I will be away from here for a while

Okay, everyone, I’ve been super pumped because I’ve had tons to write about lately and I’m finally in a good direction for the blog (and myself), but I’m afraid I’m going to the lovely city (and my birthplace) of Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. A relative is getting married and I’m going to spend some time catching up with my super-rad relatives. I plan to make the trip back Thursday, so, I may have a post up then. I hope to do plenty of reading on the road, so I may have some new thoughts to throw out here. (In fact, if you haven’t, you should pick up Black Like Me. I started reading it two days ago and love it.)

Anyway, please have a great week and keep kicking ass!

Hey! Facebook! Back Off!

I finally (?) got it. Seriously, though? I don’t think my gender is that confusing. I mean, sure, I’ve had an MRA tell me I write like a woman when he mistakenly assumed I was one, but I think my appearance is pretty far from androgynous.

Maybe, just for the hell of it, I should set my gender as female? You know, genderfuck with Facebook a bit?

Put Equality Back on Track

Yeah, so in case there was any doubt in your mind, Harper is all Conservatives are pretty bad for women’s rights. Blanket statement? Probably, but I’m feeling particularly snarky tonight. Yeehaw!

Thanks to Ariel for the heads up!

A Toast to Morgentaler and Women’s Reproductive Rights

As many of you have likely heard by now, Dr. Henry Morgentaler has been appointed the Order of Canada, which is pretty great news. For those of you who don’t know, Dr. Morgentaler played a huge part in the legalisation of abortion in Canada.

Needless to say, right-wingers are criticising the decision and the Conservative government is distancing itself from the news. A (not so) big surprise from Ken Epp, too, the MP who proposed Bill C-484, the Unborn Victims of Crime Bill:

Edmonton Tory MP Ken Epp, who has a private member’s bill before the House of Commons that would allow criminal charges to laid if a fetus dies or is injured in an attack on a pregnant woman, said Morgentaler’s supporters have gone too far.

But hey, I don’t want to focus too much on what the crazies are saying. This is a time to celebrate, and is indeed a step forward for the acknowledgment that women do, in fact, have rights.

This epiphany is brought to you by sex worker’s rights

I love epiphanies and I hate them. Well, not the epiphanies specifically, but sometimes the feelings that accompany them. I love them because they offer a sudden moment of understanding, a moment of clarity. However, those moments are usually followed by something like, “Well, damn, was I ever off the mark about …” A comment that Amber left with several links gave me exactly those two feelings. For those of you who decide not to follow the link to her comment, it was in reply to a mention of Robert Jensen, author of Getting Off: Pornography and the End of Masculinity. Amber and some other women aren’t so happy with Robert, and for good reason. I’m not writing this to talk about him, though. I’m writing this because I’ve made a mistake and I want to acknowledge it so others don’t have to make the same error.

First, I’ve been on the fence about sex work, including prostitution, pornography, and stripping for as long as I can remember. I’ve supported the women who’ve been involved, but largely thought these professions were problematic and supported the patriarchy. My reasoning was that these professions are there because they rely on the objectification of women. So, even if women were willing to do the work, it didn’t matter: They were harming other women by encouraging the objectification of women. How, you ask? Well, objectification is essential for violence against women. Seeing a woman as an object and not a person facilitates violence against them.

Now I’m thinking: Seriously? That’s fucked up.

I can understand if someone wants to argue that objectification is a problem when it comes to serious issues like violence against women. I get that. There are two problems with what I was pushing, though. First, violence against women is a problem perpetuated by men. Asserting that women’s behaviour, profession, and so on contributes to this problem is WAY too close to victim blaming for me to be comfortable saying that anymore. Oh right, because it is victim blaming, and I’m pretty damn embarrassed that I was saying that shit.

The second problem? Well, I don’t know how many of you have noticed, but I’m male, which means I’m part of a dominant group that’s been responsible for the oppression of women for thousands of years. In other words, who am I (or any other man) to tell women what they should or should not be doing? If I want to be a feminist and support women, silencing them and telling them what they’re doing is supporting the patriarchy is pretty damn close to the last thing I should be doing. That goes for Robert and any other men who see that as a good idea, too. Those ideas have held me captivated for far too long, and I think it’s time other men realise the harm they’re doing, as well.

Just so it’s out there, though, I’m completely aware that sometimes women do this kind of work because they lack other options or see it as the only available option. Don’t think I support that in any way. That’s why I think it’s important to help those women by providing them with resources they need and give them choice.

I’m sorry for the damage I’ve done by pushing these arguments for as long as I have. I am learning, though, and again, I hope this serves as a learning opportunity for other men. As I’ve said before, I will screw up, for whatever reasons, be it that I’m in a privileged person, that I’m human, or whatever. I’m open to new ideas, though, and I’m willing to challenge whatever biases I have.

On that note, though, I want to publicly thank Amber for bringing this (now obvious) issue to my attention. I think my realisation was probably bound to happen eventually, but the sooner, the better. If you haven’t checked out her blog, you should, and put it in your RSS feed while you’re at it. She’s become one of my favourite bloggers to read and she seems to have the patience to put up with my bullshit! (I’ve posted anti-porn links in the past and she was quick to inform me how harmful those arguments can be to women.)

Anyway, I’ve come to an understanding on what is still a contentious issue in the feminist community: I am most definitely pro-prostitution, pro-porn, pro-sex work; and that brings me one step closer to being pro-woman.

Canada Day - Celebrating Colonization

This post is originally from Thinking Girl, and, embarrassingly, the first time I thought about Canada Day being an issue was when I read this a year ago. If you’re Canadian and celebrating today, you should definitely read it. If you’re not, it wouldn’t hurt to read this short piece, anyway.

“Well, today is Canada Day, a day to celebrate all things Canadian, fly our flag high and proud, and talk about all the things that are wonderful about our great country. I’ve done this kind of thing before, and I will admit that each year on Canada Day I’ve felt kind of happy and proud to be Canadian.

However, I can’t help but feel this year that, because I love my country, I should talk about what I consider to be the greatest and most serious blight on the face of our nation, and that is the ongoing brutal colonization of Canada’s indigenous peoples. It’s something that I feel all non-indigenous Canadians should be extremely embarrassed by, and should be actively trying to correct. We have all benefitted from the brutalization, ghettoization, displacement, colonization, and genocide of First Nations people here in Canada, and we should be ashamed.

Indigneous peoples in Canada have had their land stolen, their communities displaced, and limitations put on their way of life as nomadic and communal people. They have had their children stole and put into residential schools where they were beaten for speaking to one another in their own languages, effectively losing indigenous languages for entire generations to come. Indigenous peoples are completely ghettoized and segregated onto reserves, where sometimes very basic municipal services such as clean water and sewage are denied, and every single infrastructural improvement done on a reserve has to be approved by some white male “Indian Affairs” bureaucrat in Ottawa - they can’t even change the fucking name of the department to reflect how indigenous peoples living in Canada self-identify and wish to be called. Poverty among First Nations peoples is epidemic, as is alcohol and drug abuse, incarceration, and lack of education. Native women are the most raped women in our country, and are abused and killed by their domestic partners at a much higher rate than any other racial group of women. Indigenous customs and traditions have been alternatively mocked and co-opted by mainstream Canadian culture. First Nations people who have stood up for their rights are commonly referred to as terrorists.

I’d say probably the majority of white Canadians think they should shut up and stop their whinging because they’ve been “given so much” by the Canadian government, and they should be “realistic” about property claims because it’s not like Canadians are going to cede their deeds at this point in the game ’cause by god we all work SO HARD for every little thing we get and why do those “indians” want to take that away from us when they’ve already been “given so much” - they’re just wasting all those golden opportunities to be under-educated by a system that teaches nothing but lies about indigenous peoples and to live tax-free in an uninsulated house with no running water and no central heating and no sewage on a scrap of land especially “reserved” for them.

To be fair, there are many bands that are well-off and many indigenous people who are well-educated. However, when are we going to acknowledge that these other situations exist? When are we going to do something to change the fact of rampant sexual and domestic violence against indigenous women? about levels of violence among indigenous men? about rampant poverty, alcoholism, and drug abuse? about devestating living conditions? When are we going to start respecting indigenous peoples instead of trying to figure out one more way to screw them over?

It breaks my heart to know that our indigenous populations are suffering in such terrible ways. And sadly, that makes me quite a bit less proud to call myself Canadian today.”

The Privilege of Writing

I’ve been thinking for some time that I should write a book. After seeing this post, my feelings that I should write are even stronger. The focus? Male privilege. The thing is, I’m a blogger, and I don’t know if I have it in me to write a book. The topic of privilege really interests me, though, and after doing a brief search and coming across books about the “myth” of male/masculine privilege, I think this might need to be written. I can think of a number of individuals who would be more qualified to write it than me, though. In fact, I know I have much to learn, so if I did decide to write it, it would be a long process.

Then I think, what do I have to lose? At the very least, I’ll learn more about privilege and maybe submit an article to a publication. At any rate, I’m thinking I should start reading more about privilege this summer and write a few pages, and see where it goes from there. This blog would probably be a good venue for me to bring up new ideas, too, and see how well they’re received, so I can work on them, if needed.

Anyway, I decided I had to get my thoughts out somewhere, and I figured this would be the best place. Feel free to offer any thoughts you have, where I need to work on as a writer, etc. I’m open to (constructive) criticism.

Links for June 29, 2008

Philobiblon: Carnival of Feminists No 59

Junkfood Science: Government diet plan for girls
“In accordance with popular stereotypes, their size indicates they must have unhealthy diets and lifestyles and warrant education on how to eat right and exercise. But, far from the claims made in the news, this program isn’t teaching girls to make small changes, nor can it claim to not be about weight loss.”

Feministe: Lock Her Damn Ass Up
“In a world of violence, where people are tortured, murdered and raped how can we possibly look upon sex as an act that is so disturbing it deserves this kind of punishment? This is beyond a skewing of values.”

Being Amber Rhea: “Write the book that scares you”
“I created the board because nothing like it existed. I created it to be the support forum I needed. And now, should I “write the book that [I] needed to read”?”

Being Amber Rhea: SPC follow-up
“It is dehumanizing to simply use an image of a woman in porn as a poster child for a cause.”

Vlogging Feminism: Cover it up! A Guide to Safe Sex

STI rates are on the rise in Alberta, so I decided to take a moment to talk about safe sex. I demonstrate safe condom use and I show how to make a dental dam from a condom with a pair of scissors.

Just because I totally have a crush on Sarah Haskins

Once again, thanks to Holly for bringing this to my attention. Here are some videos by Target Women. (I’m linking them because either I suck at embedding or WordPress hates me.)

Target: Women… Yogurt Edition

Target Women: Wedding Shows

Target Women: Suffrage

Target Women: Botox