The story of the summer? The heartbreaking tragedy of Rehtaeh Parsons, a Nova Scotia teenager who took her own life after pictures reportedly showing her being sexually violated were circulated.
The song of the summer? “Blurred Lines,” with lyrics featuring coercive language recognizable to anyone who’s faced unwanted sexual advances.
Now, the story of September? Frosh week cheers at two Canadian universities, on opposite sides of the country, championing sex with underage girls with “no consent.”
Clearly, it’s time to talk.
From student leaders to key units within the university, individuals and groups across campus are speaking up in an ongoing conversation about rape, sexualized violence and assault, and the importance of consent.
Gaye Wishart, Dal’s harassment prevention/conflict management advisor, says the the university community has a particular responsibility to support those conversations, in part because Nova Scotia has the highest rate of sexual assault per capita in the country and university students are particularly vulnerable given their demographics. (The majority of sexual assaults are directed at women and girls between the ages of 13 and 25.)
But it’s important, she adds, to broaden the conversation beyond one or two incidents and consider how our culture propagates attitudes that objectify women and encourage sexualized violence.
“We’re living in a soft porn culture,” she says. “Some people call it a rape culture. The images are everywhere: they’re in the videos, on the billboards, on the Internet. Everywhere you look, you see images that objectify women. So the issue is: how do we think critically about that and work to change it?”
“It’s talking about the bigger issue at hand rather than just pointing fingers,” says DSU President Sagar Jha. “People have had an intense reaction to these events, and that’s to be expected, but we should have the same intense reaction to all the subtle ways we perpetuate rape culture: in the media, in our systems, in oppression within those systems.”
Rallying to action
The DSU, along with its new equity office, has been working with South House (formerly the Dal Women’s Centre) and the Nova Scotia Public Research Interest Group (NSPIRG) on a series of events this September to encourage students to take part in a dialogue around these issues. Last week, they hosted a community support and debrief, a safe space for students to sit down and discuss topics of sex, rape and sexual assault.
Then this coming Tuesday, Dal’s campus will be host to its first “Take Back the Campus” rally and march, starting at 5 p.m. outside the Student Union Building. The event, a spin-off of the long-standing “Take Back the Night” events, was planned in advance of the university chant incidents, but interest has been heightened now that the issue in front-and-centre in the public consciousness. Organizers with the DSU, South House and NSPIRG want to show that rape and behaviours that encourage it have no place in our community.
Link: Facebook event, “Take Back the Campus”
“What we should take away from this is organizationally, personally, politically and socially, we all need to start holding ourselves more accountable for rape culture: for ending it; for considering how we contribute it; for how we are not working hard enough to reach out to those who have survived or have been victimized by it,” says Jude Ashburn, outreach coordinator with South House.
Both the DSU and South House are using the phrase “rape culture” as a key part of their campaigns, a term that describes how violence against women is normalized and excused in popular culture, the media, society, and laws. Dal’s Wishart prefers the term “sexualized violence” in these discussions — not to diminish rape in any way, she says, but to reflect the wider continuum of sexual assault. “We don’t want people thinking that just because it wasn’t ‘rape’ in the strictest definition that it’s not as serious. Any kind of unwanted sexual touching without consent is a form of sexualized violence.”
Ashburn adopts the “rape culture” phrase in part because its brutality reflects the seriousness of the discussion.
“It is a hideous word on purpose,” says Ashburn. “I’m uncomfortable every time I say it… [but] it’s supposed to be difficult language, and if we sugarcoat rape, we normalize it, and that’s contributing to the perpetuation of violence.”
Inspiring change in our community
Regardless of the terminology, all agree that the heightened attention on issues of rape, sexual assault and consent represent an opportunity to educate and work to change people’s attitudes.
The DSU, NSPIRG and South House will be launching a poster campaign in the coming weeks around the phrase, “We’re calling you out.” Jha say it’s a call-out to members of the Dal community to share their stories, struggles, thoughts and opinions about rape and sexual consent.
“It’s also calling each other out,” he adds. “It helps point out that we’re all part of this issue.”
Ashburn says it’s been heartening to see so many new faces come through South House over the past few weeks, seeking guidance, resources or just someone to talk with about these sorts of issues. Those small, one-on-one conversations can be just as important than the larger rallies and campaigns.
“When hate crimes and horrible things happen, it’s crucial that people can find community and realize that you don’t have to be alone if you don’t want to be,” says Ashburn. “There are so many people out there who care and have your back on this, and in the pursuit of safer spaces, I hope people would consider us as an important gathering place to have those discussions.”
Dal’s Office of Equity, Human Rights and Harassment Prevention is another space where students can go to talk about these topics. But Wishart knows that if an individual has been sexually assaulted, the first person they confide in could be a friend, a professor, a counsellor or someone else. That’s why her team has developed sexual assault response guidelines for campus, a tool that anyone can follow if someone comes to them reporting a sexual assault. (The documents will be part of the office’s new website, launching in the next couple weeks, but you can review the guidelines here for both Halifax and Truro.)
Wishart’s office also actively promotes the importance of sexual consent. Together with ResLife and Dal Security, it rolled out the “Don’t Be That Guy” campaign last year in collaboration with Halifax Regional Police, an effort that targets men and their responsibility to ask for and receive valid consent. The Dal poster campaign contained its own twist, adding “Don’t Be a Bystander” to reflect that all of us have an obligation to speak up around these issues. New, updated posters are being circulated this fall.
The office also produced two new advocacy videos this summer featuring Dal students. Both are about consent, and one features men speaking out about the issue.
“Consent is at the heart of these discussions, and it’s important that students know that clarity is everything,” says Wishart. “Consent can be given and taken away. Coercion is not consent. Silence is not consent. The phrase that’s sometimes used is ‘enthusiastic consent’ — there can’t be any doubt about it.”
There’s also no doubt that these issues aren’t going anywhere anytime soon. For its part, the DSU wants to keep students focused on the crucial role they have in the conversation.
“It’s our responsibility as a student community to challenge views or perspectives that perpetuate a culture of rape, of sexual assault,” adds Jha. “That could be things our friends say or do, what we see in our culture, and what we consume in the media. It’s about standing up, speaking up and saying that these things — sexism, perpetuation of rape culture, transphobia, homophobia — are not welcome on campus.”
Editor's note and additional comment
September 26
We have received a number comments on this story over the past couple of days, many of which were in violation of our comment policy. In consultation with the Office of Human Rights, Equity and Harassment Prevention, we have closed comments on the story. However, we did ask Gaye Wishart from the Office to respond to some of the concerns raised about the focus of the "Don't Be That Guy" campaign and other efforts around these issues. Here is her response:
The two videos, Consent and Men Let’s Talk, were adapted from Carleton University. These videos feature mostly Dalhousie students, many in leadership positions, who wanted to educate the campus community on issues of Consent. Campaigns focusing on individual risk reduction (i.e. watch your drinks, don’t walk alone) aren’t as successful in reducing incidents of sexual assault and contribute to victim blaming. It is our aim to promote a broader conversation that sees this as a societal issue. It’s a fact that most sexual assaults are committed by men and that the greatest majority of victims are women between the ages of 13-25 years and in this context, men’s voices are essential to this dialogue. We wanted the opportunity to educate, to raise awareness of these issues and to ensure all our students, regardless of gender, make informed decisions on this important topic.
Due to the sensitive nature of this subject and out of respect for those who came forward to be part of this project, along with others who may have been harmed/re-victimized by the nature of many of the comments received, we have decided to disable comments. For more productive and respectful dialogue on this topic please watch for opportunities on campus to participate in face-to-face discussions on this issue.