Dalhousie Dental Debacle

13 male dental students at Dalhousie University in Halifax, Canada, one term away from graduating, had a private facebook group in which they posted a lot of things, including sexist and misogynist comments. Some of the posts specifically referred to female dental students in the same class.

Clearly the postings were wrong and reflect an unfortunately common attitude of men against women when alone in the 'locker room'. However, it appears that some people want to punish these young men by destroying their careers before they start, as an example to the millions of other Canadian men who have made similar comments, particularly during their youth. Perhaps the belief is that if a few young men are publicly destroyed, that all young men will reform their attitudes towards women. Probably the opposite will happen.

The university correctly proposed a restorative justice process, but four women wrote a bizarre letter in which they not only rejected this process, but also refused to file a complaint (because they felt that if their name became public their academic success would be threatened) and refused to be witnesses in any process that does occur. They also want to see the entire facebook group's conversations, which date back to 2011. Their attitude is naive and misdirected. Naive because no fair process can occur when the victims of malicious words refuse to explain the harm that they feel has been done to them.

This article from the CBC contains the letter from the four anonymous women.

The letter proposes that the complaint that is brought forward is one from four Dalhousie faculty members, rather than from any of the young women involved. The university is being increasingly intimidated and diverted from the restorative justice process into a process where many people hope that the men will be outed, and face eternal shame.

It is ironic that feminists would be trying to apply a very masculine and failed justice model. Hang the first street urchin caught stealing bread, and that will stop all the others. Throw all drug users in jail and drug use will plummet. If all the men who had made misogynist comments of the same severity were treated in the same way, probably the majority of professional men (and men in most other walks of life) would have to have their credentials withdrawn. Remember, I was once a young man and I remember many men my age making similar comments. I abhorred them, but I always felt I was in the minority. The implication that everyone who makes such egregious comments is on the path to physical abuse of women is clearly false.

If these comments had been made in public, such as in classrooms, or if there was a plan for real, physical action against women, then the situation would be totally different. There is no evidence that this was anything more than juvenile fantasizing.

Our society should evolve to a point where men do not grow up with such neanderthal views about women. Restorative justice, in this case, would force the men to face the impact that their malicious remarks would have on women when they came to light (and in the present day the argument that the conversation is private isn't very strong, because embarrassing words have a way of finding their way into the public sphere). The men would have an opportunity to express their remorse, and the women would have an opportunity to judge whether they felt this was genuine or not. And there could be a discussion of consequences, consequences designed not to punish, but to help move the attitudes of men to women forwards. Restorative justice could educate other men about the harm their words do, whether they come to light or not, and is more likely to help change attitudes than a more traditional harsh punishment.

The alternative is to throw the men out of university, and due to the high profile of this case, probably deny them any opportunity to complete their education, or ever work as a dentist. Their investment in their education would be destroyed, and there will be a lawsuit against the university, and probably a very large settlement to the young men. The young men will feel that their lives have been ruined by the inability of women to tolerate remarks that many men, perhaps the majority, make when alone with other men. The women will eventually realize the extent of the damage and may well conclude that the consequences of their reaction were much greater than they intended, that things got out of hand. But it will be too late.

And the attitudes of misogynist men will harden, because they will see this as an attempt by feminists to stop men from letting their hair down and letting off steam in a private club, unable to distinguish between normal manspeak and truly dangerous men who are interested in sexually abusing women.

I briefly discussed this situation in my discussion with Judith Levine on my radio show, "The Infectious Myth" but at that point it had not spun so far out of control.