“A national conversation about sexual assault has begun. Finally.”
That was the Maclean’s headline after at least nine women came forward with allegations that former Q host Jian Ghomeshi had assaulted them. The editorial below says that something good could come out of this infuriating mess, that maybe, finally, we can tackle violence against women.
“As a result of Jian Ghomeshi, a Canada-wide conversation about sexual assault has begun. It won’t stop until we will find a solution to this national crisis,” it concludes.
Maclean’s is right — we are talking. But nothing has changed. The language being used in Canadian media to dissect Ghomeshi’s trail of violence is the same language that made it possible for one of Canada’s brightest media stars to allegedly abuse so many women for so long with so little consequence.
It started shortly after Ghomeshi was fired and subsequently posted a note to Facebook claiming the problem was a jilted ex out to get him. The National Post’s Jonathan Kay penned a column seeped in admiration for Ghomeshi’s work at Q, as if this was relevant to his alleged actions. Since then, we’ve learned the staff who actually wrote much of the content that made Ghomeshi appear a feminist, progressive host worked in a “culture of fear.” The celebration of Ghomeshi’s star status is what made it so easy to keep harassed employees quiet and fans who should have known better coming back for more.
Carl Wilson is one of those people. His peculiar use of the second-person aside, Wilson’s Slate piece titled “I Knew About Jian Ghomeshi” is a long-winded lamentation of how he willingly benefited from Q appearances despite rumours of the host’s treatment of women. Except it’s clear he didn’t know of the extent of the allegations against Ghomeshi, yet his willingness to capitalize on a hot news item with an air of guilt without offering solutions for change says volumes about the skewed media power structure that Ghomeshi operated in.
“Already, amid the racket, you have heard new whispers, about other men. You don’t want to believe them. But you do. So far, you have done nothing about it,” Wilson writes.
This isn’t a gendered issue — women are just as eager to maintain the status quo. The Globe and Mail‘s Margaret Wente refused to entertain ideas that cultural failings enable men who abuse women, calling such a thought “a tremendous slur against men.”
The Post’s Barbara Kay obtusely said the stories of Ghomeshi’s alleged victims “indicate a willingness to get ‘romantic’ within hours of meeting him.” She said if only men and women observed old-fashioned dating “rules” about intimacy, these crimes could be avoided. As if archaic gender roles concerning sex haven’t created a climate where women are prizes to be taken. As if an abuser cares that you save good night kisses for the third date.
Keep in mind these are the same voices who at every opportunity have denied the existence of rape culture and suggested that alcohol is a leading cause of rape on university campuses.
Even at the typically progressive Huffington Post Canada, the stories of rape survivors were juxtaposed next to stories of female celebrities deemed “scandalous” for flashing a bit of thigh.
At the Toronto Star, the story that broke the allegations made sure to say the women involved are all “educated and employed” — the right kind of rape victim. The kind we can believe.
Is this the best we can do?
Denise Balkissoon hit the nail on the head with a column in the Globe and Mail saying that, no, we have not reached a “watershed” on violence against women:
I’m not swayed by the newly enlightened, standing with outstretched, protective arms, advising victims of violence that there’s no longer a need to be ashamed or afraid of coming forward. Let me tell you what too many have heard, and will continue to hear, perhaps forever.
I don’t believe you.
I don’t believe you.
I don’t believe you.
If change is to happen, as Maclean’s hopes it will, Canadian media need to stop patting themselves on the back for merely giving lip service to sexual assault, for the belief that naming the problem is courageous enough. Until there is a fundamental shift in how Canadian journalists talk about sexual assault and violence against women, survivors can take no comfort in the mere fact that people are talking.
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