It’s not just Michael McLeod, Carter Hart, Alex Formenton, Dillon Dube, and Callan Foote. Many men in hockey, men in sports, men in general, commit sexual violence against women with impunity.
Hockey Canada has settled 21 sexual assault “allegations” since 1989. And these are just the cases that have been brought to and settled by Hockey Canada. Who knows how many rapes/sexual assaults male hockey players have actually committed against women with no recourse or justice for the women.
Why are groups of men coming together and raping, sexually assaulting, and degrading women as a fun past time, a bonding experience, team building activity?
It’s not a joke. It’s not cool or “kinky”. It’s not just getting a buddy laid. It’s dehumanizing, and it’s violence against women.
Women, we already know. We know how unnerving it is to be alone and walk past a group of men on the street. It’s not hard to imagine the intimidation of a hotel room full of male hockey players. We know the fear and humiliation of the male gaze that reduces and objectifies us, that denies us our humanity and bodily autonomy.
These men and their defense lawyers are using the same old sexist stereotypes and narratives to try to shift the blame. That she was asking for it. That she’s lying it was sexual assault because she’s “embarrassed” about what happened. In what world, outside of the delusional world of porn, does a woman “beg” for something like this to happen to her?
These men should feel embarrassed for what they’ve done and their part in it. They should feel ashamed for not stopping it in the moment and for refusing to take accountability now.
This actually isn’t about what she did or didn’t do. This is about what they did. The disrespect they had towards her, the spitting, joking about using golf balls and golf clubs on her body, slapping her, demanding sexual acts from her. Why didn’t these men look around and go, there’s a lot of us and only one of her, this is weird. This is uncomfortable. She’s crying, I should do something about this. I should stop this. I should help her.
Common sense should tell you to stop, that there’s something wrong here. Basic human decency should tell you to help her get out of this. (Not, I should take a video of her saying she consented in case she tells someone.)
To these and other men who rape – we are committed to name you, to shame you, and to stop you.
To E.M. and all the women who come forward and speak the truth. We believe you, we are with you.