You know them from movements like Slutwalk. Closer to home, you know them as the Coalition for a Carleton Sexual Assault Centre. They advocate for change, they say society blames the victim for sexual assaults and they’re calling for an end to rape culture: the idea that our culture encourages violence and dominance. So far, they’ve been successful.
In 2011, they’ve become a public presence and they’ve argued for change, criticized societal norms and proudly declared themselves to be “sluts for life.”
But what was accomplished in 2011 was protest. Even though they drew crowds in numbers, there were still disbelievers and people continue to use the word rape conversationally, saying things like “I raped my exam.”
This attitude has to end. While many of these protesters and co-founders of like-minded movements have done an exceptional job bringing the issue to media attention, they’ve only scratched the surface.
We need discussion. We need someone going into classrooms saying it’s not OK, we need workshops, we need people saying it’s not OK to casually joke about an issue that has disastrous consequences for those it affects. People are in agreement that isolated incidents of rape are horrible, but they tend to be less concerned with the implication of jokes about it.
If you are in a position of authority, if you are an activist, you need to engage people in discussions and you need to call on people to end rape culture on a day-to-day basis, not just when there’s a protest.
