[ ] hello im bonnie erbe welcome to to the contrary a discussion of news and social trends. Up first, Sexual Assault. A rape and other forms of violence against women starting to be taken more seriously . Commentators say the nfls swift reaction to the newest case of player misconduct is a good sign. The San Francisco nfl team is releasing ray mcdonald after he was identified as a suspect in a Sexual Assault case. This is a turnaround for the nfl which ways pilloried for the response to ray rices Domestic Abuse charge and did not act upon an earlier accusation against mcdonald himself. Theres been a lot of change this year on the issue of campus rape. The white house launched the first ever task force on stopping rape on campus and the university of virginia revised its policy after a Rolling Stone article that recounted one students rape became national news. New questions keep coming up about the veracity of that alleged rape victims story. Feminists are worried the controversy will have a Chilling Effect on projects aimed the fighting Sexual Assault. So dr. Jonesweaver was 2014 a year of progress for women and girls on the issue of Domestic Violence and rape . From krystens work raising awareness to the military and ray rice but we have a long way to go. I think this was a year that called attention to the fact that a serious crime deserves a more serious conversation. Absolutely. The level of awareness now on the issue and the fact that the universities and the government and the nfl is acting is an illustration we are definitely making progress. Particularly since the white house got involved that is major progress and i have to say that progress has been made not withstanding the Rolling Stone article which i think undermined this issue. Lets start with that i was going to start with the nfl. But it came out this week cnn and other outlets did interviews with two of the friends of the girl and they basically other than that she looked shaken when she came to them she was not beaten up. She made up a lot of the details. Last time we talked about this on the show, Rolling Stone had pulled out on her but the more details come out, the worse it looks for her. Tell me how about badly this will impact the fight against rape on campus . Well, i do think that the way that the Rolling Stone handled the article made the issue, i guess, i have a big problem with it as a journalist i will start from there. As a journalist, i think they should have done a better job verifying the facts. Im not saying she is wrong and it did not happen im saying they did a bad job and now it looks like she is a liar and undercut her and undercut the issue of campus assault. Anybody else have strong feelings . She is right. I cannot im so mad. I think about the poor lady in columbia, the student in columbia who is dragging around a mattress where she goes to make sure that people do not forget she was assaulted on campus and Nothing Happened to the people that assaulted her. This is a real issue that women across the country are having to face so its unfortunate that because journalists did not do their job their accusations might not be taken seriously. Do you think that longterm because of the uva retraction and this womans doubts about her credibility, is that really going to hurt going after Sexual Assaults on campus when you have a white house effort to do so . I hope it is a wakeup call. A wakeup call for responsibility of all parties involved here. Responsibility on the party of journalists to be serious. Responsibility on the part of schools who have policies that are inadequate and not turning the case over to the criminal Justice System for prosecution. And responsibility of young men and young women to make sure they are above reapproach in their own behavior. And bringing allegations that are serious and well founded, not crying wolf. You endanger others if that is the case. And i totally agree with you. It is a complex issue. And you know what happened with the Rolling Stone magazine is an aspect of it. What journalists should be covering and standards they should be using and the other part of the story is the universities that did not have a process in place that were not taking the cases seriously like the one in columbia university. So you know to say one thing will shadow the progress we made in another is too simplistic. I think we are moving forward i do not see a way back. In terms of moving forward, why dont colleges just say thank you for reporting this to us. Its actually a criminal act. Go to the cops. Right now. Get a rape test done so they have a dna on file. Its not something that you come to us about. Its something that you go to the police about. Funny i totally agree with you. I remember when i was going to college that happened to me but my recollection of when i thought anything would happen to my friends is we would go to the police. This whole dynamic of going to college and then not reporting it is something that was news to me when i started reading about it. And lets switch to tolerance of Domestic Violence by not just nfl players any kind of professional sports players, men period, did we make progress . Well, i think we are trying to. Its interesting and women by the way. There is a small percentage of Domestic Violence that is perpetrated by women. And same sex relationships everyone in every demographic deals with. What happened with the nfl has gone a long way towards raising awareness. Roger goodell understood what happened was a bad thing. And it really put him on notice that it is a serious issue and its something not only raised his awareness but as a nation we want to address this better. What about Domestic Violence as it pertains to children like beating your child with a stick your fouryearold with a stick . Are we making progress have we raise add wearness will there be less tolerance of that behavior . I think we need to be clear we are not engaging the full range of issues that are related to Domestic Violence. And i think we need to concentrate more on the fact that marriage is anecdote to that. Cohabtation, serial live in boyfriends these are things that put children at risk and we are not talking enough about that. That is an interesting point. Are there data to show the child is more likely to be beaten by a livein as opposed to a married spouse. Mar marriage is a safer place for women and men. The u. S. 59 nations signed starting with sweden which started the whole thing about making it a crime to beating a child 59 countries signed on making it illegal in the country that signs onboard to beat children we are not one of them. The United States does not sign any treaty. The United States does not sign nothing about the treaty. And this is a shame. Interesting thing about the fact is the United States sometimes is quite a leader in many of the policies and decisions they dont sign the treaty but i agree with you. I want to make a point about Domestic Violence particularly as pertaining to children. And also women is alcohol and Substance Abuse that is a major, major factor and something that we also need to deal with and the linkage between Substance Abuse particularly alcoholism. I talked about that because in the Latino Community it is a huge problem. And college campuses. Follow me on twitter bonnieerbe. From Sexual Assault to pregnancy discrimination. For the second time this year walmart faces charges it fails to make accommodations for pregnant workers. The superstore changed its policies to provide quote reasonable accommodations for pregnant workers with temporary disabilities after the first claim. But a new eeoc charge says managers did not go far enough. The charge was filed on behalfp an employee whose job included cleaning bathrooms. She was denied a request for temporary relief from the duties after she said the chemicals were making her ill. She was later fired after calling in sick several times. The Supreme Court is deciding a case young versus the United Parcel service which addresses the scope of the 1978 pregnancy discrimination act. Do you believe, jennifer, under that act that pregnant women have a right to request lighter duties shall we say or different duties while they are pregnant . They certainly should have that freedom and opportunity. And congress should do whatever we need to make sure there are not barriers to businesses organizations and having the flexibility to meet those cans. In the case of walmart they mott might not have been providing flexibility and its good they changed their policy that ensure that expecting mothers can have better access to lighter duty jobs. Bonnie, i thought the stories were unbelievable in the sense why should we be having the discussion. Its obvious what they needed to do and the companies are complaining and ups is another company that had a similar case saying we didnt want the law and the regulations and the Supreme Court to rule but if you dont do the right thing as a nation we are going to need laws look what they are doing. It was basic. She had a medical note saying it was a case she was cleaning the bathrooms and the detergents chemicals were causing her to react negatively. She is a pregnant woman. They needed to change the job she was doing and it was so simple i do not understand why we need a law for them to do that. Here is what stands out is the issue there were other jobs that were open like cashier jobs that she could have been doing. I could you had if a business did not have any other job available at all that was lighter duty and so they had to say im sorry you will have to take paid leave because we dont need another greeter at the door. But there were cashier jobs open and that baffled me. And she wouldnt take it . She wanted to go to a cashier job and applied for other jobs in the store that were lighter duty. And they did not give them to her. And that is what i was saying was baffling why not move her to a lighter duty job. First of all what you said about the chemicals if they are making a pregnant woman sick they are probably making nonpregnant workers sick as well so they ought to be banned from the workplace. But on the other hand, how far do companies have to go to accommodate pregnant women . And if the rules are very strict like you have to do anything she wants, is that going to hurt women in terms of costing them jobs because employers cannot afford those accommodations . These were not unreasonable request this particular case happened after walmart changed their policy. And specifically this particular store refused to bend at all. And that is why this woman was exposed to the chemicals. She was not asking for much. If youve been to a walmart there are 50 million things you can do in walmart but they refused to give her that. We have a change a culture that says we dont want to even bend a little bit to recognize the quality and the sanctity of life that women are carrying when they are pregnant and put them in a position to have a negative reaction to themselves or the child they are carrying. I like that. And prolife and prochoice altogether on this case. All women coming together. You pointed to the fact that onesizefitsall could end up not helping women in the longrun and i think we need to be careful to a low the companies flexibility. In the ups case there were union rules about giving light duty preferential to seniority and things can get in the way of allowing nonthis case Union Contract details got in the way of them accommodating the pregnant womans request. That is the concern i was trying to vocalize n this situation there were other jobs she could have done but rules that would require businesses to give them lighter duty would be unfair. Because again, what if a business just doesnt have lighter duty Jobs Available should they be required to create new positions for pregnant women so they can work . I think that starts to cross a line in terms of dictating what businesses have to do and it would lead to a situation where you wouldnt want to hire as many women who could get pregnant. Where do you draw that line . I used to work at a company years ago, where the first woman in the newsroom to get pregnant and take paid Maternity Leave which they offered six months and quit the day after her paid Maternity Leave was up. In other words she took it knowing all along she wasnt coming back. Those sorts of things do hurt other women on the job. So where do you draw a line that prevents those kinds of things . That say good point and you bring in the larger issue this is not just about walmart this is about women in all workplaces and where workplaces draw the line to being flexible and doing what they think is best for the business. I dont think its that difficult. All of the companies have rules in place in terms of what happens to an individual if they are injured on the job and they switch them to another responsibility that is not as stringent. Why cant they do the same thing for women . If its already in place what are we trying to say . Women should not get pregnant. She should have a right to get pregnant and if they have rules to take care of situations where someone is hurt and they can adjust their duties. So you are saying anything that applies to any workplace disability should apply to pregnant women but no more than that . Exactly. And the other criteria you will have is the size of the business. The laws do not apply to every business its 100 employees. There is precedent to handle these issues. Perhaps you should require them to stay a certain time after taking that Maternity Leave. Or pay it back. Or a rule pay it back so this doesnt happen and hurt other women. There should be rules. Behind the headlines. Is society set on believing the worst about young people . Researcher Kathleen Bogle says yes. She told us in her book, kids gone wild is an attempt to set the record straight about the narrative of the oversexed teen. Its so interesting at the very same time the headlines are running saying youth are crazier ever they have gone wild, the behaviors is more conservative than their own parents were. Boggle says the stories are urban legends. One example is the myth of sex bracelets. Kids as young as Elementary School were said to be wearing different colored gel brass lets to represent sex acts they committed or were willing to do if the bracelet was broken off the wrist. We can tell you theres no proof that it did happen. There is a lot of proof that it has the signs of urban legends where they keep saying it is a friend of a friend or its happening in a different part of the country or in a different country. It has those signs t should sound farfetched but because theres so much hype about young people it feeds right into it hey this is what is going on. In kids gone wild bogle and her coauthor blame the median the internet for spreading stories about teens and sex despite the lack of credible evidence. Even when guests debate the legitimacy of the stories viewers are left with a negative impression of teenagers. When you think about the morning shows theyve got a couple of hours to fill every single day. So the stories are parents beware. You may want to have your children leave the room. You know, put the ear plugs in this is going to upset you. If you are the parent of aa teenage girl you may want to sit down. It feeds into parents fears that people are trying to contaminate and corrupt their kid. To the contrary. The data show teens are more cautious today. In the past 10 years teen pregnancy, teen birth and abortion rates declined. If you look at what percent of High School Students were sexually active in 1991 and compare that to 20 years later you see a 7 drop. 54 were sexually active in the early 90s and now its below 50 less than half. Even in young people were more sexually active than ever, does that mean they are willing to do anything with anyone anywhere . One scary teen activity is real. Sexting. But bogle says its not as prevalent as the barrage of headlines would have you believe. The sexting thing is real in terms of its happening its not just an urban legend and theres debate how common it is the number floated around was 20 of teens had done that but it was a representative study tonight included people that were over 18. There have been horrific cases of sexting gone wrong where there was a suicide. It doesnt help us to have this distorted hyped version of things and making decisions based on that. Bogle wants parents to understand stories about out of control teens have been exaggerated. They take on lives of their own and are difficult to snuff out. But she is more concerned about their influence on public policy. Having a over the top typed version of things makes for poor policy decisions. Next thing you know we say lets register these 16yearolds as sex offender. Some things ended up in court cases with the aclu involved where making policy decisions and talking about young people based on something that is false. So we should say you have devoted much of your career to fighting one kind of bad behavior particularly among teens smoking. Is this a case of blaming the media are the media at fault for this . As a mother of a 15yearold girl that lives through this, i think my daughter would love this segment because im constantly telling her to be cautious and giving her all sorts of advice about sex and alcohol and drugs and she this im exaggerating that she is a good kid and not doing this. I do want to create an environment that is positive environment for her. So yes, maybe the media did not exaggerate so much i would not be such a dramatic mother. Media bad guy. Everyone is staring at me. I actually am in the courage range for correct age range and i have never heard of any of these things. I was in middle school, high school. You never heard of sexting. Not sexting. Ive heard of sexting. But i mean the parties that they are talking about with the wristbands and crazy stuff that the kids are doing. I was in middle school and high school at the height of all the stuff in this book and i had never heard of any of it beyond the sexting so i assure you kids are not into these things i promise never heard of it. Its about tv. Its about drawing numbers and you do that by huge crashes or plane crashes or explosions or telling parents you better beware of this and you better hear about this its going to hurt you if you dont listen. Because we want to think our kids are acting worse than we all did. The reality at the base of this there are a lost risks out there today and young people are exposed to them early. The good news is when you talk to your teenagers about the risks and about the consequences of engaging in behaviors, they are going to have better out comes that is what the data tell us. So its one thing and its interesting to look and see if there is a study that would say whether the Cautionary Tales that parents have heard made them engage more with their teens. You know what is a very interesting sort of double entan dra is while we talked about raising awareness of Domestic Violence, rape Sexual Assault here we are talking about too much media and the fact is on rape and campus rape and Sexual Assault, when i was growing up in the 70s, i had no idea there was this much Domestic Violence and rape going on. So i always wonder was it really going on or have the media done a better job now of talking about it . Which is it any ideas . About the Domestic Violence . I think the media has done a better job and a lot of people made a better job in terms of rape and what is happening on college campuses. Here is an extreme. This is the opposite they have done a bad job they are creating a negative environment which the kids feel paranoid. My daughter is why are you accusing me of this. I dont do any of this. I hope the media is hoping the amount of rape and Sexual Assault that happens. If 15 people are sexually assaulted on campus i cannot imagine so i hope that is a hyped number. As far as raising awareness what is going on with the parties, i do think it runs the risk of making kids shutoff their ears because it sounds so ridiculous and not hearing what they do need to hear about that information. Is there a possibility of child shutdown because of too much media noise . First of all as a mother of a teenager you know they do not listen to half of what you say anyway. That is not new. But you know i do think when you continue to bombard them with information they know is ridiculous you have to lose your credibility a little bit. All right. That is it for this edition of to the contrary. Follow me on twitter and visit our website, pbs. Org tothecontrary. And happy holidays to everybody. Whether you agree or think to the contrary, see you next week. Funding for to the contrary provided by the Cornell Douglas foundation committed to encouraging stewardship of the environment, land conservation, watershed protection and eliminating harmful chemicals. Additional funding provided by the colcom foundation, the wallace genetic foundation, the oak foundation, Carpenter Foundation and the charles a. Frueauff foundation. For a transcript or see an online version of this especially today of to the contrary witness our website at pbs. Org tothecontrary. From washington, the mclaughlin group, the american original. For over three decades, the sharpest minds, best sources, hardest talk. Issue one, cuba libra. Today, the United States of america is changing its relationships with the people of cuba. And the most significant changes in our policy in more than 50 years, we will end an outdated approach that for decades has failed to advance our interests and instead, we will begin to normalize relations between our two countries. It was a blockbuster announcement from president obama. After 53 years of mutual rancor and estrangement, the u. S. And cuba are now openly and officially paving the
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