Helen Benedict – författare

The national press has recently lavished coverage on several major sex-related scandals: the Clarence Thomas-Anita Hill hearings, the William Kennedy Smith rape trial, and the Mike Tyson case. With each event came lurid stories pitting either a loose or a virginal woman against an unwilling or monstrous man. Such extreme coverage, argues Helen Benedict, perpetuates myths that are harmful to the victims of these crimes (and sometimes to the accused). With the rise in reported rapes, more such myth-mongering stories are bound to be seen in the future. In Virgin or Vamp, Benedict addresses the press''s tendency to misrepresent rape, denigrate victims, and invade the privacy of its subjects, while also pointing out the press''s critical role in informing and educating the public. In this timely book, Benedict draws on her experience as a reporter and professor of journalism to examine the print press''s treatment of four prominent sex crimes from the past decade--the Rideout marital rape trial in Oregon, the Big Dan''s pool table gang rape in New Bedford , Massachusetts, the "Preppy Murder" in New York, and the Central Park jogger rape. By analyzing the language of the original news stories and interviewing the original reporters, Benedict identifies the press''s tendency to label victims as either virgins or vamps, a practice she condemns as misleading and harmful. For example, she finds that the press worked so hard at portraying Jennifer Levin, the victim of the "Preppy Murder," as a man-chasing vamp that it made her seem as responsible for her death as was her killer, Robert Chambers. Likewise, Benedict shows how the press depicted Greta Rideout as a hysterical wife who accused her husband of rape for revenge, rather than as a victim of domestic battery who eventually escaped--the truth of the case. Benedict also looks at other factors that perpetuate the misunderstanding of rape. For instance, she shows how the New York press presented the Central Park jogger rape case as motivated by racism because of its unwillingness to consider rape an issue of gender. She also addresses our inherent language bias (more positive words exist to describe men than women), the press''s tendency to use sexually suggestive language to describe crime victims, and its preference for crimes against whites. In her conclusion, Benedict analyzes the William Kennedy Smith rape case, and argues that the debate over naming victims is misconceived in light of the press''s current lack of understanding about rape. More than a critique about the way the print press covers sex crimes, Virgin or Vamp also reveals the roots of rape coverage in the days of lynching, and shows how deep traditionalist views of women still run. Benedict concludes with both practical and radical suggestions of how reporters can challenge such views by covering these increasingly common crimes without further harming the victims, the defendants, or public understanding.

The journalistic profile is one of the most popular, widely read types of magazine feature writing. Helen Benedict, a master of the genre, has collected for Portraits in Print nine of her best pieces, and provided a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the art of portrait journalism. Among the persons profiled here are Joseph Brodsky, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Susan Sontag, Paule Marshall, Bernard Malamud, and Beverly Sills. In a general introduction and in lively discussions after each profile, Helen Benedict describes how she selected the subjects, got them to agree to be interviewed, convinced the magazines' editor's to assign her the pieces, prepared for the interviews, and set about writing each one after the research and interviewing were complete. Benedict also discusses how much confidence to betray, how personal to get, what to leave out, and the writer's power over the profile subject. This is fascinating reading, especially for aspiring writers who hope to learn more about the skills and practices of this popular genre. Portraits in Print concludes with an Afterward by the famous muckraker and author of The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford.Mitford takes the opposite tack, in an amusing essay about what it is like to be an interviewee.

This guide offers the survivors of rape and their friends and relatives a body of knowledge drawn from social workers and social scientists on the short-and long-term effects of rape. It includes details of AIDS, date rape, rape crisis programmes, rape shelters and other social resources.

This guide offers the survivors of rape and their friends and relatives a body of knowledge drawn from social workers and social scientists on the short-and long-term effects of rape. It includes details of AIDS, date rape, rape crisis programmes, rape shelters and other social resources.

The Lonely Soldier--the inspiration for the documentary The Invisible War--vividly tells the stories of five women who fought in Iraq between 2003 and 2006--and of the challenges they faced while fighting a war painfully alone.More American women have fought and died in Iraq than in any war since World War Two, yet as soldiers they are still painfully alone. In Iraq, only one in ten troops is a woman, and she often serves in a unit with few other women or none at all. This isolation, along with the military''s deep-seated hostility toward women, causes problems that many female soldiers find as hard to cope with as war itself: degradation, sexual persecution by their comrades, and loneliness, instead of the camaraderie that every soldier depends on for comfort and survival. As one female soldier said, "I ended up waging my own war against an enemy dressed in the same uniform as mine."In The Lonely Soldier, Benedict tells the stories of five women who fought in Iraq between 2003 and 2006. She follows them from their childhoods to their enlistments, then takes them through their training, to war and home again, all the while setting the war''s events in context. We meet Jen, white and from a working-class town in the heartland, who still shakes from her wartime traumas; Abbie, who rebelled against a household of liberal Democrats by enlisting in the National Guard; Mickiela, a Mexican American who grew up with a family entangled in L.A. gangs; Terris, an African American mother from D.C. whose childhood was torn by violence; and Eli PaintedCrow, who joined the military to follow Native American tradition and to escape a life of Faulknerian hardship. Between these stories, Benedict weaves those of the forty other Iraq War veterans she interviewed, illuminating the complex issues of war and misogyny, class, race, homophobia, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Each of these stories is unique, yet collectively they add up to a heartbreaking picture of the sacrifices women soldiers are making for this country.Benedict ends by showing how these women came to face the truth of war and by offering suggestions for how the military can improve conditions for female soldiers-including distributing women more evenly throughout units and rejecting male recruits with records of violence against women. Humanizing, urgent, and powerful, The Lonely Soldier is a clarion call for change.From the Hardcover edition.

Set in 2018 against the backdrop of an overcrowded, fetid refugee camp on the beautiful Greek island of Samos, The Good Deed follows the stories of four women living in the camp and an American tourist who comes to Samos to escape her own dark secret.When the tourist does a “good deed,” she triggers a crisis that brings her and the refugee women into a conflict that escalates dramatically as each character struggles for what she needs.

Set in 2018 against the backdrop of an overcrowded, fetid refugee camp on the beautiful Greek island of Samos, The Good Deed follows the stories of four women living in the camp and an American tourist who comes to Samos to escape her own dark secret.When the tourist does a “good deed,” she triggers a crisis that brings her and the refugee women into a conflict that escalates dramatically as each character struggles for what she needs.

“An unprecedented breakthrough novel about life after war.”—Cara Hoffman, author of Running, Be Safe, I Love You and So Much Pretty “This is not only a massively good book, it is absolutely necessary.”—Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, author of The Storyteller of Marrakesh and The WatchA bold and compassionate novel about war’s aftermath, The Soldier’s House confronts the uneasy truths of rescue, redemption, and what it means to share a home and future with a former enemy.In The Soldier’s House, Helen Benedict tells the story of an Iraq War veteran who saves the lives of his assassinated Iraqi interpreter’s widow, child, and mother by bringing them to his upstate New York home. For the soldier, this is a way of making amends, but the widow finds being rescued by the enemy both humiliating and compromising. This is a compassionate tale that examines whether redemption and forgiveness are even possible in the wake of war. In light of the increasing displacement of people all over the world, The Soldier’s House is particularly timely and poignant.

“An unprecedented breakthrough novel about life after war.”—Cara Hoffman, author of Running, Be Safe, I Love You and So Much Pretty “This is not only a massively good book, it is absolutely necessary.”—Joydeep Roy-Bhattacharya, author of The Storyteller of Marrakesh and The WatchA bold and compassionate novel about war’s aftermath, The Soldier’s House confronts the uneasy truths of rescue, redemption, and what it means to share a home and future with a former enemy.In The Soldier’s House, Helen Benedict tells the story of an Iraq War veteran who saves the lives of his assassinated Iraqi interpreter’s widow, child, and mother by bringing them to his upstate New York home. For the soldier, this is a way of making amends, but the widow finds being rescued by the enemy both humiliating and compromising. This is a compassionate tale that examines whether redemption and forgiveness are even possible in the wake of war. In light of the increasing displacement of people all over the world, The Soldier’s House is particularly timely and poignant.

''This book celebrates human resilience and the capacity for hope, serving as a powerful call for tolerance.'' - Observer''Heartfelt, eye-opening, timely, essential.'' - Christy Lefteri, author of The Beekeeper of AleppoHelen Benedict, award-winning British-American professor of journalism at Columbia University, teams up with Syrian writer and refugee, Eyad Awwadawnan, to present the stories of five refugees who have endured long and dangerous journeys from the Middle East and Africa to Greece.Hasan, Asmahan, Evans, Mursal and Calvin each tell their story, tracing the trajectory of their lives from homes and families in Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Cameroon to the brutal refugee camps, where they are trapped in a strange and hostile world. These are compelling, first-person stories of resilience, suffering and hope, told in a depth rarely seen in non-fiction, partly because one of the authors is a refugee himself, and partly because both authors spent years getting to know the interviewees and winning their trust. The women and men in this book tell their stories in their own words, retaining control and dignity, while revealing intimate and heartfelt scenes from their lives.''Simple, powerful stories told in refugees'' own voices. I couldn''t stop reading, hand to mouth, my chest tightening.'' - Dina Nayari, author of The Ungrateful Refugee''A treasure-trove of story, of heart, of humanity''s failures and achievements.'' - Kao Kalia Yang, author of The Latehomecomer''Map of Hope and Sorrow is not only urgent, it is riveting.'' - Jessica Goudeau, author of After the Last Border

The journalistic profile is one of the most popular, widely read types of magazine feature writing. Helen Benedict, a master of the genre, has collected for Portraits in Print nine of her best pieces, and provided a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the art of portrait journalism. Among the persons profiled here are Joseph Brodsky, Isaac Bashevis Singer, Susan Sontag, Paule Marshall, Bernard Malamud, and Beverly Sills. In a general introduction and in lively discussions after each profile, Helen Benedict describes how she selected the subjects, got them to agree to be interviewed, convinced the magazines' editor's to assign her the pieces, prepared for the interviews, and set about writing each one after the research and interviewing were complete. Benedict also discusses how much confidence to betray, how personal to get, what to leave out, and the writer's power over the profile subject. This is fascinating reading, especially for aspiring writers who hope to learn more about the skills and practices of this popular genre. Portraits in Print concludes with an Afterward by the famous muckraker and author of The American Way of Death, Jessica Mitford.Mitford takes the opposite tack, in an amusing essay about what it is like to be an interviewee.