textualized in culturally specific ways, per reports, her personal journal writ- ranging from its consideration in ing and funny cartoons. It is a dis- Palestine to Turkey to Sweden etc. turbing, personal, and tragic, story. Thus covering the issue from the It tells how one act on one night can perspective of various societies and destroy a woman’s life, as she knew various contexts enables the authors it, resulting in years of poor physical to shed light on the salient issues and mental health, sleep terrors, se- facing us as feminist activists when crets kept from her family. At the dealing with . I do wish that same time, the story of this the voices of the women who have unfolds within a brilliant framework been directly or indirectly affected as a public and political act. Jane Doe by femicide were more seamlessly turns this violent act against her per- integrated into the volume, rather son into a public act involving other than used somewhat sporadically. I women who have been raped – five admit this is a personal bias, in that by the same man. She engages femi- in my work not just on femicide, but nist support groups such as Women on women’s issues in the region gen- Against erally, I prefer to have the voices of pert on rape. When my distraught (WAVAW), convenes community these women speak as directly as friend asked this expert about her meetings and sues the Metro To- possible. However, I would like to rape, she retorted that she had never ronto Police. She raises questions as conclude by saying that this collec- been raped, but was a professional to who benefits from this socially tion by Mojab and Abdo is a good expert on rape through her studies constructed and systemically sup- start for those who would like to of rape and by helping rape victims. ported form of violence against learn about femicide, and under- In the fall of 1986 I was taking a women. If three-quarters of men stand the ways in which Western course on violence against women. would not commit rape, what do perceptions of the crime and West- Lori Haskell, one of the instructors, they do to prevent this violence ern critical tendencies have affected brought a woman into the class to against their friends and loved ones? our understanding of it. speak to us about rape. This woman And how does one explain the evi- had also been raped in the summer dence that up to 80 per cent of of 1986, by a different serial rapist, are committed by men who are THE STORY OF a different Toronto neigh- known, who are “friends” and “loved JANE DOE: bourhood. He entered apartments ones” of the woman? A BOOK ABOUT on third and fourth floors through The book is not just about the locked balcony doors. She did not horrors of rape and the injustice of RAPE speak about studies of rape or her the justice system. There is life after work with rape victims, but from rape; as Jane Doe says “you can’t Jane Doe her own recent experience. She was keep a good woman down.” It in- Toronto: Random House of Canada to become an expert on rape. She cludes poignant examples of unwa- Limited, 2004 was the woman now known as Jane vering support and love, from her Doe. This book is her story. family as she was growing up to her REVIEWED BY MARION M. It is also much more than her friends who were her lifeline during LYNN story. It is the story of the intersec- the years after the rape. This woman tion of the personal and the politi- is Jane Doe only in terms of her legal In the heat of the summer of 1986, a cal, of the act of rape at the particu- fight; in the rest of her life she works friend was raped, in her own bed on lar, institutional, social and political in publishing, teaching and film, has the third floor of her house, by a levels. The book presents a unique a name and friends, lives an appar- serial rapist who had been stalking analysis of rape and of one woman’s ently normal life. her Toronto neighbourhood look- response to having been raped, show- Above all else this book is about a ing for an easy access through a screen ing in part that this is a profoundly woman suing the Metro Toronto door or open window. The police traumatic act of violence against Police for negligence in their failure knew what he was doing and were one woman by one man, and at the to protect, and of Charter violations tracking his path. They asked her if same time it is a deep, systemic in the subsequent investigation of she had been sleeping in the nude or attack on all women by all men. the rape. It provides great detail about wearing a provocative negligee. A The Story of Jane Doe, written in what is needed to carry out such a woman at the hospital rape crisis first person by the woman herself, is feat. Immediately after the rape centre introduced herself as an ex- illustrated with drawings, newspa- WAVAW members help her put up

204 CANADIAN WOMAN STUDIES/LES CAHIERS DE LA FEMME posters in the neighbourhood and to be found in many other cases of tion, to write this exhilarating story. organize a community meeting to violence against women. This woman The material, based on hundreds of warn other women; the police accuse was determined to be not a victim, interviews with the brave women her of interfering with their case. The but a winner. She did not expect to who lived this history, is arranged information on the poster is so accu- actually win; her goal was to have a chronologically, by decades. The rate that the rapist is turned in; he is feminist position on rape procedure 1960s start with that seedbed, the convicted and sentenced to 20 years. presented in court. But win she did: founding of the pacifist Voice of LEAF (Women’s Legal Education $220,000; a public apology from the Women and the second wave of femi- and Action Fund) works with her at Metro Toronto Police Chief; and a nism. Doris Anderson, editor of Cha- the beginning. The Toronto Rape social audit on procedures followed telaine, was ahead of her time in Crisis Centre supports her through- in rape investigations involving many publishing feminist articles before out the 12 years. Lawyers such as women’s groups and resulting in 57 the women’s movement got its start. Mary Cornish, Cynthia Peterson and recommendations. In Quebec, Therèse Casgrain Sean Dewart, psychologists such as The woman who is Jane Doe takes founded the Federation des femmes Rosemary Barnes and Peter Jaffe, her place in the historical and inter- du Quebec in 1966. and finally James Hodgson, an ex- national feminist struggle as a hero. Rebick ties these Canadian femi- police officer with a Ph.D. based on And the name, Jane Doe, will never nist origins with what was happen- the study of race and gender dis- again stand for just an unknown ing internationally—with the stu- crimination in policing, all play piv- woman. dent activist movements and nation- otal roles in the success of this ven- alist liberation anti-colonial move- ture. A number of male and female Marion Lynn is one of the founding ments, as well as Betty Friedan’s The judges move the case forward. The editors of CWS/cf. She currently works Feminine Mystique, the U.S. civil print media, especially one journal- as a research consultant and teaches a rights movement and the Quebec ist writing in The Sun, keeps the Bridging course for women in work- Quiet Revolution. Heady activism story in the public eye, some “ex- ing-class communities in Toronto for was in the air and in Canada it was perts” from the field of feminist aca- the School of Women’s Studies, York called “The New Left.” demics, therapists and law, who had University. Women’s rights to their bodies built careers on violence against and other health issues became a women, refuse to become involved. rallying cry in the western world. When she is feeling at a very low TEN THOUSAND Consciousness-raising became an point, she receives flowers from ROSES: important component for young Michelle Landsberg. THE MAKING OF radicals of the Feminist Revolution. However, it was Jane Doe who As a feminist who was participant had to keep the case alive. In 1997, A FEMINIST in all this activity, Judy Rebick has eleven years after the rape, she was REVOLUTION captured the essence of the move- once more in court and telling her ment and named the important earth- story. “…I had to go through the Judy Rebick shattering events of the early 1970s: whole painful, humiliating process Toronto: Penguin, 2005 the Kent State massacre, Weather- again. I had to lay bare my life for yet men Underground, the end of the another stranger to scrutinize, prod REVIEWED BY SHERRILL Vietnam War, Allende in Chile, and uncover..” The physical pain, CHEDA Watergate, the FLQ, the War Meas- stress and trauma were still there. ures Act and the Waffle within the She lived with shame and exposure, NDP were all a part of our reality. felt beaten and broken. She states Perfect in every way, including the These events were paralleled by a that had she known the cost to her- dedication “To Norma Scarborough range of important feminist books self, she would have walked away and all the unsung heroes of the and writers, publishers and maga- from the case against the police. Women’s Movement,” this is a docu- zines, and the emergence of two When other women in their 30s and ment we have all been waiting for: an streams of feminism, socialist and 40s were moving ahead in their ca- exciting history of feminism in radical, in Canada. reers and establishing families, she Canada based on the lives and stories Women were organizing politi- was obsessed with this court case. of feminists who changed history cally with Manitoba setting up the She would not recommend this to and our lives for the better. The first provincial Committee on the others. author, Judy Rebick, a well-known Status of Women in 1967. In On- However, the magnitude of what Canadian feminist and political com- tario, led by Laura Sabia, there was a Jane Doe accomplished—along with mentator, is ideally situated, as a call for a Royal Commission on the an amazing support system—is not participant in the Feminist Revolu- Status of Women, which was fol-

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