Wednesday, September 27, 2006

"5 things feminism has done for me"

1. I am entitled to express my opinions without having my organs removed
In Victorian times, if a woman’s temperament could not be “controlled” by loosening her corset or being kept in a quiet place with a cold compress applied to the head and neck, it was common for her reproductive organs to be removed.


or being placed in an asylumn or solitary confinement
The idea of the Wondering Womb developed during this time, as madness was associated with menstruation, pregnancy, and the menopause. The womb itself was deemed to wander throughout the body, acting as an enormous sponge which sucked the life-energy or intellect from vulnerable women? (Ussher 74). Thus, women became synonymous with madness, as they were deemed to be emotional and unstable. If a woman of the Victorian era were subject to an outburst (due to discontentment or repression), she would be deemed mad. The word Hysteria became the general term for women with mental illness and cures included bed rest, seclusion, bland food, refrain from mental activities (such as reading), daily massage, and sensory deprivation. Though these treatments do not seem too appalling, they were comparable to solitary confinement and would often drive a woman to further insanity.


2. receive an education and teach others without being murdered for doing so

3. has provided me the opportunity to have greater control over my reproduction. The ability to have control of and say over ones self is one the founding principals of democracy, self esteem and sanity.
Sanity
is a state of constantly evaluating your own behavior, and your own intentions, and the behavior of others, and the intentions of others, towards survival for all.


4. the right to vote, to hold office and property

5. To determine when, if or whom I marry, to expect to be respected as a person to have autonomy, not to have to walk five paces behind or apologize for being a woman...
Most of all feminism has allowed me to have a life with hope.

Labels: , , ,


Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday, September 26, 2006

Can a Man be a Feminist?

Anti - feminists would like to break feminism down to a hatred of men. How then can a man be a feminist? Perhaps, just perhaps that is not what feminism is about.
I had the good fortune this morning to stumble upon this opinion piece in the Daily Kent Stater, written by Christopher Taylor

I am a male. I am a feminist.

Yes, men can be feminists, too.

I have attempted to ask men of all different types of backgrounds if they were feminists. I received shocked reactions and puzzled looks as if I had asked a final-round Jeopardy question.

The most common theme about feminism in dictionaries describes it as a doctrine or movement to ensure "equal rights." How is this idea still so foreign to us, and why the hell is it even being debated?


I particularly liked his insight in this paragraph
Here's another fun quote from Marianne Brennan on Humanevents.com: "As a woman, I have every right to drink, to dress however I want, and to go to a man's room alone. I also have every right to walk into an urban ghetto and scream racial slurs, but if I got shot, no one would argue that I wasn't complicit in my own victimhood."

What? Not only is she stereotyping "urban ghettos" as areas reserved for blacks, but she is comparing an action full of ignorance and hatred with a woman who likes to have a drink every so often. One is deliberate; the other is not.


I have been fortunate to know many feminist men. I married a feminist man, of course how could I do otherwise? It would be impossible for me to share a life with someone who thought I was lesser or wanting somehow.
Just as I rejoice that so many boys are being raised by strong feminist women, I rejoice that so many girls are being raised by strong feminist men.
As these children grow they will learn to treat each other with respect, concern and to recognize each other as equal partners. This can only bode well for the future, for laws and attitudes that will govern society.
Here's to you, feminist men!! And may there be many more!!

Labels: ,


Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Swept off your street

In Winnipeg there is a program to get people off the streets and into jobs. Sounds laudable until you read what they are actually doing.
Currently the project involves about a half dozen people working for "close to minimum wage" sweeping streets, removing posters and generally gaining no transferable work skills. How wonderful!
No doubt their 20 hours at close to minium wage will go a long way to getting and keeping a roof over their head, food, clothing... Hope they have someone helping them budget that $140 a week. Wouldn't want them to blow it all in one place.

Might be a good idea for the union to approach these workers and sign them up right away before the city finds more jobs these indentured servants new employees can do at a third of the cost./span>

Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday, September 05, 2006

The Minister of Citizen Control

On Sept 1st the Guardian ran a story about Blair's plan to insinuate the state into the lives of pregnant youth and women in order to 'weed out the problem unborn'

Tony Blair has said it is possible to identify problem children who could grow up to be a potential "menace to society" even before they are born.

Setting out plans for state intervention to prevent babies born into high-risk families becoming problem teenagers of the future, the prime minister said teenage mothers could be forced to accept state help before giving birth, as part of a
clampdown on antisocial behaviour.

Mr Blair defended the need for state intervention and said action could even be taken "pre-birth" if necessary as families with drug and alcohol problems were being identified too late.

This approach seems classist, sexist and completely out of touch with the real issues affecting people's lives as voiced later in the article

Norman Lamb, chief of staff to Liberal Democrat leader Sir Menzies Campbell, said: "Empty threats to pregnant mothers will do little to restore confidence in a government that has failed to tackle poverty, crime and social exclusion for the last nine years."


Today the Guardian has run another story in connection with this issue.
The prime minister said the links between such social problems and anti-social behaviour and crime were well established and it was possible to predict the families where things might go wrong.

Early intervention would avoid the "colossal expense" later on, he said, pointing to the cost to the state of keeping children in care, of teenage pregnancy and of mental health beds.


So Blair and his ministers can identify who the criminals are going to be and who is going to have mental health issues? WOW and amazingly none of them will come from "good families". You know the good families.. they have money.. live in the right neighbourhoods and of course never deal with teen pregnancies, criminal behaviour or mental health issues. Wonder where Maggie went wrong? But never mind that.

This is very interesting;

Agencies and professionals needed to work in new ways to tackle these problems and should be freed of rules and bureaucracy, he said. A range of new approaches would be tested in areas where critical problems exist.

Mr Blair is expected to join Hilary Armstrong, the minister for social exclusion, next week to launch an 'action plan' thought to include a pilot scheme to deal with the most challenging families.


Freed of rules. Hmm which rules would those be?
According to the article the government is not on track to ending child poverty.

Blair should spend more time on creating policies and plans for lifting people out of poverty instead of punishing them for being poor.

Sounds like state control of the proletariat is the real agenda.


Read the rest of this entry »

Monday, September 04, 2006

Blow out the candles on your carrot

So you've decided there is an epidemic of childhood obesity, what do you do?
End fast food advertising directed at children? Require more stringent adherence to guidelnes keeping sugars and additives down in breakfast cereals and other foods children eat? Provide healthy foods for school lunch programs? Raise the amount of money provided by food stamps and other food programs? Increase welfare payments?
Well they are all interesting ideas but not as good as banning birthday cake from schools.
A growing number of schools around the US are banning birthday cakes, saying the tradition has become too unhealthy.

Millions of students go back to school next week as their annual summer holiday comes to an end.

But one thing will be missing from classrooms across the country.

For generations American children have brought homemade cakes and cupcakes to school to celebrate birthdays with their classmates.

Like the rest of the country, children are facing what health officials call an epidemic of obesity.

The Centers for Disease Control estimate that one out of every six school-age children in the US is overweight.

The birthday cake bans are part of a wider national trend of schools discouraging sugary junk foods between classes in favour of healthier snacks, like fruits or yogurt.

But the new rules are not without controversy.
/span>

Read the rest of this entry »

Sunday, September 03, 2006

Buddy can you spare $38 to $141?

Are there no prisons? Are there no workhouses? Montreal has decided to pretend that the homeless actually have somewhere to go and if they don't they face fines of 38 to 141 dollars.
CTV
Trying to find shelter for them and keeping them out of public parks is an increasingly complex problem. Montreal has about 500 beds in its three main shelters.

The city has instructed police to first suggest a list of shelters. But eventually they will be slapping sleepers with fines ranging from $38 to $141.

Because shelters are often listed as the only address for some of the homeless, shelters say that tickets arrive every day for nuisance crimes such as spitting on the street or crossing a street against a red light.

If you're living on the street, it's unlikely you have money to pay a fine. Montreal has a solution for that, too: unpaid fines win the sleeper a stay in a city jail.

Surely we are better as a society than this. Surely we can find someway to deal with people that allows them to keep their dignity?
Every city has it's share of abandoned buildings. These could easily be turned into rooming homes that would allow privacy, a permanent address and keep the "riff raff" off the streets. Providing this housing free of charge would still cost less than jailing everyone and increasing police workload.
Interesting that in all the decisions that are thought up, none actually seek to help the problem, save money, or provide answers. They simply seek to answer the need so many have to see the poor and mentally ill punished.

Read the rest of this entry »

Come on Girls Give it up!

Haven't you always dreamed of being an actress? Now you don't even need to leave home!
From the Guardian
'Eighty per cent of women only sometimes - or never - experience orgasm. Facts are facts and there we are. Deal with it,' she writes in What Makes Women Happy?, to be published this month by Fourth Estate.

According to Weldon, sensible members of the sisterhood should, therefore, follow the example so graphically set by the actor Meg Ryan in the 1989 movie When Harry Met Sally, and fake orgasms whenever necessary.

'If you are happy and generous-minded, you will fake it and then leap out of bed and pour him champagne, telling him, "You are so clever" or however you express enthusiasm,' she says. 'Faking is kind to male partners ... Otherwise they too may become anxious and so less able to perform. Do yourself and him a favour, sister: fake it.'

One can only hope this was written tongue in cheek./span>

Read the rest of this entry »