Tough Guise

Check out this film review of "Tough Guise: Violence, Media and the Crisis in Masculinity" by Tatiana Tomljanovic of Calgary's Alliance to End Violence.

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

Viva Vintage Monologues

A Theatre Project for those who experience life over 60:

A staged reading of monologues, scense and stories that speak to the experience of sexuality after 60. Funny, fun, heartbreaking and real!

On tour through Calgary's libraries this summer!

Brought to you by Seniors a GOGO

Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick

"Eve Kosofsky Sedgwick, whose critical writings on the ambiguities of sexual identity in fiction helped create the discipline known as queer studies, died on Sunday in Manhattan. She was 58."

A Male of a Tale

I just got back from a business meeting with 8 men, all over 40, all of them potential clients in my largely male-dominiated career industry in Calgary's business sector. Of the 8 men, 5 of them - that's over half - 63% - behaved in an inappropriate manner at some time over the 2 hour tour and lunch:

1. Upon meeting and shaking his hand, one man who I have corresponded with through email once or twice said, "Oh! You look a lot different from your emails! Taller…" Um, no photos in email signatures, sir. Weak.
2. Upon entering a site and requiring safety vests (only 4 to go around): "Hey, if you need to feel safe you can clutch onto me, I have no problem with that!"
3. "No, please, ladies first, Miss," and then gently squeezing my arm.
4. Upon arriving at the lunch table, one attempted to pull my chair out for me (chivalry is dead on business). I sat a chair over.
5. One man getting up for dessert, walking behind my chair, placing his hand on me and squeezing my shoulder, "Come on, don't you want dessert?" Ick. Remove your apendage.

These men seemed to feed off each other's flirting and compete for more and more contact and attention. I noted the behaviour of #1 to my male colleague in the car and he simply laughed lightly and said, "yeah, what does that mean?" I'll tell you what you what it means, you little shitbird, it means that women are not respected and we are objectified. They're not touching you, are they? I am a professional. So many words spoken to me were discomforting, gross, and unprofessional. Maintaining my poise, I kept my remarks to myself and will save them, perhaps, for a function when I have some wine in my throat to spell out how it's going to be next we go for a tour!

As much as I know it is unacceptable for them to speak to me like this, I still feel conflicted for not standing up myself. I find it difficult to find a balance between my professionalism and my intolerance of unprofessionalism. In the moment they make me feel reduced and even embarrassed. For making this feminist feel reduced, I get mad. Really mad. At the end of the day, I'm pissed off. When I look at today closely and reflect on the real results for me, they don't take my power, they are giving it to me by showing their pathetic weakness. I am in control and I am determined to contribute to clearing the way for other women in this industry to advance and have an exciting career in this particular path. Taking anger and making myself stronger and more determined will be useful.

Potentially powerful but professional and firm responses:
1. "You look the same." [Wry smile.]
2. "I have a problem with that." [ouch!]
3. "I insist. I am the host. Really." [and don't touch me.]
4. No need, to change this one, I think I did well. [I got it, thanks.]
5. My "no thank you" was enough, here. Although I wish I had casually reached for my fork and jabbed quickly in that moment of contact.

Why the touchy feely? What made these men feel that they had to handle me with their grubby little fingers or make totally stupid comments like "you can clutch onto me"? They were so goddamn intimidated by a woman that they were like giddy flappy-tongued frat boys who just can't get laid.

Tomorrow night I have an event which will involve alcohol, hockey, and over 25 men. One female client will be attending. I'm brushing off my feminist toolkit of verbal self defense at the tip of my tongue. I will be smart and witty, firm and intolerant. Professional but fun.

Hand me a fork and watch your hands, boys.

Dark Matter & Ceiling Shatter

New Scientiest writer Anil Ananthaswamy interviews the first woman to head a particle physics experiment at the Large Hadron Collider at CERN in Switzerland. Fabiola Gianotti, also an artist and musician, says:

CERN is such a rich environment: there are people from all over the world, young students work with established scientists and Nobel prizewinners. So geographical origin, age and gender make no difference here. I don't feel there is anything special about a woman leading a big scientific project. On the other hand, I hope that as a woman scientist who has achieved a level of visibility in a big experiment like ATLAS, I can be an encouragement to young women who are thinking of a scientific career.

Indeed, Ms. Gianotti is an inspiration to women in science, particularly physics, and as previously noted in "Written Word for Nerd", Natalie Angier reports that 26 percent of full professors in the life sciences are women, but in physics, 6 percent. She continues:

For many female physicists, the mystery of women’s slow progress through their ranks is nearly as baffling as the research mysteries they confront in the lab. Of course, only 6 percent of physics professors are female; only 4 to 6 percent of the matter in the universe is visible. “Sound familiar?” Evalyn Gates, the assistant director of the Kavli Institute for Cosmological Physics at the University of Chicago, said wryly.

You can read the entire interview here!

Written Word for Nerd

Natalie Angier writes an important article on the new USA Administration's potential impact on women in science, In ‘Geek Chic’ and Obama, New Hope for Lifting Women in Science. An excerpt:

Surveying outcomes for 160,000 Ph.D. recipients across the United States, the researchers determined that 70 percent of male tenured professors were married with children, compared with only 44 percent of their tenured female colleagues. Twelve years or more after receiving their doctorates, tenured women were more than twice as likely as tenured men to be single and significantly more likely to be divorced. And lest all of this look like “personal choice,” when the researchers asked 8,700 faculty members in the University of California system about family and work issues, nearly 40 percent of the women agreed with the statement, “I had fewer children than I wanted,” compared with less than 20 percent of the men. The take-home message, Dr. Mason said in a telephone interview, is, “Men can have it all, but women can’t.”

Check out the work the Rosalind Franklin Society is doing for women in science.

Link Against Violence - Event Notice!

Saturday, December 6 marks Canada's National Day of Remembrance and Action on Violence Against Women. Girl Guide groups across Canada are forming a link to show strength and solidarity. In Calgary, come out and join the human link of Girl Guides on Memorial Drive.
See Press Release

When:
Saturday, December 6
Time: 9:00 AM
Where:
2188 Brownsea Drive NW (Girl Guide Club House; the link will be over the Pedestrian Bridge!)

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!

Daft Taft

This morning CBC radio confirmed the passed motion in the Edmonton legislature that Rodeo is well on its way to being Alberta's official sport. My animal complaints aside, it irritates me that white male-dominated rodeo is officially the sport of this fine and balanced province. Women's participation is limited to barrel racing, flag bearing and, oh yeah, being pretty. Miss rodeo, anyone? Ah, rodeo beauty pageants. Cowboy inspiration.

Sexist Stereotype Saturation

I was just browsing through a real estate magazine and noticed that every article in the 47 pages features a male real estate professional's opinion/commentary and his face-profile "business" photograph. Reading through each article, I came to the article, "Calgarians shop 'till they drop - $22.8 billion into cash registers".
I couldn't even the article because I was so distracted and insulted by the banner design inserted (certainly not a profile photo of a female business woman quoted in the article):

Of ten images of full-bodied skinny white women, three are wearing mini skirts, all but two are wearing stilettos, most are in skin-tight tops or pants, and one is even wearing a school girl skirt complete with bikini top and thigh-high visible stockings. And they all just look so HAPPY! Because that's what women love to do best is shop! Neat!

What's all the Feminist Fuss?

"I'm not a feminist, but..."
"I wouldn't say I'm a feminist, but..."
"...but I'm not a feminist."
"I'm a humanist, not a feminist. Feminism is dead."

Really. I've heard these disclaimers over and over again. The look of discomfort and defence in friends' eyes when I respond, "I am, absolutely I call myself a feminist and proud of it." This week the 2008 Global Gender Gap Report was released by the World Economic Forum. Reuters reports that:

Averaging 130 national scores, the report found that girls and women have reached near-parity with their male peers in educational attainment, health and survival, in both rich and poor countries.

Indeed, the most common argument against the necessity of feminism. To the contrary, though, Laura MacInnis continues:

But economically, in terms of workforce participation and earning opportunities, and politically, in terms of empowerment, the gap between the sexes remains large.

In 2007's report, Canada was ranked at #18, ahead of the United States by 13 points. In 2008 the United States was ahead of Canada by 4 points and Canada fell to #31. Canada scored #30 in estimated earned income. Average for female was (USD) $25,448.00; male $40,000.00. The most inequality for Canada was Political Empowerment. The female to male ratio of women in partliament as 21:79; Women in ministerial positions was 16:84 and Years with female head of state was 0:50 (0.1 - Kim Campbell for all of five months). To view the complete report for Canada, click here.

Women and men are NOT equal in Canada. Political empowerment has a long way to go towards equality and that seeps into the women's psychologies. It seeps into mine. Wage inequality affects my well-being and sense of respect every day I sit down in my office. Sure, Canadian women have equal educational attainment, health, and survival but there is much work to be done. I embrace feminism for this reason. There's enough voices claiming it's over. In the words of Mahatma Gandhi, "be the change you want to see."

Dream for Women

Antigone Magazine's Dreams for Women postcard art project is launching it's 2009 Dreams for Women calendar featuring postcards submitted by men and women around the world! The calendar seeks to help raise money for The Antigone Foundation and for other women's organizations around the world. As part of this launch, we have created a video in which men and women share their dreams for women equality.

The Project:

Featured in Ms. Magazine, in the International Women’s Museum, and on Feministing.com, the postcard art project has attracted worldwide attention and interest, garnering media attention and submissions from as far away as Japan, Germany, Brazil, France, Portugal, Romania and Los Angeles. The Dreams for Women art project asks women and men of all ages to depict their hopes and dreams for women (examples include “I dream of a world with more female leaders” and “I dream of a world where no woman is seen and not heard”) by painting, drawing, writing, sketching or decoupaging them onto a postcard.

Inspired by the popular mail-art project PostSecret.com, a postcard art project that encourages people to send in their secrets, Dreams for Women strives to be a feminist PostSecret. Instead of asking what your secrets are, the project wants to know what your dreams for women are. The Antigone Foundation began receiving submissions in January 2008 and has received hundreds of submissions so far. Their YouTube videos, which showcase the project, have also received thousands of hits.

The project, which is coordinated by a small group of dedicated young women ranging in ages from 20-24, is committed to envisioning progress for women around the world. According to founder Amanda Reaume, dreaming is essential to change: “the postcards we have received and continue to receive keep expanding our vision of the future, and keep adding more voices to the conversation of what that future will look like for women.”

The project was started out of a desire to encourage women and men to envision a better future for women and to help fund work towards that future. Dreams for Women has thus launched a fundraising calendar. The calendar, featuring 12 postcard submissions from around the world, will be sold for $20 and is available via Antigone Magazine’s blog www.antigonemagazine.wordpress.com.
Indeed, the project hopes to raise money to officially launch the Antigone Foundation, a non-profit, non-partisan organization that will encourage young women to get involved in leadership, politics and activism. The organization will continue the work started by Antigone Magazine, a publication about women, politics, leadership and activism that started at UBC and has since expanded to a national subscription base, as well as, to the University of Toronto.

But the organization also hopes to help raise money for other women's organizations around the world. They will be selling the calendars in bulk at a discounted price so that other women's groups can use it for fundraising. Groups who buy any amount over 10 copies for fundraising purposes will pay only $10 per calendar. They will then be able to resell the calendar for $20 and raise money for their organizations. For more information please e-mail antigonemagazine@hotmail.com or check out their website here:

http://antigonemagazine.wordpress.com/2008/09/27/its-here-the-dreams-for-women-2009-calendar-is-here/

Goodbye Marion Dewar

Dewar: A true city activist

"Today we have lost one of our heroes," said former federal NDP leader Ed Broadbent. "Marion Dewar was a champion of what was just and right."

Often reformers become negative and embittered in their fight for social justice, Mr. Broadbent said, but that was not the case for Marion Dewar.

"She was a happy warrior. She had an ongoing desire to do good, to do the public good," said Mr. Broadbent. "She was a joyful soul."

"This is a very sad day for our city. She was one of the strongest mayors this city has had," said Councillor Diane Deans.

"I'm really in shock. This is a real loss," said Councillor Peggy Feltmate. "Our community has really lost a great asset, a woman who was a conscience for the community."

Equal Voice, Equal Choice?

This article was forwarded to me yesterday by Equal Voice, and it's a good read. An excerpt:

So it shouldn't be a shocker that even though women make up more than half the population, we hold only 20 per cent of seats in the House.

Of the 20 major-party candidates in the five Ottawa ridings, only four are women, and not one is a Conservative. Three -- an NDP candidate and two Greens -- hardly stand a chance. That leaves Collenette fighting a tight race in Ottawa Centre with NDP incumbent Paul Dewar and well-known Tory businessman Brian McGarry.

Consider this: Canada has no female premiers, no female major-city mayors. We have fewer women in parliament than most countries in Europe, not to mention Mauritania, Uganda, Rwanda, Afghanistan and Iraq.

These are statistics that Equal Voice is trying to change. A non-partisan, non-profit organization made up of women and men, Equal Voice is launching a cheeky ad campaign, urging voters to support female candidates and, perhaps more important, to consider factors other than how they look.

I've been to some Equal Voice events and appreciate their good work. I understand the importance of being non-partisan, but I don't agree with the rational to vote for a woman just because she's a woman. I wouldn't vote for a woman who wouldn't represent the interests I value. I would vote for the party that has a representative that I feel could be competent and speak on behalf of the community's best social values and justice. But the fact remains that there aren't enough women representing the parties for all the reasons outlined in the Citizen's article. I recently did a little investigating the candidate I would normally vote for, representing the NDP party, which I support. This person has no educational background in politics, isn't an outspoken advocate hasn't blogged or made public comments with reaction to the campaign, current issues and events, or voter apathy. This is the first election where I'm completely disgusted with the representative; as the campaign manager replied, "s/he's good at ----" (insert any unrelated hobby). Good at -hobby-? That's all they could say about this candidate when the credentials were questioned? Unbelievable. There must be a more appropriate individual who could be the party representative. I'm stuck, now, because I'm not confident how to vote. The NDP party would receive $1.75 from me if I did vote for the incompetent. On the other hand, I don't want to waste my vote if my riding is actually a close competition between the Cs and the Ls. My liberal rep is a woman but I need to make damn sure she's pro-choice, anti war, anti-privatization, pro-arts, etc; I won't simply cast a Venus symbol ballot without understanding her platform (and I've been having a hard time finding this out). Calgary's conservative saturation seems to be quieting all candidates that aren't Tory! Why do they not have more to say!? Why are the candidates becoming as apathetic as the voters!!??

Jekyl & Heidi

I found this book review on Boing Boing this morning and am intrigued:

Screenwriter/producer Lauren McLaughlin's YA novel debut, Cycler is just out, and just in time -- this is a book that the kids in your life really need to read, a gender-bending piece of speculative fiction aimed at young people that manages to say novel, useful, and challenging things about gender and sexuality without ever descending into squicky fluid-exchange or soapy romance.
Jill McTeague has a secret: every 28 days, at the start of her menstrual cycle, she...changes. Painful, graphically, her body transforms into an adolescent male form, and her mind is remade as Jack McTeague, an angry, horny teenaged boy who stays locked in Jill's room for four days until she comes back to reclaim her body and mind. Her stepfordwife mom is mortified by this, and bent on ensuring that none of their neighbors in their affluent Massachusetts suburb discover their family's dark secret, and her absentee father (moved into the basement years ago to practice meditation and yoga) is no help either.

Jill does everything she can to pretend that her four-day absences just don't happen, while Jack seethes and rages against his captivity, in chapters that alternate between both points of view. Both characters are flawed and likable, smart but dumb about emotional stuff in exactly the way I was when I was a teenager. McLaughlin does an admirable job of nailing the voice of Jack -- I know that hormone-addled, enraged teenaged boy. I was that boy.

McLaughlin's screenwriting background carries through well, too: the plot is faultless, building from the weird premise (and the concomitant weirdness) to a series of ever-more-desperate scenarios that have you rooting for Jack and Jill even as you facepalm yourself and peer between your fingers at the wreck they're making of their lives.

This is a book about sex and love, and it's got a lot of it -- but not steamy between-the-sheets stuff (though there's some of that). Instead, McLaughlin's sex and love happens between the ears, in the realm of the mind and its contradictory and embarrassing and fickle passions. Through it all, there's always something redeeming happening, some sense that these people might, somehow, muddle through.

I've got a few years before my newborn daughter needs to start thinking about these things, but this is one I'm putting on the shelf for when she does.

Dialogue about menstruation is lacking for young people and this book sounds like it hits a lot of the emotional issues of being an adolescent on the menstrual metaphorical nail!

Plus, Fuss, and Fashion

Today's Calgary Herald has an article by Joanne Sasvari, "Plus Minus Clothing." She takes a look at the fashion industry and the way it's missing a target audience: plus size women. Praising current retailers catering to sizes over 12, she notes that "plus-size fashions now account for one in five purchases in Canada's $10.8-billion ladies apparel market, a 20 per cent increase since 2003" and laments that there are so few retailers in our market that cushion the frustration so many women feel when trying to buy fashionable clothes that are made with satisfying material:

A bigger reason for dissatisfaction is that even among those labels that do offer plus sizes, the clothes are often not very nice, even though they can be significantly more expensive. Often they are not cut in a way that's flattering to a larger body. They're not available in as many colours or styles, or carefully tailored. And they're made with cheaper fabrics, as if a woman loses her love of silk and cashmere when she hits a size 14.

The end of the article lists some retailers that do carry plus size clothing. Seems to me that seven shops in Calgary, the others online stores, is a reflection of the intensity of the fat-hating culture surrounding us. Consider the number of women's clothing retailers for size 0-12 and anyone can understand that saturation is frustrating. Breaking down the negative stigma and pejorative rhetoric of plus-size women is an ongoing struggle in our culture of the glorification of emaciation. Calgary's Anarchist Bookfair on April 25-27 is hosting a number of workshops, one of them addressing fat-phobia in our culture, negative language, and shutting down the epidemic of plus size women hating. As always, dialogue sheds light on the darkness, so a tip of my hat to Joanne Sasvari for her article and her fat positive message in our City today.

Divine Sexism

I read Men are From Mars Women are From Venus in High School and found it, to be frank, full of shit. John Gray's got a new book out, Why Mars and Venus Colide, and it's about stress. In this article in the Globe and Mail, Gray explains that marriage stress is increasing because women are entering the work force. Apparently women just can't quite cope the way men can. Solution: The Salon, compliments of your man!!

A woman may thrive in the workplace but she needs to go elsewhere to get her fix of stress-reducing oxytocin, he explains. She needs to go get her hair done, have a manicure, hug a baby or grow some vegetables in a garden, among other choices.

Her partner can help. "The following list of suggestions will give men some ideas of how they can promote oxytocin production in their partners," he writes. "If he does one or two of these things, he'll see a change in his partner right away." The actions include "notice her new blouse," "hug her when you get up" and "take her apple or berry picking."

Now here's an implicit warning: Don't question what "Dr." Gray has to say; God tells him what to write. How depressing to think that one of the world's best "gender" self-help books is written by a sexist crazy person who hears voices in his head.

Eve-Teasing

There's sites like Hollaback, and then there's the prospect of true punishment for cat calling harassing assholes:

NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has suggested making harassment of women, including eve-teasing, non-bailable offences. Also, those who are witness to such attacks and do not come to the rescue of the victim should be made liable to prosecution.

As pointed out last week by Justice is a Woman with a Sword, seems that in Canada even police officers get away with harassing while in uniform. We give the finger and we get called a bitch, cunt, whore, etc. and as once suggested to me, that my daddy never taught me to accept a compliment. Pushaw. What can we say? I've used "suck my dick" (in english and portuguese) and it's responded to with "Please!" I've recently been working on my blow a kiss but it turns into the bird... and the struggle continues to get my power back when it's taken from me with embarassing hollars and leers. What works for you? Do share...

Queer and Dear

I'll declare right now I'm terrible at drawing, coloring, painting, and tracing. But there's one thing I love drawing, though, and that's robots; espcially sad ones. It's such a lovely contradiction to have robots full of emotion and experience. Sentient Developments pointed me this afternoon to a book review about a queer robot at playschool:

Heteronormativity in Preschool Robotics

One of my duties as uncle is the reading of bedtime stories. Sometimes I'm amazed by the content. Håkan Bråkan och roboten Rex by Sören Olsson, Anders Jacobsson and Eva Linden is an interesting take on queer robotics as male capitulation in the kindergarten matriarchy.

The basic story is about Håkan who has a cool killer robot toy he wants to bring to his preschool. But the rules are strict: no toy weapons, no toys relating to war or violence in any form. Håkan of course disobeys, trying to sneak his dear robot under the radar or claim it is not a warlike machine (despite the nuclear death rays and the "Freeze, or I will shoot!" voice). In a series of scenes depicting the unreliability of friends, the manipulative power of the teacher, girl peer pressure and Håkan's desperate attempts to avoid cooties Rex the killer robot ends up Brandon the love robot and finally just Rex the comic relief robot. It is a powerful portrait of how some men experience the total loss of their power to define the meaning of their gender to hegemonic political correctness.

Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the book is the deeply entrenched gender stereotypes of the preschool. While the kids are individually quite themselves, as groups they organize into marriage and romance obsessed girls and the violence and adventure obsessed boys. I actually felt while reading it to my niece that it would have been more refreshing to break these stereotypes than to reinforce them. The transformations (or rather, emasculation) of Rex only underscores this: Rex may end up a rather queer robot, but that is only allowed by the preschool microsociety because it becomes funny and unthreatening - the nice gay guy. In the end the matriarchy stands unchallenged, tolerant heteronormativity still remains and Håkan has learned to trust and love Big Mother.

I so wish I could read this book and see more of the robot illustrations. It is troubling that the Sandberg criticizes the gender stereotypes in the book yet reinforces sexuality stereo types when lumping Rex into the stereotype that a) male power = war and agression ; b) love and humour = gay.