All posts published in September 2008
Page 3 of 7
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CHA CHA! September 25 @ Cervejeria Lounge
September 19, 2008 • Stacey May Fowles
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The Abstinence-Only Billboard Hilarity Continues
September 19, 2008 • Stacey May Fowles
Thanks to reader Sarah for pointing out the continued absurdity that is abstinence-only billboards.
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And the racism continues
September 19, 2008 • Jessica Yee
I was on CTV’s Canada AM this morning talking about the racist comments made by an aide to Conservative Transport Minister Lawrence Cannon, against Norman Matchewan, a member of the Algonquins of Barriere Lake, who is also a teacher and part-time police officer.
In a conversation recorded by the Aboriginal People’s Television Network outside Cannon’s Maniwaki campaign office during its opening Tuesday, Matchewan asked the aide, Darlene Lanningan, whether he will be arrested if he visits Cannon’s campaign office. She responded:
“If you behave and you’re sober and there’s no problem and if you sit down and whatever, I don’t care.”
The Barriere Lake reserve is about 300 kilometres northwest of Ottawa in Cannon’s riding of Pontiac, and a group including Norman Matchewan had visited the office for a rally.
She went on to say that, “One of them showed up the other day and was drinking.” There were several allegations she made that were much worse after that.
In 1991 the Algonquins of Barriere Lake signed a Trilateral Agreement with the governments of Canada and Quebec, establishing a landmark sustainable development, conservation, and resource co-management process. Not surpisingly, the Government of Canada has regularly tried to ignore their obligations under the agreement. On March 10th, 2008, for the third time in 12 years, the government of Canada interfered in their internal governance, ousting the Customary Chief Benjamin Nottaway and his Council and recognizing a Chief and Council whom the Barriere Lake Elder’s Council say were not selected in accordance with the community’s customs and whom the majority of the community does not support.
Lannigan basically said what I know for a fact: a lot of people, especially near reserve communities who are non-Native, already make stereotypical assumptions of us. This is the environment the youth in our communities are growing up in, but we’re doing such an awesome job of kicking ass in so many things that it’s only a reminder of what we need to resist and stand up against.
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Because Engineers Don’t have Sex?
September 18, 2008 • Stacey May Fowles
So I hate abstinence only education, and I am always grateful that teens have other (better) options available to them. Because let’s face it, sometimes the abstinence only people don’t make a ton of sense. Rumour has it this billboard is over a decade old, but have things really changed all that much?
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The Mercy Of Their Cycles
September 18, 2008 • Mir Verburg
About a month ago, I stopped taking the pill after about 2 years. September hit me like a ton of bricks and I just had so much on the go that I forgot to go and pick up my renewal. When it got to the point that would have to skip a month anyways, I decided to take a hormone vacation and see what happened.
Well, let me tell anyone who has been taking the pill long enough to have no clear memory of pre-pill time. It is groovalicious to go off the pill.
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Only a few more days to subscribe for $10!
September 17, 2008 • Stacey May Fowles
On Friday we’ll be notifying the winner of our Shameless author prize pack, so that means only a few more days to subscribe for the low low price of $10.
Subscribe to Shameless Magazine today and be automatically entered to win a Shameless author prize pack, including Stacey May Fowles’ Be Good and Thea Lim’s The Same Woman.
Our brand spanking new issue will make its debut at this year’s Word On The Street, so make sure you subscribe now so your very own copy will arrive in your mailbox!
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Some Good News!
September 17, 2008 • Tuval Dinner
The numbers aren’t official yet but…
Rwanda is set to be the first country to have more women in parliament then men. Their last government already had the highest percentage of women representatives in the world, at 48.8% but could now go up to 55%.Read more here.
Some Bad News!
To put this in perspective, 20.8% of Canada’s parliamentary positions are held by women. To read more about women in Canada’s parliament check out this useful report. -
Sexuality in Living Colour!
September 17, 2008 • Jessica Yee
As a long time fan of the website Scarleteen, I’m part of 20 to 30 000 visitors this site boasts every day who are looking for real, unbiased, raw information on sex, sexuality, and everything in between. That’s quite a feat for not having any major organization behind them, public funding, or having ever done any advertising.
I’m proud to announce that I, along with an amazing roster of fellow activists, teachers, and just general people in the sexual know-how will be taking part in Sexuality in Color: Writing Outside the Lines at Scarleteen.
It will be a series focussing strictly on people of colour writing about sex from their perspective, and giving voice to the myths, realities, and racism that still permeate the sexual health world.
Heather Corinna, editor (and owner!) of Scarleteen who is White, hit the nail on the head by saying:
Even if you have no personal experience yourself being of color, or don’t talk to people of color in your life about these issues, statistics alone make it very clear that race (and, more to the point, how different races are treated and valued) and our perception of race changes things.
HIV and unplanned pregnancy has hit women of color harder than white women, for instance. Contraceptive and sexual health access can often be tougher for those of color. Being gay, lesbian or bisexual can play out differently being of color and in communities of color. I can see all of those things in the work that I do.
I can read about all of those things in journals or newspapers. I can certainly feel empathy, compassion and upset about racial imbalances… but what I can’t do is acutely feel and experience those things the way my brothers and sisters of color do and can. That’s not a minor quibble: it’s major.
We’re just gearing up to get going, so be sure to stop by later this week and onwards to check us out!
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We need to take a good look around the world at choice!
September 16, 2008 • Jessica Yee
A big thank you goes out to all of you who attended Global Choice? Abortion, Access, and Reproductive Rights last night, and special thanks to our fabulous Shameless editor Megan, amazing RABBLE.ca activista Michelle, and directors of the Abortion Democracy and The Coat Hanger Project Sarah Diehl and Angie Young who actually paid their own way to be there.
I’m not alone when I say that everyone’s eyes were opened a little wider last night when looking around the world at abortion rights and the realities of choice. Some facts that were highlighted include:
-The 80 000 women who die each year around the world due to complications from illegal, botched abortions, and the 50 000 who retain major injuries.
-The fact that there is only one provider in the state of South Dakota, whose citizens will again vote this Fall on making all abortions illegal except in the case of rape.
-That Europe isn’t always the dream getaway destination if you are thinking of terminating a pregnancy. In Ireland and Malta a total ban exists, and in Poland abortion is allowed only in exceptional circumstances (life-threatening situations, fetal deformation or in case of rape).
-Although abortion on demand was legalized in South Africa in 1997, 99% of providing hospitals and the only two community health care centres that do provide are situated in the highly urbanized province of Gauteng (meaning you are SOL if you are black, poor, and living in a rural area. Oh wait, that’s like a good majority of the country!)
If you missed the screenings in Toronto, there will be screenings tonight in Montreal and Wednesday in Ottawa.
Hot damn, I’m proud to be pro-choice!
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Dispatch from Shameless HQ
September 16, 2008 • Megan Griffith-Greene
I was also depressed by this morning’s sad note from Bitch. In fact, I was in the middle of drafting my own note about why saving Bitch Magazine is important, but Stacey May beat me to the punch. But I wanted to add a small note anyway about the situation from where I am sitting.
Shameless HQ is a little room in my apartment filled with back issues, mailing envelopes, letters and the piles of work which will soon materialize as a new, shiny issue. (I swear, it is on its way.) This is part of the reality of independent media: we don’t have an office; we toil away as volunteers after we come home from work and school, working on messy desks, like mine, in our own apartments. We don’t get huge cheques from advertisers and investors. Instead, we usually point out that advertisers sell most people short, especially young women.
Independent media is something we all feel quite passionate about, even if it means that Shameless will never be our full-time jobs. We stay independent because it means we can write about anything, because nobody owns us and there is no corporate board room demanding a higher profit margin. And we get to be in a community of other magazines that we think are pretty amazing - like Bitch and THIS - which a larger media empire might see as competitors. We prefer to see them as family.
We at Shameless HQ think it’s pretty important. (OK, the current staff in the Shameless HQ is me and a grumpy printer that’s running low on ink - but I think you get the picture.)
So thanks to our readers for your amazing support. If you can afford to, donate some money to Bitch (I just did). If you have some extra money, help us out by buying a subscription. The new issue is out really soon, and we’re quite determined that it will not be our last.
