Summary
A South African scientist at the remote Sanae IV Antarctic base has been accused of sexual assault and violent threats, prompting urgent pleas for help.
The 10-person team is stranded for months due to extreme winter conditions. Officials were warned of the escalating situation as early as December but failed to act.
South Africa’s environment department has launched an investigation and is offering counseling.
The incident raises concerns over psychological screening for Antarctic missions, echoing past violent incidents in South Africa’s research programs.
this article says physical assault, not sexual.
“An intervention is in place,” he said. “The person who assaulted the team leader is remorseful and has been psychologically re-evaluated willingly.” Asked what triggered the alleged assault, George said: “It was a dispute over a task the team leader wanted the team to do – a weather-dependent task that required a schedule change.”
The articles is so interesting! Why not have our greatest heroe leaders enjoy some of this peaceful resort-like friendly environment? Orange man would absolute love it. Swasticman too would love the outdoors! There, the white snow is powerful! One might say it has white…maybe one might not say that, wink, wink! C’mon O man and S man, go check it out! Maybe clean up DEI over there?
You would imagine the people that go to Antarctica are prepared to be self reliant. It’s 9 vs 1. You could institute a little ice justice (beat him) and lock him in a room.
Realistically they are probably appealing for outside help because the ones who take this seriously don’t have the numbers.
if I was locked in a building with a documented rapist for three months, I would lock him in the walk-in-freezer.
Ya’ll are kinder than I am. I say put him outside and let the problem solve itself.
In Antarctica, outside is the walk-in freezer
I think their mess hall actually heats their fridge.
So it would be walk-out freezer then? 👀
I agree to both.
I would think frontier justice would apply nicely in this situation. Just boot the asshole out in the cold and nature will solve the problem for you.
Your comment is kinda case-in-point demonstrating how “frontier” justice can be unjust.
Other publications are reporting physical assault, not sexual. It could have been a slap. Still unacceptable but probably doesn’t deserve death by exposure.
My point is, it sounds like a difficult situation but following procedure and running it up the chain is always the right move.
Women and some other minorities are raised to not even consider using acts of violence to protect ourselves, like it never crosses our minds as a possibility that we could physically hurt an assailant if we wanted to. We have internalized a sense of weakness that isn’t actually true. This has been detrimental to our safety as well as the safety of other women. Fuck the patriarchy for doing this to us.
Don’t put this on the victims. Women are doing their best to defend themselves.
Unfortunately there’s a culture of sexual assault at Antarctica, where the “boys will be boys” crowd overrule the kind of thing @the_riviera_kid@lemmy.world just suggested.
I never once blamed the victims. And I never will.
My point is that the women being sexually assaulted in Antarctica haven’t been passively sitting there saying it “never crossed their mind” to protect themselves - one had to walk around for months wielding a hammer to use as a weapon against her assailant.
It’s the wider system down there and the rape culture society that is creating this system not some kind of passive internaluzed helplessness. Most women field scientists are tough as nails because they have to be.
rape culture society
Stop putting faith in shitty people if we want rape culture to stop. Too many times I see people complain about “rape culture” when hanging around scumbags (jocks, gangbangers, scammers). Find better influence, value different things, and have higher standards.
Rape culture only exists because we allow it to.
these are literally scientists, nerds! Who are these antarctic gang bangers? The problem is that the punishments aren’t heavy enough. There’s no chance of capital punishment regardless of how many people or how many times you rape someone.
Everyone is all about “what about false charges!” how often do other crimes get people arrested under false charges as well? People barely care about that.
people complain about “rape culture” when hanging around scumbags
Are you saying thst women scientists shouldn’t “hang around” Antarctica?
Because that’s fucked up and another example of putting the emphasis on the victims actions.
Rape culture only exists because we allow it to.
NOW you’re on the right track. We as societies should be stepping down a lot harder on this crap.
I’m referring to the macrocosm of rape culture outside of Antarctica.
We need to be willing to recognize and ostracize scumbags and womanizers. Unfortunately, we tend to elevate them to the highest positions of power in our social circles.
That needs to change.
I am sad for the way you were raised, in my entire extended family there is not one woman who would have put up with it or had any thought other than self-defense at whatever cost.
I’d love to spread your family’s mindset through the larger white American culture (the one in which I was raised)!
I was raised in America as well.
I’m going to go out on a limb and guess you’re not a woman. I think you’re underestimating how prevalent and protected sexual assault can be
You mean there aren’t any women who would talk about it in your family I guess, cause statistically speaking that’s not likely.
It’s not really unique to women or SA. I’m not trying to downplay the severity of it, I’m merely highlighting how most crimes are actually quite hard to prove and get justice for.
For example, most people whose cars are broken into never receive justice.
Plus fear of being believed, self blame and feeling of needing to be polite.
The need to be polite and feeling of blame are both an extension of the lie that we are weak and can’t physically stand up for ourselves. It doesn’t necessarily matter whether we’re believed if we are ultimately safe from the assault in the first place.
But our culture has made us forget that we are strong and capable, has raised us to never develop the muscles to be able to stop someone, to never tear an assailant’s skin off with our teeth, etc.
I could be wildly out of left field, here, and I am extremely privileged that I’ve never been hurt in this way. I just want to see minorities believe that we are strong…because we are.
But our culture has made us forget that we are strong and capable, has raised us to never develop the muscles to be able to stop someone, to never tear an assailant’s skin off with our teeth, etc.
I really don’t think we should be perpetuating the idea that women can rely on their strength to fight off an offender.
It has the knock-on effect of emboldening women to put themselves into situations they otherwise would not because “they know how to fight” or what have you. Then they find out just how powerful testosterone is and bad things happen.
I’m serious. As a man who gets next to no exercise, I still feel strong as hell. I still feel like I could demolish any chick who isn’t hitting up the gym 5 days a week. I wouldn’t, but it’s scary to think about. The natural advantage that testosterone gives, coupled with males being brought up to think they need to be tough, paints a very poor picture for the “girl power” crew that wants to pretend women can reliably combat men.
Really, the best thing we can be doing is teaching people how to avoid dangerous situation altogether. It’d be nice if we could create a culture of recognizing womanizing scumbags when we see them.
It has the knock-on effect of emboldening women to put themselves into situations they otherwise would not because “they know how to fight” or what have you.
A’ight, I grew up in an red state with a lot of gang activity and had to learn how to fight just to go to school. I know you aren’t thinking of ‘attending class’ when you said this, but I saw girl fights where they were using the stucco walls like a cheese grater to take somebody’s face off.
I agree with a lot of what you say. Just bear in mind if they kill/harm someone to prevent themselves being raped, they have to explain this to various authorities. And may feel they won’t be believed
Yeah, that’s a good point.
Because for a long time we weren’t believed. It’s why #metoo was so important.
Agreed. The fact that we have to depend on structurally patriarchal/domineering justice system is the problem… It’s a whole mess.
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Have you watched the handmaids tale series? Spoiler alert, but
the main character starts out seemingly powerless, being repeatedly assaulted etc. By the 3rd series she’s murdered one of the state sponsored rapists by stabbing him with a pen I think, then the other women hide the evidence and secretly cremate the guy in a furnace.
The lesson I took is that people are always more powerful than they think and solidarity is very important.
Also that the attitude #TraumatiseThemBack is valid when dealing with evil.
I have! That show absolutely terrifies me, since yeah, a small minority of people convinces a ton of other people to do violence against women in a way that feels very USA 2025. But that’s a great point! When the main character realizes her power, she goes far in protecting herself and others.
It’s difficult because our culture trains us from birth to never realize we can fight back. Like, I have a strong suspicion that if I was suddenly attacked, my brain would dump all ideas of fighting back and just freeze, which of course allows the violence to happen. I don’t think this is a “natural state” of being for women or any person. I think we were just trained this way, which makes it a very difficult mindset to overcome; I believe that this is by design.
So…how do we retrain women and girls to respond with a #traumatizethemback mindset? Seems impossible to do this at the cultural level, at least for several generations.
I have a strong suspicion that if I was suddenly attacked, my brain would dump all ideas of fighting back and just freeze, which of course allows the violence to happen.
Find, and take, local self defence classes. Not necessarily martial arts classes (though they may be involved), but real world self defence. It’ll be grittier, nastier and much better practice. Get used to grappling and fighting in a controlled environment, and you’ll be much less likely to freeze if you need it in an emergency.
You’re right that’ll it’ll take a long time to change at a cultural level, but that needs to start somewhere, and obe person doing it and then encouraging others could be a local catalyst.
Thank you for the encouragement. I do need to do this. Especially with the current climate in the USA.
Icl, I’d say it’s the opposite in terms of we need less fatherlessness, not just for girls but boys as well; not only does no father figure often lead to degenerocity, particularly in women, but also since a father would care about protecting his daughter more than anything (hopefully), they can help/teach their daughters to protect themselves.
Women naturally being more compassionate, definitely leads to them being more vulnerable though, I agree.
not only does no father figure often lead to degenerocity, particularly in women
Women naturally being more compassionate
2 generalizations of women according to sexist stereotypes. I shouldn’t feed the trolls but here we are.
There is no patriarchy omds 🤦🤦🤦 no1 is being underpayed just cause of their race or gender, there’s no worldwide agenda against women.
No, I ain’t a far-right conservative trump supporting fascist who hates women and all minorities, I base all my opinions and beliefs on my own experiences and the things I see.
I don’t see everything through the polarising lens of either one two absolutely shit parties. In other countries, believe it or not, people have their own beliefs that aren’t based on whether they’re right or left wing.
No, I ain’t a far-right conservative trump supporting fascist who hates women and all minorities
lol ok
What in the sexist did I just read?
How is saying we need fathers more involved in the lives of their daughters sexist? 🤣🤣🤣💀💀
How is saying fathers care for their daughters sexist? Apparently not hating all men and wanting every child to have as healthy of a relationship with their parents as possible is now sexist 🤦
Exactly what I was thinking.
When you’re cut off from any help, you ARE your own help. Don’t wait for something unthinkable to happen, this person has made it clear they don’t respect you or boundaries, and have made threats.
It’s 9v1, if you’re scared just wait until they’re asleep. Kick them out the door, lock it, and they can try walking their happy ass back to civilization. from Antarctica
Don’t bother looking for a body.
Same, too many people on here have a defeatist mindset and it baffles me.
That is close to my thought, “Hey asshole, you gotta sleep sometime…”
Exactly, thank you.
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What are the specifics? How did he physically and sexually assault someone?
Seems like you would want to plaster that information front-and-center if you really wanted to hold this guy accountable.
Help me, he’s beating me!
Not so fast, how exactly is he beating you?
I’ve seen enough scifi to know that (ant)arctic research stations ought to have a quarantine area so that ill crewmembers can be compassionately kept alive separated from those they might harm while still having access to life support in a hostile environment.
Antarctic builds are costly, difficult, and filled with challenges you don’t see in daily life, so while that might seem like a simple idea, it’s about half as hard as as putting it on the space station, with a 10th or less the budget.
I’m not saying anything has to be built or installed, just rigged/signposted in physical reality and negotiated as social reality
Oh yeah, the person going around sexually assaulting people is going to respect a sign stating “do not enter”.
Well, in cases like that you might want a lock. Or a straightjacket.
I believe it’s a remote station/environment issue based on my working in Antarctic and on Research ships.
NSF finally saw the light after it was forced down their throat, and they still haven’t resolved it.
Perhaps they should remove him and arrest him instead of just offering counseling.
They’re cut off, noone’s getting in or out until the weather improves, which will be months. The team are on their own with the attacker until then and will probably appreciate counselling when they’re out.
Surprising that they’re still cut-off since it’s the Antarctic summer right now.
From the article:
The 10-person team is trapped at the remote Sanae IV base, which is on a cliff edge about 105 miles inland from the ice shelf, by encroaching ice and weather as the southern hemisphere winter sets. Teams overwintering at the base are typically cut off for 10 months at a time. Sources told South Africa’s Sunday Times that the only way to leave the base now was via emergency medical evacuation to a neighbouring German base about 190 miles away.
As far as I can see it’s currently the end of the Antarctic summer, winter is just starting, and will likely last until October. It sounds like something went badly wrong with both the psychological screening of the team members, and the decision for the ice breaker that delivered them to leave before the situation was resolved.
The article says that it is cut off for ten months per year, so I assume the two months of accessibility are only the absolute peak of summer. That would suggest that they’re right at the start of the ten month period just now
