Verbal Sexual Assault Of Female Reporters MUST Stop

Let’s make one thing VERY clear, saying “fuck her right in the pussy” is NOT even remotely funny. It is a verbal sexual assault on female reporters and women in general and it MUST stop.

I hadn’t heard of the phrase let alone was aware that female reporters are being constantly bombarded with this until the Shauna Hunt incident. At first I thought it was some run-of-the-mill juvenile sexist remark that Ms Hunt had heard once too often. That would have been bad enough and is also uncalled for. However, when I looked up the phrase online (I only saw the initials at first.) I was floored and disgusted. I applaud Ms Hunt for fighting back and turning the tables on her tormentors.

According to various news reports the practice started as a result of a video uploaded to Youtube by a Cincinnati filmmaker, as a spoof. According to Catherine Porter, a columnist for the Toronto Star, it was part of a business plan. (See http://www.thestar.com/news/world/2015/05/12/verbal-sexual-assault-on-women-reporters-must-stop-porter.html) As the trend of interrupting live news reports by female reporters with the phrase took off, the filmmaker began selling T-shirts with the initials written on them.

A report in The Guardian about the Hunt incident says this sort of nonsense has been happening all the time to mainly female reporters in Canada, United States and the United Kingdom.  It reminds me too much of the so called men in India who try to justify violent sexual assault of women by blaming the woman. (See my An Irregular Heart blog post on this: http://an-irregular-heart.blogspot.ca/)

One of those who verbally assaulted Ms Hunt on live tv has been identified as Shawn Simoes, a then Hydro One employee earning well over $100,000 a year. His vulgar heckling has cost him his job and the freedom to attend sporting events at Maple Leaf Sports & Entertainment owned venues. Mr. Simoes, to his credit, has written a note of apology to Ms Hunt, which she has accepted. Another man involved with the stunt has also been apparently identified, but his name and occupation have not been made public.

While it’s too bad Mr. Simoes lost his job over this, one has to keep in mind the numerous women who have quit their jobs over sexual harassment. Recently a woman in the Canadian military quit over this issue. So far her tormentors have not been punished and are still free to torment and physically assault other women.

It gets down to respect. I wouldn’t, even in jest, say anything vulgar to my wife as I respect her too much to do that, let alone say it to a total stranger, live, on air to let the whole world know what an idiot I am. Until we all respect one another incidents, like this, will unfortunately continue to happen.