The Defenders

A new Northern Liberties community group plans to take on rape. Aggressively.

by Charles Cieri

(CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

One night in mid-September, Courtney Dozor left a bar on the southwest corner of Fourth and Girard, and headed to her house on the northeast corner of that intersection. She wasn't surprised, on her way home, to find that her car had been broken into for the second time in three months. She called the cops and stood outside waiting, again, for them to show; as she stood there, she noticed a man in a westbound car, idling at the traffic light, staring at her.

"Leave me alone," she said. "I'm armed."

The man erupted out of his car, and, according to the police report Dozor filed, backed her up against a wall.

"I do what I want, you white bitch," he said.

Dozor took out the 4-inch folding pocket knife she carries for protection and put it to his neck, and told him repeatedly that the cops were on their way. After a few tense moments, she says, he realized that she wasn't threatening to call the police, but actually expecting them. He retreated to his car. (Dozor got the license plate and has given it to police.)

Today, Dozor runs the group Action Against Rapists in Philadelphia (ARph). She came to the organization after spotting a flier promoting it at the same intersection; at the time, it was run by a man named Ian Burke, a friend of whose had been raped near Fifth and Brown streets.

The attacks on Burke's friend and Dozor, which were separated by about a month, were part of a series of recent incidents in Northern Liberties, including an Oct. 13 daylight attack in which a woman was seized by the throat at Sixth and Girard, and raped and robbed in a nearby driveway. In the most recent attack, the early morning of Nov. 23, a 15-year-old boy stabbed and attempted to rape a woman in her home on Fourth Street.

It's not clear whether these incidents constitute a statistical spike in the neighborhood. Matt Ruben, who heads the Northern Liberties Neighborhood Association (NLNA), thinks they do. The Police Department couldn't provide 2008 rape statistics for Northern Liberties by press time; citywide, though violent crime has gone down this year, rapes are up 9 percent.

As far as Dozor's concerned, whether there's been a spike doesn't matter — what matters is the sustained threat she believes women face in Northern Liberties. The most pressing concern she sees is naïveté. Says Dozor, 25, "There are a lot of young women here, walking from party to party listening to their iPod and not looking around." Hence, ARph's plan to take action, through defense and deterrence.

On the defensive front, the group wants, eventually, to coordinate self-defense training, revive a town-watch group and distribute preventive information. Dozor also pledges to give out pepper spray and instructions en masse to community members.

The deterrence agenda has received more attention, mostly because of a September advertising campaign in which ARph pushed its self-described "radical" perspective: A poster featuring a woman pointing a handgun at the viewer was clearly intended to grab attention. Some NLNA members took exception, according to board member Anne Waginger, who says, "We thought it promoted vigilantism." Responds Dozor: "The poster was meant to promote self-defense and empowerment. We want to be fierce."

Dozor believes the posters (as well as subsequent ones depicting Xena the Warrior Princess) were ripped down by people worried that they could adversely affect real estate prices or local business. "Those not affected by this are thinking more about their wallets; they want to cover it up," she says. "We don't care if they want their real estate value to be higher or if it is ruining their business, we would rather women be defensive."

It's true that some local business owners found the posters unpleasant. Shannon Dougherty, who owns A Full Plate on Liberties Walk, feels that "the images aren't necessary for informing the community." Melissa Baruno, of 1 Shot Coffee, found them "off-putting."

HALF OFF DEPOT

Why live life at full price?

Other business owners, however, seem not to mind the posters, downplaying their economic implications. William Reed, part owner of Standard Tap, says he thinks underexposure of an important issue is a great danger. And Tracy Stanton, owner of the 700 Club on Second Street, believes publicity is necessary to combat this type of crime.

Ruben, of NLNA, speaks only of hoping to collaborate with a group he describes as "moving in a positive direction." He cites shared priorities: improved pedestrian lighting (a current NLNA project), as well as the redistricting of Northern Liberties, which currently sits on the outskirts of, and is divided between, the 6th and 26th police districts. Ruben also offered the NLNA's mailing list of more than 1,000 people to ARph for town-watch recruitment.

A perhaps bigger concern for ARph than people being offended by the posters is people not understanding them — most people City Paper spoke to were unaware of the specifics of the group's mission. Dozor says future ARph literature will include wallet-size cards featuring a safe-streets map and preventive tips.

ARph also plans to hold a benefit show at Johnny Brenda's on Feb. 14, featuring Joe Jack Talcum of the Dead Milkmen, Dark Horse and the Carousels, Toy Soldiers and DJ Johnny Mah-Jong. Money raised from the show will go to printing costs and self-defense demonstrations as well as buying large stocks of pepper spray.

(editorial@citypaper.net)