Sign vandalism damaging to girls: FOXY co-ordinator
Female candidates taking the brunt of abuse of election sign mischief
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, October 14, 2015
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Candidate signs come under attack from vandals every election but the sexual overtones being drawn onto female council-candidates signs this year is sending a destructive message to young girls, according to the project co-ordinator for FOXY, a sexual health support group for young women.
Two of council candidate Marie-Soleil Lacoursiere's signs were vandalized over the last couple weeks. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo |
Nancy MacNeill said overtly sexual and offensive additions to signs posted by council candidates Linda Bussey and Marie-Soleil Lacoursiere support a narrative suggesting women shouldn't be taken seriously in politics.
Someone removed the 'L' on Linda Bussey's campaign sign, and changed the 'B' to a 'P', and a short time later permanent magic marker was used to draw a mustache on one of Coun. Rebecca Alty's re-election signs and to black-out one of the teeth in Lacoursiere's smile. On another Lacoursiere sign, whiteout or white paint was smeared on her face.
"That's the kind of thing people can say is just a joke, but you and I know it's ... the idea behind it is for people to not take women seriously," said MacNeill. "My personal comment is, 'Oh my God you bunch of babies, grow up.' But my official comment is, I think there's a lot of pressures in place that are designed as insidious systematic sexism. The idea is not to say women can't do something. It's to kind of spread the message that women shouldn't be taken seriously as men."
MacNeill said she thinks the women attacked can handle a little muck-flinging, but the message sent to young girls is concerning.
"The women who are running are really strong," she said. "I'm confident they understand these aren't real political arguments. But at the same time, the message that is sent to young women, the young women that I work with, this is one more arena where if you decide you want to make a difference you're going to find one more arena where you're a sex object. I think that message is really damaging. My guess is the people who did this ... I don't think they're smart enough to know that's the message they're sending."
Yellowknifer asked candidates how they felt about the streak of sexist vandalism. In an e-mail, incumbent mayor Mark Heyck wrote it's "absolutely shameful" and illegal and urged residents to report vandals if they see them.
Councillor candidate Shauna Morgan wrote "when women are putting themselves out there, getting things done and changing the status quo, some people are threatened and try to intimidate women into going back quietly and politely behind the scenes."
Councillor candidate Jugjit More-Curran wrote that the objectification of candidates is not acceptable; and councillor candidate Julian Morse said he remembers this kind of thing happening before.
"I remember (female candidate) signs having misogynistic slurs painted on them in the last territorial election," he wrote. "Despite huge leaps we've taken ... we still have a long way to go to break apart the patriarchal nature of our society."
