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
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