El JonesI support the boys – I support them in seeking accountability. I support society educating boys and men about rape and consent. I support speaking the truth by creating a system where victims are not intimidated in coming foward. I support boys in not defining their masculinity through sexual conquest. I support speaking truth about the low rates of conviction for rape and recognizing that the rates of false rape reports are lower than that of car insurance fraud yet people persist in believing women lie about rape. I support boys and girls in ending sexual stigma and ostracization of women labelled as “sluts.” I support boys in building respectful relationships with their partners. These signs are meant to be theatening and intimidating to Rehteah’s family and to all rape victims, which shows that speaking out must be having an effect. I support truth in ending the silence about rape.
El has been featured on theatre stages, in classrooms, clubs, rallies, and community events all around Halifax. El describes herself as a “spoken word activist” and believes in poetry’s power to mobilize black consciousness.
(used with permission)
3 thoughts on “I support accountability – El Jones”
I have been following your tragedy from Quebec, and I can not start to imagine what Rehthea and your familly have been going trough… I am glade I have taught my 2 boys to respect and treath women like delicate flowers, I think this is where it starts, whe have to teach, they will learn…My heart goes to you and I hope you will one day be at peace and reunited with your wonderful girl ;(
Please don’t tell boys to treat girls differently. It makes it easier for boys to objectify a girl who has a “reputation” because children don’t get all their cues on social morals from you. They get them from friends, from media, from the way they see how men and women interact. The best thing you can do for every child is to not make sex such a huge deal, and stop using words like slut and whore to describe a female who has had sex. It would lift the stigma of having sex off of girls, who would then be more likely to come forward about sexual assault. Rape isn’t about sex, it’s about power you have over someone else. The boys who did this had a lot of power over Rehtaeh, and used it to slander her over and over again, until she couldn’t take it anymore and made the horrible decision to end her life. Women are not flowers, we are people. Tell your boys that, and maybe rape would become a rare statistic, instead of something that a third of women have to deal with in their lives.
Sorry to disagree with you Danielle, this was sent from my heart to Rehteah’s father and familly. I will not start a debate here, but I can tell you that both my daugthers in law are extremely happy to have someone so respectful, taughttfull and delicat towards them. I still mantain that even if there is media and friends to influence them, if they have a good base from home they will ge able to choose better what and who to listen too!
I have been following your tragedy from Quebec, and I can not start to imagine what Rehthea and your familly have been going trough… I am glade I have taught my 2 boys to respect and treath women like delicate flowers, I think this is where it starts, whe have to teach, they will learn…My heart goes to you and I hope you will one day be at peace and reunited with your wonderful girl ;(
Please don’t tell boys to treat girls differently. It makes it easier for boys to objectify a girl who has a “reputation” because children don’t get all their cues on social morals from you. They get them from friends, from media, from the way they see how men and women interact. The best thing you can do for every child is to not make sex such a huge deal, and stop using words like slut and whore to describe a female who has had sex. It would lift the stigma of having sex off of girls, who would then be more likely to come forward about sexual assault. Rape isn’t about sex, it’s about power you have over someone else. The boys who did this had a lot of power over Rehtaeh, and used it to slander her over and over again, until she couldn’t take it anymore and made the horrible decision to end her life. Women are not flowers, we are people. Tell your boys that, and maybe rape would become a rare statistic, instead of something that a third of women have to deal with in their lives.
Sorry to disagree with you Danielle, this was sent from my heart to Rehteah’s father and familly. I will not start a debate here, but I can tell you that both my daugthers in law are extremely happy to have someone so respectful, taughttfull and delicat towards them. I still mantain that even if there is media and friends to influence them, if they have a good base from home they will ge able to choose better what and who to listen too!