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Harassment #ItsNeverOkay

What caught my attention today was some recent enough news about a Canadian News reporter who went head on with some inflammatory remarks aimed at her. After watching the footage some teachable moments surfaced. Before sharing the lessons, here’s a summary of what happened…

It was the end of a football match and the female reporter was trying to get the reactions of the patrons. As she was interviewing two males another male patron walked by and whispered some female objectifying remark aimed at her.

Following this both the men being interviewed and the reporter were taken aback. One man being interviewed remarked to the reporter ‘you must get that all the time.’ This line is probably what triggered something in the reporter. 

She decided to challenge the thinking of some other male patrons who were waiting to make similar remarks. Some of the reactions she got was ‘nothing is wrong with it [the remark]’, ‘It happens in England’ and ‘my mom would find it funny’. In a twist of fate/karma one of the men – employed at Hydro One was fired from his job in the midst of the media blitz. 

Needless to say this was all over the news creating more awareness about female harassment in environments dominated by males and about harassment in general.

Photo courtesy of Cbc.ca: CityNews reporter Shauna Hunt confronts Toronto FC fans
 who obstinately defend another man who yelled a popular vulgar phrase during an on-air interview. (CityNews)

One action. One Issue. One Challenge.

Teachable Moment #1…Never let it slide. The moment you encounter an issue of injustice - challenge it.

Teachable Moment #2…Challenge your own beliefs. Many of these males are operating out of commonly observed practice that they never thought to question – following the crowd instead of leading from societal beliefs, norms and expectations.

Teachable Moment #3…Keep talking about societal issues that matter. It takes only a moment for the seeds of change to be planted.

For more information about Canada’s action plan to stop violence and harassment visit: http://www.ontario.ca/document/action-plan-stop-sexual-violence-and-harassment

Harassment #ItsNeverOkay

~Love God,Live life,One Enkounter at a Time~
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