October 30, 2009
…uh, unless you’re a girl.
I have to admit I was hoping this patronizing “sexy” costume trend would fade out, but it appears to be going strong. I hope there are some little superhero and zombie girls out there tomorrow night to wear down my cynicism.
*UPDATE* Bitch Magazine is on it. Click this link, if only to see the most adorable Wonder Woman ever.
October 21, 2009
Oh blog, I’ve missed you! Let’s catch up! As you might have guessed by my last post, I’ve spent the last few months helping to organize Take Back the Night here in Calgary, and then the following weeks trying to recover and also move apartments. Phew!
But I’m happy to report the event went well- it was a lower attendance than the last few years, but considering it was pulled together by a grassroots group with no organizational backing what-so-ever, not too shabby! I thought I’d share some photographic evidence of the event.
On the next page: a rare glimpse of Jane Doe in real life, interacting with her habitat.
September 3, 2009
Take note:
TAKE BACK THE NIGHT is an annual march and rally to protest violence against women and to mourn the victims involved in these terrible gender-biased crimes. Due to a new by-law making the annual march difficult, this year community organizers have planned a candle-light vigil in place of a march. The vigil will be held at Tomkins Park on 17th Avenue and 8th Street SW on Tuesday, September 22nd at 8pm. Come speak out, read poems, sing, cry, yell or be quietly mindful of the ever-important issue of ending violence against women and girls across the world. Contact Juliet at 403-667-4770 or check out the Facebook event group for more details.
Hope to see some of you there!
August 21, 2009
Calgary doesn’t get too many Law and Order type homicides- typically murders in Calgary are straight-forward gang or drug related. Then there are the murders we don’t hear about, the nameless prostitutes or homeless women whose killers are often never found. Sex worker victims are more likely to be killed by someone who is related to their profession. Half of female victims in other professions are killed by “someone with whom they had had an intimate relationship”, namely boyfriends or husbands.*
For me, and likely for most of you, this statistics are horrifying and instill a visceral sort of fear. These nameless women who are killed by the people they trusted most are on the front lines of the battle against patriarchy and the way our culture treats their murders speaks volumes about the misogyny feminists are often told doesn’t exist.
I started thinking about this subject again with the death of Jasmine Fiore whose accused killer is minor Calgarian celebrity. Not familiar with her name? That’s because we only know her as “model”.
From CBC:
“Fugitive Calgarian charged in model’s killing”
The Globe and Mail:
“Search for model killer suspect shifts to Canada”
The National Post:
“Reality-TV star charged with U.S. model’s murder armed and in Canada: police”
Jasmine was married to her killer for a short period of time. Aside from that and the brutal details of her murder we don’t know much about her. Only after some digging did I find an article on the Examiner.com mentioning she was a singer in a band called “Machines of Joy.” Her Wikipedia entry briefly indicates she was making plans to open her own gym.
Did she have family? What was she passionate about? I suspect we’ll never know, because hearing from the mother of murder victim is not sexy or entertaining. However, judging by the Google results that come up under her name, digging out her old Playboy photos is. And if you’re too embarrassed to log on to playboy.com, the Ottawa Sun has helpfully put up a slide-show.
RIP Jasmine.
*Homicide stats from Statistics Canada
August 13, 2009
Judging by the picture, I’m going to have to go with “because he can’t figure out how to use his phone.” And the secret common mistake is… dating men who aren’t smart enough to use cell phones.
July 31, 2009
Oh man, sorry for the sporadic posting folks. It’s been a long month. I promise a real post is in the works!
For now, in case you haven’t heard, The Booker Long List:
Who’s up for a rousing game of “find the Canadian?” No, it’s not Margaret Atwood. The book doesn’t even have the word “wilderness” in the title! Trickier than you thought, eh?
Reading The Little Stranger was like the highlight of my year, so that’s who I’m rooting for.
Which book’s got your vote?
July 13, 2009
So I’ve been meaning to write about Rom Coms for a while, but have been unsure how to approach it. While it’s tempting to be dismissive and patronizing about the whole genre, the problem is I really like a good romantic comedy. They’re my go-to feel-good movies. I watch them when the boyfriend is out of town while painting my toenails. Seriously. So can I justify my love of cheesy romantic movies with my desire to be a cynical feminist about anything the mainstream media produces? Let’s find out.
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July 3, 2009
;Whoa, Ani DiFranco sang “Wishin’ and Hopin’” in My Best Friend’s Wedding? I feel like the entire universe has been thrown into question.
June 17, 2009
Last month CBC took some time out to remind us that there are Canadian poets and make us feel guilty for not reading any of them. Oh CBC, I kid. It’s actually a good article and with the wealth of poets out there in Canadiana territory 
picking a top 10 must have been thankless task.
Readers will (perhaps) be relieved that they are no longer required to read George Bowering wax poetic about the eroticism of baseball or Al Purdy make metaphors about wood. Thankfully the list goes outside of the “Introduction to Canadian Poetry” canon and includes several women and non-white poets. Somehow I keep forgetting Dionne Brand is Canadian. I must remember to brag about this more when I leave the country.
Something else that caught my eye was despite claims to have “dropped several past masters in favor of some younger authors making their mark in this millennium” I wouldn’t call these top 10 poets youngsters. Let’s just say none of them are twittering. Where are the Zoe Whittals? The Stuart Rosses? All those other hip poets that hang out in Toronto I keep trying to “accidentally” run into?
I think as a literary culture we tend to associate “Canadian Literature” with past generations, and it works to our deteriment by making it seem like there have only been 20 or so poets to have ever grown in Canada. And let me tell you, WE ARE LEGION. Seriously, I bet 10% of the people you know under 30 are poets. It’s like being left-handed, except that Stephen Harper takes your money away.
So… Read poetry! Go! Now!
Here’s the list to get you started:
Don McKay
Ken Babstock
Mary Dalton
Dionne Brand
Don Domanski
David McGimpsey
Skydancer Louise Bernice Halfe
Jeramy Dodds
Erin Mouré
Sheri-D Wilson
June 10, 2009
So I received this email forward from a well-intentioned though completely clueless family member. As my mouse was hovering over the delete button, I decided to take a second look at it, because there are actually some interesting things being said in this email about how we view women, especially young pretty women, in relation to marriage.
So the jist of it is, “Katie” is engaged and dying of cancer but is going ahead and having a gigantic wedding anyway.
The caption underneath reads:
Even in pain and dealing with her organs shutting down, with the help of morphine, Katie took care of every single wedding planning.
Her dress had to be adjusted several times due to Katie’s constant weight loss.
This seemed horrifying to me. The girl is dying and she’s spending her last minutes booking a DJ and going to the tailor? The point is supposed to be that she’s being heroic, but to me this seems like straight-out masochism.
We also find out:
The other couple in this picture are Nick’s parents, very emotional with the wedding and of course to see their son marrying the girl he fell in love when he was an adolescent.
Marrying your childhood sweetheart= Fairytale
And:
Katie died 5 days after her wedding. To see a fragile woman dress as bride with a beautiful smile makes you think… Happiness is always there within reach, no matter how long it lasts…..lets enjoy life and don’t live a complicated life. Life is too short.
There’s a lot going on in that paragraph. Why is seeing this woman, who is in extreme physical and probably emotional pain, smile her way though a wedding reaffirm that happiness is out there? What’s really being said is “Look, if this dying girl can get married you could be happy too if you just live simply.” And to break it down for the girls out there, living simply=getting married.
I should clarify I don’t know if these are real people, and if they are I fully respect Katie’s choice to get married. But I suspect she and her husband might have a problem with her choice being reduced to a lame “live for the day” anecdote.
If this email is being forwarded to women all over the place, I don’t respect the implication that I should spend my life caring about “simple things” like weddings in case I die tomorrow.
And don’t even get me started on the beautiful dying white girl fetish. Would we have seen these pictures if she was bald or non-causcasion? Probably not.
Thoughts?
