Sexual Harassment and a Culture of Misogyny In the RCMP Pt. 3: Cpl. Brown's S&M Photos

Trigger Warning: Violence against women and sexualized violence

The RCMP tries to portray itself as a noble, courageous, and moral institution that upholds “the rule of law” and strives to “serve and protect” all citizens, but this is an illusion as the previous posts confirm. However, recently there has been even more controversy facing the force. When RCMP Cpl. Jim Brown’s photos were found on a bondage/sadomasochism website, many began to question his ability to appropriately oversee an investigation on murdered and missing women.

Once the images of the corporal were made public, many Canadians were disturbed to find an officer featured online in photos that fetishize violence against women. One photo shows Brown posing next to a woman bound in saranwrap and another displays him stepping on the back of a woman with his mountie boots. The narrative under the saranwrap photo was reiterated by Dr. Mike Webster, “He comes upon a woman on the street. He stalks her, he captures her, he takes her somewhere, it’s a private location, he wraps her in cellophane … he puts his feet on her, he cuts her, she bleeds.” 

Cpl. Jim Brown image found on AM980

The website even featured a photo of Cpl. Brown holding a butcher knife to a naked woman’s throat.  According to the National Post, “The narrative of the still photographs, posted on an S&M website, progresses from an apparent street scene of the woman walking past Brown sitting on a wall; he overpowers her; he hog-ties her, he imprisons her in a cage, he threatens her with a large butcher knife and he slashes her.”

Hilla Kerner, a worker at the the Vancouver Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter told the Vancouver Sun “It is absurd to think that his [Cpl. Brown] personal, private behaviour has nothing to do with his professional role as a police officer.” 

But those coming to Brown’s defense believe that his private life is based on individual choice and utterly detached from his public life. Psychology professor,  Del Paulhus (I know, I know it does look a lot like phallus) affirms that folks who are sadomasochists or those who “practice” bondage in their “home” life do not neccesarily behave that way in their careers or public lives. “In particular, the S&M community seems to be a group of people who are normal in every respect, except for their interest in sadistic and/or masochistic activities.” However, many that know that this is not entirely true, as several ex-BDSM aficionados have recently spoken out about sexual assault and a lack of real consent in some S&M circles. 

But I digress

Paulhus’s public/private theory suggests that we are all to believe that Cpl. Brown’s private activities (though they were published online by Brown) have no influence whatsoever on his ability to successfully and responsibly investigate a serial murder case involving 49 women.

Feminists are familiar with this notion that the public and private spheres of one's life are disconnected and detached. We argue, however, that they are connected and very intimately so. It does not take much brain power to understand how domestic battery and marital rape are not merely "private" matters, for instance. Feminists have long argued that this notion of a public/private divide is harmful to women as a class and further perpetuates a culture of misogyny, where violence against women is considered "a family matter" or a "private affair." Nevertheless, as per-usual under patriarchy, Cpl. Brown’s job will remain secure and he will continue to inhabit a place of authority despite this blatant conflict of interest. 

Cpl. Brown’s fetishizing of violence against women when placed alongside the workplace sexual harassment, rapes, verbal abuse, “fat parades,” and porn consumption, it is suffice to suggest that the RCMP is very anti-woman work environment.

But, what now?

How can the RCMP change when the misogyny is so deeply embedded as a part of the “culture?” What hope should we have, if any, in real change when the RCMP simply blames the women reporting abuse?

Cpl. Galliford’s courage to come forward with what she endured in the RCMP has inspired many other women to come forward, but what will be next for future female officers? For the missing and murdered women all over the country? The workplace harassment coupled with the violent photos of a male corporal merely makes a joke out of violence against women. This type of behaviour in the RCMP perpetuates a culture that views misogyny and violence against women as sexy, fun, and harmless. It pushes domestic violence, rape, and femicide into the private sphere and further discourages women from reporting abuse or safely escaping male violence. 

We must ask ourselves if a mere reformation of an institution that was founded on male-supremacy, colonialism, power, punishment, and social control is enough to put an end to a culture of misogyny.