however, it seems to me there is also a lot of good people on this thread bringing what they can to a community discussion of what is a watershed moment in canadian society.
the whole institutionalized and internalized cone of silence on this is being ripped away, and it's just starting. i fuckin' love it. how can we support this? what is our role in all of this? and i mean all of us, and all our shit, all our 'isms.
This is a scandal for the CBC not a watershed moment for Canada. I hope that longterm, over decades, it will contribute to societal change but next week or next year will be no different than this week and this year.
There is still huge emphasis, and acceptance, that it is because a successful actress and a lawyer came forward, that the women are being believed. The others are still too fearful to come forward. I suppose in that sense it is a watershed moment. Two public women had the courage to step forward.
I would be delighted to read that the back-channels are leading to shunnings now instead of tolerance. I don't think it's going to happen.
fair enough, maybe it's just a watershed opportunity... i can only think of one event post-vote that is on this scale in terms of impacting the public discourse, such as it is. what's different about gomeshigate is that it's not about a "lone wolf" (with apologies to real wolves), an "other"- it's specifically about us progressives, whomever we are, about a man who was publicly and archivally idolized for years by many, including feminists, politicians, artists... it's also different times, ie we have an internet now, we are not pre-arab spring/occupy/idlenomore. there is some momentum and awareness, even as democracy is unbuilt before our eyes. but i digress.
the fact that the "anonymous women" are believed more now that two other women, professional women, one of whom is "known" to canadians, have come forward, with their names, should not be a surprise. in fact it would be weird if otherwise.
personally i think it's more helpful to look at it like this - they, along with jesse brown, the folks who crowdsourced the funding for it and helped in other ways- they were the first salvo. you want a name? here you go. that's salvo #2 (perhaps part of the strategy/hope from the start). now, it's up to the broader chunks of civil society to keep things moving. it's teamwork, ideally.
the upthread "assault pie chart" is pretty effective - i'm going to print it off for the neighbours - but i actually found pondering's "#'s in real life" moved me at a gut level that the chart didn't. (hello pondering). these are things that need to be disseminated, because most people do not know this. how could they?
so, there's a task for civil society - say, rabble - put together a package delivered to every media outlet in canada, including the little, struggling local papers - filled with professional, concise, cut and paste content - that would have an effect, and the quicker the better.
the fact that the first group of women have not made their names public is unsurprising - they don't have to at this point; they've created the initial space, there now will be an investigation, and they can pick the time closer to court dates to reveal, if they want to. and in the meantime, it's an opportunity for them to get their affairs and health in order, and batten down the hatches.
say, there's another way of helping - money is always handy, for, like, lost wages while your preping for court, childcare, lawyers, food.
etc.
over to us.
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