What the Douche?

Compliments of a friend's email forward, here is a horrifying product from the 50s-60s, "Vagasan", a powder (what!?) douching product (via Madame Talbot) with these lovely ingredients:

Carbolic Acid 1/8 of 1% in mixed usable solution (Phenol, also known as carbolic acid, is a toxic, white crystalline solid with a sweet tarry odor, commonly referred to as a "hospital smell". During the 1880s Diphtheria was treated by Phenol Douches.)

Boric Acid A boric acid douche used to be the most commonly recommended means of addressing vaginal yeast.

Alum (think of pickeling alum)

Methyl Salicylate is a wintergreen-scented chemical found in many over-the-counter products, including muscle ache creams.

and Oil of Peppermint

Oh my godde. Acid and Pickling do not create word associations for vagina!! More on douching.

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.

Not quite Two Years

Hey I remember this guy... he didn't complete ANY therapy and didn't rehabilitate after serving four years in prison for "terroriz[ing] women in 2003 by breaking into their Forest Lawn homes and attacking them. While under 24-hour house arrest for two previous sex attacks, he raped a 17-year-old girl at knifepoint in the middle of the night when she was home alone."

Sex offender arrested for peeping.

Catalogue of the Catalogued

This is a great site featuring books found in existing libraries that shouldn't be. Upon first finding this site via metafilter, this is my favourite book so far: Moving through Pregnancy. Be sure to click the vacuum photo and view the description of Judith's tedious workout (but great posture!)!

There's also this book and this book and this book and this book and so many more!

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

Treated Equal Stuff

I'm aghast. And I'm also not, in that Doug Elniski was elected by conservative voters and supported by Stelmach. From the Calgary Herald:

A Tory MLA is under fire for online comments in which he advises girls to smile to attract men, scolds them for seeking equality and alerts his Twitter followers to a bikini car wash where "girls look cold." . . . In an entry that began with reflections on junior high school graduations, Elniski posted this advice to girls: "Men are attracted to smiles, so smile and don't give me that 'treated equal' stuff, if you want equal it comes in little packages at Starbucks."

He also wrote: "There is nothing a man wants less than a woman scowling because he thinks he is going to get sh--for something and has no idea what."
On the same day, Elniski posted the following Twitter comment: "bikini car wash 82 129 ave girls look cold (...)"

Yuck. This guy also twittered at the Edmonton Pride Parade some remarkable homophobia. Check out Tiny Perfect Blog's report on his remarks.
His website and biography note some quirky trivia: he's the tallest MLA in the legislature! WOW! What a claim! He's a great big tower of misogyny.

World of Teen Modeling

Sena Cech is one of a handful of models who has decided to talk publicly about the seedy, unglamorous and, on occasion, abusive side to her profession for a new documentary, Picture Me. The woman behind the film is Sara Ziff, a catwalk model turned documentary maker.

Introspection

The first time I saw a Heidi Taillefer painting was in Montreal. The Yves Laroche Gallery had her work in its front show room and I couldn't take my eyes off it. Her detail, design and mechanical subject took my breath away. Ms. Taillefer muses in her blog:

Maybe art is soul, and to say it has no purpose in the world would be like saying the physical body has no purpose if the spirit exists. Art seems to carry us along the drama of life, providing meaning to our existence as it acts as the channel through which the soul can pass into this dimension, a dimension we can perceive and understand. We live in the physical world, a world of imperfect modes of expression, communication, or representation, such as language, medium, context or technique...and this challenges and engages us in a way that actually makes things more interesting, if not also frustrating.

I have a crush.

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."

Epilepsy is Dancing

Thanks to MS for the introduction to Antony & the Johnsons. This video is just a beautiful celebration. From the website:

Antony asked his friends the Wachowski Brothers to work with him on a video for his new single "Epilepsy is Dancing". They in turn invited painters Tino Rodriguez and Virgo Paraiso to create costumes and a mystical environment and choreographer Sean Dorsey and his dancers to bring the dream sequence to life. Antony's artistic partner Johanna Constantine stars as herself in the role of "Deer Monster". The video was lit and shot by the up-and-coming directors of photography, Chris Blasingame and Banker White, and produced by Jim Jerome. The production team collectively named themselves AFAS. Please enjoy the fruits of their San Francisco art party.

Golly, Thanks!

Gosh! Lilith Attack was nominated for The Candian F-Word Blog Awards, Best Feminist Blog - Oh! Canada! English!
Thank you!!!

What Women?

Two ultra-Orthodox Jewish newspapers have altered a photo of Israel's new cabinet, removing two female ministers. Via BBC News

"Bush is a Worm!" Calgary Protest Photos

Yesterday's protest against Bush speaking in Calgary as brought to us by our very own Calgary Chamber of Commerce was a creative success. To raise our voices in collective activism is empowering and initates necessary dialogue. The papers were reporting 200-300 people in attendance but I would estimate much closer to 500 or more. Suited attendees were heckled and shivered in the cold while lined up along the block listening to our sneering and chanting. The media's reporting of the protest as violent (here and here) is not representative of my experience. There were drums and noisemakers, performance artists, children, peaceful shouting and a lot of typical Calgarian politeness. I was pleased to take my lunch hour attending and proud to raise my voice with Calgary's community against Bush's visit. See more photos from the media here and here.

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.