Until now the only public comment about the assault came four days after it took place, when Ms. Logan was still in the hospital. She and Mr. Fager drafted a short statement that she had ‘suffered a brutal and sustained sexual assault and beating. That statement, Ms. Logan said, ‘didn’t leave me to carry the burden alone, like my dirty little secret, something that I had to be ashamed of…’
After being rescued by a group of civilians and Egyptian soldiers, she was swiftly flown back to the United States. ‘She was quite traumatized, as you can imagine, for a period of time,’ Mr. Fager said. Ms. Logan said she decided almost immediately that she would speak out about sexual violence both on behalf of other journalists and on behalf of ‘millions of voiceless women who are subjected to attacks like this and worse…’
Before the assault, Ms. Logan said, she did not know about the levels of harassment and abuse that women in Egypt and other countries regularly experienced. ‘I would have paid more attention to it if I had had any sense of it, she said. ‘When women are harassed and subjected to this in society, they’re denied an equal place in that society. Public spaces don’t belong to them. Men control it. It reaffirms the oppressive role of men in the society.
After the “60 Minutes” segment is broadcast, though, she does not intend to give other interviews on the subject. ‘I don’t want this to define me,’ she said.
” —Excepts from a NYTimes article interviewing Lara Logan about her sexual assault in Tahrir Square. She is a remarkable and brave woman who has no doubt helped women (and men) worldwide by choosing to speak openly and publicly about her horrific ordeal. From the bottom of my heart, thank you, Ms. Logan.
It is also a relief (and necessary) to read coverage of sexual assault that does not victim blame or provide unnecessary specifics that may further traumatize the survivor, the former of which The Times recently did.
