Around the Coffee Table with Dale Jodoin Parliament Discovers the Internet

Around the Coffee Table with Dale Jodoin Parliament Discovers the Internet   By Dale Jodoin Columnist                                               Tomorrow’s news may arrive carrying another suitcase full of shiny new words. Looksmaxing. Tradwives. The manosphere. Harmful content. Digital radicalization. Anti Feminist ideology. Most Canadians will hear these terms while making coffee, getting children ready for school, heading to work, checking on an elderly parent or wondering why the car suddenly needs another repair. Regular people do not wake up in the morning asking whether their neighbours have entered the manosphere. They are too busy trying to remember what day the recycling goes out. The House of Commons Standing Committee on the Status of Women released a report called Confronting Anti Feminist Ideologies in Canada. It examines internet trends, online influencers, looksmaxing, tradwife content and speech on social media. I tried saying looksmaxing out loud three times. By the third attempt, I felt as if I should either be joining a gym or ordering something from a drive through. “Yes, I would like one looksmaxing, a medium coffee and whatever option has fewer wrinkles.” Looksmaxing generally means trying to improve your appearance. That can become unhealthy or extreme online, especially when young people are told they will never be good enough. That deserves attention. But improving your appearance is not automatically radical. Getting a haircut, exercising, wearing better clothes or finally throwing out the shirt your wife has hated since 1998 is simply called living. Then there is the tradwife movement. This usually involves women online promoting traditional marriage, homemaking, cooking and raising children. Some people may dislike that choice. Others may admire it. But a woman wanting to stay home with her children is not automatically being controlled, brainwashed or recruited into some dangerous movement. Feminism was supposed to mean women had choices. That includes the choice to build a career, stay home, do both or change direction halfway through life. The manosphere sounds like a glass dome where men are kept until they learn how to load the dishwasher correctly. In reality, it is a broad label for online spaces where men discuss dating, masculinity, relationships and personal frustrations. Some of those spaces contain hatred and threats. Others contain lonely men struggling to talk about their problems. Government must be able to tell the difference. There are radicals online. There are people who threaten women, spread hatred and encourage violence. Women should be protected from them. Children should also be protected from predators, exploitation and people who use the internet to target the vulnerable. That is where the discussion needs to become more serious. Real women and children are being trafficked, sexually exploited, assaulted, threatened and abused. Some are lured online. Some disappear. Some are forced into situations they never chose. These are not fashionable words invented for a committee meeting. These are crimes, and they destroy lives. Canada should focus its strongest laws, police resources and public attention on those who commit real crimes against women and children. Traffickers, predators, violent offenders and those who distribute abusive material should face serious consequences. Protecting victims should never become secondary to debating whether a homemaking video or a man’s negative dating advice belongs under a new political label. The report contains 14 recommendations, including more online regulation, public education, digital literacy, programs for men and boys and further research. Canadians can read the complete report at: https://www.ourcommons.ca/DocumentViewer/en/45-1/FEWO/report-6/ The committee study page, including meetings, witnesses and submitted briefs, can be found at: https://www.ourcommons.ca/committees/en/FEWO/StudyActivity?studyActivityId=13147239 A committee report is not a law. It does not make homemaking, exercise, traditional marriage or criticism of feminism illegal. But reports can shape future policies, programs and legislation, so people should pay attention to the language being used. Regular Canadians do not spend their lives sorting their neighbours into ideological boxes. They judge people by how they behave. A kind man is a kind person. A cruel man is a cruel person. A woman who works outside the home is making her choice. A woman who chooses to stay home is making her own choice. Ottawa should protect freedom while going after genuine criminals. It should spend less time turning ordinary choices into suspicious movements and more time stopping the people who prey on women and children. That is not anti feminist. That is common sense.