Charlotte Pedersen
Contributor
Suddenly alert, Pandit became extremely irritated. “This is why I’m doing what I’m doing,” she says.
Pandit, 24, is a co-president of the Communication Studies Students’ Association (CSSA), and has always been vocal about changing the way we speak about sexual assault. Following a string of sex crimes at York, and increased efforts by the administration to increase campus safety, Pandit felt the need to take action as a female student.
She and a group of students are working tirelessly on the CSSA’s newest initiative called “What Do YU Say?”, which calls for greater attention to the way we communicate about sexual assault at York.
“Personally it’s something I have wanted to address in some capacity for a while now,” she says, adding that recent incidents of voyeurism, the comment made by Toronto police rep that gave birth to Slutwalk, and the murder of Qian Liu, are among the reasons she felt it was the right time for the campaign.
She is of course referring to incidents that have been all over the media, and have given York an infamous reputation among students. Solving the problem, Pandit feels, requires an atmosphere that encourages open dialogue, and does not perpetuate a culture in which sexual assault is tolerated or taken lightly.
And while all of these incidents have occurred in connection to York, it demonstrates a very localized sample of a much larger and complex issue that goes beyond Toronto, and even Canada.
In an interview with Fox News host Eric Shawn, Liz Trotta—a conservative pundit on the program—made some startling statements about women in the military.
When asked to comment about the 64-per-cent rise of sex crimes in the past six years in the United States military, Trotta acknowledged an outdated myth about sexual assault. Trotta stated that feminists want “to be warriors and victims at the same time.”
With regards to the increase in sexual assault in the military, she said, “Now what did they expect? These people are in close contact […] it’s strictly been a question of pressure from feminists.”
This idea that sexual assault is something that should be expected is absolutely detrimental to the rights of the victim. It speaks up for the rights of the rapist with a very narrow “boys will be boys” interpretation. Something must be done to change these views.
The flawed logic in believing that one is not prone to sexual assault if they don’t dress like a “slut” or walk around alone at night is what Pandit wants to tackle. She urges that yes, while the attacks may happen under these circumstances, it is not exclusive to them.
Sexual assault is a very real thing that could happen to anyone. We have to make the offender accountable for their actions and stop normalizing this behaviour and degrading the seriousness of the abuse against the victims.
A large part of achieving this is to engage both the male and female population using the “bystander approach”—which treats each person as someone who can make a difference—rather than just as a perpetrator or a victim.
Most men don’t identify themselves as rapists so they don’t believe that this issue is something they should be concerned with, but this fact speaks volumes: one in four women in North America will experience sexual assault in their life.
Men might not be aware that their sister, mother, or daughter has been sexually assaulted, simply because they do not feel comfortable coming forward and speaking about this issue or seeking help for it.
The bystander approach attempts to make males (along with females) realize that this assault can happen to the different women in their lives, and that collective support for these women is important.
The CSSA is attempting to create a campaign that speaks to both males and females.
Pandit acknowledges the challenges of trying to engage the male community, but feels that it must be done so that men can identify more with the victims of sexual assault.
Pandit’s main focus is addressing the way in which we communicate about sexual assault. “The way you think about something, the way you speak about something, ultimately affects your behaviour towards it,” she says.
“So if we are able to talk about [sexual assault] in a healthy way, I feel like that is an individual change that might mark a collective behavioural change.”
The notion of the impact of words comes into play when we speak about actions and reactions taken towards sexual assault. I can’t tell you how many times I hear “I just got raped by that test” or “I raped that test.” These hateful and highly-charged words are normalized into our vocabulary, which can ultimately affect our view of the violent act.
The term “rape” itself was taken out of Canadian legal definitions in 1983 and replaced by the much broader legal term “sexual assault.”
While rape is viewed as a very violent and aggressive act, sexual assault has to be classified into degrees of severity.
The argument for the replacement of “rape” with “sexual assault” is that the former did not include men as victims, or legally married wives. That means that just 30 years ago, a rapist could not be convicted if the victim was a male, nor could a husband be charged with raping his wife.
But perhaps bringing the term rape back into law would help us to stop glossing over the seriousness of this horrific and degrading crime.
Pandit is concerned with how casually the word rape is used now. “What it says to me, is that it’s not being taken seriously.”
There are other, less offensive ways of expressing a bad experience or being taken advantage of.
“It doesn’t speak to a culture where we are supportive of people seeking support,” says Pandit.
By taking a more active role in changing the language we use in everyday conversation, we could very well be giving a voice to many victims who are feeling discouraged from seeking support.
And while this complex issue does seem like it is larger than any one individual, the fight has to start somewhere, and it can gain momentum through something as simple as communication.
It can start with us, and it can start right now.
The CSSA will be putting together a viral video with a compilation of different images related to sexual assault, and organizing an open-mic night, where students are encouraged to speak about their thoughts on sexual assault.
