Police are investigating two sexual assaults on Burnaby Mountain – one near the SFU campus and the other in the UniverCity community next to the campus. (You can read about the first one here and the second one here.)
According to police, one of the sexual assaults happened around 9 p.m. on a trail, while the other was at 4:30 a.m. as a woman was out walking.
In both cases, I read terrible social media comments (I know, never read the comments) with people – usually men – asking A) why these women were out alone; B) why they were out alone either early or late.
Seriously?
That’s not the questions you should be asking in the wake of these heinous crimes, mainly because these questions come with the ridiculous and offensive implication that these women were somehow at fault.
That’s not uncommon, of course. I’ve lost count of how many times I’ve heard people (yes, mostly men, but not always) asking what a women was wearing when she was assaulted – as though women are provoking attacks by wearing a skirt. Or asking how much alcohol a woman had to drink. Or asking why a woman was out walking a trail alone, in one of the most recent incidents.
These comments and questions are part of a long and terrible history of society blaming women for the violence men perpetrate upon them, instead of society teaching boys and men that toxic masculinity is unacceptable. I know, it sounds silly that men have to be taught something so obvious, but radical changes are needed.
I grew up in the 1970s and ‘80s. Most of my male role models had some really toxic views about women. I mean, it’s not like they said, “women should be assaulted” but they talked about women like they were alien creatures who needed to somehow be dominated or condescended to at all times or else you weren’t a real man.
People say “times have changed” but have they really?
Follow Chris Campbell on Twitter @shinebox44.
