SFCC Glossary
Consent
Consent is the voluntary agreement to engage in sexual activity. It is the responsibility of the person initiating or engaging in sexual activity to obtain clear and affirmative responses at all stages of sexual engagement.
Affirmative consent requires that a person is able to freely choose between two options: yes and no. This means that there must be an understandable exchange of affirmative words which indicate a willingness to participate in mutually agreed upon sexual activity. The fact that consent was given in the past to a sexual or dating relationship does not mean that consent is deemed t exist for all further sexual activity.
For a more comprehensive breakdown of consent and when it can and cannot be obtained, you can refer to page 9 of the OurTurn National Action Plan , or check out these awesome resources : LSPIRG, consent beyond sex
For some really important resources on consent and Indigenous communities : Reclaim Turtle Island - Terra Nullius is Rape Culture and Land Body Defense - Violence on the Land, Violence on Our Bodies
ADVOCACY
Broadly speaking, advocacy is a process of socialization that seeks a desired change. In practice, advocacy generally takes place through members of civil society supporting or recommending a cause or proposal to target actors. In campus anti-violence advocacy, target actors are often institutions and varying levels of government with the goal of producing policy and/or legislative changes that lead to learning environments free from violence or fear of violence. A variety of activities can fall under the category of advocacy, including campaigning, protesting, lobbying, research, and public education.
Allyship
An active, consistent practice of un-learning and re-evaluating in which a person of privilege seeks to operate in solidarity with a systematically marginalized group. This is a long-term process that is contingent on building relationships based on trust, consistency, and accountability.
bill
A draft piece of legislation.
BOARD OF GOVERNORS (BoG)
The Board of Governors (BoG) is considered the highest level of governance in the post-secondary system and legislation around post-secondary education. Though each province has its own system for determining membership and having a term of reference for this body, it is generally charged with overall responsibility for the business of the institution. Examples of their responsibilities include overseeing policies (like sexual violence and human rights policies!), property, consultation processes regarding tuition fees, decisions around changes to tuition fees, hiring senior administrators, and budgets.
CAMPAIGNING
Campaigning is a broad term to describe organized action that seeks to achieve a desired outcome. The types of activities undertaken by any particular campaign will depend on the specific context of the issue area. Some common advocacy campaign strategies that will be discussed in further detail include protesting, lobbying, strategic litigation, and public education. The duration of these activities within a campaign can be time-bound or ongoing. Campaigns can be conducted by organizations, groups of organizations (sometimes referred to as coalitions or advocacy networks), and/or individual activists.
Regardless of the types of activities that your campaign undertakes, it is important to plan out your strategy and be clear, concise, and consistent on what your desired outcomes are. Who are the targets of your advocacy and what is it specifically that your campaign is asking for? A helpful, well-known framework to help advocates strategically plan campaign objectives is called the SMART framework. A SMART goal is:
Specific: The intended outcome of your advocacy campaign should be specific. This will allow you to create a clear plan including tactics used, who is assigned to particular tasks, and allotment of resources, that will ultimately help your campaign maintain a focus and increase the likelihood of success.
Measurable: Developing quantifiable indicators or criteria to be met will allow you to track progress made by your campaign, know what your goals are, and when they have been achieved.
Attainable: While the issues that advocates address are often part of much larger systems of oppression (ex. cisheteropatriarchy, colonialism, systemic racism, etc.), it is important that your campaign tackles particular goals that are attainable based on the resources available and the structure(s) that you are advocating within.
Relevant: The goals of your campaign should be consistent with the values of your organization and benefit the population that it is intended to serve.
Time-bound: Setting deadlines or target dates for the completion of campaign tasks or goals will make it easier to stay focused and on-track.
Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC)
Canada’s national human rights institution or state-mandated body that operates independently from the government to monitor, protect, and promote human rights at the federal level. This includes offering individual complaints processes where the respondent is a federal government department, federal organization, or a First Nations government.
DATA
SFCC recognises the important role that statistics and data sets play in documenting and addressing gender-based and sexual violence. However, we cannot solely rely on this method for understanding and communicating violence.
Therefore, we have tried to reduce the usage of the term data in this report. In line with calls and recommendations from peoples who have been particularly harmed and/or marginalised through data collection and reporting, we believe that reducing our stories to “data '' is disrespectful. It further carries a weight that gives the appearance of an absolute truth and invisibilizes those who are left out of data collection. Feminist researchers have long critiqued the ways in which large-scale quantitative research is idealised as “without bias,” while smaller qualitative studies are framed as “partial,” or “subjective.” Historically, women and other marginalised groups were shut out of the official channels for performing scientific and social scientific research. The alternatives available to them included sharing experience, telling stories, gathering testimonies and self-publishing. Not incidentally, many of these forms of knowledge production blurred the lines between research subject and researcher, inquiry and social action.
“Data” may be used in the report to specifically discuss statistics, data sets, or data analysis more accessible or recognisable. Instead we will use terms like “knowledge shared,” “stories,” or “lived experiences.”
DISCLOSURE
A communication process that involves one person sharing personal and/or sensitive information about themselves to another.
Gag order / Confidentiality order
A judicial or nonjudicial prohibition against public disclosure or discussion of information related to a case or complaint. An inclusion of language that invokes a gag order in a policy is sometimes interpreted in a way that restricts survivors from getting needed support from their community (either persons or resources).
Examples of gag-order-like language in university sexual violence policies:
Acadia University Policy Against Harassment and Discrimination, Section F.5.1.: All members of the University community involved in any proceedings pursuant to this policy are expected to maintain confidentiality. A breach of confidentiality is a disservice to both the complainant and the respondent.
Carleton University Sexual Violence Policy, Section 8.5 (b): To ensure procedural fairness while a formal complaint process is underway, the Complainant, the Respondent and others who may have knowledge of the matter, including a support person, must maintain confidentiality in accordance with this Policy and not make public statements (for example: media, public and/ or social media statements) that may jeopardize the proper handling of the matter. The confidentiality obligations do not prevent a person from seeking counselling, treatment, support services or from speaking to friends and family. Any questions regarding confidentiality obligations under this Policy can be clarified by contacting the individual who receives the formal complaint.
Gender-based violence (gbv)
Gender-based violence is a term that includes sexual assault or abuse, sexual harassment, and other forms of violence and discrimination that draw on gendered stereotypes and power structures. In Canada, these forms of violence have traditionally been understood in the framework of “violence against women.” We recognise and affirm the work of feminist activists who demanded recognition and social change on behalf of women harmed by men and patriarchal power. Along with others in the National Action Plan process, we understand these forms of violence within broader systems of hierarchy, power, and discrimination, and use the term “gender-based violence” to highlight the impact on Queer, nonbinary, trans, and two-spirit individuals, in addition to cisgender women and men. GBV can be physical, sexual, psychological, spiritual, and structural. Fundamental to our understanding of GBV is that it intersects with other forms of violence and oppression in ways that can impact its meanings and effects on victims and survivors, as well as how it is perceived by others. These forms of violence and oppression include:
Racism
Colonialism
Islamophobia
Homophobia
Transphobia
Ableism
Classism and Poverty
hARM
We have chosen to use harm as an umbrella term to denote the spectrum of harassment, bullying, discrimination, rape, gender-based and sexual violence, grooming, and insitutional betrayal that occurs in post-secondary insitutions. We feel this captures the fact that even when behaviours or stances are not intentionally meant to cause harm due to normalisation of violence or ignorance, that harm is caused and experienced nonetheless.
Immunity clause
An immunity clause in a university sexual violence policy ensures that a student will not be liable for discipline if they were drinking or doing drugs on campus when an assault occurred.
Indecent exposure
Exposing one’s body to another individual for a sexual purpose or coercing another individual to remove their clothing in order to expose their body without their consent
INSTITUTION
A society, foundation or organization devoted to a particular cause or delivering a specific program such as those of a public, educational, religious, or charitable nature.
Intersectionality
Intersectionality, first used by Kimberlé Crenshaw, is a concept used to understand how different systems of power and oppression work together to mediate an individual’s lived experiences. These systems include racism, classism, cissexism, homophobia, ableism, colonialism, and xenophobia among others. They are extremely interconnected and cannot be examined in isolation. Similarly, different aspects of an individual’s identity interact to influence their navigation, opportunities and experiences. (Link more resources)
LEGISLATION
Written laws that are enacted by Parliament, the legislative arm of government. Also referred to as Acts or statutes.
LOBBYING
Lobbying is a strategy that can occur at the federal, provincial, and municipal levels. The Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying Canada defines lobbying as, “communicating, with public office holders, for payment, with regard to: the making, developing, or amending of federal legislative proposals, bills or resolutions, regulations, policies or programs; the awarding of federal grants, contributions or other financial benefits; and the awarding of a federal government contract (for consultant lobbyists only).” Arranging a meeting with a public office holder can also be considered an act of lobbying.
At the federal level, lobbying activities are regulated by the Lobbying Act. Municipalities and provinces also have their own laws and by-laws on lobbying activities. In general, it is very important to have an understanding of the regulations relevant to your region and context as there are standards that you are required to adhere to. For example, if you are being paid to do lobbying activities at the federal level, you must register as a lobbyist with the Office of the Commissioner of Lobbying Canada within 10 days of being retained as a lobbyist. Additionally, there are expectations for the conduct of lobbyists with a particular concern over conflicts of interest. At the federal level, these expectations are outlined in the Lobbyists’ Code of Conduct.
NON-DISCLOSURE AGREEMENT (NDA)
A binding confidentiality agreement where one or more parties agree to not disclose certain information to anyone outside of the contract. May also be colloquially referred to as a “gag order.”
OPEN SECRET
There are a few layers of documentation and analysis that we will be describing in this report. The term “open secret” we will use to talk generally about the existence of knowledge that exists within particular communities, departments, or campuses. The term “whisper networks” we will use to talk about the specific structures through which open secrets are shared. These networks may exist as oral exchanges (literal whispering), through social media platforms, bathroom wall graffiti, or through art projects. In using a term like “hidden transcript” (Violet Cole, 2019), we will speak specifically about particular discourses or narratives that may occur in a whisper network.
PEER SUPPORT
When two or more people with a shared experience, such as an illness or significant traumatic event, provide each other with information and/or emotional, practical, or social support. Peer support can take place informally or within the programming of an established service.
POLICY
A set of guidelines proposed or adopted by a government, institution, business, or individual that outline processes and procedures to facilitate decisions and outcomes.
post-secondary institutions (psi)
Postsecondary institutions in this context include universities, colleges, CEGEPs, and other professional degree-granting institutions in the provinces and territories of so-called Canada.
PREDATORY
In some instances, we will use the term “predatory” in a quote or paraphrased quotes or in specific situations in which the perpetrator was predatory (such as in cases of grooming). However, we will avoid usage of this term most of the time, due to the way that it has been linguistically coded to refer to or frame Black men as aggressive, hypersexual, violent perpetrators with the specific target of this violence being white women. Instead of “predatory,” we will use the language of professor-perpetrated violence or other linguistic contexts of the violence perpetrated. For more information on this discourse, click here.
PROTESTING
Protesting, or public demonstration, is a display of dissent or objection to a situation. A non-violent protest can take a variety of forms including marches, rallies and sit-ins and can also include artistic expression. While protests can sometimes occur spontaneously in response to significant events, they can also be strategic components of campaigns. When a protest falls under the latter, much like planning the broader campaign, it is important to know what the desired outcome of the demonstration is. Who or what are you trying to influence? Where would be the most effective location(s) to do this and why? What tactics would likely be the most effective?
Provincial and Territorial Human Rights Agencies
Bodies that operate independently from the government to monitor, protect, and promote human rights at the provincial and territorial level. In each province and territory, these include a human rights commission that hears discrimination and harassment complaints against housing, schools, and most workplaces. In British Columbia, Ontario, and Nunavut, there are also human rights adjudicative tribunals which are quasi-judicial bodies that hears and determines applications brought under the respective provincial or territorial human rights code.
Rape culture
A culture in which dominant ideas, social practices, media images and societal institutions implicitly or explicitly condone sexual assault by normalising or trivializing sexual violence and by blaming survivors for their own abuse. Rape culture does not necessarily refer to explicit acts of rape or sexual assault, but rather draws attention to the social environments that foster the inequities that result in women, Indigenous peoples, disabled peoples, non-binary, and trans women experiencing particularly high rates of violence. Rape culture is a pervasive issue on Canadian campuses that facilitates sexual violence within post-secondary communities. (For more resources on rape culture check out these links : )
Example of an Acknowledgement of Rape Culture in a University policy
Ryerson University Sexual Violence Policy, Section V (2): The Office of Sexual Violence Support and Education will work with on and off-campus partners [...] to develop an annual education strategy that includes campaigns, training sessions, workshops, print and online resources, programs and events on a breadth of topics related to sexual violence on campus. These campaigns will explore topics such as rape culture, consent culture, sexual assault awareness, how to seek support, resources for survivors, advice and resources for first responders, etc. The audience for these efforts would include employees, students and visitors to our campus [...] Faculties and departments are encouraged to include education related to rape culture and sexual violence in course materials and program curriculum where appropriate. They are also encouraged to use trained facilitators who understand the sensitivity with which these topics must be raised, who have the skills to respond appropriately to disclosures and those who may be triggered by the content of the material or resulting discussions.
According to METRAC Action on Violence (2016), rape culture on Canadian campuses:
Makes higher rates of sexual violence seem normal, unavoidable, and acceptable
Makes us prone to blame, disbelieve, and silence those who experience victimization;
Feeds into sexist gender stereotypes and rape myths about men being “naturally” violent and women being at fault for “provoking them”;
Feeds into sexualized stereotypes about certain groups (Indigenous people, racialized groups, trans* and gender diverse communities) and reinforces a belief that they are somehow more likely to abuse or are “immune” to victimization;
Makes us think it’s okay that our policies, practices, law enforcement, and courts do not respond well to the problem;
Keeps us ill-equipped and unaware of how to support survivors/victims.35 Rape culture on campuses is rarely overtly expressed.
As noted in the OurTurn National Action Plan, “we cannot hope to prevent sexual violence without addressing rape culture, which is widely understood to be the root cause of sexual violence. With this in mind, a primary goal of the National Action Plan is to shift the culture on our campuses from one that facilitates sexual violence to one that promotes a culture of consent” (Salvino, Gilchrist, and Colligan-Pang 2017, 16)
Rape shield protections
Rape shield protections limit the ability to introduce evidence or cross-examine complainants about their past sexual behaviour.
SENATE
The Senate is the branch of institutional governance that deals with the academic governance of the institutions like standard academic topics like formulating the academic plan, creating graduate attributes, examination policies to more complex and involved issues such as working to Indigenize the institution. The members of the Senate are mostly faculty, though do include some administrators, staff (like librarians!) and students.
Issues you might bring to the Senate include:
Issues with racism, misogyny, or discrimination in curriculum that you want to address at an institutional level
Ensuring policies around anti-violence appear on all course syllabi
Encouraging anti-violence education to be a part of curriculum
Addressing academic accommodations for survivors
Sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV)
Sexual violence is the term generally used in PSI policy and for response offices on campus. We use the terms gender-based, sexual and gender-based, and sexual violence when referring to on-campus services or policy.
Sexual assault
Sexual assault is any act of a sexual nature performed without the consent of the other person(s). This includes a range of behaviours, from unwanted kissing and touching to forced sexual intercourse (rape) and/or oral sex. Sexual assault is not about love or lust; it is about one person exerting power and control over another. Sexual assault can affect anyone. It can happen within marriage, common-law, dating or acquaintance relationships, or be perpetrated by an unknown person. Most survivors know the person who sexually assaults them. Those who have experienced acquaintance sexual assault often find it difficult to define their experience as sexual assault, or disclose what happened to them.
Sexual Harassment
Unwelcome conduct of a sexual nature that detrimentally affects the working, learning, or living environment, or leads to adverse consequences for the one directly subjected to the harassment.
Sexual misconduct
Sexual misconduct is a broad, umbrella term encompassing any unwelcome behavior of a sexual nature that is committed without consent or by force, intimidation, coercion, or manipulation. Sexual misconduct can be committed by a person of any gender, and it can occur between people of the same or different gender. It includes a range of behaviours including sexual assault, stalking, sexual harassment, and sexual intimidation. ‘Sexual Misconduct’ and ‘Sexual Violence’ are often used interchangeably, with the legal system favouring the language of ‘sexual misconduct’ and news media opting to use ‘sexual misconduct’ as a vague catchall term.
Sexual violence
Sexual violence is an umbrella term that refers to a continuum of psychological or physical actions of a sexual nature that is threatened, attempted or committed towards a person without their consent. It may be directed towards a person’s sexual orientation, sexual or gender expression,or gender identity. It includes sexist, homophobic and/or transphobic jokes, coercion, stalking, voyeurism, cyberviolence, sexual harassment, interpersonal (or intimate partner) violence and sexual assault. Sexual violence is influenced by intersecting forms of oppression and discrimination, including but not limited to sexism, racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, and classism.
In British Columbia, students have been fighting for the term “sexualised violence,” denoting that violence is not actually sexual, but rather violence that is made sexual. We appreciate the way that this term recognises the process of making something violent and its seperation from sex, pleasure, and sexual liberation that all people including survivors deserve. However, “sexualised violence” is difficult or does not make sense when translated into French. Therefore, we have therefore chosen to use sexual violence for its wider use and accessibility for translation.
Stalking
Legally, stalking is the act or crime of willfully and repeatedly following or harassing another person in circumstances that would cause a reasonable person to fear injury or death especially because of express or implied threats. More broadly, a crime of engaging in a course of conduct directed at a person that serves no legitimate purpose and seriously alarms, annoys, or intimidates that person.
Stealthing
Stealthing is defined as nonconsensual condom removal during sexual intercourse. Under Canadian law, there is no explicit prohibition of stealthing. However, there has been a growing recognition of stealthing as sexual violence and calls to explicitly criminalize the act. Stealthing “exposes victims [survivors] to physical risks of pregnancy and disease” and has been characterized by survivors as “disempowering, demeaning violation of a sexual agreement”.
STUDENT UNION
a student-run, democratic organization at post-secondary institutions that dedicate resources to represent the student voice and improve the campus experience. They are often a separate entity from the postsecondary institution they are located at and have a democratic governance structure.
Survivor
Throughout this website and in our work, SFCC uses the term ‘survivor’. Everyone, regardless of their gender or other identities, can experience sexual violence and choose to self-identify as a survivor. However it is important to note that not everyone who has experienced sexual violence identifies as a survivor, and that any language they use is valid. It is also important to note that not all of us do survive the sexual violence that we’ve experienced, and it’s important that we include those folks in our advocacy work as well.
Survivor-centric
A survivor-centred approach requires all those who engage in sexual violence prevention and support programming to prioritize the rights, needs, and wishes of the survivor. We use the definition of a survivor-centered approach developed by the United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN Women), which defines a survivor-centered approach as a method that “seeks to empower the survivor by prioritizing [their] rights, needs, and wishes”
Victim
Coming soon.
Voyeurism
Coming soon.