Lise Gotell is an excellent speaker and her article is just as interesting to read. I cannot help but smirk when I see Stephen Harper chiding other countries on the treatment of women as though all women in Canada enjoy absolute freedom and sexual freedom "...assumed sexual autonomy of Canadian women is posed as an important symbol of Western democracy and progress"(209). Most Canadian women are definitely better off than women in Afghanistan but unfortunately there are some women in Canada who are not. For some Harper seems to forget the missing and murdered Aboriginal women, numbering over a thousand yet still not enough to call an inquiry.
The term "ideal victim"(217) is one that I find deeply problematic. It is horrendous that women who do not seem to "...follow the rules of sexual safekeeping can be denied protection"(217). This is a very real issue because it then determines if this victim is to be taken seriously and empathized or thought of as somehow responsible for what happened to her because she did not take the proper acceptable precautions in court and in public. If most perpetrators are supposed to be someone that we know, almost 90% of the time, does this mean someone having fun with a friend should also be thinking that if he attacks me, how is this going to look? It seems like we are going backwards in a sense when a woman's behaviour before an assault is still scrutinzed. I remember a commentator on line writing that if a bank did not have security and did not take proper precautions and lock their safes, well of course they will be robbed. I know that as women and gender students, this response is enough to get our blood boiling. We know that women are not banks or unlocked cars, another example, but unfortunately this view is quite pervasive. With the women in my age group, the 30's, that I know, this belief is still firmly entrenched. In the examples in the article of J.M. and the case of R v AJS, the court chastises the women for seemingly poor choices while it almost seems to forget that they were assaulted. When Gotell speaks of "risk management"(217), it seems as though she is talking about business decisions and not assault cases; this term should have no place in the narrative of the assault cases.
I though of this during Shawna's presentation today. If this is the tone that courts take with women who are not sex-workers, then no wonder they are dismissive of sex-workers who try to find justice for themselves. It is not surprising that the clients of Kindred house do not feel as though courts and other government institutions are not safe space. I loved how Shawna said that the women had been taking care of themselves before she knew them and they will take care of themselves after. This gives the women agency and takes away the stereotypes of sex-workers that we need to come in and rescue them from themselves. The Kindred Centre is there to assist them if they need or want the assistance without patronizing them. It gives the clients power over their own lives in this small way and that might just be enough for that day.
I completely agree with the points you bring up here, and I think it's important to acknowledge the harmful discourse that surrounds sexual assault cases. There is a pattern of stiff approaches to legally dealing with sexual assault, and in these approaches the concept of consent and personal autonomy are isolated. Choice and "risk management", as you said, become something to be criticized alongside the actual act of sexual assault. In the end this takes away and devalues what the survivor has to say. We are not to treat our bodies like banks or unlocked cars, which is an accurate analogy for vulnerability but unfortunately it spans into reality where women are taught this "risk management". I think it will be a while before there is a positive and productive way the law is able to approach sexual assault, but it is so important that places like Kindred House exist because like you said, they give back autonomy to these women and give them a safe space where they are not questioned or condescended. While the justice system may handle sexual assault cases inconsistently, it helps that there are safe spaces that can coexist alongside them to give women the small amount of hope they may need.
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