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Community Safety misogynist and unhealthy |
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Monday, 09 June 2008 |
According to The Toronto Star reported last week, the commonly used abusive language against girls stems mainly from popular culture. Girls five secondary schools in the extreme east of Toronto reported, in interviews, face a torrent of misogynistic comments as well as sexual assaults occur "anytime in the corridors." Tanya, 14 years, said: "We hear all the time words like 'Qu'essetu do, petasse?' And 'Hey, bitch." Every day, students hear insults such as bitch, slut or whore directed against other girls, like guys yelling what part of their anatomy they want to get sucked. Jhanelly Porter, 18, said it is "too late for our generation to teach boys to respect girls and girls to respect themselves and between them," especially in regard to the subliminal message of degrading words related to sex rap music and hip hop.
"This unhealthy environment which is not surprising," said Valerie Smith, an activist who fights against violence in the media this past seventeen years. "The misogynist rap ago began over 25 years and, because of its popularity among young people, other spheres of the entertainment industry have borrowed and used the same vocabulary. For their part, politicians have blocked their ears and have not lifted a finger for some 25 years. It follows that misogyny is spreading freely throughout the country, contaminating everything in its path, including the lives of girls who are forced to live with the consequences of the policy of 'not hear' and inaction ".
For people who do not want to blame popular culture, here's a quote from the recent book Misogyny & the Emcee: Sex, Race & Hip Hop, Ewuare Osayande, U.S. political activist:
"The rap music as well as composers and producers of rap are responsible for the consequences of their message on the thinking of the impressionable youth. When a guy sixteen or seventeen years means a rapper he admires him advisor 'strike this bitch', why we believe it would not consider doing so? How convincing model also could prevent it from hitting a woman, when the majority of American media only support its destructive instincts? Who are we being deceived? No one but ourselves if we think we can ignore the consequences of rap music (or rape) on the thinking and behavior of our youth. "
In Canada, we have only very limited means to curb what misogynist, since girls and women are not protected by the Criminal Code against hate propaganda (in contravention of the Charter of Rights, should be underlined) . Moreover, in Ontario, there is no recourse in the laws protecting human rights, against hate material, as decided by the Ontario Human Rights Commission in 2006, which decided nothing cope with streaming music rap character hate by a giant of music, HMV Canada Inc.
Bernie Farber, CEO of the Canadian Jewish Congress and expert on hate crimes designated by the court, compares the Canadian laws against hate propaganda in a "wall of protection" for the most vulnerable groups. Politicians have deliberately refused to give women and girls this wall of protection, and this is not inadvertent. In 2003, when the law on hate propaganda in the Criminal Code was amended to include gays and lesbians among the groups protected (Bill C-250), politicians have refused to admit women and girls !
Last week, Minister of Public Safety, Stockwell Day, said: "The encouragement of hatred and violence has no place within Canadian society and constitutes an offence under the Criminal Code. "Ms. Smith said in this regard:" The memory of Mr. Day is either short or very selective. During the last two years his government has deliberately obstructed attempts by parliamentarians Liberals permit the inclusion of women and girls among the groups protected by the same article to which it refers. Besides, as long as such protection does not exist, the daughters of our country will suffer the consequences. "
http://www.thefreeradical.ca.
About The Free Radical
The management of the website The Free Radical (free radicals) is maintained by the Toronto activist Valerie Smith and provides information on violence in the media and on how to stop it. Since last seventeen years, Ms. Smith has made interventions on issues of violence portrayed in the media, particularly the emphasis on ill-treatment reserved for women and girls within popular culture. She is the author of Action Agenda: A Strategic Blueprint for Reducing Exposure to Media Violence in Canada, published and Ontario's sponsored by the Office for Victims of Crime, an agency within the Department of Justice. The report can be downloaded for free on the website The Free Radical. |
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