it will be more of a sustained energy boost." 3) A company is selling a soap called Shower Shock that delivers, through your skin, as much caffeine as two cups of coffee per shower. Ad message: "Tired of waking up and having to wait for your morning (coffee) to brew?" Cynical view: Don't forget to caffeinate the chairs in the emergency room so we can all get our fix when we show up with caffeine poisoning. (For a previous update on caffeinated supplements and drink mixes, click here. For Human Nature's take on the legalization of caffeine in Olympic athletes, click here.)
Researchers identified a gene that regulates the longevity effect of calorie restriction in worms. Many people are eating ultra-low-calorie diets designed to trigger a life-extending "starvation" response. The new idea is to develop drugs that trigger the genetic mechanism that regulates this response, so you can get the life extension without starving yourself into misery. Skeptical view: People aren't worms. Rebuttal: We have three genes that resemble this one, and evolution has probably equipped us with the same starvation-survival mechanism. (For a previous update on diet and life extension, click here.)
Austria will lower its voting age to 16. The Cabinet has agreed to propose the change, and the parliament is expected to pass it. The plan would also let people run for office at age 18. The only other countries that let people vote at 16 are Brazil, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Chancellor's view: This will "strengthen communication with young people and … include them as early as possible in the political education process." Critics' view: They need the education before they get the vote. (For Human Nature's take on regulation of teens and tanning, click here. For teens and cosmetic surgery, click here.)
A 13-year Dutch study concludes "Left-handedness is associated with higher mortality in women." Data summary: "Lefties had a 40 percent higher risk of dying from any cause, a 70 percent higher risk of dying from cancer, and a 30 percent higher risk of dying from diseases of the circulatory system." Theory: "Left-handedness is the result of an insult suffered during early development, which ultimately leads to … premature demise." Skeptical view: Studies associating lefties with earlier death are riddled with flaws, including "selective publication of positive results" and confusion of natural with altered lefties.
A study suggests that racial bias by referees changes the outcomes of NBA games. Authors' summary: "More personal fouls are awarded against players when they are officiated by an opposite-race officiating crew than when officiated by an own-race refereeing crew. These biases are sufficiently large that we find appreciable differences in whether predominantly black teams are more likely to win or lose, according to the racial composition of the refereeing crew." NBA's rebuttal: We've refuted this study with our own study, which is better because it uses special data that we can't show you.
Rosy spin: The bias is unconscious, and there's less of it in the NBA than in police searches, tipping, or "trying to hail a cab at midnight." Gloomy spin: Exactly. (For Human Nature's take on predicting criminal propensity from a child's race, click here.)
Update on "natural orifice" surgery: Surgeons are removing brain tumors through patients' noses. This follows operations in which doctors removed gall bladders through vaginas and removed appendixes through mouths. Nasal breakthroughs: Surgeons 1) "removed part of a boy's brain tumor through his nose," 2) "removed brain tumors the size of baseballs through the nose," and 3) "operated on neck vertebrae of an elderly man through his nose." Rationales for going through orifices: less pain, trauma, and recovery time. Rationale for going through the nose: It avoids facial scars. Caveat: You'd better make sure you get the whole tumor.
Next predicted applications: Weight-loss surgery and removal of kidneys and intestines through lower orifices. (For previous updates on natural orifice surgery, click here and here.)
Male ducks are evolving fantastic phalluses to inseminate females with fantastic oviducts. Unlike other birds, male ducks can grow "phalluses as long as their entire body." The organ "expands into a long, corkscrew shape," in some cases a "spiraling tentacle." Now scientists have discovered that unlike other birds, female ducks have oviducts complicated by "pockets and spirals." Theories: 1) The females evolved these oviducts to thwart insemination by unwanted males. 2) The males evolved long, flexible phalluses to overcome this barrier. 3) The reason we hadn't figured this out till now is that male scientists never thought to examine the female ducks, so a woman had to do it.
(For the evolution of double penises in earwigs, click here. For Human Nature's take on human penis transplants, click here. For women who gave birth from two wombs, click here and here.)
Memories lost to degenerative brain diseases might be recoverable. In studies, mice (a) learned how to find food in a maze and avoid an electric shock, (b) lost these abilities through induced brain degeneration, and (c) recovered them through "mental stimulation" and then through chemical intervention. Authors' conclusions: 1) Memories that appear to have been lost may actually be severed but intact. 2) We might be able to restore them in humans, too, since "spontaneous 'rewiring' of the brain and recovery of memories was recently reported in a brain-injured man who was in a minimally conscious state for 20 years." 3) The chemical part of the experiment suggests drugs "in patients with dementia could facilitate access to long-term memories." (For erasure of memories in rats and mice, click here and here. For dieting by implanting false memories in humans, click here.)
Surgery to restore female virginity is increasing among French Muslims, according to anecdotal reports. One doctor says each week he's getting about four queries and is doing the surgery (hymen reattachment) on one to three patients, with demand rising in recent years, possibly due to a resurgence of Muslim identity. The leader of the Union of French Islamic Organizations declines to take a position on the surgery. The French government pays part of the cost if you claim you were raped or traumatized. Liberal reaction: Women are being pressured into this surgery by conservative Muslim families. Conservative reaction: Yeah, right after they were pressured into sex by liberal French men. Human Nature's reaction: Any guy who believes a suicide bombing will earn him 70 virgins in paradise is dumb enough to believe they're virgins. (For a previous update on virginity restoration, click here. For the untrustworthiness of virginity pledges, click here.)
Latest Human Nature columns: 1) Ultrasound and the future of abortion. 2) Guns, bombs, and Virginia Tech. 3) The global market in human organs. 4) The evolution of brains and morals. 5) Machines that read your mind. 6) Invasion of the naked body scanners. 7) The future of pain-beaming weapons. 8) Gay sheep and human destiny. 9) More on gay sheep.
By William Saletan
(For the latest columns on moral evolution, selling your organs, and abortion and ultrasound, click here.)
Canadians are evading their country's ban on buying human eggs. Methods: 1) Answer ads from one of the Canadian women who offer their eggs on the Internet. Sign a document pledging not to exchange money in the transaction, then pay her cash. 2) Take a "fertility vacation" to the U.S., where egg buying is legal. 3) Buy eggs in the U.S., make your embryos there, then drive the frozen embryos across the border and have them implanted in Canada. Canadian egg price: $5,000 to $7,000 per cycle. U.S. price: $3,000. Canadian government's view: We outlawed egg buying because Canadians want a ban. Rebuttal: These Canadians don't, and all you've done is raise the price. (For Human Nature's take on the emerging business of customized embryo manufacture, click here.)
Update on caffeinating your life: 1) An entrepreneur is trying to persuade Krispy Kreme and other companies to sell his caffeinated pastries. Rationale: "There's some mornings that I'd like juice instead of coffee but I still want that caffeine kick." 2) A company is selling sunflower seeds infused with caffeine and other stimulants copied from energy drinks. Company's spin: "You can't consume a sunflower seed as fast as, say, you could guzzle a 10-ounce or a 12-ounce can of a beverage, and you also don't have that sugar.
So it will be more of a sustained energy boost." 3) A company is selling a soap called Shower Shock that delivers, through your skin, as much caffeine as two cups of coffee per shower. Ad message: "Tired of waking up and having to wait for your morning (coffee) to brew?" Cynical view: Don't forget to caffeinate the chairs in the emergency room so we can all get our fix when we show up with caffeine poisoning. (For a previous update on caffeinated supplements and drink mixes, click here. For Human Nature's take on the legalization of caffeine in Olympic athletes, click here.)
Researchers identified a gene that regulates the longevity effect of calorie restriction in worms. Many people are eating ultra-low-calorie diets designed to trigger a life-extending "starvation" response. The new idea is to develop drugs that trigger the genetic mechanism that regulates this response, so you can get the life extension without starving yourself into misery. Skeptical view: People aren't worms. Rebuttal: We have three genes that resemble this one, and evolution has probably equipped us with the same starvation-survival mechanism. (For a previous update on diet and life extension, click here.)
Austria will lower its voting age to 16. The Cabinet has agreed to propose the change, and the parliament is expected to pass it. The plan would also let people run for office at age 18. The only other countries that let people vote at 16 are Brazil, Cuba, and Nicaragua. Chancellor's view: This will "strengthen communication with young people and … include them as early as possible in the political education process." Critics' view: They need the education before they get the vote. (For Human Nature's take on regulation of teens and tanning, click here. For teens and cosmetic surgery, click here.)
A 13-year Dutch study concludes "Left-handedness is associated with higher mortality in women." Data summary: "Lefties had a 40 percent higher risk of dying from any cause, a 70 percent higher risk of dying from cancer, and a 30 percent higher risk of dying from diseases of the circulatory system." Theory: "Left-handedness is the result of an insult suffered during early development, which ultimately leads to … premature demise." Skeptical view: Studies associating lefties with earlier death are riddled with flaws, including "selective publication of positive results" and confusion of natural with altered lefties.
A study suggests that racial bias by referees changes the outcomes of NBA games. Authors' summary: "More personal fouls are awarded against players when they are officiated by an opposite-race officiating crew than when officiated by an own-race refereeing crew. These biases are sufficiently large that we find appreciable differences in whether predominantly black teams are more likely to win or lose, according to the racial composition of the refereeing crew." NBA's rebuttal: We've refuted this study with our own study, which is better because it uses special data that we can't show you.
Rosy spin: The bias is unconscious, and there's less of it in the NBA than in police searches, tipping, or "trying to hail a cab at midnight." Gloomy spin: Exactly. (For Human Nature's take on predicting criminal propensity from a child's race, click here.)
Update on "natural orifice" surgery: Surgeons are removing brain tumors through patients' noses. This follows operations in which doctors removed gall bladders through vaginas and removed appendixes through mouths. Nasal breakthroughs: Surgeons 1) "removed part of a boy's brain tumor through his nose," 2) "removed brain tumors the size of baseballs through the nose," and 3) "operated on neck vertebrae of an elderly man through his nose." Rationales for going through orifices: less pain, trauma, and recovery time. Rationale for going through the nose: It avoids facial scars. Caveat: You'd better make sure you get the whole tumor.
Next predicted applications: Weight-loss surgery and removal of kidneys and intestines through lower orifices. (For previous updates on natural orifice surgery, click here and here.)
Male ducks are evolving fantastic phalluses to inseminate females with fantastic oviducts. Unlike other birds, male ducks can grow "phalluses as long as their entire body." The organ "expands into a long, corkscrew shape," in some cases a "spiraling tentacle." Now scientists have discovered that unlike other birds, female ducks have oviducts complicated by "pockets and spirals." Theories: 1) The females evolved these oviducts to thwart insemination by unwanted males. 2) The males evolved long, flexible phalluses to overcome this barrier. 3) The reason we hadn't figured this out till now is that male scientists never thought to examine the female ducks, so a woman had to do it.
(For the evolution of double penises in earwigs, click here. For Human Nature's take on human penis transplants, click here. For women who gave birth from two wombs, click here and here.)
Memories lost to degenerative brain diseases might be recoverable. In studies, mice (a) learned how to find food in a maze and avoid an electric shock, (b) lost these abilities through induced brain degeneration, and (c) recovered them through "mental stimulation" and then through chemical intervention. Authors' conclusions: 1) Memories that appear to have been lost may actually be severed but intact. 2) We might be able to restore them in humans, too, since "spontaneous 'rewiring' of the brain and recovery of memories was recently reported in a brain-injured man who was in a minimally conscious state for 20 years." 3) The chemical part of the experiment suggests drugs "in patients with dementia could facilitate access to long-term memories." (For erasure of memories in rats and mice, click here and here. For dieting by implanting false memories in humans, click here.)
Surgery to restore female virginity is increasing among French Muslims, according to anecdotal reports. One doctor says each week he's getting about four queries and is doing the surgery (hymen reattachment) on one to three patients, with demand rising in recent years, possibly due to a resurgence of Muslim identity. The leader of the Union of French Islamic Organizations declines to take a position on the surgery. The French government pays part of the cost if you claim you were raped or traumatized. Liberal reaction: Women are being pressured into this surgery by conservative Muslim families. Conservative reaction: Yeah, right after they were pressured into sex by liberal French men. Human Nature's reaction: Any guy who believes a suicide bombing will earn him 70 virgins in paradise is dumb enough to believe they're virgins. (For a previous update on virginity restoration, click here. For the untrustworthiness of virginity pledges, click here.)
Latest Human Nature columns: 1) Ultrasound and the future of abortion. 2) Guns, bombs, and Virginia Tech. 3) The global market in human organs. 4) The evolution of brains and morals. 5) Machines that read your mind. 6) Invasion of the naked body scanners. 7) The future of pain-beaming weapons. 8) Gay sheep and human destiny. 9) More on gay sheep.
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