CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The shouting winds and continuous darkness of the Antarctic winterseason were relieving to a frozen spring when mechanic Liz Monahon at McMurdo Station got a hammer.
If those in charge weren’t going to secure her from the male she feared would eliminate her, she figured, she required to secure herself. It wasn’t like she might getaway. They were all stuck there together on the ice.
So she kept the hammer with her at all times, either looped into her Carhartt overalls or tucked into her sports bra.
“If he came anywhere near me, I was going to start swinging at him,” Monahon states. “I chose that I was going to endure.”
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Monahon, 35, is one of lotsof ladies who state the separated environment and macho culture at the United States researchstudy center in Antarctica haveactually permitted sexual harassment and attack to thrive.
The National Science Foundation, the federal firm that manages the U.S. Antarctic Program, released a report in 2022 in which 59% of ladies stated they’d experienced harassment or attack while on the ice, and 72% of females stated such habits was a issue in Antarctica.
But the issue goes beyond the harassment, The Associated Press discovered. In examining court records and internal interactions, and in interviews with more than a lots present and previous workers, the AP exposed a pattern of females who stated their declares of harassment or attack were reduced by their companies, typically leading to them or others being put in more threat.
In one case, a lady who reported a coworker had searched her was made to work togetherwith him onceagain. In another, a lady who informed her company she was sexually attacked was lateron fired. Another female stated that employers at the base devalued her claims from rape to harassment. The AP typically does not recognize those who state they haveactually been sexually attacked unless they openly determine themselves.
The grievances of violence did not stop with the NSF report. Five months after its release, a female at McMurdo informed a deputy U.S. marshal that coworker Stephen Bieneman pinned her down and put his shin over her throat for about a minute while she frantically attempted to interact she couldn’t breathe.
Bieneman pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor attack. He was fired and sentout back to the U.S., court files reveal, and his trial is setup for November. His legalrepresentative, Birney Bervar, stated in an e-mail to the AP that it was “horseplay” started by the female and the proof didn’t assistance “an attack of the nature and degree she explained.”
The NSF report activated a Congressional examination. In a composed action to Congress that is opposed by its own e-mails, Leidos, the prime specialist, stated it got “zero claims” of sexual attack in Antarctica throughout the 5 years ending April2022
Kathleen Naeher, the chief operating officer of the civil group at Leidos, informed a congressional committee in December that they would setup peepholes on dormitory space doors, limitation gainaccessto to master secrets that might open numerous bedrooms, and offer groups in the field an additional satellite phone.
Rep. Mike Garcia, R-Calif., stated the proposed repairs left him flabbergasted.
“This oughtto haveactually been done priorto we sentout anybody down to Antarctica,” he stated at the hearing.
Monahon and all however one of the employees pricedestimate in this story are speaking openly for the veryfirst time. Trapped in one of the most remote areas on Earth, the females state they were mostly required to fend for themselves.
“No one was there to conserve me however me,” Monahon states. “And that was the thing that was so scary.”
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Monahon thinks she just left physical damage in Antarctica since of her associates, not management.
She satisfied Zak Buckingham in 2021 at a hotel in Christchurch, New Zealand, where McMurdo employees were quarantining versus COVID-19 priorto going to Antarctica. It would be Monahon’s 2nd stint in Antarctica, a location that had interested her because her youth half a world away in upstate New York.
At the hotel, Monahon states, male coworkers troubling her and a pal backed off when Buckingham — a plumbingprofessional and amateur fighter from Auckland, New Zealand — sat with them.
Buckingham, now 36, was daunting and a bit wild, however amusing and captivating. One night, Monahon states, she and Buckingham connected up.
What Monahon didn’t understand was that Buckingham had a history of what a judge explained as alcohol-related criminal upseting in New Zealand.
Three months priorto releasing, Buckingham breached a security order taken out by his previous partner and the mom of his 3 kids, according to court records the AP gotten after petitioning a New Zealand judge. He’d texted his ex-partner requiring oral sex. She informed him to stop being unsuitable.
“No, I will not stop being unsuitable,” he’d responded, and required oral sex onceagain, according to the judge’s findings. She onceagain informed him to stop. He reacted, according to the records: “You requirement to be f—– like a slut.”
A week lateron, he sentout her 18 texts, court records program. She alerted him she’d call the cops.
“Continue to threaten me and you’ll requirement to,” he’d responded.
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Antarctica’s ancient ice sheet and remoteness make it perfect for researchers studying whatever from the earliest minutes of the universe to modifications in the world’s environment.
The population at McMurdo, the center of U.S. operations, generally swells from 200-300 in the southern winterseason to over 1,000 in the summertime. Typically, around 70% are males.
Funded and managed by the NSF, the U.S. Antarctic Program is run by a tangle of professionals and subcontractors, with billions of dollars at stake. Since 2017, Leidos hasactually held the primary agreement, now worth over $200 million per year. Subcontractor PAE, which utilizes numerous of the base’s employees, was purchased last year by the federalgovernment services giant Amentum.
There is no authorities existence or prison at McMurdo, and law enforcement falls to a sworn on-site deputy U.S. marshal.
Buckingham was workedwith by PAE. Amentum didn’t respond to concerns from the AP. Leidos Senior Vice President Melissa Lee Dueñas stated it performs background checks on all its workers.
“Our position on sexual harassment or attack couldn’t be more clear: we have no tolerance for such habits,” Dueñas stated in an e-mail. “Each case is completely examined.”
The NSF and Leidos decreased to response qu