There are institutions that purport to be responsible, to help and stop this systemic rape. There are systems that claim to be a part of accountability, to be a part of positive education, to hold people equally responsible to a set of ideals. Do they really effect positive change? Lets explore a few...
First, let's look at police . Police officers are more than twice as likely to commit sexual assault1, and they victim-blame and dehumanize those they allege to help. When they commit this assault, they are almost never persecuted or held accountable2. This is typified by the Toronto police officer who, speaking at York University about sexual assault, said that the way to not be assaulted was to not dress like a ‘slut’ - victim blaming. There were also the multiple accounts of sexual assault committed by the police on the weekend of the G20 protests, recent sexual assault charges pending in Ottawa against multiple officers, and more.
This fault isn’t just with police, it is endemic in the whole ‘criminalizing’ system. In August, a judge in Hamilton dismissed rape charges because the victim had been previously raped, and experienced multiple incidences of rape. The judge stated she behaved ‘...off the wall...’ As if there was a correct way to behave after multiple assaults and being put through a trial that attempts to deny and belittle her experience. And recently in Manitoba a judge stated that a women’s dress and behaviour meant that her being raped was merely ‘inconsiderate,’ and the perpetrator received a lessened sentence3. These instances point to the fact that this oppression is institutionalized and unaddressed.
What about our schools? How do schools start their day? With ‘O, Canada.’ This is a ritual that glosses over the systemic oppression, rape, torture, and murder of entire populations to create the land it glorifies. “Our home and native land” - Native as in stolen. “...glorious and free,’ as in generations of Native children kidnapped and forced through residential schools, communities herded to reservations, and treated as less than human. School is also a place too often filled with oppression in the form of bullying, and if left unaddressed can continue beyond school4.
How about we take that time instead to talk about healthy relationships, how to create and nurture them. Start off our day with at least five minutes dedicated to talking about how to eradicate this oppression, this patriarchy, this rape.
Five minutes...
I feel angry that this does not happen, it’s infuriating. I feel angry that we live in a culture of rape where all our interactions are laced with oppression, and the people who are most oppressed are the ones left doing all the work to change that. It is a privilege to be able to distance ourselves from oppression. If we distance ourselves from oppression, we are distancing ourselves from the responsibility of addressing it in our daily lives, in ourselves, and in those around us.
This requires active unlearning. I want to work with others who want to unlearn this oppression.
http://www.copblock.org/1595/making-the-case-for-more-police-accountability/
http://www.thestar.com/topic/siu
http://www.nationalpost.com/Appeal+filed+controversial+Manitoba+rape+decision/4458820/story.html
