Stephen Tyler Bieneman has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault over the incident last November at McMurdo Station.

Stephen Tyler Bieneman has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault over the incident last November at McMurdo Station.

A man accused of physically assaulting a woman at a U.S. research station in Antarctica was then sent to a remote icefield where he was tasked with protecting the safety of a professor and three young graduate students, and he remained there for a full week after a warrant for his arrest was issued, documents obtained by The Associated Press show.

Stephen Tyler Bieneman has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor assault over the incident last November at McMurdo Station, which his lawyer said was nothing more than “horseplay.” The case is due to go to trial Monday in Honolulu.

  • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
    551·
    1 year ago

    Yeah, it’s bad.

    CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AP) — The howling winds and perpetual darkness of the Antarctic winter were easing to a frozen spring when mechanic Liz Monahon at McMurdo Station grabbed a hammer.

    If those in charge weren’t going to protect her from the man she feared would kill her, she figured, she needed to protect herself. It wasn’t like she could escape. 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.

    https://apnews.com/article/women-working-antarctica-sexual-harassment-assault-mcmurdo-ba0e550fddf1ab0afd031ff4d25143cb

      • snooggums@kbin.social
        39·
        1 year ago

        Sometimes I wonder how the church got away with just shuffling abusers from place to place with no punishment and then the scientific community comes along to prove it is just a human social problem at the core and some organizations just make it easier than others.

        • stella@lemm.ee
          161·
          1 year ago

          It’s what happens when people aren’t easily replaceable. Some of them start to abuse their power.

        • girlfreddy@lemmy.ca
          626·
          1 year ago

          Saying it’s a human social problem is a bit of a misnomer tho, as throughout written history half of the humans (women) have not been in power, have not made the rules and have not been the enforcers of the rules.

          This is a man problem, not a human problem.

          • norbert@kbin.social
            223·
            1 year ago

            I’ll let the multiple women who’ve abused me know it’s a man problem and they’re good to go.

          • GoodbyeBlueMonday@startrek.websiteEnglish
            7·
            1 year ago

            Didn’t you just lay out why it is a social problem, though? Men are disproportionately abusing folks because they’re disproportionately in power.

            Clearly testosterone plays a major role in causing aggressive behavior, and men tend to have more testosterone, but that also isn’t a clear-cut division between groups, and folks with lower testosterone can certainly still be aggressive monsters. Oversimplifying the problem isn’t going to fix things.

            • KevonLooney@lemm.ee
              6·
              1 year ago

              Your username reminded me of the Star Trek TNG episode with the planet run by women. Men are smaller and more subservient. Basically the women in power have all the negative egotistical traits that men are stereotyped with in our society. Riker is sexually coerced (but he enjoys it of course).

              In our society, men have these issues. But women are not immune.

            • JoBo@feddit.uk
              21·
              1 year ago

              Is it testosterone? Or is it greater upper body strength and less fragile necks?

          • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            91·
            1 year ago

            Alcohol may not be the cause but it is a catalyst.

            What Monahon didn’t know was that Buckingham had a history of what a judge described as alcohol-related criminal offending in New Zealand.

            One night at Southern Exposure, Monahon told the AP, Buckingham began laughing with buddies about who was going to sleep with her and her friend. Next thing, he was forehead to forehead with another man, she says.

            Monahon says she repeatedly told Buckingham she didn’t want to speak with him. Soon after, she heard Buckingham was angry at her.

            A week later, Buckingham rushed up to her in Gallagher’s, shaking with anger, shouting and threatening her, she says.

            Monahon says she was shocked to the core. “Snitches will get stitches,” she says Buckingham snarled as others intervened.

            Cameron Dailey-Ruddy, who bartended at Gallagher’s, witnessed the commotion. He ordered everyone but Monahon to leave and called 911, which connects to the station firehouse. From the dispatcher, Dailey-Ruddy got the numbers for the Leidos station manager and PAE’s HR representative and asked them to come to the bar.

            “It was kind of an open secret at that point that that guy had been harassing her,” said Dailey-Ruddy. He added that Buckingham was at the bars most nights, sometimes drank in public areas and harassed women.

            The next night, Dailey-Ruddy says, Buckingham was back at the bar. The night after, according to another person familiar with the situation, Buckingham got into a physical altercation with another man.

            Thurmann, who was also notified when Dailey-Ruddy called 911, says he was introduced to McMurdo’s misogynistic culture when a group of men recited a list of women they considered targets for sex. Often, Thurmann says, the NSF and Antarctic contractors blamed such behavior on alcohol.

            But the bosses wouldn’t ban booze, he says, because it would make deployments less attractive.

        • ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.worldEnglish
          6·
          1 year ago

          McMurdo Station will not be going entirely dry, the National Science Foundation confirmed. Researchers and support staff will still be able to buy a weekly ration of alcohol from the station store. But the policy shift could prove significant because the bars have been central to social life in the isolated environment.

          https://apnews.com/article/antarctica-base-alcohol-ban-sexual-assault-9a942ef7c552fa7ad54c872f3138ae4f

    • Fades@lemmy.world
      416·
      1 year ago

      Fuck a hammer, I’ll take something in God’s caliber any fucking day. A battle of strength is just not worth it especially in this kind of situation (strong experienced and persistent threat, limited protection resources available).

      Yeah nah, if nobody got me I know John Moses Browning got me

      • SheeEttin@lemmy.worldEnglish
        16·
        1 year ago

        Yeah I’m sure taking a gun on an international military aircraft flight will go just swimmingly

      • ChicoSuave@lemmy.world
        112·
        1 year ago

        Good luck smuggling a gun. Seems like a big international issue if someone brings a firearm to a situation where people don’t seem to know how to deal with respect. Try not escalating or saying how macho and brave you are because you can bring any given tool in your imagination - work with what the people in the scenario have to work with or shut up and let grown ups talk.

      • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
        15·
        1 year ago

        Well, he said as much.

        One night at Southern Exposure, Monahon told the AP, Buckingham began laughing with buddies about who was going to sleep with her and her friend. Next thing, he was forehead to forehead with another man, she says. Buckingham, reached by phone in New Zealand, declined to comment and hung up.

        Monahon says she repeatedly told Buckingham she didn’t want to speak with him. Soon after, she heard Buckingham was angry at her.

        Worried, she says, she told PAE’s human resources she feared for her safety. They took no action. A week later, Buckingham rushed up to her in Gallagher’s, shaking with anger, shouting and threatening her, she says.

        “You’ve been talking s— about my mother,” he yelled at her, she says, leaving her baffled. “People who talk s— about my mother deserve to die.”

        Monahon says she was shocked to the core. “Snitches will get stitches,” she says Buckingham snarled as others intervened.

        • stella@lemm.ee
          320·
          1 year ago

          Is there any evidence to go on besides her word?

          This seems like an odd story. Why would he complain about her talking about his mom? It’d make more sense if he complained about her going to HR.

          He could just be unhinged. I wonder what other people have to say about him or if there’s any video evidence of these encounters.

          • trash80@lemmy.dbzer0.comEnglish
            12·
            1 year ago

            Is there any evidence to go on besides her word?

            There were other eyewitnesses. The bartender called 911.

            You should read this article:
            https://apnews.com/article/women-working-antarctica-sexual-harassment-assault-mcmurdo-ba0e550fddf1ab0afd031ff4d25143cb

            “You’ve been talking s— about my mother,” he yelled at her, she says, leaving her baffled. “People who talk s— about my mother deserve to die.”
            Monahon says she was shocked to the core. “Snitches will get stitches,” she says Buckingham snarled as others intervened.
            Cameron Dailey-Ruddy, who bartended at Gallagher’s, witnessed the commotion. He ordered everyone but Monahon to leave and called 911, which connects to the station firehouse. From the dispatcher, Dailey-Ruddy got the numbers for the Leidos station manager and PAE’s HR representative and asked them to come to the bar.
            “It was kind of an open secret at that point that that guy had been harassing her,” said Dailey-Ruddy. He added that Buckingham was at the bars most nights, sometimes drank in public areas and harassed women.

            Why would he complain about her talking about his mom?

            He was in a bar and presumably drunk.

            He could just be unhinged.

            Probably:

            Three months before deploying, Buckingham breached a protection order taken out by his former partner and the mother of his three children, according to court records the AP obtained after petitioning a New Zealand judge. He’d texted his ex-partner demanding oral sex. She told him to stop being inappropriate.
            “No, I will not stop being inappropriate,” he’d replied, and demanded oral sex again, according to the judge’s findings. She again told him to stop. He responded, according to the records: “You need to be f----- like a slut.”
            A week later, he sent her 18 texts, court records show. She warned him she’d call the police.
            “Continue to threaten me and you’ll need to,” he’d replied.