Wall of Silence Conference Continued- Jane Doe and more

Toronto Star May 20, 2007 (Section A7)

Police Seek Help after York U assault

Police are asking the public for help investigating an assault on a woman at York University Thursday evening. The assault occurred on the south side of Harry Arthurs Common. Anyone with information is asked to call 416-808-2222.

------------------------------

In my last post on the Wall of Silence of Conference I specifically discussed the increased number of "assaults" occuring on their campus, and that's why this little tid-bit was particularly disturbing and chilling. First of all, this little citation is literally all the publicity the incident was given, and on top of that, the euphemism assault had to be used, making the incident seem less serious than it really is. How about describing it as what it really is: sexual violation. Would that stir up too much controversy? I don't understand why we have to refer to the rape and violation of women as "assault". It does no one justice, and only serves to devalue and depoliticize what is happening to women every day. And on a university campus at that; where we are all supposed to be mature, and dignified human beings. This is a systematic problem occurring on the York Campus, (and other university campuses too) and fairly soon female enrollment is going to go down because so far nothing is happening to ensure the safety of the women.

York University and local media needs to wake up and smell the fucking coffee on this one:
This is a huge problem, and really, it should be getting more than 5 lines buried in the middle of the paper. How many rapes and assaults have their been on the York campus since September? At least three, and that is so unacceptable, and this hiding of it is despicable. What The Star needs to do is write a huge series on this type of behaviour among our men, and, just as was discussed in the conference, challenge the framework in which these rapes are occurring, which is apparently the 'permissive' environment of the university campus.

I am too pissed right now to write about Jane Doe. I could never do her justice...