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.

    • 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