In a recent article regarding sexual harassment, Margaret Wente has once again employed fallacious tropes to downplay the magnitude of sexual violence in Canada. As The Globe and Mail’s conservative contrarian, it’s easy to dismiss Wente as an anomaly in our liberal and “progressive” society. Yet, I’ve routinely encountered peers who use her style and logic of argumentation to rationalize, excuse, or ignore the prevalence of sexual violence against women in Canada. Consequently, it’s necessary to engage with these problematic myths, and expose their flaws.
Myth #1: “Nothing short of castration could force all men to behave.”
Wente rationalizes sexual harassment as an inevitable product of men’s high testosterone and biologically insatiable sex drives. She conveniently fails to provide any substantial scientific reasoning for this argument, effectively ignoring the methodological difficulties of quantifying libido. Most importantly, such deterministic arguments ignore how scientists have already declared it a “gross over-simplification” to assume hormones are the primary motivators of human sexual activity.
Instead, “expectation and conditioning” are more salient influences on our conduct. It is easy to imagine, then, how men’s propensity for predatory behaviour is more likely caused by society’s constant sexual objectification of women and promotion of male sexual aggression. By recognizing that malleable cultural norms — as opposed to rigid biological factors — hugely impact sexual behaviour, society can be more effective in its fight against sexual violence.
Myth #2: Older women, especially those with influential positions, do not face sexual harassment.
We only have to examine Julia Gillard’s tenure as Australia’s first female Prime Minister to realize Wente’s assumption is simply false. In an online discussion, for example, Gillard received misogynistic comments like “get my dinner ready,” “lube up,” and “are your pubes as radiant, shiny and glorious as mine?”
While some may disregard this as mindless trolling, Gillard has also endured sexist behaviour from her political peers. What’s more, the dinner menu for a Liberal National Party fundraiser last year served “Julia Gillard Fried Quail — Small Breast, Huge Thighs.” Clearly, being a 51-year-old leader of one of the world’s wealthiest countries did absolutely nothing to protect Gillard from sexual harassment. This is because sexual harassment is not simply a product of physical attraction to women in their “sexual prime.” Instead, it’s a psychological weapon, used to discredit and intimidate women.
Myth #3: Society’s tolerance for sexual harassment is “approaching zero,” so there’s no real cause for concern.
Does Wente know about Google? A quick search reveals that in 2012, the Acting Chief Commissioner of Canada’s Human Rights Commission explicitly stated that “sexual harassment persists” and detailed Canada’s disappointing slow adoption of anti-harassment policies. In 2013 alone, Ontario’s Human Rights Legal Support Centre received over 1000 calls from people seeking legal advice for sexual harassment — that’s about three calls a day. And just this month, the Toronto Star released an extensive feature describing how, between Jian Ghomeshi and Parliament Hill, tolerance for sexual violence is still a pervasive and troubling issue in Canada. Face it: there’s a problem.
Myth #4: The police and justice system have “changed dramatically” so sex crimes are “far less likely to stay buried.”
Unsurprisingly, Wente uses the recent Ghomeshi scandal as evidence of justice being served. While it’s commendable that allegations against Ghomeshi are finally getting legal traction, the CBC sided with Gomeshi for months before this action occurred. What’s more, Maclean’s has chronicled how Ghomeshi’s sexually predatory behaviour was well-known, even in his university days, but no one took action against him. Evidently, we still live in a culture of complicity.
More broadly, the police themselves have acknowledged their insensitivity has resulted in sexual assault being a “woefully underreported” crime, exemplified by a 10 per cent report rate. What’s more, The Globe and Mail published a lengthy article last year that outlined how “Canada’s sex-assault laws violate rape victims.” In direct contrast to Wente’s, The Globe writes: “Less than half of complaints made to police result in criminal charges and, of those charges, only about one in four leads to a guilty verdict.” Is this due process? Like societal attitudes, the justice system is still deeply flawed when it comes to sexual violence.
Myth #5: Perpetrators of sexual violence are “leering crazies on the subway, or drunken men.”
In 80-85 per cent of sexual assaults, the victim knows their offender. Can we put the “stranger rape” myth to its grave already? Sexual violence is a structural, societal inequality and cannot be excused as merely thoughtless acts by incapacitated individuals.
It is disgraceful that a prestigious national newspaper like The Globe and Mail, which has a readership of 3.5 million people, continually broadcasts Wente’s trivialization of sexual violence. Her arguments are evidently baseless, yet they have gained notable social traction by reflecting and perpetuating traditional gender stereotypes. So while we can acknowledge Canada’s incremental progress, Wente’s views remind us to not rest on our laurels — we still have a long way to go.
Victoria Wicks is an associate comment editor at The Varsity. She is a second-year student at Trinity College studying political science and philosophy. Her column appears bi-weekly.
