UBC (Un)Accountable: On Public Shaming and the Steven Galloway Controversy

Presenter: Walter Rafael Villaneuva, University of Toronto What is the practical utility of using public shaming as a tool for justice in cases of alleged sexual assault? In an attempt to answer this question, my paper uses the Steven Galloway controversy as a test case. I first look at the “UBC Accountable” letter that ostensibly defended him and was signed by prominent authors such as Margaret Atwood and Joseph Boyden, then the “Counter-Letter” that was produced in response, and finally some selections from the Refuse: CanLit in Ruins collection. With recourse to the work of Sara Ahmed, Jennifer Jacquet, and others, I deconstruct how shame operates in these three texts. I approach these works as literary objects and discuss how certain rhetorical strategies are used to elicit and incite shame and guilt not just in the intended target audiences of these pieces but also in the public at large. Ultimately, I argue that shame succeeds in some respects when it is weaponized as an instrument for change; however, I also suggest that strategies beyond eliciting this feeling are necessary if we are to move beyond the very public sociopolitical discourse of the #MeToo movement, particularly as it relates to scandals in CanLit. Public shaming has its limitations in that it merely brings about an awareness of these issues without offering concrete ways of ending rape culture. Although I applaud the activist work that has accompanied this movement, we must create avenues of support for sexual assault survivors that do not end with the public shaming of their attackers. — — — Walter Rafael Villanueva is second-year PhD student in the Department of English at the University of Toronto. His research primarily focuses on Canadian literature and criticism and literary disability studies. His current project is concerned with depictions of mental illness in contemporary Canadian literature, and more particularly on how the development of psychiatry has both impacted and been impacted by literary fiction.