• • Body Politics
  • In My Opinion...

  The Marilyn Meme

  December 15, 2011 • Guest Blogger

  Marilyn Monroe is often held up as the antidote to the idea that only thin can be beautiful. “Marilyn was a size 10/12/14,” goes a common refrain (though sizing basically means nothing these days, so what does that even prove?). There have been a couple Marilyn Monroe memes floating around Facebook in the past couple months, and both are troubling. The focus is on Marilyn’s curves, and how her swimsuit clad body is different from what movie stars look like today (oh, the tyranny of the “Best Beach Bodies!” issue). What’s supposed to be an empowering message to women – you don’t have to be a Victoria’s Secret model to be beautiful – is completely undermined by two much older memes: divide and conquer and the male gaze.

  

  In the first photo, Marilyn is compared to another woman in a bikini, who is much thinner. The text reads: “This [pointing to Monroe] is more attractive than this [pointing to the other woman].” While I can totally get behind the title “fuck society,” and add “and its stupid expectations” for good measure, there’s nothing anti-establishment about what’s being done here. (more inside…)

• • (dis)Ability
  • Body Politics
  • Gender
  • Trans-

  An Intersectional RSVP

  November 28, 2011 • Shoshana Erlich

  Dear Event Organizers:

  I sincerely appreciate your open invitation to attend your event on this important issue, however, I find that I must respectfully decline.

  As an activist with a complex identity, it is difficult for me to condone attending an event that, while seeking to explain and draw interest into a matter that is very near and dear to my heart, has managed to ensure that my participation in your event will be virtually impossible.

  While I can appreciate that your event is being held in a wheelchair accessible venue, it is important to recognize that that in and of itself does not ensure that your event is indeed accessible. Had you publicized your event further than one week in advance I would have been able to contact you and request an interpreter in order for me to be able to attend. Additionally, while I appreciate that many events are being put together on a tight budget, when you inform me that your event is unable to provide interpretation services due to the cost required that tells me that there is a dollar figure attached to my participation, membership or sometimes allyship in this community. Furthermore, while attempts to find out if a video is captioned are appreciated, it would be best if that information was publicized on the event details. An even better response would be that upon finding out that a video is uncaptioned that the suitability of another video being shown was examined as well as banding together as an intersectional group to apply pressure to filmmakers to ensure that their videos are captioned and accessible.

  As someone who identifies as genderqueer, there are also additional barriers to my participation. (more inside…)

• • Body Politics
  • In My Opinion...
  • Race and Racism

  halloween 101 for critical thinkers

  October 28, 2011 • Julia Caron

  [cross-posted from à l’allure garçonnière]

  halloween is a tricky time of year for me, and for lots of critical folks. i’ve written about it many times over the years, and for the most part it often feels like my concerns and criticisms are ignored. but! this year i’ve found myself pleasantly surprised. i’ve been spotting these interesting articles and images around poor judgement around halloween cotumes scattered across countless different social networks, but thought i might pull them all together into one useful webspace.

  consider this your syllabus, and the internet your professor. welcome to halloween 101: for critical thinkers.

  firstly, let us conquer the unfortunately all too familiar problem of race drag as a halloween costume:

  

  A young Indigenous person holding a photograph of two white people dressed offensively and appropriatively in false Indigenous costume holding a sign that says “Me wantum piece…..not war. The text says: “We’re a culture, not a costume. This is not who I am and this is not okay.” (http://saucy-sarah.tumblr.com/post/11744729460/the-native-americ)

  This is one of a series of posters put together by students teaching about racism in society (STARS). even they seem surprised by how much attention the campaign has been receiving. it’s a clear message, clearly delivered, and i’m glad to have come across it more times than i can count.

  (more inside…)

• • Body Politics
  • Recommended Reading

  Recommended Reading: Ask Lesley: How Do I Stop Hating My Body?

  October 25, 2011 • Julia Horel

  Note: we know about the diversity of opinion on the merits or lack thereof of the revitalized xojane.com, and we’re just going to leave that alone. This is a recommendation for this particular article.

  Emily asks: “Do you have any advice for getting from a place of body-loathing to body-loving?”

  And Lesley does, because she is awesome:

  I DO. I can actually erase those five pounds entirely with one simple suggestion: Get rid of your scale. No scale, no five pounds. PROBLEM SOLVED.

  Of course there’s more to it than that, and she expands upon this glib suggestion. And, as she does just about every time she hits publish, Lesley says something about the constant work and struggles that come with fat acceptance that makes me think she lives IN MY HEAD:

  Part of me, you understand, still wants to see my weight. It’s the part that liked the obsessive need for control, the part that felt satisfied when I went so long without eating that I began to tremble and drift and blink. That part of me wants to be weighed, to be beaten with the number that will ruin my day and possibly even send me into depression for weeks. It wants me to see that number and get me thinking, “What have I eaten today? I should not eat anything more today. I should not eat anything tomorrow. The following day, perhaps I will eat half a bagel. Then I will go out and buy a scale and weigh myself again.”

  Read the whole thing here.

• • Arts
  • Body Politics

  Sexy R2-D2, and other harbingers of the sexualization of fandom

  September 14, 2011 • Guest Blogger

  Mouths agape, my co-worker and I took in the sight of a woman dressed as the slave version of Princess Leia (from Star Wars). We were managing a booth at Toronto’s recent FanExpo, and were amazed at the substantial amount of leg on display.

  I wouldn’t consider myself a prude, but the abundant partial nudity at FanExpo took some getting used to (it was my first time at a fan convention). Once I adjusted, I began to see the costumes as what they were: another instance of the camaraderie that I found so enjoyable about FanExpo. Troupes of men and women passed by, enthusiastically chatting with us and each other about our fan-related obsessions.

  Often they were dressed to the hilt as anime or video game characters in stunningly creative costumes. It was amazing to see the unadulterated enthusiasm of these fans. Irony, something that frequently colours my quasi-hipster existence, was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t miss it in the slightest. And yet, these costumes, worn by women of all ages, were definitely very revealing. The street clothes worn by non-cosplayers seemed to run along the same lines.

  I take no issue with wearing revealing clothing, which for many women is an expression of confidence and a celebration of physical beauty, whatever its form. However, I suggest it can be problematic in a place like FanExpo that is populated by a large number of older men, and who appear to be free in taking photos of these girls and women. Alarm bells went off in my head. Surely these men weren’t just moved by the creativity of their costumes.

  (more inside…)

• • Body Politics
  • In My Opinion...

  Fatness and Rob Ford

  July 27, 2011 • Julia Horel

  Rob Ford is the mayor of Toronto. He was elected in October 2010 and took office on December 1, 2010. He campaigned on a platform of saving taxpayers money and cutting out “gravy” (what he sees as unnecessary spending) from the city’s budget, without removing services.

  Canadian mayoral candidates do not run as affiliated members of political parties, but Ford is both fiscally and socially conservative. He has also, over his time as city councillor and as mayor, shown himself to be racist, homophobic (and clueless), and generally about as unprogressive as possible. He and his inner circle of like-minded city councillors also hate cyclists, public transit, libraries and keeping his economic campaign promises.

  All of these are completely legitimate reasons for progressives (and centrists, and conservatives, and apolitical people, and people outside the spectrum) to criticize Ford. And Ford is facing lots and lots of criticism from the left. But mixed in with the criticism of Ford’s politics and his actions, I’m seeing a disturbing trend.

  I have to pause now and tell you that Rob Ford looks like this:

  (more inside…)

• • Body Politics
  • Recommended Reading

  Recommended Reading: “Hostile clashes dominate women’s conference”

  July 19, 2011 • Julia Horel

  Three of your Shameless staff attended the Women’s Worlds conference held in Ottawa on July 3-7. You can find notes from the first day here, and more will be forthcoming; we need to debrief about our experiences after the first day and will then share our thoughts with you.

  In the meantime, check out this article from Xtra Ottawa about the strong anti-sex work agenda that emerged at the conference. This anti-sex work bias alienated and disturbed us and many others, although our experiences varied.

  The week’s schedule included numerous panels arguing, from various angles, to end global prostitution. This movement, more commonly associated with an earlier generation of anti-pornography, anti-sex work feminism argues that sex work is inherently exploitative of women, further entrenching patriarchal structures.

  In comparison, the pro sex work groups at Women’s World were small in number. Groups like Prostitutes of Ottawa/Gatineau Work, Educate and Resist (POWER), Toronto’s Maggie’s and Montreal’s Stella work as sex worker advocacy groups arguing for the option to choose their occupation, safer working conditions and harm reduction strategies. Together they support groups like Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC), which has made significant grounds in arguing for decriminalization in Canada.

  The chasm between the two groups became obvious at the Women’s World multi-media exhibit, “Flesh Mapping: Prostitution in a Globalized World” which attracted much attention among media and conference delegates and marked a strong prohibitionist ideology throughout the conference.

• • Body Politics
  • In My Opinion...

  On Julyna (or: How I’d Like to be Cancer AND Patriarchy Free)

  July 11, 2011 • Beth Lyons

  July is apparently now “Julyna.” I found this out a week ago, when the word popped up on my Twitter feed. Initially, I ignored it (I ignore a lot of stuff on Twitter). Then it kept appearing. When I finally muttered “What the fuck is Julyna?” out loud, I realized the word rhymed with vagina and figured I was going to have to read up on it.

  And read up I did! Julyna actually owes its inception to Movember, an event in which (typically) male-identified people grow moustaches throughout the month of November—hence the charming portmanteau “Movember”—to raise awareness and funds for men’s health issues such as prostate cancer and depression. Movember has proven to be very popular, especially with we young folks who are into ironic fashion. Anyway! Last Movember, a group of women were discussing how cool it be would be to start a similar charity to raise money for cervical cancer. Enthusiasm and word play ensued; months later, Julyna was born!

  But what is exactly is Julyna and how does it work? It’s basically a campaign in which women raise money throughout the month of July and donate the proceeds to the Canadian Cancer Society in order to combat cervical cancer. What exactly must fundraisers do throughout the month to raise said money? Well, since the campaign cannot copy Movember’s commitment to facial hair (ladies aren’t supposed to have any of that!), Julyna’s cheeky solution is to have women groom their pubic hair (or, as the site says, the hair “down there”).

  (more inside…)

• • Body Politics

  Myth Ten: Fat is Ugly

  July 11, 2011 • Shaunta Grimes

  Dr. Pattie Thomas and her husband Carl Wilkerson wrote a book called Taking Up Space: How Eating Well and Exercising Regularly Changed My Life that is just really awesome. If you haven’t read it, it’s well worth investing in.

  The first chapter of the book has 10 fat myths. As I read them, I had so many ideas and thoughts and things I wanted to say about each one. I contacted Dr. Thomas and she said that it would be okay for me to use her list to talk about each of the myths here. So–welcome to a 10-week series.

  Myth number ten on the list: Fat is ugly.

  This is the last of the myths in Taking Up Space. And, in my opinion, perhaps the biggest. In fact, I’d like to make a case for the idea that all of the rest of the myths stem from this one.

  When it comes to the current war on obesity and culture of fat hatred in the Western world, beauty and health have combined for a one-two punch that is particularly devastating to women. Perhaps if we were being told that we needed to be thin only to be beautiful, breaking away from that myth would be easier. But we are also bombarded by the message that our fat is going to kill us and makes us bad mothers.

  The current culture of fat hatred hits us where it hurts the most, in our softest, most vulnerable places.

  (more inside…)

• • (dis)Ability
  • Body Politics

  The Myth of Informed Consent

  June 29, 2011 • Shoshana Erlich

  One thing that you find out pretty quickly when you have a disability is that the moment that label is applied to you, you never really get to own or control your body again. There are lots of different ways that doctors can control your body when you have a disability. For example, they can place a hold on you which declares you a danger to yourself and others and that means that you are basically incarcerated in a hospital for 72 hours which theoretically can only be extended so many times, but can end up resulting in far longer hospital stays. They can put you on a community treatment order where you are made to comply with a doctor’s treatment plan for you such as attending regular ECT treatments as a condition of being able to remain in the community. Although both of these examples primarily apply to mental health, don’t be fooled into thinking that those with physical or cognitive disabilities are any better off.

  Theoretically, informed consent is supposed to allow patients to be informed of exactly what procedure will be done to them, how the procedure works (with as much detail as the patient is comfortable with), provide the patient with an opportunity to ask any questions that they might have about the procedure, including benefits, drawbacks and other options and allow patients the opportunity to refuse to consent to a procedure they don’t feel is necessary or beneficial. However, I think that true informed consent is rarely, if ever, realized. There are too many other factors that intervene.

  (more inside…)

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