This week, the movie “The Iron Lady” opens, a big-budget biopic starring Meryl Streep as former UK Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. No technical or directorial skills, nor the inevitable genius of Streep’s performance, could justify my seeing this movie. Its very existence as a myth-making celebration of a dangerous, war-mongering,
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Politics, Re-Spun: Day Three of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here. Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: My notes are here. Sunday: Opening Panel Radical Squares: Reflections on
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Day Two of Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons January 6-8, 2012 Vancouver/Burnaby All panelist biographies are here: Below are some lessons learned and observations from the sessions. Friday: The opening panel is recorded in the Twitter storify here. Saturday: Opening Panel A Global Tradition: History of the Commons Silvia Federici
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Hey Brazil, Women are not Incubators.
Behold, the fetus fetish. Unfortunately, the torrent of burning stupid never stops (the republican primary debates are ample evidence), not even for the new year. Brazil has just passed a piece of legislation making compulsory to register if you happen to be pregnant. How nice. Winnowing away of the rights
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Opening Panel from the Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons
This weekend I attended Tragedy of the Market: From Crisis to Commons community gathering in Vancouver and Burnaby, sponsored by these groups and people. The basic premise is not so much that capitalism is broken, and we just need to fix it, but that neoliberal market fundamentalism is inherently broken
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Heteronormativity – Yet another unseen standard in society.
This clip is about the acceptance of same sex couples making out in public spaces. Why is it okay for hetero couples to mash face, but not when of the same sex. Gauge your reactions and how you feel about the situations presented. Examine your feelings and ask where do
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: A New Year of Patriarchal Oppresson – Woohaa!
Just in case you forgot what you were living in and tacitly supporting… from I Blame the Patriarchy. “It’s like when I happen to run into the occasional woman who thinks Bust is a feminist magazine. Or maybe she believes that femininity is “natural,” or that “radiant skin” is desirable.
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Virginity Tests – WTH Egypt?
Breaking news on the misogyny front… “An Egyptian court has ordered a halt to forced virginity tests on female detainees in military prisons. The case, which was decided on Tuesday, was filed by Samira Ibrahim, a woman who said the army forced her to undergo a virginity test in March after she
Continue readingwmtc: malalai joya, noam chomsky, afghanistan, and peace
This video of Malalai Joya and Noam Chomsky speaking in Boston is from March of this year, but sadly, is every bit as relevant today. Chomsky’s analysis of the situation in south and central Asia is especially enlightening. It’s a long video, but maybe some evening you’ll want to watch
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Is Withholding Sex Now Sex Abuse?
Or, Is Lysistrata A Sex Offender? I attended today, along with Alex, a discussion panel to remember the Montreal Massacre where Marc Lepine murdered fourteen women at the École Polytechnique simply because they were women and he thought that they had prevented him from attending the school. A lot of
Continue readingRedBedHead: Is Siri Anti-Choice?
My wife, who is a pro-choice photographer and activist, sent me a tumblr post the other day about the inability of people using the Siri, personal assistant on the iPhone 4S, to get it to access abortion or birth control services. As the screen grab above demonstrates, while you can’t
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: What the Crap P.E.I? – No Access to Abortion/Reproductive Services?
Our friends who live on the East coast seem to be clinging to a few anachronistic views about the autonomy of women and the spectrum of choice that should be available to them when it comes to reproductive services. “Even though it’s a legal medical procedure, P.E.I. remains the
Continue readingwmtc: who would name a baseball team after a serial killer?
London, Ontario, that’s who! Team president and general manager David Martin says the name “The London Rippers”, this logo, and cute marketing phrases like “Lurking in Labatt Park…” have nothing to do with Jack the Ripper. “Everybody has to be a little less sensitive,” says Martin. Yes, everyone has to
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: The Battle for Womens’ Health & Modernity – In the US?
You would think that contraception would be a fairly straightforward issue. Women need reproductive autonomy and choice when planning their family. Of course, once the religious get involved things rapidly go down hill. Articles like the following should not have to be written… “PRCH (Physicians for Reproductive Choice and Health) supports the recent recommendation […]
thereginamom dot com
the regina mom feels wealthy these days. She was fortunate enough to be a recipient of an Emerging Artists Award from the Canada Council for the Arts last spring. There’s no scramble for contract work and there’s a bit of extra money around her house. So she got her hubby to blow twenty bucks on […]
Dead Wild Roses: Patriarchy – Killing Women Near You
Patriarchy offers so many yummy selections of shit sandwich for women. Rape culture, sexism, inequality are hallmarks of the patriarchal construction of our society. The implicit nature of Western patriarchal norms have nothing on what is going on in cultures where said norms are firmly entrenched in the bedrock of society. Modern medical technology coupled […]
Politics, Re-Spun: Why I Am Going to Attend Occupy Vancouver
I am white, middle class, educated and, by all accounts, an extremely fortunate woman. I live in Canada where my parents’ (sometimes life-threatening) health issues are covered by a provincial medical plan. My water and air are clean, and food is plentiful. My husband and I are employed. I am not desperate, but I am […]
Continue readingDead Wild Roses: Another Gender Wage Comparison – Because People Don’t Like Facts.
More than anything, this is just a post as to have another handy reference when it comes to arguing with MRA’s and other assorted people about ‘equality’ and ‘parity’ in the work environment. A big thanks to Sociological Images for compiling the information in the post titled “Explaining Gender Inequalities in Salary Expectations”. The following […]
Christian Wolves
A bunch of old white jerks are using God’s name to harrass women outside health clinics. Even here in my own city. It sickens me. Dear Christians who Don’t Get It, If the lot of you actually believed abortion was…
Continue readingPolitics, Re-Spun: Girl Talk
Hey there, ladies. Women? Gals? Broads? Just… not girls, okay? We all stopped being girls a long time ago. Calling ourselves girls once we were old enough to menstruate was a slight stretch. Calling ourselves girls once we were old enough to vote was a bit ridiculous. But calling ourselves girls, perpetually? Grown women calling […]
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