Talking With Teens About the Montreal Massacre is Part of a Bigger Conversation
Around the age of six or seven, each of my [...]
How to Talk to Your Teen About Healthy Relationships
Every parent has those moments when we’re suddenly reminded how quickly our child is growing up: the first step, the first tooth, the first time they walk to school without us. For many parents, one of the most challenging milestones is realizing our child is interested in “romance” and dating. The best way to prepare them—and protect them—is to teach them how to build strong, healthy relationships.
Our children learn about relationships every day, simply by observing the world around them. As Director of Violence Prevention at the Canadian Women’s Foundation, I can tell you that most of what they see is not good. Throughout their lifetime, the average child in Canada will witness thousands of examples of unhealthy relationships— at school, on social media, in celebrity gossip magazines, music videos, movies, and TV. If we don’t teach our children about relationships someone else will, and we won’t like the results!
What will it take to end sexual assault?
This article was originally published on the Huffington Post.
What will it take to end sexual assault? Sexual assault is one of the violent crimes in Canada where we have seen little improvement in the last few years. In a 2014 Statistics Canada report on violent victimization, we can see that the numbers are going down for all violent crimes – murder, battery, physical assault, even domestic violence. But the numbers for sexual assault have stayed the same for over a decade.
A recent survey by Canadian Women’s Foundation found that two thirds of Canadians believe that the majority of women are telling the truth when they say they have been sexually assaulted. This same survey asked why perpetrators commit this crime. People said they thought perpetrators must think that sexual assault is no big deal (61%), that they have the right to the victim’s body (54%) or that they could get away with it (47%).
I Am a Feminist Because It’s Still Not Safe to Be a Woman
This article first appeared on the Huffington Post.
Post Oscar Pistorius, Bill Cosby, Jian Ghomeshi, Ray Rice, Semyon Varlamov, Brandon Underwood, Massimo Pacetti, Scott Andrews. What do all these men have in common apart from their power, their influence or their celebrity status? They are all accused (in a court of law or in the court of public opinion) of abusing women.
