RealClearInvestigations' Picks of the Week Nov.12to Nov. 18 Featured Investigation As waves of high-profile sexual predators from politics, entertainment and the media are being exposed in the wake of the Harvey Weinstein scandal, the daily abuse endured by working-class women has received far less attention. Experts widely agree that harassment is rampant in less exalted sectors of the economy and especially in the hospitality industry, including restaurants, bars and hotels, where more than half the workers are female. James Varney reports forRealClearInvestigations: Recent news accounts about such harassment at restaurants have focused on celebrity chefs, including John Besh of New Orleans. Anthony Bourdain, whose girlfriend, actress Asia Argento, is one of Weinstein's accusers, has said publicly that he may even have contributed to what he calls the "meathead culture" of professional kitchens through his bad-boy memoir "Kitchen Confidential." But more typically the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission gets harassment complaints from female staff at down-market chains -- Cracker Barrel, Dunkin Donuts, Applebee's, Popeye's, McDonald's, Burger King, Taco Bell and the like. A 2016 study conducted for the National Partnership for Women and Families found that "two in five women working in fast food restaurants have been subjected to sexual harassment on the job, and many of them report serious negative health and professional consequences as a result." That survey, of 1,217 women in non-managerial positions, found that the most common forms of harassment were sexual teasing or jokes, along with inappropriate touching or hugging. Lisa Anderson, an attorney and the executive director of Atlanta Women for Equality, said both her legal practice and personal experience as a waitress make clear to her how women with few financial resources outside the job can feel trapped in such demeaning work situations. "You have to keep a good reputation for being friendly when you're relying on tips," she said. "You'll get regular customers if you allow it, and when you're clinging to a very small wage, you don't have much choice." Read Full Article Other Noteworthy Articles and Series This Week in Washington Sexual Misdeeds The Editors, RealClearInvestigations Post-Weinstein sexual-misconduct revelations took some wildly ironic turns in politics this week, as Democratic Senator Al Franken was exposed as a molester even as his party had a Bible-avowing Alabama Republican Senate candidate on the ropes for dating teenage girls when he was in his 30s. Logical consistency was strained in part because, just before the Franken revelations, some on the left had begun, at long last, to condemn Bill Clinton's sexual transgressions over the decades, including while in the White House. Yet after the Franken news, important Democratic colleagues seemed less than adamant about the junior Minnesota senator's resignation immediately. Rather, the matter appears headed to an opaque Senate committee with a reputation for inaction and toothlessness as Capitol Hill tries to rein in congressional libidos and faces a storm of criticism over decades of secret, taxpayer-funded hush-money payments to accusers. China and the Rise of the New 'Authoritarian International' RealClearInvestigations During President Trump's recent trip to China, a familiar set of issues received most of the attention: the American-Chinese trade imbalancem China's aggressive behavior in the South China Sea, etc. But perhaps the greater challenge presented by China's emergence lies in another role made possible by its newfound wealth and power - as the main model and enabler of a new authoritarianism sweeping much of the world. NSA BreachDamagesU.S. and Global Security New York Times The National Security Agency has suffered a catastrophic breach, as a mysterious groupsomehow obtained many of the hacking tools the United States used to spy on other countries. While raising profound questions about the agency's ability to keep America safe, the breach is causing global havoc as hackers from North Korea to Russia are using the tools to hold computer networks hostage. Slave Auctions in Libya: $400PerMigrant CNN Slave auctions are being held in Libya, where a recent clampdown means fewer refugees boats are making it out to sea, leaving smugglers with a backlog of would-be passengers on their hands. So the smugglers become masters, and migrants and refugees become slaves. "Does anybody need a digger? This is a digger, a big strong man, he'll dig," the salesman, dressed in camouflage gear, says. "What am I bid, what am I bid?" Gymnast AlyRaismanSays She Was Sexually Abused by Team Doctor 60 Minutes AlyRaisman, who won six medals for the U.S. at the last two Olympic Summer Games, is the latest gymnast to say she was sexually abused by Dr. LarryNassar. More than 130 women, many of them former athletes, have filed civil lawsuits alleging thatNassarsexually abused them under the guise of treating them for hip, back, and other athletic injuries. How Teen Wrestlers Built an Oxycontin Smuggling Ring Rolling Stone The teenagers were moving 20,000 OxyContin and Roxicodone pills a month to dealers across the countrywho paid them for the merchandise byFedExingteddy bears stuffed with cash. For a while they livedasyou'd expectteen-millionairedrug dealers to - throwing lavish, drug-fueled parties, buying tricked out cars. Then, as you'd expect, it all came crashing down. |