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All posts written by Anna Leventhal

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Newsflash: Youth Resist Colonialism, Rebuild Hope

September 16, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

Here’s something you Toronto readers may want to check out. It’s an art opening and also a screening of a film made by Jessica Yee, activist, community organizer, and Shameless blogger and contributor.
The Centre for Women’s Studies in Education and The Native Youth Sexual Health Network present:

Youth Resisting Colonialism and Rebuilding Pathways to Hope - A Film Screening and Art Exhibition

Monday, September 21st, 2009
OISE Building, 252 Bloor St. W., Room 2-212
6 pm to 9 pm (film @ 7 pm)

This event exhibits the work of youth reflecting their resistance to violence and colonialism through artistic expression.

The exhibit will be followed by a screening of Building a Highway of Hope, a documentary filmed and directed by Indigenous feminist activist Jessica Yee about the numerous disappearances and murders of Aboriginal women along Highway 16 in British Columbia, followed by a panel discussion featuring Jessica Yee of the Native Youth Sexual Health Network, Charlene Catchpole, Executive Director of the North York Women’s Shelter, and Tannis Nielsen, Artist and Youth Program Coordinator, Native Canadian Centre of Toronto.

The exhibition will continue until October 2, 2009.

Light refreshments will be served. Venue is wheelchair accessible.
For more information contact the Centre for Women’s Studies in Education at: 416-978-2080 or cwse@oise.utoronto.ca
Gender Panic at the Track

September 11, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

Just read a great article over at Bully Bloggers about Caster Semenya, the South African runner who recently underwent gender testing after she won a gold medal in Berlin. Incidentally, she also recently underwent a makeover, presumably with the purpose of quelling the panic that ensued around having a gender-ambiguous athletic hero. It’s disturbing on many levels, and the article’s author, Tavia Nyong’o, does a great job of tying in historical ideas of race and gender and how they play into what seems to be a good old-fashioned gender panic in the media, both for those who accuse and mock the runner and those who defend her. “If ever a case called for an intersectional analysis that included queer and trans perspectives, as well as anti-racist and anti-imperialist ones, this is it,” she writes.

Interestingly, many forums seem to agree that Semenya must feel “humiliated” (see link above), as much as at the gender testing as at the makeover, which makes her look like a “normal” teenage girl (whatever that means). Although I absolutely agree that no one should be subjected to gender oppression in the form of forced or coerced adoption of gender norms, it strikes me as odd that these media outlets tie “feminine” to “humiliating” so easily, while simultaneously continuing to push the same old agenda of representing attractive femininity as slim, delicate, long-haired and white. And preferably in a bikini. The cries of “she’s beautiful just the way she is!” seem a weeeee bit forced. In any case, I do recommend Nyong’o’s article for an interesting and challenging (if somewhat gender-studies-lingo-heavy) read.

Semenya in action

Did someone say “gender is fluid”?
- Picks from Planet Venus
- Playlist
Blonde Redheads Have More Fun

September 3, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

I’ve always really liked Blonde Redhead, but after I saw them live a few years ago I stopped trusting them. They’re just way too attractive to be authentic. It’s like I can picture the boardroom meeting that came up with that scenario: “Okay, we need a really hot female singer, and a hot guy backing her up on guitar… no, make that two hot guys… no, wait, let’s make them TWINS! Jackpot!”

Anyway, my personal issues aside, when you combine them with performance artist Miranda July and a beautifully simple concept, you have a delicious hors d’oeuvre of perfection, and, like Swedish Berries, who cares if they’re actually real!
- Picks from Planet Venus
- Playlist
Greenwich Good Time

August 27, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

Today’s post is on Ellie Greenwich, the songwriter who was behind some of the biggest girl group hits of the 1960s, including Be My Baby (The Ronettes) and Leader of the Pack (The Shangri-Las).

Greenwich passed away yesterday at the age of 68, but she’s left behind a huge legacy of rock solid tunes that have shaped the way pop music is made. She was also a female pioneer, one of the few women to work in the famous Brill Building (Carole King was another), that epicentre of pop hits that churned out hand-claps, rhymes involving “maybe” and “baby”, and some of the sweetest songs ever like they were Kraft Dinner.

It’s sad but unsurprising that Phil Spector is often credited as the architect of all those great 60s girl groups (The Crystals, The Ronettes, The Shangri-Las, The Dixie Cups), when in fact it was Greenwich doing most of the songwriting. Phil may have built the Wall of Sound, but it was Ellie who constructed the bricks. Oh yeah, and she never murdered anyone either.

When I was a kid I choreographed a dance to Be My Baby that I would routinely force my parents to watch and admire (they obliged), and I still count on so many of these songs for their ability to make me feel good without going overboard into the land of saccharine mush. They’re so much more than just pop songs, though - they encompass a whole era, a whole style, a whole movement. Big hair! Sincerity to the max! Tragedy with a four-four beat! Dramatic voice-overs! Black women on mainstream radio!

Here are The Crystals with one of my favourite songs of the era, Da Do Ron Ron. Thank you, Ellie Greenwich. You’ll be in my heart heart heart, with your art art art.

More tributes here and here.
- Media Savvy
Global Feminism

August 19, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

The New York Times has published a really interesting article called The Women’s Crusade, as part of a special issue called Saving the World’s Women: How changing the lives of women and girls in the developing world can change everything. It’s a thorough and informative take on the oppressions faced by women worldwide, especially, as the title suggests, in developing countries, and how these problems might be remedied by foreign aid and investment. The authors suggest that by supporting women and girls in areas like education, healthcare, and small business, not only the lives of those women may be changed for the better, but the quality of life in society, and the world, at large. To which I say: hear, hear. And also: No duh.

The article is not without its problems, but it’s a worthwhile read, especially for those of us in the Western world who may not always have much insight into women’s struggles globally. It’s also a potent reminder that feminism is not, and is very far from being, “over,” as some of us in North America seem to want to tell ourselves.

(more inside…)
- Body Politics
- Media Savvy
PETA Serves Up a Little Shame with your Tofu

August 19, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

At this point criticsising PETA’s tactics might might seem like beating a dead horse (is that considered animal abuse?); we’ve already seen evidence of their gross, misogynist tendencies in the name of getting people to go veg and be nice to bunnies.

But come on. Really?
Animals: 1. Women: 0. Thanks, PETA.

Just for that, PETA, I’m going to go out and harass a gerbil. Then I’ma eat a steak. Rare. Take that, dirtbags.
- Activist Report
- Queeriosities
Callout to Toronto Youth: Be an Anti-Homophobia Warrior!

July 14, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

From the good folks at T.E.A.C.H.:

LOOKING FOR A GREAT VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY? Be an Anti-Homophobia Warrior! Meet new people, learn new skills and fight homophobia.

VOLUNTEER WITH T.E.A.C.H. AT PLANNED PARENTHOOD TORONTO!

T.E.A.C.H. is recruiting youth volunteers ages 16-23 from diverse backgrounds who are lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer and straight to fight against discrimination and hate.

Teens Educating and Confronting Homophobia (T.E.A.C.H.) is a dynamic group of youth who facilitate anti-homophobia workshops in schools, community centres, shelters and group homes to challenge the myth and attitudes that lead to homophobia and discrimination.

(more inside…)
Are We Not MEN?

June 18, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

Q: When does a feminist blog concern itself with men? A: When we’re talking about New York City’s MEN, a band made of JD Samson (of Le Tigre and moustache fame), Ginger Brooks Takahashi (who’s also appeared in The Ballet and the wonderful Black Mountain Music Project, with Mirah), Michael O’Neill and other special guests. MEN make sounds in the proud queerio dance music tradition of Lesbians on Ecstasy, The Ssion, and Tracy & the Plastics. The video for Off Our Backs by K8 Hardy (who also produced the wicked tree-vulva video for the Lezzies on X song Sisters in the Struggle), below, is the kind of visual garage sale/image stew/eyecandy that half makes my head explode and half makes me want to go out and, like, be somebody.

MEN will be performing this Saturday in Montreal at La Sala Rossa (4848 St. Laurent) with a veritable panoply of loud and proud women, including Alexis O’Hara and DJ Lynne T, who has been spinning up a storm of late.
They play Toronto June 24 at Wrong Bar and June 26 at Lee’s Palace as part of Vazaleen. For more details and tour dates, check out their Myspace.
Girls Rock, Better Believe

June 12, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

Why should Portland have all the fun? This August Montreal is hosting its first ever Rock Camp For Girls, a five-day camp where girls learn to play an instrument, form a band, and finish up by playing a show for their hysterical, screaming, panty-tossing fans.

From the organizers:

Rock Camp is a space where girls discover and express their talents, and become leaders in creating their own kind of cultural production through music. Female musicians and community members support girls through instrument instruction, tech tutorials, band practice and skill-building workshops.

RCfG is putting on a number of fundraisers over the next while to help finance the camp, one of which is tomorrow night, and features Giselle Numba One, who I posted on long ages ago, Nightwood, Little Scream, and DJ Lynne T of Lesbians on Ecstasy. There’s a word for it: “ladysplosion”. No, wait, I mean “awesome”. And also “not to be missed”.

Key details:
Saturday June 13th
Il Motore, 179 Jean-Talon Ouest
Show starts at 9:30pm
$10

Here’s Giselle Numba One with a little taste of what you might find on Saturday.

For more details on Rock Camp For Girls and related events, check out their site.
- Bibliothèque
- Body Politics
Freedom to Choose

June 10, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

Reading the story posted below, I was struck by a couple of things. One is that although we hear a lot of reasons as to why women should have the freedom to choose what to do with our bodies, we don’t hear a lot of stories of actual women making that choice. At least not lately; I remember the good old days of Degrassi Junior High (1987), when Erica got pregnant and her decision to have an abortion sparked controversy and discussion - but at least it was out there. Why is it that we seem to have devolved since the 70s and 80s? Many women are afraid to talk about abortion, for fear of reprisal from anti-choice factions, or even just friends and family.

I’ve been living in a shed for the past two weeks at the Anchor Zine Archive and reading a lot of Doris zine by Cindy Crabb, and remembering just what an amazing writer she is. Her stories of her three abortions are frank and frankly empowering:

When I was pregnant I forced myself to look at the diagrams. Memorize the text instead of blocking it out. The eggs are formed in the ovaries, they go down the fallopian tubes… I only read it when no one was around. I locked the door and was jumpy and nervous, scared someone would catch me. I hid it like pornography.

It seemed almost cliche, but learning about my body and the changes going on in it, and knowing that it wasn’t out of control, it made me feel like my body was strong and mine. It was a way I’d never felt before.

The abortion itself wasn’t too bad. I had it done at a feminist health clinic and the women there took care of me the way it should be done. They held up a mirror, and that was the first time I’d seen those parts of me. They explained every touch and every second of the procedure. Now you’ll feel the speculum, this is the local anesthetic, you’ll feel some cramping now as she dilates the os, breathe deep.

(more inside…)