Congratulations to our fantastic publisher, Stacey May Fowles! Her second book, Fear of Fighting, (illustrated by the wonderful Marlena Zuber) is a finalist for the Expozine Alternative Press Awards!

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A few months ago I got a free digital subscription to Macleans. I don’t know why I keep reading it though, since my day is almost always worse for the experience.

Today’s salient piece of racist nonsense, which unfortunately isn’t online yet but if it does surface on the website I’ll update this post with a link, is Andrew Potter’s column, “Sometimes a primate is just a primate, Reverend” in which he defends the New York Post’s dead chimp cartoon that sparked so much discussion last week.

First of all, I just don’t buy the headline. I don’t believe that a political cartoonist would draw a chimp and use it to comment on the recent actions of the President, without knowing what he was doing. I don’t believe it never entered that cartoonists’ head that people were going to assume he’d drawn the President as a chimpanzee and filled him full of bullets. And the fact that he went ahead and did it anyway means that this primate is not just a primate.

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So, it’s not really beach season yet but if you were planning on picking up a new bikini for a winter getaway anytime soon, maybe you should go with one of these numbers instead.

Or maybe not.

WholesomeWear is “a modest line of clothing for ‘wherever’”. They’re launching with their swimwear (which looks suspiciously like the hideous grey tunics girls wore at my primary school until they scrapped the dated looking things in the early 90s), because “the need for modesty in swimwear is greatest.” Is it though, really? Is this honestly something we need in our lives?

Of course, it’s only being marketed towards women, because “modesty” is not a word that ever gets associated with boys. No company would ever suggest that a man bearing his pecs on the beach is in any way unwholesome, but a woman showing a quarter-inch of skin means she’s down for anything.

I also think this is an interesting piece of anti-sex backlash. Because no one, in any era, has ever worn this much clothing to go swimming. Even those funny 1920s bathing suits weren’t this wretchedly ugly.

Every Thursday I profile a new incredible woman, each from a different walk of life. Different professions, causes, backgrounds, ethnicities, orientations, and anything/everything else!

So without further delay, let me introduce the wonderful Carmela Hutchison…

President of DisAbled Women’s Network of Canada, Carmela Hutchison is “committed to working for the day people living with multiplicity/DID will have the same access to treatment that other diagnostic categories do; a right they do not share with their fellow Canadians.” When no resources could be found for a fellow multiple after a critical event, Carmela became committed to working to improve the quality of life of mental health consumers, and all people living with a disability. Carmela reminds us that even if we feel insignificant or that we can’t contribute, all we need to do is take a look around!

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The Colouring Book invite

There’s a terrific event this Thursday at the National Film Board in Toronto: a screening of The Colouring Book: Short Digital Videos by Artists of Colour. This will be the Toronto premiere of the films, which debuted in Vancouver last November.

One of the filmmakers is Indira Dutt, a Vancouver-based writer and student, and an old friend of mine. I was thrilled to catch up with her recently and hear all about the film.

MGG: How did the project get started?

ID: This Colouring Book began as a Vancouver-based youth-driven project that started as a conversation over e-mail. Gabriel Martin wanted to build a community where people of colour could come together to reflect, express, and explore issues of race and experiences that shaped who we are. The writing was all focused around specific questions and themes: we explored our own experiences with sexuality, class, race and media.

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Like most Shamelesss readers, I get really excited about a quality magazine. I have been devouring every issue of the stellar comics culture magazine, Comic Foundry. My heart broke when I saw that newest issue is the second-to-last issue.

Comic Foundry is all about balance—it does a great job of covering indie comics, mainstream stuff and web comics. A diverse range of creators are featured, from Marvel and DC heavy hitters, to hot new indie kids. It’s funny, it’s informative, and they clearly know a lot about comics. Mostly importantly, Comic Foundry recognises that—GASP—girls like comics too!

To fully understand why Comic Foundry is such an breath of fresh air in comics culture, you have to be familiar with Wizard Magazine. Yup, the same Wizard that’s being told to “suck it” on that cover. Wizard is THE comics magazine. It’s been around for 18 years, has a huge readership, and is available in most magazine shops, not just comics stores. It’s also really, really awful.
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How much do I wish that the push for a coalition government had gone through last December? Harper’s back in action and his latest proposal has been to quietly usher through budget legislation that would effectively do away with pay equity for women in the public sector, making hard-won human rights into a negotiable issue for the bargaining table.

Basically, for those of us who have a hard time wading through the legalese, the proposed bill introduces some radical changes to current legislation that have profound effects on women in the workforce. Here are a few examples of the kinds of changes proposed:

- The criteria for work value assessment, once based on skill, effort, responsibility and working conditions, now include “qualifications and market forces,” which in addition to being very subjective are more easily argued off the table than hard skills.
- Pay equity will be something that is negotiated at the bargaining table rather than something that should be guaranteed.
- Women who wish to make pay equity complaints must do so without support; in fact, unions who decide a claim is worth pursuing and try to offer representation or counsel will be fined $50,000.
- Complaints will no longer be processed through the Human Rights Commission, but through the third party Public Service Labour Relations Board, supposedly to save time. This Board is a bargaining table facilitator, dedicated to resolving labour disputes, not to preserving human rights.

Women’s equality in the workplace should not be a bargaining chip to be held out or held back by employers. In fact, this sly little bit of the legislation holds no discernible advantage for the country’s flagging economy, so what is the benefit? PSAC is now running a petition and letter campaign to implore MPs to remove the Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act from Bill C-10.

For more information, the following articles are helpful:
PSAC fact sheets and information on Bill C-10 and the proposed Public Sector Equitable Compensation Act.
Judy Wasylycia-Leis takes on the Liberals, whose apathy during the decision-making process has been very destructive.
Treasury Board statement attempting to debunk fears surrounding proposed changes.
Toronto Star article on the underhandedness of Harper’s budget bill gives a good rundown of the issues.

It seems like every celebrity focused magazine and website is still obsessing over this story. This week MuchMusic is doing a half hour special about the topic of violence against women, specifically in relation to this celebrity incident.
I was part of the taping and I am really interested in how the piece is edited together. I had a lot of issues with the direction MuchMusic took the discussion but overall I’m glad they’re using their airtime to highlight the issue. Below are the details. I really look forward to hearing what people think about this tv special.

Chris Brown & Rihanna: Love Gone Wrong airs Wednesday, February 25 at 6 p.m. ET.
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Oh boy oh boy! There’s a new marketing strategy in town: Only in a Woman’s World. This “series” of drawn videos is here to inspire us to maintain our friendships and fall for these ideas of how women should act. So far this site/series has helped me maintain the following myths about women’s lives:

1. That good friends only come in sets of fours
2. You’re still expected to be hung up about your hair from high school
3. We’re never gay, and always searching for Mr. Right if we haven’t bagged him yet
4. Gaining back the five pounds we’ve lost is shameful
5. That if your body is imperfect it is “embarrassing”
6. Snack companies still want to sell us ideas about who we are (and who they think we should be) to buy their crackers
7. That we hate our bodies so much we’d wear control top stockings under our bikinis
8. Making excuses for the food we eat is okay, accepted, and encouraged
9. We’re still eating celery to fit into said bikinis!

I can’t wait for all the other things I’m going to learn about who I should be and what I should do as this series evolves!!