All posts in In My Opinion...

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• • Anti-violence
  • In My Opinion...
  • Race and Racism

  I’m a feminist NFL fan, and I’m conflicted about it.

  January 9, 2012 • Julia Horel

  Okay, I understand why I’m an American football fan. I started watching hockey with my dad when I was 13, and soon branched into watching almost every sport I could find on TV. (Yeah, I watch curling.) American football (different from the international term “football,” which some of us know as “soccer”) is exciting, strategic, and often just a big, dramatic circus to watch. It’s my favourite way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

  But football is also a really, REALLY violent sport, more violent than a lot of other sports. The basic concept of the sport, for those who don’t know, is that two teams line up along the width of a 100-yard field, with one team (offense) throwing and running the ball, trying to go forward toward the end zone to score points, and the other team (defense) trying to prevent them from getting there. If the offensive team doesn’t advance far enough after a few tries (downs), the teams switch and the other team tries to go the other way.

  There are lots of rules about what you can and can’t do to try to stop the other team from getting past you, but some of the most common tactics are blocking (throwing your weight against someone to keep them from pushing past) and tackling (grabbing someone and bringing them down to the ground, sometimes landing on top of them). Players are understandably heavily padded with protective equipment. Concussions are common. Often, the bigger the hit, the louder the cheers.

  It’s not actually the violence in the game that disturbs me about my fanship of the National Football League (NFL), although I should probably think about it more often than I do. What’s really been getting me lately is the culture of violence, racism and misogyny that’s spilling out of the game and into the personal lives of a number of NFL players – and the way these cases are treated by the league, the media and the fans of the game.

  (more inside…)

• • 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…)

• • In My Opinion...
  • Politics
  • Race and Racism
  • Rape Culture

  Quick rant: music radio shows

  November 29, 2011 • Julia Horel

  I don’t want to get all “when I was younger, people had more respect!” because it’s completely untrue. But I do feel that maybe there were more regulations about what radio presenters could say on the air ten or fifteen years ago (and I listened to the radio constantly when I was in junior high/high school).

  This morning, I flipping on Toronto’s Virgin Radio while I was getting dressed, and discovered their morning show hosts were discussing the differences between a “skank” and a “ho.” A caller was giving her opinion. I kind of gaped at my radio and then shut if off. I’m pretty sure no one was going to call in and explain that the major difference between those epithets is a racially loaded one (“ho” being a term often levelled at black women).

  Ottawa’s Hot 89.9 station had a promotion/contest last summer during which it “lost its T” and called itself “the new Ho 89.9” while giving clues to find the “missing T.” The same station also had a “Win a Baby” contest, where people who were infertile or otherwise unable to conceive could compete in a vote-in contest to win fertility treatments. I actually wrote to complain about that one, telling the station I found it insensitive (the commercials were pretty gross), and was told that it was “the best thing [they’d] ever done.”

  Finally, Edmonton station The Bear recently held a Win a Wife contest. Yep, for real. The prize was a trip to Russia and an introduction to a woman from an agency that pairs Russian women with North American men for potential marriage.

  The clearly exploitative “wife” contest got a lot of backlash, but I’m not sure what kinds of responses morning show presenters get when they include truly offensive stuff in their chatter. I have written to complain a few times, and I’m sure others do, too, but stuff like this morning’s “discussion” is still happening. Thoughts?

• • 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…)

• • Advice
  • In My Opinion...

  A shameless assessment of Ontario election advertisements and some voting tips

  October 5, 2011 • Meg Pirie

  You may have noticed a few things over the last month if you live in Ontario. Yes, there’s a provincial election happening and besides being incredibly important, it’s also been incredibly annoying.
  Phone calls. Incessant attack ads. Flyers crowding your mailbox. OMG don’t you get it Conservatives? We’re just not that into you!

  But seriously, certain ads deserve some attention, if for no other reason than to poke fun at how ridiculous they are. After all, humour can be an incredibly effective tool when it comes to disarming opponents.

  Perhaps the most pervasive attack was THE TAX MAN, authorized by the CFO for the Ontario PC Party.

  You might notice that this ad uses broad language to define its opponent, Dalton McGuinty, and its champion, Tim Hudak. And really, vagueness is the domain of these ads. With just 30 seconds to either sway you or put a bug in your ear, they operate through emotional appeals and repetition. These adverts are also transparently obvious. The image they selected to represent the current Premier, AKA THE TAX MAN, makes him look unfocused and profoundly constipated.

  Hudak, on the other hand, sits at a desk composing a tome on the workers’ plight (or playing Sudoku, you choose), knocking on doors, meeting with Madonna and Child (a great way to make him seem more trustworthy among women, typically not as supportive of Conservative platforms), drinkin’ a double-double with the boys (before they go fishin’ or huntin’), and then finishing with a triumphant shot of Hudak and family in what could be coined Ye Olde Celebration of Heteronormative Family Values.

  While these tactics are not unique to Tim Hudak, truly, this is a masterpiece as far as attack ads go. We know what the Premier is (A TAX MAN), but in a de-personalized, negative manner. Hudak & Co. have established what he represents through imagery, while emphasizing through the script—delivered in the 1st person by Hudak himself—what he will do … which is exactly the opposite of Dalton McGuinty. Even the colour scheme and music become brighter with the appearance of Tim Hudak. It’s sort of like The Wizard of Oz, when Dorothy arrives in Oz. Except I don’t think Hudak would shine in a musical…I might be wrong, though. PM Harper likes John Lennon, after all.

  The big finish? “It’s time for change in Ontario.” What does that actually mean? What kind of change? How will persons living with (dis)abilities, trans, queer, youth, people of colour, Indigenous people, the un- and under-employed, women, and other marginalized groups be represented?

  Stop asking questions, you!

  Of course, for an attack ad, this works. Which is unfortunate. So, so unfortunate. But as far as establishing an identity that people feel connected to and gravitate toward, this ad wears thin. By spending so much time and energy reiterating that he is not Dalton McGuinty, Tim Hudak, the politician, actually dependent on Dalton McGuinty, since his existence is founded on an invented dichotomy between Liberals and Conservatives.

  The other ad that’s been getting quite a bit of attention is provincial NDP leader Andrea Horwath’s “Shoes.”

  (more inside…)

• • Activist Report
  • In My Opinion...
  • Politics

  Neoliberalism, Politics, and Youth

  August 30, 2011 • Meg Pirie

  Like so many Shameless articles I write, my initial intentions and detailed plans get abandoned, only to become fluid starting points for a less-tidy set of observations. So, while I was originally going to offer some commentary after riots erupted in the London, England neighborhood of Tottenham (I still will), I am also going to talk about youth and politics, as we near closer and closer to the provincial election in Ontario.

  First of all, for those who say they simply did not see the outpouring of rage we saw spread across England coming…well, that’s just willful ignorance. The riots that began in Tottenham and spread across London, England (and Birmingham and Manchester) did not magically appear, only to vaporize like some Harry Potter dementor. As far back as 2001,The Guardian reported that the British government was not doing enough to tackle issues surrounding social exclusion. The recent and aggressive erosion of benefits, post-secondary education, and spending on social services has taken a toll on the facets of the population—women, trans people, youth, people with disabilities, the underemployed, the unemployed, and many others—with the smallest room for unanticipated hardships and cutbacks.

  Of paramount importance now is an acknowledgment that violence takes on many forms. Certainly, sending a small business up in flames is violence. But so is systemic racism. So are austerity measures that lead to cuts in social spending, health benefits, youth clubs, and primary education, helping to fuel a generation of disenfranchised youth, ghettoized to housing projects or estates. And guess what? The profiling police in England, Canada, and the United States engage in is incredibly violent, too.

  (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…)

• • In My Opinion...

  Don’t Be THAT Guy?

  July 14, 2011 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

  

  Bill Murray Knows! (interwebs)

  Recently, the Vancouver Police Department partnered with a handful of agencies including Battered Women’s Support Services, Women Against Violence Against Women, and BC Women’s Hospital Sexual Assault Service to launch a new public education campaign called “Don’t Be That Guy.” Basically, over the summer posters reminding guys not to be “that guy” and take advantage of women who have been drinking (and that they need consent to have sex with them) will grace the walls of Vancouver’s public places (primarily clubs and bars). Because it’s important to respond, but we may share different opinions (a la the plurality of feminisms), we thought we’d put forth a joint response from a few different perspectives. A little more blog-style, off the cuff, and less “united” to reflect the “movement.” What do you think about the campaign? Tell us in the comments!

  (more inside…)

• • 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…)

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

  And Still With the Colonialist Language

  July 7, 2011 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

  For the past two months I’ve been pondering if I should respond to the brouhaha that followed my post on here about Feminism for Real and the resulting pieces by Feministe and the rapid fire on a number of other (f)eminist blogs (here, here, here, and here). I’m not feeling defensive and never felt defensive at all: discourse is awesome. I wasn’t even going to say anything until a recent Shameless article triggered me to say, “ARG! Colonialist Language!”

  What happened though, post-Feministe post, is that I feel like I have to qualify or defend what I’m going to say on the internet so I don’t look like I’m some pale faced idiot with over powering opinions just sitting in front of my computer blogging about “wimmin’s issues” all day long. Or that just because the a “call out” is on the internet means that there’s nothing beyond the call out and that there’s nothing going on beyond the keyboard, or that I have to have some kind of super feminist ethic and experience to be able to say, “hey you! you’re doing this wrong!” But, I’m not going to qualify what happens beyond my keyboard (because Google can help you figure that out): I’m not perfect. I didn’t come at this knowledge because I learned it in school or because it was handed down to me by some higher feminist power. I’ve learned this because I have screwed up. I’m still in the process of figuring it out (the not being inherently privileged and racist thing) and I’m still trying to figure out how to be Non-Aboriginal in an Aboriginal organization and community.

  I’m not 100% positive on how I’m going to adapt and change (or how I need to), but there’s a few things I’ve learned so far and I want to share them with you as tools in your the journey of being a Non- (Dominant person/race/class/etc) in a community/culture/place where you should be challenging your basic assumptions about who you are and how you carry yourself physically, emotionally, behaviourly in that community. They’re not the be-all-and-end-all answers to solving hundreds of years of colonization, genocide, and racism, but are some things I do to challenge myself as a White person/Feminist in my community. (Notice my nice hegemonic list? How do we blog in circles and blobs?)

  - Words like Aboriginal, Indigenous, Metis, Inuit, and First Nation(s) are proper nouns and thus capitalized. In your work at school, or in a job you may have, or blogging, or even tweeting use capitalization as a way to show your allying with Indigenous issues and resistance. I often get the opportunity to engage with policy and practice in my community and am capitalizing left right and centre whenever I can.

  - Using words like “pioneer” “land of opportunity” “discover” and “native” (as in “Alberta native”) are colonialist. Sure, it’s common to deny your/our place as responsible for the “history of colonization” but by using these terms we’re fully responsible for the NOW of colonization.

  - Saying things like “West Coast Time” or “BC time” is really White code for “Indian Time” and it’s racist. Sorries!

  - It is my job as a Non-Aboriginal to give other Non-Aboriginals the what for.

  - Inviting Aboriginal “representatives” to my “meeting” isn’t inclusion. Me bravely showing up at a public cultural event (that I’ve been invited to, even on Facebook) when I don’t really know anyone is me practicing inclusion, by trying to be included in an Aboriginal space. It’s about living it, not just using it to achieve some goal of being “inclusive”.

  - Often I’ve been at meetings and because I work at a Friendship Center (and am White) I’m considered as the “counted Indian” like that organization has achieved some kind of inclusion because “someone” from the Friendship Center came to their meeting. It’s important to constantly remind them that they can’t count me as their “token Indian” and work with them to change their approachability and exclusive practice.

  The is not exhaustive and is growing/changing all the time. If you’re on this journey of trying to “get it” share what you are doing / try to do in your community in the comments!

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