By Ed Keenan
I’m ready to give up.
I’ve read up on my Gloria Steinem and Naomi Wolf and Marilyn French. I’ve taken “Gender Roles” and “Women in Literature” classes. I’ve participated in white ribbon campaigns. I’ve worked hard on McLung’s, the women’s issues magazine at Ryerson. And after all this, the sign on the wall in Jorgenson says:
“For Women Only.”
I had to read it a few times to make sure it said what I thought it said. It was an ad for a forum on “Consensual sex vs. Sexual violence” taking place at Oakham House. And right under the details of time and place it said “for women only.”
This is not an isolated incident.
On Feb. 15, The Eyeopener reported that the Ryerson Women’s Centre and the Ryerson Accounting and Investment Society were co-sponsoring a series of lectures entitled “Women and Wealth” about how to make wise investments. It was an event for women only.
Gwene Yorston of the Ryerson Women’s Centre told Eyeopener reporter Karen Lewis that men were excluded from the seminars because women might “feel insecure” if men showed up. Recognizing that this is a stock market seminar and not a rape survivor support group, I have a hard time feeling bad for a woman who’d feel intimidated by the mere presence of men. But wait, there’s more.
I went up to the Ryerson Women’s Centre, and the sign on the door says “Come join our collective—All Women Welcome.” Another sign advertising “The International Woman’s Day Dance” bore the same subtly exclusive message: “All women welcome.”
Now maybe I’m reading too much into this, but I don’t think you need even so much as a grade eight diploma to understand what this means is, “If you have a penis, don’t come to our party.”
This is an example of sexual discrimination so obvious, I cannot believe I haven’t heard anyone complain about it. It is simply the most blatant violation of Ryerson’s Harassment Policy (not that violations of Ryerson’s Harassment Policy are earth-shaking events; almost any form of communication violates this expressive straight jacket) that I have ever seen or heard of, and I can’t believe the posters allowed to stay up. Their message is hurtful and they exclude me and all of Ryerson’s men. We are specifically locked out of participation in these events because of our genitalia.
If these women’s groups need an illustration of how offensive and hurtful these phrases are to me, imagine that I put up posters around campus advertising a seminar “For men only” or worse, a poster saying “All white men welcome.”
I would be pathetically wrong to do so, because such statements are morally indefensible. Are you afraid the presence of a few men at your meetings might intimidate some of the fragile little feminine pearls that attend? Imagine how I felt outside your office on Monday night, as I read your posters telling me I was not welcome and you peeked through the blinds at me and closed the door—informing me by your actions as surely as if you’d spoken: “Fuck off, man.”
I have seldom felt so intimidated, so frustrated, so utterly negated as an individual in my life. If creating an environment that is hostile to me and other men is what the Women’s Centre is striving to do—perhaps to get revenge on us for the sins of our ancestors—then it has succeeded.
But I want these women to know that I have never in my life knowingly discriminated against anyone on the basis of sex, race, or sexual orientation. They should know, while they intentionally poison my learning environment, that I am one man who has gone out of his way to sympathize with their struggle, to fight on their side, to publicly defend them against Neanderthal goons who dismiss them all as radical dykes.
But they have negated my identity, sexually harassed me in public, and looked at me through their prejudiced eyes one too many times.
I’m ready to give up—not on women, not on equality, not on the potential of the equal rights movement—but on the insensitive chromosomal fascists who occupy the second floor offices of the Ryerson Women’s Centre. Good luck with your struggle ladies, but count me out.
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