Canada’s Dirty Little Secret

Victoria Day Weekened 2012.  (Trigger Warning)

Ours is a barbaric culture. Justice is not for all. The sexual assault of “a certain type of woman” is condoned in our courts by our juries and by our judges. Who is this “bad” woman? Any woman who doesn’t find sex repulsive and abhorrent is suspect. The whisper of a healthy sex drive and woman is branded unworthy of receiving justice. It’s been one hundred and eleven years since Queen Victoria’s death, and still this repressive attitude towards women pervades our culture. Social pressure to “keep women in line” is applied on all levels of our society, tacitly agreed upon by millions whenever we shame women for being sexual beings.

The implications are grim. Within our justice system assailants are not held accountable when victims of violence are blamed for their own victimization. This failure of our justice system rests upon a deep-seated cultural attitude – that violence against women is justified. This means that not only is violence a means of controlling women—

It means that most of us are complicit. 

          The threat to her is clear: Woman, know your place. Surrender your sovereignty to patriarchal rule, or else! Sacrifice your mind, your pleasure and your reproductive autonomy to your master. Your legal rights are paper-thin. Welcome to the 21^st century.

          Why control women? I think I know why. The Just World fallacy:  People are afraid of the random nature of existence. Most comfort themselves by indulging in a dangerous delusion: The belief in a just world – a world where nothing bad happens to good people – so when bad things happen, people  invent ideas to make life seem less scary, less unpredictable, more within human control. Believers convince themselves that if we all just take enough precautions everything will be fine. This belief leads to victim-blaming.

Researcher Melvin Lerner proved the belief of a Just World is delusion. If victim blaming is delusional, then our society is delusional, and therefore our justice system is delusional.

Social control of women is not making the world a more secure place.

Despite millennia of offering scapegoats in exchange for security, existence is still random and unpredictable. Victim blaming is making things worse, because instead of containing the real threat, which is the perpetrator of violence, our delusional legal system lets assailants go, free to attack again. The belief that society is going to make the world a safer place by shaming women and setting rapists free – well, surprise – it isn’t working. It never will.

Happy Victoria Day, Canada.

Support organizations that fight discrimination against victims of sexual violence – If you’ve got the guts.

http://streetharassmentdisruption.blogspot.ca/2011/06/victim-blaming-threats-and-risks.html

copyright 2012 recriminate.com

Canadian Ombudsman Replies RE: Systemic Victim-Blaming (Slut-Shaming)

I got a response to my letter to the Ombudsman regarding judicial rape victim blaming / sexual shaming. Here it is:

Fri, Jun 3, 2011 at 4:24 PM
subject RE: Education against systemic victim-blaming

Dear Anya Foster:
 
Thank you for your email of May 13, 2011 regarding your concerns about how victims of sexual assault are treated within the judicial system in Canada and your recommendation for further education of judges, lawyers, law enforcement officers and juries.  I truly appreciate you sharing your views with our office and for making recommendations for how Canada can better meet the needs and concerns of victims of crime.
 
As you may be aware, I fully support enhanced sensitivity training, gender analysis of current and proposed legislation and a higher degree of awareness for victims’ needs and concerns.  I have shared these views publicly and with the federal government by recently issuing a statement, which makes clear my unequivocal view that there is still much work to be done within Canada to ensure basic respect and rights for sexual assault victims[i]. 
 
I believe that all victims in Canada deserve more.  More access to information, more opportunity to participate in the decision-making and criminal justice process and more support overall.  As part of that, and as an important part of my role as Ombudsman, I will continue working through this Office to ensure that the decision- and policy-makers in this country understand those complex realities and move to address the gaps identified.  By sharing your concerns with me, you are helping this Office to better articulate these needs of victims to the federal government, with the ultimate goal of achieving true positive change.
 
For your information, we will be looking into this issue more closely as one of the many priorities we are working on.  We will be following up to learn more about what types of training are in place now at the federal level and where gaps might exist with respect to sensitivity to victims’ needs.
 
In closing, thank you again for your work to ensure respect and dignity for victims of crime.  Should you have future concerns or recommendations, please do not hesitate to contact our office. 
 
Sincerely,
 
Sue O’Sullivan
Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime
 
[1] To read the full statement, please visit the Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Crime’s website at: http://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/media/news-nouv/nr-cp/2011/20110301.html

 

Ombudsman – Please counteract judicial slut-shaming

For my part in the fight against systemic slut-shaming and victim-blaming of victims of sexual assault I sent this letter to the Canadian Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, requesting educational reforms. If you like what you see here and wish to copy and paste this letter for the purpose of writing to the Ombudsman or to any government official,  you have my permission. Or click on the online petition:

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/end-systemic-shaming-of-rape-victims/

<The Ombudsman appears to be an ally: http://www.victimsfirst.gc.ca/media/news-nouv/nr-cp/2011/20110301.html

May 13, 2011

To: The Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime:

Good day. I am writing because I wish to recommend changes that will eradicate or reduce the sexist persecution by the justice system of sex assault victims.

The current sex assault defense of  “honest but mistaken belief in consent”  is problematic because of a persistent belief in sexist stereotypes about women. A bias against victims of sex assault is pervasive within our culture and perpetuated and reproduced by the justice system. This unfairly promotes a blame-the-victim mentality and results in a culture that condones sexual assault.

The myth of the slut is the cornerstone of discrimination against women. It must be eradicated at the top levels of our justice system. The leaders of our legal system set an example for the rest of society, so the standards they set impact everyone, for better or for worse. It’s time for change.

For these reasons, educational reform must begin immediately at all levels of our society and especially among those who work within our justice system. Judges, lawyers, law enforcement officers and juries should all receive mandatory intensive training until they no longer validate the stereotypical, ideological, patriarchal construct  of the “slut”.

Please ensure that mandatory, intensive educational reforms take effect as soon as possible.

Thank you for your attention.

I can be contacted by email

Sincerely, …..

Slutwalk, Riot Grrrl Attitude, and Satire

Ray Filar writes that Slutwalk is rooted in Riot Grrrl attitude, a 1990′s punk attitude.

Her article here:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2011/may/09/slutwalk-feminist-activism

 and another writer notes the use of humor in this new kind of feminist activism in 

“Slutwalks and the New Political Incorrectness”

http://www.doublex.com/blog/xxfactor/slutwalks-and-new-political-incorrectness

“After thinking about it, I realized the irony and the satire in SlutWalk”, she said. “It’s pretty brilliant of them to take a pejorative that a Toronto police officer used and leverage that into a movement that has attracted the support of people who may not usually get involved in activist efforts.”

http://www.domesticabusemuststop.org/news.php?subaction=showfull&id=1304009808&archive=&start_from=&ucat=1&

I love these articles and I might add some more to this collection later.

Slutwalk Toronto – Astrologically Auspicious

I’m the unofficial, self-appointed, amature astrologer of Slutwalk Toronto. First, a disclaimer: As far as I know, no astrologer was consulted prior to setting the date for the protest of April 3, 2011. But once I discovered this horoscope I felt the news was too good to keep to myself. Yes, events can have natal charts too.

 The cosmos offered plenty of support to the first annual Slutwalk with 6 planets in fiesty, dynamic Aries, including the planet of revolutionary change. (No uranus jokes please. We’ve heard them all  before.) The sun, moon, mercury, mars, jupiter and uranus were all in the sign Aries – Aries the God of War. The MC or cusp of the 10th house is in Aries also. The MC represents the public role or public appearance of the event.   The New Moon in Aries indicates a strong, fresh start to a  rebirthing process. And thus feminism is reborn in the sign of the warrior.

With most of the Aries planets moving through the 9th House just as the gathering collected in Queens Park to hear the speakers,  clearly higher thinking and philosophy are the focal points of these firey planets. Aries is here for an idiological war.

The I.C. in Libra tells us that the inner motivation for Slutwalk consists of a desire for relationships of beauty, harmony and balance.

The ascendant is in Leo, the sign of the star performer who naturally takes centre stage. Slutwalk certainly lived up to it’s Leo Asc., getting lots of attention from around the globe.

The celestial goddesses and gods smiled brightly upon this event.

The chart was drawn for an event at 1:30 PM, April 3, 2011, Toronto, Ontario.

Interview with a sex-crime cop

Toronto SLUTWALK April 3, 2011

I once got an Ontario provincial police officer to admit that the legal system is sexist.  Over the phone.  I just kept badgering him with questions until I wore him down. 

“Really, I want an answer. This is not a rhetorical question,” I said.

I’d already spoken to several officers and this was the last conversation. They had raised the topic of consent. I’d  asked why police act like it’s ok for a woman to be raped if she’s a normal healthy woman – ie: if she likes sex. Why all the questions like, “What was she wearing? Was she in a sexual relationship?”                 

During the previous interview, at the little table in the little room, I’d asked, “What ever happened to ‘no means no’?”                                                                                                                                                                        The cop had responded with a stoney glare.        

 I wanted to know why that cop was making all those “cluck cluck, tsk tsk” sounds when told the victim was a normal sexual being. I wondered, Is this cop trying to shame women for being normal? What year is this? (It was around 2006.) Does this cop actually think  shaming me is going to work? She’s gotta be kidding. Should I tell her she’s wasting her time? (The cop doing all the tsking, by the way, was a woman.)

When told by the officer over the phone that the rapist will not be prosecuted in court, I ask “why?”

“Does this have anything to do with the sex life of the victim?”

No response.

“Does this mean raping women is legal if they’re not virgins?” I ask.

“No, of course it’s not legal,” he says with a sigh.

“But it’s condoned. That’s why you’re not going to prosecute him, isn’t it? Tell me why you’re letting a rapist off the hook. Really, I’d like an answer.”

And, after I badger him a while, he finally says, “It’s because the legal system is sexist.”

Later, when I told my friend (a guy who is not a rapist)  what I was told, my friend  congratulated me on getting this confession out of a cop.

I also found out that cops are really quite delicate and easily shocked. They are shocked if they find out a woman….

a) doesn’t wear granny panties under her flannel nighties even on sweltering summer nights.

b) likes having sex with a long-term partner. (Apparently cops think real women don’t like sex. What does that say about their own sex-lives? Low expectations?)

c) is not a virgin at the age of 20.

d) ever travels alone anywhere ever.

And I found out that cops have a completely different take on the English language than women, as though they’re from another planet. Cops believe that nobody has to take anything a woman says seriously. So, “no” doesn’t mean no, not if it is a woman that says it. Not to the police, or to judges or defense lawyers either. So, by keeping a rape case out of court the police are really just protecting the victim from the rest of the legal system (sarcasm).

Basically, the police and others working within our legal system tend to think pretty much along the same track as rapists. Except maybe rapists aren’t quite so delicate and shockable as cops.

And that’s why I took part in the Toronto Slutwalk protest.   http://www.slutwalktoronto.com/

 

SlutWalk Toronto, April 3, 2011

I was there, and it was awesome.

Why SlutWalk? Because being a “good girl”, ie; dressing conservatively / being virginal won’t protect women from getting raped. It can be done to anyone: Babies and grannies and men and military personnel –But our legal system won’t protect a women’s right to justice — unless she appears to be virginal.  I say “appears to be” because no matter what you do, a little slander or inuendo is all it takes to alter the way we think about a woman, and then, well, she looks different. 

Slut-shaming is a deterence strategy:

Shaming deters women from going to the police to file rape complaints.  And even if she goes to the police, the blame-the-victim mentality within the legal system often derails the process of justice before the rapist is ever charged. A deterence strategy is a classic military manuever that prevents opponents from taking action against  their rival. Yes, I said military, as in war games. This shaming routine a strategy in the war against women. 

On paper, Canadian women have equal rights, but in practice, it just isn’t so.  Any country that denies rights to women is fascist. Canada and the USA are fascist countries. There, I said it. Fascist. The recriminator has spoken.

Whether someone is a slut or not is nothing more than a matter of opinion. Ask a dozen people about me and you’ll get a dozen different opinions, ranging from from prude to slut to feminist  and everything in between, and that’s because opinions are subjective.

Despite the nebulous quality to the label “slut” our legal system systematically slut-shames all raped women who seek legal justice. The police, the lawyers, the judges and the juries condemn every girl and woman that goes through this system. The shaming that goes on inside our legal system is an excuse to deny women their basic rights - the right to equal protection under the law. Before a woman can even get her case into a courtroom she has to prove to the police that she’s not a “slut” and therefore deserving of the legal protection of her citizen right to not be raped. Because within our legal system, “sluts aren’t people and it’s ok to rape/beat/murder them”. Basically, our legal system is attacking human rights, feminism and especially women’s right to control over our own bodies.

http://www.slutwalktoronto.com