Just “No.” Nova Scotians are usually too polite to say a flat-out no but they are shouting it this time because the world has changed, and Dalhousie University didn’t notice.
While restorative justice was being urged on students targeted by rape threats and hate speech (here), the community simply said, “No.” No to “boys will be boys.” No to dumping responsibility for safety onto the shoulders of the victims. No to obfuscating, PR-based administrative moves. No to allowing future dentists/virulent hate f*ck misogynists to sail on into their pricy careers anesthetizing (or whatevering) women in their dental chairs.
Restorative justice proponents sought to characterize this response as a primitive lust for punishment, and shame the public into accepting a private closed-door tete a tete between victims and the pro-hate-f*ckers, as the solution. But Nova Scotians weren’t buying it, and could see the issues very clearly: that community standards about misogynist hatred have progressed to the point that such men are simply not seen as acceptable medical professionals anymore. And apparently the provinces of Ontario, Alberta, and Manitoba agree as their dental boards have asked for the names.
Unlike the 1990’s when much Western-style restorative justice was developed, we now know what is needed to reduce sexualized violence and abuse in communities. Misogynistic abuses arise in certain conditions. According to the World Health Organization the risk of such violence is associated with male dominance and female subordination, with a masculinity that is defined by aggression, with poor institutional responses to woman-hating abuse, and with women’s lack of access to resources and power.
Abuse in the community is not a mystery to be solved through backroom faux-spiritual epiphanies in restorative justice mediations. It’s not a private “relationship issue” or “communication issue.” Abuse is the predictable result of community factors. And Nova Scotians know this: our province has one of the highest rates of sexual assault in Canada, and some of the greatest systemic problems. From our history of ignoring Premier Gerald Regan’s activities, to turning away from abuses in the Home for Colored Children, from the predations of the Shelburne School for Girls, to the disproportionate uptake of Maritime girls into prostitution, to the death of Rehtaeh Parsons – we know.
We know that the impacts of sexual abuse on our families, our children, our communities, have been huge. We know it has been a heavy lid on our spirits since colonization came to this land. We know that the Dalhousie Gentlemen’s hatred is a product of an interlocking web of discrimination, misogyny and class-based entitlement that has been around for a very long time. And we are refusing to have it swept under the rug and depoliticized, this time.
Instead, amazing Nova Scotians are challenging the sleepy, overfed authorities in this case to wake up, to truly look at the web of hatred so we can start to unravel it, to fully understand that there is no place in a healthy community for the systemic dehumanization of women, and to take the steps needed to create a new normal for the Dalhousie community, one that values women’s lives. To be leaders, for heaven’s sake.
– Pamela Rubin
Photo: Marco
Planning to attend either virtually or in person.
The tide has turned.
This issue is not going into the dustpan or under the rug.
It’s right out in the open and staying there.
Brilliant article
The sea change that is emerging, like an incoming tide, has outclassed the prevailing acceptance of “this is the way we do things around here.”
I have lived here for 25+ years and have been amazed as to how sheepish some people are in speaking their voice. Nice to see this changing.
Yes, when people start to see the possibilities, we speak up more.