Untangle the Mess of Inequality

Re Loving Jian Ghomeshi, December 2014

The publication of this piece, especially without a companion article about loving the women alleging victimization by Jian Ghomeshi is wildly inconsiderate to the women of the Presbyterian Church, of whom I am one.

I am sure this offence was not intentional. I am sure the editorial board meant to be compassionate and not insensitive. I am sure the author did also. I commend the author on some of the content of the piece, particularly where reference is made to the fact that it is increasingly evident that “Jian Ghomeshi failed to show love and care for a number of women.” Further, I do firmly believe in the benefits of a restorative—and loving—approach to justice, and I do believe that Jian Ghomeshi is a child of God and therefore beloved.

However, I was appalled by the conspicuous absence of a parallel piece about how to show love and care to those who have endured sexual harassment, sexual assault and physical violence perpetrated by their intimate partners. Ghomeshi is unlikely to read the Record, but likely hundreds, perhaps thousands, of women (and men, and children) who have survived sexual and physical violence, will read it.

This article is insensitive to the women who may have been victims first of all of Jian Ghomeshi himself and, more commonly, of various forms of sexual and physical violence or sexual harassment.

It would have been appropriate to publish an article about sexual harassment, about consent, about the importance of believing women, or a piece affirming the commitment of our church to ensuring that an institutional culture where sexual assault and harassment exist will not be condoned in our midst.

Somewhere in there, an author could have appropriately said that Ghomeshi is a child of God. Of course he is. But, in order to untangle the mess of inequality that permitted Ghomeshi to harm women for so long, we need to stop paying so much attention to him and other male celebrities and start paying more attention to unpacking the toxic culture of celebrity and affirming the personhood, autonomy, dignity and rights of women.