At a Hamilton city council meeting on Monday, Councillor Terry Whitehead used the words ‘ripping and raping’ to talk about moving jobs off the mountain to downtown.
Terry: Rape is violence. Violence that mostly women and children live through. Words matter. Words have meaning. Especially when we’re talking about sexual violence. But you weren’t talking about sexual violence and that’s why folks are upset.
Ending rape culture is hard. We all make mistakes. It’s what we do when we eff up that counts.
We’ve put together some resources about why words are important and how folks can help to end sexual violence:
- A handy infographic that we created with the Immigrants Working Centre and White Ribbon Campaign:
- The AMAZING femifesto toolkit that helps folks understand why it’s important to #UseTheRightWords when we’re talking about sexual violence.
- How to apologize by Franchesa Ramsey:
- We even have a post on this blog about how to eff up and what to do afterwards!
- Head over to our website (sacha.ca) to read and watch some survivor stories to better understand the impact of violence.
To everyone else in the council meeting: How come you didn’t say anything? We all have a role to play in ending rape culture. Check out the amazing Draw The Line campaign for ways to interrupt abusive behaviour. SACHA’s Support Line is available to talk about bystander intervention – 905.525.4162.
To all survivors: It can be really hard to hear about stuff like this happening. Take care of yourself. Do what you need to do. Call us if you need to talk – 905.525.4162.
