Observations on Gender Relations Today

Emily Griffiths

Two conversations in particular stand out from my memory of Saturday's event. I believe these two conversations say a great deal about how gender, gender roles, and gender equality are viewed today. And, unfortunately, it's not good news. (At the risk of this post turning into pages long, I will discuss only one for today.)

The first remark that stands out vividly in my mind from Saturday, and which has been haunting me since, I came across as such:

Many young couples were letting their children play in the fountain near where we were "washing" laundry. I approached a woman, probably in her mid-thirties, to tell her about the NWP. As soon as I reached the word feminist (as in, "we're a feminist organization"), she threw her hand up and said firmly, "no, I am not a feminist. Not interested." Shocked, I stood there stupidly for a moment; I think I may have said, "oh. Okay," before stumbling on to a more receptive candidate, but when I returned to my fellow NWP volunteers and relayed what had happened, I exclaimed, "but she has a vagina! How can you not be a feminist when you have a vagina?!"

I have read about women refusing to identify with the word "feminist" but have never encountered it first hand. I've been thinking a lot about this woman. I came to the following realization: "feminism" does not unite all women, whether they have vagina's or not. This, inevitably, led to the "WHY?!" for which I have come to two possible conclusions.
1. "feminism" has a political subtext that women do not feel comfortable identifying with.
2. "feminism," as a word, has been twisted and perverted by patriarchal society to mean shrill, man-hating, serious, and sexless among other negative and unattractive things.
Like Inga Muscio, I believe women deserve to be empowered and united, not "divided and conquered". If "feminism" isn't the word to do it, fine - but what else is there? Beautiful, powerful women out there, help me figure this out!

First Event is a Success!

This is myself (Emily) and Arwa, featuring a couple of our signs. They read "Aboriginal women are 3 times more likely to be victims of spousal abuse" and "STOP gender roles START equal opportunity" (my personal favourite).















I think the little girl in this picture sums it up perfectly. Her confused, disconcerted face is pretty much how I feel every day when I think of some of the statistics we focused on during this event.















This is an action shot of the live theatre of our event! That's me (a.k.a. 50's Housewife Barbie) doing laundry in the fountain and Jason (a.k.a 50's Husband) reading his paper.















Me, getting interviewed by CTV about the Necessary Women's Project. How exciting!

"Supreme Court throws out rape case over trial delays"

Emily Griffiths

Unacceptable delays indeed, and even more unacceptable is the lack of consequences for charges of sexual assault, unlawful confinement, and death threats.

This case begs the questions,

WHY was this case delayed?

WHY is this man allowed to escape the consequences of his violent choices?

We live in a country with an imperfect system of prosecution, and while I am the last person to demand perfection from a system run by people, I am tired of its imperfections and shortcomings to be constantly to the detriment of women seeking justice.

Read the article for yourself and feel free to share your thoughts.

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20090604/scoc_ruling_090604/20090604/

Sex Work: the Scapegoat or the World's Oldest Profession?

Nadijah Robinson

Sex workers and Prostitutes are hated, loathed, feared by society at large and in the media for sure. How did the oldest profession in the world get such a bad rap? Well the stereotype has the public imagining a depraved nymphomaniac drug-addict, working on the most run-down of street corners. The reality of the situation is quite different. Did you know that 80% of sex work is not done on the street? Well now you do. But then how is it that 93% of criminal charges involve street sex work? Did you know that sex workers face being robbed, beaten and sexually assaulted on their job, but usually don’t report it to the police for fear of being arrested? Many people in the profession are also the victims of violent and heinous crimes, but they don’t appear in the news reports at night... why is that?

People believe the stereotype, and society in general has an issue with the profession. But what do we (as a society) really have a problem with - the fact that men and women are wielding their sexuality in their professions? If so, why don’t we have a similar problem with wait staff or musicians who use similar degrees of intimacy and flirtation in order to get ahead? Can we get off our moral high-ground, and meet sex workers half-way? As long as everyone continues to look down on sex workers, to dehumanize them, and see them as victims, the violence against them, and their vulnerable position in society will continue to be tolerated. And that’s the issue.

Here’s what you can do. Engage in the discussion. Watch these two videos. Hear it from their own mouths for a change. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akKzsWyjL5w and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2hHYzTZJZlU

Sources:
- http://www2.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/city/story.html?k=47531&id=093ac70f-4011-4edc-b959-be759e2b6bf7
- http://www.research.uottawa.ca/perspectives/10020