I'm aghast. And I'm also not, in that Doug Elniski was elected by conservative voters and supported by Stelmach. From the Calgary Herald:
A Tory MLA is under fire for online comments in which he advises girls to smile to attract men, scolds them for seeking equality and alerts his Twitter followers to a bikini car wash where "girls look cold." . . . In an entry that began with reflections on junior high school graduations, Elniski posted this advice to girls: "Men are attracted to smiles, so smile and don't give me that 'treated equal' stuff, if you want equal it comes in little packages at Starbucks."
He also wrote: "There is nothing a man wants less than a woman scowling because he thinks he is going to get sh--for something and has no idea what."
On the same day, Elniski posted the following Twitter comment: "bikini car wash 82 129 ave girls look cold (...)"
Thanks to MS for the introduction to Antony & the Johnsons. This video is just a beautiful celebration. From the website:
Antony asked his friends the Wachowski Brothers to work with him on a video for his new single "Epilepsy is Dancing". They in turn invited painters Tino Rodriguez and Virgo Paraiso to create costumes and a mystical environment and choreographer Sean Dorsey and his dancers to bring the dream sequence to life. Antony's artistic partner Johanna Constantine stars as herself in the role of "Deer Monster". The video was lit and shot by the up-and-coming directors of photography, Chris Blasingame and Banker White, and produced by Jim Jerome. The production team collectively named themselves AFAS. Please enjoy the fruits of their San Francisco art party.
I just got back from a business meeting with 8 men, all over 40, all of them potential clients in my largely male-dominiated career industry in Calgary's business sector. Of the 8 men, 5 of them - that's over half - 63% - behaved in an inappropriate manner at some time over the 2 hour tour and lunch:
1. Upon meeting and shaking his hand, one man who I have corresponded with through email once or twice said, "Oh! You look a lot different from your emails! Taller…" Um, no photos in email signatures, sir. Weak.These men seemed to feed off each other's flirting and compete for more and more contact and attention. I noted the behaviour of #1 to my male colleague in the car and he simply laughed lightly and said, "yeah, what does that mean?" I'll tell you what you what it means, you little shitbird, it means that women are not respected and we are objectified. They're not touching you, are they? I am a professional. So many words spoken to me were discomforting, gross, and unprofessional. Maintaining my poise, I kept my remarks to myself and will save them, perhaps, for a function when I have some wine in my throat to spell out how it's going to be next we go for a tour!
2. Upon entering a site and requiring safety vests (only 4 to go around): "Hey, if you need to feel safe you can clutch onto me, I have no problem with that!"
3. "No, please, ladies first, Miss," and then gently squeezing my arm.
4. Upon arriving at the lunch table, one attempted to pull my chair out for me (chivalry is dead on business). I sat a chair over.
5. One man getting up for dessert, walking behind my chair, placing his hand on me and squeezing my shoulder, "Come on, don't you want dessert?" Ick. Remove your apendage.
Potentially powerful but professional and firm responses:Why the touchy feely? What made these men feel that they had to handle me with their grubby little fingers or make totally stupid comments like "you can clutch onto me"? They were so goddamn intimidated by a woman that they were like giddy flappy-tongued frat boys who just can't get laid.
1. "You look the same." [Wry smile.]
2. "I have a problem with that." [ouch!]
3. "I insist. I am the host. Really." [and don't touch me.]
4. No need, to change this one, I think I did well. [I got it, thanks.]
5. My "no thank you" was enough, here. Although I wish I had casually reached for my fork and jabbed quickly in that moment of contact.
Brilliant diatribe from Photoshop Disasters via Feminist Philosophers this morning:
In a breathless deconstruction of the trite family self-portrait, USA PhotoHouse deftly excises the phallocentric father figure, leaving a single hand to signify - with profound semiotic irony - the hidden hand of capitalism. The camera is bereft of any screen or viewfinder in a de facto refutation of the omnipresent panopticon of male gaze, while the child points aimlessly out of the savaged image in a cathartic denunciation of the testosterone-poisoned concept of understanding directions. Marvellous.
The Times Online reports:
Speaking before the launch of Cuil, which is pronounced 'cool', Ms Patterson said that one of the main reasons rival search engines such as Microsoft Windows Live and Yahoo! had struggled was because they weren't able to index as many
pages as Google.Cuil had solved that problem by compiling an index three times as large as Google's - searching for results across 120 billion web pages compared with Google's index of 40 billion pages, she said. Google does not reveal how large its index is, but in a statement today said that it welcomed competition, which "stimulates innovation and provides users with more choice."
A reprimand to reporter Jonathan Richards, though, for the following:
"You can't be an alternative search engine and smaller," Mr Patterson was quoted as saying.
Excuse me Mr. Richards, but you can call her Ms. Patterson, dumb ass.
Woman.
There's sites like Hollaback, and then there's the prospect of true punishment for cat calling harassing assholes:
NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Women (NCW) has suggested making harassment of women, including eve-teasing, non-bailable offences. Also, those who are witness to such attacks and do not come to the rescue of the victim should be made liable to prosecution.As pointed out last week by Justice is a Woman with a Sword, seems that in Canada even police officers get away with harassing while in uniform. We give the finger and we get called a bitch, cunt, whore, etc. and as once suggested to me, that my daddy never taught me to accept a compliment. Pushaw. What can we say? I've used "suck my dick" (in english and portuguese) and it's responded to with "Please!" I've recently been working on my blow a kiss but it turns into the bird... and the struggle continues to get my power back when it's taken from me with embarassing hollars and leers. What works for you? Do share...
The Globe and Mail has published findings of a study conducted over a 10 year period of 79 women. It concludes that bisexuality can be considered normal. What a find! The best part is that many of the participants described themselves as neither lesbian, hererosexual or bisexual; but rather, "unlabelled." Truly! Why do we need to put a name to something, especially something like sexuality that in the end, is none of anyone's business.
Here's one conclusion in the article that I can appreciate:
"The distinction between lesbian and bisexual women is not a rigid one," she said. "Like with most people, a lot seems to depend on who you happen to meet."I agree with this statement. Love and sex are about connections and sparks. I have girlfriends who have met incredible women with whom they have had invaluable relationships with, including sexually, and those same women have had intense emotional and sexual relationships with men as well. It's about that golden thread; the way a person makes us feel and the way we make them feel. I think this study brings up some interesting statistics and dialogue-starting points about people's desire for a cut and dry labelling system. It is revealing to read the comments posted after the article; you can just smell the homophobia and sexism throughout.
A Korean women, Moon Ji-ae, has been fired from her job as News anchor at Korean MBC after a suppressed chuckle at the end of a newscast.
Granted that it may have been inappropriate to have a laugh after an explosion story, but it looks to me that it didn't so much stem from the story than maybe a former inside joke or a camera person farting. Who knows why she laughed, but she certainly shouldn't have been fired. I think about the nonchalance that our newscasters switch from devastating reports of death and mayhem to "and now back to you, Jeff... three puppies competed in a game of water slide basketball, har har har..." and our desensitized minds switch gears and moods just as quickly.
(link via boingboing)
