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Tag Archive: women’s rights
It is good to see some females taking a stand for women’s rights. The “slut” comment from our fellow police officer was very disturbing as well as the judges behavior in the sexual assault case.
A group of women got together for a “slut walk protest”. I think that word has to be the most disrespectful word to women. Something needs to change, rape can’t be excused in any case.
If a female isn’t, let’s say, “dressing appropriately according to a judge or a police officer,” shouldn’t we be blaming the entertainment? media? society? If they are following such roll models such as Brittany Spears, Lady Ga-Ga or Beyonce etc, etc, how else would you expect them to be dressed? How about Victoria Secret and Axe Commericals? Are we sending mixed messages on what society really wants? On one hand we say you should be happy with yourself however you are, yet we splash sex and extremely thin women on screen.
These girls are only trying to be attractive, sexy, cool, popular, accepted, or simply following some trend. Whatever the reason, they are NOT asking, nor are they inviting to be raped. I think it is time to put the “Women are sluts and men are studs” attitude to rest, it’s really getting old!
To be fair and seeing it from the male point of view, we as women need to remember there is a time and a place for everything. We do need to dress appropriately for the occasion and we should cover up in certain company or situations.
If we have a good look at things, men have had the majority of power in the world as doctors, judges, police officers, presidents and lawyer. Their prejudices are starting to show publicly everywhere, just read the articles below. I know not all men are like this but when the ones in power are thinking and behaving that way then we don’t have much of a chance do we? Especially in a case of rape.
Maybe we need to make some changes. Perhaps major decisions with laws should be made by equal parties of both sexes? Doesn’t that make things one sided, lop sided or off balance when all the decisions are made from the male thinking mind? Men and women do not think alike. How do we know that some of these major decisions aren’t prejudiced by an entirely male opinion when perhaps women would see it in a totally different light? Perhaps it is time to see both sides of a situation and come to an amicable solutions that leave everyone’s rights and decency intact? Just my thought.
As the law currently operates, women who have been sexually violated are being forced to choose between giving up the privacy of their doctor-patient relationship or giving up access to the criminal legal system. Hmm, the law seemed to be protecting Don Juan, why does she have to give up more privacy, hasn’t she been violated enough?
If Don Juan and the judge know what the girls want by their halter tops and makeup that would mean that women dressed in summer clothing and everyone at the beach should expect to be raped then. It is in the minds of Don Juan, the police officer and the judge, not the women.
‘Slut walk’ crowded
Protesters say police blame victims of sexual assault
Sierra Chevy Harris, a student at the University of Guelph, said the officer’s remarks are “a small example of how a large amount of people in the justice system truly think.”
“It’s evident in many cases where the victim has been criticized for the way they looked or dressed in a sexual assault case,” she said.
Sonya Barnett, one of the event’s organizers, said those attitudes are one of the main reasons women are so reluctant to report sexual assault.
Sexual assault is about power and has nothing to do with the victim’s appearance, she said.
Harris said she shouldn’t be made to feel vulnerable for wearing a sexy outfit.
“We need to criticize the people who are actually committing the crimes,” she said.
http://www.thespec.com/news/canada/article/511501–slut-walk-crowded
“We feel it was a huge success,” Slutwalk organizer Sonya Barnett said in an e-mail to CNN. She said the crowd numbered closer to 4,000. “It was great to see that most people came out ‘as they were,’ not in the stereotypical idea of slut,” she said. “Our definition is about attitude, not appearance. Just like sexual assault is not about appearance.”
“In looking to the future, we will be working on initiatives to continue spreading the word,” she said. “As SlutWalk Toronto was initially conceived to be a one-time event, the response has been so incredible that we are considering this to be an annual event.”
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/04/protesters-march-in-toronto-slutwalk/
Protesters are making a statement “Whatever we wear, wherever we go, yes means yes, and no means no!”.
I wrote an article earlier about how women invite rape by what they wear in sexual assault case
according to a judge and this very police officer they are protesting about.
http://naturalpainreliefforfibromyalgia.com/678
John Reilly, a retired judge with 33 years on the bench, was forced to apologize for suggesting in a recent radio interview that not all sexual offenders should be incarcerated.
Let’s add some politicians now!
Liberal candidate apologizes for sex-assault comments
The legal assault on physician-patient privilege
Marilou McPhedran
Canadian Medical Association Journal 1995; 153: 1502-1506
The reporting of sexual assault and sexual abuse increased by approximately 90% from 1984 to 1991. In 1991, 30 000 reports of sexual assault were made to Canadian police, although not all of them led to trials. Statistics Canada says that of national survey respondents who acknowledged that they had been sexually assaulted, only about 6% had gone to the police to press charges. Michael Edelson, an Ottawa defence lawyer, has noted that sexual-assault cases have become a “growth industry” for defence lawyers: “Every time I turn around there is more sperm and pubic hair in some file on my desk.”
Conclusion
As the law currently operates, women who have been sexually violated are being forced to choose between giving up the privacy of their doctor-patient relationship or giving up access to the criminal legal system. It is ironic that the alleged action of the accused started the legal process, yet the witness risks yielding to public view her entire private life as the price for seeking justice. The upcoming Supreme Court decisions will clarify the degree to which doctor-patient records and interactions are truly privileged.
Dr Robert Axford-Gatley
- practised in London until 2004
- when he left for Toronto he worked in cosmetic medicine. the Younge Street Tattoos website said he offers Botox and collagen lip treatments: “Want lips like Angelina Jolie’s?”)
- he returned to London in December 2005 after receiving a $20,000 grant to facilitate the move.
- after allegations of sexual abuse of patients and improper prescribing, including of narcotics, Dr Axford-Gatley has managed to strike a deal to avoid a public airing of the charges. Why would the College agree to make such a deal?
In the case of Axford-Gatley, the college obtained more from the agreement than it would have been able to impose if it had investigated and prosecuted his case, [College spokesperson Kathryn] Clarke said.
“We could effectively take someone out of practice in Ontario but we have no authority to take someone out of practice elsewhere. He has agreed not to practise elsewhere,” she said.
Despite Ms Clarke’s reasoning, it remains to be seen how the people of London feel about an agreement that shoves allegations of sexual abuse under the rug.
http://www.canadianmedicinenews.com/2007/09/sex-drugs-scandal-rocks-adopt-doc.html
16 year old from BC raped and murdered for giggles.
On March 18, 2010, Wellwood and 17-year-old Cameron Moffat lured 18-year-old Proctor to Wellwood’s house, where they gagged her with a sock, raped her, mutilated her with a knife and then suffocated her.
Murder runs in the family for Wellwood, whose father Robert Dezwaan is currently in prison for killing 16-year-old Cherish Oppenheim in 2001.
http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/04/04/protesters-march-in-toronto-slutwalk/
Chronic illnesses such as Fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Lupus, Rheumatoid and arthritic conditions can be a long hard road for the sufferer to endure. To make matters worse, it can be devastating when disability benefits deny your claim. As if the stress of having to deal with unexplained, chronic pain and fatigue isn’t enough?
“A lot of people being denied ODSP really do qualify at the very onset when they apply. But they are denied…Some of these people have to go through the whole appeal system, and it’s costing a lot of taxpayers’ money, when they shouldn’t have been denied in the first place. I fail to see how this is streamlining the process to work better for disabled people and to work better for the taxpayers.” - Sonia Levesque-Parsons, West End Legal Services, Ottawa, November 29, 2000.
These illnesses are predominantly woman’s illnesses, they have been around for over 100 years yet we are still having to defend the fact that we are indeed suffering with real pain. Just exercise, take two aspirins and call me in the morning, right doc?
DAWN was designed to help women in Ontario fight for their disability. You can check out DAWN in the link below (the www.incomesecurity.org link doesn’t work, budget cutbacks maybe?):
http://dawn.thot.net/denial_by_design.html
Special Feature Posted January 29, 2003
DENIAL BY DESIGN….
….THE ONTARIO DISABILITY SUPPORT PROGRAM
© Income Security Advocacy Centre 2003
Income Security Advocacy Centre
425 Adelaide Street West, 5th Floor,
Toronto, ON M5V 3C1
Tel: (416) 597-5820
Toll Free: 1 (866) 245-4072
Fax: (416) 597-5821
www.incomesecurity.org
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This report was researched and written by John Fraser, Cynthia Wilkey, and JoAnne Frenschkowksi.
Here is help for people with Fibromyalgia for filing for disability in Ontario.
http://fibromyalgia.ncf.ca/cpphowto.htm
The National Benefit Authority:
http://www.thenba.ca/fibromyalgia.html
Disability lawyer:
http://www.disabledlaw.ca/types_of_disability_claims.html
http://www.reybroek.com/Practice-Areas/Hard-to-Prove-Disabilities.shtml
If you know of any other links that help support disabled women, leave them in comments and I will add it to this article.
I just can’t let this one go. I was reading an article on CBC News Canada website about Karen Busby, a Law Professor from University of Manitoba being sickened by sex assault sentence and I totally agree, I am too! Here are some recaps of the judges discrimination as well as our fellow police officers in Toronto.
Justice Robert Dewar comments:
- “sex was in the air” by the way the woman dressed
- “inviting circumstances” because they met outside the bar.
- “they were wearing halter tops, no bras, high heals”
- pointed out “they were wearing plenty of makeup”.
He says the man may have misunderstood what the victims wanted.
Busby said there was a Toronto police officer saying to a group of University students that if a woman dresses like a slut, she should expect to get raped.
How unbelievably ignorant! Even if a woman is naked, it doesn’t give anyone a right to even touch her body let alone expect to be raped. What is our world coming to?
Source from:
Are you a rape victim? There is help, talk to someone. Here is the Ontario Sexual Assault Support and National Support: