Ghomeshi verdict reminds us of the power of words – it’s time to address the silence towards the rape culture that enabled him
This past Thursday, March 24, showed the acquittal of Jian Ghomeshi on all charges of sexual assault and overcoming resistance by choking.
The discussion surrounding the verdict has focused on the power of words. Judge Horkins’s comments have been criticized as discouraging future survivors of sexual assault from coming forward with allegations. Judge Horkins suggested that a photographic memory and an absence of “odd” behavior in the wake of an assault is necessary for a conviction within our justice system – a term the Judge used to categorize the witness’ behaviour for emailing the defendant after the assault took place. The three complainants in the case praised and vilified for speaking about their experiences and on behalf of other survivors. In the wake of the trial, there has been positive usage of words on social media, with the hashtags #IBelieveSurvivors and #WeBelieveSurvivors rallying support behind the witnesses in the trial and the many silent survivors of assault who had to relieve their trauma by the verdict.
A Mainstreet/Postmedia poll of 2,017 Toronto residents taken on Thursday indicated that 53% of those surveyed disagreed with the judge’s decision to acquit Ghomeshi. The crowd that turned out Thursday’s rally at Old City Hall, and number of social media posts claiming support for survivors seem to corroborate this data
Why, then, do one in four Canadian women experience sexual assault in their lifetime, and why do 97% of sexual assaults in this country go unreported? Why does the court indict and convict only 3% of attackers?
Why did women quit their jobs at <i>Q</i> after reporting Ghomeshi’s violent tendencies, and why had they received no assistance from superiors? Why did professors at Western University and Ryerson University have to stop sending interns to <i>Q</i> after Ghomeshi repeatedly behaved inappropriately toward students? Why had the media community in Canada actively choose to paint Ghomeshi as a womanizer with more than “aggressive” tendencies? And why did all this information come to light after a male reporter, Canadaland’s Jesse Brown, broke this story in an investigative piece for the Toronto Star?
These are the questions we should be asking, rather than why would a woman send a flirty email to him after he punched her in the head, or why did she say she was wearing hair extensions and then say she wasn’t wearing hair extensions, as much of the Judge’s verdict questioned.
Yes, our justice system is flawed. As Judge Horkins’s comments on Thursday illustrated, the testimony of witnesses in sexual assault cases—which are often personal, complicated, and lacking in concrete evidence aside from testimony—are not enough to prove that someone was abusive. The court does not have systems in place to recognize how trauma impacts memory, often resulting in victims taking a long time to come forward and to process what has happened to them. Let alone, the court does not have a system that recognizes abuse, and refuses to consider why a victim would be under such a mindset tokeep in contact with an assailant, as was the case that played out in the Ghomeshi trial.
But something else is flawed, and it is our culture of silence surrounding violence against women—<i>not</i> as victims, but as witnesses, bystanders, and enablers. Powerful people in Ghomeshi’s workplace were aware of his actions as well, and yet were aware of his reputation as a celebrity, something that Judge Horkins commented on as a factor that attracted all three women to him in their initial interactions. This case’s commentary on our culture surrounding sexual assault is largely about what people are <i>not</i> saying when confronted with sexual violence on a regular basis.
The women who testified against Ghomeshi were incredibly brave to take the stand against him, as were the 20 others who spoke about their abusive experiences with him but did not have enough evidence to consider building the case.
There are also many survivors of sexual assault who are too traumatized to speak about their assaults, or who simply cannot due to social positionality, racial and sexual identity, or any combination of these factors. There are plenty of victims will never have the chance to speak about their experiences, because not all victims of sexual assault are survivors. Many of these victims have other factors stacked against them contributing to their silence—such as missing and murdered Indigenous women, an ongoing epidemic in our country, which is largely met, again and again, with silence. These women, both criminally underrepresented and erased in our justice system and our reporting, must have a platform for their experiences, not just the victims who are able to speak to their experiences either publicly or privately.
As Judge Horkins proved on Thursday, there is a huge power in words, but the burden of preventing future assaults should not be the victim’s responsibility to retell a perfect story, or to tell a story at all, as many are unable to. The burden to prevent future assaults must be placed on those in positions of power to call violent behaviour what it is — be it harassment, assault, or abuse — as they witness it, because contributing to a culture of silence on this topic only serves to create more victims and enable more predators.
