Repost: An Open Letter to Victims Who Want to Name an American Airlines Employee who Assaulted Them (Past or Present)
This Medium story still holds true. Transferring it here for those who missed it
Plus: Is the airline using catch-and-kill methods to settle with past victims?
TW: Sexual assault
Part 2 of an occasional series
I received more emails overnight after this story ran yesterday.
One was from a woman I’d never met before who was raped by an American Airlines pilot around 20 years ago.
Before I address the issue in the headline, let’s pause to take this in. I revealed yesterday there were dozens of assault victims writing to me, and look — here comes another one.
We can’t be numbed to the individuals because of the high volume of victims. This isn’t Hey! Another woman emailed to say she wants to joint the book club! Or,Another one’s in for the wine tour.
This is a human person who says she was violated in the most degrading, violent and frightening way by someone in her place of work who had power over her, her job, her career, and her physical safety.
One is too many.
Women who want their stories told
Over the five months I was learning about the assault and harassment problem at American Airlines, around 10 women expressed varying degrees of interest in revealing her attacker’s name.
They all know as well as any woman what would happen if they did, if they revealed their identities or spoke to media about it: online trolls, cyber bullying, threats, and general abuse are just some of the responses women who speak out can expect to get. A few were, understandably, furious. Some told me they’d been in touch with other reporters in the past, but were ghosted or ignored.
Some have asked me to name an alleged assailant but didn’t want to use their own names or confirm their identities (who can blame them?).
I’m an independent journalist now (my full bio is below), and to proceed with any article of this kind would require women to go on the record in a full interview, to step forward and share their own stories, and to make sure it is done right to ensure their safety as much as possible.
For those who want to but are worried for their safety and aren’t sure how to proceed, I would not offer an opinion or advice on what a victim of assault should do. Ever. You need to do whatever is best for your own safety, mental health and well-being.
I can give you some information. If you want to name your attacker (women have named to me about a half dozen men who allegedly perpetrated one more more of the following: rape, sexual assault, grinding up on dance floors, forced “good luck” kisses before flights, blocking their way so they couldn’t move, threats, and everything in between), you can do it anytime. You can write on Medium or on other platforms.
You can confirm your identity, go on the record, and tell your full stories to a journalist.
You can contact Kimberly Goesling’s lawyer. Rob Miller’s firm has put their information on a website called The #MeToo Truth About American Airlines.(Goesling is a former flight attendant (FA) who was sexually assaulted on the job is slated to go to trial against American Airlines in April).
You can band together. You can seek legal advice from a lawyer in your area.
Which brings me to tips I’ve received from various corners about an internal process going on inside the company. Current and former employees say they’ve received information that American is reaching out to find past victims and settling with them.
There is talk of nondisclosure agreements — this is unconfirmed.
In other words, this method resembles a catch-and-kill operation. (To be clear, I am not suggesting we know American is doing this. I was hoping that early signs of an internal investigation meant they wanted to clean house and start making things right. So far, tips sent my way do not reflect this. American has not responded to my requests for comment.)
The term has most recently been in the public consciousness after rapist Harvey Weinstein was caught and convicted: It’s the title of Ronan Farrow’s book “Catch and Kill,” as well as the related HBO documentary series, “Catch and Kill: The Podcast Tapes.”
Farrow told NPR that NBC tried to kill his original story about Weinstein as part of a broader “catch and kill” strategy, whereby powerful entities and individuals go to extreme lengths to keep unfavorable stories from being reported. His book alleges that American Media Inc., the parent company of the tabloid National Enquirer, engaged in such practices in an effort to control negative stories about then-presidential candidate Donald Trump.
“I personally reported a number of stories about cases in which AMI sought or actually did buy the rights to a story in order to get rid of it during the election, and that subsequently has become the subject of a serious criminal investigation,” Farrow told NPR.
Regarding Weinstein—who I interviewed in New York a few hours before he assaulted a woman in nearby hotel, and who was perfectly pleasant to me as so many predators who wear convincing masks are—I found this quote to be a chilling echo of how things have unfolded with the American situation:
“We see this time and time again, the fundamental disposition to disbelieve the victim. It’s a story that plays out not just over a few weeks and a few months, this is over years. Just the end of last month, Weinstein was extradited to L.A. — it’s still going on. This is a process that’s been going on in Weinstein’s case for decades. If it takes that long to bring one person, one high-profile person like Weinstein to account, think how many more are out there who have been getting away with it and continue to, to this day.” — HBO documentary director Fenton Bailey
There is a lot of literature out there about the legalities, ethics and uses of nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and how they can be used to kill stories and intimidate witnesses or simply to protect information. I thought this one was interesting. Again, it is not confirmed whether American has asked for or gotten anyone to sign one in this case.
All the victims here have every right to do what is best for THEM. Whatever they decide that is.
Coming next week: How I came to learn about this story.
SARA HAMMEL is the author of the The Strong Ones (2021), a #1 bestselling book that tells the story of a groundbreaking seven-month U.S. Army women’s strength study and its long-term impact on women in the military. She began her journalism career investigating an enormous funding disparity between men and women’s sports in her university’s Division I college athletic program. A famous men’s coach called and tried to scare her off writing the front-page series. Nevertheless, she persisted.
Her work has also appeared U.S. News & World Report, Newsweek, The Sunday Times Magazine (UK), Glamour, Shape and more. She contributed to the feminist anthology Letters of Intent along with such icons as Judy Blume, Ntozake Shange and Gloria Steinem. Perhaps best known for her viral 2016 resignation letter from People magazine, she has covered high-profile crime stories across Europe and the U.S. including the Amanda Knox case in Italy, the disappearance of Madeline McCann in Portugal, and the tragic school shooting in Sandy Hook, Connecticut. She is the author of two mystery novels: The Underdogs and Famous Last Words.
This story of historical abuse at American Airlines needs to get more attention by whoever is willing to share and investigate it. I'm all for it. My first major story calling this out in detail put it out in the world while also protecting the identities of the women who have shared stories with me, and I was willing to take that risk on my own with no legal team behind me or financial backing that journalists at major organizations have. That said, I won't be allowing anonymous people to solicit sources and information on behalf of other journalists on my page and platform unless I know who you are and we've communicated beforehand.
Be careful who you share your private information with. You all know who I am. Make sure you confirm IDs before sharing your personal stories or information with any email address that claims to be on your side. I hope the person who posted this morning is absolutely legit but I have no way of knowing if they are. As always, if they are, I am always here if you have questions or want to contact me. --Sara
Exhausting exhausting exhausting and never ending. Molin was the worst