Check out this shrine to sexy Stephen Harper by his biggest fan Ruby:

Desire and scrapbooking at The Stephen Harper Fan Club!!!

don’t you just want to squeeze him? (www.torontoist.com)

Thanks to reader Sarah for pointing out the continued absurdity that is abstinence-only billboards.

Via.

So I hate abstinence only education, and I am always grateful that teens have other (better) options available to them. Because let’s face it, sometimes the abstinence only people don’t make a ton of sense. Rumour has it this billboard is over a decade old, but have things really changed all that much?

Via.

Because it’s Friday, and because I have a big old crush on Eddie Izzard, here’s some YouTube therapy for when your relationship with technology gets that ‘not so fresh’ feeling:

Okay, so the RCMP spying on women’s groups in the 1970s isn’t totally hilarious, but the idea of them infiltrating Rita MacNeil concerts to catch potential dangerous feminist elements kind of is.

Witness Canada’s Most Wanted Folksinger, in this photo clearly trying to conceal her identity.

According to recently declassified documents, MacNeil was among a group of activist women the RCMP had under observation due to their feminist leanings - of course, back in the 60s and 70s feminism was only the gateway drug, which was sure to lead to worse things like Communism, hostile foreign takeovers, the complete collapse of society, and so on.

Part of the file also described a feminist conference in Winnipeg as “consisting of about 100 sweating, uncombed women standing around in the middle of the floor with their arms around each other crying sisterhood and dancing.” Kind of sounds like a typical Lesbians On Ecstasy show, actually.

What is maybe most potent to me about this story is that it reminds us of feminism’s potential for radical disruption. I mean, I joke about it, but wouldn’t it be cool if feminism actually did play a part in bringing down patriarchal structures, dismantling (or restructuring?) capitalism, and, well, unravelling the messed-up tangle of societal norms? These women believed it could. And so did the RCMP, apparently. (Though not as much as if men had been in charge - one point the CBC article makes is that the federal police did not treat the women’s groups as as much of a threat as other, male-dominated, movements.)

I actually had no idea that MacNeil was a feminist activist back in the heady days of the Second Wave (she apparently represented the Toronto Women’s Caucus at the aforementioned conference). I guess it just goes to show that subversive elements are often where you least expect them. Go Rita.

Thanks to Ted for the tip.

Since there’s always big Joss love shown on this blog, I thought y’all would appreciate this.

A relatively under-the-radar Joss Whedon project: “Dr Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog”

Featuring Neil Patrick Harris, Nathan Fillion, and Felicia Day.

Think Felicia Day looks familiar? Picture her with shorter hair, maybe in a group, say, of young women with ‘potential’…
(more inside…)

Happy Monday folks!

(Hat tip to Torontoist)

I have to work today, busily recruiting new subscribers (only $10!) and donors (every little bit helps!) to the magazine so our upcoming issue (soon!) can get into the world without a hitch. Hanging out with my laptop, I can daydream about a lazy sunday. (For some reason, this video never gets old for me. Also, I kind of thought this was the hotness.)

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Thanks Stacey May and Mir for reminding me that national cinema doesn’t have to be cringe-inducing.

What does Richard Condie’s The Big Snit have to do with feminism? Nothing in particular. Except that it contributed greatly to the personal development of this particular feminist, at least.

Every time I play Scrabble I try to spell CARROST. If anyone actually succeeds in doing this, I will award them like eleventy million points, for life.