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Guest Post: The Myth of the Woman-Child

September 20, 2012 • Guest Blogger

Originally posted at The Belle Jar.

My good friend Audra Williams challenged me to blog about this piece on Tavi Gevinson. Then she posted this ridiculous article from Jezebel on Facebook, and I thought I would address both of them at once. I am killing two birds with one stone! Two ugly, judgmental, anti-feminist birds!

Both articles are concerned with the girlification of today’s women. Katrina Onstad, author of the Tavi Gevinson piece, bemoans the rise of “girl culture,” complaining that the word “girl” is “wispy and feminine, destined for head-patting and glass ceilings.“ Jezebel’s Deborah Schoeneman, on the other hand, uses the term “woman-child” to describe those of us she feels aren’t acting our age. The hallmarks of a woman-child are, according to Schoeneman, many and varied. She writes that, “from sporting sparkly nail polish to religiously reading every bestselling young adult novel, these women seem to be reliving their teenage years with real gusto.”

First of all, I didn’t realize that there were rules on how to be an adult female. Maybe there is a handbook I am missing? The handbook that, according to Schoeneman, would tell me to watch What To Expect When You’re Expecting instead of The Hunger Games, and advise me against using nail art. Because as a lady I should want to watch movies about other lady-types having babies instead of movies about smart, strong teenage girls kicking ass and taking names, I guess. Also I should have really boring nails.

The funny thing is that Schoeneman is totally selling me on the idea of becoming a woman-child. The way that she describes the beliefs and behaviours that she dislikes actually make them sound more appealing than appalling. (more inside…)
Guest Post: Stand up for Pussy Riot, stand up for yourself

August 20, 2012 • Guest Blogger

By Kasia Mychajlowycz

Last Friday, more than 100 people got together in Toronto to protest the guilty verdict and two-year sentence handed down to Russian punk rock performance artists Pussy Riot. There was punk music, chalk drawings, drumming, chanting, costumes—everything that makes a good, peaceful protest. And, of course, the media.

In a way, I am “the media.” I’ve recently finished my master’s degree in journalism, and I’m wrapping up an internship at a great magazine. But I was raised in activism, mostly of the “save the trees/support the arts” kind. Many journalists have said that you can’t be a journalist and an activist at the same time; it used to be convention that journalists didn’t even vote, so they could say they were “neutral.” Nowadays, journalism still clings to that idea even as we realize how impossible it is to be both human and neutral, especially if the job of journalism is to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the uncomfortable,” i.e. challenge the status quo, the way things are, and ask “but why?”

(Kasia Mychajlowycz)

But when I found out three members of Pussy Riot were jailed for months for SINGING A SONG in a Moscow church that spoke out against Russian President Vladimir Putin, I couldn’t stay silent. (more inside…)
2-qtpocmontréal: a look ahead

August 17, 2012 • Guest Blogger

I have heard it so many times in the past few months: we love Montréal.

We love the community, the endless cultures of resistance, and the freedom and joy the city gives us. But over and over again, I hear, it feels so hard to stay here. For all it gives them, Montréal also exposes its 2-qtpoc folks (two-spirited, queer, and trans people of colour) to surprisingly overt, harsh, and exhausting racism. People talk about 2-qtpoc skin and bodies as though they are food or fabric, not part of a human being. There are limited services that 2-qtpoc folks can access without fear of discrimination. In (generally white-dominated) queer spaces, 2-qtpoc commonly hear derision and disbelief about their sexuality, gender identity, and expression. But Montréal’s 2-qtpocs are working hard to change this.

Elisha Lim is presently the proud curator of 2-qtpocmontréal, a showcase of 2-qtpoc artwork and part of pervers/cite, Montréal’s radical queer pride festival. Lim has spent some time reflecting on what it means for 2-qtpoc folks to take up and take back space in the cities and communities where they live, citing that internalized marginalization leaves many 2-qtpoc feeling as though they do not have the same entitlement to space as their white peers. Lim wants 2-qtpocmontréal to be a space for 2-qtpoc folks to unapologetically demand space in Pride, in Montreal, and in Québec – where 2-qtpoc always have been, but that have not always been kind or accepting toward them.

2-qtpocmontréal’s 10-day schedule (August 10-19) includes lectures, performances, workshops, visual arts, and, of course, celebration. (more inside…)
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Guest post: The psychological is political: Mental health as a feminist issue

August 15, 2012 • Guest Blogger

Currently, mental health is a hot topic in Ontario. Countless media stories along with governmental and professional groups have highlighted the importance of reducing stigma, identifying folks who need support and connecting folks in need of support to clinical services. There are aspects of this that are awesome. Many of us do suffer from some form of mental distress at one point or another and/or love someone who has/does. It is important that we do not feel embarrassment or shame about the behaviours, thoughts and feelings we are told are not “normal.” It is also important that we challenge all the stigma and oppression associated with being labeled with a mental illness (e.g., loss of employment, loss of housing).

But if Shameless (and feminism in general) has taught us anything, it is that language is important and we need to critically examine understandings and norms, including those around mental health.(more inside…)
The Greatest Band You’ve Never Heard Of: Fifth Column

June 15, 2012 • Guest Blogger

Before Bikini Kill, before MEN, hell – before the Indigo Girls – there was Fifth Column. Fifth Column was a queer-as-hell punk band comprised of young art students from Toronto in the early 1980s, now immortalized in the recent documentary film, She Said Boom: The Story of Fifth Column directed by Kevin Hegge.

Fifth Column was an all-girl band, which was just about the most political thing that could happen to the misogynist music industry of the 1980s. A rock musician from the 1980s is usually imagined as a metalhead dude with long, puffy hair, and tight jeans. Bands like Mötley Crüe and Poison even forming their own subgenre of “cock rock,” characterized by callous displays of male aggression and heterosexuality. Even hardcore music, which was rock music for misfits, wasn’t particularly friendly towards women. In this climate, Fifth Column stands out not just for being comprised of women, but women who were outspokenly feminist and queer.

(http://thetfs.ca/2012/04/27/he-said-boom-talking-fifth-column-fe)

In true punk rock fashion, Fifth Column began without the band members knowing how to play their instruments. (more inside…)
CROSS-POST: Youth violence in Toronto and our hierarchy of victimhood

June 11, 2012 • Guest Blogger

This piece originally appeared in the Toronto Star on Wednesday, June 6, 2012. It is cross-posted here with the permission of its author, Simon Black. You can find Simon on Twitter @_simonblack or at his website.

Last year in the city of Chicago, nearly 700 young people were hit by gunfire; 66 of them died. The vast majority of victims were African-American and Latino youth living in the city’s racialized low-income neighbourhoods. A recent analysis found that 8.5 per cent of Chicago (in terms of geography) contained almost all of the city’s shootings and homicides.

The mayor of Chicago insists that his city is safe. After all, around 90 per cent of neighbourhoods are not affected by youth gang and gun violence. This year, programs designed to reduce violence are being cut along with Chicago’s education budget.

While not as extreme in its geographic concentration, youth violence in Toronto is more likely to occur in our low-income postwar suburbs and pockets of racialized poverty in the downtown core than in white, middle-class neighbourhoods or shared spaces such as Yonge St.

As the 2008 report “The Roots of Youth Violence” found, while crime rates are stable “severe violence is apparently becoming more and more concentrated among socially disadvantaged minority youth.” The report concluded that the roots of youth violence are often found in poor, socially deprived neighbourhoods: the immediate risk factors of impulsivity, low self-esteem, alienation, hopelessness and lack of voice are compounded by longer-term issues of racism, poverty, community design, barriers to education and a lack of economic opportunity. The social exclusion of racialized youth and the alienation and denial of full citizenship they experience must be addressed.

When violence migrates from Toronto’s racialized low-income neighbourhoods into the spaces of commerce and tourism central to our city’s sense of collective safety, identity and international reputation, our public discourse shifts, government officials react and respond, and we reveal a hierarchy of victimhood and trauma that contravenes principles of equality.

(more inside…)
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Fight Like a Girl

May 18, 2012 • Sheila Sampath

Mehad Taha & Sheila Sampath at the Fight Like a Girl Activist Training Job

Outside my work with Shameless, I run an activist design studio called The Public. This March, I was proud to be a co-facilitator of the Fight Like a Girl Activist Training Job, hosted by Newcomer Women Services Toronto. Fight Like a Girl was a two-week paid job in which twenty-four young women came together to talk about racism, forced marriage, gender-based violence and bullying, learn about media literacy and creation, and kick some serious ass with newfound Wendo skills.

The program was the brainchild of Maya Roy, Executive Director of Newcomer Women’s Services. Every morning, the girls had Wendo training, and in the afternoons, I had the privilege of working with them to develop their own campaign, Use Your Voice, designed to combat gender-based-violence and build self-esteem. On our last day together, I was joined by Ronak Ghorbani, Sarah Feldbloom, Natalia Saavedra, Sidra Mahmood, Victoria Barnett and Sarah Mangle who each facilitated hands-on sessions in social media, podcasting, poster-making, web design and zine-making, bringing the campaign to life. The results were pretty amazing.

The week was a fantastic one for me — I ended up learning so much from the girls who participated in the group and felt lucky to get to work with each and every one of them. One of the participants, Mehad Taha, 15, shares her experience:

Our Experience at Fight like A Girl By Mehad Taha

Hi my name is Mehad Taha and I am 15 years old and I applied for the Fight Like a Girl activist training and job because I wanted to understand my rights.

During the week of March break, I had the opportunity to meet different girls from around Toronto, with different cultures, and beliefs. On the first day of our job we had icebreakers so we could get to know each other.

The girls and I spent our mornings with Wendo instructor Deb, so she could teach us how to defend ourselves from people who try to harm us. She taught us self-defense moves like the Wendo Fist, the Eagles Claw, the Hello and Goodbye and many more. We also learned we can walk outside with confidence, and if anybody tries to harm us, we know how to break their noses. Nobody can take our confidence away from us.

In the afternoons, we spent time with Sheila Sampath, who is the editor of Shameless magazine and works at The Public. We had conversations about ways we can feel good about our gender, our personal choices and our identities, so we can feel more comfortable and confident about ourselves. The girls and I talked about how it feels to see people talking about us in a bad way and how it can hurt us, we also talked about how we can avoid that problem and just ignore it. Sheila had asked us how we want to be seen, for example, a confident, independent girl/woman/lady/person that wont take crap from people!

Sheila gave us some of the tools to help us make our own campaign we called “Use Your Voice.” We wanted to encourage others around the world use their voices to defend themselves and never let others judge them. One of the great things about our job was that we were able to express ourselves to each other and be open about our feelings knowing that no one would judge us for who we are. We recorded podcasts, we made zines, some pretty posters, a website for others, and a social media campaign as well.

The person who organized the Fight Like a Girl Activist Training Job was Maya Roy from Newcomer Women’s Services Toronto. Before I joined the program, I thought about what the job was going to be like and how many girls where going to join. I thought I was just going to learn how to do yoga, that men can’t control us and would have to blog about what I did after. It was more then that. We got to do different workshops and make new things around our environment and make a website for younger girls.

Highlights included learning how we can build our strength and confidence. I learned Wendo moves from Deb who taught us how to defend ourselves and how to act when some one makes us feel uncomfortable. The one important thing I learned was that every girl is strong in her own way and we are all independent and we don’t need people to take care of us or call us different names. With my next job, I am hoping to be an independent person who can solve problems and protect myself and others.

I hope the program will find a way to continue so all of us girls who joined could teach a new generation of girls how to defend themselves and use their voices. I want all young people to know not to allow others to abuse you or tell you what to do or become. Because you control your own lives and know that you have the power to protect yourselves and have your rights.

Click here for photos and media links.
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A week with Girls Learning Code

March 28, 2012 • Guest Blogger

During March Break from March 12th to the 16th, 40 girls attended the first Girls Learning Code camp in Toronto, a technology program aimed at getting girls interested in the tech industry by teaching them to create and influence technology as a means of self-expression, instead of merely consuming it.

The camp was created by the tech-savvy leaders of Ladies Learning Code, a not-for-profit Toronto group that provides women with a supportive space to comfortably hone their tech skills. It all started when Heather Payne, a business graduate who had built her own website, decided that she wanted to learn more about coding and tweeted her desire to start a Toronto group for women to build on their programming knowledge. The response was huge, and the group started hosting workshops last summer, which rapidly sold out.

Last year the group also started planning a youth program that would teach girls to change the world, one code at a time. And so Girls Learning Code was born. Hosted at the Mozilla Foundation community space on Adelaide Street West, the week-long program provided girls (ages 9 to 14) with hands-on knowledge in an engaging, fun atmosphere that encouraged confident skill development and exposed them to career opportunities in the tech world.

(Heather Payne)

Camp fees covered resources like software and computers for each girl, and sponsorship from tech companies like the Mozilla Foundation supplied about 15 full and partial scholarships to girls who couldn’t have taken part otherwise.

(more inside…)
Quantifying the Hype: The Shafia Case in Context

March 15, 2012 • Guest Blogger

The Shafia case is a tragedy, all around. But the way this case has been used to promote some of the most casually xenophobic and Islamophobic commentary in Canada yet only makes it more difficult to honor these women and their lives. As many commentators have already pointed out, the rush to condemn the Shafia murders as part of a minority culture that has nothing to do with “Canadian values” perpetuates the familiar narrative of us vs. them, of the clash of civilizations, of shining White Canadian virtue against dark, Muslim violence. Unfortunately, the sad reality is that gendered violence is as much a part of Canada’s cultural fabric as it is almost anywhere else. While violence against women manifests itself differently across different cultures, at the end of the day it is always about power and control, and it is almost always culturally and socially learned and normalized.

Immediately after the Shafia trial verdict was announced – resulting in first-degree murder convictions for all three defendants – Canadian Justice Minister Rob Nicholson stated: “[s]o-called honour killings are barbaric and unacceptable and have no place in Canada,’ adding that “[t]his government is committed to protecting women and other vulnerable persons from all forms of violence and to hold perpetrators accountable for their acts.” Wary of being left out, Immigration Minister Jason Kenney tweeted: “Canada’s openness and generosity do not extend to barbaric cultural practices that tolerate spousal abuse, ‘honour killings’… or gender-based violence. Those guilty of these crimes are severely punished under Canada’s criminal laws.”

In a country that can’t even be bothered to keep a tab on exactly how many Aboriginal women have been murdered or gone missing in the past few decades (some estimates put the number as high as 3,000), its hard to know whether to laugh or cry at such hyperbolic statements coming from men in power who should clearly know better. It’s as if these ministers only seem to remember the issue of gendered violence when it is being perpetrated by “other” people from “other” cultures.

(more inside…)
Guest Post: A Letter To The Occupy Together Movement

October 20, 2011 • Guest Blogger

The background/introduction to this piece is written by Shameless Arts Editor Ronak Ghorbani.

Last Saturday, people in hundreds of cities across the world held demonstrations under the Occupy Together Banner, a growing global movement for economic justice inspired by Occupy Wall Street.

This is the first time in recent history that people across the world are organizing under the same banner: the globalized capitalist system is unjust and not working for most people in the world. One of the most amazing things about the occupy movement is that non-activists are getting involved. A form of collective realization is happening, reflected in the Occupy slogan of “we are the 99%,” meaning that 1% of the population controls the wealth and holds any real power and influence in society. This growing consciousness is positive and necessary for any kind of social change. As Jay Smooth – a YouTube personality who made the well-watched video “How To Tell People They Sound Racist
” – argues in his latest video
about Occupy Wall Street having a class-consciousness is a real threat to big businesses. It is also important to note that while a majority of the global population does fall under the 99%, people are positioned in different locations along the continuum. For example, some people are at the 95% marker, while others are at the 40% marker: there are people who have more access to money, secure jobs, education and life chances than others. In his video, Jay Smooth also picks up on the need for the Occupy movement to be more inclusive but reflects on how at its core the fight against economic injustice is something most people can get behind.

Eighty-two countries — including Spain, Brazil, South Africa, Sweden, Russia, Australia, Mexico, France, Italy, and Germany, to name a few — have formed their own Occupy movements since the start of Occupy Wall Street. Some occupations are very similar to the New York action, such as in Toronto , where people are taking up public space, sleeping in a park, and facilitating political discussions and actions. Meanwhile, some are radically different, such as the general strikes in Greece, where the Occupy banner was taken up as an extension of the country’s already long-existing fight against government austerity measures threatening public service jobs, pensions, and unions.

Although the Occupy movement is working to create open and direct democracy, Jessica Yee points out that there are problems with the use of the word “occupy”: it is not inclusive of Indigenous peoples and it replicates ever-present systems of oppression. A call has been made to decolonize Wall Street. In the U.S. state of New Mexico, the Occupy Albuquerque general assembly decided to re-name their movement (Un)occupy Albuquerque out of respect for Indigenous peoples.

Steps like this draw attention to the fact that capitalism was established in North America through the process of colonization. The word occupy has a strong and historical meaning globally, as many countries have been colonized and many continue to be occupied through wars, western corporations or, in the case of Palestine, by a state. As Harsha Walia outlines in her article below, it is important to look at this movement and past political movements critically in order to move forward in ways that address the experiences and concerns of as many of the 99% as possible.

––––––-

This piece by guest blogger Harsha Walia originally appeared on rabble.ca and Racialicious.

I wish I could start with the ritualistic “I love you” for the Occupy Movement. To be honest, it has been a space of turmoil for me. But also one of virulent optimism. What I outline below are not criticisms. I am inspired that the dynamic of the movement thus far has been organic, so that all those who choose to participate are collectively responsible for its evolution. To everyone – I offer my deepest respect.

I am writing today with Grace Lee Boggs in mind:

The coming struggle is a political struggle to take political power out of the hands of the few and put it into the hands of the many. But in order to get this power into the hands of the many, it will be necessary for the many not only to fight the powerful few but to fight and clash among themselves as well.

This may sound counter-productive, but I find it a poignant reminder that, in our state of elation, we cannot under-estimate the difficult terrain ahead. I look forward to the processes that will further these conversations.

Occupations on Occupied Land

One of the broad principles in a working statement of unity (yet to be formally adopted) of Occupy Vancouver thus far includes an acknowledgement of unceded Coast Salish territories. There has been opposition to this as being “divisive” and “focusing on First Nations issues.” I would argue that acknowledging Indigenous lands is a necessary and critical starting point for two primary reasons.

(more inside…)