With Catherine Abreu of Destination Zero. I’ve heard people say, “climate disaster knows no bounds” and “it discriminates against no one.” There’s a sense in which that’s true. But impacts of climate change affect different people in Canada and around the world differently, depending on who they are.   Women, girls, and gender-diverse people often experience harsher impacts of climate change, especially if they are marginalized due to racism, poverty, and other factors. They’re also an...

With cave diver and climate advocate Jill Heinerth. Climate change affects us all. But women, girls, and gender-diverse people often experience harsher impacts of climate change, especially those who are most marginalized. They’re also an important part of effective climate solutions. Gender equality itself is a climate crisis solution.  Anishinabek Nation Chief Water Commissioner Autumn Peltier says, “I advocate for water because we all came from water and water is literally the only reason...

With Mandi Gray, author of Suing for Silence: Sexual Violence and Defamation Law. #MeToo made headlines around the world in 2017 and thousands publicly shared their experiences of sexual victimization. The “me too” movement was first established in 2006 by American activist Tarana Burke. #MeToo has been called a watershed moment for gender equality, giving a powerful platform to sexual violence survivors.  And many of us have experienced sexual assault and harassment in our lives. In Canada,...

With Prachi Gupta, author of They Called Us Exceptional: And Other Lies that Raised Us. The Canadian Encyclopedia says the model minority is a stereotype that “depicts Asians as hard working, successful at school and in the workplace, and as economically prosperous.”   It may seem like a positive stereotype. But it divides non-model and model racialized communities, ignores vast disparities in wealth and well-being faced by pan-Asian people, and trivializes the impacts of racism.  That the...

With Katie Harper at Project Neutral. I’ve heard people say, “climate disaster knows no bounds”. There’s a sense in which that’s true. But impacts of climate change affect different people in Canada and around the world differently, depending on who they are.   Women, girls, and gender-diverse people often experience harsher impacts of climate change, especially if they are marginalized due to racism, poverty, and other factors. They’re also an important part of effective climate solutions....

With Jake Stika of Next Gen Men, Fay Slift and Fluffy Soufflé of The Fabulous Show with Fay and Fluffy, Shree Paradkar of the Toronto Star, and Angela Sterritt, national bestselling author of Unbroken. Today’s episode features four of seven incredible speakers at The Walrus Talks Gender-Based Violence, presented by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and held on November 16, 2023. Speakers addressed pressing issues and solutions to end gender-based violence. Listen to learn how we can become...

With Paulette Senior and Anuradha Dugal of the Canadian Women’s Foundation and Pamela Cross at Luke’s Place. Today’s episode features three of seven incredible speakers at The Walrus Talks Gender-Based Violence, presented by the Canadian Women’s Foundation and held on November 16, 2023. Speakers addressed pressing issues and solutions to end gender-based violence.  Listen to learn how we can become allies to survivors of abuse and work as agents of safety and care from the ground up.  A...

With Amanda Arella at YWCA Canada. Those who are young face elevated risks of gendered digital harm. Statistics Canada found that, among those aged 18 to 29 years, young women were more often the target of online abuse, with a prevalence almost double the rate of young men. The gender difference was especially pronounced for receiving unwanted sexually suggestive or explicit material, where young women were almost three times as likely to be targeted as young men.  YWCA Canada found that 44%...

With Leigh Naturkach at the Mosaic Institute. We’re still not doing enough to end gendered digital hate, harassment, and abuse on a large scale. Perhaps that can give us the impression that the public doesn’t care or we’re all too complacent to do anything about it.  The numbers tell us otherwise. In 2023, the Canadian Women’s Foundation found that 88% of people in Canada believe we need to make changes so online spaces are safer for everyone. Fifty-eight per cent of women in particular...

With Rhiannon Wong at Women’s Shelters Canada. The Tech Safety Canada website says technology-facilitated gender-based violence “happens when someone uses technology to harm or control you.” It can take the form of “harassing text or social media messages, restricting access to technology, non-consensually sharing intimate images, using location-tracking technology, or threatening to do any of these.” The scope of this abuse is big because the scope of gender-based violence in Canada is big....

With Barbara Perry, Professor in the Faculty of Social Science and Humanities at Ontario Tech University, and Director of the Centre on Hate, Bias and Extremism at Ontario Tech University. A recent House of Commons report speaks to the rise of ideologically motivated violent extremism in Canada, based on xenophobic, gender-driven, anti-authority, and other personal grievance-driven ideas and ideologies. The report says that, in the age of social media, it can “elude the terminology and...

With Yamikani Msosa, Executive Director at the Ottawa Coalition To End Violence Against Women. Misogynoir, a term coined by Dr. Moya Bailey, describes the distinctive form of anti-Black sexism faced by Black women. We’ve explored it in previous episodes. How does it show up in digital spaces?  The data available paints a distressing picture. UK and US data shows that racialized women are 34% more likely to be mentioned in abusive or problematic tweets than white women, and Black women are...

With Alicia Mccarvell, creator and social media influencer (@aliciamccarvell). There’s a lot of research on how social media can impact users and expose them to harmful content. But those with a prominent online presence experience more digital harassment themselves - politicians, academics, journalists, and professional content creators and highly-followed influencers. Creators and influencers can be subject to repeated insults and derogatory and humiliating comments on a daily basis. Women...

With Hannah Sung (@hannsung, @hannah_tok), veteran of Canadian media and co-founder of Media Girlfriends. Communication in the western world has changed a lot: in 1800s, it was printing presses and telegraphs, then telephone, radio, movies, and television. Next came satellites, email and the internet, mobile phones, and smartphones, all the way to today’s social media, digital content, and remote learning and work.   Gender inequalities have a way of persisting through these tidal shifts....

With Dr. Nasreen Rajani. Gendered digital abuse can take lots of forms: threatening or damaging communication, cyberstalking, non-consensual distribution of intimate images, online dating abuse, hacking, doxing (publishing private information about someone online), flaming (posting insults or personal attacks), impersonation, gendered and sexualized disinformation, and more.  Studies show that those who experience more unwanted behaviour online include young women, Black, Indigenous, and...

With Fallon Farinacci, social media influencer (@fallonfarinacci). There are good resources designed to help you better respond to and take care of yourself in situations of digital hate and harassment. Right to Be says there’s “no right or perfect response to harassment.” Their online harassment survival guide says it’s ok to feel vulnerable and turn to your support network when you need it. They talk about how important it is to feel connected in your offline life.  Research shows how...

With Stephanie Jonsson at Ontario Digital Literacy and Access Network (ODLAN). Organizations working on gender justice, feminist, and 2SLGBTQIA+ issues are subject to online attacks intended to delegitimize and devalue their efforts. Employees who deal with these attacks have little protection. Their mental health is impacted, and their time and resources are wasted. They’re likely to have to leave digital spaces rather than stay and contend with the onslaught. Over coming months, we’re...

With Libby Ward, social media influencer (@diaryofanhonestmom). Digital hate, harassment, and violence hurts so many women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people in Canada. Content creators who address gender justice issues like Libby have a lot to teach us about it. Kelly Odenweller’s research identifies gendered stereotypes and assumptions about mothers and motherhood. They can easily make mothers feel as if they’re not living up to an ideal. If other people treat them poorly...

With Chris Bail, Founding Director of the Polarization Lab. The fact that social media platforms draw out and reward anti-social, polarizing behaviour goes hand-in-hand with the gendered hate and abuse so common to digital interactions. We can’t fix one without fixing the other.    Nor can we ignore what social media does for us psychologically and socially. We use these platforms to build our personal identities. We use them to find community and a sense of belonging. This doesn’t have to...

With Brynta Ponn, social media influencer (@bryntaponn, @brynstagram). Digital hate, harassment, and violence hurts so many women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people in Canada. Content creators who address gender justice issues like Brynta have a lot to teach us about it.  Body shaming is defined as “unsolicited, mostly negative opinions or comments about a target’s body” that “can range from well-meant advice to malevolent insults”. That women and gender-diverse people deal...

With Imran Ahmed from the Center for Countering Digital Hate. Whether you’re on social media, streaming platforms, dating, messaging and meeting apps, or on game sites, if you’re a woman, girl, or Two Spirit, trans, or non-binary person, you’re at greater risk of hate, harassment, and violence.   It’s easy to forget the basic facts of digital media. Take social media. Social media spaces are run by corporations, many of which are based in the United States. The global footprint of these...

With Florence-Olivia (Floli) and Marie-Emmanuelle (Emma), together known as The Sis. Whether you’re on social media, streaming platforms, dating, messaging and meeting apps, or on game sites, if you’re a woman, girl, or Two Spirit, trans, or non-binary person, you’re at greater risk of hate, harassment, and violence.  1 in 5 women experience online harassment in Canada. Younger people are amongst those who face higher risks. 44% of women and gender-diverse people between 16 and 30 are...

With Sarah Sobieraj, author of Credible Threat: Attacks Against Women Online and the Future of Democracy. The Commissioner for Human Rights in the Council of Europe says, “just speaking out … about issues online, often when related to feminism, gender equality, sexual abuse or specific aspects of women’s rights, such as sexual and reproductive health and rights, may be a trigger for violence and abuse.”   The goal of this violence, says the Organization of American States, is to “create a...

With Kairyn Potts, social media influencer and creator (@ohkairyn) and writer, actor, model, and TV host. Digital hate, harassment, and violence hurts so many women, girls, and Two Spirit, trans, and non-binary people in Canada. Content creators who address gender justice issues like Kairyn have a lot to teach us about it. 1 in 5 women experience online harassment in Canada. Indigenous, Black, and racialized women and 2SLGBTQIA+ people are amongst those who face higher risks. Thirty per cent...