Women Are Still Fighting for the Right to Take Collective Action Against Uber

6th June 2018 ~ mcequality

Women who say their Uber drivers sexually harassed and assaulted them are still fighting the company for the right to bring their class action lawsuit to court. The firm representing the women, Wigdor LLP, filed a legal brief on Tuesday to challenge Uber’s arbitration policies, which continue to force many people with claims against the company behind closed doors.

“Uber duped the media and public when it claimed to allow Jane Does 1-9 access to court two weeks ago,” Jeanne Christensen, partner at Wigdor LLP, told Gizmodo in a statement. “At the same time that Uber was making its public ‘announcement’ about not forcing these victims to arbitrate assault and battery claims, its lawyers were busy filing a motion to compel to arbitration all of the other claims in the lawsuit. If successful, Uber achieves the result it wanted all along – to silence female victims’ voices on a collective basis. Such a result also allows Uber to keep secret the data about the countless other incidents of sexual assault by Uber drivers.”

via Women Are Still Fighting for the Right to Take Collective Action Against Uber

Six New Sexual Abuse Allegations Added to USC Student Lawsuit Against Campus Gynecologist

26th May 2018 ~ mcequality

On Monday, a class-action lawsuit was filed against George Tyndall, the University of Southern California student health center’s primary gynecologist who was permitted to continue practicing at the school despite years of sexual misconduct allegations dating back to the 1990s. Also included in the lawsuit are USC and its board of trustees. The original complaint detailed the experiences of plaintiff Lucy Chi, a graduate student at the school who was assaulted by Tyndall. He’s currently being accused of making sexualized comments about patients’ bodies while giving exams and racially targeting Asian patients, among other heinous crimes.

via Six New Sexual Abuse Allegations Added to USC Student Lawsuit Against Campus Gynecologist

The Bachelorette’s Meredith Phillips Says She Was Drugged and Sexually Assaulted During the Show’s Filming

25th May 2018 ~ mcequality

“She was hired to give me a massage and she said, ‘I’m going to give you a pill.’ I just assumed it was an aspirin or something to loosen up my back or a Tylenol or something, and it wasn’t that, that’s for sure. The last thing I remember is she got naked and she was in the tub with me rubbing my back and rubbing areas that probably she shouldn’t have. Then I was put in bed. I woke up naked. Don’t remember much. I wasn’t even drinking.”

via The Bachelorette’s Meredith Phillips Says She Was Drugged and Sexually Assaulted During the Show’s Filming

Comedian Rebecca Corry on Louis CK Sexual Misconduct

25th May 2018 ~ mcequality

She describes a toxic culture of male comedians who continue to cover and vouch for one another, to the detriment of victims everywhere:

“The comedians who choose to shame and attack are the most disappointing of all. Dave Chappelle, a self-proclaimed “feminist,” used his Netflix special as an opportunity to single out one of the C.K. accusers, saying she has a “brittle-ass spirit.” His rambling bit, filled with ignorance and vitriol, isn’t comedy. It’s just another example of a comedy giant misusing his power and platform to hurt someone.”

via Comedian Rebecca Corry on Louis CK Sexual Misconduct

The Senate Finally Passed a Sexual Harassment Bill, but a Bullshit Version

25th May 2018 ~ mcequality

Behind the scenes, women in the Senate had reportedly been frustrated by Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for blocking the bill from the Senate floor. Under the current system, taxpayers fund sexual harassment and discrimination settlements, which have amounted to almost $200,000 in the past decade. In April, the Atlantic reported that McConnell objected to “a provision that would make individual members financially responsible for harassment and discrimination settlements against them.”

via The Senate Finally Passed a Sexual Harassment Bill, but a Bullshit Version

USC Students Sue School, Campus Gynecologist for Decades-Long Sexual Misconduct

23rd May 2018 ~ mcequality

Last week, Jezebel reported on George Tyndall, the University of Southern California student health center’s primary gynecologist who was allowed to continue practicing at the school despite years of sexual misconduct allegations. Since the 1990s, Tyndall has been accused of making sexualized comments about patients’ bodies while giving exams, photographing their genitals, and racially targeting Chinese patients, among other crimes. On Monday, a class-action lawsuit was filed against Tyndall, USC, and its board of trustees by “a proposed class of hundreds, if not thousands, of women students,” according to attorneys from Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a nationwide litigation law firm.

via USC Students Sue School, Campus Gynecologist for Decades-Long Sexual Misconduct

The Filmmaker Behind ‘The Tale’ Explains What We Don’t Understand About Sexual-Abuse Survivors

23rd May 2018 ~ mcequality

In January at the Sundance Film Festival, Fox unveiled the result of that inner exploration. The Tale is a remarkable drama starring Laura Dern as Jennifer Fox, a successful documentarian who receives an anxious phone call from her mother (Ellen Burstyn), who discovers a short story her daughter wrote as a 13-year-old about having an affair with an older man, Bill (Jason Ritter). Jennifer hasn’t thought about the affair in years, but she’s compelled to reexamine that time in her life, having conversations with her younger self (Isabelle Nélisse), who we see in flashbacks as she enters into the relationship. In The Tale, Fox’s present and past selves are engaged in a debate about what this sexual assault meant and how it affected her for years to come.

via The Filmmaker Behind ‘The Tale’ Explains What We Don’t Understand About Sexual-Abuse Survivors

10 Women Just Filed Sexual Harassment Complaints Against McDonald’s

23rd May 2018 ~ mcequality

he Fight for $15, which campaigns around pay increases for low-wage workers, and the TIMES UP Legal Defense Fund, which grew out of #MeToo, are joining forces on behalf of 10 women who say they’ve been subjected to indecent exposure, sexual comments by supervisors, and propositions for sex while working at McDonald’s restaurants. The women behind the harassment suits work at franchises across the country, and one of the complainants is just 15 years old. “McDonald’s advertises all over television saying it’s ‘America’s best first job,’ but my experience has been a nightmare,” said the teen, Breauna Morrow, in a press release emailed to Jezebel.

via 10 Women Just Filed Sexual Harassment Complaints Against McDonald’s

More Women Come Forward With Abuse Allegations Against Creepy USC Gyno

19th May 2018 ~ mcequality

On Wednesday, a harrowing report from the Los Angeles Times revealed that University of Southern California’s George Tyndall acted as the campus health center’s primary gynecologist following multiple complaints of misconduct dating back to the 1990s. Tyndall is accused of making sexualized comments about patients bodies (including referencing penetrative intercourse while giving exams), photographing some students’ genitals, racially targeting patients—and has argued that those who reported him are doing so because they wish they had tighter vaginas. Yup. This is the tip of the iceberg: On Friday, the New York Times spoke to a handful of women who’ve come forward with their own stories of abuse at the hands of Tyndall—according to the Times, when USC created a hotline and website to collect complaints about Tyndall this week, they received over 100 accusations of misconduct.

via More Women Come Forward With Abuse Allegations Against Creepy USC Gyno