Archive
Gender and Sexual Violence
A survey seeking those who are 18 years, and older, to answer a survey about sexual victimization they have experienced. The survey is also seeking male participants. See the link below. This is 100% anonymous.
Graham James sentence: One of Many Reasons Why Victims Do Not Report
I assume that most Canadians are familiar with the Graham James case but in case you are not familiar with the case let me bring you up to date. In 1996 Sheldon Kennedy (and another unnamed hockey player) reported to police about their sexual abuse they suffered by their former hockey coach, Graham James. In November of 1996 James was charged with sexual assault and on January 2 1997 James pleaded guilty to 350 sexual assaults against the two young boys. He would 
be sentenced to 3.5 years in a federal institution. In 2001 he was paroled by the National Parole Board of Canada, and the Canadian Hockey Association handed him a life time ban on coaching. In 2010, the media revealed that James was given a pardon by the National Parole Board of Canada for these crimes in 2007 (sparking a national
Let’s fast forward to Jan 6, 2010. Theo Fleury came forward to the police to report that he also suffered years of sexual abuse at the hands of his formed hockey coach. James pleaded guilty to sexually abusing Fleury and his cousin Todd Holt, after which a third victim came forward to say that he to also suffered abuse (those charges however would be stayed). And on March 12, 2012 he was sentenced to 2 years in prison for those crimes. So let’s review shall we? James was found guilty on 350 accounts of sexual abuse on two young men (all of to whom he was in a position of trust and authority). He received 3.5 years in prison, and was then pardoned in 2007. In 2010, he faced new charges of sexual assault and received 2 years in prison. To top this all off the media broke this week that James could be out on day parole as early as September 20, 2012 and could be out on parole on November 18, 2012 under current parole legislation.
The Canadian public is slowly fighting back, demanding tougher sentences, and harsher rules in regards to sex offenders. A friend of mine, Amy Stewart, was a driving force behind the “No pardons for sex offenders” bill that got passed as part of the government’s omnibus crime bill on March 12, 2012. For over a year Amy worked with various politicians to get this bill presented and passed in Canada that would no longer allow sex offenders to get pardons by the National Parole Board of Canada. It all started from a group on Facebook called “Convicted Sex Offenders Should NOT Get Pardoned” and before long Amy was in contact with her MP pushing for a no pardons for sex offenders legislation. While this is a good start in terms of making victims feel like some kind of justice will be served and significantly cuts 
down on the secondary victimization that we face in the court system. Canada still has a long way to go. Amy would most likely agree with me. She was quoted by City TV as saying “So this is definitely a good start. As a parent I feel that my kids are a lot more protected. Now I’m not so concerned that a sex offender’s gonna be a hockey coach or a ringette coach anymore – but I still feel that we have lots more work to get done.”
So what more needs to be done? If we look closely at the new Mandatory Minimum Sentences ( I will refer to these as MMS now) put in place by the omnibus crime bill (ironically on March 12, 2012) the sentence that James faced is in line with that new bill. Now under normal circumstances I am not a proponent of MMS they do not deter crime (as is proven in the research), and they tend to make a judges jobs harder, and can sometimes put a lot more power in police officers hands (as they will get to decide what charge is laid therefore determining the potential sentence of the crime). However in this case I say, boohoo for you. We are not talking about property damage, drugs, or theft. We are talking about sexual assault, of children no less. In other words this is NOT about deterring the crime or even rehabilitation (though both would be nice) this is about justice, this is about ensuring that victims can come forward and know it is not all pointless. This is about sending the message that this is not acceptable behaviour. It is already difficult enough to stomp out victim blaming ideology we do not need our court system reinforcing these beliefs, and when sentences like this are handed down that is exactly the messages being sent.
As a victim of sexual assault when I see a sentence of 2 years I feel sick inside.This is not limited to just one case. In February of 2011 a judge in Winnipeg was quoted as telling a court room that sex was in the air, and noted a victim of sexual assault was wearing a tube top, too much make up , no bra, and high heels. He sentenced that rapist to a two year conditional sentence. The laws have many issues that need to be taken care of. For example, under the new omnibus bill someone who rapes a child gets less time than someone with 6 marijuana plants? Or as Mike McIntyre (a popular crime reporter from Winnipeg) pointed out on Twitter “Food for thought: If Graham James held up a 7-11 with a gun and didn’t hurt anyone, he’d be staring at a MMS of 4 years in prison.” This sends the message that sexual assault is not to be taken seriously. I can tell you that this confirms I made the right decision in not reporting to police, and it confirms that until things change I won’t go to police if I am assaulted. The costs for me as a women are too great. If we take into consideration that we will have to face victim blaming questions: such as where we were, who we were with, and what we were wearing, coupled with the stigma we could face from family, friends, peers, and the general public, then you add in the fact that the offender will face 2 whole years in prison with the possibility of release in 6 months? I don’t think so.
In short we all need to pull together and let the government, and people like James know that we will not stand for such violent acts against people. Proper MMS’s need to be put into place for sex offenses and as a society we really must be willing to acknowledge that yes they are about punishment, and retribution. Can we please stop using rehabilitation as an excuse to let these offenders off easily (and I am a proponent of rehabilitation, but we must strike a balance). One young women from Airdrie managed to get a law passed, why can’t we as a society finally stand up and have proper legislation put into place so victims feel like they too have a voice that will be heard without them having to be re-victimized over and over? We need to send the message to victims that it is not their fault, and the message to offenders that if you do this you will face significant time in prison. Again, do I believe it will deter sexual assault. No. Do I believe that victim interests can be served with harsh MMS for sex offenders? Yes. The judge was quoted as saying that the Canadian criminal justice system is not one of vengeance, and while I would tend to agree with her I would also point out that there must be consequences for your actions, and that victims must feel as though their trauma was taken into account when sentencing someone. This is deeper then just one case and indicates that a restructuring of our justice system is badly needed.
For me Graham James’ own brother sums things up nicely telling the Sun“throughout this latest process, I can’t help but think of the Bernie Madoff case Madoff is in jail for 150 years for stealing people’s money. Graham stole much more than that from his victims-their childhoods, their lives, their dreams- and got just a few years.” This sums up the justice system nicely. Steal people’s money? You are thrown to the wolfs. Rape a child? Rape a women? Meh, that’s alright here in Canada people aren’t as important as money anyway. The reaction from the public has been much the same, so I will leave you with some thoughts from Canadians:
“The Graham James sentence was bad. What’s worse, though, is that nobody was all that surprised about it”
“Graham James up for parole in September #seriously ?”
“Canadians are crying about Graham James sentence- tough on crime cpc gives longer sentences for pot? Go Figure”
“The sentence today is nothing short of a national travesty because we know that childhood sexual abuse has reached epidemic proportions in our country” – Theo Fluery and Todd Holt
“The sentences don’t come close to the damage that it leaves in its wake” – Sheldon Kennedy
Clifford Olson, Dead at 71
Friday afternoon corrections Canada confirmed that Clifford Olson
died in a Quebec hospital.
On September 21, 2011 it was reported that Olson was dying of an unnamed type of cancer and didn’t have long to live.
Olson had earned the label as Canada’s most notorious and ruthless serial killer in the 80s. He terrorized BC residents in 1980 killing at least 11 young people between the ages of 9 and 18 often raping and strangling them. In August of 1981 Olson plea bargained with the RCMP and in exchange for the government paying his family $100,000 ($10,000 per victim) he not only confessed to the murders he would lead RCMP to the bodies. This plea bargain would prove unpopular with the Canadian public. Once convicted Olson earned himself a dangerous offender label, making it unlikely he would ever be released from prison.
In 1997, Olson would apply for parole under Canada’s Faint Hope Clause which, in short, states that an offender who has served at least 15 years may apply for parole. Once an inmate has served 25 years they are also eligible for parole and Olson exercised his right to do so in July of 2006, once again he was denied parole. He would make one last attempt in November of 2010 (in Canada an inmate is allowed to apply for parole every two years after the initial 25 years).
Back in March of 2010 Olson would find himself once again back in the spotlight as it was revealed to Canadians that he was recieving a monthly cheque from the government in the amount of $1,169.47 for old age security. Bill C-31 would be put forth to disallow prisoners to be able to get old age security as a result. As a side note It was reported that in September of 2010 Olson sent one of his cheques to a reporter and asked them to pass it along to Stephen Harpers campaign for reelection.
I don’t rejoice in the death of anyone, that said this is a man that the world won’t miss.
Father Prostitutes Out Daughter
This story is all kinds of creepy, weird, and awful. According to the National Post A 46 year old father was arrested July 22 and charged with three counts of sexual assault, 2 counts of sexual interference, 1 count of sexual exploitation,1 count of a parent or guardian procuring sexual activity, and two count of living off the avails of prostitution. In addition police have charged 3 men between the ages of 34-67 with engaging in sexual acts with a minor. “The three men have been arrested in relation to an ongoing investigation involving the procurement of a youth for sexual purpose,” said Cpl. Annie Linteau. “Numerous charges have now been laid against the father who was allegedly making his daughter available to these men for sexual purposes.” One man Benny Wolfe, a mayoral candidate for Penticton, BC, has come forward to say he didn’t know the girl was underage.
“She was reasonable, $100 for an hour of her time,” Wolfe told media. He admits to being a client of the girls for 8 weeks but believing that she was of age. “I have had three threats against my life and I have had to report to the police on three different occasions, I also had a lady at the Farmers’ Market basically challenge me, and I said look at the paper, read the news but don’t judge me unless you have the full facts. Let the courts hear the evidence, then after all the evidence has been heard and the judge has ruled, then you can criticize me, if there is any at all.”
Mr Wolfe had this to say about his ‘public vs personal’ life “what I have alleged to have done may not be acceptable to the majority of law-abiding citizens but I take full responsibility for anything I do in life and what I do in my personal life has nothing to do with my public life.” Whether or not you knew the girl was of age is not the point (and frankly hard to believe). What you do in your private life represents your character and integrity. Of course it has to do with your public life. You are a figure in your community who wants to represent the people of Penticton. To an extent I really don’t care what a politician does in private but there is a line and child rape is definitively across that line.
It’s rape, it’s child abuse, and it’s disgusting. Something tells me that the majority of the people in Penticton would agree with me. Go figure you have been ostracized from you community. Sorry to tell you but your dream of becoming Penticton’s next mayor is probably down the drain as well.
Charges Dropped Against Strauss-Kahn
This afternoon the DA’s office in NY filed a motion to have the charges against Dominique Strauss-Kahn dismissed, the motion is expected to be approved on Tuesday when he appears in court. The dismissal is said to be based on the many inconsistencies in his accuser’s story. According to prosecutors Diallo had lied in a political asylum application that she had been persecuted in her native Guinea and was “untruthful” with prosecutors about her history, background and personal relationships. She maintains that Dominique did sexually assault her and he forced her to have oral sex with him. The medical documents showed that the wounds that she suffered were in fact caused by rape.
Soon after meeting with Ms. Diallo, who accused Dominique Strauss-Kahn of trying to rape her, and the DA, her attorney-Kenneth Thompson- announced that the charges were to be dropped. “The Manhattan district attorney Cyrus Vance has denied the right of a woman to get justice in a rape case, If the Manhattan district attorney, who is elected to protect our mothers, our daughters, our sisters, our wives, and our loves ones, is not going to stand up for them when they are raped or sexually assaulted, who will?”
“There were many reasons to believe that Mr. Strauss-Kahn’s accuser was not credible,” his attorneys said in a statement.”Mr. Strauss-Kahn and his family are grateful that the District Attorney’s office took our concerns seriously and concluded on its own that this case cannot proceed further,” the statement said.
Strauss-Kahn has proclaimed his innocence since this case came to light. However, the case isn’t over yet. Ms. Daillo filed a civil suit and has requested a special prosecutor for the case. The suit that was filed states that a naked Strauss-Kahn came out of his bathroom and forced Diallo to perform oral sex on him while she was cleaning his hotel room. This is also not his only legal problem. Back in France yet another accusation has emerged by a journalist who claims that in 2003 Strauss-Kahn attacked her in her apartment and forced her to have sex with him. Unfortunately the statutes of limitations on ‘sexual aggression’ in France has expired and authorities say that it will be very hard to prove rape so many years later.
Update, Aug 23, 2011: the judge has rejected the request for a special prosecutor.
Update #2 Aug 23, 2011: New York State Supreme Court Justice Michael Obus threw out the criminal sexual assault charges against Strauss-Kahn. DSK’s Lawyer had this to say: “gratitude to the district attorney’s office for taking what I think to be a commendable and courageous step”
Police Leave Rape Victim Restrained for 5 Hours
Some disturbing news has emerged out of Ontario this week. And no surprise here it once again involves the Ontario Provincial Police. When I heard about this story I had one of those WTF moments that we all have.
Allegedly the OPP left Laurie Massicotte tied up naked and bound after responding to a 911 call that she had been raped. When they got to her home they found her tied up and bound, but instead of releasing her the OPP left here there. “I was left for five hours, still in my harness, still tied up, naked, lying under a comforter, five hours, no medical attention. I was in total shock. I didn’t know what the heck was going on.” Massicotte told the Ottawa Citizen. It would turn out that her rapist was Col Russell Williams, who once commanded the Trenton Canadian Force base and acted as a military pilot for VIPs including: Queen Elizabeth 2 and the Prime Minister, is now serving 2 life sentences for the first degree murder of Jessica Lloyd, 27, and Cpl. Marie-France Comeau, 37. As well as two 10 year sentences for sexual assault, two 10 year sentences for forcible confinement and finally 82 one year sentences for burglary offences all at Kingston Penitentiary. Williams confessed to breaking into Massicotte’s house and raping her during his confession Williams said: “She was scared, she was worried she was going to be seriously hurt”. He blindfolded her, cut her clothes from her body with a knife and took pictures. According to court documents the entire ordeal lasted at least 3 1/2 hours. If this wasn’t bad enough when she was finally able to call 911 and the OPP arrived instead of freeing her they left her tied up telling her that they could not release her until a photographer arrived to take crime scene photos.
Ontario Police are no stranger to questionable behaviour. In November, 2010 Judge Richard Lajoie ruled that Stacy Bond detainment and strip-search was a ‘clear violation’ of her rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. All charges were also dropped against Bonds. You can find the disturbing video here in which she is kneed by Constable Melanie Morris, pinned to the ground by Sargent Steve Desjourdy who then gets a pair of scissors and cuts off her shirt and bra. She was then taken to a cell where she was left topless for hours. Bonds is now suing the OPP.
Another disturbing example is the Roxanne Carr case. Carr was originally arrested and charged with obstructing police and damaging property in 2008 but those charged were dropped in April 2011 after the tape was released.
In the video that was released (after media fought for it’s public release but was initially missing) Carr can be seen being dragged down a hallway by 6 police officers who force Carr to lay down. Carr is then dragged to her cell and left there. A second later however, 4 police officers rush into her cell and is seen coming out with her clothing. Her clothing is not returned to her for 1 hour. Carr is suing the OPP for mistreatment. She claims that officers broke her arm and wrist that night and left her laying naked in her cell.
Police brutality, mistreatment of rape victims? Is it any wonder that women don’t like to deal with law enforcement let alone report sexual assault and other crimes?
When are we going to stand up as Canadians and inform police officers (since they apparently have not figured it out yet) that they are in fact not above the law, they can’t do whatever they please because they have a badge, they should be held to a higher standard, and abuse of power can not and will not be tolerated. In the two cases above these officers should be thrown out of the force, particularly if the allegations against officer Morris are true that she has in fact been involved in incidents like this in the past. There needs to be a zero tolerance policy for police abuse.
As for leaving a rape victim bound in her offenders make shift contraption for over 5 hours I again say WTF? I understand that Police have a job to do and they want to make sure that they catch the offender but this never should have happened. You don’t put catching an offender a head of someone’s well being, safety, and mental state. If this is an official policy of the OPP it needs a sever overhaul.
One of the Norfolk Four Officially Cleared
Even with all the technology available to us now conviction is never 100% our technologies are never 100% so we still face the possibilities of innocent people being convicted. The Norfolk four are a possible example of this happening and I wanted to share the story with you. If you are not familiar with this case let me give you a bit of background.
The Norfolk four were four veteran Navy sailors who were falsely accused of sexually assaulting and murdering Michelle Moore-Bosko in 1997 in Norfolk, Virginia. The conviction itself was based on false confessions that were obtained after hours and hours of interrogation the four veterans went through. In 1999 Omar Ballard confessed to the crime saying he and he alone committed this horrendous act. When his DNA was tested it proved to be a match to the only DNA found at the crime scene.
On August the 6, 2009 three of the four were given conditional pardons from state governor Tim Kaine. Derk Tice, Danial Williams, and Joseph Dick Jr would be set free after spending 11 years in prison however this was conditional and they would still have to register as sex offenders. Wilson would serve his full sentence and be released in September of 2006.
On October 27, 2010 the detective responsible for obtaining the confessions, Robert Glenn Ford was convicted on two counts of extortion and one count of making false confessions. He is currently serving 12 ½ years for his crimes.
On August 4, 2011 Circuit Court Judge Charles E. Poston accepted a request from the same prosecutor that prosecuted Derek Tice to drop the two felony charges against him relating to the rape and murder of Mrs. Moore-Bosko. Tice is the first of the four who has won appeals the other three men have appeals pending with the court.
Ms Moore-Bosko’s parents did not attend this hearing and maintain that all 5 convicted were involved and stated that last Thursday’s hearing was “nothing but a joke”. Omar Ballard, who was already serving a double life sentence when he confessed maintains that he committed this crime alone and no one else was involved and currently still remains as the only of the 5 who can be linked to the crime scene.
Retailers Linked to “Rape Factory”
Some major American retailers are coming under fire for their association with the Classic factory in Jordan that supplies: Wal-Mart, Lands End, Target, Hanes, Macy’s and Kohls with clothing for their stores. In a report released by the Institute of Global Labour and Humane Rights it accuses management at the factories of sexually assaulting young female workers at the plant who are there as “guest workers” to earn extra money for their families back home. “We only went to Jordan to earn money to help our families. We had no idea that factory managers would rape so many of us young girls.” says an unidentified worker. You can hear testiomny of another worker in the plant here.
According to the report over 300 complaints have been launched against the manager of the factory and in October 2010 workers went on strike demanding the manager be fired from the plant. He reportedly was sent away for a month but then returned. The Huffington Post reports that other allegations include: regular beatings, workers being underpaid and short changed, bed bug infestations in living quarters, and a lack of heat and water. And all the companies involved in purchasing from the factory have refused to publicize whether or not they are still making purchases from Classic.
According to the same article in the Huffington Post the Institute of Global Labour and Humane Rights has also uncovered plots that exposed Burlington Coats in using cat and dog fur in coats sold in the USA, reported that plants in Jordan were confiscating their workers passports, and that Wal-Mart was selling a clothing line produced in a factory in Central America that was using child labour to manufacture its goods.
On June 17, 2011 Anil Santha was arrested in connection to the sexual assaults but then let out on bond. The Case against Anil Santha is still pending and he has not been found guilty of these charges.
Scientists Develop Date Rape Drug Detector
According to a news source two Scientists in Israel have developed a drink stirrer that when stirred into your drink will detect if there are drugs present. One of the scientists told AFP “You just dip it into your drink, it might actually look like a stirrer in the final production, it’s tiny, very tiny.” The scientist goes on to explain just how 
easy the device is to use and how it works: “The drug itself is reacting with this chemical formulation and the previously clear formula becomes dirty and when the light shines it you can detect it,” Ioffe said. “You don’t have to do anything but dip it in your drink.” They went onto say that they tested their device on a wide variety of drinks (pop and alcoholic beverages) and it was 100% effective when testing for GHB (gamma-hydroxybutyric acid) and ketamine but they have yet to test it on the other popular date rape drug, Rohypnol.
The scientists have not yet decided how the device will notify people, ideas they have been kicking around include: lighting up, rotating, or sending a signal to your cell phone. “Maybe it will just light up or a part of it will rotate or maybe it will send a signal to your cell phone because you want to be discreet about it.”
My only criticism is the worry around being discreet. I understand you have no way of knowing who put these drugs in your drink but it seems to me if mine comes back positive I have nothing to be discreet about, someone tried to drug me. If we use this tool as a weapon against sick freaks maybe if we are not discreet about it some will be deterred from trying it in the first place. But if we are discreet with this tool these people will just try it anyway ( don’t get me wrong I know no amount of deterrence will work for everyone). However, if we stigmatize the use of the tool before it is even out women won’t want to use it out of fear of being labelled or told they are over reacting.
Another interesting point was brought up by Safer Campuses it could put an interesting twist on the bystander effect. If your drink comes back positive will some simply leave in order to be discreet and not embarrassed or do they instead speak up? Of course what happens with this goes back to if we’ve stigmatized the use of such a tool.
In any case the scientists say it could be commercially developed and on the market within a year. All they need is some financial backing. As someone who was drugged by a bartender I would totally buy this product.
Reality Check
I wrote this last term after a very emotional evening class where we were talking about sexual assault. I thought I would share it with everyone. It’s a bit disorganized but please bare with me. I was pretty emotional when I wrote this up. I also used ‘sexual assault’ and ‘rape’ instead of just one or the other. Sorry it is so lengthy. I promise not all my blog entries will be this long.
As I sat in a class room last week listening to students sitting around talking about oppression and ultimately rape I couldn’t help but find myself getting angrier and angrier. The nerve of a bunch of males sitting around trying to explain rape infuriated me. That is until I realized that it isn’t their fault. It is not their fault that they don’t understand that the white, patriarchal, sexist world that we live in allows for such horrors to take place. The patriarchal viewpoints skewed their perceptions of reality, at least to a point. to my astonishment as I sat there I realized this happened not only in men but in women to (I will come back to this point).
Rape is not about finding sexual pleasure as the media might have you to believe. Rape is about power, domination, and control. One of the students in the class had said that women have to be careful when they go to other countries because if they go there and are caught without a male escort “they risk being sexually assaulted or worse”. Make no mistake about it, I am not disputing the fact that this is very true in some countries. However, rape is not a just a third world problem, or something that only happens in other countries, something that happens to other people, or something that only happens to women. Sexual assault happens in our own backyard. It happens to men. It happens on this very university campus (I wrote this for MRU). It happens on other campuses. And it has probably happened to someone you know.
To put it into context for you according to 2004 and 2007 statistics collected by the government of Canada: one in three women are sexually assaulted (to put this into context that means if you have 22 women in your class on average 7 of them are sexual assault victims), and only one in ten assaults are reported. Which means out of the 22 people only 2 of them felt it as OK to report, or were able to report, or felt it was worth reporting. According to that same research 84% of assaults are committed by someone the survivor knows, and assault rates are five times higher for women ages 15 to 24. And According to victimization surveys done by stats Canada 58% of people said they didn’t report it because it was not important enough.
If this is not enough to convince you there is a deeper problem that is entrenched in our culture, in our justice system, and with policy think about this: in 2007 charges were laid in 1/3 of the assaults reported to police whereas other violent crimes that were reported to police resulted in charges being laid in ½ of them. Has sexual assault become so socially acceptable in our society that we just don’t take it serious? Or have we just silenced ourselves to the point where everyone knows it goes on but no one wants to talk about it? We need to realize that sexual assault is a serious issue within Canadian communities. The scary part is that most people don’t even realize that they have committed sexual assault. Why? Because some assault is not only a socially learned behaviour it is reinforced everyday by media, and peers. Before you crucify me. I am not saying that our parents and TV are saying “You know that girl next door? If you want her and she doesn’t want you, just force her”. Obviously that doesn’t happen. But think of the following scenario: You meet someone at the bar, you are sober they are not. You see an opportunity to get ‘laid’ so you take them home and you take advantage of their state. The next morning she or he is embarrassed reveals that they didn’t want to have relations that night and goes home. Under the Canadian criminal code, you just raped someone. Or consider this scenario: a girl friend and a boyfriend:
Girl: come on you want to don’t you?
Guy: No, not right now
Girl: come on WTF? Is wrong with you?
Guy: I just don’t want to at the moment
Girl: Oh come on (pushes herself on guy, and guy seems to give in)
this is also sexual assault. Consent was not given. Assault has become so socially acceptable that we don’t even know what consent is anymore. People seem not to understand consent. I don’t understand why it is not complicated. Yes = Yes and No = No.
I recently heard a couple guys talking about the “3 No rule”. I wasn’t sure what this was and had to ask someone. To my surprise I found out that 3 No’s = Yes. On what planet does this make sense? This can only make sense in a world where men (and women) are taught that women shouldn’t be asking for sex. We should be acting like we don’t want sex and men should be trying real hard to get it from us. This makes me sick. If I say “No” it doesn’t mean ask me 2 more times and if I don’t run away screaming from you it means you have consent.
I saw an article in the popular ‘Cosmo’ magazine, a few months ago, that coined a new term “gray arearape”. This is rape that “refers to sex that falls somewhere between consent and denial and is even more confusing that date rape because often both parties are unsure of who wanted what”. According to Cosmo, and several news sources, this is a result of the university “hook up culture”. I have a question… how does sex fall somewhere between consent and rape? If there is no consent then there was a sexual assault. So what is happening to our society? And why do we have a blasé attitude toward rape? You could make the argument that no one has a blase attitude towards rape as it is a horrific crime, but in that case you can’t argue when I saw that we do have a don’t ask don’t tell policy.
To explain this we must take into account societal beliefs about traditional gender roles. In a patriarchal society men are taught to be aggressive and dominant, these behaviours are often learned and reinforced at home, by peers, and through media. Women are encouraged to be dependent and passive. This is reinforced every single day. We are constantly flooded with messages that have underlining messages that we are supposed to be passive and there are strict rules on how we are supposed to act and behave. Think about the ads you see every single day, or the ‘tally’ sheet the cool alpha males have showing off their accomplishments. Men are expected to be tough, physical, and sexual. While, in contrast to this, women are supposed to be quiet, passive, innocent, and nice to look at. On the one hand we can’t be blamed for this. We are socially constructed to act, or to believe we should act, in such ways. How can you stop something you didn’t even realize you were doing?. To stop sexual assault we must look at two things.
The first is to debunk common myths regarding sexual assault that are presented to us at home, school, and in the media. We must eradicate them.Through debunking these myths we will be able to start educating people on the real issues and simple things like consent. I should probably explain what a rape myth is. Rape myths are attitudes and false beliefs about rape that are widely and persistently held, and that serve to deny and justify sexual aggression.” So what are some of the common myths? I want to go through them one by one.
- That sexual assault is when a man rapes a woman. Not true, sexual assault is any form of sexual contact without consent. Period.
- People are usually sexually assaulted by strangers. I hear this myth in the hallways all the time. But in actual fact according to statistics Canada 85% of sexual assaults in Canada are committed by someone the survivor knows.
- Men cannot be sexually assaulted. This is a myth I also commonly hear about on campus. Many stereotypes about men and their masculinity make people mistakenly believe that men can’t be sexually assaulted. Due to their gender roles men are the one’s doing the sexual assaults. However, a man can be sexually assaulted by someone he knows as much as a woman can be sexually assaulted. Rape is not about gender, rape is about power and control over the victim.
- Sexual assault happens because men can’t control sexual arousal. Again, sexual assault is not about arousal. Sexual assault is about power and control over the victim.
- Most people who claim that they have been sexually assaulted lie about it. The research shows that sexual assault is a very unreported crime. Statistics Canada reported that only approximately 8% of sexual assaults are reported and of these only 2 or 3% of them are false reports.
- When someone is drugged it is their fault. This is a false, very wrong assumption. People assume that people are sexually assaulted at club or parties when in actual fact most people are sexually assaulted in their homes by someone they know. Most people are also not ‘drugged’ when a drug is used more often that not the drug is alcohol.
These rape myths serve functions: blaming the victim, excusing perpetrators, maintaining patriarchy, and to collude in the oppression and social control of women. By blaming the victim we imply that the survivors could have and should have done more to prevent the sexual assault. The assault then becomes about what the victim was wearing, or doing at the time of the assault. We can see this recently in not only the criminal justice system but the media. The New York Times has a shameful reputation for blaming the victim like
this article. The New York Times article states that the 11 year old child was “dressed older than her age, wearing makeup and fashions more appropriate to a woman in her 20s.” How exactly is this relevant? It later goes on to say “Where was her mother? What was her mother thinking?”. Excuse me? How is the mother to blame for this crime? If you can somehow get past this type of journalism what you shouldn’t be able to get past is the way the justice system treats victims. For example, Judge Robert Dewar gave a convicted rapist a 2 year conditional sentence because in his words “there wereinviting circumstances” and ” the women were wearing tube tops with no bra, high heels and plenty of makeup.” I did not know that if I wear high heels, no bra, and makeup this means I am implying consent. And ”They made their intentions publicly known that they wanted to party.” Since when does wanting to ‘party’ mean ” I want sex do whatever you want to me.” I am going to have to watch my language in the future.
Not only do I find these types of messages dangerous to women I also find them insulting to men. If I were a man I would be some pissed off. This judge is implying that because of the actions of these women, the men in the case were not able to control themselves. Does anyone else think that if a man (or men as is implied) is/are so incapable of controlling themselves and only have animal instincts that they should be locked up? Absolutely! The problem? Men are not this way. I know plenty of men who would never dream of acting in such a way, and are in fact insulted by this mentality. The issues here is victim blaming. Most myths (though, not all myths) are aimed at doing just that. Victim Blaming. As women we are often told to watch what we wear, what we drink, who we go out with, and how we act in public. If we slip up and get ourselves raped we got what was coming to us. In other words. There is something you can do to prevent rape.
This serves to functions. The first is that it justifies and excuses the rapist the second function is to allow this excuse to continue on by leading people into a false sense of security. If I don’t do these things I won’t be a victim. When these myths blame the survivors we are excusing the behaviour of the perpetrator, or worse even justifying that behaviour. This leads very smoothly into controlling woman and easily getting men to collude in that control. If we make sexual assault the fault of the women how can she fight her way out of that oppression? She has no choice but to keep it inside and deal with the mistake she had made. If she dare speak out about it not only will she reach road blocks with law enforcement, she will face being stuck into the “frigid” category by men and worse yet the “skank” category by women. The system is a brilliant system of divide and conquer. Not only will we set it up so women can be objectified by men we will also make it so women hate each other.
How many of you out there have judged a women because she had on a “skanky pair of hooker boots”, or “look at how low cut that shirt is, we never wore things like that at that age”. Divide and conquer. The best example of this I can think of is 50% of Women Blame Women for their own Rape. How messed up is this?
Finally, rape myths serve to maintain patriarchy. This is done through gender roles, and our socialization (through media, peers, family, and education). From the time we are small we are taught that boys are strong and tough, and girls are weak and agile. Women are objects put on earth for the pleasure of man and they should shut up and take it. This is not only problematic for women but it is very problematic for the thousands of men who get sexually assaulted every year. There is a dark flip side of this issue is that men who are sexually assaulted either are ignored by law enforcement, told that they should just be happy they got some, or feel too embarrassed to come forward about their assault ultimately not wanting to be called ‘gay’. After all men are supposed to be tough and strong. Aren’t they? Only the weak get sexually assaulted. Right? Think of it this way if a woman is raped, and if she has been heterosexually active she is subject to the presumption that she liked it. But heterosexual activity and heterosexual non activity are likely to be taken as proof that you wanted to be raped and therefore weren’t in fact raped at all. You are caught in a bind, caught between systematically related pressures (Frye, 1983).
If we take Frye’s idea one step farther men have a similar problem. If they are heterosexually active and are sexually assaulted by a woman and complain that it is rape then this is seen as proof that they are gay. From a societal perspective no man wants to be seen as ‘gay’ so they remain quiet. These fears are used to perpetuate patriarchy within society and keep everyone complaint within the system. These myths mean that women, and men, are silenced before they even begin. They allow us to ignore the behaviour of society and create a world in which sexual assault is socially acceptable.
Through framing sex as a way of gaining power, and through acting in sexist ways that restrict women’s behaviour, we set the stage for sexual assault to occur to both sexes. Therefore, these myths are all very harmful both to men and women. To women because it allows society to blame them for being assaulted. And to men because they don’t allow for society to acknowledge them as victims. In order to free ourselves from these shackles, society so gracefully provides, we must make a collective effort to not only debunk these rape myths but to also put an end to patriarchy that is so rampant in society today. The only way we will be able to start deconstructing these myths, end sexual assault, and end patriarchy is to come together and put an end to the hierarchy that seems to happen between women. Only then will we be able to truly conquer patriarchy, sexual assault, and the power dynamic that goes along with it. We need to speak to our children, our neighbours, our peers, our governments, our police forces, and each other. It is time for everyone to stand up against all forms of violence.
