December 10, 2008: Infamous Favreau “Grope” Posting Could Be Channeled for Good
For Immediate Release
December 10, 2008
Contact:
484-844-2996
Amy Siskind, The New Agenda – NewAgendaPress@yahoo.com
Infamous Favreau “Grope” Posting Could Be Channeled for Good
“Instead of a summary dismissal Favreau could mark Dec. 10 International Human Rights Day by raising public awareness of gender-based violence”
To mark today’s International Human Rights Day – a day designated to affirm the rights of all people, The New Agenda called on White House speechwriter Jon Favreau to turn his bad behavior and poor judgment into a global good by volunteering at a battered women’s shelter.
“Instead of a summary dismissal of Favreau, we believe more good could be gained by opening a national dialogue on domestic violence,” said Amy Siskind, co-founder of The New Agenda. “If Favreau were to mark today by making a public apology and volunteering at a battered women’s shelter it would show authentic contrition and channel the deluge of negative public attention he continues to receive toward a productive end.”
Around the globe, one in three women will experience gender-based violence in her lifetime. In some regions of the world, that figure rises to 70 percent. Much of the violence is perpetuated by ideas, assumptions and behaviors like that demonstrated in the picture of Favreau and a friend groping a cardboard cutout of Sen. Hillary Clinton while pouring beer down her throat. This pervasive ignorance about gender-based violence is increasingly clear in US news coverage, as the Favreau story continues to gain momentum across the Internet, airwaves and news pages. For example, CNN’s December 9 “Situation Room” coverage is full of chuckles, snickers, and “he was just having fun” defenses. “Wolf Blitzer even claims the Internet is at fault,” Siskind said. “The lack of seriousness about this is just shocking.”
A posting on The New Agenda Web site offers a creative solution. Founder Sheryl Robinson suggests that Favreau volunteer at a battered women’s shelter for two months, “where he would have an opportunity to familiarize himself with victimization, its prevalence and its impact. He could educate himself about the connection between casual remarks or jokes about women and violence against women. He could demonstrate his newfound awareness of the offensive nature of the joke he was making in that picture, and that he understands what he was communicating, whether intended or not, and what the implications of that message are for women.”
Robinson continues that firing Favreau will only serve to “reinforce the irrational notion that public figures must be inhumanly virtuous, and that evidence of their embarrassing shortcomings or offensive lapses in judgment reveal a mortal character flaw that renders them unfit to provide service to our country. The public nature of Jon Favreau’s offense reinforces a culture that abets the victimization of women. A public course of redemption could not only counteract this impact, it provides an opportunity for vicarious learning, with at least the potential to foster public awareness in a manner his summary dismissal never could.”
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