Last Friday, September 13th I was on TVO’s The Agenda with Steve Paikin. I was asked to speak about the ‘story of the week’ (as selected by The Agenda’s viewers) which was on the topic of the “rape chants” sung during frosh week at UBC and St. Mary’s University.

Part of me wants to go through the entire interview and unpack what I said in order to expand, clarify and probe even deeper into the roots of sexual violence. Another part of me wants to undergo more media training (Informed Opinions, I’ll be in touch!). Yet another part of me is feeling increasing curiosity about what it means to participate in public debates. I have always felt strongly that the walls of academia should be porous. I want my research to be widely relevant. I work on social problems because I want to make positive contributions towards social change. How can I do this effectively? I really appreciated all of the lovely positive feedback I received and I was (surprisingly) unaffected (so far!) by the predictable negative “feedback” in the form of YouTube comments. And, of course, part of me is still chuckling about the fact that I actually said “YES! I WANT TO HAVE SEX WITH YOU!” on television.

Before presenting you with the video of my interview, I will direct you towards the rape joke that I describe at the end of the video so that you can listen to a real comedian tell it! Check out John Mulaney’s rape joke here. I will also tip my hat to Kate Harding’s post about 15 rape jokes that work and why.