Alison Bass

Last updated
Alison Bass
Occupation
  • professor
  • journalist
LanguageEnglish
NationalityAmerican
CitizenshipAmerican
Genre non-fiction
Subject
Notable worksSide Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial
Website
Alison Bass

Alison Bass is an American journalist and author of three books: her memoir, Brassy Broad: How one Journalist helped pave the way to #MeToo (2021); Getting Screwed: Sex Workers and the Law and Side Effects: A Prosecutor, A Whistleblower and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial.Side Effects won the National Association of Science Writers' Science in Society Award and its film rights were recently optioned.

Contents

Biography

Bass was a longtime medical and science writer for The Boston Globe and was the first Globe reporter to break the story of a sexually abusive priest in Massachusetts (Father Porter), a decade before the Globe's Spotlight team published its story about the Catholic Church abuse scandal in the Boston area. [1] [2]

Her work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times, Harvard University's Nieman Reports, The Miami Herald , Psychology Today , The Huffington Post and Technology Review , among other publications. She blogs regularly at She recently retired as associate professor of journalism at West Virginia University. Before coming to West Virginia, Bass taught at Brandeis University and Mount Holyoke College.

Her first book, Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial , won the NASW Science in Society Award in 2009. [3] Side Effects tells the true story of two women who exposed the deception behind the making of a bestselling drug and in doing so, examines financial ties and conflicts of interest among pharmaceutical companies, mental health advocacy groups, doctors, medical journals and the health care industry. [4] [5]

Her second nonfiction book, Getting Screwed: Sex Work and the Law , [6] published in October 2015, weaves the true stories of sex workers with the latest research on prostitution. Her book argues that U.S. laws criminalizing prostitution are not only largely ineffective in curbing the sex trade, but create an atmosphere that encourages the exploitation of sex workers and violence against all women. [7]

In 2007, she won an Alicia Patterson Fellowship [8] to write Side Effects , which was published by Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill in 2008. [9]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scandal</span> An action regarded as morally or legally wrong and causing public outrage

A scandal can be broadly defined as the strong social reactions of outrage, anger, or surprise, when accusations or rumours circulate or appear for some reason, regarding a person or persons who are perceived to have transgressed in some way a social norm. These reactions are usually noisy and may be conflicting, and they often have negative effects on the status and credibility of the person(s) or organization(s) involved.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Child prostitution</span> Prostitution involving a child

Child prostitution is prostitution involving a child, and it is a form of commercial sexual exploitation of children. The term normally refers to prostitution of a minor, or person under the legal age of consent. In most jurisdictions, child prostitution is illegal as part of general prohibition on prostitution.

The Science in Society Journalism Awards are awards created by the American National Association of Science Writers (NASW) to honor and encourage "outstanding investigative and interpretive reporting about the sciences and their impact for good and ill." Each year the NASW recognizes work in these categories: books, periodicals, and electronic media. Each winner receives $2,500. The first award was given in 1972. The Awards recognize not only reporting about science, but also thoughtful work that probes the ethical problems and social effects of science. The awards are considered especially prestigious because they are judged by accomplished peers. Starting in 2009 the award categories were changed. The book category will remain unchanged, while the other categories will morph into "Commentary and Opinion," "Science Reporting," and "Local Science Reporting." Except for the Book category, the awards will be platform independent, which means that they may be magazine, radio, TV, or web-based.

<i>Side Effects</i> (Bass book) 2008 book by Alison Bass

Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial is a nonfiction book by investigative journalist Alison Bass that chronicles the lawsuit filed in 2004 against GlaxoSmithKline by then New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer.

The Catholic Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal was part of a series of Catholic Church sexual abuse cases in the United States that revealed widespread crimes in the American Roman Catholic Church. In early 2002, TheBoston Globe published results of an investigation that led to the criminal prosecutions of five Roman Catholic priests and thrust the sexual abuse of minors by Catholic clergy into the national spotlight. Another accused priest who was involved in the Spotlight scandal also pleaded guilty. The Globe's coverage encouraged other victims to come forward with allegations of abuse, resulting in numerous lawsuits and 249 criminal cases.

The media coverage of Catholic sex abuse cases is a major aspect of the academic literature surrounding the pederastic priest scandal.

Some of the personnel of the United Nations peacekeeping are accused of commiting sexual abuse in general and of child sexual abuse in particular. An Associated Press (AP) investigation revealed in 2017 that more than 100 United Nations (UN) peacekeepers ran a child sex ring in Haiti over a 10-year period and none were ever jailed. The report further found that over the previous 12 years, there had been almost 2,000 allegations of sexual abuse and exploitation by peacekeepers and other UN personnel around the world. AP found the abuse to be much greater than originally thought. After the AP report, U.S. Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley, urged all countries to hold UN peacekeepers accountable for any sexual abuse and exploitation. As early as 2004, Amnesty International reported that underage girls were being kidnapped, tortured and forced into prostitution in Kosovo with UN and NATO personnel being the customers driving the demand for the sex slaves. The UN's department of peacekeeping in New York acknowledged at that time that "peacekeepers have come to be seen as part of the problem in trafficking rather than the solution".

Kathryn Bolkovac is a human rights advocate, consultant, former police investigator with the Lincoln Police Department, and former monitor with United Nations International Police Task Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina. She came to prominence when she sued her employers for unfair dismissal after she lost her job following her attempts to expose sex trafficking in Bosnia. Her story was shown in the film The Whistleblower and told in the nonfiction book, The Whistleblower, with journalist Cari Lynn.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ghislaine Maxwell</span> British sex trafficker and socialite (born 1961)

Ghislaine Noelle Marion Maxwell is a British convicted sex offender and former socialite. In 2021, she was found guilty of child sex trafficking and other offences in connection with the deceased financier and convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein. In June 2022, she was sentenced in a New York court to twenty years' imprisonment.

The Rochdale child sex abuse ring involved underage teenage girls in Rochdale, Greater Manchester, England. Nine men were convicted of sex trafficking and other offences including rape, trafficking girls for sex and conspiracy to engage in sexual activity with a child in May 2012. This resulted in Greater Manchester Police launching Operation Doublet to investigate further claims of abuse with 19 men so far being convicted. Forty-seven girls were identified as victims of child sexual exploitation during the police investigation. The men were British Pakistanis, which led to discussion on whether the failure to investigate them was linked to the authorities' fear of being accused of racial prejudice. The girls were mainly White British.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal</span> Organised child sexual abuse scandal in Rotherham, England between the 1970s and present

The Rotherham child sexual exploitation scandal consists of the organised child sexual abuse that occurred in the town of Rotherham, South Yorkshire, Northern England from the late 1980s until present and the failure of local authorities to act on reports of the abuse throughout most of that period. Researcher Angie Heal, who was hired by local officials and warned them about child exploitation occurring between 2002 and 2007, has since described it as the "biggest child protection scandal in UK history". Evidence of the abuse was first noted in the early 1990s, when care home managers investigated reports that children in their care were being picked up by taxi drivers. From at least 2001, multiple reports passed names of alleged perpetrators, several from one family, to the police and Rotherham Council. The first group conviction took place in 2010, when five British-Pakistani men were convicted of sexual offences against girls aged 12–16. From January 2011 Andrew Norfolk of The Times pressed the issue, reporting in 2012 that the abuse in the town was widespread and that the police and council had known about it for over ten years.

Robert Kolker is an American journalist who worked as a contributing editor at New York Magazine and a former projects and investigations reporter for Bloomberg News and Bloomberg Businessweek.

The Telford child sexual exploitation scandal was a scandal in the United Kingdom. Originally, a group of men were convicted of grooming local children for sex between 2007 and 2009 in Telford in the English county of Shropshire. While media reports had suggested 100 or more girls had been affected and around 200 perpetrators were suspected, the Sunday Mirror reported in March 2018 that up to 1,000 girls may have been abused, with some even murdered, in incidents dating back to the 1970s. Social workers and police cast doubt on this report, denying that Telford had a "discernible problem compared to other towns".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alison Saunders</span> British barrister

Dame Alison Margaret Saunders, is a British barrister and a former Director of Public Prosecutions. She was the first lawyer from within the Crown Prosecution Service and the second woman to hold the appointment. She was also the second holder of this office not to be a Queen's Counsel. She was previously the Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London. Her term of office ended 31 October 2018. She is now a Partner at the Magic Circle law firm Linklaters.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Decriminalization of sex work</span> Removal of criminal penalties for sex work

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<i>Spotlight</i> (film) 2015 film directed by Tom McCarthy

Spotlight is a 2015 American biographical drama film directed by Tom McCarthy and written by McCarthy and Josh Singer. The film follows The Boston Globe's "Spotlight" team, the oldest continuously operating newspaper investigative journalist unit in the United States, and its investigation into cases of widespread and systemic child sex abuse in the Boston area by numerous Catholic priests. Although the plot was original, it is loosely based on a series of stories by the Spotlight team that earned The Globe the 2003 Pulitzer Prize for Public Service. The film features an ensemble cast including Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, Rachel McAdams, John Slattery, and Stanley Tucci, with Brian d'Arcy James, Liev Schreiber, and Billy Crudup in supporting roles.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jayne Senior</span> British youth worker

Jayne Senior, MBE, is a British youth worker and manager of the Swinton Lock Activity Centre near Mexborough in South Yorkshire, England.

Sex worker abuse by police officers can occur in one or more ways. Police brutality refers to the intentional use of excessive force by a police officer, be it physical, verbal, or psychological. Police corruption is a form of police misconduct where an officer obtains financial benefits and/or career advancements in exchange for not pursuing, or selectively pursuing, an investigation or arrest. Police misconduct refers to inappropriate actions taken by police officers in connection with their official duties. Sex workers, particularly poor sex workers and those who had been manipulated, coerced, or forced into sex work, are at risk of being obliged or otherwise forced to provide free sexual services to police officers out of fear of being harmed or arrested. Some sex workers have reported that they have encountered police officers who have physically assaulted them without evidence of a crime and without making an arrest.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Burning Sun scandal</span> South Korean entertainment and sex scandal

The Burning Sun scandal, also known as Burning Sun gate, was a 2019 entertainment and sex scandal in Seoul, South Korea, which involved several celebrities, including Korean idols of popular K-pop groups, and police officials. It was the largest scandal to hit the K-pop industry. The allegations of sex crimes involved added to the country's "epidemic" of what is called molka, a Korean word for the online distribution of unconsented sex videos taken of women, and the scandal became fodder for political parties, who argued over how to handle it.

Phillip James Saviano was an American advocate for survivors of Catholic church sexual abuse. As a youth, Saviano was abused by a priest in the early 1960s. Thirty years later, after reading about the priest abusing other youths in another state, Saviano went public, becoming one of the earliest survivors of church sexual abuse to do so. He brought a lawsuit against his local diocese, uncovering evidence of additional abuse. Eventually, his investigation led to The Boston Globe publishing a Pulitzer Prize-winning series of articles exposing the Catholic Archdiocese of Boston sex abuse scandal, which was dramatized in the 2015 Academy Award-winning film Spotlight.

References

  1. O'Brien, Tim (2019-06-03). "Breaking the Story: Boston Priest Abuse Scandal". O'Brien Communications. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  2. John, Henly (2010-04-21). "How the Boston Globe exposed the abuse scandal that rocked the Catholic church". The Guardian. Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  3. Cybrarian (September 13, 2001). "2009 Science in Society Awards". National Association of Science Writers. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
  4. Horgan, John (2013-09-23). ""RxISK" Database Reports Side Effects, Including Violence, Undisclosed by Pharma Firms". Scientific American. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  5. Husten, Larry (2011-09-23). "Former NEJM Editor Criticizes Publication and Peer Review of ARISTOTLE Trial". Forbes. Retrieved 2020-12-20.
  6. "Alison Bass, Professor and Journalist". 2015-05-12. Archived from the original on May 12, 2015. Retrieved 2015-08-30., sexworkandthelaw.com
  7. Ramirez, Stephanie (2015-11-15). "Alison Bass Challenges Common Conceptions Of Sex Work In 'Getting Screwed'" . Retrieved 2020-12-23.
  8. Alicia Patterson Journalism Fellowship
  9. Friedman, Richard A. (2009-03-05). "Side Effects: A Prosecutor, a Whistleblower, and a Bestselling Antidepressant on Trial". The New England Journal of Medicine. 358 (26). doi:10.1056/NEJMbkrev0803656. Archived from the original on 2009-03-05. Retrieved 2020-12-27.