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Are You Friends With Sluts?

October 4, 2009 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

Photo from post on I Am Friends With Sluts (iamfriendswithsluts.tumblr.com)

iamfriendswithsluts.tumblr.com thinks you are! This new-ish Tumblr roll is a compilation site of photos of girls that are posted on social networking sites like Facebook or Myspace. Readers submit photos they find on their friends or strangers sites to I Am Friends With Sluts and they are posted with ridiculously disappointing commentary:

“It only takes two wine coolers to make me a lesbian”

“I’m training to fight my eating disorder next month on Pay-Per-View.”

“Bound together by tramp stamps, father issues and low self esteem.”

Aside from the obvious problems of ye ol’ patriarchy rearing its ugly head on the internets, the site reads like bad bad news, even despite the “satirical blog” disclaimer which ensures any response to the site creators won’t be taken seriously because they’re “just joking”.

A more serious issue, and one that drives me crazy, is that the patriarch has made it crystal clear that they’re winning, and despite my constant proclamation of “we’re sexy by choice!!”, these pictures and their content confirm that these are oppressed choices. Slowly people are starting to talk about the personal sexualization of self on the ‘net but these discussions are often left to sites like Suicide Girls and other more porno’d sites and shows. These pictures read more like Girls Gone Wild, and the blocking out of eyes and randomizing of the photographs removes the reality of these girls’ lives and personalities (unlike Girls Gone Wild). But because these photos are pilfered from social networking sites, they are REAL girls and these are their REAL experiences; and they’re no longer theirs because they’re out there on the internet for anyone to see. And this is site is a perfect example of what someone might do to the party fun time content.

So, is the answer then that women stop putting pictures like this up on social networking sites? I’m not sure. Is it easier then dismantling the patriarch? Discuss!
- Body Politics
- In My Opinion...
The Decade After: Why Katie Roiphe is Still the Bee in my Bonnet

August 31, 2009 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

Criticism of a recent article by Katie Roiphe on new motherhood is making the rounds in feminist blog-land. Basic premise is that Roiphe looks at her first six weeks of motherhood with a post-feminist lens that conflates motherhood with addiction: new mothers are addicted to both their babies and motherhood. So much so that they’re (she’s) reduced to tears about being separated from her new child.

While nurses, mothers, ECE providers, and academics could go on-and-on about attachment theory and practice, what strikes me most about Roiphe’s article is how flippant she is about feminism and the possible realities for other new moms. Also, she pitches herself against feminists, rather than discuss complexities within feminism and her privilege and access to the feminism she enjoys.

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- In My Opinion...
Oh third wave, where art thou?

June 11, 2009 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

I am in the thick of submitting the second draft of my thesis. Over the past few weeks I’ve updated essays I wrote over a year ago, saying “yes” to every edit my thesis-supervisor has suggested, and incorporating newer material because my research just kind of stopped at 2007. One of the articles I’ve come across in my search for newish material, “What is Third Wave Feminism? A New Directions Essay,” by R. Claire Snyder, sums up the major arguments/actions of the third wave.

She also stakes a claim:

“third-wavers do not feel the need to spend a lot of time constructing ambitious theoretical analyses or justifying on what grounds they are acting; they just do it.”

And I wanted to pose a question to the greater Shameless community (if you identify as third-wave or not):

When you act politically or feministy do you know the theoretical argument behind what you’re doing? Or do you just do it?

For me, it’s a mix of both. I like engaging with feminism and being an activist/feminist in my community without thinking about the theories and reasons behind it. Feminism is inside me, this is who I am, what action I take is a direct reflection of this gut-feminism. But, I also love to wrestle with theories about why I participate the way I do and contribute the way I do (hence this crazy thesis about the third wave). I’m always surprised by is how easy it is to put the third wave (and younger feminists) into that non-theory category: as if we’re unable to talk our way out of the box we’re in.
A Meaningless Fling

May 18, 2009 • Mir Verburg

You know what I hate?

I hate when marketers take things I love with all my being, and make them look ridiculous, vapid, and stereotypical.

Take chocolate and sex.

There are other sweet treats, but none are such a miraculous mixture of sweet, bitter, sharp and spicy as a decent chocolate bar (especially the chili/peppercorn variety). And as for consensual physical pleasures, I am including all sorts of activities here: massage, sexy dancing, making out in the park, holding hands for the first time - the whole spectrum. Like chocolate, sex is wonderful in its variety.

Even though I am clearly a demographic goldmine, I can’t stand the campaign for Fling chocolate bars. The “naughty but not that naughty” chocolate bar made especially for women:

“It is a delicate truffle,sitting on a subtle crisp layer enrobed in shimmering chocolate that looks as glamourous as the women it speaks to. It tastes indulgent but it keeps its figure, at under 85 calories per finger. Sneak out to a movie. Go curly. Lick the wrapper. Shake things up! Nobody’s looking.”

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Radio Radio

March 21, 2009 • Anna Leventhal

I have something a little bit unusual to share this week – instead of a music pick, I am putting forth what some may call A Rant. Nicole’s post about the situation at CKLN has got me thinking about community radio. It’s still not totally clear to me exactly what’s going on at the Ryerson station, but what is obvious not just there but everywhere is that the relevance of community radio is being questioned, mostly by students at universities, who are the ones who most often provide crucial funding to these stations.

Here’s how it works: Universities give campus/community radio stations a big chunk of the money they need to operate, and some (or all) of that money is gathered by charging students a fee – usually around $4 a semester – which in exchange gives the students membership privileges at the station, meaning they can use its resources and become volunteer hosts and programmers. Some universities have been giving students the option to opt out of these fees, and it seems like many students are keen to save a few bucks by withholding money from a service which they feel isn’t relevant, useful, or interesting. In a world where you can carry around 80,000 songs in your back pocket, get newsfeeds from the most reliable (or most obscure) sources around the world, and read highly entertaining, informative blogs, why would you bother tuning into a bunch of amateurs who are just learning when to press the On Air button, or even more so, why would you want to become one of them?

Okay, I too have been a broke student. I’ve re-used teabags, felt overjoyed at finding a nice pen on the sidewalk, gotten friends to cut my hair, and worn sweaters until they were more hole than clothing. I know saving bucks is important, and no one wants to feel like they’re throwing them down the (radio) tubes. I’ve also been a volunteer at a community radio station for close to ten years now, and I think I come from a pretty good position to talk about why community radio is worth supporting. So without further ado, here are my REASONS WHY COMMUNITY RADIO IS WORTH ONE LESS LATTE A SEMESTER.

1) Community radio creates a space for community and media engagement, not a product to be sold.
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- In My Opinion...
This is my Problem.

March 4, 2009 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

Let me preemptively say that I am PRO paying taxes. In fact, I did my taxes just yesterday and on both me and my partner’s meager income we only have to pay $377.86 in taxes for 2008. And we’ve used that and more in social services. I mean, I took the bus quite a few times and we’re both CBC fans, I even went to emergency for something minor because our city’s walk-in clinic is only open after 4pm.

But, I get wary when the Canadian Revenue Agency is out to get the “little people”. Those of us who barter services rather than exchange cash (ie. volunteering an hour a week for a gym pass), or work for cash like mowing lawns, doing someone’s taxes by donation, or receiving an honorarium for giving a presentation at a local high school. To the CRA this is the “underground” economy and it’s DESTROYING our communities. In this fancy YouTube video above their rationale is that the non-taxed economy destroys communities because communities rely on services provided by taxes. Not a variety of self-sustaining and community embracing economies like bartering or the gift economy.

The way I see it, though, is that if the government can justify paying me a wage at the social service agency I work for that keeps me so low on the tax bracket that I have to do work on the side in exchange for services then that’s what I have to do.

I think my friend put it succinctly when she came up with her own idea for the video above:

I want to submit a video to them with [new baby’s name] asking for the boob and me saying “wait a minute, let me get a receipt, revenue canada deserves a share of my labour.”

The attack on the “underground economy” brings up a lot of questions: Does this mean that a person’s parenting/home work is also now taxable? And what about that $50 I get from my grandparents every Christmas? Does that count too? And what happens when I report I made an extra $300 building websites for a poor student to get their work off the ground? Do you think they’ll actually put those tax dollars into my community in a better way than that $300 went to buying local honey or paying my roller derby dues?
- In My Opinion...
- Media Savvy
Only in a Woman’s World?

February 23, 2009 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

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!!
- In My Opinion...
- Miscellaneous
My New Favourite Blog

February 16, 2009 • Diandra Jurkic-Walls

Students of the Women’s Studies Program at UCF have started a blog to foster discussion about girls and girls’ issues and share cultural products developed by and for girls. The postings cover a number of topics about girls: the Glam Council for America, poetry readings by girls, girls’ events (like rock camps), analysis of images found on the internet, and a healthy dose of Obama. I love the low-key DIY look because it drives home the point that in this over-processed blogging world (ie. Salon and The Daily Intel) it’s content that really matters.

Grrrl Power! Girls’ Studies at UCF
- In My Opinion...
- News Flash
CHRIS BROWN AND RIHANNA: SOS?

February 10, 2009 • Thea Lim

(Kevin Mazur)

In case you haven’t heard the reports about R&B megacouple Chris Brown and Rihanna:

“Singer Chris Brown has been booked on a felony charge of making criminal threats after turning himself in to Los Angeles police.

Brown, 19, was arrested at 6:30 PM Sunday and stands accused of felony battery, in which the alleged victim suffered visible injuries…Bail has been set at $50,000.

Both Chris and Rihanna bailed on their Grammy performances after the incident leading to Brown’s arrest. It remains unconfirmed whether Rihanna was the victim…”

While the LA Times says its “sources” have confirmed that Rihanna is the alleged victim in this case, neither Brown nor Rihanna have confirmed that.

So I’m not gonna comment on the personal lives of people I’ve never met (no matter how much I like the song We Ride, I have to admit Rihanna is not actually my friend). It’s still unconfirmed what actually happened.

But this is what I do think: if it is actually true that Chris Brown hit Rihanna in the face, I am slightly in awe of the courage it must’ve taken for Rihanna to report the incident.

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An Open Letter to Ron Bruinooge, Chair of the Pro-Life Caucus

January 30, 2009 • Jessica Yee

An Open Letter to Ron Bruinooge, Conservative MP for the Manitoba riding of Winnipeg South

By Tanna Pirie-Wilson and Jessica Yee

We write to you as two young Aboriginal women who are unafraid to speak up, with concern in regards to the anti-choice statements you made in December 2008 about your recent election as the new chair of the Parliamentary Pro-Life Caucus.

And we quote (as reported in the Western Standard):
As an Aboriginal MP, Bruinooge says his roots play a role in his pro-life view. “Respect for life is paramount to my Aboriginal culture,” he explains. “Respect for the unborn was passed on to me by my Aboriginal elders and I believe in keeping that tradition alive.”

We realize the “pro-life” vs “pro-choice” debate will be an issue so long as we live in patriarchal societies, however we would be remiss if we did not state that this is the direct affect of generations of colonization and oppression we are still suffering through. Much of the values, practices, and traditions once held strong in our Aboriginal communities are now lost, and this most definitely includes the rightful place of our women to govern their own bodies.

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