By Tristin Hopper
Every Whitehorse woman knows them. They’re the men that pelt them with obscenities at them as they walk to work. They’re the men that pull over beside a teenage girl and ask her “how she could be so cute.” Some call them gawkers, some call them dirtbags - and they’re seemingly everywhere, forever crowding the street corners and bars of Downtown Whitehorse.
Each February, Whitehorse’s Roadhouse Inn celebrates the coming melt by flying up a small troupe of exotic dancers. Robust security is standard fare at any strip club, but the security detail at the Roadhouse puts the US Secret Service to shame. And for good cause: Every once a while they’ll literally need to stop a man from rushing the stage.
Gruff, antisocial men are at the core of Yukon mythology. We routinely celebrate reclusive fur trappers and inebriated gold miners as fun caricatures of Northern life. But while Dangerous Dan McGrew makes for good poetry, he’s poison to a healthy community. For young women clad in anything less than a parka, summertime Whitehorse is rife with leering eyes, unwanted proposals, and in many cases, overt sexual harassment. When the 1950s ended, nobody thought to let our men know. Our males can work iPods, but they can’t seem to address an attractive woman without referring to her genitals.
It may seem harmless on the surface; an occasional cat-call or come-on. But it’s behaviours like this that belie something far more sinister. The Yukon’s rates of sexual assault are often double those of similar communities in the South. In some Yukon towns, black eyes are known colloquially as “engagement rings.” And despite our small population, the Yukon routinely cranks out violent sex offenders that would horrify even the most jaded Northerner.
As Canadians, we pride ourselves on our tolerance. We want a society where all races, religions and orientations can go out in public without fear of public scorn. But somewhere along the way, lecherous, intimidating men snuck into the melting pot. We’re better than this: It’s time to stop telling our girls to simply ignore them. It’s time to start getting angry.
