CANADA
The Huffington Post
December 12, 2017
By Guila Benchimol
Silence is not created in a vacuum. Collectively, we create walls of silence that make crime invisible, allowing it to persist.
Gretchen Carlson, whose sexual harassment claims led to Roger Ailes’s downfall, recently stated that “the culture of concealment and denial is coming to an end” and the Silence Breakers were just named Time Magazine’s Person of the Year. But a culture of silence does not simply end when its victims are ready to speak up. For victims to be heard, we must understand what role we play in building the silence around them.
Silence is a sexual predator’s weapon, protecting them from detection and prosecution. Simon Hallsworth and Tara Young explain that while silence is a common feature of most crimes, it is the noise that receives our attention. Silence, however, is not created in a vacuum. Collectively, we create walls of silence that make crime invisible, allowing it to persist. Similarly, according to Eviatar Zerubavel’s The Elephant in the Room, a conspiracy of silence is the result of individual and collective efforts at denial.
The culture of silence is the most striking pattern in recent sexual victimization revelations. The underlying message in the investigative reports is that walls of silence were built by perpetrators, control agents and bystanders, highlighting why victims are silent, or silenced, for so long. This machine of silence enabled perpetrators. People looked away while victimization occurred and went to great lengths to ensure silence. Active measures to promote silence continue today, including attempts to undermine victims and those who report their stories.
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