So, while government leadership of Canada, US, European nations, Canadian provinces, & US States, invade or want to invade South Asian, Central Asian, Middle Eastern, & African countries to liberate those women & get those women justice, women in their own countries are suffering sexual assaults & not getting justice from their own leaders.
International Women's Day is celebrated with so much fanfare in Western countries, which by the way, are also known as "civilized" & "developed" countries, but be it the rights of Native women in Canada or students in universities all over North America, or the rights of female officers in Canada's RCMP or North American military forces, they are being trampled with nary a peep from civilian leadership.
Their rights of justice & fair treatment are not an issue because these women are not considered equal in society. They suffer even more if they are a minority, & not a middle-class / upper-class Caucasian woman. Civilian, judicial, & even military leaderships of all these Western countries enthusiastically harp about equal rights for both genders, but few, if any, walk the walk.
But, hey, we had to invade Afghanistan to liberate those women & get them those rights which are not apparently available to women in North America. Or we can't have veil wearing Muslim women in Canada because Canada is a transparent & open society where everyone is equal & a veil & hijabs are misogynistic pieces in a backward religion, practiced in backward, uncivilized, barbaric countries? It seems to me that Afghani, Iraqi, & Muslim women are far more luckier than North American non-Muslim women because so many powerful leaders of the Western countries are looking out for them. (sarcasm intended)
So, how about we clean up our own act first before point fingers at other countries & religions & purport to lecture them on treatment of women before we haven't cleaned up our house. All those commitments & acts of liberation of women sound a bit hollow when your own house is full of rubbish.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz garnered worldwide attention last year when she started lugging her dorm mattress around campus to protest the university’s decision that the man she says raped her in her dorm room was “not responsible” for the assault. Known around the world as Mattress Girl, she’s become an icon in the discussion around sexual assault on campuses & how universities are failing to take complaints of abuse seriously.
Since then, several female students from Canada have followed her lead & opened up about their own experiences.
Now, a new U.S. documentary about sexual assault on campus, The Hunting Ground, features interviews with dozens of women who were attacked on US campuses & who say that the only thing worse than the assault itself is how the university mishandled their cases after they reported them.
The film’s director, Kirby Dick, who also directed 2012′s The Invisible War—a film about rape in the US military—... talks about his latest project, how universities are complicit in perpetuating sexual violence on campuses, & what needs to change.
Q: What do you hope the outcome of the Title IX investigation will be? And will it change the way university administrations treat sexual assaults on campus?
A: ... no one in higher education wants sexual assaults to happen on campus, but they are so incentivized to keep it covered up. Maybe this film will help switch the incentive so that people–alumni, parents, students–will start demanding that schools be more transparent, that they take responsibility. What I’d really like to see is college presidents coming forward, on the record, on television, saying that this is an important issue at our school. I would like to see college presidents acknowledge that they have failed in the past & say they will personally take responsibility for making sure that changes take place. I think they could also apologize to the hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors on campus who have been mistreated over the past few decades. When you see college presidents going on the news talking about it in this way, that will signal that change has happened.
Q: There has been intense national attention in the US on the issue of sexual assault. The White House recently released PSAs about it, universities are introducing ‘Yes Means Yes’ sexual assault protocols, & the federal department of education is cracking down. Do you think the time has come when we will see permanent changes, or are you worried this is just a fad?
A: I’m very worried. I’m hopeful, but also worried. A lot of people thought this issue was addressed in the ’70s. People are shocked that it’s still happening on campuses. And of course it wasn’t, & not only that, it was buried again. This is an issue that will take at least a decade to change. This is not something that will happen overnight. It’s going to take a national effort & hopefully the film plays a role, but there’s a lot of other people that need to take control. It should be society’s responsibility.
Q: The film is full of deeply personal stories from women—& a couple of men—who experienced horrible abuse. What have you taken away from this?
A: When you’re doing the interviews, you’re just struck by how courageous these women are, in most cases, & sometimes men. And also just how vulnerable they were when they were assaulted & came forward, & still are, because they are young women taking on a centuries-old institution. It’s a combination of being very saddening & very enraging. I think that’s what you see in the film. Then of course, you see the hopeful piece with the students coming forward & taking action. As a filmmaker, I really want to be able to present, in a powerful & profound way, the truth of what is happening so that we can, as a nation, finally address it.
International Women's Day is celebrated with so much fanfare in Western countries, which by the way, are also known as "civilized" & "developed" countries, but be it the rights of Native women in Canada or students in universities all over North America, or the rights of female officers in Canada's RCMP or North American military forces, they are being trampled with nary a peep from civilian leadership.
Their rights of justice & fair treatment are not an issue because these women are not considered equal in society. They suffer even more if they are a minority, & not a middle-class / upper-class Caucasian woman. Civilian, judicial, & even military leaderships of all these Western countries enthusiastically harp about equal rights for both genders, but few, if any, walk the walk.
But, hey, we had to invade Afghanistan to liberate those women & get them those rights which are not apparently available to women in North America. Or we can't have veil wearing Muslim women in Canada because Canada is a transparent & open society where everyone is equal & a veil & hijabs are misogynistic pieces in a backward religion, practiced in backward, uncivilized, barbaric countries? It seems to me that Afghani, Iraqi, & Muslim women are far more luckier than North American non-Muslim women because so many powerful leaders of the Western countries are looking out for them. (sarcasm intended)
So, how about we clean up our own act first before point fingers at other countries & religions & purport to lecture them on treatment of women before we haven't cleaned up our house. All those commitments & acts of liberation of women sound a bit hollow when your own house is full of rubbish.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Columbia University student Emma Sulkowicz garnered worldwide attention last year when she started lugging her dorm mattress around campus to protest the university’s decision that the man she says raped her in her dorm room was “not responsible” for the assault. Known around the world as Mattress Girl, she’s become an icon in the discussion around sexual assault on campuses & how universities are failing to take complaints of abuse seriously.
Since then, several female students from Canada have followed her lead & opened up about their own experiences.
Now, a new U.S. documentary about sexual assault on campus, The Hunting Ground, features interviews with dozens of women who were attacked on US campuses & who say that the only thing worse than the assault itself is how the university mishandled their cases after they reported them.
The film’s director, Kirby Dick, who also directed 2012′s The Invisible War—a film about rape in the US military—... talks about his latest project, how universities are complicit in perpetuating sexual violence on campuses, & what needs to change.
Q: What do you hope the outcome of the Title IX investigation will be? And will it change the way university administrations treat sexual assaults on campus?
A: ... no one in higher education wants sexual assaults to happen on campus, but they are so incentivized to keep it covered up. Maybe this film will help switch the incentive so that people–alumni, parents, students–will start demanding that schools be more transparent, that they take responsibility. What I’d really like to see is college presidents coming forward, on the record, on television, saying that this is an important issue at our school. I would like to see college presidents acknowledge that they have failed in the past & say they will personally take responsibility for making sure that changes take place. I think they could also apologize to the hundreds, if not thousands, of survivors on campus who have been mistreated over the past few decades. When you see college presidents going on the news talking about it in this way, that will signal that change has happened.
Q: There has been intense national attention in the US on the issue of sexual assault. The White House recently released PSAs about it, universities are introducing ‘Yes Means Yes’ sexual assault protocols, & the federal department of education is cracking down. Do you think the time has come when we will see permanent changes, or are you worried this is just a fad?
A: I’m very worried. I’m hopeful, but also worried. A lot of people thought this issue was addressed in the ’70s. People are shocked that it’s still happening on campuses. And of course it wasn’t, & not only that, it was buried again. This is an issue that will take at least a decade to change. This is not something that will happen overnight. It’s going to take a national effort & hopefully the film plays a role, but there’s a lot of other people that need to take control. It should be society’s responsibility.
Q: The film is full of deeply personal stories from women—& a couple of men—who experienced horrible abuse. What have you taken away from this?
A: When you’re doing the interviews, you’re just struck by how courageous these women are, in most cases, & sometimes men. And also just how vulnerable they were when they were assaulted & came forward, & still are, because they are young women taking on a centuries-old institution. It’s a combination of being very saddening & very enraging. I think that’s what you see in the film. Then of course, you see the hopeful piece with the students coming forward & taking action. As a filmmaker, I really want to be able to present, in a powerful & profound way, the truth of what is happening so that we can, as a nation, finally address it.
No comments:
Post a Comment