(WOMENSENEWS)–
Jeers
Nearly nude photographs of a then 17-year-old Ashley Dupre are being prominently displayed and sold on the Web site of Florida’s Orlando Sentinel.
Dupre, now 22, is the prostitute at the center of the sex scandal that forced former New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer to resign March 18.
The photos come from the Orlando Sentinel’s archives and were shot for a feature story "Girls Gone Mild, Anything Goes When the Camera Rolls" that the paper published on March 19, 2003, about the creation of the video series Girls Gone Wild.
The photographs by Roberto Gonzales were prominently posted March 19 on the paper’s home page.
The Sentinel, in its 131st year of publication and owned by the Chicago-based Tribune Company, offers more than a dozen photos of the then-underage aspiring singer pulling off her top, surrounded by young males with drinks in their hands. It offers readers the option to e-mail or buy the pictures, which range in price from $30 to $320, depending on size, and can be shipped anywhere.
As long as Dupre was not being paid for the photos there is not a legality issue with showing the underage woman, said Loyola Law School professor Stan Goldman, E! News Online reported March 19.
The Orlando Sentinel’s Online Editor Roger Simmons could not be reached by press time for comment on the decision to post the photos. Editor Charlotte Hall, who in mid-April will assume the presidency of the American Society of Newspaper Editors, was also unavailable for comment.
A week ago, Don D. Buchwald, Dupre’s attorney, lashed out at the widespread publication of revealing photos of his client, the A.P. reported March 15. Buchwald said the use of the photos may violate federal copyright laws and have appeared on commercial Web sites without her consent.
When Women’s eNews reached Buchwald for comment on Friday about the Sentinel’s photos he reiterated that his client has not authorized any of the photos of her that have been widely circulated in the past week.
More News to Jeer This Week:
- A study by the government of Victoria in Australia found that nearly 60 percent of women in psychiatric wards admit to being sexually or physically harassed by male patients the Sydney Morning Herald reported March 18. Seventy percent of staff admitted to knowing about the harassment. The majority of the female patients are heavily medicated, making them more susceptible to the abuse, according to the study, presented at a conference in Melbourne.
- Black female college athletes graduated at rates 30 percentage points below those of white counterparts, the Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida found in a March 2008 study of NCAA athletes, the Chronicle for Higher Education reported March 18.
- After seven years of protest little has been done for thousands of women in Israel who are denied their right to a religious divorce, said Nancy Ratzan, president of the National Council for Jewish Women and International Coalition for Agunah Rights. The groups observed the 7th annual International Agunot Day on March 20.
- In Iraq, a female suicide bomber killed at least 40 people near the Shi’ite shrine in Karbala, south of Baghdad, March 19. Seven suicide attacks have been carried out by women in the first three months 2008, the Middle East Online reported, up from six in 2007. Al Qaeda in Iraq is enlisting widows to carry out suicide bombings, the Voices of Iraq news agency reported.
For more information:
The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sports:
http://www.tidesport.org/
Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues:
http://www.womenspolicy.org/caucus/
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention: HPV Vaccine Questions and Answers:
http://www.cdc.gov/std/hpv/STDFact-HPV-vaccine.htm
Note: Women’s eNews is not responsible for the content of external Internet sites and the contents of Web pages we link to may change without notice.
Cheers
- The annual gathering of the bipartisan Congressional Caucus for Women’s Issues dinner brought together 73 female representatives March 19. The agenda of the 53 Democrats and 20 Republicans included battling women’s heart disease, reducing deaths during childbirth, combating human trafficking and sexual and domestic violence, tackling the backlog of DNA evidence in rape cases, and supporting women in the military on issues such as multiple deployments, maternal leave and sexual harassment.
- Pakistan’s parliament selected its first female speaker, Dr. Fehmida Mirza, March 19. Mirza, a nominee of the liberal Pakistan People’s Party, won 249 votes in the 342-seat National Assembly. February’s elections split the legislature between the Pakistan People’s Party, the party of late Benazir Bhutto, and the Muslim League, which is led by former prime minister Nawaz Sharif. Combined, the parties defeated President Musharraf in the elections and agreed to form a coalition government.
- The U.S. Senate unanimously passed on March 10 a resolution condemning violence against women in Guatemala. Between 2001 and 2006, more than 2,000 women and girls have been murdered in Guatemala, most of them in the age range of 18 to 30, with many of the cases involving abduction, sexual violence or brutal mutilation. Only 20 femicides resulted in the conviction of the murderers in that period. The special prosecutor for crimes against women reports 800 cases of domestic violence each month, with some cases ending in homicides.
- The Food and Drug Administration decided to grant Gardasil, the vaccine against the sexually transmitted human papillomavirus, or HPV, an expedited review to determine whether it is suitable for women ages 27 to 45, Reuters reported March 19. Currently approved for women ages 9 to 26, the vaccine protects against four cervical cancer causing strains of HPV. The FDA review will be completed in six months.
- China’s health ministry launched a pilot cervical cancer prevention program that will provide free screenings to over 200,000 women in the next three years, Xinhua news agency reported March 21. According to official statistics, 90 percent of the over 100,000 new cervical cases reported each year in China could be prevented by a screening every two years.
Noted:
- Gender has trumped race as an obstacle to the presidency in the U.S. campaigns, according to a CBS survey March 19. Forty two percent of voters feel that Clinton had been judged "more harshly" for her gender, while 27 percent said they think Obama was judged "more harshly" for his race, according to the survey conducted over the phone with a random sample of 1,067 adults. Sixty two percent of voters said America is ready for a black president and 58 percent of voters said America is ready for a woman president. Racism, however, was seen as a bigger problem than sexism for the nation.
- Britain’s General Medical Council issued guidelines that would require female Muslim doctors to remove the veil as necessary for patient care. Under the new guidelines, doctors are also advised that they cannot refuse care for patients before or after having an abortion even if they object to the procedure. They must also respect Jehovah’s Witnesses refusal of blood transfusions.
Shanelle Matthews is a Women’s eNews intern and a recent graduate of the Manship School of Mass Communications at Louisiana State University. Dominique Soguel is Women’s eNews Arabic editor.
Women’s eNews welcomes your comments. E-mail us at editors@womensenews.org.
