Define the Line - A partnership with law, arts and media sectors to develop responses to sexual violence in universities and society

Andrew Tate: A Case Study on the Effects of Online Influencers on Students’ Education

Will James — Mon, 20 Feb 2023 14:55:56 +0000

Andrew Tate, a well-known influencer on TikTok, has gained significant traction with audiences of young men whose ages range from primary to post-secondary. He often choses videos of himself discussing controversial topics to generate views on social media, and his viewers are presented with fantasies of what an “ideal” and “successful” life can be. Tate’s version of an ideal, successful life is one that promotes male supremacy and female inferiority, including the subjugation of women.

R v Kirkpatrick: A Welcome Decision

Sara Sanabria — Thu, 06 Oct 2022 12:39:10 +0000

On July 29, 2022 the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) released the Kirkpatrick decision. In a split concurring decision, the majority concluded that when condom use is a condition to engage in sex, a person who does not wear the condom may be guilty of sexual assault. In this blog post, I argue that Kirkpatrick is a welcome decision because the SCC chose to include condom use as a condition for consent and, in doing so, the Court took a clear stance in favor of protecting sexual autonomy.

Part II: What more should the Quebec government do to address sexual and domestic violence?

Sara Sanabria — Wed, 03 Aug 2022 13:00:00 +0000

In the first part of this two-part blog series, I argued that Quebec’s new court division that will exclusively hear sexual violence and domestic violence cases has the potential to increase access to justice for victims of sexual and domestic violence. I qualify this argument by noting that only time will tell how effective these courts will be.

Part I: How is Quebec using the judicial system to address sexual and domestic violence?

Sara Sanabria — Wed, 27 Jul 2022 13:00:00 +0000

In September 2021, Andréanne Ouellet, a 32-year-old mother of five young children, was killed by her ex-partner. Her death drew attention to what some have called “the parallel epidemic” of domestic violence in Quebec.

Queer pedagogy in the classroom

Marine Khediguian — Mon, 18 Jul 2022 12:36:55 +0000

Incorporating queer pedagogy into our educational curriculum is critical in today’s society as 2SLGBTQ+ people and the issues impacting their daily lives have gained more attention. However, language and actions supporting 2SLGBTQ+ people are not making their way into our classrooms as quickly as they should. I experienced this myself while working in an elementary school. The following is a situation I encountered recently; the names of the students have been changed.

Clarifying the confusion about the recent Brown and Sullivan decisions

Sara Sanabria — Thu, 07 Jul 2022 16:54:47 +0000

“This is not a drunkenness case” is how the Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) opens the second paragraph of the recent R v Brown decision. Despite this explicit instruction, some news media and viral social media posts are intentionally pushing the opposite narrative by insinuating that anyone can get away with a crime if they are intoxicated.

Why is documenting student activism so important?

Benji Nothwehr — Fri, 29 Apr 2022 11:21:48 +0000

It may surprise you to learn that the first documented student-led demands for a stand-alone sexual violence policy at ɬ�﷬ were in 1991. That same year the Native Awareness Coalition, a student group organizing around Indigenous issues on campus, first called to change the name of the ɬ�﷬’s men’s varsity athletics teams due to its use as an anti-Indigenous slur.

International students and sexual violence

Shannon Hutcheson and Addy Parsons — Wed, 13 Apr 2022 11:30:08 +0000

Canada has over 500,000 international students who represent nearly 15 percent of the student population. With the number of international students increasing, it is important to think about what students’ experiences will be like in Canada and how universities can promote students’ comfort, wellbeing, and success.

Pink Shirt Day: Moving beyond only one day of awareness

Farah Roxanne Stonebanks and Sam Nepton — Mon, 21 Feb 2022 15:24:50 +0000

It’s a story many Canadians may be familiar with: in 2007, two Nova Scotia high-school students watched as one of their peers was bullied for wearing a pink shirt. Disappointed with the situation and not wanting to let the behaviour go unchallenged, they organised a school-wide protest that same week.

How is Canada addressing non-consensual intimate image distribution?

Kaelyn Macaulay — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 19:29:51 +0000

Content Warning: this post contains discussion of sexually explicit images and intimate partner abuse