Morning Brew: Toronto Sun TTC Suicide Stats Stories Continue, More Toronto Humane Society Scandals and Allegations, 407 Billing Problems Ongoing, Karaoke Room Sexual Assault

"A woman was walking alone late at night, met a stranger on the street, and went with him into dark private room at a karaoke bar where she was assaulted."

No one ever DESERVES to be assaulted, but at the same time, a little common sense has never hurt.

"but the thought of tough guys drinking sweet, melon-flavoured tea through giant pink straws doesn't seem right."

You should bring that up with said tough guys, I'm sure you'd have an interesting discussion.

"Sounds gang-related to me"

And what from this article which is devoid of any real details, would make you jump this this conclusion. Is that any stabbing in Scarborough must be gang related? Careful, your bias is showing...

Easier said than done. The 407 ETR is owned by a private company based in Spain (a result of a "brilliant" quick-cash deal orchestrated by Mike Harris and then-Ontario finance minister Jim Flaherty.)

The province took the company to court a few years ago on related issues, but lost. Sorry to say, but Ontario drivers are kind of screwed at the moment.

I'm pretty sure the Hell's have really gotten into bubble tea in a big way. They're cornering the city's supplies of tapioca balls...

Bit sad statement on our reality.
I thought of it as reckless behaviour too.

In our fantasy world of romantic comedies however this is the perfect way to meet strangers and find love.

The 'Humane' society building should be torn down for a condo. The remaining living animals should be sold off. Tax the pet owners per animal and the city would make a bundle! Tax them more if they neglet to neuter their pets. Taxing these people will keep property taxes low and help the citizens of this city pay for those stupid 5 cent shopping bags and for the looming HST.

Many (most?) of the animals that are in the THS's care are unwanted. It would be difficult for them to be 'sold off' or even given away for free.

Pet owners must already pay annual fees 'per animal'. The city has become more aggressive in enforcing this in recent years.

The HST is a good tax that will help Ontario regain its footing and, if businesses act fairly, should not impact consumers severely. <a href="http://www2.macleans.ca/2009/11/23/a-few-kind-words-for-harmonization/";>Read this article</a> for more on way.

Apologies if this is a double post. I seem to lose posts on blogto a lot lately.

How dare you blame the woman who was assaulted? A little "common sense", you say. You insult all men in that statement by painting all men as potential rapists or sexual assaulters. By the way, rapes and sexual assaults occur at any given time of day or night, most often by people the victim knows. People should not be sexually assaulting anyone. I can't believe people like Jordan and thatguy are agreeing with you.

You people are no better than any Taliban cleric with statements like these. I suppose "responsible" women shouldn't be out alone at night. "Reckless behaviour" on the part of women includes talking to strangers, or going anywhere with them. That's a load of shit. I suppose all the women on Plenty of Fish deserve their inevitable assaults too, as it's basically the same thing.

People should not have to live a life where they fear EVERYONE around them. Where they are taught that they are never safe, and blamed for not protecting themselves further when something horrible happens. Women are already taught to "watch their drinks" and "own a dog", "have a roommate", "take self-defense", "carry mace", "avoid this area", "go in groups", etc. The responsibility is solely on them. Except, that the thing about rapists and sexual assaulters, is that they rape and sexually assault people. They are criminals.
Please educate yourself and do not buy into victim-blaming myths about sexual crimes.

errold, I have a bone to pick about your description of the sexual assault which took place in Koreatown. It regards the inferences made in your retelling of the events, which place blame on the victim for being sexually assaulted. Now, I have read the article that you linked to, and although I'm not crazy about the way they reported either, I expected more from a "progressive" blogger. (Trigger Warning) First, you say the woman was walking alone, at night, SHE met a guy on the street, SHE went with him into a DARK, PRIVATE, karaoke ROOM, where SHE was sexually assaulted. You never say that a MAN was out after midnight, HE approached a woman on the street, HE struck up a conversation with her and took her on a date to the karaoke bar. Then HE sexually assaulted her. The time of night is irrelevant; there are lots of people on Bloor after midnight. In the city, people meet strangers all the time and go out on dates with them on the same day - not everyone sexually assaults their date! Some of the responses (joining in with the victim-blaming) are shocking, as they further call the woman reckless and irresponsible - what about the MAN who picked his victim and escaped, only to sexually assault someone else? Who is blaming him? The media are often to blame, sending the message that women allow sexual attacks on themselves, and that the only "true rape" is when a young, attractive, "nice girl" is assaulted my a crazy man in an alley. That was irresponsible of CTV and irresponsible of you. I am sure, as someone who makes a living from journalism, you seek to gain knowledge on a subject you are clearly lacking. You can start here: http://shakespearessister.blogspot.com/2009/10/rape-culture-101.html in that link provided, a woman has articulated the spectrum of rape culture in our society. You can visit this website too, for something more local: http://www.sacc.to/ it's the Sexual Assault Care Centre Scarborough, and they also provide information. I know some will say that this is only a blog and only your opinion, but it should be obvious that BlogTO is more than that; I am sure you want to lend your name to something you can be proud to have written.

The lines are there. You wrote them. I doubt you intended to imply that it was her fault, but you did. It's subtle, but it's there.

Trust me, women who have been assaulted don't need any help with feeling it was their fault.

I certainly hope you are not a woman. I don't believe you are. If the guy had stolen her belongings only, then he is still to blame for being a thief. If a skinny guy goes to a dark bar with 3 strangers and they beat him up, the 3 guys are guilty of assault. Rape (or sexual assault) is a very different thing than having your money stolen. It is THE worst, most humiliating experience. How did SHE put herself in harms way? HE put her in harm's way because he's a SEXUAL OFFENDER. Now, on the off chance that I'm some idiot and I actually believe that you are a woman, if you have not been raped or sexually assaulted, it's not because you have found a magic secret of self-protection; you just haven't been in the company of someone who wanted to rape you. Lucky you. ALL of the people (and it's more than one, more than two) that I know who have been raped/sexually assaulted were AT HOME, sober, minding their own business, or were AT HOME, sober, where their partner was the perpetrator, or were in the company of friends they have known for years. While it's three times as likely for a woman to be sexually assaulted while out, it's NINE times as likely for women who are inside, at home, sober, and being "nice girls". Another thing, you can't identify a rapist just by looking at them, and they may not rape you the first day they meet you; they might do it some time after, after you have become friends, or lovers. So you meet someone off the internet and go on a date with them to a public place (taking precautions), if the dates go well, won't you two eventually have to be alone together? Is that the woman's fault if this person assaults her - according to your logic, by agreeing to be alone with them, she is not being responsible. Nope, not the guy committing the crime, no siree. So what is responsible? Should all women ask every man they meet to provide a criminal background check before they further interact with them? Rapists/Assailants will perpetrate, regardless of what you did and didn't do. Isn't it great on how only women have to be educated on how to avoid rape? Why don't we educate men on what rape is and how not to commit it AND how to recognize it, prevent it and report it? Ask yourself what you have been formally taught about rape and sexual assault. Read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rape_culture

I think you are the one not getting the message: rape culture (victim blaming)is part of a systemic violence against women. Before I start, I want to say that we do need to educate men about rape. They need to know what it is in all it's forms, they need to understand that women are not the gatekeepers to whether or not sexual assault is committed against them. They need to understand what consent is and what it isn't, as well as what is violent and/or coercive behaviour. Most importantly, that there is nothing "manly" about it and has less to do with sex than with violence and hatred. These lines are often blurred in media portrayals of heterosexual relationships.

You talk about avoiding "any sketchy situation". You speak about specifically teaching your hypothetical daughter to avoid these situations.
Let us look at women who put themselves in "sketchy situations", shall we?:
Neda Agha-Sultan was shot dead for putting herself in the ""potential sketchy situation" of trying to vote and protest her government. If she had stayed home and kept her mouth shut, she wouldn't have died. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Death_of_Neda_Agha-Soltan

How about those careless women who put themselves in the "sketchy situation" of being journalists who report on the events in Baghdad, Afghanistan, Iraq, Somalia, to name a few? Ha! To think they thought they were being brave and enabling free speech! How careless of them not to be responsible for themselves - oopsy! Aren't their faces red (and not just from the blood of physical abuse and torture, know what I'm sayin'?): http://tinyurl.com/ykjptty

How about all those women who go to "sketchy situation" countries, like the ones which are at war, and provide aid to the suffering civilians. It's so stupid of women to think they can be heroes. They should have known they would be kidnapped raped and murdered - duh!: http://tinyurl.com/yk6nkac

You see, teaching "our daughters" that they are victims waiting to happen if they don't take every precaution necessary to avoid a sketchy situation, is teaching them to shy away from any role that would make them a hero, a leader, an activist, or self-sufficient. Furthermore, when all of society internalize these beliefs that women are most vulnerable and must take all precautions with everything they do, they are viewed as less than an "average person", they are seen as a burden and not to be taken seriously; certainly not worthy of respect and equality. Stigmas are created around their presence in certain career paths; hiring women is seen as a liability, costing a company money in possible lawsuits, or special requirements. Really, it goes on. If you really are a women, it is important to educate yourself on how women are portrayed in media and through our belief system. This incident, where the wording of an assault places SOME blame (but it's still blame) on the part of the woman for walking by herself at night and for agreeing to go on a date with someone she just met (he could have just been a nice guy - did they say how long they conversed before she decided to go out with him? 10 minutes? 3 hours? It doesn't say, it literally makes it sound like she is this stupid girl, who some guy says "hey wanna come to a dark room with me?" and she (stupidly - implied) said "yes, of course, that sounds like a great idea!".) I am sure this was not the case, yet people are pointing the finger at her, saying she should have been more resposible. How about people don't lure others and commit violent acts? Let's say she did not go with this guy and she did not get assauleted. The big problem here is that leaves a sex offender on the loose, who is probably going to try to assault someone else. He will try abnd try and try until he succeeds. However, no one makes mention of this. Keep in mind too, that a woman can go out, get drunk, hang out with strangers, stay out all night, travel/walk home by herself MANY times and NOTHING bad will happen to her (because most people are not rapists and respect other people's right not to be harmed). Yet, the one unfortunate day it does, OUR SOCIETY points the finger at the woman's behaviour, thus treating sexual assault as an expected occurrence if you are a woman. Although you keep saying (in caps, no doubt) "AND NO I'M NOT SAYING SHE DESERVED IT FOR GOD'S SAKE!!!", you are. You are saying SHE should have not put herself in harms way. Really think about that statement. If youend up having a daughter, I hope you think less about "what will happen to her if she does this or goes there at that time of night", and more about "what will happen to her if she doesn't?". If you can't understand any of why fighting against these BIASES is important, then I do hope she rebels against you.

Jerrold, why did my post in response to SH not go up?

Oh, sorry about that. Thanks for clearing it up.