The Road to Decentralizing Power
Image: Unsplash
On September 17th, Netflix releases the third season of its highly popular series Sex Education. The show, set in a high school in the UK, explores a variety of different issues including sex, sexuality, gender expression, and consent. The show’s second season received positive reviews regarding the way it approached sexual assault when the character Aimee receives support from her friends after experiencing a sexual assault on public transportation. This particular incident in the show cultivated an important conversation about community, tethered around friendship, and its role in building consent culture. Supporting her after a traumatic experience, Aimee’s friends showcase this role as an important part of trauma-informed care and support. This conversations around consent and the dismantling of rape culture across schools and universities continues to be had, especially over the last week.
Currently, London, Ontario police are currently investigating allegations of mass drugging and sexual assault that took place at Western University during orientation week. While this news has shocked many over the last week, unfortunately, rape culture continues to be prevalent across university campuses in Canada. In 2013, the University of British Columbia investigated pro-rape chants during frosh week. In 2017, a house near Queen’s University hung up a sign saying, “Daughter Drop-Off,” re-igniting the discussion around rape culture and its prevalence on university campuses. These incidents received attention when first covered by the media however, as the news cycle renews itself with other headlines, the reality of how embedded rape culture is within society, especially at schools is often forgotten.
how tf are leaders debating abortion bans before addressing the rape culture that's prevalent in our society? it's sickening how common this is. and while there's a pattern at western university, know that this shit is everywhere — at schools, bars, walks home, everywhere https://t.co/7Htlg0UcIU
— Evy Kwong (@EVYSTADIUM) September 13, 2021
Earlier this week, model and actress Cara Delevingne attended the MET gala in Dior with a particularly eyebrow-raising message: “Peg the Patriarchy.” While girlbosses everywhere rejoiced, the message received critique online for upholding penetrative sex and dominance as a way to “dismantle” the oppressive power structures. This is part and parcel of a larger problem: the myth that aspiring to be as powerful as the powers that oppress us will liberate us. Mainstream feminism tricks us into thinking that liberation means participating in the same oppressive power structures that created the inequities we continue to resist. This is not where the struggle begins or ends. Additionally, the concern online also pointed to the violence that the message pushes forward as a solution to the oppressive framework that the patriarchy upholds. The question remains: can we solve these issues with the same tools that build this system in the exact same way? The answer is no. In the words of Audre Lorde: The Master’s tools will never dismantle the master’s house. And while some may argue that this disruption is important for discussion, many forget that this is not where we stop.
“Peg the patriarchy” is a shitty catchphrase. Formulating penetrative sex as domination is not making the moves you may think it’s making.
— boycott the nevermind baby (@BaalKusTov69) September 14, 2021
The road to decentralizing power may disrupt spaces in a variety of different ways but it shouldn’t halt or stifle our struggle towards justice. As Sex Education reminds us, community and friendship are important parts of not only supporting survivors but also in building a world free of sexual violence and rape. Consent culture requires our whole-hearted participation. Every one of us has a role to play.
