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Blue Bombers deliver message about sexual assault and consent to students

Winnipeg Blue Bombers fullback John Rush and linebacker Thomas Miles accompanied the Grey Cup to Thompson Feb. 5, where they also spoke to R.D. Parker Collegiate students about sexual assault and violence against women.
Winnipeg Blue Bombers fullback John Rush speaks to R.D. Parker Collegiate students about sexual assa
Winnipeg Blue Bombers fullback John Rush speaks to R.D. Parker Collegiate students about sexual assault and consent in the Letkemann Theatre Feb. 5.

Winnipeg Blue Bombers fullback John Rush and linebacker Thomas Miles accompanied the Grey Cup to Thompson Feb. 5, where they also spoke to R.D. Parker Collegiate students about sexual assault and violence against women.

Rush, originally from Niagara Falls, has been giving these presentations for three years, but this was his first time in Thompson and he told students that consent to sexual activity must be freely given and enthusiastic and can be withdrawn at any time.

“Just because you consent to one thing doesn’t mean you consented to anything else,” he said. “As a man or a partner you have no right over their body. Just because they came over late at night doesn’t mean anything.”

Miles said that the culture of sports contributes to a lot of behaviour that wouldn’t be tolerated in other settings and shouldn’t be acceptable in locker rooms.

“We still see all sorts of really toxic behaviour in the locker room,” he said. Addressing it when it happens in front of you is one way to help make it clear that it isn’t acceptable. “At least we’re planting the seed in their mind that, “I said something I shouldn’t be saying.’”

One in three Canadian women will experience some form of sexual assault in their lifetime, students were told, but actions that fall short of assault can still cross the line past consent.

“If they did not specifically ask for a picture of below your waist that is constituting sexual harassment,” said Rush.

Most women who experience sexual assault don’t report it to police, Miles said, largely because there is a tendency to blame people who are assaulted for not preventing the incident in ways that wouldn’t be applied in other situations.

“We don’t teach kids who are learning to drive how to avoid a drunk driver,” said Miles. “It should be the same way when someone comes forward with a sexual assault claim.”

Rush told the Nickel Belt News that he was asked when he joined the Blue Bombers a few years ago if he would like to deliver these presentations on sexual assault and bullying to students because he isn’t afraid to speak out.

“It was a real eye opener, realizing how much stuff of this nature happens in our communities,” he said. “I’m really glad I got involved in the program and … presenting to all these different schools.”

Miles said he volunteered to give presentations because he wanted to give something back to his hometown of Winnipeg and his home province.

“I think that our insight as athletes into the culture that’s prevalent in hockey locker rooms and football locker rooms and really just our society … can really help men realize what their actions are doing to the people around them and how their ways of thinking impact the way that we end up treating the people around us,” he said. “You speak with survivors and then you get the training from qualified instructors and your eyes are opened and you realize just how much of a pressing issue this is right here at home. It’s a program that I’m really proud to be a part of.”

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