Tag: women’s rights

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Let’s stop policing whether or not women have children

Deciding whether or not to start a family is a personal decision, so why does it seem to be everyone’s business?

I have always wanted children, and a little over one month before this article was published, I had one. Having a baby was the greatest joy thus far in my life. I also, however, was prompted to think about the debates about whether or not people should be having children. This is a debate I have had with many different people, and each debate has a unique outcome.

One of the main arguments I have heard from women who do not want kids is that choosing to have kids makes you a product of the patriarchal society. I find this frustrating because it removes the agency of women who make the choice to have children willingly. I do understand that in certain situations, there is a lot of pressure on women to have biological children. I know that in some families if a woman doesn’t produce a child it causes a lot of conflicts. That being said, I don’t think it is fair to paint this with a broad stroke. I think each woman’s decision should be accepted, and we should embrace that women are in a position to be their own agents in decision making.

Overpopulation and the environment are two other reasons why women say they are opting to not have children and I can understand the concern. I have heard the conversations about there potentially not being enough food to feed everyone. So, I can see someone choosing a childless life in light of this concern. I can also see how someone who is environmentally cautious and wants to reduce their perceived negative contributions to the environment might feel that having no children would make the most sense.

I have wanted children since I was about 16 years old, and so ten years later, I chose to have a child. I remember even growing up that there were debates about this subject. I grew up with two siblings, and in an Italian family, so having children was kind of a rite of passage. However, my desire to have children wasn’t from my family directly. I wanted to have a child that I could take care of and see grow. I think this should be respected.

Something I think is missing from the debate is the fact that men aren’t questioned about this topic in the same way women are. Men don’t have to answer why they do or do not want to be a father. I think that in order to come to a solid conclusion, the debate needs to have more balance. The reason I say this is because the debate around having children seems to just be another way for women and their bodies to be policed and judged. I also think it is easier to ask women the question because they will be the ones who are carrying the baby.

The justification process for either decision is one that makes this debate so heated. It seems like women are pitted against each other for whichever decision they make. I think the justification process, which I have gone through, is what makes this debate the most challenging. It seems that no matter which choice a woman makes, there is something wrong with that choice. Whether or not a woman wants children should be respected. I don’t think it’s up to me, men, other women, or society at large to police whether women do or do not have children.

 

 Graphic by Lily Cowper

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International Women’s Day 2020

March 8 was International Women’s Day (IWD) 2020.

IWD celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women, and serves as a reminder that much remains to be done to achieve gender equality.

This day has a long history – following the model of National Women’s Day in the United States, IWD was first celebrated in 1911 in Austria, Denmark, Germany, and Switzerland. It was then celebrated in Russia in 1913 for the first time, and in the following years, March 8 became the official day worldwide.

The United Nations began celebrating the day in 1975 but only started adopting an annual theme in 1996. The first theme was “Celebrating the Past, Planning for the Future,” and other themes since then have highlighted a variety of issues, from “Women and Human Rights” to “World Free of Violence Against Women.” This year’s theme is “I am Generation Equality: Realizing Women’s Rights.”

Over the last century, IWD has gone from protests in just a few countries to a worldwide campaign with support from organizations like the UN, UN Women and Amnesty International.

Since IWD was first celebrated, much progress has been made by women worldwide. They have obtained the right to vote almost everywhere, abortion is only completely illegal in 26 countries and partially illegal in 37, and there are women in almost all positions of power, from president – 59 countries have had a female leader – to CEO.

2020 and beyond

Despite the improvements in women’s situations worldwide and all the commitments/declarations of countries, corporations and organizations to achieve parity – such as the World Economic Forum’s framework for gender parity – much remains to be done to truly reach equality.

“Women have made a lot of progress, yes, but women are still dying, they’re still being killed by their partners, they’re still being disappeared and snuffed out, and there’s an impunity about it: it’s taken for granted that women can be beaten by their partners, aggressed, harassed, and violated,” said Marie Boti, spokesperson for Women of Diverse Origins, who organized the Montreal demonstration at Cabot Square on March 8. She added that this network of women’s organizations is hoping to bring back the militant tradition of IWD demonstrations.

As Canada faces a domestic violence crisis and a genocide of three decades of missing and murdered Indigenous women, Boti believes it is important to continue creating awareness about women’s struggles.

Boti said that even in North America, women are paid less than men for the same work – women in Canada currently earn about 0.87$ for every dollar earned by a man – while the largest burden of household and childcare tasks still falls on their shoulders.

In positions of power, women are severely under-represented: only a quarter of parliamentarians worldwide are women, and under 7 per cent of the Fortune 500 CEOs are women. In Canada, despite Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s promise of parity in his cabinet, women only make up 29 per cent of the House of Commons, and only one woman has ever been Prime Minister in the country’s history.

What about Montreal?

If we take a look closer to home, Concordia University’s spokesperson Vannina Maestracci revealed statistics that show that parity has been achieved. In the 2018/19 academic year, 50 per cent of students and 51 per cent of employees were women.

However, Maestracci’s student enrollment numbers split by faculty reveal that parity has not been achieved for every specialty. Although the Arts and Science and the Fine Arts faculties have more than 60 per cent female students, and the John Molson School of Business is close to parity with 48 per cent, there is a clear disparity among engineers.

The Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, despite being named after the first woman in Concordia University’s history to obtain a PhD in building engineering, only has 24 per cent female enrollment, according to the numbers revealed by Maestracci.

Although organizations like Concordia’s Women in Engineering are working on reducing this gap, these numbers reveal that there are still many barriers for women in STEM fields in Canada.

 

Graphic by Sasha Axenova

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The importance of Feminism in the 21st century

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth.

Officially recognized since 1977 by the UN, the goal of Women’s Day has always been to pay tribute to the achievements of predecessors in the labour movements and the feminist movement that succeeded it.

The history leading up to International Women’s Day is rich and full of brave women who fought for more rights and equality in the societies they lived in.

Though it’s a day to celebrate the achievements of women and how far we’ve progressed, we need to stray away from patting ourselves on the back and becoming passive in the status quo.

I am honestly grateful to have access to education, voting and having rights in general. I am my own person and I have a say in matters that involve my body and choices. But the heartbreaking truth is that reality isn’t like this for every woman around the globe. Just because we’ve progressed, doesn’t mean that we can’t do more to finally achieve gender equality—the same dream that fuelled so many feminist icons in the past to fight for all women.

International Women’s Day is a celebration of feminism and how brave women took to the streets of New York to ask for rights and less detrimental working conditions in 1908.

This year’s theme, which was  #EachforEqual  is wonderful to me because it is reflecting on what we should all be doing and pondering during the rest of the year. The goal of challenging stereotypes, fighting bias, broadening perceptions, improving situations and celebrating women’s achievements is what we all need to be doing. Why do we have to celebrate women’s achievements only once a year? And why does it have to become another marketing ploy abused by corporations?

Female empowerment isn’t properly celebrated with cutesy merchandise that may take the form of a bright pink t-shirt with the slogan ‘Woman Up!’ written across it or with a BrewDog pink beer ‘‘for girls’’ (it was in poor taste, even if it was ironic). It’s all feeding into sexist advertisements—and we’re in 2020. Do we seriously need to continue having this conversation and continuing to treat stereotypical gender roles as social restraints?

The world isn’t all sunshine, rainbows and unicorns and I’m aware of that. This is why corporations need to do better and invest money in the cause all year long, not only showing support on March 8 to be trendy.

International Women’s Day should always be about realizing how much we have progressed but also recognizing our shortcomings, and how much we can improve and continue to pave the way for less privileged women. There are still 132 million girls who don’t have access to education and are forced out of school worldwide.

In fact, many of these girls are refused opportunities due to sexism and outdated gender stereotypes, where girls are perceived as being housewives and don’t deserve an education, unlike their male counterparts, as reported by World Vision.

These biases against women aren’t only happening in underdeveloped countries.

On March 5, the United Nations Development Programme came out with a report with findings that 90 per cent of men and women alike hold a bias against women especially in areas such as politics, education and business. These results are upsetting and show that there are still invisible barriers blocking the achievement of equality.

Feminism isn’t only a trademark to show off once a year.

The advocacy of women’s rights on the basis of equality of the sexes needs to be kept alive in 2020 and the years to come—so that all women around the world can accomplish their dreams and are finally seen as worthy of holding titles that were traditionally held by men.

We all have a role to play in making this a reality. 

 

 

Graphic by Alexa Hawksworth

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The abortion debate: behind Canada’s bilingualism

The idea of having a Conservative government under Andrew Scheer reopening the debate on abortion comes as a shock, as most Quebecers believe it’s a vested right.

On Aug. 29, Tourism Minister Mélanie Joly tweeted a video of a pro-life organization leader, Scott Hayward, confirming that Conservative leader Andrew Scheer was on board with his cabinet ministers raising issues related to abortion. The claims of RightNow’s founder were received as mixed messages from the Tories, while a few party members were saying that such a debate was definitely closed.

The very same day as the video was shared online, Scheer expressed his position on the issue in a press conference, saying there is no contradiction in his discourse. Instead, he argued that “a Conservative government will not reopen this issue and I, as prime minister, will oppose measures that reopen this issue,”

But as reported by CBC, RightNow, which is currently registered as a third party with Elections Canada for the upcoming election, has the intention of recruiting and training more than 50 volunteers to run as electoral candidates. This raised concerns among experts as to whether Scheer would have the authority over his caucus to truly shut down debate on abortion.

“In the past weeks, people have been comparing Scheer with Harper, saying Harper said the same thing that [he would not reopen the debate],” said Anne-Marie Rivard, a PhD student at Concordia, whose research mainly focuses on post-Morgentaler abortion rights in Canada, and political translation surrounding the issue. “The thing is that Harper had some control over his caucus, whereas Scheer being the new guy, I’m not sure he has the same type of stronghold over his caucus the same way Harper did. So when he says that he wouldn’t allow a private member to propose private bills, that remains to be seen.”

The anti-abortion group is tackling mostly English provinces such as British Columbia and Alberta, where such discourse seems to resonate the most. Indeed, the questions on abortion have always divided Canada’s francophones and anglophone provinces. According to a Léger survey, close to 90 per cent of Quebecers believe that abortion should be completely legal, whereas the percentage drops considerably in the rest of Canada.

Rivard argues that the disparity comes from Quebec’s Quiet Revolution in the ‘60s which provoked a great nationalist-separatist movement, but also a separation from the church. The wide religious dissolution also nourished feminism across Quebec, stronger than elsewhere in the country, said Rivard. Such an empowering movement arguably caused the approach to abortion in a more humane way and secured its access in Quebec. The province was even reimbursing and offering the procedure a few years before the 1988 Morgentaler’s decision to decriminalize abortion.

“Comparing the English and French vocabulary, I have found that words in English use baby instead of fetus or mother,” said Rivard. “Whereas when it’s translated into French or even just originally spoken, they will use femme instead. Even the term abortion, in French, you will often hear “interruption volontaire de grossesse” which, obviously, with the term volunteer, implies that it’s a choice.”

Talks about reopening the debate might then come as a surprise for most Quebecers. But what most people tend to ignore is that, while the Supreme Court decriminalized the procedure, it is still unprotected by law; nor is it a constitutional right. This is where anti-abortion groups such as RightNow could gain leverage if they were to be backed by a government, as there is no law governing its access.

Indeed, conversations regarding abortion are arduous to bring into a province where its citizens believe it’s a vested right. Such confusion also leads to the belief that its access is guaranteed because of its legality, which is unfortunately not the case in provinces such as New Brunswick, as shown in a 2016-2017 annual report by Health Canada.

Andrew Scheer, a known devotee of Catholicism, insisted on the fact that whatever his own beliefs are, his party will not reopen the debate. But will he be willing to actively support and even improve the system? The answer is yet to be determined.

 

Graphic by @sundaeghost

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The generalization of birth control

Graphic by Florence Yee

Women seek better birth control and for men to have more contraceptive responsibility

Canadian women have access to over 10 different birth control options. However, some women have voiced displeasure over the fact that many methods are only designed for females, often putting the responsibility of preventing pregnancy solely on women. The methods can also come with many negative side effects.

“My doctor was pretty adamant about me being on the pill,” said 22-year-old Concordia student Sara DeMelo Zare. “After having asked about an IUD, he stressed that the pill was preferable for someone of my age—I felt like I was streamlined into a birth control stereotype.”

“My body definitely did not take well to the hormones I had introduced to it,” said DeMelo Zare. She said she experienced intense mood swings, cramps, severe leg pain, dizziness, excessive nausea and chest pain. “The physical pain far outdid shortened periods and their consistency,” she said.

Dana Martin, a 20-year-old mother of two from Toronto, said she believes birth control is assumed to work for all body types. “Birth control is generalized, 100 per cent,” said Martin. “What’s right for one woman may not be right for another.”

The most effective forms of birth control are copper IUDs, hormonal intrauterine contraceptives (IUC), hormonal implants, female sterilization and vasectomy, according to the Association of Reproductive Health Professionals. The Ortho Evra patch, the pill, the Depo-Provera shot, vaginal rings, diaphragms, both female and male condoms and the withdrawal method are deemed very effective methods. According to the same source, the cervical cap, plan B, spermicide, the sponge and fertility awareness are classified as moderately effective methods.

Martin, who used Tri Cyclen between the ages of 13 and 15, found the only benefits of the birth control were less painful periods and a much lighter flow.

“The side effects for me were extreme mood swings—I went through periods of depression for weeks on end—and weight gain,” said Martin. “By no means did the pill prevent pregnancy for me.” Martin said she became pregnant while on the pill.

“There are other methods of contraception and I’ve long considered just dropping the pill entirely,” said DeMelo Zare. “I thought of potentially looking into an IUD—but again, I’ve heard it has terrible potential impacts and often shifts and is even rejected by the body.”

For some women, hormonal IUC—the hormonal version of an IUD—have been beneficial in reducing menstrual bleeding and cramps, according to the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada’s website SexandU. However, according to the same source, it may also cause perforation—if the IUD punctures the uterus—which happens to one in 1,000 women. Each year, often within the first month of use, between two to 10 women out of 100 have found that their IUDs moved from their original position and are pushed out of the uterus.

Women who experience heavy menstrual cycles are advised to use hormonal IUCs—which do not contain estrogen, but contain progestin only. Copper IUDs, which are non-hormonal, are not recommended for those with heavy flows, as they may create even heavier flows and painful cramps, according to Family Planning.

Twenty-two-year-old and former Concordia student Aisling Doolan described her experience of having a copper IUD insertion as the most invasive, painful and traumatic experience of her life.

“For the next five days after, I had an extremely heavy period and cramps,” said Doolan. “I’m not someone who ever experiences menstrual cramps so it really threw me off.”

“I continued to get my period for a whole month and felt so weak, drained and sore,” said Doolin. She said her iron levels were so low she had to take out the IUD after about three weeks.

“It seems like there’s no escape from the potential impacts birth control has on our bodies,” said DeMelo Zare, explaining that she feels it has become fairly discouraging.

“Doctors need to be more open, honest and thorough with their patients,” said Martin. “We have a health care crisis going on right now,” she added, referring to the fact that there are too many patients per doctor in Canada.

According to the World Bank—a global financial institution which offers free and open access to worldwide development data—between 2008 and 2014, Canada had 2.1 physicians per 1,000 patients, amounting to approximately 500 people per physician.

Concordia Health Services health promotion specialist Gabriella Szabo said the issue of lack of time and access to health professionals is likely true, but probably only one small part of a very complex issue.

Szabo questions whether general doctors and nurses are getting good training for contraceptive consultations in school. If not, this can contribute to doctors not providing thorough information on birth control. “Is contraception counseling reimbursed adequately so that doctors feel they can dedicate enough time to it?” Szabo questioned.

Schools are a source where students learn about contraception, said Szabo. However, the Quebec government only released a pilot project in 2015, beginning sex education in 15 schools in Québec set to last for 2 years, according to CBC. According to the same report, the pilot could be adopted by all schools in the province by 2017-2018, however there have not been any updates towards advancement of sex education in Québec high schools.

“Many of this current university cohort are coming from Quebec high schools that had no sex ed,” she said. “A comprehensive sex ed program would also include contraception education.”

While having a conversation with a long-term partner, Martin said she discovered he had little to no clue about any form of female birth control. “In my all-female [high school] sex ed classes, we were taught everything from how to put on a condom, to different forms of birth control, to childbirth,” said Martin. “But his male sex ed class mainly consisted of condoms and the different types of STDs/STIs one could contract from unprotected sex.”

“Why is it that, as women, we need to have a thorough understanding of how condoms work, but men don’t need to know the slightest about female birth control?” said Martin.

Less frequently do we hear women asking their male partners if they’ve pursued all areas of potential contraception, exercised proper condom use or are aware of what birth control their partner is on, said DeMelo Zare. “The expectation of women to simply have ‘taken care of it’ eliminates the proper use of and knowledge of contraception by men,” she said. “That, in itself, is truly disheartening.”

Condoms and other contraceptive methods, along with regular testing, are crucial to ensuring a healthy sex life, said DeMelo Zare. “Men should realize that they share an equal part when it comes to pregnancy and STD prevention,” said DeMelo Zare.

Graphic by Florence Yee

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Striving to end violence against women

Photo by Savanna Craig.

Hundreds take to Boulevard De Maisonneuve to denounce rape culture and violence

Hundreds came together in solidarity for women’s rights and to challenge rape culture and violence against women, binary and the trans* community on Oct. 26 at Place Émilie-Gamelin.

“On vous croit. On vous croit,” which translates to “We believe you”—the crowd chanted in unison—as supporters marched down Boulevard De Maisonneuve. This chant reflected the crowd’s solidarity with women who have faced violence or have been subjected to rape culture. These are the issues that speakers addressed in an event held just outside of Berri-UQAM metro.

The event, organized by stop à la culture du viol, was created in light of current reports of sexual assault taking place in Université Laval’s Alphonse-Marie-Parent residence. According to the Montreal Gazette, two students who lived in the university residence were arrested on Oct. 21 for break-ins and sexual assaults.

“Violence, and sexual aggressions, are unacceptable,” said President of Quebec’s Native Women’s Association and event speaker, Viviane Michel. Photo by Savanna Craig.

President of Quebec’s Native Women’s Association and event speaker, Viviane Michel,  asked the crowd to take a few moments of silence for the victims. “For me, for her, for you, for us all, we need this moment to underline the importance of these problems,” she said.

“Evidently, there is a huge responsibility that the government has, to give help to the victims, not for the short-term, but for the long term,” said Michel.

Photo by Savanna Craig.

Université du Québec à Montréal student and protester, Vivianne Magnan-St-Onge, said addressing this issue is important for all women as situations of sexual violence can happen anywhere, even on a governmental level, such as with comments and actions made by politicians.

Photo by Savanna Craig.

Marie-Lou Tang Turcotte, a biochemistry student at Concordia University and protester, said some of the announcers drew on the issue surrounding U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump’s discriminatory comments towards women. Tang Turcotte agreed with the speakers, and said excusing his language as locker room talk allows our society to think it is acceptable for people to speak this way about women.

Photo by Savanna Craig.

Tang Turcotte reflected on another issue that the event’s speakers discussed, that of Lise Thériault, the Quebec’s ministre de la condition féminine, telling the Canadian Press in March that she does not identify as a feminist. Tang Turcotte said this is problematic because, as minister of women, Thériault should accept feminism as it addresses issues of violence towards women. Tang Turcotte said seeing this in our government is an issue, as it further creates a stigma that rape culture and violence against women is not prevalent in Quebec.

Photo by Savanna Craig.

“Together, we must continue to fight. We must continue, together, to say no to all forms of violence,” said Michel to the crowd.

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Fostering a dialogue on austerity

Simone de Beauvoir Institute looks at impacts of government cuts on women

On Thursday Feb. 12, the Simone de Beauvoir Institute invited the provincial government to have a public discussion on how austerity measures will affect women.

 

“We are simply raising the question of whether these cuts would have a particular impact on women, and we propose a forum to exchange ideas on this matter,” said Dr. Viviane Namaste by way of email. Namaste is a professor at the Institute and a research chair in HIV/AIDS and sexual health.

 

“The Simone de Beauvoir Institute has gone public with this invitation because we feel that government policies need to consider their potential impact on women,” she said.

 

At the press conference Thursday, Namaste read a letter on behalf of the Institute, addressed to Stéphanie Vallée, Minister of the Status of Women. In the letter, the Institute extended a Valentine, declaring their love for the women of Quebec, as well as an invitation to have a discussion on how the Couillard government’s financial reforms will affect the province’s women.

 

“As a feminist institute, located in a university, our mandate includes encouraging reflection and consideration of an issue, based on empirical data,” said Namaste.

 

In the press release, she proposed having two representatives from the Ministry, and two from the Institute. They also proposed having it conducted by a credible, neutral professional for a one to two-hour event that would be publicly broadcasted both on television and online.

 

“We think that many people would be interested in learning more about the potential impact of government reform on women. And we feel that a democracy includes a space of public dialogue committed to the reasoned exchange of ideas,” says Namaste.

 

In the letter, the Institute make it very clear that they are not going forward with this discussion in a confrontational manner. Instead, they want to discuss the impacts the cuts would have on all Quebec women: Aboriginal women, handicapped women, single mothers, and the elderly. Quoted from the press release, and translated from French: “Love requires communication and exchange, even in difficult times.”

 

The discussion would revolve around three main points: the governmental cuts and their impact in the health sector, the consequences the cuts would have on education and on the condition of women, and the search for solutions, whether they are political, fiscal and administrative to ensure the well-being of Quebec women.

 

Although these are not the only sectors in which women would be affected by the governmental cuts, Namaste emphasizes that these points will provide a point of departure to discuss how women will be affected in particular ways by the current governmental reforms.

 

The Institute concluded their Valentine and invitation with a wish to hear back from Minister Vallée before Sunday, March 8, 2015–International Women’s Day.

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Valentine’s march honours missing women

Annual event seeks to raise awareness on violence and abuse against aboriginal women

For 24 years, the march has been continuing across the country; with signs reading ‘Bring our Sisters Home’ and ‘No More Stolen Sisters,’ they proclaimed the continuing remembrance and determination to bring to light Canada’s epidemic of murdered and disappeared aboriginal women.

Originally started in 1991 in Vancouver, the march has since spread across Canada and highlighted the belief of activists that the government and police don’t afford it the necessary attention. The pressure for a government-run public inquiry has yielded nothing, with the Harper government so far refusing to budge. It was Montreal’s sixth annual event, which started off in Cabot Square and ended in Phillip’s Square near McGill.

According to official records, nearly 1,200 aboriginal women have gone missing or have been murdered since 1980 with 164 missing cases, and 1,017 murders. An RCMP report into the statistics said that while there were broad similarities to female homicide statistics nationwide, the rate of risk for First Nations women was much higher than the median. Other statistics show that aboriginal women, who account for just four per cent of the female population, make up 60 per cent of all Canadian women who’ve been murdered since 1980.

Marching down the blocks on a frigid February day, the hope on everybody’s mind was that this wouldn’t begin and end as a mere moment in time, as one march amongst a sequence. This sentiment was summed up by one member of the Justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women group, a grassroots organization working to educate the public and eliminate violence against aboriginal women.

“I can’t say for sure that we meet one another on a common ground of understanding, but it’s clear to me that there’s something that sustains us, there’s something that compels us to continue navigating these hurdles as a collective. I don’t know why any of you are here, I don’t know for whom you’re here, My hope is … we can walk together today, and we can support one another today, that we can turn towards one another and make a space for each of us in our grief and in our anger, and in our pain, and to allow all of that to co-exist as we walk together. I hope we can be forgiving of one another as we stumble forward and make mistakes and continue to learn.”

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A culture of misunderstanding, miscommunication, and misogyny

“Theft isn’t black, bank fraud isn’t Jewish, and rape isn’t male. Just because you’re paid to demonize men doesn’t mean rape is gendered.” These words accompanied posters put up by the newest chapter of a Men’s Rights Group in Calgary.

The posters were reported by members of the University of Alberta’s student union, and began to appear on social media on Sept. 16.  They also featured a portrait of Lisa Gotell, chair of the Women’s Studies department at UofA, labeled as a ‘bigot.’

Though this happened at a university, it would be naïve to dismiss the issue as something that is only happening on campuses.

According to Julie Michaud, the Administrative Coordinator at Concordia’s Centre For Gender Advocacy, the fact remains that rape culture is deeply ingrained in our society. “Rape culture is a term that sounds quite inflammatory. When we hear it we may feel like it’s an exaggeration,” she said.“We realize there are a lot of attitudes and explicit messages that tell us that rape is normal, and not that big of a deal. We’re told people who are making a big deal out of it are just being over sensitive.”

The problem with men’s rights advocates is not that they wish to talk about issues such as men’s access to rape and sexual assault counselling, it’s that they do so in a way that disparages feminism and anti-sexual violence work. Their words are less rooted in justice, and more in blaming the victim.

They ignore the fact that feminist discourse shows an understanding that these issues do not only affect women. This comes from a profound and intentional lack of understanding of feminism, which according to Michaud, is in part gained from media and popular culture, which paints women as “almost cartoonish, man hating feminists.”

For groups like Men’s Rights Calgary to insinuate that droves of women are lying about being sexually assaulted or raped is not only ignorant, it’s downright false. There are no statistics to support any assertion that women are lying about rape. In fact, the most popular study often cited by men’s rights advocates, which claimed that a staggering 41 per cent of rape claims made to the United States police over almost a decade were false, has since been completely debunked, according to The Huffington Post.

The rhetoric being thrown around by these groups is also dangerous; it normalizes the idea of rape and sexual assault. This victim blaming is part of the problem. We need to teach men not to rape, not teach women how to avoid being raped.

According to Michaud, it can start with more education. “I think we need consent workshops with as many students as we can. I think campaigns like the ‘Don’t Be That Guy’ campaign are very effective because they show in a really clear way, that having sex with somebody who’s too drunk, or passed out, or who changes their mind once some kind of sexual activity has started… that those things are all sexual assault.”

Despite the good intentions of campaigns like ‘Don’t Be That Guy’ Michaud believes they are not enough. She believes open discussions and workshops on the issue are important.

There remains plenty of evidence that rape culture is silencing women about their experiences with sexual assault. According to the Rape, Abuse, and Incest National Network, out of every 100 rapes that occur in the United States, only 46 are reported to police. Only three out of those 100 cases end in conviction. Those numbers point to a serious problem.

This is why it’s so important to have places like the Centre for Gender Advocacy, and the Sexual Assault Centre, which has long been fought for and is finally going to open this year.

At a time when a culture of rape runs rampant, and men’s rights groups look to undermine the work to end sexual violence and violence against women in general, it is our job to be vocal about these issues and to get involved as much as we can.

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