Funny Girl Elvira Kurt by Karen X
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WOMEN’S NEWS & FEMINIST VIEWS • Winter 2003 • Vol. 16 No.3 • Canada $5.95/US $5.95 The latest in progressive feminist Conference CDs now on sale research, writing and practical Plenaries and Workshops are fully listed on CASAC's FUNNYFUNNY GIRLGIRL experience. website (www.casac.ca) and can be ordered online or by mailing the form below. In October 2001, CAEFS & CASAC hosted the legendary For online orders go to www.casac.ca, click on English or Français, ELVIRAELVIRA KURTKURT Women's Resistance Conference: From Victimization to then CD Order Form from the Post Conference News Section. Criminalization. It was a huge success and a pivotal moment in the A SIT DOWN WITH A STAND UP Or fill out the form below and mail to CASAC: women's movement. Most of the conference has been captured 77 East 20th Avenue, Vancouver, BC, Canada, V5V 1L7 and is now available on compact disk and MP3. Plenaries Quantity It is clear from the many requests for CDs and MP3s that many 1. Locating this conference in the World in 2001 $30 _______ 2. Can law deliver for all women? $30 _______ PINKPINK THINKTHINK Canadians and individuals internationally are extremely interested in 3. Strategies for Social Change $30 _______ following our progress on women's equality issues. THE INVENTION OF 4. Restorative Justice $30 _______ 5. The Service/Advocacy Debate $30 _______ FEMININE CULTURE The Women's Resistance Conference featured workshop and ple- 6. Policing in Canada $40 _______ nary discussions by a wide range of women including: 7. The Law and Order Agenda $30 _______ 8. Women’s inprosonment $30 _______ 9. Complete Set of Plenaries $240 _______ - Victimized and criminalized women and girls, including women who had been sexually victimized. Women and girls who had been Workshops - $25 Each DISSIDENTDISSIDENT controlled by violent men in their families, women forced to defend Indicate CD number according to the workshop list available online at www.casac.ca themselves violently and young women labeled as violent CD No. Quantity Total ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ AUTHORAUTHOR - Women who are disproportionately disadvantaged economi- ______ ______ ______ cally, socially, politically and legally ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ ______ - Women and girls who are subject to systemic violence ______ ______ ______ TASLIMATASLIMA - Women from equality-seeking groups, particularly self-organized Billing & Shipping Information poor women, Aboriginal and other racialized women, women from Name _____________________________________________________________ Affiliation _____________________________________________________________ NASRINNASRIN immigrant communities, including Asian, South Asian, African, Address _____________________________________________________________ WHAT FUNDAMENTALISM Caribbean and South and Central American communities and City, Province____________________________________________________________ women with physical and mental challenges Postal Code_____________________________________________________________ MEANS TO WOMEN - Front-line workers from the anti-violence and prisoner advocate Order Total groups especially our members and their associates Units ______ $______ + $7.50 = $______ ($7.50 shipping and handling) Method of Payment - Legal practitioners, academics, bureaucrats, politicians, other Money Order ___ policy makers, service providers and activists working to address Visa __ Master Card __ Number ________________________________________ the issues of criminalized and victimized women Expiry Date ________________________________________ Name as it appears on the card ________________________________________ - International and local colleagues from Women’s and Justice groups Signature ________________________________________ Susan Cole on Francoise Ducros Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres (CASAC) www.casac.ca Eco-Feminism in Brazil Canadian Association of Elizabeth Fry Societies (CAEFS) www.elizabethfry.ca Made in Canada Fat Angry Naked Woman mqup.ca table of contents WINTER 2003 / VOLUME 16 NO. 3 FEATURES FUNNY 25 GIRL After 15 years on the road, Canadian comedian Elvira Kurt has moved from L.A. and is now based in Toronto. “I’m tak- ing on themes much deeper than typical stand-up comedy,” she con- fides. Does this mean she isn’t funny any more? Stay tuned. Karen X. Tulchinsky has the answer. HORMONE THERAPY NEEDS 29 REPLACEMENT HRT does not prevent heart disease. In fact, long term use of the drug is associated with an increased risk of heart disease. Hot flash doesn’t begin to describe the reaction of feminist health advocates. by Penni Mitchell MUSLIM WORDS: ARTS & LIT 18 TASLIMA NASRIN Living in exile since 1994, Taslima Nasrin is one of AUTHOR the Muslim world’s most vociferous dissidents. She 32 PROFILE: invented the word ‘meyebela’–girlhood–because CAMILLA GIBB "... [Avaalaaqiaq uses] biography and Inuit oral traditions while Bengali language assigns a word for boys’ Nice Girl, Grisly Topics to create powerful and distrinctive new art ..." lives, it ignores girls’. Meyebela is the title of her by Maria Stanborough latest book. Marie Routledge, associate curator, Inuit Art, by Irshad Manji CAN National Gallery of Canada 33 LIT PINK AND THE CULTURE Saints of Big Harbour by Lynn 22 OF FEMININITY Coady; Dying in a Strange Country by Tahira Naqvi; How exactly does one become an expert on such things The Girl Without Anyone by Kelli Deeth; Closer Apart Irene Avaalaaqiaq: Myth and Reality as 1950s douching practices? Lynn Peril, founder of by Gayla Reid; Donovan’s Station by Robin McGrath; Judith Nasby the zine, Mystery Date and the author of a new book Spelling Mississippi by Marnie Woodrow; Mile End by called Pink Think, comes clean on femininity. Lise Tremblay [Translated by Gail Scott]; Cover Me by Paper • ISBN 0-7735-2440-1 • $44.95 by Jennifer O’Connor Mariko Tamaki. HERIZONS WINTER 2003 McGill-Queen’s University Press Editor: Penni Mitchell Business Manager: Alissa Brandt Board of Directors: Ghislaine Alleyne, Alissa Brandt, Penni Mitchell, Aurelie Mogan, Valerie Regehr Editorial Advisory Committee: Wendy Abendschoen, Gio Guzzi, Alissa Brandt Advertising Sales: Penni Mitchell (204) 774-6225 NON Design: inkubator.ca 38 FICTION Retail Inquiries: Disticor 905) 619-6565 ( Brazen Femme: Queering Proofreading: Gerri Thorsteinson, Kelli Wagner, Irene D’Souza Femininity, edited by Chloë Cover Photo: Brushwood Rose and Anna Camilleri; Veiled Threat by Sally Armstrong and HERIZONS is published 4 times per year by Herizons Inc. Understanding Depression: An in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. One-year subscription price: $25.96 in Canada (includes GST). Two-year interview with Janet Stoppard. subscriptions are $41.92 in Canada. Subscriptions to US addresses are $29.99-Canadian funds or $25.96 in US LISTEN funds. International subscriptions are $32.99. Cheques or 42 UP! money orders are payable to: HERIZONS, PO Box 128, Winnipeg, Manitoba, CANADA R3C 2G1. Ph (204) 774- Norah Jones, Mary Coughlan, Mia 6225; Fax (204) 786-8038. Sheard and Ani DiFranco [email protected] or [email protected] http://www.herizons.ca HERIZONS is indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. COLUMNS HERIZONS is available on CD-ROM through Micromedia Ltd., 20 Victoria St. Toronto, ON M5C 2N8. GST FIRST WORD #R131089187. ISSN 0711-7485. The purpose of HERIZONS is to empower women; to inspire 5 BY PENNI MITCHELL hope and foster a state of wellness that enriches women’s Drivers wanted lives; to build awareness of issues as they affect women; to promote the strength, wisdom and creativity of women; to ON THE EDGE broaden the boundaries of feminism to include building coalitions and support among other marginalized people; to 15 BY LYN COCKBURN foster peace and ecological awareness and to expand the Teed off with ‘em all influence of feminist principles in the world. HERIZONS aims to reflect a feminist philosophy that is diverse, COLE’S NOTES understandable and relevant to women’s daily lives. 31 BY SUSAN G. COLE Views expressed in HERIZONS are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect HERIZONS’ editorial policy. No West Wing Writers Take a Note material may be reprinted without permission. Submissions and queries will be returned if accompanied by a stamped, BODY POLITIC self-addressed envelope. Due to limited resources, 47 BY AMBER RICHELLE DEAN HERIZONS does not accept poetry or fiction submissions. Chasing Dollars Instead of Change We acknowledge the finanancial support of the Government of Canada through the Publication Assistance Program (PAP) and GUEST ROOM the Canada Magazine Fund of the Department of Canadian 48 BY MARIKO TAMAKI Heritage toward our mailing and project costs. Canada Post Agreement #40008866 PAP Registration #07944. Angry Fat Woman HERIZONS WINTER 2003 1 the letters FALL READING STAKING IT TO BUFFY While I think that Rachel Thompson raises some myth that women are willing to have sex even if they good points in her article “Staking it to the Man: Is say no. Similarly, Willow and Tara’s ground-breaking Buffy a Feminist Icon?” (Herizons, Summer 2002 and subversive relationship ended in a classic exam- issue), she neglected to answer any tough questions ple of lesbian cliché, with one lover killed while the about the show. other turning evil right after sex. The message, Thompson missed the point of Rachel Fudge’s though unintended, is clear: lesbian love and desire criticism in that Buffy’s over-the-top femininity and can only end in pain and self-destruction. In a show stylishly cool wardrobe were created