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About Street roots. (Portland, OR) 1998-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 27, 2017)
Street Roots • Jan. 27-Feb. 2, 2017 HARASSMENT, from page 5 News for several years due to our acceptance and celebration of excessive drinking and drug compelling testimony and criminal use.” convictions, the closing arguments carried Owings, in agreement, said, “Liquor is a laments from the defense attorney regarding drug. If we’re giving someone the legal thé victims’ believability. She argued the ability to deal drugs, they should be trained girls were not credible witnesses, citing in how to deal with the repercussions.” inconsistencies in their testimonies. Alcohol is present in about half of all This distrust is why many women do not sexual assaults in the United States come forward. Owings recently wrote on according to the National Institute of Alcohol “The Reality of Sexual Assault in the Abuse and Alcoholism, though the study is Cocktail Community” blog: “The thought of quick to point out that these numbers are speaking up didn’t really cross my mind. If I difficult to determine because so many fought for myself or spoke up - as much of women and men do not report Additionally, my experience in this industry has taught at least 80 percent of sexual assaults occur me - I’d be disregarded as dramatic, a between people who know each other. liability, emotional, attention-seeking, Furthermore, alcohol consumption by pathetic, a trainwreck, alcoholic, etc.” perpetrators and victims tends to co-occur, which means both are consuming alcohol <n a socialized setting, like in a bar or at a Taking action party. As a result, a victim might feel shame and give the perpetrator what another Of the women Street Roots interviewed woman on the blog calls “a drunken pardon.” who worked in the Portland bar scene, all of She elaborated: “I keep telling myself that them had at least one - some had several - if the person who attacked me had been a personal stories about being'on the receiving stranger, I would have gone straight to the end of sexual assault or harassment while police. But what would you do when your working in the service industry. Each Of the friend attacks you while he’s under the | men reported having at least seen it a few influence of alcohol? I pretended it didn’t times; one said it was happen.” ""The way I was treated “widespread and Wright, of BASA, said she was saddened disgusting.” b y m y peers {alter being but not surprised when the blog appeared in But now, several groups assaulted} made me snap the BASA Facebook gfoup. of service industry workers “When one victim speaks out, it tends to lute perspective. Bartend are trying to change th a t' create a watershed moment for others to* ers feel the need to stay Bartenders Against Sexual come forward. Telling our stories creates a quiet because we're just Assault, or BASA, formed in space for others; it pushes shame into the 2014 to stand against sexual shadows where it belongs,” she said. so subjected to tills atxno- assault using educationand According toRestaurantQppqi^unities K sphere that we internalize [awareness to tram C enters U nited, 88 p ercen t of w orkers who it" bartenders and bar experienced sexual harassment said they’d KELLY V A U G H N , professionals to recognize be more likely to talk to their supervisor BARTENDER, M A N A G E R A N D about it if they had the support of C O-FO UN D ER OF N O T O K PDX these dangerous situations and intervene. Its public co-workers. Facebook group has more Through BASA and other resources, fed- up servers and bartenders are organizing than 4,700 followers from around the U.S. around the country to foster solutions and and Canada, many of whom work in educate bar owners and managers in an Portland’s bar and restaurant industries. effort to prevent sexual harassment and BASA hopes to transform society through assault in the service industry, for both things like educating bystanders, compelling workers and customers. lawmakers and believing victims. The Orange County Bartenders Cabinet “We have a duty in our work environments and Long Beach Bartenders Cabinet in to watch for signs of sexual predators and California called for a special meeting on the take action when necessary,” said Stacey Wright, co-founder of BASA. “It’s time to end subject in December. In Canada, the Toronto cocktail community has rallied in support of the silence and the shame in the cocktail a sexual assault victim with a protest and community. This is how we create change. campaign called “I Believe Her.” The blog about sexual assault was quickly And in Portland, three women - , shared in BASA’s Facebook group, where it Rosengrant, Vaughn and Danielle Verbus - sent shudders through its wide readership have created a nonprofit called Not OK PDX and beyond. Perhaps more importantly, it that will provide low-cost training to local sparked a series of conversations about bars to educate service staff on the dangers awareness, prevention and the continuation and prevention of sexual assault and of victims sharing their stories. The man harassment They are calling the educational accused on the site was a prominent individual in the Los Angeles bar scene, who program SaferBars. guest-bartended repeatedly in Portland, which is how several Portland women came ‘We hit a nerve’ into contact with him. No one has pressed charges, which is why Street Roots isn’t Rosengrant came across the flagship naming him. The victims’ message, though, program, Safe Bars, while visiting is not simply to harpoon the perpetrator; it Washington, D.C., and thought, “Why don’t is more to shed light on the rampant we have this in Portland?” harassment that occurs daily throughout the Safe Bars uses innovative bystander service industry. education strategies to empower staff to One of the women wrote on the blog: We stand up to sexual harassment and assault need to continue the dialogue about when they see it. This empowerment, they recognizing, reporting and not condoning believe, will save women from potential inappropriate or illegal behavior. We need to aggressors who prey on bar employees and continue this conversation because we have women who have had too much to drink. allowed a predator to attack his colleagues Page 7 “The way I was treated by my peers (after being assaulted) made me Snap into perspective. Bartenders feel the need to stay quiet because we’re just so subjected to this atmosphere that we internalize it,” Vaughn said. “We hope that with these trainings we can not only provide a source of comfort for both staff and patrons, but also build awareness if an issue that has long been ignored for way too long.” A 2014 study from the University of Toronto and the University of Washington found that 90 percent of sexually aggressive incidents involved male initiators and female targets, and almost all involved aggression that was either intentional or probably i intentional. Targets mostly responded with evasion, and staff and third parties rarely intervened, according to the study. The study stated, “Initiators’ level of invasiveness was related to the intoxication of the target, but Not OK training to not their own intoxication, suggesting intoxicated women were being targeted.” in The study’s conclusion to their staff can reach Not OK suggests, among other things, POX at info@notokpdx.org to that prevention must focus on set one up. The cost is $50. better management of “highly sexualized and sexist environments of most bars.” The study’s lead researcher, Kathryn Graham, told NPR, “There should be training for staff on how t'ointervene.” PDX This set th e stage for Safe Bars, launched in W ashington, D.C., in 2013 thanks in p a rt to a $20,000 g ra n t fro rn th ^ N F fo T F ^ NK f J which h a i Taced scrutiriy fc ^ ^ d ïn ^ ÿ ^ k fo ïS ^ | athletes who perpetrate assault, has responded by investing in Sexual violence prevention initiatives. * TJ “It’s a huge, enormous problem, unwanted sexual Resources aggression,” said Lauren Bartenders Against Sexual Taylor, Safe Bars co-director. Assault (BASA): “Alcohol and sexuality come www.basa.bar together to create a culture of Sate B a rs : w ww .safebars.org closeness among bar staff that often leads to harassment. S 8 3 IIB 8 Safe Bars wants to engage the whole community; we all have a responsibility to create a setting we want to live in.” Once the program began, Taylor said, “we hit a nerve. People want to step in and interrupt but don’t have the skills and tools. Once you provide that, they’re off and running.” With the help of Safe Bars, Portland’s own Not OK PDX has created a curriculum that “should be used as the industry standard,” Rosengrant said. It incorporates educational materials, personal stories and role-playing to raise awareness. Once the staff is certified, the establishment receives a decal for their window and social media pages, as well as posters to hang in the restrooms that establish it to guests as a safe place. Additionally, Rosengrant said she hopes that “people who are creepy will know they are unwelcome.” The women behind Not OK PDX hope their program can help Portland have one of the first bar scenes in the nation where bartenders and servers don’t feel like putting up with sexual harassment and assault is just another part of the job.
