Burton Love Snowboards - a letter to Donna Carpenter

This is a letter I'm sending to Donna Carpenter, wife of Jake Burton Carpenter, along with a copy of Female Chauvinist Pigs by Ariel Levy.

Dear Donna,

I’m writing to you based on our shared experiences as women, business owners, mothers and athletes, to share my concerns about the use of women’s bodies to sell snowboards. I also direct the 24 hour crisis and advocacy program for victims of domestic and sexual violence in the three counties of the Northeast Kingdom, so I spend my days dealing with the consequences of a society where women are treated as less-than. But I want to appeal to you on a much more personal level.

I am a mother of two young girls who are assaulted on a daily basis with unrealistic imagery of female bodies and dangerous depictions of sexuality which portray women and girls as sexual commodities. We’ve gotten rid of cable and are selective about the toys and games our girls have. But knowing that we need to prepare our girls for the rest of the world, we have conversations about cultural context: who creates these images and why? Who benefits and who suffers?

My girls are active and athletic, in addition to their many other gifts. I was also athletic growing up – as a taller than average girl I reveled in the sense of strength and empowerment that sports gave me. And, like many girls and women, I dealt with coaches who used their positions of power and proximity to engage in unwanted contact and innuendo. Two years ago, when I took up running again to reclaim my strength and well-being after childbirth, I fell right back into this feeling of exposure and vulnerability. I am routinely stared at, occasionally “hooted” or honked at, but more serious things have happened, too. Like the time an entire road crew came to a halt and lined up along the road to silently watch me run by.

I’ve been involved in the protests and other activism against the LOVE snowboards, and time after time people who know you or know of your history of backing women’s causes are left scratching their heads. Where is your voice in this? It’s so inconsistent with all you’ve been building at Burton with your women’s initiatives. I will continue to speak out about this – and other examples of porn making its way into places and media that parents used to think were not only safe, but positive alternatives to support their children’s healthy physical, social and emotional development. I don’t expect that Burton will change its position on the Love and Primo lines – it’s clear from the lack of engagement and dismissive email statements that the corporate heels are dug in deep. But I offer the enclosed book as a resource for you as a woman leader, in the hopes that future decisions at one of Vermont’s great success stories don’t leave so many of us feeling disheartened and ashamed.

I wish you and your family well.

Excellent Opinion Piece in the Times-Argus

Click on the link above to read an informative, thoughtful opinion column about how to effectively respond to sexual violence, written by AWARE's Children's Services Coordinator Amy Hornblas. Kudos to Amy for this critical information, and Kudos to the Times-Argus for printing it.

A Response to the Cal-Rec Editorial

Here's my letter to the editor, which I expect will run this week:

To the Editor:

It has taken me a few days to respond to the misleading and patronizing editorial about the Community Safety and Sexual Violence Forum published on September 25th – I’ve been busy running the organization that offers support and resources to victims of sexual assault in the Northeast Kingdom.

One unique and telling aspect of the discussion about mandatory minimum sentences and residency restrictions for sex offenders is the diversity in the groups who oppose them, from law enforcement to prosecutors to victim advocates to defense attorneys. Fiscal conservatives belong in this group as well, since most of the provisions in Jessica’s Law require substantial new funding (without which they are unenforceable), and are not supported by evidence of their effectiveness. In fact, there’s evidence that these measures may decrease community safety, resulting in fewer convictions for a crime that already has one of the lowest prosecution rates and highest acquittal rates. The reality is that very few of the victims we see at Umbrella choose to report their crimes to authorities for a variety of complex reasons. The main focus of our efforts needs to be prevention and education, which promise much better dividends in community safety and the reduction of sexual abuse.

Advocates at Umbrella and around the state probably have contact with more victims of sexual violence than any other entity – including adults who were sexually abused as children. We are 100% supportive of efforts that will increase safety for victims and accountability for sex offenders. We believe that the most effective path to justice is the one guided by evidence and the experiences of the thousands of survivors of violence who have been served by Umbrella over the years – not by emotional reactions to horrific events.

The issues at hand are too complicated and important to be explored via editorials and letters to the editor. An audience member at the community forum suggested that the Caledonian-Record dedicate some resources to reporting on the current realities of sex offender management in our region, and educating the public on what to do if they suspect sexual abuse. I hope the paper will take up this challenge.

Michelle Fay

*****
I received a call from reporter Taylor Reed after submitting the article, expressing his continued interest in doing a series of articles.

St. Johnsbury Waiting on Residency Restrictions

The St. Johnsbury Planning Commission listened to what experts in the fields of sex offender supervision, victim services and criminal justice had to say about the futility (at best) and negative consequences (at worst) of sex offender residency restrictions. They have decided to put off further consideration of this issue for 6 months to a year, to see what happens in the other communities that adopted restrictions. As a taxpayer I'm glad that St. Johnsbury didn't throw its hat into the ring of communities waiting for an ACLU lawsuit, and deferred to the best thinking of people whose commitment is to safe communities, not political bandaids.

Click on the post title above to link to the full article in the Caledonian-Record.