Rape

• Parliament approves first ever EU rules on combating violence against women
  - Actions to prevent rape and increase understanding of consent
  - Forced marriage and female genital mutilation considered crimes
  - Disclosing private information online without consent is prohibited, as is “cyber-flashing”
  - Specialised assistance for victims
  The new rules aim to prevent gender-based violence and protect its victims, especially women and victims of domestic violence.
• Parliament adopted on Wednesday, with 522 in favour, 27 against, and 72 abstentions, the first ever EU rules on combating violence against women and domestic violence.
• The directive calls for stronger laws against cyberviolence, better assistance for victims, and steps to prevent rape.
• The new rules prohibit female genital mutilation and forced marriage and outline particular guidelines for offenses committed online, such as the disclosure of private information and cyberflashing.

• It’s still not clear how Juste Pour Rire / Just for Laughs (JPR/JFL) went from one of the biggest comedy festivals in the world to bankruptcy.
• On April 12, La Presse reported the festival lost $800,000 in an email phishing scheme in 2023.
• The company also applied for protection from creditors under the Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act.

From burst to bust

JPR was founded by businessman Gilbert Rozon in 1983 as a two-day French-language comedy event in Montréal. In 1985, Rozon was joined by promoter Andrew Nulman who brought the event to anglophone audiences and co-founded the company’s bilingual iteration. JPR/JFL is a behemoth in Canadian comedy and tourism. The flagship festival still took place in Montréal but expanded nationally and globally.

Conflicts around sexual assault, harassment

• In recent years, JFL has contended with a series of high-profile conflicts.
• At the height of #MeToo in 2017, Rozon stepped down as president after being named in numerous sexual assault allegations.
• This also brought back to light Rozon’s previous 1998 sexual assault charge that he plead guilty to.
• : Sexual misconduct and the pursuit of justice

  Mausner said Rozon’s stepping down was a “a surface-level solution for a systemic problem” and called the festival an “accessory to sexual assaults.” Following the earlier assault allegations, the organization implemented an
  anti-harassment policy and brought in new investment partners.

Royalties issues, pandemic challenges

• The channel, which once played exclusively Canadian content, would now primarily feature classic JPR/JFL recordings, meaning a substantial reduction in royalties for Canadian comedians.
• Intense public pushback from comedians led JPR/JFL to walk back their proposal and commit to playing 100 per cent Canadian content.
• The pandemic hit live festivals hard, but JPR/JFL did receive significant monetary assistance from government sources.

Blockbuster festivals, broke comedians

• Canadian comedians often think of performing at JPR/JFL as a massive career goal.
• But for years, JPR/JFL has been taken to task for their prioritization of American comedians.
• Even if JPR/JFL survives restructuring, comic Sam Sferrazza says this likely will mean “bringing in more bankable American talent paid for by Canadian taxpayers and artistic institutions.” Canadian funding agencies tend to favour blockbuster events like JPR/JFL but in the world of art grants, stand-up comedians are at a disadvantage.

Boosting international exposure

• But what if we created an environment where they not only wanted to stay but could stay.
• One option is boosting Canada’s comedic digital content internationally.

Funding for local comedians and festivals

• Another option is putting more funding directly into the pockets of individual Canadian comedians, producers, and (smaller) festivals, strengthening the comedy industry nationwide.
• We need to be asking comedians what they need to succeed and recognizing their work as both artists and contributors to Canadian culture.

Madison Trusolino has received funding for her research from SSHRC, OGS and the Jackman Humanities Institute.

• HARRISBURG, Pa., April 9, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Respect Together, formerly the Pennsylvania Coalition Against Rape, will be hosting a series of events on Wednesday, April 10th, in commemoration of the 23rd annual Sexual Assault Awareness Month (SAAM) campaign.
• For the past 23 years, Respect Together's national division, the National Sexual Violence Resource Center (NSVRC) , has coordinated the theme, materials, and campaign for SAAM each April.
• This year's theme, "Building Connected Communities," focuses on the crucial role of inclusive, equitable, and connected communities in preventing sexual abuse, assault, and harassment.
• The series of events will kick off on the evening of April 9th with lighting the PA State Capitol Building teal, the color that represents sexual violence prevention.

• It has become an “overdetermined” concept, “absorbing wildly different ideas of what threatens the world”, writes American feminist philospher Judith Butler.
• For the Vatican, the traditional family will be ruined and children are now vulnerable to “ideological colonization”.
• And for right-wing politicians and heads of state, (from Liberal senator Alex Antic, who believes gender dysphoria is a “trend”, to Marjorie Taylor Greene and Vladimir Putin), gender is a weapon of social destruction.

• Butler’s overarching argument is that “gender” – the overdetermined concept to which “anti-gender ideologists” object –  is really a nightmarish bogeyman, a “phantasm with destructive powers, one way of collecting and escalating multitudes of modern panics”.
• Read more:
  Judith Butler: their philosophy of gender explained

Misplaced fears and misunderstandings

• The first, to which much of the book is dedicated, is to expose the absurdity of arguments against gender ideology.
• Butler demonstrates the ways “gender ideology” critics invert, externalise and project the very harms they claim “gender ideologists” pose.
• Then there’s the supposed threat of sexual violence to cisgender women if transgender women are allowed into single-sex spaces like prisons.
• Read more:
  'Toxic masculinity': what does it mean, where did it come from – and is the term useful or harmful?

More than two sexes

• Feminists like Butler reject “sexual dimorphism”: the belief there are two, and only two, sexes.
• But we expect to find two sexes because that is how many sexes we have learned to see.
• And we look for two sexes because we only recognise two genders.
• And because we expect to find two sexes in humanity, we automatically start to explain away any evidence (like intersex diversity) that would contradict this received truth.

Fighting back

• These rules, we think, apply both to ourselves and others.
• To critics, “gender ideologues” are breaking all the organisational rules of gender, inverting all sense and order.
• When we question gender as an organising principle, it introduces further questions about the right way to live.

• Ultimately, Butler’s point is that while gender seems scary to many, the reality is: it’s not.
• Take a pause and ask, they suggest: what are the agendas of those who may try to convince you otherwise?
• But in imagining a shared future together, we can “emerge into a world committed to cohabitation and equality across difference”.

Louise Richardson-Self receives funding from the Australian Research Council for two projects: DE190100719: Hate Speech Against Women Online: Concepts and Countermeasures; and DP200100395: Religious Freedom, LGBT+ Employees, and the Right to Discriminate.