Many women who work at McMurdo Station, the main United States research base in Antarctica, say the isolated environment and macho culture have allowed sexual harassment and assault to flourish.

The National Science Foundation, the federal agency that oversees the U.S. Antarctic Program, published a report in 2022 in which 59% of women said they’d experienced harassment or assault while on the ice, and 72% of women said such behavior was a problem in Antarctica.

But the problem goes beyond the harassment, The Associated Press found. In reviewing court records and internal communications, and in interviews with more than a dozen current and former employees, the AP uncovered a pattern of women who said their claims of harassment or assault were minimized by their employers, often leading to them or others being put in further danger.

  • Ace0fBlades@lemmy.world
    64·
    1 year ago

    Makes you wonder what challenges women will face in future space exploration missions. Long periods of isolation with groups of coworkers with very little personal space. Not like a belligerent party can be ejected out the airlock (It’'ll probably happen who am I kidding)

    • IverCoder@lemm.ee
      362·
      1 year ago

      Not like a belligerent party can be ejected out the airlock

      a m o g u s

    • chakan2@lemmy.world
      3·
      1 year ago

      I have a feeling people picked for those types of missions will be vetted harder than “Hey, want to see some snow”

    • rambaroo@lemmy.world
      1418·
      1 year ago

      Future missions should be all-women teams. Problem solved.

      Women eat less, use less oxygen, and weigh less than men. There’s actually no logical reason to send male astronauts anywhere.

      Edit: lol @ the downvotes with zero responses

      • Gigan@lemmy.world
        41·
        1 year ago

        Nah that’s misandrist bullshit. We’ve done plenty of all-male space missions and they had no issues.

      • babeuh@lemmy.worldEnglish
        1·
        1 year ago

        There are reasons to do that, women and men react differently to long-term microgravity.

        I found this study about the differences (but it’s from 2014, please tell me if you find a more recent one) The Impact of Sex and Gender on Adaptation to Space: Executive Summary.

        TL;DR female astronauts have, according to the study:

        • a higher risk of cancer (a 45-year-old man has a 344-day limit in space versus a 187-day limit for a 45-year-old woman)
        • more orthostatic intolerance
        • more UTIs (which makes sense as women on earth are also more likely to have UTIs)
        • less vision impairment compared to male astronauts (no clinically significant cases of VIIP syndrome)
        • less hearing problems (men show a more rapid decline in the left ear and in general as well, but this is the case on Earth too)


        Keep in mind that this data is not the best because only around 20% of people that had been on the ISS at the time of the study were women and because male astronauts are more likely to come from a military background.

        I personally think this means we should send an equal amount of both sexes (maybe more women as it would help get more data on the differences). Sending all-men or all-women missions sadly won’t fully solve the problem as sexual assault isn’t always between men and women, that said, it is less common so it’s not a bad idea.

        Anyways, more investigation is required. If you find a newer/better study please tell me (or if something I wrote is inaccurate), I don’t want to spread misinformation

      • Syrc@lemmy.world
        36·
        1 year ago

        Sure, weight is definitely a more important factor than idk, reaction ability in danger situations or physical resistance to unfriendly environments.

    • AngryCommieKender@lemmy.world
      115·
      1 year ago

      Just FYI that username may get you some hostility. It’s far too close to Ace of Bass which is a band from the 90s that were neo-nazis. The Base of Aces was a Nazi submarine base in WW2. I’m not assuming anything here, the lead singer and guitarist both confirmed separately that was what their band name was referring to, just before they lost all their fans.

      • Ace0fBlades@lemmy.world
        161·
        1 year ago

        Used this username for years; it’s a pun on the famous suit of playing cards the Ace of Spades. While I appreciate the warning, please go touch grass.

        • CorruptBuddha@lemmy.dbzer0.com
          1·
          1 year ago

          Sorry I’m not sure if you’re aware of this, but grass is another word for weed, and historically antimarijuana propaganda was used to oppress blacks.

      • rbhfd@lemmy.world
        8·
        1 year ago

        It’s much more likely to be a play on the much better known “Ace of Spades”?

        I’m not completely ignorant on Nazi dog whistles, but this is not one I know.

  • ghostBones@lemmy.world
    58·
    1 year ago

    I had a female friend/coworker that had previously served in the Navy, on a carrier as a communications specialist. She told stories of endless harassment. She said ultimately some of the women crafted partnerships with other female sailors and convinced everyone they were lesbians in order to just survive the job. It meant they had to spend lots of time together and play the part. She also said they had to work the jealousy angle because nobody wanted to be attacked by an angry lesbian girlfriend.

    The male sailors assumed a lot of the women were lesbians because of the masculine nature of the work, or, as she put it, because they couldn’t believe the women weren’t attracted to them. It turned out if you gave them a plausible explanation you could fake your way through it. Without a plausible explanation, they could become resentful and dangerous. I asked if claiming to be married and/or have kids would work, she said it wasn’t as effective and you ultimately needed female allies anyway. She also said that actual lesbians would pretend to “date” hetero women in order to protect them. She kind of described it as leveraging the power of rumors.

    I told her it sounded a lot like what happens in prison. She said in some ways, it was a prison.

  • OceanSoap@lemmy.ml
    546·
    1 year ago

    Yeah, as a woman, I’d be real hesitant about taking a job out there, or any place thats more wild-west in nature (very few people and very lax regulation of any laws) and I’d sure as hell take gun tactical training before going, and always have a firearm on me.

  • vis4valentine@lemmy.ml
    223·
    1 year ago

    Being alone in the middle of a literal ice desert with a lot of male nerds so socially awkward that they rather be in the middle of an ice desert sounds like an absolute disaster.

    • dragonflyteaparty@lemmy.world
      23·
      1 year ago

      I’m always baffled by the amount of victim blaming. And seriously? Using quotes around harassment? You’re a special kind of victim blamer, huh? First, it’s their fault and second, it’s probably not harassment anyway. Great job in telling women who are attacked and harassed that it’s really all their fault and that the people who did it get off without a peep.

  • luckyhunter@lemmy.world
    348·
    1 year ago

    what is a justice system or an employer supposed to do with “claims”? I don’t doubt shitty things happened, but “claims” isn’t proof.