SUNERA THOBANI'S OBAMA WISH LIST | HOMELESS AT 40 BELOW | MARGARET CHO ON A WORLD WITHOUT RAPE

WOMEN’S NEWS & FEMINIST VIEWS Winter 2009 Vol. 22 No. 3 Made in Canada

SERENASERENA RYDERRYDER RIDING HIGH ON A WAVE OF SUCCESS GREENGREEN PARTYPARTY LEADERLEADER ELIZABETHELIZABETH MAYMAY WHERE DO WE GO FROM HERE? JUDY WASYLYCIA-LEIS A WOMAN’SWOMAN'S PLACEPLACE ISIS ININ THETHE HOUSEHOUSE

$6.95 Canada/US

Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866; PAP Registration No. 07944 Return Undeliverable Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB R3C 2G1 Canada Display until March 21,2009

WINTER 2009 / VOLUME 22 NO. 3

news 6 GLOBAL REPORT ON WOMEN’S EQUALITY 9 CAMPAIGN UPDATES WILD OVER SALMON: NO PLACE FOR FISH FARMS 12 by Janet Nicol FIRST-EVER WOMEN’S ART EXHIBIT IN KABUL 13 by Lauryn Oates 41: Tanya Tagaq

features A WOMAN’S PLACE IS IN THE HOUSE OF COMMONS 16 When you cross the Slaw Rebchuk Bridge into Winnipeg’s North End, the first thing you’ll pass is a sign that reads: “People before Profits.” Those words also summarize the ideology of the area’s Member of Parliament, Judy Wasylycia-Leis. by Kaj Hasselriis

20: Homeless at 40 Below HOMELESS AT 40 BELOW 20 by Misha Warbanski

YES MEANS YES 26 by Margaret Cho

RIDING HIGH 28 With a voice that’s been likened to Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin, songwriting skills far beyond her years, and a three-octave range, Serena Ryder’s riding high on the Canadian music scene. by Cindy Filipenko

WHAT NEXT FOR CANADA’S GREEN PARTY? 32 While the Green Party pulled in an impressive 6.8 percent of the popular vote in the last federal election, Elizabeth May’s party did not win a single seat in the House of Commons. Herizons caught up with the leader of the Green Party shortly after the Canadian and U.S. elections. by Penni Mitchell

I AM HO, REAR ME ROAR. 35 by Renée Bondy

32: Elizabeth May

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 1 VOLUME 22 NO. 3

MAGAZINE INK

MANAGING EDITOR: Penni Mitchell FULFILLMENT AND OFFICE MANAGER: Phil Koch ACCOUNTANT: Sharon Pchajek BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ghislaine Alleyne, Phil Koch, Penni Mitchell, Kemlin Nembhard, Valerie Regehr EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Ghislaine Alleyne, Gio Guzzi, Penni Mitchell, Kemlin Nembhand ADVERTISING SALES: Penni Mitchell (204) 774-6225 DESIGN: inkubator.ca WEB MISTRESS: Rachel Thompson/BlueMuse RETAIL INQUIRIES: Disticor (905) 619-6565 51: Christine Welsh PROOFREADER: Phil Koch COVER PHOTO: Mary Rozzi arts & ideas MUSIC MUST-HAVES HERIZONS is published four times per year by HERIZONS Inc. in Tanya Tagaq, Lalah Hathaway, Lindsay May, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. One-year subscription price: $27.50 40 (includes GST) in Canada. Two-year subscription $45.99 in Canada. Wendy McNeill, Emiliána Torrini, Vancougar Subscriptions to U.S. add $6.00. International subscriptions add $9.00. Cheques or money orders are payable to: WINTER READING HERIZONS, PO Box 128, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA R3C 2G1. 42 The Given by Daphne Marlatt, Girl from Mars Ph (204) 774-6225. by Tamara Bach, The Flying Troutmans by SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: [email protected] Miriam Toews, Maternal Theory: Essential EDITORIAL INQUIRIES: [email protected] Readings edited by Andrea O’Reilly, Embryo ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: [email protected] Culture by Beth Kohl, Marathon Woman by WEBSITE: www.herizons.ca Kathrine Switzer, We Don’t Need Another Wave HERIZONS is indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. edited by Melody Berger, Reconciliation: Islam, GST #R131089187. ISSN 0711-7485. Democracy and the West by Benazir Bhutto. The purpose of HERIZONS is to empower women; to inspire hope and foster a state of wellness that enriches women’s lives; to build FILM awareness of issues as they affect women; to promote the 51 Finding Dawn reviewed by Jennifer O’Connor, strength, wisdom and creativity of women; to broaden the 4 Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days reviewed by boundaries of feminism to include building coalitions and support Maureen Medved. among other marginalized people; to foster peace and ecological awareness; and to expand the influence of feminist principles in the world. HERIZONS aims to reflect a feminist philosophy that is diverse, understandable and relevant to women’s daily lives. columns Views expressed in HERIZONS are those of the writers and do not PENNI MITCHELL necessarily reflect HERIZONS’ editorial policy. No material may be reprinted without permission. Due to limited resources, HERIZONS Women Matter More 5 does not accept poetry or fiction submissions. SUNERA THOBANI HERIZONS acknowledges the financial support of the 15 Barack Obama Wish List Government of Canada through the Publication Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine MARIKO TAMAKI Fund toward our mailing and editorial costs. 35 The Sting HERIZONS gratefully acknowledges the support of the Manitoba Arts Council.

SUSAN G. COLE Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866, PAP Registration No. 55 The Pain of Palin 07944. Return Undeliverable Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3C 2G1, Email: [email protected] LYNN COCKBURN Herizons is proudly printed on Forest Stewardship Council- 56 Palin by Comparison certified paper that is 50% recycled, including 25% post- consumer, acid-free and chlorine-free.

2 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS letters

TERMINOLOGY QUESTIONED strap a few bombs on their bodies, walk into hotel dining rooms and I am a subscriber to blow up families who are trying to enjoy a peaceful Passover meal, as Herizons and just want to happened many times over the last few years. send a quick note Further, Cipilinski refers to the Palestinians as the “native people concerning the article in under occupation.” Is she inferring that Jews are not native people as the Fall 2008 issue, well? Jews have had a continual presence in the Middle East and in “Coming Out as an Anti- Israel for 6,000 years as I hope she knows. Zionist Jew.” Although As for the “occupation,” until the Palestinians are able to show a there were some valid sustained willingness to live in peace, and to recognize the state of points made in the article, I Israel, the need for security will continue, which leads me to the writer’s found the term “anti-Zionist” quite strong for someone who is comments about the “Apartheid Wall.” I believe she is referring to a disagreeing with the way people are treated in Israel. massive 790km security fence (of which only approximately 13 percent is One can disagree with and be against a government for treating concrete) that has had to be built as a fundamental right of self-defence. people in an unacceptable way, but to not want a country for Jewish The fence has been built at Israel’s expense of over $2 billion US separating Palestinian territories from Israel as a result of the countless people to exist, especially after World War II, is saying something else, terrorist attacks inspired by Yasser Arafat and carried on after his death. and sending a different message. I’m sure Israel would far rather have spent those funds on its many JOANNA JACKSON KELLY universities and colleges, or on health care for its 5.5 million Jewish Ottawa, ON citizens and 1.4 million Arab citizens (who live together peacefully, SEEING RED OVER SENATOR respecting one another’s religion and human rights). Unfortunately, given repeated terrorist attacks Israel simply had to do something to I just finished reading the article “The Senator is Out” and I am protect its citizens from a population unwilling to negotiate peacefully surprised by the unquestioning nature of the article in regards to and most keen to use the most barbaric means possible to terrorize a Senator Ruth’s comments that there is not enough money for national population. As a tiny country that is a mere 15kms wide at its most child care and national housing programs. The government is spending populated area, security is essential to Israel’s very survival. over $12 billion for the war in Afghanistan, has spent millions of dollars From September 2000 until the construction of the first continuous on an unneeded election, and has given untold amounts of money in tax segment of the security fence at the end of July 2003, terrorists carried cuts to the rich. The money is available; it is the political will of Senator out 73 attacks in which 293 Israelis were killed and 1,950 wounded. Ruth and the others in Ottawa that is the barrier. Between the erection of the first segment in August 2003 and the end Senator Ruth says that women’s and childcare advocacy groups are of June 2004, only three attacks were successful and all three took not providing concrete solutions. This is not correct. Organizations place in the first half of 2003. Since construction of the fence began, such as Code Blue for Child Care and the Ad Hoc Coalition for Women’s the number of attacks has declined by more than 90 percent. The Equality have provided clear and detailed suggestions. number of Israelis murdered and wounded has decreased by more than I think it is great to have a lesbian senator. I am not too happy with 70 percent and 85 percent, respectively, after erection of the fence. having another Conservative senator. While it may be sad, for the family Cipilinski refers to, to have their MARION POLLACK, home surrounded by the security fence, I would suggest again that that Ottawa, ON inconvenience is far less tragic than the inconvenience of having one’s family killed in one of the many terrorism attacks that have now been DEFENDING ISRAEL stopped. It would be nice not to have to develop these kinds of security I am writing to express my disappointment at Aviva Cipilinski’s measures, but that is up to the Palestinians, not the Israelis. misleading article “Coming Out as an Anti-Zionist Jew” (Fall 2008 I hope the writer also knows that talk of a two-state solution has been Herizons). It seems to me that she has become as brainwashed to be put forward time and time again by Israel—provided that secure borders anti-Israel as she believed the Birthright people were to be pro-Israel. are part of the equation, for obvious reasons noted above. The Palestinian What concerned me most is that Ms. Cipilinski completely ignores track record of living peacefully side-by-side is not exactly stellar. the reasons for some of the actions Israel has taken against What is most disturbing is that Cipilinski equates walls and lineups at Palestinians. For example, she notes the difficulties that arise for checkpoints as equivalent to horrific deaths caused by terrorists. Palestinian communities during holiday time. There are longer wait Where is her sympathy for the families who have suffered the loss of times and aggravation for people who have to stand in lines and go their loved ones? through checkpoints. Men under 35 are often targeted with more I think Israel has shown great restraint in dealing with these scrutiny, ceasing their mobility. Ms. Cipilinski may feel sympathy for unbearable attacks. I can assure you, if people in North Dakota started people who have to stand in line and be inconvenienced, but I would launching rockets into Winnipeg or started sending terrorists into far rather have that kind of inconvenience than the inconvenience of shopping malls where they blew themselves up, I would expect the being blown up by those very under-35 men who have been known to Canadian government to take immediate action to protect its citizens.

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 3 letters

Of course, the world would not put up with this kind of behaviour and proudly gay and proudly exercising her freedom of speech. Of course, would immediately sanction the United States and people of North this is something she could do anywhere in Israel, but probably not in Dakota for their unacceptable behaviour. the Palestinian areas she defends or in the countries surrounding Israel Also, I really wish Cipilinski would stop blaming Israel for all the that proudly count the days until it is wiped off the map. woes of the Palestinian people and look to the leadership of the It is important to have watchdogs to ensure that states behave Palestinians for some answers. I have great sympathy for the ethically, and I think Israel will always benefit from having human rights Palestinian people who have been shortchanged time and time again activists watching to ensure that this country operates with the highest by leaders who espouse violence and hatred as the only means of self- degree of ethics and fairness. On that note, I was proud to see determination. Palestinians should be demanding that their leadership Palestinians challenge the route of the security fence all the way to the put down their arms, stop firing rockets at Israeli schools and hospitals Israeli Supreme Court. And, it was the Israeli Supreme Court that upheld with the deliberate intent to kill and maim civilians and start talking their position, causing the security fence to be rerouted so as to be less about how the two peoples can live together in peace. I firmly believe disrupting—even though this rerouting cost the Israeli state millions of that if the Palestinian leaders were pressured by their own people and dollars. That is the kind of state that respects human rights and I would the world, a peaceful solution could be achieved relatively quickly. have thought Ms. Cipilinski would be extremely proud that Israel conducts Finally, the writer closes her article saying that it takes seconds to itself so ethically. I do hope she takes the time to become more aware of bulldoze a home. It also takes a few days to rebuild one. What does she where her own biases lie and to watch out for those who would blindly have to say about the time that it takes to heal the wound of a mother attempt to provide one-sided versions of the reality in the Middle East. who has lost her child to a terrorist attack? Or lost her home to a I also hope the people who read Ms. Cipilinski’s article will take the Kassam rocket that was launched from the Gaza Strip at the very same time to become more familiar with the goals and objectives of the state of spot where Jews lived a few years ago before they were forcibly Israel and its proud history of respect for human rights—all human rights. removed by the Israeli government as a result of pressure from GAIL ASPER, Palestinians? And by the way, it’s nice to know that the writer is Winnipeg, MB

DO YOU TEACH WOMEN’S STUDIES?

Herizons is a great educational tool and women’s studies HERE’S WHAT PROFESSORS ARE resource for your classroom. SAYING ABOUT HERIZONS: Bulk Herizons Subscriptions for women’s studies students are “I love having copies of Herizons to hand available for the reduced price of just $8 each for editions out to my intro women’s studies students!” published during the university year—Fall, Winter and Spring. Ann Braithwaite, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, Women’s Studies, University of Prince Edward Island, That’s 75% off the regular subscription price! Charlottetown, P.E.I.,Canada Here’s How It Works: “Herizons always makes my work for women exciting and worthwhile.” Cheryl Gosselin, Women’s Studies Coordinator, You place an order for 40 or more Women’s Studies Bishop’s University, 1. Subscriptions at $8 each ($320 minimum order). Lennoxville, QC, Canada We will ship them directly to your office immediately upon 2. publication during the academic year. You distribute them in class—there are no names to keep track of. Just email [email protected] to order—let us know how 3. many Women’s Studies Subscriptions you want. We’ll send the next issue when it’s published.

Women’s studies professors tell us that Herizons is an invaluable source of feminist news and analysis, covering topical issues, public policy debates. Herizons research is useful in the classroom and students attest to its value as well. Herizons, a great teaching tool for women’s studies professors.

4 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS first word BY PENNI MITCHELL

Women Matter More

Though less likely to grab headlines than voter gaps rooted in with putting President-elect Barack Obama into the White geography, age, religion or ethnicity, gender gaps played out House since they supported him by a 70 to 29 percent margin. big time in the recent Canadian and U.S. elections. Interestingly, a similar pattern observed in Canada may The unshakable lack of trust most women feel in their gut have helped keep the Conservatives in check. Bruce towards Stephen Harper fuelled an eight-to10-point lag in Anderson, president of pollsters Harris/Decima, observed women’s support for the Conservative Party. If as many that the male voting patterns in Canada are “as flat as piss on women had voted for Conservatives as men did, Harper a plate.” He added, “women matter more in elections now.” would have won a majority. Specifically, Anderson says that the majority view of Prime Minister Harper picked up 16 additional seats in women on some issues has become the dominant Canadian October’s federal election, yet he did so with fewer votes than political script: pro-choice, against capital punishment, in 2006: 168,737 fewer to be exact. Thanks to our simple first comfortable with same-sex marriage, worried about the past the post system, 37 percent of the vote gets you 143 environment. This might explain the eight point lead the seats, or almost half the seats in the House of Commons. Liberals typically enjoy among female voters. Anderson said Fortunately, almost half isn’t a majority. that when Harper announced a policy to treat young The greatest victory should have been Elizabeth May’s. offenders as adults, his support among single women fell The Green Party was the only major political party to pick up from 32 percent to 18 percent “practically overnight.” more votes in the election—nearly one million Green votes According to Susan Carroll, a senior scholar at the Center were cast, 6.8 percent of all votes. And yet, because those for American Women and Politics, women connect the dots votes were spread out across the country and not between economic and social policies. The Economists’ Policy concentrated in a single region May has no voice in the Group for Women’s Issues, a network of more than 40 Commons—at least not yet. economists in the U.S., released a report card on the two Women in the U.S were luckier. They witnessed Barack presidential candidates’ positions on 10 issues critical to Obama inspire voters on equality issues, harnessing their women. Obama earned an overall B; McCain earned a D. voter power. With American women voting at a higher rate Obama received A’s for his positions on domestic violence and than men, female voters did more than hold an unpopular reproductive rights, whereas McCain got slapped with an F conservative leader at bay. They turfed him and put a for fighting legislation that would expand the amount of time visionary progressive in his place. While most subgroups of a worker has to sue for employment-related discrimination. U.S. voters—including white men—supported Obama, it At the same time, growing economic uncertainty saw was the higher support among what have been called special American women feeling vulnerable to threats to their jobs, interest groups, i.e. Hispanics, women, youth, immigrants health care and financial stability. A Gallup poll conducted and black voters—who tipped the electoral scales. Whereas after the U.S. government took over mortgage giants Fannie Obama inspired voters with promises of change, then Liberal Mae and Freddie Mac reported female voters favouring leader Stephane Dion inspired many traditional liberal voters Obama by 54 percent compared to just 38 percent for to stay home. Senator John McCain. Obama inspired women in other ways. American women What can be learned from all of this? First, Stephen donated $34 million to Senator McCain’s campaign Harper’s bid for a majority failed, in part, because he failed to compared to the almost $88 million he received from men. inspire women. Like McCain, Harper discovered the gender But women donated more than twice as much to President- gap too late. American women were not fooled when McCain elect Obama—$75 million, according to the Center for hooked up with running-mate Sara Palin and similarly Responsive Politics, a non-partisan Washington research Harper’s appointment of 11 women to cabinet did little to group. Men donated $122 million US to Obama’s campaign. fem up his image among progressive women. We aren’t won Further analysis by research firm Greenberg Quinlan over by token gestures. But women-friendly policies get our Rosner suggested that unmarried women could be credited R-E-S-P-E-C-T every time. 

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 5 nelliegrams global update JACOBS AWARDED Beverley Jacobs, CANADA LOSES GROUND president of the Native Women’s ON EQUALITY INDEX Association of Canada, received a 2008 Governor THE GLOBAL GENDER GAP 2007 RANKINGS–TOP TWENTY General’s Awards in 2007 Score* 2006 Commemoration of the Persons Case. Sweden 1 81.46% 1 A lawyer by trade, Jacobs successfully Norway 2 80.59% 2 secured funding for Sisters In Spirit, a Finland 3 80.44% 3 research, education and policy initiative Iceland 4 78.36% 4 aimed at raising public awareness about New Zealand 5 76.49% 7 Canada’s missing and murdered Aboriginal Philippines 6 76.29% 6 women. She has led NWAC, an umbrella Germany 7 76.18% 5 organization representing 600,000 native Denmark 8 75.19% 8 women, since 2004. Ireland 9 74.57% 10 International human rights expert Spain 10 74.44% 11 Shelagh Day also received a Persons United Kingdom 11 74.41% 9 Award. Day was founding president of the Netherlands 12 73.83% 12 Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund Latvia 13 73.33% 19 (LEAF) and has appeared before United Lithuania 14 72.34% 21 Nations treaty bodies examining Canada’s Sri Lanka 15 72.30% 13 compliance with its international human Croatia 16 72.10% 16 rights obligations. She helped found the Australia 17 72.04% 15 Canadian Feminist Alliance for International Canada 18 71.98% 14 Action (FAFIA) and was a founder of the Belgium 19 71.98% 20 federal Court Challenges Program which South Africa 20 71.94% 18 provided financial assistance for important court cases that advanced language and The Global Gender Gap Report 2007 measures women’s global status relative to men’s in 128 countries. equality rights guaranteed under Canada’s According to a 2007 report by the Geneva- Constitution. The program was shut down EUROPE by Stephen Harper after he became prime based World Economic Forum, Canadian Germany, Ireland, Spain, the United Kingdom, minister in 2006. women fell from 14th place to 18th on the the Netherlands, Latvia, Lithuania, Croatia and Other recipients include: Global Gender Gap Index in 2007. Belgium hold places among the top 20 Maureen A. McTeer, lawyer, author and American women’s relative equality to positions. Germany, which held 5th place last expert on issues of women’s health, law, their countrymen fell 7 spots, and is lagging year, fell behind New Zealand and the science and public policy; at 31st place overall. The report covers 128 Philippines. Larger absolute increases in the Frances Ennis, a social activist, author countries, representing over 90 percent of Philippines and New Zealand put these and rug-hooking artist who has devoted her the world’s population. The Index compares countries in 5th and 6th positions respectively, life to advancing equality for women; and four sub-indexes: economic participation and while Germany ranked 7th place. Mair Verthuy, who co-founded opportunity, educational attainment, health Ireland (9th) and Spain (10th) Concordia University’s Simone de Beauvoir and survival and political empowerment. outperformed the United Kingdom (11th) Institute, home of Canada’s first women’s which previously ranked 9th. Spain ranked studies program. NORTH AMERICA 5th on political empowerment, with women The 1929 Persons Case established in In 2007, the U.S. fell from 23rd to 31st place. holding 36 percent of seats in parliament and law the right of women to be appointed to The percentage of female legislators, senior half of all ministerial positions. The U.K. fell in the Canadian Senate. officials and managers fell from 46 to 42 the relative rankings but showed an increase percent and scores on wage equality for in its overall score driven by improvements in LEAN AND MEAN similar work fell. American women’s gender income and labour force participation. Vigorous exercise helps reduce the risk of gap index on political empowerment is sub- Latvia rose to rank 13th in 2007 (from 19th) breast cancer among women, but only for optimal (69th out of the 128 countries in the while Lithuania rose to 14th place (from 21st). those who are lean, according to a study Index). Both countries’ progress was driven mainly by conducted by Dr. Michael Leitzmann of the Canada ranked well on economic improved scores on the economic National Cancer Institute of the U.S. participation and opportunity (13th) in 2007 as participation and opportunity sub-index. National Institutes of Health. well as educational attainment (26th). It Latvian women’s participation in the The study followed 32,269 American performed above average on political workforce increased from 49 percent to 63 women for 11 years. All were healthy and empowerment (36th) and health and survival percent. In Lithuania, participation increased free of chronic disease at the start of the (51st). Canada’s ratio of wage equality for from 52 percent to 66 percent. In Lithuania the similar work is ranked at 0.72. percentage of women in parliament increased

6 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS global update nelliegrams

study; the average baseline age was 61. from 22 percent to almost 25 percent. wage equality. However, Brazil continues to Those who had a high daily level of Switzerland dropped to 40th place mainly display a relatively poor performance on vigorous activity (heavy yard work, digging due to a revision of the estimated earned educational attainment (84th) and political in the garden, playing tennis, running, fast income data from Swiss women and men. empowerment (96th). jogging, bicycling, aerobics, fast dancing) The ratio of estimated female-to-male Mexico’s scores on the economic and who had a body mass index under 25 earned income, one of the indicators used participation of women improved but were were found to have a 30 percent lower to construct the gender gap index’s offset by deterioration in its score on political rate of breast cancer at the end of the economic participation and opportunity sub- empowerment. The result was a huge drop in study period. index, was recalculated, resulting in an its overall ranking, from 75th in 2006 to 93rd Overall, 1,506 women, or 4.6 percent of overall drop in 2007. in 2007. the subjects, were diagnosed with breast France continues to be one of the six Chile improved its overall score, but cancer over the 11 years. Women with a countries that hold the number one ranking dropped in the overall rankings from 78th higher body mass index who performed on both education and health (the others are place to 86th in 2007 due to the entrance of strenuous activity did not enjoy the lower Belize, the Dominican Republic, Honduras, new countries at higher positions in the incidence of cancer. Researchers Lesotho and the Philippines). France ranks rankings. Chile continues to be held back by speculated that higher estrogen levels 51st overall, compared to 70th in 2006, due poor performance on the economic might be present among women with largely to new data in the economic participation and opportunity sub-index higher weights. participation and opportunity sub-index. (105th out of 128 countries). Women’s labour This change also led to increases in the force participation is just 41 percent TOP SCIENTIST proportion of women among professional and compared to 76 percent for men, and LAUDED technical workers as well as the proportion women’s estimated earned income is less Eugenia Kumacheva of women among legislators, senior officials than half that of men. Guatemala, ranked of the University of and managers. 106th, has the largest gender gap in the Toronto has been Greece (72nd), Malta (76th), Cyprus (82nd) region, held back because of its poor cited as one of the and Italy (84th) continue to hold the lowest performance on economic participation and world’s top scientists. places among European Union countries. The opportunity (112th) and educational The L’Oreal- Russian Federation, ranked 49th in 2006, attainment (102nd). UNESCO Women in crept up to 45th place in 2007. The country Science prize was awarded to Kumacheva lags on political empowerment with just 10 NORDIC COUNTRIES for her work in designing and developing percent women in parliament, well below the The five Nordic countries continue to hold new materials for targeted drug delivery for average of 19 percent, and has no women in places among the top 10. While no country cancer treatments as well as materials for ministerial positions. has yet achieved gender equality, Sweden high-density optical data storage. Turkey, at 121st among 128 countries, (1), Norway (2) and Finland (3) have all “This marks the first occasion that a ranks well below other European countries closed over 80 percent of the gender gap. Canadian has received this award,” said and displays below-average performance on Sweden, Norway, Finland and Iceland hold Kumechava. “I am thrilled.” all four sub-indexes. the top four spots on the political Kumacheva has been involved in empowerment sub-index. On economic collaborative work on the fabrication of LATIN AMERICA AND participation and opportunity, Sweden and patterned polymer surfaces for the THE CARIBBEAN Norway hold 6th and 10th places respectively. controlled renewal and differentiation of Cuba entered the rankings for the first time This region saw increases in women’s stem cells. Her research includes working this year at 22nd place, and replaces economic participation. Finland’s small with substructures of polymer particles to Colombia as the highest ranking country in increase in political empowerment was offset create new materials. The applications of the region. Cuba is boosted by small gaps by slight decreases in the salary gap score. her work include polymer films that can be between boys’ and girls’ enrolment in used to encrypt identification documents primary and secondary education, and a MIDDLE EAST AND such as passports. Applications could also diminutive gap between women and men’s NORTH AFRICA foil fraud and offer potentially speedy literary rates. The country has a high Israel (36th) continues to alternatives to waiting in long security percentage of women in parliament, in hold the top spot in the checkpoints. ministerial-level positions and a high Middle East and North She also developed polymer particles percentage of women among professional Africa region, favoured by that deliver drugs to a specific diseased site and technical workers. Colombia fell to 24th high performances in economic participation and release them there on demand. place, followed by Costa Rica at 28th (45th), educational attainment (38th) and Other laureates in the program’s 10- position. Jamaica, which held the 24th political empowerment (41st). Kuwait (96th) year history include such eminent position in 2006, dropped to 39th position. remains the second-highest-ranking country scientists as MIT professor Margaret Argentina gained eight places, ranking in the region, followed by Tunisia (102nd), Dresselhaus, science advisor to former 33rd this year. Brazil dropped from 67th place Syria (103rd), Jordan (104th), the United Arab U.S. President Bill Clinton and co- in 2006 to 74th in 2007, sharing the top spot in Emirates (105th), Algeria (108th), Qatar (109th), discoverer of carbon nanotubes. The the health category. It has shown Bahrain (115th), Oman (119th), Egypt (120th), Women in Science awards program is a improvement of the ratio between women Morocco (122nd), Saudi Arabia (124th) and partnership between the United Nations and men in labour force participation and Yemen (128th).

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 7 nelliegrams global update

Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization and L’Oreal. The United Arab Emirates showed Pakistan perform very poorly on the improvements. Wage inequality decreased economic, education and health sub-indexes, WATER A RIGHT and both women and men stood for election their overall scores are partially bolstered by Maude Barlow, and voted for the first time in that country’s relatively good performances on political national chairperson history. Nine women entered parliament, empowerment (17th, 21st and 43rd places, of the Council of gaining 22.5 percent of the seats. In respectively). India’s sex ratio at birth fell to Canadians has been Bahrain, a woman was elected to the lower 0.89 girls for every boy, causing its overall appointed senior house of parliament for the first time in that score to decrease. advisor on water nation’s history. Both New Zealand (5th overall) and issues to the president Egypt’s minor improvements on economic Australia (17th) continue to perform well. of the General participation were offset by drops in its Australia ranked well on all four sub-indexes, Assembly of the United Nations. health and education scores. Saudi Arabia further improving its scores on economic To commemorate the 60th anniversary showed minor improvements in labour force participation and wage gap data. New of the UN Declaration of Human Rights on participation rates, but the country remains Zealand improved its rank on political December 10, The Council of Canadians the lowest in the region on political empowerment by two places to 9th position and On the Commons launched a new empowerment. Yemen continues to occupy overall among the 128 countries, while its report titled, Our Water Commons: Toward the last place in the overall rankings of the rank on economic participation rose by six a New Freshwater Narrative, written by 128 countries. places to 8th position. Barlow. The report claims water as a human right and reclaims the freshwater ASIA AND OCEANIA SUB-SAHARAN commons. The Philippines (6th) and Sri Lanka (15th) are AFRICA The report describes a global grassroots the only Asian countries in the top 20 of the South Africa (20th) movement of “local communities, the poor, rankings. The Philippines has closed the continues to hold the prime slum-dwellers, women, indigenous peoples, gender gap on both education and health spot among the rankings peasants and small farmers working with and is one of only six counties in the world to and is the only country from the region to hold have done so. The Philippines’ scores on environmentalists, human rights activists, a place among the top 20. More than 40 political empowerment improved further, as progressive water managers and experts in percent of its ministers are women and more did some of its economic indicators such as both the global North and the global South than a third of the positions in parliament are estimated income, labour force participation who see water as a Commons and seek to held by women. and income equality for similar work. Sri provide water for all of nature and all Lesotho (26th) and Namibia (29th) moved up Lanka (15th) fell two places in the rankings, humans,” according to Barlow. in the rankings. Lesotho is the only country but showed improvements on the ratio of from the region to have no gap in education or You can download the report at: women’s and men’s labour force health. Between 2006 and 2007, women in www.canadians.org. participation rates as well as wage equality parliament increased from 12 percent to 24 for similar work, Sri Lanka has had a female percent. Namibia also continues to be a strong MCPHEDRAN head of state for 21 of the last 50 years. performer on political empowerment. HEADS NEW Kazakhstan (32nd) and Uzbekistan (41st) Tanzania lost 10 places, ranking 34th in GLOBAL COLLEGE occupy the next highest ranks in Asia, The University of 2007. Mozambique enters in 43rd position with followed by Vietnam (42nd), a new entry in Winnipeg appointed the top spot on economic participation. While 2007. Thailand follows at 48th. noted human rights China holds 73rd spot overall. While its sub- education levels for both women and men are expert Marilou index rankings decreased, its absolute scores low in Mozambique, women’s literacy is only McPhedran as on economic participation increased. Both half that of men’s literacy, putting the country principal of its new Global College. labour force participation and wage equality in 120th place out of 128 countries. McPhedran has been recognized for her for similar work improved. China continues to Botswana, which previously held 34th work nationally and internationally. She has rank very low on the health and survival sub- place, fell to 53rd position due to a widening worked for decades to advance the rights index (124th) due to a disproportionate sex of the gap between women’s and men’s of women, children and the homeless. She ratio at birth that contributes to China’s estimated earned income and a worsening of has been based at York University, the missing women phenomenon. the health gap. The healthy life expectancy University of Victoria, and most recently, Japan lies in 91st position. While it performs of both women and men is excessively low, served as the chief commissioner of the above average on health (37th) and education in large part due to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission (69th), its performance on economic but Botswana continues to be among the and as Ariel F. Sallows Chair in Human participation (97th place) and political very few countries in the world where Rights, at the University of Saskatchewan empowerment (94th place) is poor. Korea women have lower healthy life expectancies College of Law. She is a well-known (97th) has shown slight improvements in than men. The performances of Ghana (63rd), feminist who has advocated for patients labour force participation and wage equality. Kenya (83th), Malawi (87th), Zimbabwe (88th), sexually abused by doctors and she is a Bangladesh (100th), India (114th), Iran Madagascar (89th) and Nigeria (107th) member of the Order of Canada. (118th) and Pakistan (126th) continue to hold remain largely unchanged. Benin (123rd) and “Coming back to the University of some of the lowest positions in the Asian Chad (127th) continue to occupy some of the Winnipeg to lead the innovative Global rankings. While Bangladesh, India and lowest positions in the rankings. 

8 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS campaign updates nelliegrams

College is truly a dream come true,” member organizations include: Amnesty MEN HARMED BY MODELS she said. International, the Canada Canadian Council on Many studies have shown that media images The Global College launched a new B.A. American-Islamic Relations, the Canadian of female models have had a negative impact degree in human rights and global studies, Arab Federation, the Canadian Islamic on women, but a new study found surprising the first of its kind in Western Canada. results when it examined the effects of models Congress, the Canadian Muslim Forum, the on male readers. Canadian Peace Alliance, the Council of CLINTON SUPPORTER NAMED Jennifer Aubrey, assistant professor of Canadians, the International Civil Liberties TO WHITE HOUSE Monitoring Group, the Omar Khadr Project, communication at the University of Missouri, Ellen Moran, executive director of Emily’s Muslim Unity, Parole Arabe and more. looked at the effect of “lad magazines” on List since 2005, was named White House The coalition’s website is: college-age men. Completing three different communications director for U.S. President- www.bringomarhome.ca. studies, Aubrey found that the stereotyped elect Barack Obama. Emily’s List is an models were a turnoff. influential U.S. women’s network that seeks In her research, to be published in the journal UNIFEM GOES BIG ON VAW funds and supports women’s election to Human Communication Research, Aubrey found public office. The United Nations that men need to feel that they are attractive Moran’s selection was a surprise Development Fund for enough to be sexually appealing to women. The because Emily’s List had initially supported Women (UNIFEM) beauty standards in magazines like Maxim Senator Hillary Clinton in the Democratic launched a massive and made them feel inadequate, she found. primary contest. global Say No To Violence Aubrey measured male body self- Emily’s List president and founder Ellen Against Women consciousness (a participant’s awareness and R. Malcom said: “As executive director, Campaign with actor Nicole Kidman serving as tendency to monitor their appearance) and Ellen has done a phenomenal job. She its goodwill ambassador. appearance anxiety (the anticipation of deserves tremendous credit for leading UNIFEM launched a multimedia campaign; threatening stimuli). Emily’s List this election cycle. She has over five million people have registered their “We found that reading lad magazines was been a stalwart ally and true friend for me, support on-line. related to having body self-consciousness a and I will miss working with her on a In November, Kidman presented the year later,” said Aubrey. “This was surprising daily basis.” multimillion-name petition supporting the UN’s because if you look at the covers of these move to adopt stringent measures against magazines, they are mainly images of women.” LEAF LITIGATOR human rights violations against women. The Researchers compared the self-images of NAMED initiative aims to mobilize a global movement men who read lad magazines with those Joanna Birenbaum is of people to demand and ensure that violence exposed to less stereotypical magazine LEAF’s new director against women becomes a high priority for images of men and women. of litigation. governments everywhere. Birenbaum has “Men who viewed the layouts of objectified The first phase of the campaign concluded over 10 years of females reported more body self- when signatures collected worldwide were litigation and human consciousness than the other two groups,” presented to the UN Secretary-General Ban rights advocacy Aubrey said. “Even more surprising was that Ki-moon. experience, including the male fashion group reported the least “All of us—men and women, soldiers and constitutional and aboriginal and treaty amount of body self-consciousness among the peacekeepers, citizens and leaders—have a rights litigation. She has appeared before three groups.” responsibility to help end violence against United Nations treaty monitoring bodies, Aubrey speculates that the exposure to women. States must honour their commitments legislative standing committees and other female models increases self-consciousness to prevent violence, bring perpetrators to justice international bodies to advance the rights of because men are reminded that in order to be and provide redress to victims. And each of us Aboriginal peoples. involved with a woman of similar must speak out in our families, workplaces and Birenbaum has been involved in the attractiveness, they need to meet strict communities.” Coalition for Women’s Rights in Conflict appearance standards. According to the UN, violence against Situations and submitted briefs to the “When the men felt that the model in the ad women is the least punished crime in the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda liked average-looking guys, it took the world, with one in three women and girls and the Former Yugoslavia on gender pressure off of them and made them less self- worldwide experiencing violence or abuse in justice issues. conscious about their own bodies.” their lifetimes. Birenbaum completed her law degree at UNIFEM received more money this year the University of Toronto and was called to RELEASE KHADR! than the sum of all its grants since its the bar in 1998. (OTTAWA) A coalition of human rights and civil inception in 1996, enabling it to earmark $19 liberties organizations held rallies across million US to 23 projects in 29 countries. NO WAY TO NO GAY Canada in October to demand that the federal UNIFEM executive director Inés Alberdi said, Florida’s gay adoption ban has been ruled government request Omar Khadr’s removal from “It is a sign of new momentum created through unconstitutional. the U.S. military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Ban Ki-moon’s campaign. The UN Trust Fund is Circuit Judge Cindy S. Lederman ruled Cuba. Events to raise awareness were held in a key mechanism to provide urgently needed that the law violated the equal protection Ottawa, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. funding to initiatives worldwide.” guarantees of the state constitution as The Coalition to Repatriate Omar Khadr UNIFEM administers the UN Trust Fund to

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 9 New from SUMACH PRESS

CLEAVAGE BREAKAWAY FICTION FOR REAL GIRLS

edited by Deb Loughead & Jocelyn Shipley

A BRASH NEW COLLECTION ABOUT HOLDING BACK AND LETTING LOOSE, ABOUT SEX AND GLAMOUR AND COMMON SENSE. STORIES GIRLS CAN GET A GRIP ON! “Funny, fresh and a delight to read.” — susan juby Original stories about taking pride in wearing our bodies just the way they are.  pgs "x" . pb

CHECK OUR WEBSITE FOR OTHER GREAT BOOKS FOR YOUNG ADULTS www.sumachpress.com info@ sumachpress.com

NEW RELEASES FROM FALL 2008 INANNA PUBLICATIONS THE OTHER SISTER WHITE ALBUM A new novel by A new volume of poetry Lola Lemire Tostevin by Rishma Dunlop 978-0-9808822-1-6 / OCTOBER 2008 / $22.95 WITH ARTWORK BY Despite her advanced age and failing health, SUZANNE NORTHCOTT Julia Brannon, the protagonist of The Other 978-0-9808822-3-0 Sister, is a stubbornly independent woman. OCTOBER 2008 / $22.95 She refuses her daughter’s offer to move in Beginning in the 1950s, White Album with them and insists on living in a retirement charts the life of a young woman home. Unable to argue, her daughter and born in India, growing up in Canada granddaughter gift her with a laptop on which during an era of explosive change, she can record in writing the events of her both cultural and political. Set to the music of the last half-century, White Praise for The Jasmine Man: past. As Julia looks back at her past, she Album poses provocative questions: What is an identity? How does the noise “Tostevin weaves records memories of her identical twin sister of history—the chanting crowds, the gunshots, the guitar feedback— a gossamer-like Jane and their disparate personalities, yet soundtrack our sense of self? web … a shimmering intertwined lives. Uncovering a family secret Blurring together diverse media, White Album blends the words of award- novel.” pulls Julia out of the web of deception she winning poet Rishma Dunlop with the paintings of acclaimed artist Suzanne has spun over herself and her family in order —THE GLOBE AND MAIL Northcott. The result is a groundbreaking, interdisciplinary collection—a to protect those she loves. Shuttling montage of brilliant images, driven by a blistering soundtrack of language. between past and present, over the span of White Album is a unique artists’ book of poetry and visual art. almost a century, The Other Sister weaves Celebrating 330 YEARS personal, local and global histories into an of Feminist intricate narrative tapestry to form the heart Publishing of this story. INANNA POETRY AND FICTION SERIES www.yorku.ca/inanna

10 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS campaign updates nelliegrams

well as a U.S. law that seeks to ensure the End Violence against Women. Despite the Wisconsin, Gwen Moore, who is pro-choice, well-being of children in the welfare increase in funds, demand far outstrips became the state’s first black representative system and protect their right to resources. Grant requests amounting to $525 to Congress, beating anti-choice Republican permanent residency. The state attorney million US were received in 2008 for initiatives Gerald Boyle. general’s office may appeal the decision to in developing countries, including in conflict- In Pennsylvania’s 13th District, pro-choice the Florida Supreme Court. affected nations where widespread and Democrat Allyson Schwartz defeated In her ruling, Lederman wrote: “There is systematic sexual violence has become a Republican Melissa Brown. Pro-choice anti- no question, the blanket exclusion of gay horrific tactic of warfare. war Democrat Cynthia McKinney won in applicants defeats Florida’s goal of providing dependent children a permanent Find out more about UNIFEM. Visit Georgia’s 4th District. In her acceptance family through adoption.... The best www.saynotoviolence.org. speech, McKinney voiced her opposition to the “war machine” and the “corporate interests of children are not preserved by propaganda machine” of America. prohibiting homosexual adoption,” she MICRO- told CNN. ENTERPRISES —Robin Hindery, Women’s eNews HAVE MEGA HARPER CHARLIZE IMPACT FOR PEACE Malaysian women HARPOONED (VANCOUVER) Academy Award- have been winning actress and successful in eradicating poverty through The federal Department of activist Charlize Theron micro-enterprise development. Research has been designated a conducted over 10 years among rural women Fisheries and Oceans has been hit with a lawsuit by United Nations entrepreneurs shows that micro-enterprise messenger of peace activity contributed about 30 percent to environmental groups who charge that the feds aren’t doing their job to protect whales. with a special focus on ending violence family incomes. About a third of the women against women by UN Secretary-General Ecojustice (formerly the Sierra Defence studied had scaled up their enterprises and Ban Ki-moon. Fund) alleges that the department has failed to employed other women. Theron, born in South Africa, joins nine legally protect critical habitat of B.C.’s most On average, the micro-enterprises employed other UN messengers of peace. iconic marine mammals: the endangered five persons. Messengers possess widely recognized southern resident and threatened northern With low levels of education and a lack of talents in the fields of art, film, literature, resident killer whales. skills, older women in particular had limited music and sports, helping to raise Environmental organizations are miffed that earning opportunities until the scaled-up worldwide awareness. without consulting killer whale scientists, the micro-enterprises spearheaded by formerly Referring to Theron, the Secretary- department declined to issue an order to poor women provided them with job General said, “You have consistently protect the whales’ critical habitat. opportunities. One micro-enterprise producing dedicated yourself to improving the lives of This is the first lawsuit of its kind in Canada, roti Chana (Prata bread) employs 22 women women and children in South Africa, and to according to Lara Tessaro, a lawyer at who spread thin the dough daily to earn about preventing and stopping violence against Ecojustice. “We hope to force the federal $100 US per month. women and girls.” government to legally protect the critical —Source: Dr Nayan Kanwal, Earlier this year, the Secretary-General habitat of endangered species like the University Putra Malaysia launched a multi-year campaign, UNite to southern resident killer whales.” End Violence Against Women to mobilize The David Suzuki Foundation, Environmental WOMEN ELECTED IN US action on the issue. Defence, Greenpeace Canada, the A record 65 women were elected to the U.S. Theron founded the Charlize Theron International Fund for Animal Welfare, the House of Representatives in the November Africa Outreach Project, in partnership Raincoast Conservation Society and the election, including 57 incumbents and eight with the Entertainment Industry Wilderness Committee have joined the lawsuit. newcomers—most of them pro-choice. Foundation, to create a safer, healthier and Bill Wareham, senior marine conservation In the Senate, all female incumbents held better life for impoverished children and specialist at the David Suzuki Foundation, on to their seats. The number of women in the their families in South Africa, especially explained: “Comprehensive marine use plans Senate holds steady at 14. “Any time women those suffering from HIV/AIDS. Theron also that include new protected areas are essential are successful [in their bids for office], it’s participated in a series of public service if we hope to recover populations of these great,” said Kathleen Casey, associate announcements in support of the Cape magnificent whales.” director of the Center for American Women Town Rape Crisis Centre. Killer whales face many serious threats and Politics at Rutgers. Her film choices reflect a concern with throughout their habitat on the West Coast. Seven women won open seats in the violence against women. Theron is best Declining salmon stocks, increased boat traffic, House; one congressional candidate, pro- known for her Oscar-winning performance toxic contamination and acoustic impacts from choice Democrat Melissa Bean of Illinois, in Monster, in which she played Aileen dredging, seismic testing and military sonar all defeated an incumbent. Debbie Wasserman Wuornos, a serial killer whose youth was threaten the orcas with extinction. Schultz, a pro-choice Democrat, swept characterized by abuse. In North Country, Florida’s 20th District race, defeating anti- For more information, visit her character, Josie Aimes, was a woman choice Republican Margaret Hostetter. In www.ecojustice.ca.  with a history of domestic abuse who

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 11 nelliegrams WILD OVER SALMON fought back against sexual harassment. BY JANET NICOL The other messengers of peace include conductor Daniel Barenboim (peace and tolerance); actor George Clooney (peacekeeping); author Paulo Coelho (poverty and intercultural dialogue); actor Michael Douglas (disarmament); primatologist Jane Goodall (conservation and environmental issues); violinist Midori Goto (millennium development goals and youth); Princess Haya Bint al Hussein (millennium development goals and hunger); cellist Yo-Yo Ma (youth); and Nobel laureate Elie Wiesel (human rights).

HARPER HITS 29 PERCENT Prime Minister Stephen Harper appointed 11 of Alexandra Morton operates the Raincoast Research Society at www.raincoastresearch.org. Individuals can adopt 38 cabinet posts to a fry for a $20 donation to help her legal campaign. (Photo: Nik West) women in November, setting a record of 29 percent. Harper also (ECHO BAY, B.C.) Everything changed for published in the book A Stain Upon the Sea: appointed the first Inuit woman cabinet Alexandra Morton eight years ago when a West Coast Salmon Farming (Harbour minister, Leona Aglukkaq, to the health neighbour showed her two juvenile wild Publishing). In September, she took her case portfolio. Aglukkaq represented the district salmon that were infected with sea lice and to the B.C. Supreme Court, arguing that the of Nattilik in the Nunavut Legislative dying on his dock. jurisdiction over regulating fish farms belongs Assembly since 2004. A marine biologist, Morton decided to find to the federal government, not the province. Other notable women in Harper’s out why the salmon were infected. She Her allies include the Wilderness Tourism cabinet include Lisa Raitt, minister of discovered that farmed salmon kept in floating Association, the area gill-netters association natural resources, and Gail Shea, net pens are breeders of sea lice; her findings and the fishing vessel owners association. minister of fisheries. Helena Guergis is have since been published in several journals, She hopes the court will issue its ruling before minister of state responsible for the status including Science magazine. the industry expands further. She would also of women and Rona Ambrose is the Morton now she spends most of her like to see a judicial review to prevent the federal labour minister. waking hours speaking out against fish farm province from renewing leases on fish farms. Former prime minister Paul Martin practices from her home and research “Alaska banned fish farms from day one,” appointed 11 women to his cabinet in 2003, centre at Echo Bay, located in the Broughton Morton points out. a cabinet that had 39 ministers—one more There is only one way to protect the member than Harper’s. Former PM Jean Archipelago off the northeast coast of environment from the dangers of farmed Chretien appointed 16 women to an even Vancouver Island. fish: “Quarantine.” Morton says. “Place larger cabinet. “It’s against nature to crowd animals together in feedlots,” Morton reasons. The farmed salmon on feedlots in closed tanks UN GOES GAY same holds true for fish. Yet there are 27 and on land.” The alternative isn’t as difficult as it Members of the European Union licensed floating salmon farms anchored sounds. A land-based salmon farm was introduced a declaration which would along the archipelago. Farmed salmon breed recently established by Bruce Swift near denounce discrimination based on sexual bacterial and viral infections as well as sea Vancouver and has captured the attention orientation and gender identity on lice, and this, Morton says, inevitably infects and approval of environmentalists. Swift’s December 10, International Human Rights wild ocean fish. farmed Coho is kept in enormous tanks on Day. “Drugs will not solve the problem either,” land in the Fraser Valley, under strict bio- Led by the government of France and she adds, noting resistance to antibiotics security conditions. His customers include spearheaded by Louis-Georges Tin, founder quickly develops. three high-end Vancouver restaurants. of the International Day Against Juvenile salmon are particularly Homophobia and editor of the Dictionary of vulnerable to these parasites and, as a To help pay legal costs, Morton created Homophobia, the plan was controversial result, many do not survive their migratory the Pacific Coast Wild Salmon Society at well before it was introduced. swim through these northern fjords. www.raincoastresearch.org. Individuals can Many hope the declaration will pressure “Wild salmon are resilient,” Morton “adopt a fry” for a $20 donation to help her nations to adopt more liberal laws, explains. Although they can adjust to altered legal campaign.  including same-sex marriage. More than 80 environments, they have limits. She predicts To learn more about the dangers of farmed countries outlaw same-sex relations in all wild pink salmon in the Broughton fishing, check out the Greenpeace video at circumstances. The maximum punishments Archipelago could face extinction if farm http://www.greenpeace.org/canada/en/camp range from a few years in jail to life practices are not changed. aigns/oceans/resources/videos/wild-salmon- Morton is also resilient. Her work has been in-trouble-video

12 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS FIRST WOMEN’S ART nelliegrams imprisonment. In nine countries or regions, the mandatory punishment for EXHIBIT OPENS IN homosexuality is death by execution. There is no mention of same-sex marriage in the UN declaration. Only a AFGHANISTAN handful of countries recognize same-sex marriage, among them Canada, Belgium BY LAURYN OATES and South Africa. Monsignor Celestino Migliore, the Holy See’s observer at the UN, claimed that “If adopted, they would create new and implacable discriminations.” The Vatican holds that religious rights are threatened if gays and lesbians’ human rights are enshrined in law. The Vatican has observer-only status at the U.N. Its announcement has been widely condemned. According to an editorial in Italy’s mainstream newspaper La Stampa, the Vatican’s reasoning was “grotesque.”

CZECH REPUBLIC POSED TO EXTEND ABORTIONS A new bill approved by the Czech Republic’s cabinet would extend abortion services to non-Czech European Union citizens. The bill was met with strong resistance by the Christian Democratic Union, a junior governing party that says the Czech Republic could become an abortion tourism destination for EU citizens. Christian Democratic Union ministers who supported the bill are being pressured to withdraw it. According to CeskeNoviny.cz, EU rules state that all participating member states should provide the same services and care to both EU and local citizens. Christian Democratic Union spokesman Martin Horalek stated that deputies of the Union are ready to “counter the EU’s same-care principle, even at the cost of a lawsuit and a fine Prague would probably face as a consequence.”

AUTHOR! AUTHOR! Rosemary Sullivan of the University of Toronto department of English received the Lorne Pierce Medal for achievement of The first exhibit of women's art in Afghanistan was held in 2008 and women-only art classes are gaining in popularity. merit in imaginative or critical literature. A renowned scholar, biographer, poet (KABUL) Five hundred years ago, the Afghan banned. Most artists fled the country and the and mentor to young writers, Sullivan is the capital of the Timur Period, Herat, was Central art schools were destroyed during the war. founder of the University of Toronto’s M.A. Asia’s hub for wisdom-seekers, arts and Today, Afghan art is quietly re-emerging, creative writing program and holds the culture. Afghan art made its way to the courts and this time, women are part of the Canada Research Chair in literature. In 1995 of the Ottoman Empire and into the Indian country’s nascent new wave in artistic Sullivan received the Governor General’s kingdoms, and later to the Safavid courts of expression. In 2008, the First Female Painting Award for Non-Fiction for Shadow Maker: the Persian Empire. Afghanistan founded art and Modern Painting Exhibition was held in The Life of Gwendolyn MacEwen. She has schools and eager young artists travelled from Kabul. For the first time, the public crowded published 10 books of creative non-fiction distant lands to attend them. Then, in 1996, the into a small gallery to view the work of the and poetry.  Taliban came to power and visual arts were first generation of Afghan female artists.

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 13 art in his home country. His centre may one day include a textiles design program and a multimedia component. The CCAA is building a mobile cinema unit that will travel around Kabul showing films in public places. CCAA’s focus on modern art is unique in Afghanistan. The few art schools in operation have generally stuck to the practice of teaching students to paint or draw by placing an inanimate object in front of them. While Afghanistan has its own strong artistic traditions, like calligraphy and miniatures, there are not yet any well-known women artists. Omarzad believes that for there to be a new Afghanistan, there must be new art, by new artists. “We cannot answer the complexity of today’s life with the manifestation of yesterday’s realities, or with a continuation of monotonousness, conservative methods,” he says. And Omarzad can’t think of anything more contemporary than featuring the work of women in a country which only recently re- emerged from a regime characterized by gender apartheid. Omarzad links the development of an artistic sector that includes women to the development of an open society. He points out that art promotes well-being in a place where healing is badly needed. There are high rates of post- University’s faculty of fine arts, 10 percent of traumatic stress disorder among Afghan women students are women, or a total of 30. as well as high rates of anxiety and depression The CCAA may one day open women’s art resulting from abuse, war and poverty. centres across the country. For now, it is Artists like Yalda Noori have found a refuge strapped for cash, space and supplies and has in the women’s art centre, a place where they been unable to take on new students in the are free to explore and experiment in a variety face of growing demand. The women’s art of art forms. As a refugee in Pakistan, 20-year- exhibit was funded by the Women of the World old Yalda was first exposed to painting when Foundation, a women’s art collection founded she signed up for a course in Islamabad. After by American collector Richard Colton. Funding returning to Afghanistan, she picked up art development in Afghanistan is an uphill painting again, but this time with fewer limits Above: Paintings by Afghanistan artists (clockwise) Manezha Hewad, Khadija Hashemi and Nabila Horakhsh. battle, as few foreign funding organizations on her creativity. Her paintings are all adorned support arts and culture; donors tend to see with lampshades, which, she says, “are nice The artists, aged between 16 and 25, had humanitarian aid as more important. and unsustainable, just like dreams.” created a collection which burst away from any And yet Omarzad is not deterred. His to-do Twenty-four-year-old Mariam Formuly says semblance of tradition and which the curator, list includes creating a contemporary arts high her art is rooted in the sorrows common to Rahraw Omarzad, described as “symbolically school for girls, opening a women’s graphic Afghan women: forced marriage, and the expressing their experiences from life in the design centre, enabling distance learning deaths of loved ones from war and suicide. framework of new artistic concepts.” opportunities in the arts for girls, giving Ramzia Tajzada finds herself depicting The exhibition, organized by the Centre for women artists the chance to exhibit their work injustice against women in her paintings, Contemporary Arts Afghanistan (CCAA), abroad, and making it possible for women to while Moqaddesa Yuresh avoids “harsh and expressed the deprivation and oppression earn graduate degrees in fine arts. Ambitious, frustrating realities” and concentrates on faced by Afghan women. Reactions from the but his track record suggests he just may expressing hopefulness. media and public were wide-ranging: There realize many of these projects. Many Afghan families hesitate to send their were wildly negative criticisms, as well as Omarzad, born in Kabul in 1964, has been daughters to art school. In a male-dominated heaps of praise. Omarzad was overwhelmed. working around the clock to bring Afghan sector, some are uncomfortable with the idea of When CCAA opened in 2004, it was the first women’s art to the outside world, holding men and women studying together. So, for now, organization of its kind in Afghanistan. The exhibitions from Berlin, Istanbul and New York CCAA is offering women-only art classes. Part founding group of artists placed an emphasis to Kazakhstan and Switzerland. He founded a of the centre’s mandate is to change society’s on supporting female artists. Within CCAA, the modern art magazine in Kabul and lectures in negative attitudes towards women in art. Female Artistic Centre is the organization’s Kabul University’s Fine Arts faculty. This year’s As Omarzad reminds us, “the advancement hallmark program. Almost as soon as CCAA inaugural women’s exhibition was the of women and their empowerment is an opened its doors, 200 women showed up to culmination of many years of dreaming and integral part of the process of democratization register for classes. Meanwhile, at Kabul planning to wedge open the door to women’s and civilization.”  14 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS the guest room BY SUNERA THOBANI

Obama Wish List As the excitement over the election of Barack Obama to the Antonio Taguba substantiated the allegations of torture. In presidency of the United States grows, the priorities that will her recent book, The Dark Side, New Yorker writer Jane Mayer shape the early days of his administration require critical describes how U.S. Vice-President Dick Cheney publicly attention. made the case for going into the dark side to win the Iraq With the banking system still in crisis and financial markets war. One of the most pernicious effects of this war has been on a volatile rollercoaster, the pressure will be great for a the rationalization of torture so and the urgency of closing President Obama to focus on domestic issues. But the new the prisons cannot be overstated. administration will also be saddled with the increasingly While shutting down the prisons would signal Obama’s unpopular War on Terror. How will Obama deliver on his rejection of attempts to legalize torture, a critical third step that promise of change to Americans, as well as to those around the would decisively transform the U.S. role in global politics would world who have greeted his candidacy with such enthusiasm? be the prosecution of war crimes. The testimony presented at The election campaign demonstrated that Americans are Winter Soldier panel, in addition to General Taguba’s report, more concerned about their houses, retirement savings, jobs, suggest that war crimes have been committed. Attorney health care and education than they are about international Vincent Bugliosi has laid out a case for the prosecution of issues, and Obama has successfully distanced himself from the George Bush in a U.S. court, arguing not only that Bush deregulation promoted by the Bush administration. But it will knowingly lied about the Iraq war, but that he should be held be critical for Obama to likewise detach his administration responsible for the deaths of 4,000-plus American soldiers. from the disastrous foreign policy of his predesessor. Taking swift action to investigate and prosecute war crimes Three steps, in my view, would signal a clear break with the would be the clearest commitment that an Obama past: ending the Afghan war, closing down Guantanamo Bay administration could make towards ending the imperial and Abu Ghraib, and prosecuting war crimes. hubris of the Bush administration, which tried to make the President-elect Obama seems resolved to end the Iraq war case that it was above the law. Not only will this reflect a quickly. But it appears that he plans to escalate the Afghan commitment to hold Americans accountable to the rule of war by sending in more American troops. This has the law, it will also value the lives of all those killed in the two makings of a disaster that could well bog down his wars, regardless of whether they were Americans or not. administration in a quagmire. Although it is difficult to get reliable statistics on the civilian American, British and Canadian forces have been unable death toll, British polling institute Opinion Research to provide security to Afghans or to stabilize the Karzai Business estimated the number of civilian deaths in Iraq as regime. Anger is mounting in that country at the ongoing high as one million last January. occupation. As a number of top military commanders, There has been much celebration around the world about including the British Commander, Brigadier Mark Carleton- the Obama victory. But if this victory is to be meaningful, Smith, have acknowledged, the Afghan war is militarily un- Obama will need to mobilize the American population to winnable. The only exit strategy is negotiation with the transform the country’s relationship to the rest of the world. Taliban for a political solution. The sooner the Obama Acting quickly and decisively to end two of the arguably administration does this, the quicker the mounting of most ill-conceived wars in American history, to end the use casualties can be stopped. of torture, and to hold the United States and its citizens Another Obama priority should be the immediate closure of Guantanamo Bay, Abu Ghraib, and all of the secret accountable to international (and U.S.) law will be change we prisons the U.S. has set up around the world. The Abu could all believe in. This would make president-elect Ghraib photographs, the graphic testimonies of Moazzam Obama’s meteoric rise to power a truly transformative  Begg and other British detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, as moment in modern history. well as that of the young Canadian Omar Khadr, all confirm Dr. Sunera Thobani is a professor of women’s and gender studies a seemingly cavalier use of torture at these prisons. at the University of British Columbia. This article first appeared The 2004 investigation conducted by U.S. Major-General on www.rabble.ca. HERIZONS WINTER 2009 15 Standing up for Winnipeg’s North End residents: Judy Wasylycia-Leis in the House of Commons. (Photo: CP images) A WOMAN’S PLACE is in the HOUSE of COMMONS

BY KAJ HASSELRIIS

n Winnipeg, there’s a bridge with the peculiar name of home.” In Ottawa, Wasylycia-Leis’s ethnic, hyphenated name Slaw Rebchuk that still serves as a dividing line for the didn’t fly, but in her adopted neighbourhood—filled with I city. Named after a well-loved local politician, The Slaw Eastern Europeans, Filipinos, Aboriginals and other groups— hangs over a vast rail yard packed with muddy train cars. “it’s perfectly normal and okay.” Historically, the rail yards divided the city in two. All roads To many outsiders, the North End is a rough patch of south of the yards led to the city’s affluent south, whereas the empty storefronts and pawn shops with a starring role on other side of the tracks was, and still is, a place many Winnipeg’s crime-obsessed evening news. But to Wasylycia- southenders fear to go—Winnipeg’s North End. Leis, it’s the place where she raised eyebrows and broke When you cross the bridge, the first thing you’ll pass is a barriers as a woman in provincial politics, co-parented her two friendly sign that sums up the North End in three short sons, one with special needs, and where she continues to speak words: “People before Profits.” Those words also summarize out for the poor and the marginalized—right across Canada. the ideology of the area’s Member of Parliament, a feminist- The member for Winnipeg North was born and raised in socialist named Judy Wasylycia-Leis who has been a Winterbourne, Ontario, a small town near Kitchener, by cheerleader for her struggling community ever since she parents who met during the Second World War. Her father moved here from Ottawa in 1981. was a soldier from Edmonton; her mother was a war bride Wasylycia-Leis, a tiny, curly-haired ball of energy, recalls that from the Netherlands. Wasylycia-Leis earned a B.A. in her realtor tried steering her towards south Winnipeg when she political studies from the University of Waterloo and arrived. But she resisted and has never looked back. For followed it up with a master’s degree from Carleton Wasylycia-Leis, moving to the North End was like “coming University in Ottawa. As an intern on Parliament Hill, she

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 17 worked with an NDP MP and a Liberal MP.But by the time work on another provincial campaign, this time in the election of 1974 was called, she knew which party she Manitoba. There, the party won power and the new premier, would support. Howard Pawley, asked Wasylycia-Leis to work for him. “I chose the NDP,” she says. “For me it was the only That’s when she and her husband Ron, married a few years political party that offered solutions that looked at systemic earlier, decided to move from the suburbs of Ottawa to the barriers to people’s equality and social justice. The NDP North End of Winnipeg. recognized that societal change involved looking at the Wasylycia-Leis loved her position as an executive distribution of wealth and power, and it had the policies and assistant in the premier’s office. But after counselling so the belief system to make that happen.” many women to take a serious run at elected office, she says, After the 1974 election, the party hired Wasylycia-Leis “I had to put my money where my mouth is.” Her local as its first full-time women’s organizer. She advanced the NDP MLA was well-liked, but was regarded by some as an participation of women in the party, revitalized women’s underachiever, and so Wasylycia-Leis didn’t see any reason not to take him down. “Everyone said it was impossible to beat Father [Don] Malinowski,” she says. She recalls that a local NDP MP told her flat-out that a woman couldn’t do it. Wasylycia-Leis proved them wrong. She hired a full-time organizer, added an extra phone line in her house, printed leaflets and sold oodles of party memberships. In the end, Malinowski dropped out. In the 1986 provincial election, Wasylycia- Leis claimed his North End seat and Premier Pawley rewarded her with a position in cabinet: minister of culture, heritage and status of women. Once in government, Wasylycia- Leis’s biggest challenge was winning stable funding for a network of women’s resource centres across Manitoba. It might sound like the Wasylycia-Leis at a late-1980s abortion rights rally in Winnipeg, with former Coalition for Reproductive Rights staffer Susan kind of thing the NDP would Riley. (Photo: Penni Mitchell naturally support, but, she recalls, “it was a huge fight to get core committees across the country and spoke up regularly for funding.” When it comes to budgets, she found out that women’s issues at caucus meetings. She also took charge of politicians don’t like to make long-term commitments. In recruiting women to run for office, including Alexa the end, she won the argument, and over 20 years later the McDonough, who went on to become leader of the party centres’ funding is intact. in 1995. Wasylycia-Leis’s career in cabinet turned out to be short. Wasylycia-Leis ran for provincial office in Ottawa three On International Women’s Day in 1988, the Pawley times—the first was by accident. As a member of her riding government fell on a non-confidence motion, and a month association, it was up to her to find a candidate for the 1977 and a half later voters threw Pawley out of office, although Ontario election. But on the night of the nomination Wasylycia-Leis held on to her seat. meeting, the fellow who agreed to run didn’t show. With the Even as an opposition backbencher, Wasylycia-Leis media and party leader present, Wasylycia-Leis took one for continued to break ground. A few months after the 1988 the team and ran in his place, finishing a distant third. She provincial election, she became the first MLA in the province’s ran two more times: in a 1980 by-election and the subsequent history to give birth while in office. When Wasylycia-Leis Ontario general election in 1981. breast-fed her son Joe during a committee meeting and set up Then, a few months later, the NDP dispatched her to a playpen in her office, a Tory MLA called her a “high-priced

18 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS When, one by one, all the banks in the North End started to close, leaving only high-interest cheque-cashers in their wake, Wasylycia- Leis fought for changes to federal payday loan legislation.

babysitter.” She got anonymous calls at home from men through the House of Commons. “It was a great victory,” she accusing her of wasting taxpayers’ money, but she also got says. “But it was also my greatest disappointment because it’s letters and cards of support from women. Wasylycia-Leis says still not implemented. It may never be at this rate.” She that, of all the decisions she’s ever made and all the votes she’s accuses government of caving in to the beer lobby. ever cast, her public breast-feeding still counts as the most Wasylycia-Leis actively involves herself in community controversial thing she’s ever done. initiatives. A couple of years ago she helped start a second- Wasylycia-Leis and her husband, Ron, have two sons. Joe hand clothing store for women, called the Up Shoppe, is the second; their first son, Nick, was born in 1984 and located on Winnipeg’s historic Selkirk Avenue. And in the suffers from a rare genetic disorder called Double Cortex spring of 2008 she worked with a group of residents to keep Syndrome. It causes him to have several seizures a day. After the North End’s only hardware store, Pollock’s, open for two brain surgeries, Wasylycia-Leis says, “he’s here against a business. They turned it into a co-op by electing a board of lot of odds.” directors and selling memberships to hundreds of local In the waning days of the federal Mulroney government, residents. Wasylycia-Leis found herself back in Ottawa, making a “It’s just wonderful to represent an area that’s got so much presentation to the House of Commons health committee. determination to control its own destiny and work from the That’s when she realized she wanted to leave provincial ground up,” she says. Yet, despite those successes, Wasylycia- politics and get involved in decisions at the federal level, as an Leis remains frustrated. MP. “The really tough question was, ‘How can I do this “There’s been some pockets of innovation and some really commute?’” she recalls. “Can I be a good mother and do the interesting developments locally, but we haven’t had the kind of work I need to do in Ottawa?” backing of the federal government, so it’s like putting Band- It turns out she didn’t need to worry about that right away. Aids on the situation.” The NDP was trounced in the 1993 federal election and When the Liberals were in government, she adds “they Wasylycia-Leis was one of many candidates who went down were no more receptive to the needs of a community like the to defeat. “It was the best thing that ever happened to me,” North End than the present Conservatives.” She cites Liberal she reflects. She took care of her two sons and volunteered for cuts to the National Housing Policy and women’s local political coalitions, fighting cuts to health care and organizations like the National Action Committee on the home care. It made her remember what grassroots organizing Status of Women, as well as broken promises on pharmacare, is all about. “You can get so tied up in the legislative process, home care and child care. and committees, and the media,” she says. Manitoba’s provincial NDP has held on to power since Four years later, she was back in the game, reclaiming 1999, yet Wasylycia-Leis doesn’t regret her decision to jump North End Winnipeg’s federal seat for the NDP. For over a to federal politics. “I can do as much in opposition as I could decade now, Wasylycia-Leis has been flying back and forth in government,” she believes. “Federally, there’s so much that from Ottawa to Winnipeg, raising her constituents’ concerns needs to be done.” and pushing for solutions. When, one by one, all the banks in In fact, she has no personal regrets, either. “My kids have the North End started to close, leaving only high-interest turned out okay and my marriage is still there.” Ron and her cheque-cashers in their wake, Wasylycia-Leis fought for 20-something sons accompany her to party and community changes to federal payday loan legislation. Now, there’s the functions—especially Nick. “If you give him a choice government-run Community Financial Services Centre in between a meeting and a movie, he’ll take the meeting any her riding to help people open bank accounts and borrow day,” she says. money at decent rates. In Ottawa, Wasylycia-Leis is constantly standing up for Another concern in the North End is the prevalence of the North End. But she’s never forgotten her first job for the fetal alcohol syndrome. Wasylycia-Leis’s response was to NDP, way back in the ’70s. “My biggest overriding objective force alcohol distributors to slap labels on beer bottles is to get more women into political life,” she says. “There’s no warning pregnant women against drinking. After years of point in doing any of this if we don’t encourage others. I need behind-the-scenes advocacy, her motion on the issue passed to show people that if I can do it, they can do it, too.” 

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 19 HOMELESS at 40 BELOW BY MISHA WARBANSKI

ess than a month after arriving in Whitehorse, one thing was already clear: Affordable housing is at a L premium. After relying on the generosity of new friends and being shocked by the short column of rental options in the local Yukon News, my partner and I moved into the campground. It was summer, so it wasn’t a bad option. By the time winter rolled around, we’d have our feet on the ground. With a vacancy rate of about two per cent, soaring rents and rising fuel costs, it’s getting harder to live in Canada’s North, even if the economy is booming. I considered myself lucky, and within four months we found a cabin to rent. Many others aren’t as privileged or as fortunate. After years of going on and off social assistance, Carrie Gabrielson found herself living in a pup tent barely big enough to sit up in. Two years ago, driven by a desire to stay off social assistance and to take matters into her own hands, she decided to upgrade. She got her hands on a wall tent that’s been her home ever since. With few housing and shelter services available, Yukon’s Status of Women Council coordinator Charlotte Hrenchuk says single women and their children are the fastest-growing group in need of housing across the North. With few choices, many women put themselves into danger just to have a place to sleep.

“Many women and youth are forced into survival sex to Photos: Ian Stewart

20 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS Carrie Gabrielson built her own structure to cope with the acute shortage of affordable housing in Whitehorse. Being homeless in Canada’s North can be a matter of life and death as well as an issue of poverty, inadequate social assistance rates and exorbitant prices for basics like groceries. Carrie Gabrielson has seen the issue from both sides.

guarantee them beds,” Hrenchuk says. Other women get As a country, Canada has been criticized for not doing drunk or high to get a bed in detox. enough to tackle the roots of poverty. In 2007, Miloon In 2007, Hrenchuk interviewed 66 women in the territory Kothari, the UN’s special rapporteur on housing, spent 13 who had experienced homelessness. She shared their stories days in Canada to evaluate housing quality and access. He in a report, A Little Kindness Would Go A Long Way. visited urban centres and reservations alike, and was “Women just go from one guy to another,” noted one study disappointed with what he witnessed. participant. “These men want women to drink with them, or “Canada has a long and proud history of housing successes, get high. They expect sex. … Most of them live in real and has been known around the world for its innovative dumps, but when you’re so tired, cold and hungry, you do it.” housing solutions,” Kothari wrote in his preliminary report. Another woman discussed how homelessness has kept her “There has been a significant erosion of housing rights over in a cycle of violence: “I’m staying with my boyfriend out of the past two decades. Canada’s successful social housing town, but I’m an alcoholic and he drinks and abuses me. I’m program, which created more than half a million homes working through a lot of stuff from residential school. I’m starting in 1973, has been discontinued. The three remaining healing and trying to work on my problems. But it’s hard. I national housing and homelessness initiatives will expire in just seem to go from one abusive man to another.” the coming months.” A call to action to address poverty and abuse—conditions The Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation puts the that lead to homelessness and keep women vulnerable to number of families inadequately housed at 1.5 million. The abuse—the report sheds light on the factors surrounding number of homeless in the country is more difficult to measure. homelessness, from a shortage of affordable shelter, to more Canada is suffering from what the UN’s Committee on deep-rooted issues that include poverty, domestic violence, Economic, Social and Cultural Rights calls a “national substance abuse and the legacy of colonialism and Indian emergency” of adequate housing. Geographically isolated, residential schools. with a small population, Canada’s North provides some

22 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS particular challenges. The cost of living is high. Gas in “I was hitchhiking into town and bringing my laundry. A Whitehorse sat at a buck forty-four most of the summer and police officer drove by at six o’clock in the morning and says, jumped higher in the smaller communities. Newspaper ‘Do you know it’s minus 42?’ And I thought, I live in a wall classifieds advertise a cord of wood for $200. tent. Do you think I don’t notice that it’s minus 42?” “Everything is trucked up that highway, from building Gabrielson had friends who took her in during the cold materials to a can of soup,” Hrenchuk says. Limited resources snap. She’s counts herself lucky. She may live poor, but she in rural communities all over the North exacerbate the considers her quality of life to be pretty high. In the summer housing situation. “In Nunavut, it manifests itself in extreme she commutes with a small battery-powered scooter. But overcrowding in all the communities.” when it’s too cold in the winter, hitchhiking is the only option. “Sometimes I can’t get back home. I’ve often had to Violence and Homelessness stay at the shelter, the Sally Ann.” Statistics Canada reports that women across the territories The shelter in Whitehorse has only 10 beds. One room are three to 10 times more likely to end up in a transition with three beds is reserved for women, but Gabrielson has home or shelter than their sisters in the South. Native women been turned away more than once. “If a man goes in there are between three and four times more likely to report abuse first—its first-come, first-served—they’ll put only men in than non-native women. Mental illness and disabilities there. If the beds are full, the beds are full. You have confound the situation further. And yet Hrenchuk believes nowhere—and I mean literally—you have nowhere to go.” that homelessness doesn’t discriminate against age, race or There is a women’s shelter in the city, Kaushee’s Place, but class. Many women, she maintains, “are several Visa its mandate is to serve women fleeing violence. Operating at payments away from it.” more than capacity, the shelter is unable to accommodate “I’ve talked to women who were living a very nice middle- those who simply need a bed for the night. class life and then their husband died and … the estate was A year after Hrenchuk’s report was released, efforts are frozen for a long period of time,” being made to bolster services. In Hrenchuk says. “She couldn’t pay 2007, the federal government her bills, she couldn’t buy food.” “I live in a wall tent. granted millions to establish five The cold climate causes Do you think I don’t notice new women’s shelters and support problems not only for those existing shelters on native seeking shelter, but also for the that it’s minus 42?” reserves. But in Canada’s North, people who want to do something —Carrie Gabrielson Aboriginal communities are not about it. Urban scenes of homeless on reservations and thus are people huddled in doorways are excluded from that funding. less common here. More often people couch-surf, camp out or Barbara Powick, the director of Kaushee’s Place in live in unsafe or squalid conditions. Hrenchuk refers to the Whitehorse, estimates that 60 percent of the women who phenomenon as “hidden homelessness.” seek refuge there are native. Her clients come from all regions Robin Hamilton, a policy analyst for the Yukon Territorial of the territory. Government Women’s Directorate, notes that while exact There was some good news in June. The territorial numbers are hard to come by, some things are evident. The government raised social assistance rates by an average of 25 Yukon’s three women’s transition homes in Whitehorse, per cent. Hrenchuk says the hike in social assistance is a good Dawson and Watson Lake operate at capacity or more, as step, but it’s barely enough to keep up with the cost of living. does the 10-bed Salvation Army shelter. Many landlords simply raised rates. “[They’re] talking about these drastic increases in rents and Adaptation that they’re going to have to rent a place for $1,200 a month, Gabrielson has transformed her abode by adding extra layers but their shelter allowance is $800, which means they’re on the walls and building a mezzanine for her bed. She going to have to take $400 out of food. Well, where does that bought a solar panel to generate some electricity, and a friend leave them? The same old thing—eat or pay the rent.” gave her another one. She heats with a wood stove and Carrie Gabrielson knows what it takes to get creative and showers in the city. But there are days when even her wall make her resources stretch. She’d like to see more people and tent can’t block out the cold. Last winter, she decided to go organizations think outside the social-housing box, and she’s back to school. She moved her tent inside the city limits so it happy that a proposed women’s apartment building aims to would be easier to commute. But there was a catch: City do just that. bylaws forbid having a stove inside a wall tent. So Gabrielson For Gabrielson, having a place to call home has to do with spent the whole winter without heat. permanence and a feeling of stability. Recalling her time in

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 23 Gwethalyn Graham

A Liberated Women in a Conventional Age

BY Barbara Meadowcroft

978-0-88961-470-3 $24.95

This discerning and engaging look at Graham’s life and work captures the essence of this remarkably accomplished and inspired woman who defied convention, fought for social justice, and fearlessly challenged conteporary prejudicial thinking.

Exceptional Books, Exceptional Value womenspress.ca

24 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS the pup tent, she says: “I considered myself homeless. Now I people with disabilities, and a halfway house for women would not because of where I’m at. I’m pretty stable now. But coming out of the Whitehorse Correctional Centre. when you’re moving around and constantly having to find At Kaushee’s Place, Powick wants to see more second-stage new places—I’d be somewhere one week, or two weeks or a housing for women transitioning out of abusive relationships. month—I really did feel like I was homeless. The shelter’s five apartments—like the rest of the building— “But as soon as I built that platform [for the tent] and was are full. Many of the women could benefit from life-skills committed that this is what I’m going to be doing, I’ll training. As Powick puts it, “a chance to learn responsible probably be doing it for 10 years—that was the thing, that stewardship—the importance of rent, what is stability and was an acceptance,” Gabrielson says. “All of a sudden, I’m how to create it … right up to where does she see her life and not homeless, my home is just different than what other where does she want it to be. If you had the life you wanted, people have.” what would it look like? What would it sound like?” Gabrielson may simply be realistic. There is a wait-list of Gabrielson says it is easier to imagine her future now than more than 100 families at Yukon Housing: a quarter are single it was at times in the past. “The funny thing about poverty is women and their children. Women’s groups in the territory you’re so involved with where you’re at. You can hardly see for lobbied the corporation to prioritize women fleeing violence— yourself how to help yourself. Once you get above that line of a battle they won—but with an average of two spots opening being so desperate that you can only see survival, you can up each month, the waiting list continues to grow. start working on other things.” After further consultation, Yukon Housing is planning a She’s more confident and more comfortable about what 30-unit building for women and children that will be close her future holds. “I’m still going to be living on my six or to transportation, schools and amenities. Hamilton says the seven hundred dollars a month. I’ll have saved up a bit of building will come with a housing manager, programming money. I’ll be helping people. I’m going to be working and a communal kitchen, and be located in a middle-class towards making other people’s lives better.” neighbourhood. The facility is scheduled for completion In the library where she works most afternoons, in 2010. Gabrielson flips through a book on houses—she’s got big The wish list continues for women’s groups and plans. She points to a big Victorian home with green community organizations in the territories. They would like clapboard siding and intricate carvings. “I’m going to paint to see a youth shelter, more supportive-independent living for the outside of my tent to look like that,” she says. 

DOCUMENTING HOMELESSNESS

According to the November 2007 government and they won’t even 3. Increase the number of study You Can Just Blink and It spend 20 dollars to fix a darned emergency shelter beds. Happens: A Study of Women’s thing. Then if you request things, 4. Increase second-stage housing Homelessness North of 60, many they get mad and evict you. In the options. landlords are taking advantage of a dead of winter they can evict you! 5. Create more women-friendly severe shortage of housing by Then they don’t give you your housing-authority policies. gouging renters. damage deposit back.” 6. Strengthen landlord-and-tenant According to one respondent regulations. interviewed, “One woman had to You Can Just Blink and It Happens 7. Implement poverty-reduction use a bucket of water to flush her echoes other reports on homelessness strategies. toilet. Her landlord told her to get that recommend governments and 8. Strengthen front-line services for someone to fix it for her. She took it agencies work together to: women. apart and fixed it herself. I don’t 1. Create a national housing policy 9. Enhance access to education and understand why there aren’t rules for inclusive of women. training programs. the landlords. They’re getting rent 2. Increase the supply of decent, 10. Ensure access to child-care or all this money from the safe, low-income housing. services.

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 25 YES Means YES EXCEPT WHEN IT DOESN’T BY MARGARET CHO

26 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS he beginning of my sex life was not so great. I was that I didn’t want to have. Not exactly what’s considered 14 and although it was the first time I technically “real” rape, or “date” rape, like my first time, although it is a T had sex, I am conflicted about whether I consider it kind of rape of the spirit—a dishonest portrayal or distortion losing my virginity, because I didn’t say yes to it. He was a of my own desire in order to appease another person—so it much older man, extremely handsome, in his 20s, and dating wasn’t rape at gunpoint, but rape as the alternative to having a vivacious and pretty blond senior cheerleader from my high to explain my reasons for not wanting to have sex. You do it school. He was grown up and had an apartment, and my out of love sometimes, to save another’s feelings. And you do friend was dead drunk and we were getting kicked out of a it out of hate sometimes, because you don’t want to hear your party. We had no place to go because I’d told my parents I was partner complain—like you hate their voice so much that staying at her house, and she’d told her parents she was whenever you aren’t made to hear it, it is a blessing. staying at my house. He said we could go with him and he This is all sex I have said yes to, and sometimes even would let her sleep it off at his place. He was so good looking, initiated—that I didn’t want to have. Often I would initiate I was scared to talk to him. His girlfriend was very popular at the encounter just to get it over with, so it would be behind school, so it made me a little star-struck to be around him. me, so it would be done. It is the worst feeling; it is like Before I knew it, he was on top of me. Then he was inside unpaid prostitution, emotional whoring. You don’t get paid in me. No ceremony, no foreplay, no warning, no consent. It never dollars, you get paid in averted arguments; you get paid by came up. He was the kind of guy who thought he had some being able to avoid the truth for another day. You hold your kind of “YES” carte blanche. Entitled by his physical beauty breath and you don’t feel your body, and you just let go of and status in the upper classes of high school society, he thought yourself. Your body responds just enough to make them think he didn’t need to ask for consent, especially from a nobody like that you are into it, that you want it, that this is really sex. But me. Who was I to turn him down? It it isn’t. I hate it, but I have done it, hurt and hurt and did not stop You hold your breath and I really don’t ever want to do it hurting, and it still hurts now when I again because it is dehumanizing think about the fact that I didn’t say and you don’t feel your and demoralizing. anything because I was too scared. body, and you just let go I said yes because I felt it was too I didn’t say no, because I much trouble to say no. I said yes thought he was beautiful and of yourself. because I didn’t want to have to popular and grown up, and I was defend my “no,” qualify it, justify none of these things. I didn’t say no, because I didn’t think it—deserve it. I said yes because I thought I was so ugly and I had the right to say no. He rescued us from the sinking fat that I should just take sex every time it was offered, ship of the party. His girlfriend was a popular cheerleader. because who knew when it would be offered again. I said yes He was gorgeous, and I was a fat, gothy nerd. I thought I because I believed what the kids at school told me—that the should have been grateful. He finally came inside me in a only way I could get laid was to be raped. I said yes to globby mess, pushed me off the bed, and was soon asleep. partners I never wanted in the first place, because to say no at I sat on the floor, my striped tights around my ankles, sick any point after saying yes for so long would make our entire to my stomach, too scared to move. The next day, all the relationship a lie, so I had to keep saying yes in order to keep kids at school heard about it. They told me, “The only way the “no” I felt a secret. This is such a messed-up way to live, you would get sex is if you got raped, because you are so fat such an awful way to love. and ugly.” So these days, I say yes only when I mean yes. It does You never forget your first time. After that awful start, I require some vigilance on my part to make sure I don’t just go thought I’d managed to make a full recovery. My first on sexual automatic pilot and let people do whatever. It forces boyfriend was younger than I was; he had long hair and looked me to be honest with myself and others. It makes me pretty like a girl, and he sometimes got me so wet it would be remember that loving myself is also about protecting myself running down my leg (seriously). He made me feel so beautiful and defending my own borders. that I could start to see it, too. I learned to love sex and love I say yes to me.  myself and I grew up and became exactly what I wanted to From the book Yes Means Yes, Visions of Female Sexual become and I don’t go to high school reunions. Ever. Power and A World Without Rape, edited by Jessica Valenti My past haunted me still, but it came to me in strange and Jaclyn Friedman, published in January 2009 by Seal Press, a

Photo: Austin Young ways. I am surprised by how much sex I have had in my life member of the Perseus Books Group. Copyright © 2008.

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 27 RidingRiding

t’s a couple of days after the U.S. election and Serena BY CINDY FILIPENKO Ryder is stillHighHigh enraptured by U.S. president-elect Barack I Obama’s victory. “I was watching the election on my computer, because I don’t have a TV. I thought, Wow, for kids born into this, it won’t be history, it will just be.” And when those same kids are cognizant of music, Serena Ryder won’t be this year’s breakout artist, she’ll just be. With a harmonious relationship with a major label and talent supported by solid performing skills, Ryder is well-prepared. She’s already been featured at the massive Lollapalooza and Bonnaroo festivals. At a time when many young artists are turning towards independent production and distribution, the 25-year-old Ontario native is more than happy to have the support of EMI. As for the indie scene, it’s a clear case of been there, done that for Ryder. This talented multi-instrumentalist wrote her first song at 13 and released her first indie record at 15. Talking to Ryder, it becomes apparent that this wasn’t a vanity act of a musically precocious teen, but rather an inevitability and a way to test the waters. Her first gig was an impromptu song at a family wedding when she was two. By the time she was eight, she was occasionally performing publicly at places like the Miss Diana Motor Hotel.

With a voice that’s been likened to Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin, songwriting skills far beyond her years, and a three-octave range, Serena Ryder’s new release, is it o.k.?, is riding high on the Canadian music scene. (Photo: Mary Rozzi)

28 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS

“It was a kind of shady place on the side of some highway. was her a cappella version of the 1941 standard “At Last” that It was the Halloween Howl and I got up and sang Buddy was the standout. Ryder proved herself capable of taking on Holly dressed as vampire.” Etta James’ signature tune and making it her own. Around that time, Ryder was taking piano lessons, but her Among the people who took note of Ryder’s exquisite teacher was much more interested in her singing than her vocals was Frank Davies, founder of the Canadian playing ability. For this self-confessed “AM radio kid,” it was Songwriters Hall of Fame. Singing at a press conference in discovering Alanis Morrisette that she found vindication for the organization, Ryder so impressed the organization’s for the emotional storm that accompanies most young executive director that the two soon found themselves women through adolescence. working on If Your Memory Serves You Well. The 2006 “I was 13 when Jagged Little Pill came out. It said in words album, her debut on EMI, consisted of 12 covers and three and music things I couldn’t yet describe.” original compositions. The covers range from the AM- Listening to the album was like listening to someone friendly remake of “Good Morning Starshine,” from the bursting out of her body. Broadway musical Hair, to the stellar remake of Paul “When you’re becoming a woman and going trough this Anka’s “It Doesn’t Matter Anymore.” While unmistakably period of dramatic growth, everything feels much closer and diverse, the selections were all from the Great Canadian more intense,” she says. “The beautiful thing about being a Songbook. woman is the connection with the emotional part of yourself.” For a major-label debut to be a collection of covers is rather Accessing the emotional part became essential to Ryder unusual, even risky. But If Memory Serves You Well expanded when she began writing her own Ryder’s audience and made the songs and realizing just how critics stand up and take notice. important music was to her. For Ryder, recording covers was “It was my medicine,” she When Ryder eventually found oddly liberating. recollects. “Nothing else could the indie road to be paved “You can do covers for fun,” make me feel myself.” she says. “You don’t have to have After she’d almost worn out with lots of sweat and not a that intense personal investment her copy of Jagged Little Pill, lot of reward, she signed on when it’s someone else’s words. Ryder found herself motivated with Hawksley Workman’s The performance comes from a by a host of other women who different place, you can play were changing the definition of label, Isadora Records. dress-up.” popular music while working on If Your Memory Serves You Well their own terms. Among her effectively laid the groundwork other influences were Tracy Chapman, Ani DiFranco and for her sophomore EMI effort, the newly released is it o.k.? Melissa Etheridge. While the title track refers to the eternal question that “Their music felt very intuitive. They sang about things plagues many women, the resulting album is much more than that aren’t easily put into words.” okay, it’s fantastic. Other influences in Ryder’s life include her parents. Ryder has three distinct talents that should ensure the type “My mother was a good example of a powerful woman. of longevity enjoyed by few musicians. First, there’s her voice, When I was growing up she was a graphic designer at George a distinctively raspy instrument that has been compared to Brown College, but when she was my age she was a go-go artists as diverse Janis Joplin and Aretha Franklin. Second is dancer. Andy, who’s been my dad since I was two, is also a the rare quality of that voice, a three-octave wonder that is a stellar dude. I’ve had amazing role models.” beautiful contrast to the thin-voiced, factory-produced A strong sense of security has allowed the musician to take popsters who currently dominate pop music charts. Third, she control of her career and make changes as necessary. For writes songs that somehow seem wiser than her years. But example, when Ryder eventually found the indie road to be after a couple of listenings, they really do sound 25, in much paved with lots of sweat and not a lot of reward, she signed the same way Morrisette’s Jagged Little Pill spoke to Ryder’s on with Hawksley Workman’s label, Isadora Records. This generation, or Joni Mitchell’s Blue spoke to young women of pairing resulted in 2005’s Unlikely Emergency. While the CD her mother’s generation—in their own, unique voices. showcased Ryder’s considerable abilities as a songwriter, it Released in November and pending a U.S. release in

30 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS February, is it o.k.? will earn Ryder both accolades and a legion it o.k.?, “What I Wanna Know” is astounding. With both a of new fans. On the single “Weak in The Knees,” a Ryder percussion arrangement and a melody that wouldn’t be out of composition that first appeared on If Your Memory Serves You place on a K.T.Tunstall album, this song plays to all of Ryder’s Well, she sounds like a female Cat Stevens. This may be from strengths. Ryder’s a damned fine poet, player and singer who their shared vocal characteristic: a tremolo that wrings pain operates with the minimum amount of ego (she refers to ego from a lyric of such painful anger that it seems to make the as the root of all evil) required to do the work. beautiful melody seem almost ironic. is it o.k.? is not all about “The more that I’ve lived, the more I realize it’s really about painful ballads, although there are other soul-rippers here, coming from the inside out. That’s when you connect with including “Hiding Place” and “Why Can’t I Love You?” people,” she says. “You have to honour those little voices inside.” In her music video “Little Bit of Red,” Ryder is a rocker in Realizing that half of Canadian schools have no music much the same groove as a Melissa Etheridge or a more programs, Ryder has partnered with other Toronto-area articulate Stevie Nicks. She rocks. “Your black and white musicians to work on Music Monday, a project of the needs a little bit of red,” she suggests to an unseen lover who Coalition for Music Ed in Canada that encourages other is a victim of their own narrowness. “Say you come back, but young musicians to honour their voices. didn’t want to, still pretending everything is alright!” There is “I think the biggest piece of advice I can give other young such a contained passion behind this guitar-driven three- women is to really figure out what your message is. Figure out chord rocker that it begs repeat listening. your purpose.” But it’s the bluesy “What I Wanna Know” that has a truly With the release of is it o.k.? Ryder has found her soul-stirring vocal delivery. Featured as the closing number on purpose—crafting songs that will surely make their way into the Bravo-produced concert that accompanied the release of is the Great Canadian Songbook. 

caitlin press presents

Seeking Balance Conversations with BC Women in Politics Anne Edwards

“Women’s voices in British Columbian politics are silent no longer, thanks to Anne Edwards. They speak loud and clear in this must-read volume...” —Jean Barman

Featuring conversations with more than eighty politicians, including Rosemary Brown, Grace McCarthy, Kim Campbell, Joy McPhail and Carole James. Available at fine bookstores everywhere www.caitlin-press.com

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 31 WHERE Do We Go From HERE? GREEN PARTY LEADER ELIZABETH MAY

BY PENNI MITCHELL

Although the Green Party pulled in an impressive 6.8 percent of the popular vote in Canada’s October 2008 election, receiving about 70 percent as many votes as the Bloc Quebecois, Elizabeth May’s Greens did not win a single seat in the House of Commons. Herizons caught up with May in Cape Breton shortly after the Canadian and U.S. elections to see where the Greens go from here.

HERIZONS: You rocked in the federal leaders’ debate leading up debates made the Green Party real for the first time for many to the Canadian election. You held Stephen Harper’s heels to the people, and certainly that puts us in a better starting place for fire for two solid hours, and even right-wing media pundit the next election campaign. Andrew Coyne agreed that you won the debate. So why weren’t Despite Canadians saying that the environment ranked as their any Greens elected? number one issue, they didn’t respond to Stéphane Dion’s Green ELIZABETH MAY: The debates were a critical factor for Shift message. How would you take us beyond Kyoto and radically some 277,000 people who hadn’t voted Green before and reduce greenhouse gas emissions? decided they would. Almost a million people voted green, but ELIZABETH MAY: Well, it wasn’t Stéphane Dion’s shift, it the dynamics of Greens winning their first seats was a little was the Green Party’s platform watered down, and it was harder than I thought it was going to be. demonized before it got out of the gate. And as far as the It’s harder to get elected under our first past the post parties that claim to support Kyoto—they got a majority of system when you are a truly national party. We were the only the votes. [major] party that got more votes than in the 2006 election I think it was a tragedy that Jack Layton decided to work [for explanation, see footnote below], but those people against tax shifting. The NDP’s green credentials had, up weren’t in one riding or one region. until this last election, been more robust than the Liberals’. Frankly, I was sure we were going to win seats, but it was This was the first time ever that the environmental groups’ my first national political campaign. But the fact that we won rating platforms put the NDP in third place because of Jack

In the October election, the Green Party received 273,545 more votes than it did in the 2006 election. By contrast, the Conservatives received 167,494 fewer votes; the Liberals 846,230 fewer, the NDP 74,182 fewer and the BQ 173,610 fewer.

32 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS “None of the old ideologies are capable of really confronting the limits to the ecosystem of the planet and the fact that the planetary systems are in rapid decline.”—Elizabeth May

Layton’s decision to come out against carbon taxes and attack is “They’re splitting the vote, and we’re really more green than them. I think it was a cynical attempt … the collaboration anyone because we just took their policies, and vote for us.” between Jack Layton and Stephen Harper … with the goal of We are not ideologically right, left or centre. Those annihilating the Liberal Party. ideologies are rather outmoded at a time when it’s not about It was Jean Chretien who took carbon tax off the agenda. how do you maximize economic production, either through The fact Dion was willing to say a central piece of the Liberal state engagement or through private-sector, deregulated platform was tax shifting was phenomenal and brave: It was engagement. But neither parts of the spectrum are going to a brilliant thing to do and what should have happened with say, “We have to stop economic production at a certain level government a decade before. Everyone would expect that because there are limits to growth.” Stephen Harper, who doesn’t believe the climate change None of the old ideologies are capable of really confronting crisis is real to begin with, would attack that. But what really cut the legs out from it was the NDP attacking it first. It was being framed as “This is an increase in your price of your gas.” This wasn’t about climate policy at all. This was about where Harper wanted it framed, which was “This [is] a tax grab.” There’s no question the Liberals didn’t explain the policy well. [But] I don’t think it was something Canadians are against once they know how it works. We may never see one of the old-line parties willing to put forward policy that’s honest, that needs to be done to protect the climate, because they’ll have people in their party saying, “But look what it did to Dion.” It’s like the third rail—don’t touch it. And the climate crisis is worsening, and it’s more urgent, and it’s irreversible. So this election being about a climate policy measure but never debated in the context of the climate crisis … it’s a large- level tragedy, in the context of looming runaway Elizabeth May, leader of The Green Party of Canada, is a member of the Order of Canada and the author and co-author of five books, including the newly released Global Warming for Dummies global warming, that we weren’t able to make the (John Wiley & Sons). (Photo: Photo Canadian Press) issue about that. the limits to the ecosystem of the planet and the fact that the A lot of people say the Green Party is a conservative party, despite planetary systems are in rapid decline, and that survival is the your progressive and innovative policies on agriculture, poverty, issue, not production. So, given that we don’t fit the old women’s equality and the economy. Other people say the Greens labels, I suppose it’s not surprising that, for whatever just split the left vote. How do you respond to those criticisms? motivation there is with different parties, they try to ascribe ELIZABETH MAY: You have to say, look at our platform. I to us the label most likely to drive their supporters away from guess it’s just the nature of a party that is defying the labels. even looking at us as a serious alternative. Very rarely is the same person saying the contradictory messages. The message from NDP supporters is, “The greens Are you worried that with a new Liberal leader there could be less are right-wing.” The message from the Conservatives is, gravitation among progressive voters to the Green Party? “They’re closet Liberals,” and the message from the Liberals ELIZABETH MAY: I think Michael Ignatieff has an HERIZONS WINTER 2009 33 “I do think it is very unlikely any Liberal leader will ever again be willing to say “I’m going to take a tough climate measure and take it forward to the electorate.”

extraordinary mind. But I’m not sure where he is on foreign and life-saving condition. I am just convinced that Stephen policy. It may have been a monumental blunder [to support Harper is not going through with anything to do with George W. Bush’s war on Iraq]. Whether he changes his greenhouse gas emissions if it has any negative impact on the mind or not, he’ll be carrying a lot of baggage that may drive growth of the [Alberta] tar sands. more Liberals over to the Green Party. It’s very hard to know In this economic crisis, what would your first move be as prime how they are going to position themselves; they’ve got to minister? reinvent themselves petty rapidly. The Liberal Party is a pretty big tent. I do think it is very ELIZABETH MAY: The crisis came about in the U.S. from a unlikely any Liberal leader will ever again be willing to say lack of regulations and from economic activity that’s not based “I’m going to take a tough climate measure and take it on positive productive activity, but speculation and greed. We forward to the electorate.” That’s what worries me. need to make sure people’s pensions are protected. You don’t want panic to creep in and companies laying people off…. What does the election of president-elect Barack Obama mean for Governments should make sure mortgage rates are reasonable. the greening of Canada? But to get our economy kick-started, to make sure we don’t ELIZABETH MAY: It could be quite good. start sliding into stagflation, our program, including tax If he is the person I hope he is, he is going to make Robert shifting, is the best thing you can do to stimulate the Kennedy Jr. the administrator of the Environmental economy in these circumstances. So putting the taxes on Protection Agency. Instead of having polluters write laws pollution and reducing taxes on income, reducing taxes on that deregulate, as Bush has been doing, we’re going to have jobs—these are direct concrete measures to stimulate the one of the best environmental lawyers with a really clear sense economy. And investment in expanding rail service both for of how to make polluters pay and tow the line. freight and passengers, public investment in urban mass Part of what I worry about is that Obama hasn’t been transit, for new waterworks—these are really good public against nuclear, but he has talked about a renewable energy infrastructure programs that stimulate the economy and are revolution, about greening jobs. His goal for 2050 is the right very labour-intensive. They create green jobs right across the goal—an 80 percent reduction [in greenhouse gas emissions] country and they’re stable, and they’re long-term investments of 1990 levels by 2050—whereas [Stephen] Harper’s is 50 in public welfare. percent below 2006 levels by 2050. So it could bode well for There’s no question that it’s the economics of governments Canada that Obama is in. saying let’s modernize our economy with a modern high- What it does for our domestic policy is less important than speed rail between cities where it makes sense, like Calgary what it does for the world. And for the planet, it really helps and Edmonton. It makes sense to do that immediately. That to get the U.S. on board. The U.S. is at about 25 percent of would be a valuable project with lots of benefits to the global emissions. Canada is a small contributor to greenhouse economy. It’s all good! gases at two percent; but on a per capita level, we are one of Within about two days of the election, Don Drummond, the highest per capita [emitters]. senior economist of the TD Bank, was saying now is the time The place where our policies under the Harper for government to bring in tax shifting because it’s what we administration have been the most damaging isn’t just that he need to stimulate the economy. has cancelled any progress towards reducing emissions in Canada; it’s that he’s sent his negotiators to international What’s it going to take to get a dozen or more Greens elected into negotiations to block progress for everyone else dealing with the House of Commons? the whole picture of the 100 percent of the emissions. ELIZABETH MAY: A lot more people voting Green! The fact of Obama’s election is going to have an effect on I owe it to the nearly one million people who voted Green [international] negotiations, for sure. Are we blocking to get into the House of Commons as soon as possible. So progress or are we working constructively? That’s a critical yes, I pretty much have to run in a by-election. 

34 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS I am Ho Hear me Roar (WITH APOLOGIES TO HELEN REDDY)

BY RENÉE BONDY

Don’t call me a woman. The author discoverd that students often preferred other terms for their friends.

teach a course on women and friendship. It’s as good a Recently, during an end-of-term reflection where I asked teaching gig as any feminist could hope for and I learn students whether the course met their expectations, Sarah, a I countless things from the women’s studies students, who student, raised her hand. “I don’t want you to take this the range in age from 17 to about 24. wrong way,” she said, “but for the first several weeks of this

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 35 WILDExpeditions WOMEN

Canada’s Outdoor Adventure Company for Women since 1991 join us

2009 ALL-WOMEN ADVENTURES AND RETREATS

Kayak, Hike, Surf on Vancouver Islands’ Pacific Rim Hike, Cycle, Kayak in Newfoundland’s Gros Morne National Park Mountain Bike in Fabulous Fernie, BC Paddle with Belugas in Churchill, Manitoba Canoe, Kayak, Bike or Retreat in Northern Ontario Cycle, Hike and Paddle the Bay of Fundy, New Brunswick Hike and Explore Cape Breton, Nova Scotia

www.WildWomenExp.com [email protected] 1-888-WWE-1222

SAFE PLACE TO PARK.

Parkyoursavingswithusandenjoythe freedomofOutlook’sleadinginterestrates, predictablereturns,andunlimiteddeposit guarantee*.

Call us at (1-877) 958-7333 or visit us online at www.outlookfinancial.com.

*Deposits guaranteed 100% by the Credit Union Deposit Guarantee Corporation.

36 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS course, you really bugged me. You called us ‘women’. It made students call each other many things, and woman does not me really uncomfortable. It wasn’t a word I ever used to refer rank highly among their choices. to my friends.” I take some solace in the fact that I am not alone in my I was taken aback. Having taught the course several times, discomfort with this particular linguistic turn. In her essay I could usually anticipate the students’ likes and dislikes “Becoming What We’re Called,” Alice Walker expressed her about the class. But what surprised me wasn’t just what Sarah fervent disdain for the widespread use of the phrase “you said, it was the chorus of “mm-hmms” and the nods of assent guys” to address women. She poses the question, “Isn’t it at that rippled across the lecture hall. least ironic that after so many years of struggle for women’s “Like nails on a chalkboard,” another student added, in liberation, women should end up calling themselves this?” reference to hearing me use the term woman in relation to Ironic, indeed. women’s friendships. As my students debated the pros and cons of words like ho My initial thought was that these young women were and bitch, I felt sad and angry. A historian, I could hear the scarcely out of girlhood and were probably used to being voices of women who fought to have their womanhood referred to as girls. But then I thought, this is a women’s recognized in the public sphere, under the law, in institutions studies course. Surely using the word woman shouldn’t seem of higher learning. Sojourner Truth’s renowned speech “Ain’t out of place. I a woman?” seemed wholly new and pertinent to this “Tell me a bit more,” I asked. contemporary crisis of language. “What do you call yourself and That Sojourner Truth and women your friends?” Female students call each like her claimed their status as “Girls, I guess. Chicks.” female adults with such passion Others chimed in: “Girlfriends.” other many things, and and conviction should, I thought, “BFF.” Best friends forever—I’d woman does not rank offset the need for further heard that one before from Paris arguments. Hilton. highly among their choices. More recently, feminists of the “Bitch.” 1960s and ’70s held that language “Ho.” is a weapon, a tool that was frequently used to diminish Ho. A hundred pairs of eyes on me, I wavered. To lecture women. In the ’80s, feminists practically banned the word or not to lecture? To rant or to dialogue? girl from public lexicon: We were adult humans, not “Is that okay with you—to be called a bitch or a ho?” I children. asked. The very liberation of women, argued radical theorists like “Well, yeah. I mean, it depends who says it. If it’s my Mary Daly, was contingent upon the liberation of our friend, it’s fine. I know she means it in a good way.” language. Some embraced new, hybridized terms like And so went the discussion. On one level, the students womanist, womyn, herstory and woman-identified-woman were echoing familiar debates: Is it like lesbians reclaiming to emphasize their desire to create and control their language, the word dyke? Or like blacks using the word nigger? But this and to seek power through their choice of words. woman question seemed so intimate. Each person in the So, what changed? Why is the language of friendship room was a woman. Each had elected to take a women’s employed by some young women in the 21st century so studies course, and yet so many of them were uncomfortable fundamentally different from that of their second-wave with the word woman in reference to their friendships. As far foremothers? as the language of feminist scholarship had taken us in our We cannot discount the influence of the popular media. In semester together, and as much as we had learned about the particular, hip hop and rap have transformed the lexicon, power and beauty of women’s friendships, Hos seemed normalizing terms such as bitch and ho. Even young, socially destined to be the final word of the term. conscious feminists such as writer Ayana Byrd admit to being And yet my experience in university over the past several desensitized to their use. In The Fire This Time, Byrd years leads me to believe that the sentiments expressed by the acknowledges that she, too, has “fallen victim to the young women in class that day are not atypical. Female normalizing effects of visual and lyrical hoochie overkill.”

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 37 Yet acceptance of such terms is by no means universal. workplace to those women with whom we have had How is it that sports commentator Don Imus’s reference to decades-long relationships, friendships whose bonds often the Rutgers women’s basketball team as “nappy-headed hos” prove more enduring and significant than those with our sparked international outcry and debate, yet a casual “Hey, family members or romantic partners. “There’s a level of ho!” between women in the college corridor is not afforded a intimacy that friend seems too small to contain. Then we second thought? make it even smaller, often denigrating it with the qualifier Less controversial, but noteworthy is the almighty Oprah’s just. They’re just friends, we concede, as if friendship were “You go, Girl!” as a rallying cry for female empowerment a few automatic and uninteresting, less full of potential than any decades after feminists donned buttons declaring “Don’t call romantic pairing.” me GIRL!” Reclaiming language, says Hochman, is about repossessing Perhaps one way to understand the apparent contradictions ourselves. To a degree, I understand that it is their longing to in usage and interpretation is to consider young feminists’ do just that which leads some of the young students in my efforts to claim space in the popular media, reclaiming and classrooms to experiment with and stretch the boundaries of reframing language to serve their own ends. Take the punk- women’s language, and to reject conventions of the past. inspired Grrrl movement of the early ’90s for example, which Young women seek their own identities, their own rituals of intended to popularize feminist attitudes among young naming, distinct from those of their mothers and women. grandmothers’ generations. Not to mention Bitch Still, I cringe when I hear magazine. In the words of “When it’s being used as an students call each other by Bitch’s editors, “When it’s insult, bitch is an epithet hurled terms which I feel are less than being used as an insult, bitch empowering. is an epithet hurled at women at women who speak their In the women’s studies who speak their minds, who minds, who have opinions and classroom, we continue to have opinions and don’t shy think critically about words away from expressing them, don’t shy away from expressing and to see the language of and who don’t sit by and smile them.”—Bitch magazine women’s friendships—and uncomfortably if they’re ourselves—in the broader bothered or offended. … We context of women’s history know that not everyone’s down with the term. Believe us, and feminist politics. And I remind myself that our women’s we’ve heard all about it. But we stand firm in our belief that studies program is itself the result of the desires of our if we choose to take the word as a compliment, it loses its foremothers—women who did not always see eye-to-eye power to hurt us.” In this context, the word bitch is on every issue and idea—to see norms questioned and new reclaimed as a source of power and strength, and is no ideas explored. longer demeaning or derogatory. Fundamentally, the reclamation of language must be Although this helps to explain the big picture, where does entered into with keen attention to the multiple, conflicting it leave us in our everyday lives, as we frequent the places, and ever-changing meanings of words, as well as a sensitivity spaces and faces that matter most? If a central project of to their impact on us as individuals. Reclaiming language, contemporary feminism is the reclamation of language, does especially the language of female friendship, with its intimacy this then necessitate a rethinking of the words we use to and emotional weight, is a complex and ongoing task, but one identify ourselves and each other? worthy of the time and attention of women—friends, In Everyday Acts and Small Subversions, Andee Hochman companions, sisters, amigas, allies, cronies, soulmates, bffs alerts women to the inadequacies of language to convey and gal pals—in all their diversity.  women’s experiences of friendship. The word friend, says Renée Bondy is a Gen X feminist writer and historian. She Hochman, “doesn’t begin to cover enough ground.” Friend teaches in the women’s studies program at the University of is applied to everyone from casual acquaintances in the Windsor.

38 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS body politic BY MARIKO TAMAKI

The Sting

Please excuse me if my demeanour is not up to its typical headlong in through the sunroof, like something out of a twinkly standard. I am skulking under a tattered umbrella of Wile E. Coyote cartoon. bummed-out-ness, the result of a recent discovery in the “Did the bees come from the front or did they zoom up metal box that hangs on the front of my house, begging for from behind you?” freelance checks. “I don’t know, dear.” My car insurance is due. Even if I couldn’t picture the specific trajectories involved It’s a huge bill, and frankly I’d much rather be spending the in my mother’s bee incident, and was suspicious that no bee money on something way more fun, like a coat or a new pair bodies were found on the scene afterwards, I believed the bee of jeans. Instead, my hard-earned dollars will go toward a bill story. In part because—wait for it—I have also been payment that secures me the right to drive. Or rather, a bill attacked by a bee while driving. A bee, mind you, not a herd. payment that somehow creates a pact—between me and I don’t know how it got in, but my bee also drove me off the those drivers around me—that I am covered if I should … road in downtown Toronto before fleeing the scene (alive, I well, if something should “happen.” imagine, since I wasn’t stung). So this stuff happens, yes it Aside from the size of the bill, which seem ridiculously high does, and this, my mother always reminds me when she calls to me, it is this other little element with her latest tale of fender of car insurance that makes me fantasy, is why we have insurance. feel loathe to pay my bill. I’m “I know, I know, I’m Is it, though? I mean, really, if paying (and I AM paying—so insurance is so expensive and so we’re clear) essentially into a trust dreaming. And what’s worse, important, shouldn’t it function in of what-if. And yes, I know that I’m capitalist dreaming.” some way to prevent accidents? that, in this case, is a pretty big Like those commercials you see what-if. TRUST ME, if anyone about car insurance on TV where knows how big that particular what-if is it’s me and my family. people have pillows strapped to their cars (which would make We are the reigning divas of the auto-what-ifs. it very hard to get out of the car, but whatever), shouldn’t Like, say, what if you’re driving and bees fly into your insurance be something like that? That way you would at least sunroof and attack you? Pretty big what-if, right? It’s a what- know what you’re paying for. If you pay a lot, your prevention if of almost mythical proportions when you consider the basic would be that much more foolproof, a security guard who’s on physics of flight. And yet, over a year ago, it happened to my duty all the time, rather than, say, only on weekends and mom when she was driving home from a beach retreat. weekdays between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. Actually, it was a herd of bees that flew through my I know, I know, I’m dreaming. And what’s worse, I’m mother’s open sunroof and attacked her as she was driving capitalist dreaming. A greener solution would be that we down a gritty, twisting country driveway. Most likely they should all just dump our cars and ride our bikes, which don’t were after her foamy, honey-laden latte. After she drove into require insurance to drive—yet. a ditch on the side of the road, the bees fled the scene (as In the meantime, I’ll be paying my bill. The bees are all insects almost always do). cozied up in the deep sleep of bee hibernation. This is not to My mother, when she called to tell me the story, was say that the roads are peril-free (my mom was once attacked incredulous, but not necessarily surprised. I spent the entirety by a bag of leaves on the road). But at least the view outside of our phone call trying to picture the flight path of the bees, the asphalt is lovely as I lay down the cash to keep the what- bees I imagined flying parallel to the car before diving ifs at bay. 

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 39 arts culture MUSIC

NORINE BRAUN Historically, this style of singing was record from Wendy McNeill. The multi- EVOLUTION OF THE BLOODSTAR performed by two women, but as a solo artist instrumentalist joins forces with a few other Braun and Brains Tagaq found a different way to get other players to incorporate toy piano, zither, performers into the mix. She’s worked with mellotron, marimba, pump organ, clarinet, REVIEW BY CINDY FILIPENKO powerhouse acts like Björk and the Kronos stomping and kicking to fill out her folk-noir Whether playing with the Mood Swings or Quartet, and she’s brought that collaborative sound. And that sound is helped along greatly alone, Norine Braun is never dull. Evolution of approach to her latest release, Auk, which is by the melancholy effect the accordion naturally the Bloodstar is her latest foray into the world the IInuktitut word for blood. allows to seep into the disc’s darkest recesses. of interdisciplinary music. With sensibilities The avant-garde style of her sound Originally from Alberta, McNeill splits her grounded in the slam and performance art attracted the ears of Faith No More’s lead time between her native province and genres, some of her songs make it seem that singer Mike Patton, who signed her to his Sweden, and maybe it’s all the time zone Braun has been waiting for the world to catch label. He also turns up on a track called “Fire,” changes that help her build such fantastic up with her sound. along with cellist Cris Derksen and violinist lyrical worlds where coyotes roam and a The Vancouver-based artist is both jazz Jesse Zubot. Canadian rapper Buck 65 also rabbit and snake can fall in love. In fact, songs purist—as in the semi-classical pop-inspired, lends guest vocals to “Gentle” and “Want,” like “The Sad Sssad Story of Rosa Rabbit and “Skylight”—and an avant-garde neo-slam and other performers drop in and out over the Sasha Snake” seem more like children’s fables poet—as evidence on “Brave.” Both mixes course of the album. set to music—complete with a lesson to be are great. It’s the tunes that sound like funky For the most part, these extra musicians learned at the end. jazz filtered through early Talking Heads that enhance the powerful emotions Tagaq pours make Evolution of the Blood Star compelling McNeill is an impressive lyricist in the vein listening. Ethereal numbers such as the into her music, which moves from primal to of Veda Hille or Christine Fellows, fellow aforementioned “Brave,” “In Space” and “Q: danceable or softly intimate, depending on how Canadian solo acts who can craft complete Evolution of the Bloodstar,” with it’s eerie she uses her vocals. But I find the first Buck 65 little worlds for their songs’ characters to chorus “Papa can you hear me?/ Have I made track, “Gentle,” tends to get a little too far away inhabit. And even if you’re not a huge the grade?” are captivating. from the gorgeous atmosphere Tagaq can build accordion fan, there should be enough here to Her efforts in traditional forms, however, are on songs like “Tategak,” where it’s just her and satisfy. On tracks like “White Horses,” McNeill uneven. The song “Alberta” sounds like every Jesse Zubot’s violin. She also pushes the ably weaves her primary instrument into a other country-folk-rocker who goes indie. boundaries of this traditional singing style on layered sonic texture that should probably be Braun’s voice may not be strong enough to songs like “Growth” and “Growl” by listened to on very big speakers to catch all travel in the circles of jazz mavens like incorporating electronics into the mix— the separation. But the track I keep finding my Cassandra Wilson. What Braun has is oodles of a combination that happily works, as does her way back to is one that uses layers of vocals wit and cleverness, with an understanding of pairing of vocals with a lone cello. to great effect. The tension on “Lutetia” builds composition that is most elegant when it Tanya Tagaq has brought something new to and releases, only to grow right back again. ventures furthest from traditional musical forms. the music world. Be prepared for something unfamiliar but very, very exciting. VANCOUGAR TANYA TAGAQ CANADIAN TUXEDO AUK/BLOOD WENDY MCNEILL Mint Records A DREAMER’S GUIDE TO Ipecac/Jericho Beach REVIEW BY PATTY COMEAU HARDCORE LIVING REVIEW BY ANNA LAZOWSKI Like its namesake, Canadian Tuxedo is a She grunts, growls, sings, pants and breathes, Six Shooter homegrown appropriation of tradition, a but one of the most interesting things about REVIEW BY ANNA LAZOWSKI comfortable and fun/ctional assemblage. Tanya Tagaq Gillis’s ability to take Inuk throat Most performers don’t kick off an album with an Hailing from Vancouver, this all-girl, keyboard- singing into the mainstream is the non- extended accordion section like the one on driven rock foursome documents 21st-century traditional way she went about it. “Flight,” but it does set the tone for this latest alienation and melancholy in songs that you

40 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS arts culture MUSIC

just can’t sit still through. On her latest record, Me and Armini, she world of jazz—again to sparse success. Waltzes “(I Hope Your) Money (Keeps You continues her partnership with producer and Blessed with her father’s sexy, low range, Warm)” and “Lonely Life” bring a 1950s co-writer Dan Carey—who seems to supply she’s got a natural cadence well-suited to the throwback style to lyrics exploring issues that the music to her lyrics. The two started elegant and straightforward horns that are the have lingered since that era. Listening to them working together for her critically acclaimed hallmark Stax production. The label of R&B is like watching a musical—you can almost album Fisherman’s Woman, which came out in legends Otis Redding, Wilson Picket and ’70s see the young female protagonist breaking 2005. The pair wrote this record in two-and-a- disco chicks The Emotions, Stax looks like a into song, supporting harmonies provided by half weeks and the album has a wide mix of perfect fit for Hathaway. her best friends. When they sing “I’ll pay all styles, ranging from lively, infectious pop As a songwriter, Hathaway is open and my bills/ I’ll put away the laundry/ I’ll take all tracks like “Big Jumps” and “Jungle Drums” honest, with a theme of redemption running my pills” and “Baby, you can go to hell,” these all the way to the stripped-down, gorgeous deeply though her words. Songs like gals bring a dance-or-get-out-of-the-way feel simplicity of “Beggar’s Prayer,” “Bleeder” and “Breathe,” “Little Girls” and “1 Mile” are to the daily routine. the highly reverbed darkness that takes over a about the life lessons that came to Hathaway Rather amazing is the track “Obvious,” song called “Gun.” as a result of her father’s suicide when she which moves from a seemingly optimistic love While the wide mix of sounds might seem was a child. While this may sound grim, the to an almost desperate hindsight by utilizing uneven at first listen, what holds this disc songs are anything but. Rather, they are only one line repeatedly throughout: “It’s so together are the varying sonic approaches to beautifully arranged, compelling melodies obvious to me we were meant to be in love.” a theme that runs through the lyrics on the joined by her silky vocals. However, where she Also notable is “Philadelphia,” which brings to album: love. The title track deals with an really shines is on the funkier numbers like life the energy of an HIV-positive friend who obsessive fan with a little electro-disco tinge. “UDO” (That’s “Unidentified Desirable Object” skated, played guitar and drew “until the end.” “Gun” delves into the emotion’s dark side, and and the opening cut, “Let Go.” Despite the weight of some tunes’ subject several other tracks tackle the lighter, brighter, Debuting in the Top 10 of Billboard’s R&B matter, Vancougar hasn’t lost the sense of poppier side of love. charts, Self-Portrait showcases an artist who is humour that shone through on their freshman So, although she might not be the most finally hitting her stride as she enters her 40s. release, Losin’ It. Bringing a time-lapse- famous singer to come out of Iceland, Torrini’s photography feel to growing into adulthood career seems set to parallel her musical style, with a slow, steady build toward success. AMY CAMPBELL and relationships, Canadian Tuxedo is an OH HEART, OH HIGHWAY awesome record and reminds listeners to Independent keep on dreaming. LALAH HATHAWAY SELF-PORTRAIT REVIEW BY CINDY FILIPENKO Stax Records EMILÍANA TORRINI The two CDs that make up Oh Heart, Oh REVIEW BY CINDY FILIPENKO Highway represent a complicated and vast ME AND ARMINI Lalah Hathaway’s debut release on Stax work. It’s not vast in the sense of being spread Rough Trade Records will be a welcome addition to any over two CDs and an accompanying booklet REVIEW BY ANNA LAZOWSKI R&B/soul fan’s collection. The daughter of the featuring a prose poem—although that’s She’s co-written a hit song for Kylie Minogue legendary Donny Hathaway is notably paired pretty big, too. Rather, it’s vast in the sense of and sang on the soundtrack for Lord of the with Roberta Flack on duets like “Where is the the emotional terrain it covers. Rings: The Two Towers, but Iceland’s Emilíana Love?” and the “The Closer I Get To You.” The first CD, Oh Heart, is a collection of Torrini has yet to become as famous as her Calling Self-Portrait a debut is a bit of a bittersweet folk-rockers that would not be out of contemporaries Sigur Ros and Björk. Maybe misnomer, since this is Hathaway’s fifth album. place on an Indigo Girls or Ani Difranco album. it’s because her music isn’t quite as oblique. Her previous forays into music—starting in There are times when Campbell sacrifices While some vocal qualities are reminiscent of 1990 when she was signed with Virgin—have cadence for emotional candour, like Alanis Björk’s style, that comparison will fade away met with mixed success. Failing to hit the mark Morisette. But then, like Joni Mitchell, she has a the more you listen to Torrini’s work. as a pop artist, Hathaway also explored the tendency cram as many words into a line as

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 41 arts culture MUSIC possible. The titles “Lost,” “Distance” and tracks and a lyric sheet instead of a lyric poem. For the past few years, May has been working “Fearless” are fair warning of the content of the I’m making a custom playlist out of this one. with veteran B.C. folkies such as Bill seven songs that make up the cycle or first two Henderson (former head of Chilliwack) and chapters of the work titled “Manque and Roy Forbes (who recorded a few regional hits Measure.” (Metanoia is the name of the LINDSAY MAY in the ’70s and ’80s under the ridiculous booklet, while the second disc, Oh Highway, BRONZE AND GOLD moniker Bim) through her association with the has chapters respectively titled “Manifold” and Independent Red Cedar Songwriting. It shows. These guys “Meaning.” And no, I’m, not telling you what REVIEW BY CINDY FILIPENKO know the tricks of the trade and have passed “metanoia” means—get your dictionary.) The first thing you’ll notice on Lindsay May’s them on to May. The second disc Oh Highway, which starts full-length debut Bronze and Gold is just how But there’s more to Bronze and Gold than with an ode to the patron saint of travel, “St. well-crafted the songs are. May, who writes in just some pleasantly polished pop. May Christopher,” is the more enjoyable of the the same singer-songwriter groove as Mary proves her mettle on the blues number two. The production is cleaner than on the Chapin Carpenter and Lucinda Williams, “Medication Blues.” first disc, and Campbell’s vocals are mixed shows that she’s pretty handy with a hook. A solid guitarist, May sounds like far higher. Illustrating this skill best is a trio of country- someone who would be great to hear in a At times, the inconsistent production values rockers—“I Was a Girl,” “I Want a Love” and small venue with just said instrument and on Oh Heart, Oh Highway make for an exercise “I Spy”—that features the kind of retro organ her immensely likeable alt-folk vocals. May in frustration. With its themes of frustration, that marked early Blue Rodeo. needs to commit to one market and jump in repentance and transformation, Oh Heart, Oh The fact that Bronze and Gold is brimming with both feet. Or maybe she needs to start Highway often sags under its weighty ambition. over with foot-tapping melodies and songs sending out demos to established artists— There is a great album here, and it’s about 10 with almost perfect cadence is no accident. her songs are that good.  arts culture WINTER READING

THE FLYING TROUTMANS the possibility of rescue. Given, drifts between present-day and 1950s MIRIAM TOEWS Min provides the narrative tension as she Vancouver with the speed and whirl of a female Knopf Canada, 2008 hovers on the periphery of the story. Toews shopper navigating the dazzling, gold-trimmed concentrates on digging into the children’s revolving door at a heritage Hudson’s Bay store. REVIEW BY IRENE D’SOUZA psyches. Here, she finds the precocious The Given is a clever and fluid portrait of a Miriam Toews’ new novel begins in Paris, Thebes united with the brooding Logan in their female character’s visit home to bury her where Hattie, a moody artist, is dumped by her loneliness and longing for normalcy. Expect deceased mother. The book opens with a boyfriend. She is unable to wallow in self-pity the unexpected—this is not a typical story. section called “Seven Glass Bowls,” where because her sister Min has been committed to Those who are afflicted by the modern desire Marlatt recreates a rosy domestic setting and a psychiatric ward. With 11-year-old Thebes to have closure and all of life’s problems tied establishes the intimate tone of the book: and 15-year-old Logan now in her care, Hattie up with glossy pop psychological mumbo- you remember—what is it that you returns to Winnipeg. jumbo will find the low-key ending disquieting. remember? the feel of home, the moment Hattie is unable to cope with parental For those who prefer a finely crafted journey of coming into your body, its familiar responsibilities and so she takes the children of unflinching honesty, Toews’ poignant book ache and shift, its little cough of on a road trip to the States, ostensibly to reminds us that we live in open-ended and consciousness resuming (Monday reunite them with their estranged father. Their complicated times. odyssey results in a fully realized exploration claims). i’m awake. i can’t quite see your face assume its usual definition. your of the adage, am I my sister’s keeper? THE GIVEN The Flying Troutmans is a disturbing novel shoulder rises like a hill I climb getting steeped in dysfunctional family lore. The flawed DAPHNE MARLATT out on my side of the bed to pad the characters are unlikeable but intriguing McClelland & Stewart sunroom, lift the blind on a spectral world because Toews is a succinct and careful writer REVIEW BY PATRICIA ROBERTSON ... still in bed, you turn to rise like some who creates realistic, rich layers of the stifling Fans of Daphne Marlatt’s prose must appreciate revenant, asking what time is it? atmosphere that encompasses their lives. ecriture feminine. Marlatt’s elliptical writing A grief-stricken homecoming is detailed in Toews is marvellous at capturing the children’s requires an alert reader, as her ambiguous the “Out of the Blue” section, where Marlatt moods. She explores the consequences of sentence structure and loose signifiers make eloquently describes the eerie and familiar being reared by a psychologically damaged reading her work a rewarding challenge. sensation of home without the mother’s parent. While Hattie plays at being an Despite—or perhaps because of—these enduring presence: irresponsible adult who neither chastises her qualities, her daring and experimental prose has coming home (was it?) coming to her niece for her lack of personal hygiene nor her secured her a coveted spot as a darling of (body), their house, full of her taste. satin nephew for his teenage angst, she is dimly postmodern feminist critics and a West Coast brocade cushions, mushroom colour, aware that the emotional baggage successor to the equally elusive (and plumped in place. we’d sat on them for accompanying them could implode and that the occasionally maddening) Gertrude Stein. years. lemon polish under-smell of the emotional journey could end in tragedy without Marlatt’s most recent prose poem/novel, The house.

42 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS arts culture WINTER READING

Lurking underneath the clean smell of lemon polish is a depressed traditional mother who feels the absence of her busy husband and distracted teenage daughter. The captive narrative is both a tribute and a lament to that controversial mythic figure: the ’50s housewife. Read The Given and you may find your own mother’s, or grandmother’s, complex story emerge.

MATERNAL THEORY: ESSENTIAL READINGS EDITED BY ANDREA O’REILLY Demeter Press REVIEW BY NOREEN SHANAHAN This is definitely not a book to take to the and women; the media’s increasingly fine-tuned Simply written and easy to follow, Girl From beach, unless you want to weigh down a and incessant target-marketing of mothers and Mars is at times awkward in segments of its flapping towel. It grew from a slight 25 children; the collapse of government translation—mostly in dialogue that is choppy chapters to a whopping 40 must-read chapters institutions” and our own desire just to get on and elementary, even though the narrative on maternal theory. As the Canadian editor with the work of mothering. voice in the novel is strong. Andrea O’Reilly put it, “I simply could not make This Canadian-produced tome sets off Overall, author Bach has a realistic sense a Sophie’s choice.” shock waves of thinking and contains an of adolescent isolation and confusion. She Maternal Theory is a brilliant jumble of excellent history of the women’s movement. shows this in scenes of Miriam wading and inquiring minds, most of them belonging to Plus—an added bonus—it’s just so nice to waiting, feeling like she has to hide things mothers. It spans 40 years of academic writing see the word feminist liberally scattered about from her friends. And the familial dynamics, on maternal theory and begins with a at a time when it’s hard to find that word though secondary and perhaps a little safe in provocative statement by Adrienne Rich: “My without the ugly prefix post slammed onto it their commonality, are very authentic. children cause me the most exquisite suffering like an out-of-order sign. of which I have any experience.” Maternal Theory provides an exciting EMBRYO CULTURE: This phrase, comprising the first sentence in measure of the community I joined 16 years MAKING BABIES IN THE Of Woman Born, gently states one of life’s most ago when my snugly and I anxiously stepped profound contradictions. The rest of the across the threshold of my first playground. TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY anthology examines this statement from all BETH KOHL perceivable angles and often brings a riveting GIRL FROM MARS Farrar, Straus and Giroux analysis. The language is accessible to lay TAMARA BACH, TRANSLATED BY REVIEW BY ABBY LIPPMAN audiences, although I struggled more with Julia Thirty years ago, in 1978, the first test-tube Kristeva’s “Stabat Mater” than I did with Alice SHELLEY TANAKA Groundwood Books baby was born. Louise Brown is now a mother Walker’s “In Search of our Mother’s Gardens.” herself, and from all accounts she seems to A pleasant surprise, mostly because it was REVIEW BY TARA-MICHELLE ZINIUK have become so without the aid of so funny, was “The New Momism” by Susan J. This young adult novel, first published in reproductive technology. Douglas and Meredith W. Michaels. It examined German, follows Miriam on a quest for It has been estimated that by 2006 there were motherhood as a media obsession unparalleled worldliness, from trappings in a too-small one million children who began with in vitro in recent history: “And since the media traffic in town onwards through her curiosities. fertilization (IVF), the more scientific way of extremes, in anomalies—the rich, the deviant, Every day is the same in the small town describing the mixing of egg and sperm outside the exemplary, the criminal, the gorgeous— where 15-year-old Miriam lives. Nothing ever a woman’s body to create an embryo such as they emphasize fear and dread on the one hand happens, not at home, not at school and not the one that got Louise Brown started. In fact, in and promote impossible ideals on the other.” with her friends. Miriam spaces out in class. 2006 in the United Kingdom (the U.K. takes Reading this essay, it’s easy to imagine the She bickers with her mother about nothing. collecting such information seriously, unlike authors laughing as they describe the rigours Her two best friends, Ines and Suse, are Canada) 12,596 babies were born following IVF, of mothering between these extremes, where obsessed with their rotating assortment of while about 33,000 women began the various the competitive go-getter at work has to walk boyfriends. Miriam barely listens in the treatments that led to these births. through the door at the end of the day, “and, mornings as they smoke cigarettes in the girls’ The numbers suggest that although the use poof, turn into Carol Brady. No wonder some of bathroom and gush and complain. She is of reproductive technologies seems to be us feel like Sybil when we get home. We have waiting for something—anything—to change. becoming normalized, many more women still to move between riptides on a daily basis.” Then, along comes Laura. Laura rolls her wind up without a baby than with one, even This new momism seeks to eradicate hard- own cigarettes and takes trips to nightclubs in after multiple treatment cycles. So, despite the won social changes brought about by feminism. the city. A year older, Miriam is enamoured substantially increased use of medical It’s a pernicious backlash insinuating itself in with Laura’s newness, and suddenly a little interventions to make babies, the bottom-line women’s psyches just where we are our most more able to detach from her friends and life. success rate (live births per treatment cycle vulnerable: in our love for our children. New Pretty soon, Miriam is keeping secrets from begun) has gone from 13 percent in 1992 to 23 momism is the result of the “combustible her friends and family, and it’s clear something percent in 2006, something to keep in mind intermixing of right-wing attacks on feminism has shifted. when reading Beth Kohl’s book.

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 43 THE SLOW FIX Meet Coteau’s newest Ivan E. Coyote “Ivan Coyote unsettles and FICTI Nista! reassures with a single, skilled stroke.” —Alison Bechdel

SCRAPBOOK OF MY YEARS AS A ZEALOT Nicole Markotic´ by BRITT HOLMSTRÖM by “Markotic´’s new novel is a dizzying, brazen, innova- tive, radical take on young AUDIA: A NOVEL AUDIA: CL women’s lives.” ISBN 978-155050-395-1 / $21.00 —Robert Kroetsch Murder, mayhem & mothers. It’s so not about the shoes. Books with bite from ARSENAL PULP PRESS • arsenalpulp.comcoc m www.coteaubooks.com

NEW FROM FERNWOOD PUBLISHING University of Ottawa CRITICAL BOOKS FOR CRITICAL THINKERS Graduate Studies at the Institute of Women’s Studies t
1I%
BOE
."
JO
8PNFOT
4UVEJFT 5XP
öFMET
PG
TQFDJBMJ[BUJPO t

(FOEFS
1PXFS
BOE
3FQSFTFOUBUJPOT t

8PNFO
3JHIUT
BOE
$JUJ[FOTIJQ
JO
B
(MPCBMJ[FE
8PSME

9781552662809 $22.959781552662762 $19.95 9781552662793 $15.95 t
$PMMBCPSBUJWF
."
JO
TFMFDUFE
EJTDJQMJOFT
SALLY MILLER, in her ROSS KLEIN, in his ROBERT DIAB, in his XJUI
B
TQFDJBMJ[BUJPO
JO
8PNFOT
4UVEJFT book Edible Action, book Paradise Lost at book Guantánamo reveals how we don’t Sea, reveals the hidden North, argues that the need to invent new realities of a cruise post 9-11 anti-terrorism www.grad.uOttawa.ca solutions to hunger in our vacation and of an measures are moving the society – we need only industry that works administration recognize and expand very hard to hide its of justice in Canada away the solutions at hand poor environmental and from human rights and – co-ops, sustainable human rights practices. freedom. foods and local food movements.

BWBJMBCMF
BU
ZPVS
MPDBM
CPPLTUPSF
r
XXXGFSOXPPEQVCMJTIJOHDB

44 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS arts culture WINTER READING

Mostly about her making of IVF babies— first a single-born daughter, and then a pair of twins—Embryo Culture mixes Kohl’s personal story with some general background data about reproductive technologies. Kohl very much tends to normalize what is still a largely understudied intervention, and her tale is thick in its praise of what science can do. It is also quite revealing in its details about the advantages of parenting in the privileged class. Unfortunately, it is generally thin with regard to any political, social or feminist analyses. Two other important issues—the risks to women and the absence of regulation of the baby-making market—are only superficially considered. Overall, the book reads—and it is well, and equality, I was more inspired as a runner than As one of the analytical education, such cleverly, written—like an extended article in a a feminist after reading Marathon Woman. In essays interspersed amongst these personal- women’s magazine at the checkout counter of the book, Switzer distances herself from the illness narratives explains, “illness threatens a grocery store. It may give readers who can women’s movement and repeatedly points out not only the individual’s physical integrity but relate to the making of babies for white, that the men in the running community were also the individual’s identity and sense of self in professional, married women in the 21st generally more supportive of women’s running the world. The separation of me from my self is century some information on the baby business. than were other women. And she only terrifying.” This is not a book of stories to read What Kohl fails to do, however, is to provide fleetingly mentions the passing of Title IX, the for pleasure, but it is one to read for insight and the kinds of analyses needed in order to landmark U.S. legislation passed in 1972 aimed as a “stay against confusion,” as T.S. Eliot once ensure this business is properly regulated and at increasing girls’ access to sport said of the purpose of all literature. In addition, that the health and well-being of the children participation in educational institutions. these narratives of women’s medical born, and the women who birth them, are Seeing how Switzer’s successes were experiences provide a platform for advocacy protected and promoted. shaped by other social movements and the and action. Better to read Deborah Spar’s The Baby broader social policy context is critically This book is on the leading edge of change Business if you want a more engaging analysis. important for feminist scholars and advocates in medical education, change prompted by the trying to understand how gender operates reality that the majority of medical students MARATHON WOMAN: through social institutions, programs and today in the U.S. and Canada are women. At RUNNING THE RACE TO policies that impact women’s participation in prestigious U.S. medical schools such as REVOLUTIONIZE WOMEN’S SPORTS sports. This type of analysis would emphasize Columbia University, where editor Sayantani the social barriers, rather than personal ones, DasGupta teaches pediatrics and “narrative KATHRINE SWITZER that women runners face. While Switzer medicine,” and in post-secondary institutions Carroll & Graf Publishers provides her readers with an engaging, that focus on women’s education, such as REVIEW BY SANDRA TAM personally inspirational story, it will be up to Sarah Lawrence College, where Marsha Hurst The first half of Marathon Woman is an others to apply the gender analysis needed. pioneered courses on illness narratives and athlete’s tale of rigorous training and “narrative genetics,” the points of view of unwavering ambition, with some notable STORIES OF ILLNESS AND HEALING: patients and of patient advocates are being gender elements. In the history of sport, WOMEN WRITE THEIR BODIES studied alongside those of doctors, researchers Kathrine Switzer may be best known as the and other health care professionals. target of an assault by a race official who tried EDITED BY SAYANTANI DASGUPTA AND For anyone who has ever experienced the to push her off the course during the 1967 MARSHA HURST frustration of, literally, being flat on your back Boston Marathon for being a woman. In 1975, Kent State University Press and, metaphorically and/or literally, voiceless, Switzer achieved a second-place finish at the REVIEW BY WENDY ROBBINS this collection offers a measure of salve to Boston Marathon in a time of two hours, 51 Stories matter. After I was hit by a car and the interconnected suffering of body, mind minutes. Finishing a marathon in less than seriously injured five years ago, a friend sent and spirit. three hours separates the men from the boys; me a card that read: “Everything will be okay Like consciousness-raising groups of old, in Switzer’s case, it gave her legitimacy as a in the end; if it’s not okay, it’s not the end.” this collection of stories is more than the sum real runner, not just a marathon woman. Would that this were true. As many of the of its individual parts, for it accumulates and In the second half of the book, Switzer gut-wrenching stories in this anthology in the raises intensely private experiences to writes about raising awareness of women’s groundbreaking Literature and Medicine series symbolic and socio-political significance. Some right to run. As the manager of Avon from Kent State University Press demonstrate, of the narratives are written or told by patients International Running Circuit for women, perseverance—even to the point of heroism— who are themselves doctors; others are by Switzer created opportunities for women to does not always suffice to overcome disease, caregivers. Many record how medical run and race competitively. She also accident, disability, the complexities and side- practices are all too often aggressively, advocated tirelessly with others for the official effects of some current treatment regimens, unfeelingly “macho” and overly specialized and inclusion of the women’s marathon in the 1984 and the depersonalization and objectification fragmented, failing to address the totality of our Olympic Games. inherent in many contemporary health care suffering and its unintended consequences on Although Switzer’s story is about women’s institutions and bureaucracies. those who love and care for us.

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 45 arts culture WINTER READING

conditioned to blame ourselves when things were done to our bodies; so much of our anger was denied and turned inward. Finally, we were allowed anger instead of shame.” The response to such intelligent, passionate and gripping work can only be: Rally on, sisters!

RECONCILIATION: ISLAM, DEMOCRACY AND THE WEST BENAZIR BHUTTO Harper Collins REVIEW BY IRENE D’SOUZA Reading Benazir Bhutto’s Reconciliation is challenging and daunting. Bhutto was the first More than one person comes to the convenient, but, as Melody Berger argues in woman prime minister in history to lead a devastating conclusion that contributor Carol this smart, fierce and moving anthology, they’re Muslim country and ardently fought against Levine, a professional medical ethicist and also useless. “I think the whole concept of a Pakistani women’s subjugation and for Muslim health policy analyst, records: “I naively Third Wave was great in its function as a women’s rights. believed that the system would work for me rallying cry during the 1990s,” she writes. “But, Bhutto’s own words enable readers to when I needed it.” With her husband really, it’s time to quit talking about the rallying appreciate the courage she used in her permanently disabled by a freak accident on cry and, you know, rally to the rallying cry.” continued attempt to defy the odds. Aware of an icy road and labelled “a custodial case,” We Don’t Need Another Wave: Dispatches her own mortality, the haunting and prescient Levine finds herself “unceremoniously from the Next Generation of Feminists first chapter eerily foreshadows her transformed into a caregiver. In this new job, I includes plenty of people who are doing just assassination. Yet she remained a leader whose had total responsibility but no voice or power.” that. So, if we don’t need another wave, what love for her country trumped her caution. Why is it that Western medical “scientific do we want? Bhutto wrote illuminatingly about her vision knowledge” rarely, if ever, relies upon the Dani S. Dela George describes her to revolutionize female education. “In any insights of women caregivers (paid or experience as someone who identifies as a society,” she wrote, “gender equality is a unpaid)? Do we not often, or even always, woman “most days” getting involved with her prerequisite for democracy to thrive.” This experience illness in terms of relationships? campus feminist group and the Take Back the enigmatic feminist continues to fascinate the One woman says about her visit to a male Night march. Feeling excluded from this world because she adamantly believed that physician: “I want him to know that what feminist hallmark, she and some friends link women’s equality would sustain democracy matters most about possibly having breast arms and march at the very front of the crowd. and would, in her opinion, reconcile Muslim cancer is that I am part of a family. I have “If Take Back the Night promoted the countries and the West. parents, a husband, and children.” awareness of abusive lesbian/ gay/ queer/ Although Bhutto sidestepped major The individual stories, while representing a transgender/ genderfuck relationships,” she setbacks of democracy that occurred during diverse range of women in terms of age, writes, “it would help to foster awareness on a her tenure as prime minister, her razor-sharp ethnicity, family situation, sexual orientation, much larger level. Feminist culture is not analysis and comprehensive logic will and economic status, cumulatively speak, at static; there is no prescribed periphery and no nonetheless silence many cynics. Bhutto least in part, with a “collective voice.” Hurst prescribed core.” challenged their writings but saved much of notes that they constitute “an invitation to Shelby Knox’s essay details her experience her vitriol for Samuel Huntington, whose 1993 translate the witnessing of suffering into with her local youth commission. The essay concluded that a “clash of empathy, care, and action.” The book thus commission wanted the sexual education civilizations” was inevitable. By interspersing ultimately reiterates Audre Lorde’s brave call curriculum changed. She knew too many readings from the Qur’an in her narrative, she to action in The Cancer Journals: “Silence has people who had become pregnant or picked eschewed many of his conclusions. Instead, never brought us anything of worth.” up an STI. “Other students began to approach she provided historical corroboration to Wendy Robbins co-moderates the PAR-L me to ask sexual health questions and for delineate the West’s role in propping up discussion list and has recently co-edited clarification about urban myths,” she writes. dictators in Muslim countries. Her book Minds of Our Own: Inventing Feminist “It was then that I realized that these students rebukes those in the Muslim world who rule Scholarship and Women’s Studies in Canada couldn’t wait for the school district to change by fear and intimidation, and it castigates the and Québec, 1966–76. their policy; we had to take change into our extremists who are adept at playing the own hands.” The school district kept the blame game. WE DON’T NEED ANOTHER WAVE: status quo, but the ruckus raised by Knox and Throughout this erudite and scholarly DISPATCHES FROM THE NEXT the commission raised a lot of awareness. book, she dares readers to re-evaluate their Cindy Crabb writes about her activism as an beliefs of the major and minor tenets of GENERATION OF FEMINISTS incest survivor, including the stridency of the Islam. Bhutto, the consummate feminist and EDITED BY MELODY BERGER early 1990s punk community. “The militancy daughter of destiny, had a clear vision that Seal Press provided a counterbalance to all the included forging a political dialogue between REVIEW BY JENNIFER O’CONNOR messages telling us that we aren’t worth the Muslim world and the West—an illusive Suffragettes, bra burners, pop tarts. Common fighting for,” she writes, “that we should stay dream perhaps, but which, Insha’Allah, has misconceptions of feminist waves may be silent and ignore it all. So many of us had been the potential to be realized. 

46 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS arts literature

Sealed Letter

OpensBY ALICE LAWLOR Life

or Victorian women, divorce was as liberating F as a straitjacket. Wives— ex or otherwise—were the property of their husbands and had few rights over their children. It sounds like something from the Dark Ages, but as Emma Donoghue’s latest novel reminds us, it wasn’t that long ago. The Sealed Letter—the story of a scandalous divorce case that gripped 19th-century England— is set in a modern-feeling London that’s buzzing with new ideas and technology. The tube has just been built and shiny new printing presses are churning out feminist pamphlets. It’s a far cry from the gothic Victoriana of a Dickens novel, and that’s the point. “I really wanted to emphasize the Emma Donoghue’s The Sealed Letter, examines the scandalous divorce case that included British suffragist Helen Codrington. modern, especially because this is a story about mass media,” says Donoghue, an Irish-Canadian writer based in London, Sapphic sculptor in 1790s London. Ontario. “There’s suddenly no privacy left, and new concepts The Sealed Letter is set in the 1860s, a bit of a departure for were floating around—like maybe women should have Donoghue, who describes herself as an “18th-century girl.” jobs!” The Sealed Letter is the third in Donoghue’s trilogy of It’s based on a real courtroom drama that sparked media historical novels. The first, Slammerkin, is the story of an frenzy due to its dramatis personae: a respectable admiral, his 18th-century prostitute and the second, Life Mask, follows a glamorous but wayward wife, and well-known publisher and

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 47 arts culture WINTER READING

Re-issued Classics

excellent book, Arsenal Pulp has given us she asks for a 24-hour truce on rape, is Canadians a chance to put this all right. So included. Michael Messner’s essay “No come on, girls, if you want to read intelligent Laughing Matter” explains how “schools lesbian fiction, now is your chance. act as training grounds for domestic I won’t tell you that Rat Bohemia was violence” where girls’ complaints of sexual inspired by Defoe’s Journal of the Plague harassment are ignored, harassers go Year because it might sound too dry (maybe unpunished, while other students witness that was why you didn’t buy it?). Nor will I this behaviour and ingest it as a make too much of the fact that it’s a novel performance that is tolerated. about the AIDS crisis in New York City The second part, “Strategies and (though it’s neither solemn nor, in the end, Activism,” contains responses to rape depressing). This is not a novel about rats, culture and suggestions on how we can AIDS or lesbians, or, for that matter, queers; change it. “Men, Masculinity and the Rape or sex (though all these are in it). It’s a Culture” tells us that it is both men’s and novel about honesty. As queer people die women’s responsibility. Emilie Buchwald’s and their families fail to care, rodent contribution, “Raising Girls in the 21st exterminator Rita Mae and her brave band Century,” reminds us that “it’s too easy to of friends try to keep it together and to keep move from thinking women are inferior to telling the truth. treating them as inferiors.” Here are some examples of what The third part, “Visions and Possibilities,” Edmund White has described as provides glimpses of a transformed world Schulman’s “gimlet-eyed accuracy” and where women can dictate their sexual “zero-degree honesty.” encounters and where men have accepted Rita Mae on love and romance: women’s desire or lack thereof without “Sometimes it seems too obvious that offense—a culture that emphasizes women are replaceable. You love one then cooperation rather than competition. bell you love another. Each one is different and hooks’ essay “Seduced by Violence No eventually you stick with one or you don’t. More” encourages women to find partners They have the same pros and cons.” who respect their needs and understand that Rita Mae again, this time on AIDS: male ejaculation is not the summation of sex. “Paying for your lover’s funeral is the gay The most provocative of all the essays for equivalent of a bar mitzvah. It is how you me was D. A. Clarke’s “A Woman with a know that you have become a man.” Sword.” It offers a powerful, radical response From cradle to coffin hunting, Rat to rape culture, suggesting a backlash Bohemia is, I believe, one of the bravest and against male purveyors of violence that would best lesbian novels of our generation. It see women take a violent stance against the blows, as White says, “the traditional novel men who are violent. This idea may sound off its hinges.” shocking, until we are reminded that a war has been waged against women and we are TRANSFORMING A RAPE losing. “Supposing we know and are skilled at violence, we are able to fight and kill our RAT BOHEMIA CULTURE (REVISED EDITION) attacker, would 268 women be raped daily, or SARAH SCHULMAN EDITED BY EMILIE BUCHWALD, 11 every hour”? After all, Clarke taunts, “a Arsenal Pulp Press PAMELA FLETCHER & MARTHA ROTH dead rapist cannot commit more rape.” REVIEW BY CLAIRE ROBSON Milkweed Editions It is redundant to reiterate statistics of I never understood why Rat Bohemia didn’t REVIEW BY STACEY KAUDER women who are victims of sexual assault. make it big. When it first came out in 1995, I According to Transforming a Rape Culture, We are all friends, children, victims and talked it up to everyone I knew, striding ours is a society “condoning physical and survivors of sexual violence; it is part of our through lesbian cafes like some ancient emotional terrorism against women.” We live inheritance. Do we choose to pass this mariness, fixing anyone who would listen in a world of “women at risk.” legacy on, or do we choose to defy society’s with my glittering eye and asking “Have you First published in 1995, the book’s notions of how girls and boys should read Rat Bohemia?” But despite my one- contributors include Gloria Steinem, Naomi behave? This book names those notions woman efforts, the book never caught on the Wolf and Ntozake Shange. The first of the which have shifted somewhat as laws and way Bastard Out of Carolina did. It never book’s three parts, “Living in a Rape norms have begun to shift. We may find it made it into that slim section of the Culture,” describes how we breed, educate difficult to change the world. Yet it is simple bookstore shelf called lesbian classics. and accept sexual violence. Andrea to speak the truth. After all, “to speak a true By bringing out a brand new edition of this Dworkin’s classic 1983 speech, in which word is to change the world.” 

48 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS feminist Emily “Fido” Faithfull. the Codrington trial there Donoghue read newspaper turned out to be a stained reports from the time and was dress,” says Donoghue. “How instantly hooked. “I find an Monica!” enormous satisfaction in seeing These flashes of modernity whether I can take the facts, make The Sealed Letter more spin a story around them and than just a historical novel. It’s a have it be simultaneously book that plays with the line moving fiction and true,” she between period authenticity and says. “I feel an obligation to contemporary relevance. The these people to tell a plausible characters don’t speechify for the version of their story.” sake of an authorial political Donoghue’s version of the agenda, and there’s no fact-filled Codrington divorce focuses on waffle. Instead, the reader is an Fido, an intimate friend of unselfconscious fly on the wall, Helen Codrington. Fido’s social privy to internal monologues, life revolves around the intimate conversations and Langham Place group—one of public declarations. There’s a the first feminist movements in subtle contrast between the Britain—but she’s lonely and claustrophobic interior spaces naive. Helen takes advantage of inhabited by the women and the the spinster’s need for affection. vast public sphere of the men. “What hooked me was the idea Even the language of the of this very earnest feminist courtroom—much of which getting caught up in such a doesn’t seem to have changed in grubby case,” says Donoghue. “It 150 years—is cold, cruel and was a wonderful collision of two worlds.” misogynist. Donoghue’s research took her to Cambridge University, But this is far from a straightforward husband-dumps- where she unearthed the Langham Place group’s wife kind of tale. Each character in Donoghue’s love triangle unpublished letters. They are full of delicious details— evokes a combination of sympathy and frustration. Admiral passionate friendships, resentments, gossip—and some Codrington, for example, doesn’t make enough effort to significant gaps. “The women were very euphemistic about understand his wife, but his growing awareness of his faults the various quarrels and dramas between them,” says is poignant. Fido’s desire for a life with Helen and her Donoghue. “It was very useful for me to cast the tone of how children is hopelessly idealistic, but it prefigures the choices they wrote about Fido and each other.” Sapphic spinsters would make in the coming decades. When her fellow campaigners discover that Fido has been And this is how Donoghue establishes her era: by planting named in a court case, she is unceremoniously dropped from references to ideas that were in the cultural ether. It’s a the group. The whiff of scandal—and the suggestion of technique that allows the female experience to take centre lesbianism—is too detrimental to The Cause. “Spinsterhood stage and opens up a space for marginalized identities. It’s a is a sort of spiked armour that such women as Fido Faithfull writerly approach, but one that would benefit many wear with relish,” says their leader, Bessie Parkes, with historians, too. After all, the concepts that were dreamed up obvious distaste. It’s a familiar feminist conflict—a century on the fringes of Victorian society are the ones that structure later, Betty Friedan would rail against the “Lavender our lives today. Menace”—and it’s fascinating to see where it all began. “Now we have double-income families, single-parent In fact, the book is packed with striking contemporary families and couples trying to decide where they’re going to parallels. The public’s voracious appetite for a real-life live because they have jobs in different countries,” says courtroom drama, for example, has shades of the Bill Clinton Donoghue. “The basic feminist idea that women should scandal. “I couldn’t believe it when in the real documents of work outside the home really has changed everything.” 

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 49 Herizons Marketplace

DIY Marketing Reach 12,000 fabulous female readers each issue.

Book this space now for just $100 per ad insertion. Next Deadline: February 20, 2009 [email protected] or call 1-888-408-0028

cwhn.ca www

women’s health information you can trust

Women’s Recipes for aBetter Government Help us fight the Harper government’s attack on programs that support women’s equality. Hungry for change? Try the Cookbook For Women’s Equality. Includes saucy recipes for social justice and fairness! To order, contact the Ad-hoc Coalition for Women’s Equality and Human Rights [email protected] www.womensequality.ca

50 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS arts culture FILM

Christine Welsh, director of Finding Dawn, photographed in her home territory in the Qu’Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan. (Photo: Banchi Hanuse 2006 National Film Board of Canada.)

FINDING DAWN travels to Saskatoon, where Daleen Kay Bosse DIRECTED BY CHRISTINE WELSH disappeared in 2004. The young mother and university student went missing in May, but a REVIEW BY JENNIFER O’CONNOR criminal investigation didn’t begin until the In January 2004, investigators found the DNA following January. of a twenty-third woman on a British Columbia In answering the question: How has this pig farm. Her name was Dawn Crey and she violence has been allowed to happen? Welsh had disappeared from Vancouver’s Downtown introduces Janice Acoose. The professor Eastside three years earlier. She was one of discusses negative images of First Nations more than 60 women, a third of them women with her students while words like Aboriginal, who had disappeared from the squaw are written on the board behind her. Eastside over the previous 20 years. Marchers at the annual Women’s Memorial March in Acoose then shares her story of growing up Documentary filmmaker Christine Welsh Vancouver, B.C., which honours the dead and missing has put a face to this woman, moving past women. (Photo: Mary Suchell 2006 National Film Board surrounded by violence and, later, working on the statistics to create a larger, human of Canada.) the streets, before going to university and picture. Finding Dawn explores the historical, connecting with her ancestors. includes foster homes, prostitution, addiction social and economic forces behind this Welsh is an award-winning Metis filmmaker and siblings who loved her. violence against women, yet it also focuses whose work focuses on the lives of native on hope. The filmmaker then moves beyond women. The film’s narrative is clear and well- Racialized and sexualized violence is Vancouver to Highway 16, the Highway of paced; the script shares information in a epidemic in this country: Five hundred Tears, which connects Prince Rupert with creative and personal way. What emerges is Aboriginal women have gone missing or been Prince George. It’s here that nine women—all an infuriating, saddening and joyful picture, as murdered in the past 30 years. In Finding but one of them native—have gone missing or well as a call for all of us to ensure that no Dawn, Welsh begins with Crey’s story that been murdered since the 1990s. Later, Welsh more women will live with violence. 

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 51 Join the Growing Community of

here else can you see your name in print and have a never-ending W subscription to Canada’s most widely read feminist magazine? Become a Sustaining Subscriber to Herizons today. You’ll be making a monthly contribution to ensure Herizons, a non-profit organization, can continue to meet its publishing costs. Your contribution will be transferred from your account on the first of each month. Best of all, your Herizons subscription will never expire as long as you are a Sustaining Subscriber! By reducing the need to print renewal letters, you will also help reduce paper use. Just send in this form, along with a cheque marked “Void.” When you make a monthly donation of $8 or more, we’ll send you a free Herizons gift.

Joanne Abbensetts Lynne Bingham Helen Castonguay Sonja De Pauw Susan Ford Kay Hanson Wendy Abendschoen Sallie Bingham Jade Chambers Susan Dempsey Jan Forde Rosalie Harriott Bev Agar Pamela Booker Cheryl Champagne Irene Deschenes Kim Fordham Debra Hathaway Jackie Allen / Dovona West Allison Chapman Cynthia Devine Anne Forest Nina K. Herman Laurie Anderson Jane Boulet Michele Chappas Emma Dickson Louise Forsyth Tamrin Hildebrandt Jan Andrews Nancy Bowes Joanne Charron Linda Disbrowe Joanne Fox Arlene Anisman Susan Boyd Donna Cherniak Linda Doctoroff Karoline Fox “As a Sustaining Subscriber to Dianne Archer Margaret Boyce Lynn Cockburn Christine Dol Barbara Freeman Herizons, I love knowing Kelly Arndt D. Lee Connell Suzanne Dollheiser Frances Friesen that my donation helps keep Jane Aronson Valerie Connell Donna Dorosh Janice Frizell getting your message out! I “I have been a supporter read your magazine cover to Diana Aspen of Herizons for 15 K.Virginia Coleman Jean Douglas-Webb Karen Fry Laura Atkinson Rhonda Collis Carolyn Dowell Web Future cover every time!”—Marie years, and I think the Sternberg Turner Jennifer Ayer magazine is better than Sarah Colquhoun Kristine Drakich Esther Fyk Kate Ayotte ever. Keep it up.” Ray Comeau Monique Dumont Karen Galler Madeleine Bachand —Linda Isitt Joy Cowell Joanna Dunbar Lee Gauthier Laurie Hill Eliz Ball Ruth-Anne Craig Judith Dunlop Susan Genge Sandra Hoeppner Bonnie Baker Joan Crainford Nicole Dupuis Jennifer Gibbs Brook Holdack Joan Bams Alissa Brandt Melody Crane Bette Durst Janine Gibson Becky Hollingsworth Cara Banks Allison Brewer Ruth Crawford Ann Dyble Margaret Gillett Kathleen Holmwood Letitia Barker MacKenzie Brooks Rean Cross Heather Dyment Ginny Gonneau Geoffrey Honey Nancy Barner Pearl Brown Rachel Crowder Ann Eastman Sara Gose Wendy Hovdestad Kristine Barr Rai Brown Judith Crawley Wendy Elliott Sonja Greckol Heather Howdle Heather Barrie Mary Smirle Bruce Susan Crowley Roberta Engel Paula Greenwood Deborah Hudson Sally Batstone Patricia Brush Robin Cryderman Annemarie Etsell Lorraine Gregson Wendy Hunt Mairy Beam Nancy Buchanan Inez Curl Brigitte Evering Virginia Grinevitch Winnie Hunt Annette Beauvais Ruth Bulmer Violet Cushon Davilyn Eyolfson Joanne Grout Lesley Hurlburt Jennifer Beeman Wendy Burton Alexina Dalgetty Jenny Farkas Janet Grover Janice Inglis Marilynne Bell Joanne Bury Denise Davies Elaine Filax Genevieve Guindon Val Innes Ellen Bell / Marlene Milne Carolyn Campbell Jennifer Davis Gloria Filax Gio Guzzi Doreen Irving Candace Bergeson Jodi Campbell Joan Dawkins Terry Flower Judith Hammill Pat Israel Mary Billy Janine Carscadden Angela Day Sydney Foran Donna Hansen Candice Jackson Herizons Sustaining Subscribers

Nancy Jackson Susan Mayrand Joanna Plater Chris Sinding Lynne Supeene Ieneke VanHouten Pamela Jackson /Mary McCosham Michelle Poirier Ann Sitch Roberta Pyx Sutherland Gail Vanstone Don T. James Heather McAfee Marg Powell Tara Sketchley Bethany Sutton Aniko Varpalotai Dorothy Janes Mary Ann McCarthy Jacqueline Preyde Lynn Sloane Caroline Taylor Maureen Vescio Kathleen Jones-Lepidas Sandra McCauley J.C. Prior Angela Smith Katherine Tate Vicki Vopni Hilary Kaler Audrey McClellan Kathleen Quinn Muriel Smith Jennifer Waelti-Walters Lois Kamenitz Gail McColl Samantha-Lee Quinn Thorin Smith “For my money, it’s the Lori Wanamaker / Paula J. Scott Heather McDonald Helen Ramirez Marilyn Snelling very best feminist news Betty Watts Sheila Kappler Selma McGorman Jean Rands Sandra Snooks and views publication Susan Wendell /Theresa O’Donovan Susan McGrath Gillean Raske Penelope Squires available in Canada. Kristina Westhaver Laura Kauder–Wolloch Debra McIntyre Pat Rasmussen Antoinette Spoor Keep up the great work.” Susan White Margaret Keefe Mary McKim — Gail Vanstone Carol Reader Sylvia Spring Shelley Wickabrod Else Kennedy Nancy McKinnell Nalini Reddy Mary Beth Stacey Harolyn Wilson Nicole Kennedy Robin McNabb Sharon Redmond Marie Sternberg Pamela Terry Elaine Wright Ursula Kernig Marilou McPhedran Val Regehr Ursula Stetter Iris Tetford Susan Wurtele Diane Kewley Sue Melville Katherine Reed Kathleen Kilburn Margaret Stephens Richard Theriault Miriam Wyman Heather Menzies Sharon Reiner Sally Kimpson Anne Stewart Terry Toews Deborah Yaffe Neire Mercer Kim Renders Alyson King Mary C. Stewart Mary Trafford Gail Youngberg Joan Merrifield Rubi Reske-Naurocki Maddy Kipling Randa Stewart Linda Tupin Carol Zavitz Doreen Meyer Eva Reti Bonnie Klein Virginia Stikeman Verna Turner Lisa Zigler / Tree Walsh Rosemary Miguez Laurie Reynolds Terry Knight Claire Sylvan Celia Valeriote Carly Ziniuk Lina Medaglia Miller Vicki Rhodes Tamara Knox Christina Mills Beverly Suek Rian van Bruggen Kathryn Zwick Jillian Ridington Esther Korchynski Jai Mills Janet Riehm Ellen Kristjanson Dawn Mitchell Bev Ritza Ellen Kruger Penni Mitchell Sandy Roberts Anita Lahey Mary Moreland Joan Robillard Marie Laing Emily Morino Wendy Robbins Roselyne Lambert Gail Mountain Krista Robson Ronald Lancaster Gail Mounteer Margerit Roger Yes! Sign Me Up As a Herizons Ann Landrey Judy Moynihan Laurel Rolland Dianne Landry Leslie Muir Susan Romaniuk Sustaining Subscriber. Michele Landsberg Audrey Myers Blanche Roy I authorize Herizons to withdraw: Patricia Lane Kemlin Nembhard Anna Rushforth Lisa Lasagna Elizabeth Neve $5 $8 $10 $15 Other each month. Karmen Rusnak Martha Laurence Evie Newton Tziporah Russell I enclose a cheque marked “VOID;” or Janine Laurencin Linda Nichols Flora Russell Credit Card Contribution: L. A. Lavoie Betty Nickerson Joan Ryan Karen LeBlanc Karen Nielsen Exp Shirley LeBrasseur A-Lynne Nilsson Patricia Sadowy Anna Lenk Valerie Hoshizaki Nordin Cy-Thea Sand Name: Judy Lightwater Kathleen Norman Britt Santowski Ruth Lillington Dianne Oberg Sandra St. Germain Address: Marnie Schaetti Fiona Lindsay Francine Odette City / Town: Ursula Litzcke Margaret Oldfield Cat Schick Katina Loiselle Jan Padgett Joan Scott Province: Postal Code: Vanita Lokanathan Sharon Pchajek Agatha Schwartz Bev Lowsley Joyce Peachey Joan Schwartzenberger Phone: /Linda Cunningham Deirdre Pearson Charlene Senn E. Jane Luce Patricia Pedersen Sandra Setter Email: Lesley MacDonald Holly Penner Donna Sharon I understand that my subscription will not expire as long Barb Shaw Pamela MacDonald /Diane Silverthorne as I am a Sustaining Subscriber and that I may cancel Lori MacIntyre Tracey Peter Lisa Shaw Shauna MacKinnon Beverly Peters JoAnne Sherin this agreement at any time. Josha MacNab Patricia Petruga Margaret Shkimba Mail a completed copy of this form to: Susan MacPhail Paula Philp Harold Shuster Herizons Sustaining Subscribers Muriel Sibley Elise Maltin Ron Philipp PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB Canada R3C 2G1 Heather Maroney Janyt Piercy Sylvia Sigurdson Barbara Martin Marieke Pilon Joan Simeon Check if applicable: Do not publish my name on this page. Suzette Mayr Sylvia Pivko Ruth Simkin arts culture FILM

The Film 4 Months asks: What happens when a woman needs to procure an abortion but the state deems it illegal?

4 MONTHS, 3 WEEKS AND 2 DAYS then; it is a reminder of what still goes on in exist here. 4 Months reveals this in a way that DIRECTED BY CRISTIAN MUNGIU the present world. is dispassionate, cold and clinical. This film explores that idea as fully as This brings me to a line in No Country for Old REVIEW BY MAUREEN MEDVED possible without sentimentalizing the subject. Men when two sheriffs are trying to understand If No Country For Old Men is, as some have Otillia helps Gabita procure an abortion. In the moral deterioration that surrounds them. suggested, a horror movie, then so is 4 procuring not only an abortion but a more One says to the other: “It’s not the one thing.” Months, 3 Weeks and 2 Days. heavily penalized late-term abortion, the In both films the audience realizes that it is not The former deals with the violence of roommate Otillia is forced to confront her own simply contemporary America, or Ceau¸sescu’s American society and the latter with the feelings about the issue and, through Otillia’s Romania; nor is it simply the politics repressive Romanian regime of Nicolae journey, so are we. surrounding abortion, or the corrupt nature of Ceau¸sescu. What both films have in common The black-market abortionist realizes that humanity under pressure, but all things. are scenes that build tension and foreboding Gabita lied about the stage of her pregnancy The world can feel challenging and at other in a way that evokes more fear than the and blackmails both women into giving him times chilling. To reduce it to political or social scariest monster or circumstance. These films more than money to perform the abortion. abstractions is to minimize the spectrum of are two of the best of the past year. In 4 Through a frustrating and disturbing trajectory human experience. Both films are about Months, the repression of Romania during of trying to attain this abortion, Gabita corruption and power and powerlessness. 4 Ceau¸sescu’s reign is explored through the lens demonstrates almost no emotion, whereas Months is a film about the human experience, of illegal abortion. Otillia agrees to help her friend and grows which can at times feel bitterly cold and which What happens when a woman needs to increasingly frustrated with Gabita’s lies, requires a lot of courage and resilience just to procure an abortion but the state deems it helplessness and general unresponsiveness. survive it. illegal? This film explores the consequences of Thus, 4 Months presents two women with Film doesn’t usually cover such harsh those illegal abortions upon the women who two very different reactions to a highly terrain because most people don’t choose to manage to terminate a pregnancy. What charged and cruel set of circumstances. The experience the vagaries of life on their unravels is a horror movie. The film is told film is not a simple morality tale, nor is it a downtime without a sugar-coating of through the eyes not of the pregnant woman, simple polemic. It leaves us with the results of sentimentality to make it palatable and fun. but through the eyes of her college roommate. making abortion illegal and the fallout of But that is the point and the purpose of such a Now, we’ve all heard stories like this one told abortion itself. We are, in a sense, caught in film, as well as its art. Truth’s brilliant pointed by women who had abortions in back rooms in the eerily unpleasant amorphousness that star, however excruciating, can be found in eras past. But this story is not only a reminder often accompanies difficult real-life situations. each moment of Cristian Mungiu’s beautiful of what those women had to go through back The surgically clean line of certainty doesn’t and horrifying film. 

54 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS cole’s notes BY SUSAN G. COLE

The Pain of Palin

Right-wing women really piss feminists off. the ’70s and talked about motherhood as a legitimate “choice,” For one thing, they usually get more media attention than she uses feminist rhetoric to support regressive ideas. Anti- we can stomach. That’s because few things are more choice? Check, but with a twist: She calls herself pro-life, titillating than a female cat fight—a woman with regressive spouting the anti-violence rhetoric normally associated with views repudiating the progressive political group that claims the feminist movement. But guns? She can’t get enough. And to be speaking in women’s interests. The forces of repression when it comes to the war in Iraq, bring it on. have a field day with it, using the situation as proof that But McCain miscalculated. First of all, he assumed that, by feminism’s base is fake. choosing a female VP candidate, all of those furious women It doesn’t help that right-wing women are always tromping who supported Clinton and were alienated by Obama’s all over our issues. As an activist in the anti-pornography campaign during the primaries would cross over to the movement 20 years ago, I was amazed at how easily right Republicans. That didn’t happen. That’s because he was wingers could appropriate the issue. They’d been involved in foolish enough to choose a woman designed to attract the the issue of pornography as part of an anti-sexuality evangelical sector instead of a centrist politician who might campaign, but once we got in on the action they were quick appeal to some in the Clinton contingent to seize on the idea that And worse, he chose someone pornography exploited women. “McCain assumed that, by with no intellectual sinew. Often they used our exact Phyllis Schlafley, architect of the language. choosing a female VP candidate, Eagle Forum in the ’70s and And, ironically, women on the all of those furious women who instrumental in mobilizing right, especially the religious women to oppose the Equal right, are often more anti-male supported Clinton and were Rights Amendment, may have than the most radical of alienated by Obama’s campaign been a hypocrite—as in all feminists. That’s what their pro- women should stay in the home family campaign is about: They during the primaries would except me, the lawyer—but she think men are randy creatures cross over to the Republicans.” was brilliant. Margaret who can’t control their steaming Thatcher, too, had a steel-trap sexuality and who require the strict constraints of the nuclear mind. Even the conservatives abandoned Palin, furious that family to keep them under control. she’s dumbing down right-wing thinking. Had Palin Right-wing women tend to be toxic to the feminist cause demonstrated some of their brains, McCain might not have when they get power. Put women in office and change the lost the U.S. election. world, you say? Then explain Margaret Thatcher’s heartless We witnessed a variation on this when Canadian Prime administration in Britain, or Indira Ghandi’s campaign of Minister Stephen Harper named close to 30 percent women sterilization in India. Given that, as I predicted, Hillary in his new cabinet. I expect more do-nothing ministers Clinton’s presidential campaign tanked—though we can touting the regressive party line. Take, for example, Lisa hope Isreali prime minister-designate Tzipi Livni promotes Raitt, MP for Halton, who got the natural resources peace in the Middle East and proves the exception—it feels portfolio. Under her watch as CEO of the Toronto Port like only conservative women get anywhere in politics. Authority, she tried to railroad construction of a bridge Then along comes Sarah Palin. John McCain’s vice- between Toronto and its eco-trashing Island airport and presidential running mate comes across gangbusters on all actually tried to sue community activist group Community the predictable issues. She started by strutting into the Air when they protested. Worse, in an interview with CBC Republication convention all pro-women’s achievement, Radio on the day of her new appointment, she could barely bragging about how she’s shattering the glass ceiling—a string a sentence together. term we invented. Are the Palins and Raitts of the world good for women? I Like the right-wing women’s movement that sprouted in don’t think so. 

HERIZONS WINTER 2009 55 on the edge BY LYN COCKBURN

Palin by Comparison

Friends, Canadians and countrywomen, listen up. I come to up when I was a teenager. Bunions, you should know, are only defend Sarah Palin, but not to praise her. slightly less noticeable than pregnancy when you’re 17. No, I do not think I am Mark Antony, nor am I off my 5. Sarah has the right to tout herself as an expert on foreign meds ... let me just check the number of capsules in the bottle affairs because she can see Russia from her house. If only ... it’s the right number. I’m okay. George W. had been so qualified. Note that neither Mark nor I had or have any intention of However, I’m a trifle miffed that Sarah does not consider praising Julius or Sarah. If we had, you’d be quite right in herself to be an expert on Canada, since Alaska borders both calling Dr. Phil. However, I personally (don’t know about the Yukon and a squiggly part of B.C.. But maybe she can’t Mark) would prefer a woman shrink. see either one from her back porch. Nonetheless, I shall indeed defend Our Lady of Alaska 6. Sarah definitely has the right to not be a witch. In May because she has her rights and I intend to explain the most 2005, Pastor Thomas Muthee prayed over Palin in the important ones: Wasilla Assembly of God church and called upon Jesus to 1. She has the right to hunt moose from low-flying protect her from “the spirit of witchcraft.” You can check this helicopters. She does, too. She’s the gov and it’s her law. And out on YouTube. I was reassured when I viewed the quite like Humpty Dumpty said to Alice, when Our Sarah ceremony, as I certainly do not want a witch anywhere near uses a law, it means exactly what she means it to mean. the White House. Neither more nor less. I could go on and on defending Sarah, but I’m sure you get 2. She has the right to make Bristol, her pregnant 17- the point. Which is that if we want real equality, we have to year-old daughter, marry the father, Levi Johnston, who is accept—well, maybe tolerate is a better word—the bad— 18 and dared to mumble that he didn’t exactly really want to well, maybe awful is a better word—with the good. get married or have kids. He has been labelled a redneck, For every Elizabeth May, there is a Sarah Palin who thinks but I think he’s onto something. Because, while I the word environment is a synonym for drill, baby, drill. For acknowledge Sarah’s right as a hockey mom to tell Bristol every pro-choice Hillary Clinton there’ll be a no abortion- what to do, I have some misgivings about teenagers, no-how Sarah Palin. pregnant or unpregnant, getting married. We can’t really Women have the right to be intelligent, wise, witty and stop them from having sex, but encouraging them to marry caring. And we have the right to be stupid, humourless and is perhaps a bit precipitous. However, I do wonder if there’s mean. And sometimes, like men, we are all of these things at a connection between this situation and that of #1. Did the same time. Or maybe a little bit mean in a caring way. Or Sarah threaten to mistake Levi for a moose? Was she in a very wise in a dreadfully serious manner. helicopter at the time? Put another way, may I point out that men have gallantly 3. Sarah has a right to own a gun, or six. Says so, sort of, in put up with George W. for eight years, so surely we can put the American Constitution. However, I’m not sure about her up with the brief Sarahphenom. right to shoot moose or Levi. Indiscriminately, that is. Mind you, there is a fairly large group of ultra-conservative Perhaps she feels they both need to be culled. Republicans who want Sarah to take a run at the U.S. 4. She has every right to wear those open-toed—in the presidency in 2012. And there’s a consensus forming that she words of Amy Winehouse, fuck-me—shoes. Although intends to do just that. And when Pastor Muthee was praying rumour has it that Amy was slagging Posh, not Sarah, but over Sarah, he asked Jesus to propel her into the governor’s never mind. Moreover, I’d wear those shoes too if I hadn’t mansion—and beyond. inherited my grandmother’s bunions. Which started to show I need to take another pill now. 

56 WINTER 2009 HERIZONS THIS IS WHAT A FEMINIST LOOKS LIKE And this is how they Cstay informed More than a Magazine— A Movement

www.msmagazine.com 866 Ms And Me (866.672.6363) athy Najimy photographed by Yvette Roman K

COMMERCIAL PRINT DIVISION

PROUD PRINTERS OF HERIZONS MAGAZINE

We are one of the few printers that can offer competitive quotes using a combination of sheetfed and web printing. We offer complete prepress services in Mac & PC platforms providing a one-stop-shop for all of your printing needs.

phone 204.632.2665 fax 204.697.3401 [email protected] 1700 Church Avenue Winnipeg, Manitoba R2X 3A2

L INDA (TERRY) A VERBACH Account Executive Winnipeg Sun Commercial Print Division A Division of Sun Media Corp., A Quebecor Company Keep tabs on the privateers

Read Privatization Watch, CUPE’s monthly update on defending public services from P3s, contracting out and other forms of privatization. Sign up and see past issues at cupe.ca/privatizationwatch