There has been a great deal of discussion in the Canadian media about sexual harassment and assault as of late; even The Economist has published an article about the subject. This discussion stems from formal and informal allegations from a number of women who say that they were assaulted and/or harassed by Jian Ghomeshi, the recently fired host of the CBC Radio show “Q”. Prior to this, I learned that over 300 current and former female RCMP employees were pursuing a class action lawsuit against the RCMP over issues regarding gender discrimination, harassment and bullying.
Also making headlines these days is the controversy over Justin Trudeau’s suspension of two male Members of Parliament (MPs) within the Liberal Party’s caucus; some are viewing his decision to suspend the Members for personal misconduct as politically motivated — done to gain favor of female voters at the expense of the alleged victims’ privacy. Two female MPs claim that the two now suspended male MPs engaged in harassing behavior towards them.
I read an article in the Globe in Mail recently about a female journalist who was fondled by a drunk male colleague while at a Christmas party, early on in her career.
Sheila Copps, the former deputy Prime Minister of Canada, also came forward recently explaining that a male colleague attempted to kiss and fondle her when she was starting out in her career as well.
When I learned about the RCMP cases coming forward, I felt that the women coming forward were finally taking a stand to say that their experiences were unacceptable, but I didn’t feel as if the issue received enough attention. Was it because of Ghomeshi’s “celebrity” status that the discussion surrounding sexual harassment and assault has finally gotten some steam?
Regardless, it is positive that many people are thinking about and dissecting the issue. In particular, there has been a lot of discussion about the importance of how society engages in “victim blaming” when people come forward with allegations, which plays a big role in deterring victims from reporting these events. People are also discussing the fact that many instances of assault or harassment become a “he said/she said” scenario because there are often no witnesses*. These two factors compound distress for the victims, and the latter could even create issues for the falsely accused, making for a very complex issue. Let’s face it though, do women make this stuff up? With the way society burdens victims and blames them, it’s almost as if we believe that they do. The most important issue at hand is the under reporting of harassment or assault because of the burden placed on the victims, and how we can better support them.
Better yet, how can we deter potential harassers and abusers from committing these acts in the first place? This is not a new question, but one solution is for victims to demand respect when formally reporting these events to create a culture more geared to supporting them. Lately we are seeing women discussing these issues more publicly. If perpetrators knew there was almost a guarantee of victims reporting I imagine inevitable consequences could be an effective deterrent. I realize this is easier said than done, however, as part of the male power dynamic of engaging in this type of activity implies that the victim’s will during and after the fact is manipulated by the perpetrator.
All of this said, I hope all of this discourse means that we are at a crossroads where awareness will help us to make systemic changes to how women are treated both in and out of the workplace.
By the way, where is Jian Ghomeshi anyway? Is he still in Canada?
* I realize that the instigators of harassment/assault are not always men, and that the victims are not always women, but this is frequently the case.
Why We Are Screwed 