Dalhousie #2

In spite of my best intentions, I find myself once again drawn reluctantly into the discussion of the dental students' misbehaviours at Dalhousie University.  However my concern is not just with them but with a female columnist at the Globe and Mail who argued that people are perhaps over reacting in terms of consequences for those students. According to Margaret Wente  discussing using chloroform to sexually assault a woman is really just a joke and that comments about productive women means that they will become babysitters and housekeepers is nothing but "stupid, juvenile and way out of line". She seems to suggest that it was really a matter of "boys will be boys" and that we should expect young men to respond to women the way the students did. Really??

To argue as did Ms Wente that sexism is not really a problem because there are more and more female dentist being graduated every year is to put it bluntly - silly. IT also demonstrates that she does not understand what sexism means or its consequences.

While I think some of the suggested consequences including expulsion may be a bit harsh and it may even be a bit unfair to punish these young men and not the thousands of men who  think and act out the same thoughts, we have to start somewhere. Perhaps if someone would "punish" some men, all men would learn that the attitude as portrayed on the Facebook site is not acceptable. Period.

The consequences for the 13-14 young men would be far more effective if people stopped explaining away or rationalizing their behaviour. Yes it is true that the aspiring dentists have grown up in a culture where men are allowed to say and at the very least think about doing things that we (and they) would not want to happen to their sisters; yes our society is still paternalistic and frequently misogynistic and yes some of their professors and their teachers before them have been at best old fashioned about their views on the best place for women in our society. But these same 13-14 men do live in the 21st century; they have been exposed (one hopes) for all of their lives to the concept of equality of the sexes and they have had ample opportunity to learn. These are bright young men, some of the elite of our educational system. If we don't hold them to the highest standard - who can we?

While I am not a fan of Justice Circles- in this case I think it may be useful to have the young men face the women they talked about and see their anger and hear why they were offended. If men demonstrate some real understanding of what they did and why it was offensive - and if there could be some form of consequence - perhaps some rather intense sensitivity training and then having to go and speak to some first year dental classes, I think that justice would be served. I am just not too sure how one can be sure that they truly understand and that not only would they never do it again but that they would be actively engaged in helping other men to not think the same way.

I would be most curious - if people had a choice - would they prefer to go to a dentist who perhaps struggles with, but tries to be live in a non-sexist world or one who is a clear misogynistic? Who would the office staff or the dental hygienists prefer to work for.