…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.

Image via Sociological Images

*UPDATE* Bitch Magazine is on it. Click this link, if only to see the most adorable Wonder Woman ever.

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.

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!

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

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.