Concerns are mounting with respect to sexual harassment associated with Red Mile celebrations.
I'm sure many have fond memories of "shirts off for Kiprusoff" (while some certainly do not), but with a lot of alcohol involved, jacked up dudes and people looking to recreate the fun associated with naked boobies, there's a pretty distinct possibility of lines crossed into harassment and assault.
Anyway, there's been a fair amount of chatter about this today on Twitter directed at Police and politicians and the Metro and the Herald have both written about it.
http://metronews.ca/news/calgary/134...et-harassment/
Women asking Flames fans to can it when it comes to street harassment
By
Helen Pike Metro
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Avoid the red mile at all cost – that’s the approach some women are taking in the face of playoff-fuelled street harassment standing between them and enjoying hockey with other sports fans....
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...Juliet Burgess lives in the Beltline and is avoiding the street on game days as much as possible. She told Metro an experience in 2004 has stuck with her.
“I was sixteen and didn’t know anything about hockey, I just knew cool stuff was going on and wanted to be a part of it,” said Burgess. “It ended up just being a lot of guys telling us to lift up our shirts and at one point somebody groped me, grabbed my breast.”
A website Twitter and Instagram account, http://www.showyourcansformonahan.ca, created by a man who would only identify himself as “Mike” was put up last Wednesday. The site posts photo tributes for Monahan and also aggregates images live from the #cansformonahan hashtag...
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...A group of Calgary women have created a hashtag to encourage inclusion on the red mile. Armed with #saferedmile, Elizabeth Chorney-Booth and Burima are hoping hockey fans, especially men, can encourage friends to speak out against what Kimberly Williams, women’s studies professor at Mount Royal University, has called a sexist practice – that has little to do with hockey.
Chorney-Booth said street harassment isn’t something that typically gets reported, especially in the heat of the moment, women simply don’t feel safe. The hashtag has had response from Mayor Naheed Nenshi who simply replied asking women to share stories from the red mile.
“There is absolutely a time and place, if there are women who wish to engage in sexual performance that is certainly a right,” Rebecca Sullivan, professor with the University of Calgary Women’s Studies Program said. “However, in a public space like the Red Mile there is neither consent from the audience to participate in a sexual performance, nor necessarily from the individuals being goaded into a sexual performance – and that’s a problem.”
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http://calgaryherald.com/news/local-...-mile-thursday
Anti-harassment team to hit Red Mile Thursday
Eva Ferguson, Calgary HeraldMore from Eva Ferguson, Calgary Herald
Published on: April 22, 2015
Last Updated: April 22, 2015 6:08 PM MDT
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Young women are mobilizing against what has become a string of sexual harassment and sexually-violent statements against women during post-Flames game celebrations along the Red Mile this week.
The ##### Cats Consent Awareness Team on the Red Mile will meet Thursday outside Western Canada High School to raise awareness around the issue and prevent further incidents where women have felt sexually-harassed and physically-endangered by aggressive hockey fans.
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Saima Jamal, who will also be joining, said part of the effort is to prevent a repeat of some of the incidents that became common-place during the Flames 2004 Cup run, when the team reached the Stanley Cup final and thousands of fans converged onto the Red Mile, 17th Avenue S.W., to celebrate game nights.
On many occasions young women unclothed in public, at times at their own choosing, and at other times, saying they felt forced to by a chanting crowd.
“Shirts off for Kiprusoff,” became a popular slogan at the time, playing with the name of then Flames starting goaltender Miikka Kiprusoff.
This week, slogans like “Show Your Cans for Monahan,” have been seen on posters, playing with the name of star forward Sean Monahan.
But Jamal says it’s critical that similar events not happen again.
“It’s about consent and protecting women who are on the Red Mile,” said Jamal.
“Last time, we had women going down there, and there was an expectation that they take their tops off.
“And if they did, if they felt pressured to, people would just touch them without their consent.”
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Erika Stark of Metro, covering Red Mile celebrations also chronicled an incident related to the disturbing FHRITP trend:
https://storify.com/erikamstark/fhritp
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