Hero Squad

Attention! Smell your Dildoes! Kim and Amy Sedgwick are campaigning against bisphenol A's insertion in sex toys in Canada. If you won't drink out of the ol' Nalgene bottle because of the toxins and health risks associated with Bisphenol A, do you really want to stick one up your beautiful, soft and absorptive cunt for a nice long vaginal massage? OPI and other nail polish companies have removed phthalates from their darling polishes because we hollered! If our bone nails are enough to absorb nasty chemicals, we MUST avoid getting boned by sex toy manufacturers that continue penetrating their products with toxins - because, simply enough, they can get away with it - because sex toys are a "novelty item." There are alternatives to cheap plastic toys and it's worth spending a little extra coin to have safe sex! In Calgary, you can find them at the lovely boutique, "A Little More Interesting" off the busy intersection of 17th Avenue & 14th Street SW.

Bank of Glass Ceiling er America

Attorney at Law reports:

Bank of America, which acquired the former Merrill Lynch and Co. last year, discriminated against female brokers by offering them lower retention benefits than their male colleagues and steering wealthier investors to brokers who were men, according to a newly filed lawsuit.

The suit was filed today on behalf of Jaime Goodman, a Merrill broker since 1992 who joined Bank of America when the bank acquired Merrill on January 1, 2009. Goodman claims her new bosses demonstrated gender bias against her and other female employees.

She is seeking class-action status for her suit, which if granted would allow other women who claim they were similarly harmed by Bank of America’s allegedly discriminatory practices to join in the litigation.

Info Source: Calgary Herald

Diatribe

Brilliant diatribe from Photoshop Disasters via Feminist Philosophers this morning:

In a breathless deconstruction of the trite family self-portrait, USA PhotoHouse deftly excises the phallocentric father figure, leaving a single hand to signify - with profound semiotic irony - the hidden hand of capitalism. The camera is bereft of any screen or viewfinder in a de facto refutation of the omnipresent panopticon of male gaze, while the child points aimlessly out of the savaged image in a cathartic denunciation of the testosterone-poisoned concept of understanding directions. Marvellous.

A fine wordsmith.

You Know You are A Dreamer

Dreaming of a white Christmas? Dreaming of world peace? Dreaming of finding that perfect gift? Dreaming of peace in women's lives? There's still time to order your 2008 "Dreams for Women" calendar from British Columbia's Antigone Magazine before Christmas.

Visit Antigone Magazine today to order your beautiful calendars for your special someones!

Bush Concern

While all eyes are on the American election tomorrow, and news will cover the results, don't forget to keep an eye on what Mr. W. Bush is up to. He's still in power and with his loss of it there's some scary stuff he's going to try. Here's some of it:
Bush Rushes Harmful Environmental Laws

Who Thought This Day Would Come?

Alberta delivers good news for midwives, expectant mothers

Starting April 1, 2009, midwifery will be added to the maternity services covered by the public health system in Alberta, the province said on Thursday. The average cost of using a midwife is about $3,500

Of course this is wonderful news but there's a big big problem:

But midwives in Alberta are scarce because they must complete a two-year licensing period and run a private practice. According to the Alberta Association of Midwives, there were 29 registered midwives in the province in 2006.

For 4,589 babies, 29 midwives are going to very busy.

How they're done wrong

Robin Summerfield reviews Jean Kilbourne's new book in the Calgary Herald, So Sexy So Soon: The New Sexualized Childhood and What Parents Can Do to Protect Their Kids. I've ranted before (here, too) about sexualizing childhood (it's not new) and agree that as parents there is much to be done to ensure children are able to play with toys that don't "eroticize shopping early on". Consume, consume consume. A commenter to the article asserts:

It's the parents that buy into this, a preschooler does not walk into a store and slap down her credit card. I am raising two daughters without resorting to buying them these stupid dolls, and they are very aware of the sexualization issue, we discuss it frankly. They know how badly skewed advertising is and how retouched the photos in magazines are, and they choose to believe beauty is as beauty does.

It's true, it is indeed parents who influence, educate, and provide entertainment to kids (It's not just girls that are impacted by sexy little girl dolls. Boys are given the message that girls are sex objects and need these issues address as much as girls do). Sheltering kids is not the only way to deal with the issue. But for families where parents do not provide this guidance, are sexed-up 12 year old big headed sleeze balls something children should be able to resist on their own? Are they safe to be on television in homes where programs aren't monitored? What about censoring by networks? If parents don't say no and change the channel, who is held accountable? Scholastic has pulled Bratz doll ["those ubiquitous half-naked, big-eyed, pouty-lipped plastic dolls, a tarty Barbie replacement for seven- to 10-year-olds weaned on a star-studded TV diet laden with celebutantes like Lindsay Lohan, Paris Hilton and Britney Spears."] books from the discount catalogue. I disagree with the pejorative headline tag word, "BANNED". Scholastic acted in response to angered parents. The books aren't BANNED in the schools, they're just not offered at discounted prices. Cudos to Scholastic. Action works. Revolution revises.

Felection - Fixing the Date

Democracy Watch outlines some of the reasons why Harper's Election call is bad for democracy:

. . . delaying the election until at least spring 2009 would give time to pass key bills, as well as complete various investigations and court cases, on key good government issues, as follows:

-a proposed law that bans loans to election candidates (except by banks and other financial institutions) is still under review by the Senate, and until it passes the loans loophole will allow anyone to buy off a candidate in violation of the spirit of donation limits that came into effect a few years ago;
-the investigation and court case concerning limits on spending on advertising by local candidates is not completed, and holding an election when limits are not clearly defined will likely lead to abuse in election spending;
-a court case filed by Democracy Watch has not been completed, and as a result it is unclear exactly what lobbyists can do to help candidates and parties during elections;
-another court case filed by Democracy Watch has not been completed, and as a result it is unclear whether Prime Minister Harper and his Cabinet violated the federal Conflict of Interest Act by making decisions concerning the Mulroney-Schreiber affair;
-the federal Ethics Commissioner has still not ruled on whether Finance Minister Jim Flaherty violated the Conflict of Interest Act when he handed out a contract to a friend, and;
-last but certainly not least, there are 90 loopholes in the federal government’s accountability and decision-making system that need to be closed, including loopholes that allow party leaders to lie to voters when making election promises, that allow secret donations to nomination race candidates, and that allow party leaders to dictate who will be the candidate in any riding.

Via Rabble.

Web Fetus

Of course I'm not surprised reading this article that 2 male Harvard alumni students (Remember Zuckerman?) have created a fetus fetish online extravaganza called Totspot.com. Facebook for the fetus. It was bad enough that I saw pictures of a bloody bath birth from an old high school acquaintance back in the day when I was on Facebook for three weeks. But now the emby can even be profiled and spoken for before the dip in the tub. Expect an inundation of fetus fetishizers and prolife advertisement banners.

Women Protest

Women are banding in protest of government crackdown on women's vendor businesses:

Women stage protest in N Korea

Seoul - Thousands of North Korean women staged a rare street protest early this month against a government crackdown on illegal market vendors, an aid group said on Wednesday, amid worsening food shortages.

The protest was reported on March 4 in Chongjin, a port city in the north eastern province of North Hamgyong, said the South Korean group Good Friends, which works in North Korea.

Appropriate Blood

Easter Mass turns Bloody:

Six Iraq war protesters disrupted an Easter Mass on Sunday, shouting and squirting fake blood on themselves and parishioners in a packed auditorium.

Three men and three women startled the crowd during Cardinal Francis George's homily, yelling "Even the Pope calls for peace" as they were removed from the Mass by security guards and ushers.

Via Rawstory

Need I mention that Christianity is based on a whole lot of blood? Funny that there'd be outrage for the sake of the children being scared by gore. Eventually they'll be drinkin' the stuff.

Smudget Shmoooes.

As usual, the conservatives turn their back on working-class, low income families and high five the rich corporations:

All indications in the run-up to budget day pointed to the NDP and Bloc Québécois opposing the budget, and the party leaders did little to dispel that Tuesday.

"This is a budget that clearly fails the working families of Canada," NDP Leader Jack Layton said.

"You simply have to note that the large corporations are getting six times as much of a tax subsidy as we see in spending for programs and for the needs of Canadians.

"In fact, individual taxpayers are going to have to pay 12 per cent more of the cost of government, while corporations will pay 14 per cent less."

Mr. Layton called the Conservative budget approach to setting funding priorities "completely unfair."

"There is nothing here to train the doctors that families need," Mr. Layton said.

"There is nothing to help deal with prescription drug costs that are really tough on families now. There's nothing for affordable housing. It is not a budget that New Democrats can support."

Flower & Power

In 2000 I spent 3 months in Western Europe, mostly Holland, exploring my heritage and sitting quietly on canals and at church doors breating in my ancestors' air and trying to make sense of love:

The Garden of Love
I went to the Garden of Love,
And saw what I never had seen:
A chapel was built in the midst,
Where I used to play on the green.

And the gates of this chapel were shut,
And "Thou shalt not" writ over the door;
So I turned to the Garden of Love,
That so many sweet flowers bore,

And I saw it was filled with graves,
And tombstones where flowers should be;
And priests in black gowns were walking their rounds,
And binding with briers my joys and desires.
-William Blake

On one day, in plus 42 degree heat and 95 percent humidity blowing in off the North Sea, I visited the Aalsmeer flower auction, the primary distributing warehouse supplier of flowers for the world (250 football fields large). Walking for miles, it seemed, along the catwalk above the trolleys and forklifsts, the armoma of every type of flower you can possibly imagine wafted up to me in the steel garden. I saw the commodity of flowers in the auction rooms while flowers on carts were rolled across a room on tracks with currencies flashing and distributors and bidders waving arms like Windmills. It was all quite extraordinary and surreal.

As I learn this morning, though, not all this flower business is sweetly aromatic and magical:

"Recent research," he points out, "shows that flowers flown from Africa can use less energy than those produced in Europe, because they are not grown in heated greenhouses… This is about social justice and making it easier for African people to make a decent living."

But making a decent living can be tough. Last year, a report from the charity War on Want highlighted the human cost of the flowers we import. Many workers in Colombia and Kenya earn less than half a living wage. Miscarriages, birth defects and other health problems associated with toxic chemicals are rising fast.

Then there is the ecological damage. Lake Naivasha, on whose banks many of Kenya's large plantations are sited, is now severely polluted, and water levels have dropped dramatically. Attempts are being made to rectify matters, but it seems that someone always ends up paying the price for our cheap flowers.

No more gushing over petals. The gardens don't only have tombstones and monks, but there are trolls lurking there. You can read the entire article here.

In Pursuit of an Oligarch

The Globe and Mail today prints an interesting report on Russian women chasing oligarchs for financial stability:

It's a tempting aspiration for starry-eyed young women. Russia's moneyed-men set don't shy from spending lavishly. They drop thousands of dollars a night at Moscow's most exclusive nightclubs, like Diaghilev Project, where, until it burned down Thursday afternoon, a VIP booth started at $10,000. They take private jets to vacation spots in the Alps and the south of France. Squiring beautiful women is chief among their pursuits.

Sounds familiar to me. Reminds me of lots of the puck bunnies in town; drooling after the Flames and frequenting the clubs the hockey stars party at in pursuit of lots of bucks. The surpising part of this article, though, in in the description of classes designed to teach young women how to "conquer" an oligarch:

Mr. Radovsky, 42, said the key for women wanting to attract powerful men is to act powerless.

A gifted sterva, Mr. Radovsky explains to his rapt students, is someone who can control men. There are a handful of roles men prefer in women, he said - sexy, playful, haughty. But tonight he's teaching the benefits of behaving like a servile child.

"Act like a four-year-old girl," he says, pacing the studio. "Your mother probably told you if you want something to get it yourself," he explains. "Get that out of your head. You have to be a funny bunny when he comes home from work with his paycheque."

One by one the women practise their Lolita acts. Holding two oranges, Mr. Radovsky asks one student to beg for them. "It's so elementary. If you act like a baby, the man will treat you like a little baby and want to give you everything."

She kneels at Mr. Radovsky's feet, looks up and asks for the orange. He replies that he doesn't have any. The women is stumped.

"If the guys says 'No,' just keep asking. You have to be confident in your role as a baby."

Exasperated, Mr. Radovsky calls in his wife, a 23-year-old former model. She throws herself at her husband's knees and begins to cry. Mr. Radovsky turns the oranges over and she trots out of the room in her high heels.

Mr. Radovsky said his schools are designed to empower women.

Oh I get it!!! Acting Powerless is empowering! It all makes sense, now. The article doesn't offer an effective rhetort when it cites the objection to these behaviour and conquering courses from a woman who writes novels about the rich and powerful and is herself married to a power monger. Jane Armstrong could have concluded her article with a real pow had she referenced a woman with a lion's voice against such oligarch oggling and the growth of feminism in Russia. The only nod to women's advancement is a tiny paragraph mid-story:

But some critics fear the Russian craze to marry up is sending the wrong message to women, who are starting to make real gains in Russia's expanding middle class.

Clearly there's an important motive for dialogue on Social structure and justice, here, when there does happen to be an abundance of women seeking men purely for day to day wealth in spite of living under an abusive husband.

I Love Naomi Wolf!

Monday Mid-Afternoon Chuckle.

Sexy in Silver

Here's an interesting article in American Sexuality Magazine [via Alternet] by Anne Kreamer. She discusses her experience and promotion of being naturally grey and has dismissed the use of hair dyes. I'd be interested in reading her book as the article only briefly touches on her public experience and highlights the reaction of men to her silver locks. I would like to know the public's reaction to her on a more intimate level. As my colleague has expressed to me, when a woman turns 50 she often feels that she has become invisible, undervalued, and under appreciated both sexually and intellectually. How has Ms. Kreamer's grey hair affected her close relationships with family and friends? I admire her for going and growing grey. Although not yet a concern I am a sucker for hair color and am currently a dark brunette pretender. I know it's bad for my hair. I know it is expensive. But I keep doing it for a change of mirror scenery. My mother is struggling with the upkeep of her hair color, often musing that she should go and grow grey. Perhaps we could both reconsider our mane priorities and have a hair challenge to challenge the notion that our natural characteristics just aren't good enough!

Greasy Grapes of Wrath

Sadly I was unable to attend this rally yesterday at City Hall, Rally for Homeless Women: Were You Safe Last Night?, but am encouraged to know that there is a mobilization of women's voices raised at City Hall. Calgary is a not a great place to live. Calgary is expensive, cruel, and saturated with white men making a lot of money. I recently looked up the sale price of a house I am familiar with on the outskirts of the city; a small, 1,300 sf bungalow without any landscaping: the price tag is sitting at $483K. As a renter, myself, always with a concern of lease termination in the back of my mind, I a) don't get paid enough to own property in Calgary and b) am not foolish enough to buy a place that is worth maybe half the asking value. With the apocalypse pouring down on places like Cleavland's low-income/sub prime mortgage target communities, I am willing to sit tight with a lease worry rather than a mortgage terror.

Women who live on the streets, however, can't even find an affordable lease to fret over. Greed greed greed for the rich and we see our poor getting poorer and landlords raising rents and making excuses for it. Affordable housing is torn down for condos and replacement residents are not constructed. The homeless shelters fill up quickly and are a risky place for a woman without a home:

The rally was organized by Christine Walsh, a professor of social work who interviewed homeless women across the city. She found the women did not feel safe in co-ed shelters where they had a higher chance of being harassed or assaulted.
. . .
"Women are at risk for violence when they occupy the streets, particularly if they're in the streets in the daylight, and particularly in the evening hours, and for homeless women, that's their life," Walsh said.

Homeless women must unite and rage against the city and its policies and corporation-favouring budgets.

Last night my partner and I attended a forum on the legality of free speech. It seems that everyone wants to be able to say whatever hateful things they want against groups of minorities, especially, and be protected by free speech laws. One of the panelists, though, pointed out a crucial problem: Middle and Upper Class people want to be able to say what we want when we want about who we want. But we don't want lower class, namely, homeless street people, to be able to hold out a hand and say, "please help." Bylaws and city regulations are putting tape over the mouths of the poor, demanding they not speak. These people have nothing left, not even the basic human right to ask for help. It's sickening, degrading, and wrong.

What can we do? We can use our right to free speech for the purpose it was intended: to enact social change and raise human consciousness about injustices. We can also slow down our busy lives to soften up, take some time, spend a moment on the sidewalk to pay attention; listen to individual stories and experiences and advocate. As always, in the words of Isabel Allende, "How can we not speak about war, poverty, and inequality when people who suffer from these afflictions don't have a voice to speak?"

Rest Peacefully.

I first read on Friday morning that a body had been found outside a Southeast church and that there were unconfirmed reports that it was a body of a woman. Immediately I thought of Tara Landgraff and Wendy Hewko, two women murdered in Calgary last summer; I thought, “oh godde, another murdered woman.” Arcelie Laogagan’s face was so badly beaten the police will not confirm her identity until a DNA test is completed. Her family believes it is her and is of course devastated.

A few recent attacks I’m reminded of:

On November 4, 2007 a woman was viciously attacked and sexually assaulted in the beltline. Police have not made an arrest.

There was another incident in November when a man followed a woman pushing a stroller from a C-Train platform who fought him off her after being pushed to the ground.

Saturday, November 24, 2007 a woman was followed from a C-Train platform onto the U of C campus and pushed her to the ground in an isolated area. Her cries for help were heard by a security guard and a professor (42 year old man was caught and charged with assault causing bodily harm)

On Tuesday, January 15, a repeat offender robbed a tanning salon and then dragged the woman to a nearby treed area, assaulting her. The man was caught and has been charged.

This past Sunday a woman was grabbed by an unknown man while walking home; she fought him off and he again tried to grab her outside her home and she managed to escape.

Calgary Transit says it will evaluate its safety measures and security on the C-Train line. It’s maddening that it takes a murder to initiate this, and although I appreciate the concerned reaction, it is going to take more than an evaluation; more than additional cameras or guards for women to be protected and have a sense of security. The problem isn’t a lack of surveillance, the problem is that these men feel that they can intimidate, harass, threaten, and physically violate women.

Cement Ceilings

From today's Globe and Mail:

As much as women may hammer against the glass ceiling, the number of them in top executive positions has fallen in Canada over the past year, a study finds.
. . . .
"This drop is disheartening and it indicates that Canada's corporate structure is still inherently unfriendly toward promoting women," says Jay Rosenzweig, managing partner at Toronto-based Rosenzweig.

Who says there's no place for a movement working and fighting for equality of the sexes?(via Justice is a Woman with a Sword)

The Buzz from the Bees

I'm admittedly a little late with this but here is a fascinating article from the International Herald Tribune by writer Louise Story about the juicy history of Burt's Bees, Burt's love affair with Roxanne Quimby and his chicken coop; the acquisition by corporate giant Clorox (in November last year) and the future of this gem of a skin care product.

I recently tried Burt's Bees chap stick this summer and found the tingly goodness worth the +$5.00 I paid. There's one line in the article, though, that has me tingling in a different way, and it can be found on page 3.

Burt's Bees is not perfect, Replogle acknowledges. The company obtains all of its beeswax from hives in Ethiopia, so shipping the ingredient across the Atlantic adds to carbon emissions.

What I know about human exploitation of resources in Ethiopia (i.e. COFFEE) by large corporations isn't pretty. I'm going to do some digging and perhaps this little bear will come out of the internets with some honey on her hands.