Media

I love James Bond movies but confess I haven’t seen them all and the ones I have seen are newer. I did go back and watch some of the very early movies. I wasn’t surprised by the blatant sexism in them so much as the sexual assaults. Earlier James Bonds did not take no for an answer, he simply got forceful until the woman surrendered. I was disturbed by how casual it was all made to look, normal even.

We’ve had plenty of cop shows over the years for sure but in the earlier days it was all murders, drug deals, robberies, etc…but now rape is something quite often portrayed, in fact we have a whole tv show dedicated to rape, Law and Order: SVU which makes rape a source of entertainment. We even have songs like Blurred lines, Rape Me, and Blame it on the Alcohol, etc… that all trivialize rape, make it the woman’s fault or the alcohol’s fault.

It wasn’t until after that second sexual assault I reported that I began to understand what rape culture might actually look like. There are rarely consequences for the rapist, date rape is still widely accepted as the woman’s fault, we women are told to change the way we dress instead of telling men not to rape us. I sure changed my tune in a hurry.

I’ve spoken with other women who were assaulted and to get anywhere with the law is an uphill battle. I was asked if there was anything I might have said or done to encourage my “friend’, in other words “was I a tease and get what was coming to me?” The others have all mentioned the same kind of doubt from the police. Not that there aren’t women out there who will cry rape for whatever reason and the police have to be thorough but wow, nothing like blaming the victim.

The harsh reality is that we do live in a rape culture. What do we need to do in order to change that? Can we teach our sons and daughters to respect one another and keep their hands to themselves? Could we maybe stop spending money on things that promote rape culture? Could we stop trivializing women’s experiences and start validating them? How about we stop blaming the victims of sexual assault? What if sexual assault was no longer a form of entertainment in the media?

Here are some sobering facts about sexual assault in Canada. Follow this link for more information: https://www.sexassault.ca/statistics.htm

Sexual Assault Statistics in Canada

A Numerical Representation of the Truth

• Of every 100 incidents of sexual assault, only 6 are reported to the police
• 1 – 2% of “date rape” sexual assaults are reported to the police
• 1 in 4 North American women will be sexually assaulted during their lifetime
• 11% of women have physical injury resulting for sexual assault
• Only 2 – 4% of all sexual assaults reported are false reports
• 60% of sexual abuse/assault victims are under the age of 17
• over 80% of sex crime victims are women
• 80% of sexual assault incidents occur in the home
• 17% of girls under 16 have experienced some form of incest
• 83% of disabled women will be sexual assaulted during their lifetime
• 15% of sexual assault victims are boys under 16
• half of all sexual offenders are married or in long term relationships
• 57% of aboriginal women have been sexually abused
• 1/5th of all sexual assaults involve a weapon of some sort
• 80% of assailants are friends and family of the victim

PS I did not post a photo with this entry because I don’t really have anything fitting.