VA NOW President Lisa Gross sales stands for survivors on the SAAM press convention.
On Wednesday, April twenty fourth, survivors and activists gathered exterior the Alexandria Federal Courthouse for a press convention organized by Lisa Gross sales, President of Virginia NOW, to boost consciousness in regards to the continued prevalence of sexual violence throughout Sexual Assault Consciousness Month.
Audio system included Vice Mayor of Alexandria Amy Jackson, 56th Speaker of the VA Home Eileen Filler-Corn, VA Delegate Mark Sickles, NOW President Christian Nunes, Coverage Director of the VA Sexual & Home Violence Motion Alliance, Jonathan Yglesias, writer of “Harasshole” Lisa Bowman, lawyer Da Hae Kim from the Nationwide Girls’s Regulation Heart, FMF President Eleanor Smeal, Kendra Sutton-El from Beginning In Coloration, Bobbee Cardillo from Zonta USA, Joanie Hunn from the Nationwide Council of Jewish Girls, Myra Smith-Jones, Consultant for NAACP – Virginia, Susanna Gibson, founding father of MyOwn, and Galina Varchena from Beginning In Coloration.
Throughout her remarks, FMF President Ellie Smeal emphasised the pressing want for the Equal Rights Modification (ERA), particularly to fight gender-based violence. With 1 in 3 girls experiencing sexual violence of their lifetime, the ERA would offer a vital assure of intercourse equality within the Structure and allow Congress to take decisive motion. The authorized system’s reliance solely on regulation enforcement to handle this violence is evidently not sufficient.
To point out the truth of those structural inadequacies, many audio system shared poignant accounts of sexual assault and harassment, together with Lisa Bowman and Lisa Gross sales, each of whom bravely got here ahead with their tales regardless of going through extreme backlash and a difficult authorized system.
Bowman recounted her expertise at United Method, the place she confronted sexual harassment from a male colleague and was subsequently terminated for talking out, regardless of following firm coverage and correctly reporting the incidents to HR. Bowman was pushed out of the corporate, whereas her harasser obtained a promotion. Bowman introduced on the press convention that she is suing United Method for $12 million in damages. She has additionally printed a ebook titled “Harasshole,” detailing her ordeal and the retaliation that adopted.
Gross sales shared an analogous story of retaliation after her traumatic expertise. She was assaulted in 2011 by her tenant Dmitry Mikhaylov, enduring extreme accidents and a number of surgical procedures, whereas Mikhaylov served solely a month in jail. In 2021, Gross sales spoke out about her assault and was subsequently fired by her employer. Gross sales has been preventing for justice for over ten years.
Regardless of an estimated 1 in 6 girls being assaulted within the U.S. yearly, solely 5% of circumstances are reported, making rape essentially the most underreported crime. Components comparable to sufferer blaming, worry of retaliation, and the traumatic reporting course of contribute to survivors selecting to not come ahead.
“Instances of sexual assault and harassment aren’t remoted, however are emblematic of normalized rape tradition and permissive silencing of girls,” Gross sales mentioned. “It isn’t any surprise why victims select to not report, to remain silent, however we’re right here right this moment to say: We won’t be silent.”
