We've all seen the recent headlines with high profile allegations of domestic abuse. I can't count the number of times I've heard friends and family ask the same question of those stories: "why doesn't she just leave?"
Too many people assume that if a woman is in an abusive relationship that she is making a choice to stay and that she has the power to end the abuse if she just leaves.
Earlier this year, Sally wrote a piece for SHE - the Canadian Women's Foundation Magazine, about what happens when women come together to speak their minds and collectively raise awareness about an issue.
What if one billion women around the world stood up on the same day, sang the same song and danced the same dance? What if together they claimed their own space, raised their own voices, took back the night? Would that send the message that 50% of the population has had it with violence against women?
Ever wonder why women rarely report sexual assault?
Last week, a group of frosh leaders at St. Mary’s University in Nova Scotia came under fire for leading freshman students in a chant encouraging underage rape. These students are from the same province where months earlier, Rehteah Parsons took her own life after being bullied and harassed after her classmates shared pictures of her online taken during her sexual assault.
Yes, victim-blaming is alive and well in Canada.
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