Canadian activists ‘ignited a spark’ in sexual assault talks
Women holding symposiums, planning report to build on ideas for fighting on-the-job victimization
Mia Kirshner remembers the moment in October when she knew her truth had to be told, however painful and whatever the cost.
The Toronto actor had just read the first news reports on movie mogul Harvey Weinstein’s predatory abuse of women in the entertainment industry. Years earlier, she had experienced her own ordeal with the man, and was promised “work in exchange for being his disposable orifice.”
Now, reading the New York Times, “I felt like, you know, everything that I had done up until this point in my life, I felt like I hadn’t been telling the truth about something that was affecting a lot of people.”
Kirshner said she knew the risk. “I might destroy my career.” But she felt, she told the Star, like “I didn’t have a choice except to speak out.”
So she did. Kirshner became one of many women in that industry and others to do so, often using the hashtag #metoo to tell stories of on-the-job victimization at the hands of bosses and colleagues.
Since then, there has been a seismic social upheaval as a parade of high-profile men followed Weinstein into disgrace after allegations of workplace misconduct, harassment and assault.
What Kirshner knew was that the problem was vast, that change had only just begun.
She and other Toronto women wanted to ensure the moment of activism didn’t — as others have — dazzle briefly only to fade away. So they created an ongoing initiative under the hashtag #aftermetoo.
As Kirshner recalls, the wording was the idea of Toronto employment lawyer Jennifer Mathers McHenry. The project was a collective declaration that no problem so deeply entrenched in the culture as workplace sexual harassment of women was going to be solved quickly.
The extent of the problem — and the impact of #metoo in speaking up about it — was acknowledged near year-end when Time magazine named what it called “The Silence Breakers” as person of the year.
Canadian women had played their part in launching the movement.
Writer, actor and director Sarah Polley wrote a scathing piece in the Times about the exploitation and abuse in the film industry.
Powerful men would tell women actors that a “close relationship” could deliver a successful career. “That’s how it works.”
But, as far as Kirshner and colleagues are concerned, no longer. They organized an #aftermetoo symposium in December at which proposals for specific action were developed.
Among them are calls for harmonized workplace policies in response to sexualized violence; mandatory annual education in workplaces on harassment prevention, empowerment education for women and on bystander intervention; online reporting systems; and mentalhealth support for victims.
At that symposium, Justice Minister Judy Wilson-Raybould spoke about the need to rid the conversation about workplace sexual harassment of the diminishing power of euphemism.
“It’s not just ‘having fun.’ It’s not just ‘how it is.’ Sexual harassment is unacceptable and the days of victim-shaming are over.
“Victims are not ‘just sensitive.’ They do not ‘lack a sense of humour.’ And they’re not ‘just feminists.’
“When a harasser is denounced, we’re not ‘ruffling feathers’ or ‘creating a stir.’ We are ending violence.”
Wilson-Raybould said silence in the face of known abuse amounted to complicity.
“Each and every one of us has a role to play,” she said. “To do this we must all open our eyes to the prevalence of sexual violence and harassment, their insidious forms and the devastating consequences they have . . .”
Wilson-Raybould said Kirshner and others who have spoken up, the activists supporting #aftermetoo, had “ignited a spark that helped make these discussions possible.” But the discussion was just beginning. “A brave person can stand up to his or her enemies,” she said. “But it takes true courage to stand up to a friend or superior. Will you?”
Nicole Stamp, a Canadian actor, writer and television host, said that as the #metoo movement exploded her social media accounts were “full of decent men asking, How can I help?”
She responded by saying: Call out other men who say disrespectful things to or about women. Follow feminist writers on social media. Boost female voices. Boost what women say at work. Be mindful of how you introduce women. Don’t call female colleagues by cute, diminutive names.
For Kirshner, she’s excited that #aftermetoo will issue a report in March based on the symposiums held this year.
She hopes that attention brought to the issue of workplace sexual harassment by well-known people who have spoken up will “inspire other workforces — the people who go through this every day and aren’t heard — to stand up and say no, to organize themselves and become powerful.”
For now, she said, many corporate leaders and institutions are saying the right things about new policies of zero tolerance.
But those words will only have meaning if followed by action.
“I think we have a long way to go.”