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 to make her that originally sought to turn around clichés, Buffy acceptable (and marketable) to the masses. The has submitted to the most harmful ones of all. show’s success relies upon this narrow definition of So, in my opinion, Buffy is not a feminist show, femininity. If bookworm Willow or shy Tara had and now I’m starting to wonder if it had ever truly been chosen as the Slayer, I doubt that the show been one. would have even aired. Chun Yong Lee Also, instead of subverting women’s relationship to Honolulu, HI sex and sexual roles, Buffy has completely degraded its main female heroines in this last season. One can DEFENDING POST FEMINISM not ignore how Buffy’s “no means yes” approach to In Herizons’ Summer 2002 issue, Imelda Whelehan sex with Spike contributed to the widespread sexist (“Did Bridget Jones Really Liberate Us?”) refers to Bridget Jones’s Diary as a “post-feminist text.” I found myself quite disappointed by the definition of post-feminist as a situation where “feminist values Phone are situated as somewhere in the past as an uneasy MOVING? 1-888-408-0028 conscience to a woman who finds the newspeak of Don’t miss an issue. Fax biological accounts of sexual difference more com- (204) 786-8038 forting.” Such a definition is not good enough for Email me–it captures nothing of what I truly believe, so I [email protected] decided to write to tell you what I understand the Mail word “post-feminist” to mean, and why I consider PO Box 128 myself one. Winnipeg, MB Feminist movements are based on self-identifica- Canada R3C 2G1 tion, which makes how a group (i.e., feminist, post- feminist) is defined of central importance. How something is defined determines whether we think we fit. I definitely don’t fit into the category of “post- Name: feminist” as Whelehan describes it, but neither do I New address: fit into the category “feminist”—and I’m certainly not City/Town: non-feminist. Province: Postal Code: I came to feminism through a job in my first year of university, editing a women’s journal on campus. In my second year, I met a man.

2 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS The man I met is a survivor of horrific childhood taining patriarchy, can they not also resist it? And are sexual abuse, both in a familial and an institutional women not also complicit in maintaining patriarchy – setting. Like any survivor, he was a devastated, bro- and how? What is the role of men in social justice? ken soul, childlike in his pain, afraid, lonely and What power structures are embedded in feminist suffering from a deep sense of unworthiness and movements? How have they become institutionalized unlovability. Feminism told me that male domi- and bureaucratized? nance over women was the definition of patriarchy, Such questions turn the critique onto the critical and that patriarchy was the problem. It didn’t fit theory of feminism itself, just as post-modernism with my experience. turned toward modernist Marxism. Theory is con- Furthermore, as a sociologist, I have had considerable stantly changing; as one body of knowledge moves exposure to a number of “post” more and more into the theories, especially post-mod- mainstream, new voices ernism and post-structural- appear at the edges. It is this ism. In each case, the “post” edge that interests me. represents the idea of moving Post-feminism doesn’t need beyond the limits of previous to carry “all the negative con- paradigms. Deconstruction, notations” that Whelehan fragmentation, pushing the ascribes to it. In order for our boundaries to their logical and ideas to keep up with our illogical limits—these are the world, they need to progress. projects of the “post” theoreti- It is pure foolishness to think cal world. that feminism is exempt from Post-feminist theory is no that progress. Post-feminism, different. Rather than the as I see it, builds on the strong biologically deterministic foundation of feminism in pseudo-theory that Whelehan order to take theory where rightly derides but wrongly feminism itself cannot go. labels, the post-feminism of Marie my understanding repre- Victoria, BC sents not a regression toward simplistic, uncritical essentialism, but a movement forwards—a new crit- THANK THE GODDESS ical stance, eyes turned toward the great critic her- Just wanted to let you know how great it was to see self, feminism. those Turbo Chicks on the latest Herizons, and to read Post-feminism acknowledges the incredible con- about them and Lorna Turnbull inside! We like the tribution to theory that feminism has made, but it also new format; more “newsy” looking, and chock full of questions the boundaries of that knowledge and asks good stuff—as usual. why those limits are there. Why is patriarchy under- Congratulations on your anniversary! Thank the stood as a structure of oppression that oppresses goddess for Herizons and women like you! women, and not all people? If it is imposed, is it not Liz Martin, Sumach Press imposed upon all of us? If men are complicit in main- Toronto, ON

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 3 Joanne Abbensetts Bette Durst Vanita Lokanathan Susan Romaniuk Wendy Abendschoen Ann Dyble Bev Lowsley Blanche Roy Become a Sustaining Andrea Adair Heather Dyment /Linda Cunningham Tziporah Russell Emilie Adin Ann Eastman E. Jane Luce Flora Russell Bev Agar Wendy Elliott Catherine Macaulay Joan Ryan Subscriber to Herizons Jackie Allen Roberta Engel Shauna MacKinnon Patricia Sadowy Laurie Anderson Annemarie Etsell Susan MacPhail Sandra St. Germain Arlene Anisman Brigitte Evering Anne Maranta Marnie Schaetti Jane Aronson Davilyn Eyolfson Gail Marchessault Joan Scott Diana Aspen Elaine Filax Heather Maroney Joan Schwartzenberger Laura Atkinson Gloria Filax Barbara Martin Jennifer Sewards here else can you see your name in print Letitia Barker Frank Flood Suzette Mayr Barb Shaw Joan Bams Sydney Foran Heather McAfee JoAnne Sherin and have a never-ending subscription to Kristine Barr Susan Ford Mary Ann McCarthy Margaret Shkimba Sandra McCauley Canada’s most widely read feminist maga- Sally Batstone Karoline Fox Sylvia Sigurdson W Mairy Beam Barbara Freeman Gail McColl Joan Simeon zine? Become a Sustaining Subscriber to Herizons Annette Beauvais Joan Frommer Wendy McCowan Ann Sitch Maureen McCracken today. You’ll be making a monthly contribution to Jennifer Beeman Esther Fyk Tara Sketchley Leslie Belloc-Pinder Karen Galler Heather McDonald Lynn Sloane ensure Herizons, a non-profit organization, can con- Sharron Bertchilde Lee Gauthier Selma McGorman Angela Smith Susan Genge Margaret McHugh tinue to meet publishing costs. Kimberley Bewick Muriel Smith Lynne Bingham Sonja Greckol Debra McIntyre Thorin Smith Your contribution will be transferred from your Judith Blackwell Paula Greenwood Mary McKim Connie Spataro Lorraine Gregson Nancy McKinnell account on the first of each month. Best of all, your Candice Bodnaruk Penelope Squires Pat Bonell Virginia Grinevitch Margaret McKinnon Sylvia Spring Herizons subscription will never expire as long as Pamela Booker Joanne Grout Ivy McNiven Marie Sternberg /Dovona West Marilou McPhedran Genevieve Guindon Ursula Stetter you are a Sustaining Subscriber! By reducing the Margaret Boycce Lindsay McWhirter Gio Guzzi Margaret Stephens Margaret Booth Neire Mercer need to print renewal letters, you will also help Donna Hansen Lynn Stevens Sandusky Kay Hanson Rosemary Miguez Randa Stewart reduce paper use. Jane Boulet Rosalie Harriott M.K. Miniely Virginia Stikeman Nancy Bowes Debra Hathaway Christina Mills Just send in this form, along with a cheque marked Claire Sylvan Susan Boyd Laurie Hill Jai Mills Beverly Suek “Void.” When you make a monthly donation of $8 or Margaret Boyce Brook Holdack Donnafaye Milton Lynne Supeene Allison Brewer Becky Hollingsworth Dawn Mitchell more, we’ll send you a free Herizons ceramic fridge Bethany Sutton MacKenzie Brooks Heather Howdle Mary Moreland Sharon Syrette magnet designed by artist Judy Springer. Rai Brown Deborah Hudson Gail Mountain Caroline Taylor Mary Bruce Wendy Hunt Gail Mounteer Katherine Tate Nancy Buchanan Jill Ineson Judy Moynihan Ellen Bulger Janice Inglis Leslie Muir Pamela Terry Ruth Bulmer Val Innes Audrey Myers Iris Tetford Wendy Burton /Brenda Carbonell Kemlin Nembhard Richard Theriault Joanne Bury Doreen Irving Elizabeth Neve Sherry Lynn Thombs Cynthia Callahan Linda Isitt Evie Newton Lynn Thorsell Carolyn Campbell Pat Israel Betty Nickerson Terry Toews Jodi Campbell Pamela Jackson Dianne Oberg Mary Trafford Janine Carscadden Don T. James Francine Odette Verna Turner Yes! Sign Me Up As a Herizons Helen Castonguay Dorothy Janes Jan Padgett Celia Valeriote Sustaining Subscriber. Jade Chambers Diane Kemp Deirdre Pearson Nancy Vanderpoorten Ieneke VanHouten I authorize Herizons to withdraw: Allison Chapman Else Kennedy Patricia Pedersen Joanne Charron Nicole Kennedy Patricia Petruga Gail Vanstone $5 $8 $10 $15 Other each month. Connie Cirkony Ursula Kernig Ron Philip Aniko Varpalotai Susan Clifton Diane Kewley Rhona Pike Maureen Vescio I enclose a cheque marked “VOID.” I understand that my Lynn Cockburn Kathleen Kilburn Marieke Pilon Vicki Vopni D. Lee Connell Sally Kimpson Sylvia Pivko June Vos subscription will not expire as long as I am a Sustaining Holly Cole Ruth Kirk Joanna Plater Jennifer Waelti-Walters Subscriber and that I may cancel this agreement at any time. K.Virginia Coleman Bonnie Klein Michelle Poirier Lori Wanamaker Catherine Coles Terry Knight Dan Prima Betty Watts Name: Sarah Colquhoun Tamara Knox Samantha-Lee Quinn Annika Weeks Joan Crainford Esther Korchinsky Jean Rands Susan Wendell Address: Ruth Crawford Ellen Kristjanson Heidi Rankin Brenda White Susan Crowley Ellen Kruger Gillean Raske Susan White City/Town: Robin Cryderman Anita Lahey Pat Rasmussen Shelley Wickabrod Inez Curl Marie Laing Sharon Redmond Sharon Wickman Province: Postal Code: Violet Cushon Roselyne Lambert Katherine Reed Harolyn Wilson Angela Day Ronald Lancaster Sharon Reiner Kerry Wilson Phone: Sonja De Pauw Ann Landrey Rubi Reske-Naurocki Shelagh Wilson Susan Dempsey Michele Landsberg Eva Reti Theresa Wolfwood Irene Deschenes Patricia Lane Laurie Reynolds Elaine Wright Mail a completed copy of this form along with your cheque Cynthia Devine Lisa Lasagna Vicki Rhodes Susan Wurtele marked “VOID” to: Emma Dickson Mary Lasovich Margaret Richardson Miriam Wyman Suzanne Dollheiser Martha Laurence Jillian Ridington Shelley Yeo Herizons Sustaining Subscribers Donna Dorosh Janine Laurencin Susan Riendeau Gail Youngberg PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB Canada R3C 2G1 Jean Douglas-Webb L. A. Lavoie Sandy Roberts Debbie Young Kristine Drakich Shirley LeBrasseur Joan Robillard Van Duelman Monique Dumont Krysia Lewy Dorothy Robinson- Carly Ziniuk Check if applicable: Do not include my name on the Judith Dunlop Judy Lightwater Priest Barbara Zuppinger list of Sustaining Subscribers. Nicole Dupuis Ruth Lillington Carolyn Rogers Kathryn Zwick first word BY PENNI MITCHELL

DRIVERS WANTED Everyone—Roy Romanow included—agrees that the of medical research called, The Report on the Committee health system needs more money—more physicians of Inquiry Involving Dr. Nancy Olivieri, the Hospital for on salary and more health professionals, not just Sick Children, the University of Toronto and Apotex Inc . doctors, paid to diagnose and treat us when we’re ill. “Neither Hospital for Sick Children, nor the And most Canadians are strongly united against University provided effective support to Dr. Olivieri, private hospitals and more private companies under- or took effective action to defend principles of cutting our health system. However, let’s remember research ethics, clinical ethics and academic freedom,” that the reasons people get sick are every bit as polit- concluded the report, authored by three medical ical as the question of whether the hospitals they go to experts including Patricia Baird, former head of the are publicly or privately run. 1991 Royal Commission on New Reproductive and At the very top of my wish list for health reform is Genetic Technologies. The litany of wrongdoings and an overhaul of Health Canada and its drug approval recommendations are 500 pages long. Rather than process, which is no longer a public watchdog due to defending her, Sick Kids’ executive issued a public funding cuts and deregulation. The Canadian Women’s statement, “repeating allegations made privately to it by Health Protection Group has a whole list of reforms Apotex against the quality of her scientific work.” When that include giving the public—that’s us—input into Macleans’ published a story on the controversy in 2000, drug approval and health research. anonymous callers phoned the magazine to accuse Right up there is the need for legal protection for her of unethical or illegal activities including (nod if whistleblowers like Dr. Olivieri, a specialist in heredi- you’ve heard this one before) sleeping her way to glory. tary blood disorders. After discovering that a drug called Although the inquiry vindicated Dr. Olivieri, the deferiprone showed promising results treating tha- problem of increasing dependence on corporate good lassemia, a blood disorder that causes severe anaemia will is not unique to the U of T. Ultimately, Health and can be fatal, she signed on with pharmaceutical Canada must ensure that no clinical investigator is manufacturer Apotex to head an international research told to hush up the risks identified in drugs they are effort that included clinical trials at three sites, includ- investigating—whether they’re employed by a uni- ing Toronto’s Hospital for Sick Children, a facility affil- versity or by Health Canada. iated with the University of Toronto. That was in 1995. Let’s hope Ottawa listens. The future of health lies Two years later, Dr. Olivieri’s data showed that the in preventing disease. According to the Auditor drug’s initial effectiveness didn’t hold for some General, the federal government has failed to address patients and iron in liver biopsies for some patients the problems posed by federally contaminated sites was high enough to pose a risk of heart disease and that could threaten human health. Another report early death. Apotex disagreed with her findings and points to toxins from plastics and other chlorinated when Dr. Olivieri took steps to inform her patients of byproducts as the source of carcinogens in our food. the risks anyway—a no-no under the terms of her con- The passing of the Kyoto Protocol is a step in the right tract, the company terminated the deferiprone clinical direction. However, in order to prevent more disasters, trials and issued legal warnings to Dr. Olivieri not to the precautionary principle must be enshrined in health discuss her findings. She did anyway, publishing her and environmental law and our entire economy must data in The New England Journal of Medicine in 1998. shift towards the principles of sustainable development. The legal threats from Apotex weren’t as surprising As Judy Darcy, the National President of the to Dr. Olivieri as the response she got from her Canadian Union of Public Employees said upon the employer. They hung her out to dry. Now, five years release of the Romanow report, “We have the later, the hospital and U of T’s dirty laundry is exposed roadmap. We have the vehicle. The question is, do we in an inquiry on ethics, power and corporate control have a driver?”

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 5 nellie news grams MAKE IWD SPECIAL Mary Billy, a long time activist and poet from Squamish, BC has created Eco Feminist Principles Firmly a beautiful International Women’s Day (IWD) card for sale, featuring a Planted in Landless Movement bread and roses theme. Inside it by Diana Huet de Guerville reads: “To celebrate women around the world, honor the work they do The Lagoa do Junco settlement in Brazil is a modern-day example of grassroots both paid and unpaid. And to honor mobilizing that has led to the creation of successful communities, despite world you on this Women’s Day, March 8th.” pressure to embrace the principles of globalization. Billy always wanted to be able (Tapes, Brazil) A year ago, over the MST has also gained a great deal of to walk into a 60,000 people who travelled to Porto international support and recognition, drug, book or gift Alegre, Brazil to attend the 2nd World winning such honours as the Right store and find a Social Forum, an annual event where Livelihood Award (also known as the card to mark activists share ideas, visions and alternative Nobel Prize). International strategies to develop and articulate I visited the Lagoa do Junco Women’s Day. “So alternatives to the current settlement in Tapes, where the 35 I thought, if I can’t find what I want, globalization policies and practices. families that occupied the settlement why not create it?” One of the groups with the largest received title to their land in 1995. In March 8 marks the date in 1857 presence at the Forum was the when women in the New York gar- Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais ment and textile industry staged a Sem Terra (MST), or landless movement demonstration to protest low wages, of Brazil. The MST is the largest social a 12-hour working day, lack of equal movement in Latin America, and has for pay and the fact they couldn’t vote. 20 years pushed for land reform, The card incorporates the words primarily by means of ‘land invasions.’ to “Bread and Roses”— so everyone Despite severe repression, including the can sing along this year! deaths of over 1,000 MST activists in the Order for $3.25 each or 5/$15 past 10 years, 250,000 families have succeeded in gaining title to over 15 Bold artwork with political overtones can be ($2.75 – 4/$10 U.S.) from: Mary Billy, found in the streets of Porto Alegre, Brazil. #214-1098 Wilson Crescent, Squamish, million acres of land. In the process, Photo by Diana Huet de Guerville. BC, V0N 3G0. For info email: herspec- [email protected] WHAT’S THIS? This issue of Herizons contains an important LANDSBERG LANDS message from Women for Women Afghanistan, PERSON’S AWARD a Canadian organization that needs your help. Toronto Star columnist Michele Right now, women in Afghanistan are urging Landsberg and Nancy Riche, governments and the United Nations to establish Secretary-Treasurer of the Canadian a broad-based security force throughout their Labour Congress were among six country. The lack of security in the country women who received the Governor threatens women with a Taliban-like oppression General’s Award in Commemoration once again, as bandits and lawlessness are having of the Persons Case in October. At a devastating impact on efforts to improve the the Ottawa ceremony, Jean situation of women and children in the country. Please mail the postcard inside this issue today. No postage is necessary.

6 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS nelliegrams

Augustine, Secretary of State for the status of women, noted that the awards are given to “women who have taken a leadership role in aca- demic, political, social and eco- nomic arenas to improve the quality of women’s lives and advanced equality for women and men.” Other recipients Lagoa do Junco resident Petra (left) takes a break with her daughters in the settlement where they were: Margaret-Ann live and work. Photo by Diana Huet de Guerville. Armour of 1998 many of the settlers founded Another resident, Petra, explains Edmonton, Alberta, COOPAT (Cooperativa de Produção that after struggling for equality in the a professor of Agropecuaria dos Assentados de movement, women have been chemistry at the University of Tapes), an agro-fishery cooperative. successful at Lagoa do Junco. Alberta and leader in encouraging COOPAT produces a wide variety of Childcare is provided at MST meetings, young women to pursue careers in goods for both internal and external to enable mothers to participate. engineering and science; Françoise consumption, and in the past year has Though she admits that much more David of Montreal, Quebec, a key initiated a project to cultivate rice work needs to be done within the organizer for the 1995 Women’s World organically, using fish in place of broader organization (and society as a March Against Poverty and the 2000 pesticides. As one resident, Orestes, whole), she says that women at Lagoa Women’s World March Against explains, no chemicals are used in do Junco have an equal say in making Poverty and Violence; and Elisapie their production; the cooperative is decisions and can perform any tasks Ootova of Pond Inlet, Nunavut, an working towards becoming organic in that they are interested in taking on. advocate for preserving Inuit tradi- an effort to clean up the (Though, she admits, most men will tional knowledge and language. contaminated farmland. only cook if they absolutely have to.) This year’s youth medal recipient MST is not a movement simply MST created a National Collective for is Megan Reid of Leamington, pressuring for land redistribution, but Gender to ensure that “discussions on Ontario, active in promoting a bet- one advocating fundamental economic ‘Gender and Women’s Issues’ shall run ter understanding of body images changes. The MST seeks to put social across all MST courses and meetings” for young women in high school. and ecological harmony ahead of profit and involve both women and men. Ottawa established the Governor accumulation; taking over polluted and Women occupy 10 out of the top 22 General’s Awards in 1979 to celebrate unproductive land has become a way to positions in the organization. the 50th anniversary of the Persons regenerate the earth while providing a The Lagoa do Junco settlement is a Case—when the British Privy Council healthy, dignified life for landless model community where a commitment declared in 1929 that women were equal peasants. These values are evident in to creating a dignified life based on in matters of rights and privileges COOPAT’s system of collective gender equality and small-scale, and not just pains and penalties. The production, in which land, capital and collective and ecologically sustainable awards are given to honour the contri- work are all shared. Different groups production is proof that alternative butions of women to the advance- are responsible for different sectors economic models can work. MST provides ment of women’s equality. (for example, Orestes is part of the thousands of Brazilian women and men rice/fisheries unit), and decisions with land, a voice and a future. THERE OUGHTA about how the cooperative should run The recent election of Lula da Silva, BE A LAW are made collectively and head of the Workers’ Party, as president Oh. There is! democratically. The settlement itself is of Brazil, is another positive sign. For The National Association of designed as an ‘agro-village’ with a good reason, the MST motto is “We have communal dining hall. hope—do you?”

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 7 nelliegrams

Women and the Law (NAWL) joined other women’s organizations at the Herstory Contest Just the Start Pay Equity Task Force Roundtable for Women to discuss ways to strengthen (Calgary) So many voices, so many events and herstories of local groups the pay equity provisions in the stories! More than 60 submissions to and their activism.” Canadian Human Rights Act. NAWL is the Womenspace Herstory contest left “The quantity and quality of the lobbying the federal government to the judges reading, laughing and contest entries only confirm for us the recognize that pay equity is a human crying, puzzling and worrying over urgent need to collect and digitize right under the Canadian Charter of choosing the winners. women’s stories while we still have Rights and Freedoms. “Contest submissions describe vividly access to individual memories and According to Andrée Côte, director how much ground women have gained personal archives.” of legislation and law reform at since 1970,” according to contest co- A $200 top prize and two $50 NAWL, “Despite having the pay equity ordinator Penney Kome, “as well as how honourable mention prizes were provisions in the Human Rights Act much farther we have to go.” awarded in each of six categories. for the last 25 years, women The Womenspace Herstory Timeline, In the Turning Point category, top employed full time continue to earn which has been growing since last prize was awarded to Nellie Allen. 72.5 percent of men’s incomes.” spring, will expand dramatically with For the Torch Relay category, top NAWL wants all federally regulated the addition of the six category prize went to Sheena Howard. For the employers to develop a pay equity winners and 12 honourable mentions. Third Wave category, top prize was plan. Pay equity, the organization Working in conjunction with other awarded to Azmina Ladha. In the says, should cover all employees women’s groups, Womenspace plans Tool Box category, top prize went to including part-time, casual, seasonal to put as much Canadian women’s Colleen Friesen. In the Taking Stock and contractual workers. herstory on the web as possible. category, top prize went to Dee “Ideally,” says Scarlet Pollock, Burnlees. Finally, in the Tapestries SPIRITUALITY REBORN Womenspace co-founder with Jo category, Jeanette Lambert received After a two-year Sutton, “we would like to organize top prize. publishing hia- kitchen table meetings around the Check it out on line at tus, Vox country to bring in all the regional http://herstory.womenspace.ca. Feminarium is back. The Canadian femi- WOMEN’S STUDIES nist spirituality journal is now AT ATHABASCA UNIVERSITY being published as one component of Across ANYWHERE, ANYTIME Independent study with open admission Boundaries Multi-faith Institute, an Online and distance learning educational institute that works to Athabasca University, Canada's Open increase knowledge and under- University, is dedicated to the removal of standing between religious faith barriers that restrict access to, and success in, university-level studies and traditions. Editor Ginny Freeman to increasing equality of educational MacOwan says, “You can rest opportunity for adult learners worldwide assured that the mandate of this 1-800-788-9041 magazine—and its editorial per- www.athabascau.ca/wmst/links.php spective—will remain unchanged. The latest issue contains contribu-

8 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS nelliegrams

tions from writers Carol Rose, Judith Cleland and others on the theme of women’s spiritual rituals. Subscription info on the 6 by 9 inch 68-page Vox is available from [email protected] . Or phone 519.576.4588. PUPPY LOVE During a cold spell in 1994, Marianne Bertrand noticed that her dog’s paws were suffering from the cold weather and salty streets. She couldn’t find a pair of Sorrels small enough for her dog, so she designed and manufac- tured dog boots—130 pairs of them,

Audrey Gadzekpo told a Toronto audience how women in Ghana have successfully lobbied for electoral which sold in less than a week. and legal reforms. Bertrand won a Rotman Canadian Activists Make Headway in Ghana Woman by Carly Stasko Entrepreneur of the Year It is inspiring to meet Audrey violence against women and the Award recent- Gadzekpo, a gender activist and human creation of a new Ministry for Women ly, to honour her successful busi- rights advocate from Ghana who and Children. Despite legal reforms, ness, Muttlucks, which now employs visited Toronto as part of an African practices such as genital mutilation, 20 full-time and 40 part-time staff Speakers tour organized by Canadian the abuse and banishment of women and has a new facility with 15,000 University Students Overseas (CUSO). accused of being witches and the square feet of space. Gadzekpo is a gifted professor of practice of Trokosi occur in the The Rotman Canadian Woman communication studies at the northern regions of Ghana. Entrepreneur of the Year Award was University of Ghana and a passionate Trokosi is a form of slavery in which a created by the Joseph L. Rotman journalist who puts her academic young girl is given to a priest as School of Management, University work into action. atonement for a crime or social of Toronto and BMO Financial “When you live on a continent and in infraction. The practice results in the Group. a country with such great need, there exploitation and sexual abuse of girls are a lot of motivating forces for and women. Gadzekpo is critical of LUSTY LINEN? action,” explains Gadzekpo. “I was the International Monetary Fund’s Sure, why not. “Inspiring lovemak- inspired to do some of the things I do structural adjustment programs, ing and pleasure with our beautiful- because of the sheer need to move which often lead to health care ly designed, finely crafted erotic from being just a pure academic, or privatization and the removal of bed linen and other home acces- journalist, to being an advocate agricultural subsidies. sories,” is the company’s come-on. around the issues I was writing about.” “No vision for Africa will work if it Getting between the sheets is just A growing activism among relies on the discredited notion that the beginning. Toronto sisters Karen women’s organizations in Ghana has when wealth is created at the top it and Claire started Lusty Linen as an resulted in affirmative action in the trickles down to the masses below,” electoral process, improved laws on observes Gadzekpo.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 9 nelliegrams

opportunity to make money and of course, inspire great sex. There are also lusty shower products and lusty clothing. The designs on the lusty products depict lovers in various lovemaking positions—for example in a 32" x 32" square in the middle of the sheets and pillowcases. Their linen products are all natural and have a high thread count. Even their web site is stimulating—press the little selection buttons and see Women’s Deaths Linked to Cutbacks what happens. www.lustylinen.com by Martin Dufresne 416.925.6606. (Montreal) Spousal murders of women Campbell administration following the SNAP IT UP registered as a major social phenome- release of the Stats Can report, Carolyn non in September when Statistics Morrow said, “Our worst fears about Flemming of Canada reported that the number of the impacts of all these cuts have Calgary has Canadian men accused of killing a cur- come true. It is no surprise that when started a new rent or ex-partner rose from 52 in 2000 the conditions and support women magazine for to 69 in 2001, a 32 percent increase. need to escape violence are removed, Canadian Virtually all of the increase occurred there will be dire consequences.” women execu- in Ontario. Crisis workers were quick to Vancouver Rape Relief staffer tives. It’s a connect women’s vulnerability to Suzanne Jay predicted that similar cuts business, lifestyle and technology social service cutbacks begun under to legal aid, restrictions on welfare and publication with 28 pages published former premier Mike Harris. Since 1995, cuts to advocacy centres will cost some quarterly. Snap is distributed social assistance rates have been B.C. women their lives. “We won’t wait through Fairmont Hotels and is reduced 30 percent, legal aid certifi- for women to die,” she said. available on newsstands. Now quar- cates have been cut 75 percent, sec- Meanwhile in Quebec, feminist and terly, Flemming plans to increase to ond-stage shelter program funding pro-feminist activists put up a large bi-monthly in the coming year. has been eliminated and emergency poster of ‘Women and Children shelter waiting lists are at crisis levels. Murdered by Men Since Dec. 6 1989.’ STROKE OF GENIUS? Eileen Morrow, coordinator of the The 14 victims of the Montreal Women want equality in a lot of Ontario Association of Interval and Polytechnique massacre barely register things—but strokes? According to Transition Housing says that the cuts in a sea of (currently) 679 names. Dr. Moira Kapral, strokes among are a contributing factor. In Atlantic Canada, the New women are an under-researched “Women can’t leave if there’s Brunswick Silent Witness Project sur- topic because most people don’t nowhere to go and no way to look rounded the Provincial Legislature on think women are at a high risk of after their children,” she explained. November 7 with an exhibit of life-sized stroke. In fact, she explains that In an open letter to B.C. women red silhouettes representing women in protesting massive cuts by the Gordon the province who have been murdered

10 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS Room of One’s nelliegrams Own Turns 25 by Stacey Kauder since strokes occur more often as (Vancouver) For the past 25 years, people get older and women tend to Room of One’s Own has been at the live longer, “the actual number of forefront of Canadian women’s patients with stroke and dying of literary publishing. It has stroke, is higher in women.” championed women’s written The good news? Kapral, one of expression through essays, short Canada’s leading researchers in stories, poetry or reviews. In 1977, a stroke health services, has group of women came together and received support through the founded Room of One’s Own. The Canadian Stroke Network Vancouver-based collective is Scholarship Program, which con- managed entirely by volunteers and tributes $30,000 per year for three publishes a quarterly journal-style years to support young investiga- magazine and an anthology, which tors’ research on stroke. Kapral shares the same name. Room of receives matching funds from the One’s Own has provided women with The New Brunswick Silent Witness Project sur- women’s Health Program at rounded the Provincial Legislature on a literary sanctuary to share their Toronto’s University Health November 7. Photo by Harry Mullen. opinions, and has flourished Network. The research will collect through the support and strength information on female stroke by their partners or former partners. of its volunteers and contributors. patients from 22 hospitals to find Chillingly, Stats Can reports that “Celebration” is the recently out, among other things, whether 40 percent of spousal assaults con- released, Special 25th Anniversary doctors care for male and female tinue after separation. Women’s Issue, an anthology of original stroke patients differently. reports of beatings, chokings, sexual and previously published works, assaults and threats of violence with including criticisms, short stories, a gun or knife are twice as high in poetry and reviews. Nancy Lee’s DIESING HONOURED cases where there is post-separation “Sally, in Parts” depicts the West Coast violence, compared to the level of growth of an idolized teenager artist Freda violence experienced during a rela- into a breast-cancer survivor. Diesing was a tionship in situations where the Marion Botsford Fraser critiques recipient of assaults ended at separation. our culture’s treatment of single the 2002 Montreal Men Against Sexism points women and Aislinn Hunter’s poetry Aboriginal to an increasing majority of intimate exhibits the sweet nostalgia of Achievement partners, family members and childhood. Separating, or rather Awards. acquaintances among male murderers uniting, each section are Iwona Diesing and a handful of other of women and children (79 percent in Sarnecka-Dabrowa’s moving artists were responsible for the 2001). Last year, the number of illustrations of women. Strikingly reawakening of Northwest Coast art Quebec fathers charged with killing realistic, they are imbibed with and culture that began in the 1960s. children was twice as high as the compassion, yet tinged with Diesing, known for a unique carving yearly average over the past 10 years. sadness. Similar to the cover art, style, notes that “there has been a The child killings are usually part of a the women offer an image of revival of caring and a preserving of pattern of wife killings that occur at a themselves. Bare, uncovered and culture.” One of the first female time of separation/divorce. Paternal uninhibited. Their openness and carvers of the modern Northwest killings were up 25 percent over 2000 indifference is their strength. Coast, Diesing is also an educator for the whole of Canada. “Celebration,” edited by Virginia of many artists who have gone on to Read more at www.owjn.org/custody. Aulin, is indeed just that. work full-time as carvers.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 11 Order Herizons Issues You Missed

Fall 1998 Fall 2000 Fall 2001 Make Room Sister, The Next Why Women are On the March: An interview with visual artist Generation’s Here; The Truth Naomi Klein; Judy Rebick and Wanda Koop; Can a Trans- about Your Clitoris; Women Shelagh Day: Why Are Women So gendered Person be One of With Disabilities: Role Models Poor (If Canada’s Such a great ‘Us’?; Natural Treatment for in Film and TV. Place to Live?) Fibroids by Dr. Carolyn DeMarco.

Winter 1999 Winter 2001 Winter 2002 Natural Remedies & Women; Jane Siberry in Profile; Are The Speech that Shook the Crimes Against Comfort Women; Periods Passé?; All the Rage: Country: Sunera Thobani’s Women and Drumming; Blaming Hormones; 5 Unedited Address; Canada’s Ailing Health Dangerous Hysterectomy Carol Shields on Becoming a Protection Branch. Myths. Writer; Sexual Harassment.

Spring 1999 Spring 2001 Spring 2002 An interview with Will Women Save the Earth? A Where Do We Stand? The Charter singer/songwriter Bif Naked; The Special Guide to Environmental of Rights Turns 20; Why We Must Breast Cancer Gene, Just the tip Issues and Eco-women; Satire: End Colonialism; What Women are of the iceberg?; Repetitive The Surrendered Doormat. saying about Restorative Justice; Strain Injury & Women Workers. Women in Ancient History

Summer 1999 Summer 2001 Summer 2002 Relationships Revisited: What really happened at the Sarah McLachlan’s Lilith Fair; Embracing Alternative Quebec Summit?; The All-Girl, Why Feminists Love Buffy; Did Weddings; Feminist Mothers On-Line Revolution; Interviews: Bridget Jones Really Liberate Raising Sons; Is it ‘Bi Sex’ or Evelyn Lau, Deb Ellis and Anita Us? just ‘My Sex?’ Rau Badami.

Fall 1999 Dionnne Brand—an interview with one of Canada’s best- BACK ISSUES ORDER FORM loved feminist authors; Taking Aim at Toxic Tampons; Un- Yes, I would like to stock up my resource centre, coffee table or waiting room with Back Germaine Thoughts on Greer Issues of Herizons. I have enclosed $5 each (or $10 for 3) plus $2 postage and handling for my order. Winter 2000 Chick Lit: The Next Gen of Send me the following issues: Canadian Women Authors Make Fall 1998 Winter 1999 Spring 1999 Summer 1999 Fall 1999 it Big; Feminist Advertising?; Winter 2000 Summer 2000 Fall 2000 Winter 2001 Spring 2001 Ethical Investments Summer 2001 Fall 2001 Winter 2002 Spring 2002 Summer 2002

Mail this form with your Name: Summer 2000 cheque to: The Courage to Seek Justice; Address: Back Issues Herizons The Queen of Queer TV; Where City/Town: PO Box 128, are Your Women?-How Native Winnipeg, MB Women’s Power Disappeared; Province: Postal Code: Canada R3C 2G1 Filming in Colour. Tiger Law Devours nelliegrams Children’s Rights by Lasanda Kurukulasuriya

(Colombo) Sri Lanka’s cease-fire group, University Teachers for INTERACTIVE WOMEN monitors had nothing to celebrate Human Rights (Jaffna), estimates WANTED! in Batticaloa on Children’s Day. At the number of children taken from Log on to www.womennet.ca and its October meeting, the local the East to be more than 5,000. check out a searchable database of monitoring team had before it The LTTE claims that those under over 2,500 women’s groups in several cases of child conscription 18 who join the organization have Canada and a links section with by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil done so voluntarily. Joy hundreds of annotated links to Eelam (LTTE). These included three Maheswaran, an LTTE representative international and Canadian girls aged 11, 13 and 14, all from the on the delegation at the Thai peace women’s sites. Neat stuff includes village of Thurainilaveni. The talks, told the local Sunday Times info on feminist publications and youngest was taken because her that its armed cadres are all over journals; resources on violence parents had hidden her brother. 18, and that children mostly join the against women; reproductive rights, Child conscription is on a list of group seeking refuge. news and more. Bulletin Boards ongoing human rights violations However, case histories of child (events, conferences, job postings, highlighted by women’s soldiers came to light at a recent volunteers needed) are updated organizations of Sri Lanka, in a conference on children organized daily. They even offer a free memorandum submitted to the by Save the Children Norway/UK. womennet.ca e-mail address. government, the LTTE and to Children’s testimony describes The site makers welcome your Norwegian facilitators who brokered child soldiers taking part in village help in ensuring that the informa- the truce signed last February. massacres. Children who tion about your group in the Women have also demanded to be attempted to escape from jungle Directory of Canadian Women’s included in the peace process. So camps have been tortured or Resources is correct and complete. far, there has been no response. attacked by wild animals. If you have changes to make or if The first round of peace talks was Efforts to curb abductions are your group is not listed, write to held in Thailand mid-September. hampered by a climate of [email protected]. Over 64,000 lives have been lost in intimidation. “In some areas people A print version of the directory 19 years of war in Sri Lanka. The LTTE are even afraid to be seen with will be sold for $44.95. For more is fighting for a separate state of members of the monitoring information, contact jman- Tamil Eelam in the North and East. mission,” according to Save the [email protected]. ‘Tiger law’ demands that each Children spokesperson Teitur family surrender one child or forfeit Torkelsson. In one incident where six property—land, houses, tractors, girls were abducted in Palugamam, B.C. OCCUPIERS WIN cows. The LTTE’s conscription drive Batticaloa, only one mother The B.C. has been largely concentrated in complained to the local monitoring Housing the Eastern district of Batticaloa mission. When the LTTE found out, Corporation over the past year. the father withdrew the complaint. was ordered to The Tigers earlier denied that Chitra Maunaguru, a Sinhalese pay $100 to their armed forces included a ‘baby and a member of the Suriya Women’s each of a group brigade,’ but in the wake of Collective in Batticaloa, sees the of protestors in international attention have begun LTTE’s pledges as a starting point for November after talking of releasing children. The dialogue. “If they say (they will they occupied a provincially owned number held is unknown since stop) it’s good. With their word, we building and were charged with con- parents are afraid to report the can start talking. They are still tempt of court. The occupation in abductions. A local watchdog getting used to civil society.” the vacant Woodwards building was

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 13 nelliegrams Trauma Knows No Borders by Molly McCracken part of a protest for housing for the they will experience distress,” many homeless people in explains Judy White, principal Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. investigator and a professor at the Justice Janice Dillon of the B.C. University of Regina. Supreme Court also ordered the Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder: Provincial Rental Housing The Lived Experience, based on Corporation, which owns the historic interviews with 20 immigrant and building, to pay the legal costs of refugee women in Saskatchewan, the three pro bono lawyers who reveals effects ranging from appeared on the protesters’ behalf. headaches to nausea, depression The order came after the Housing and panic attacks. In addition, the Corporation abruptly decided to dis- process of immigration often adds continue contempt proceedings to women’s trauma. against the 54 defendants. The “The process of integration and defendants cheered when Justice migration, and the fact that there Dillon handed down her judgment. are additional barriers that may “This is a victory for social hous- Refugee women who flee violence: trauma. retraumatize them, does not facili- ing, and a victory for poor and mar- Photo by Doug Menuez, Getty Images. tate women’s healing,” says White. ginalized people,” said Calvin Woida, The study, supported by the Prairie an organizer with the Woodwards (Regina) Imagine that you have Women’s Health Centre of Excellence, Legal Defence Committee and one of come to Canada to escape war or concludes that more supports to the defendants, “But we cannot be another disaster. You may have left address PTSD are needed in order to complacent. We will not stop fighting behind your country of origin, but validate their experiences. until everyone has a home.” there is a good chance that your memories of traumatic life events— “The failure of the health care RICHARDS TO CHAIR including rape or other forms of system to recognize and be sensi- violence, the death of family mem- tive to these past traumatic experi- Sue Richards, bers, the destruction of your home ences makes it difficult for women producer and or community—are still with you. to obtain care to reduce the impact publisher of Many immigrant and refugee of this trauma in Canada,” says the “Breast of women do not know where to turn Fransisca Omorodian, president of Canada” cal- and suffer in silence. In response the Immigrant, Refugee and Visible endar—a col- to the personal experiences of Minority Women’s Association of lection of fine art photographs members with symptoms of Post Saskatchewan provincial chapter. designed to spark awareness and Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), The study recommends more cul- discussion about breast health, has the Immigrant, Refugee and Visible turally sensitive programs and been named Honorary Chair for the Minority Women’s Association of counselling, along with training for YMCA-YWCA of Guelph 2003 Women Saskatchewan set out to docu- health practitioners, to build sup- of Distinction Awards. ment women’s experiences and ports to enable women to heal from A social entrepreneur, artist and whether current services were their experiences and participate cultural animator, Richards meeting their needs. more fully in Canadian society. received a Guelph Woman of “This research is a recognition of Additional English as a Second Distinction award in 2000. Richards the diverse nature of the Canadian Language classes and interpreters donates net proceeds from the sale population. People are coming from in health settings are also needed. of the calendars to the Canadian backgrounds of political unrest and Read more online at www.pwhce.ca Breast Cancer Network. disaster; there is a high probability or call 204.982.6630.

14 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS on the edge BY LYN COCKBURN

TEED OFF WITH ‘EM ALL I’ve had it with wussy religious leaders. Take, for Church in Britain (I point this out because the Anglican example, the Pope, who recently tried to convince the Church in Canada and in any number of other countries European Union that its proposed constitution have long allowed female bishes) in particular. should make specific reference to Christianity, upon And the Church of England, along with its new which, said Jean Paul, Europe was founded. leader, is not going about things in the right way. That’s okay as far as it goes, but did he go the extra Partial solutions, like creating special churches for mile to insist that the many Muslims in the 425 sep- misogynists, are not the answer. arate nations of the former Yugoslavia would have to After all, if Hootie (Johnson) and the Blowhards of convert? No, he did not. Did he chastise the Jews of the Augusta Golf Club can stick to their guns about Europe (something the Catholic Church has been not allowing women members and if Tiger Woods, wont to do quite regularly in the past)? He did not. who himself would not have been permitted mem- Did he even suggest that if Turkey wants entry into bership only a few years ago thanks to the colour of the European Union it would have to become a his skin, can say that he doesn’t think ol’ Hootie and Christian country? He did not. the Boys should be forced to admit women members, You’re a wimp, JP. then surely the Church of England can do the same. Now we have the new archbishop of Canterbury In short, Rowan, stop catering to women. Lucky opining that the Church of England may have to for the new archbish, who although a self-con- establish a separate section for those who object to fessed liberal seems to lack any real backbone, I am the concept of women becoming bishops. here to help. What all this really means is that the Most Rev. I’m going to make it easy for you. No more flying Rowan Williams, formerly the archbishop of Wales, bishops, no more talk of special sections. I have got a who officially became the archbish of Canterbury on ticket on a flight to London next week and I’m pre- December 2, 2002, is Most Timid. pared to put an end to your misery. Evidently until now, all the C of E has done to mollify I shall set up a church for British women. Perhaps those in opposition to women priests (at least the Pope we could call it Our Lady Of It’s About Time. I have a is adamant on that one) is create ‘flying bishops’ to feeling that, for all the various Canadian churches oversee parishes which insist on men only at the altar. that allow women priests, ministers and revs, there Good, but not good enough. just may be a whole ton of women here in the colonies Rowan, who defines himself as progressive, who who will join up. says he’s all in favour of women becoming priests and Did I mention there would be no men allowed? bishops, thinks it might be a jolly idea to create a Anyway, you can meet me at Heathrow if you like ‘third province’ within the church (the other two (Air Canada flight #4,302 arriving January 30—I being Canterbury and York) for those who don’t want picked that day because I have a dentist appointment women bishes. It’s sort of like Quebec separatists and you’ve no idea how much I hate dentists even wanting to secede except that they want their own though mine happens to be a very personable and country, not another province since Quebec’s already competent woman—at 2 p.m. your time). another province. We can discuss everything then. But never mind, what we’re really discussing here Tally ho. is religious leaders in general and the Anglican Lyn Cockburn is Editorial Page Editor at The Winnipeg Sun.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 15 body wise by Kathleen O’Grady

Women and Homecare As hospitals discharge patients negative impact on women’s sooner, perform more day surgeries economic status. According to one COHOSH HOT STUFF and cut acute hospital beds, guess survey, 50 percent of unpaid Now that the who is picking up the slack? New homecare givers quit their jobs or long-term use of publications from the Centres of accepted part-time work in order to hormone therapy Excellence for Women’s Health and manage homecare responsibilities. has been linked to the Canadian Women’s Health Another concern highlighted is increased risks for Network indicate that 80 percent of occupational injury—one survey breast cancer, paid and unpaid caregivers are found that 48 percent of all work heart disease, women and they are at risk of poor related injuries were experienced by blood clots and a health due to the physical and homecare assistants. slew of other health conditions, emotional challenges of the work. The conclusion? More resources for many midlife women are looking for Providing unpaid care also has a community-based home care. alternative treatments for hot flashes and night sweats. A recent study presented at the Exams Fail Survivors annual Endocrine Society meeting Researchers have long known that indicates that botanical black childhood sexual abuse has long- cohosh might be the answer. In a term consequences on emotional, double-blind study, post- psychological and physical health menopausal women with a history well into the adult years. Victims of more than 3 hot flashes per day have higher levels of chronic pain, were given either black cohosh gastrointestinal and respiratory (Klimadynona or Menofema, 40mg) disorders and other chronic ailments. or estrogen therapy (conjugated Childhood sexual abuse survivors equine estrogen) for three months also avoid health care until it is Excellence urges health care providers and compared with a placebo absolutely essential. New research to change the environment where group. Both the black cohosh and suggests it may be because of examinations take place by providing the estrogen therapy group experi- similarities between those experiences music and artwork to ensure a feeling enced a significant decrease in hot and the setting for most medical of comfort and safety. Another flashes compared with the placebo examinations. Those factors include: suggestion is to change the procedure group. Those on estrogen therapy being alone in a closed room with an for conducting the examination to experienced an increased risk for individual perceived to have power give the patient a sense of control the thickening of the endometrial over the patient; a feeling of a lack of and to provide pamphlets to clearly lining (estrogen alone is linked with control over the situation; anxiety explain procedures. significant increase for endometri- al cancer), while those taking black from physical touch or from physical Sources: Endo 2002: Abstracts P3-333; P3-317; examinations that may be painful, and http://endo-society.org/scimeetings/index.cfm cohosh did not. The black cohosh www.afriendindeed.ca ; Who Cares? Costs and Benefits of also had a positive effect on bone a requirement that the patient be Caregiving. The Centres of Excellence in Women’s Health: undressed or partially dressed. www.cewh-cesf.ca/bulletin/index.html Getting Through mass levels. This constitutes a pre- Medical Examinations: A Resource for Women Survivors liminary study, but the findings A new series of guides published by of Abuse and Their Health Care Providers at: the Prairie Women’s Health Centre of www.cwhn.ca/resources/csa/ab_index.html. bode well for future investigation of black cohosh as an alternative Kathleen O’Grady is communications director at the Canadian Women’s to HRT. Health Network. 888-818-9172.

16 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS THERE ARE 31 MILLION REASONS TO FIGHT FOR PUBLIC HEALTH CARE. WE’RE TWO OF THEM.

We all count on public health care to There’s no reason to privatize. There’s every be there when we need it – and Medicare reason to modernize and expand public delivers. Now, Medicare needs us. health care. Cutbacks are making it harder to get care. Visit cupe.ca for information and action to And governments and corporations are pushing save Medicare. for-profit services that will destroy Medicare. It’s time to strengthen public health care. We must stand up and demand the federal government increase funding, stop privatiza- tion and protect health care from trade deals.

Canadian Union of Public Employees Muslim Words: A Conversation with Taslima Nasrin by Irshad Manji

Taslima Nasrin is an internationally-known feminist writer from Bangladesh. Living in exile since 1994, she has become one of the Muslim world’s most vociferous dissidents. Her ammunition is language, so much so that Nasrin invented the word “meyebela” – girlhood – because while Bengali assigns a word for boys’ lives, it ignores those of girls. Meyebela is the title of Nasrin’s latest book, a memoir about growing up female in a Muslim country. She recently spoke with author, broadcaster and former Herizons columnist Irshad Manji, who is writing a book on reforming Islam. Photo courtesy Steerforth Press

Q: How has Bangladesh responded to the word, ‘meyebela’? important to the fundamentalists who wanted to kill Taslima: Actually, I created that word when I used to me; blind faith was. write columns for the big newspapers in Bangladesh. One of my columns was entitled, “My meyebela” or How did you wind up living in Sweden? “my experience as a girl.” After introducing that Taslima: Since 1990, I was physically confined to my word, people started using it. house, but I kept on writing. In 1994, hundreds of thousands of fundamentalists went to the streets and How is it that in a very male-dominated society, you demanded my death. They called a general strike, managed to get a voice in the media? which paralyzed Bangladesh. For seven days, mer- Taslima: Circulation increased! All the editors wanted chants couldn’t open their shops. There was no me to write because letters showed there was popular school, no bus, no train, no planes, nothing. To kill interest from women. Also from men. They found it one person, the whole country shut down, which shocking. Before me, women would write love stories meant that people went along with the fundamental- or advice on childcare and cooking. I wrote something ists. On top of that, the government charged me and different. Even the fundamentalists–male chauvinists denied any opportunity for bail. If I had felt that who hated me–they used to read me. prison would be safe, I would have gone to jail to stand up for my beliefs. But there was too much outrage; the A fatwa, a legal statement in Islam, issued by a mufti (or a prisoners would have killed me. My lawyers couldn’t religious lawyer), was issued against you in 1993. Why? do anything. So the writers’ movement, the human Taslima: My comments about religion made people rights movement, appealed to other governments to angry. I said that Islam oppresses women. I criticized shelter me. The European Union said okay. verses in the Koran that treat women as sexual objects. And I argued that we don’t need religious What’s life like in exile? laws. Three death warrants were issued against me, Taslima: I used to have [round-the-clock] security. amounting to about $5,000. The money itself was not After a few years, I found no need for it. My address is

18 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS “If you want to be a human being, a good person, you first have to be bad in this society’s eyes,” says Bengali feminist and writer Taslima Nasrin. still a secret because the hand of fundamentalists can Taslima: Life in exile makes you nostalgic. I was be very, very long. They took some of my family mem- thinking of my past and asking, “Why has this hap- bers into custody and interrogated them about where pened to me?” I thought I would learn something I live. But even my relatives had no idea. When I first from writing this. What I realized is that, even as a went into hiding, I took refuge in the home of total child, I did think differently. I had lots of questions strangers. At that time, if I was found, the family and I expressed them. I think most women knew that would have been killed along with me. they were oppressed, but accepted the Like Nazi Germany, you know? Today, “I DON’T system. I asked one question: Why? after so many years, I walk the streets UNDERSTAND Why should we be slaves? We are of Sweden and visit friends. I have a HOW WOMEN human beings. cat, which I love very much. CAN BE RELIGIOUS What allowed you to ask that question Does that mean life is “normal?” BECAUSE out loud when so many others kept it to Taslima: I have never mentally settled RELIGION IS themselves? into exile. I have tried to visit my MADE FOR MEN, Taslima: I thought it was natural to father in Bangladesh but the authori- FOR THEIR OWN ask “why.” I don’t understand why ties won’t renew my passport. I live PLEASURE.” they accepted being beaten by their with the dream that one day I will husbands, being prevented from return permanently. I have even asked my family to going outside without permission, being forced to leave everything in my house exactly the way it marry somebody and stopping their studies after was–my books, my clothes, my papers, my pictures, marriage. I know that this is a very, very difficult the pen on my desk. Exile is a bus stop for me. situation because if you divorce your husband and try to be independent, you’ll be called “prostitute.” Yet you remain creative. Why did you write Meyebela at But, you know, I don’t care what people call me. this time? Maybe that is the difference. If you want to be a

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 19 human being, a good person, you first have to be bad Muslim world, what does a woman’s “honour” mean? in this society’s eyes. Taslima: Chastity. That she should not be touched by other men. Especially in war, Muslim men rape What has changed for the better in Bangladesh since Muslim women because women are supposed to keep your girlhood? the honour of the family. If women’s Taslima: [Long pause] Not much. In minds are destroyed, honour remains. some ways, it’s even worse now. “I THINK THE If our hands or legs are destroyed, Because during my childhood, FUNDAMENT- honour is protected. If anything enters Bengalis were fighting for independ- ALISTS ARE the vagina, everything is destroyed – ence [from Pakistan] and had MORE HONEST the life of the woman, the life of the Pakistani Muslims as their enemies. ABOUT ISLAM family. It is perversion. But it is not a THAN THE The Muslim identity of Bengalis was perversion of Islam; it is a reflection of not that important. Now, there is no LIBERALS ARE.” Islam. The Koran says women are like outside enemy. So Bengalis are fields and men can use them as prop- oppressing Bengalis and using Islam to do it. Today, erty. Prophet Muhammad himself enjoyed captured the enemies are at home. women. He passed them around to his soldiers, too.

In Meyebela, you make it clear that there is nothing more Moderate Muslims say that plenty of other verses treat precious for a woman to protect than her honour. In the women with dignity, and fundamentalists ignore those

Say something (out loud).

Slatternmuse

writing. web sites. promotions.

You have something to say. Let us help develop it, give it voice and let it sing. Whether it’s fit for page, for screen, or heck, even a t-shirt, Slatternmuse can get it there. Get your next project done right by the creators of Herizons’ web site. ready? free estimate: [email protected] slatternmuse www.slattern.ca 604.736.2999 [email protected]

20 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS elements to suit their own agenda. Don’t the moderates between secularism and fundamentalism, between have a point? irrational blind faith and a rational, logical mind, Taslima: Ultimately, not even a liberal interpretation between innovation and tradition, between past of the Koran can lead to equality because there are and future, between those who value freedom and hundreds of very negative verses and they outnumber those who do not. the few verses that can be interpreted positively. I think the fundamentalists are more honest about And both camps can be found in the Muslim world? Islam than the liberals are. Taslima: Yes! I come from the Muslim world, don’t I?

Is it at all possible to be a feminist and a practicing But by your own admission, you’re unique. Muslim? Taslima: There’s a vibrant secular movement in Taslima: No, no, no. Not at all. If you are a Muslim, it Bangladesh, but it’s the fundamentalists who have means you are obeying Allah’s words, which are total- momentum because they get financial help from rich, ly against women. If you are a feminist, it means you Muslim countries like Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and support women’s rights and you cannot be religious. Iran. Let’s also look at Western donors – when they Actually, I don’t understand how give money for “cultural education,” women can be religious because reli- “SOME PEOPLE where does the money go? To madres- gion is made for men, for their own TRY TO PORTRAY sas [religious schools] and those pleasure. Most of Hinduism’s gods are FEMALE madressas are making what? Ignorant, female, but look at how women in GENITAL foolish fundamentalists. Hindu society are treated. Reform MUTILATION AS efforts by Muslims should focus on CULTURE. DOES So what is a realistic way in which the removing religious laws. THAT MEAN IT West can support secularism in the SHOULD BE Muslim world? What you’re talking about is secularism— FOLLOWED?” Taslima: Western countries who are the separation of church and state. How do helping poor Bangladesh should be you respond to those who say this is a Western “colonial” clear that money will not go to fund religious schools, approach to Islamic culture? because it’s not culture but a monster that will grow. Taslima: Westerners often support Islam in the name of multiculturalism– “We don’t use the veil, but in The fact that we in the West have plurality of their culture, in their religion, they do.” Have they thought–does that make us morally superior to the con- bothered to ask why women even have to veil them- temporary Muslim world? selves? The veil is a sign of oppression. Some people Taslima: No country is ideal. There are still many try to portray female genital mutilation as culture. women suffering in the Western countries. But in Does that mean it should be followed? I love my cul- some places, women are suffering much more. It ture–my food, my music, my clothing–but I never, doesn’t mean the cultures of these places are inferior. ever accept torture as being culture. I find some things about Eastern cultures much bet- ter than the individualism of the West–hospitality, You’re challenging misguided Western guilt– kindness, generosity. We have to take the good things Taslima: The real conflict is not between the West from every culture. But never, never, consider torture and Islam, or even Christianity and Islam. It’s as culture.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 21 Pink Think and the Creation of Feminine Culture by Jennifer O’Connor

hy, oh why, is Hubby so upset? He looks Femorabilia,” the column in which she recounts like a pleasant enough fella—all starched the story behind everything from delinquent girl W shirts and Brylcreem. Wifey must have novels like the Girls in Trouble romance novels by done something very bad indeed. Why else would his Alison Hart to ‘girls’ toys’ like the Suzy Homemaker overcoat be thrown over his right arm, his left hand line. Long obsessed with circa 1940-1970 etiquette on the doorknob? He pauses in the open doorway, and beauty manuals, Peril has turned her affection eyes lowered, emanating an air of sadness and dis- for daisy razors and ads for Serena sanitary pads gust, glancing back at Wifey. There she sits in the liv- into a thoughtful analysis of how femininity was, ing room, unable to look at him. Her fists are planted and is, constructed. below her chin and surely a tear is set to roll down a “Pink think is a set of ideas and attitudes about peaches-and-cream cheek. It didn’t have to turn out what constitutes proper female behavior,” writes this way. If only she had known the secret to “contin- Peril, “a groupthink that was consciously or not ual marital congeniality.” If only she’d safeguarded adhered to by advice writers, manufacturers of toys her daintiness with sound feminine hygiene. If only and other consumer products, experts in many walks she’d used…Lysol. of life, and the public at large, particularly during the Scarily enough, the same product used to kill the years spanning the mid-20th century—but enduring germs on your floor and in your toilet was once advo- even into the 21st century.” cated—in advertisements like this one—as an effective The message was clear: unless you wanted to end up cleanser for your vagina. That’s the most disturbing like Wifey, you’d better think pink. “Part of the whole factoid Lynn Peril uncovered during her search pink think package,” Peril says, “is that there’s an through the archives of mid-century chickdom that’s underlying current that suggests that if you do not collected in her recent book, Pink Think: Becoming A follow the rules of femininity, your womanhood itself Woman in Many Uneasy Lessons. In it, she looks at how is questioned.” everything from the “Lady Lionel” train set (complete Susan Brownmiller also discussed how womanli- with “pink frosting” locomotive) to war-time cosmet- ness is questioned. “To fail at the feminine difference ics ads—“Out there…he cherishes a mental picture of is to appear not to care about men and to risk the loss you, which, etched by time and memory, has reached of their attention and approval,” she wrote in the perfection. Plan now to be as lovely as he dreams you 1984 classic, Femininity. “To be insufficiently femi- are”—advocated the feminine ideal. nine is viewed as a failure in core sexual identity, or as How does one become an expert on such things as a failure to care sufficiently about oneself….” Not 1950s douching practices? only that, but, as Peril points out, it’s clear that there Peril is the founder and editor of the zine, was one type of ideal woman, and you can bet she was- Mystery Date, as well as a columnist for BUST mag- n’t fat, she wasn’t a woman of colour and she wasn’t azine, where she’s the curator of the “Museum of lesbian or bi.

22 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS Because these rules were made up, the whole idea of what it means to be a woman was very much man- ufactured. “To be feminine is to appear weak, futile, docile,” wrote Simone de Beauvoir in The Second Sex. “The young girl is supposed not only to deck herself out, to make herself ready, but also to repress her spontaneity and replace it with the studied grace and charm taught her by her elders. Any self-asser- tion will diminish her femininity and her attractive- ness…. The ‘true woman’ is an artificial product that civilization makes, as formerly eunuchs were made. Her presumed ‘instincts’ for coquetry, docility, are indoctrinated, as is phallic pride in man.” Indeed, not only was pink think not realistic, but also its standards weren’t attainable, as Susan J. Douglas wrote in Where the Girls Are: Growing Up Female with the Mass Media. “I was supposed to be, simultaneously, a narcissist and a masochist…. I learned early that I was supposed to be obsessively self-centered, scrutinizing every pore, every gesture, every stray eyebrow hair, eradicating every flaw, enhancing every asset, yet outlet or purely as relaxation; indeed, indulgence for never, ever letting anybody see me doing this.” the sake of fun, or art, or attention, is among feminin- But expressing femininity today doesn’t have to ity’s great joys.” But using short skirts and nail polish mean repressing one’s brain. What about the “Girlies,” as part of your politics can have its downside if it as co-authors Amy Richards and Jennifer Baumgartner doesn’t go any further than wearing a T-shirt with a called them in their book, Manifesta: Young Women, “girl power” iron-on across the chest. “As long as Feminism and the Future, the women whose feminism is you’re doing something that has an activist slant,” says based on reclaiming from traditional girl symbols? Andi Zeisler, editor and associate publisher of Bitch Housekeeping, nail polish, and Barbie have become, magazine, which recently published a pink-themed for some women, feminist accoutrements, and there is issue, “It shouldn’t really matter how you look when something to be said for valuing femininity in and of you’re doing it or what you do on your own time as far itself. Being girlie can be an incredible source of power as your housekeeping or whatever. I guess the question and fun. As Brownmiller wrote, “Enormous pleasure is how much is poking fun at the ‘50s housewife ideal can be extracted from feminine pursuits as a creative and how much is actually perpetuating it.” It’s a con-

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 23 cern that Peril shares. “If feminists want to wear lip- best antidote to pink think is awareness and knowl- stick, if feminists want to stay home and raise their edge,” says Peril. “Really think about what’s being children, that’s fabulous. But why is there still a glass presented to you before you select it.” ceiling? Why are so few women in places of power?” Amy Richards suggests that things that are considered Indeed, women keep bumping their foreheads on that feminine need to be valued on their own. “The point of glass and pink think is still here. Sure, Lysol is limited to feminism, to me, is to strengthen feminine things to the the household goods shelf, but notions about what it is to point that they can be chosen by men as well,” she says. be a woman are still defined pretty rigidly. The differ- A feminist goal would be to say that it’s not about making ence, perhaps, is it’s assumed that women know what the feminine masculine or to strengthen it, but to value they need to do (e.g. shave their legs); they just need to the feminine independent of itself.” know how to do it (use razor brand x). The new ideal should be one where no one is con- “I think the way things are marketed still make the stricted by ideas of pink think. “Being dependent on same gender assumptions they always did,” says Zeisler. pink think,” says Richards, “which is really gender To her, ads still assume, “that women want to look good think, confines us by our gender too much and doesn’t for men, that women always want to lose weight, that open up the possibility, or the reality, that we share more women are always worried about unsightly hair. Those in common with people who were raised in the same city, things have not changed. I think the marketing of them or who were raised by single parents, or whatever it was is definitely not more clever, but maybe less insulting.” that we have independent of our genders.” She finds that there’s not much positive to say about “I hope that we are all heading towards a future pink think. “I feel like it’s always negative if somebody where there are much more flexible boundaries of is trying to make money off it,” says Zeisler, “because gender,” says Peril. “Where people aren’t questioned it’s always going to be playing off what is assumed to be if they’re not feminine enough or not masculine engendered traits or insecurities in women.” enough. That’s my fantasy wish for the future.” Of course, women don’t have to do all this pink Jennifer O’Connor is a Toronto-based freelance writer; she thinking that we’re supposed to. “What I think is the also edits the e-zine, Cherry (www.cherryzine.ca).

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 T ERRY Account Executive Winnipeg Sun Commercial Print Division A Division of Sun Media Corp., A Quebecor Company

24 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS Says Elvira Kurt about her work “It’s hard to go up on stage and make people laugh, because while they’re laughing they’re also thinking about their own lives.”

Funny Girl Elvira Kurt by Karen X. Tulchinsky

barely sat down, Elvira Kurt them, she may have seemed like an overnight suc- and I, for double moch-a- cess. But like all overnight success stories, it took her We’d cinno lattes (don’t laugh—this 15 years to get there. is Vancouver, after all, and there’s an espresso bar on Kurt took to the stage right after university. She’d every corner) at a funky Yaletown cafe, when we were seen some local stand-up comics and somehow just hounded (or rather, she was) by a small group of fans knew she could do it. She spent a year studying the craft, wanting autographs. They’d recognized her from her sitting in the audience at comedy clubs, just watching. television show that aired on the Comedy Network, She noticed that some of the comics weren’t really that called Elvira Kurt: Adventures in Comedy. The pro- good, but what they had was guts. She knew she was just ducers toured the country looking for new talent. as brave, so she started doing amateur nights at Yuk Budding stand-up comics were given the opportunity Yuks in Toronto. Her timing couldn’t have been better. to showcase their work on national TV. And Kurt was This was the mid ‘80s and a Canadian comedy boom was the MC; her comedy interspersed with the newcom- just around the corner. You couldn’t find enough ers’. For many viewers, it was the first time they had comics to fill the venues. She realized she could make a seen Kurt perform her sidesplitting comedy. To great living crossing the country, playing at clubs.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 25 “You get really good when you perform that much,” Kurt says. “It’s a working education.” And she was having so much fun, she barely noticed that she’d been staying in cheap, crummy hotels with two guys somewhat lacking in basic social skills. Bad hotels or not, she kept at it, perfecting her craft, tour- ing all over North America, and doing a stint with the Second City Improv Troupe. By the early 90s she was cruis- ing in her career and made an important decision. She outed herself on stage and then, in 1993, was the first les- bian comic to be out on national television—on a CBC talk show called Friday Night! With Ralph Benmergui. It was a few months before American comic Lea Delaria came out on Arsineo Hall, a little known fact, because says Kurt, “If you want to hide from a crime you’ve committed, slip into Canadian show business, because nobody’ll ever find you.” Perhaps because of this, in 1996 she moved to L.A. “I felt like I was doing really well in Toronto and I used that momentum to go to L.A. I hit the ground running,” Kurt says of the move. “I knew I was going to another country, but I had no idea I was entering another culture.” The L.A. Culture. Where everyone has come from somewhere else for the same purpose: To be a Star. “No one’s eager to welcome someone new. You can see in people’s faces, the recognition that you’re all there for the same thing, but nobody really wants to extend themselves too much, because you don’t have that much to extend.” In her first six months in L.A. Elvira says, “I ran through my savings, ran through my backup, the RRSPs, every- thing. I maxed out all my credit cards. I was relying on the kindness of strangers to keep me from sleeping in my car, and came close to selling the car I would have needed to sleep in, without the kindness of strangers.” Then she landed an agent and hit the road, touring all over the U.S. playing at colleges. It was

26 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS “I WAS RELYING ON THE KINDNESS OF STRANGERS TO KEEP ME FROM SLEEPING IN MY CAR, AND CAME CLOSE TO SELLING THE CAR I WOULD HAVE NEEDED TO SLEEP IN.”

lucrative. She got out of debt, even made some spending the rest of her life (as we all will) overcom- money. “But the price I paid was every relationship ing these lessons. She worries that these deeper and every friendship.” They proved impossible to themes make her show less funny. Like all artists, she maintain on such a grueling schedule. questions her craft. Before she gets too carried away, Then she hit the “big time.” She’d just done a show I find myself leaping in to contradict her. After all, I with Betty Degeneres, Ellen Degeneres’ mother at a was there, sitting in the front row, at her sold-out PFLAG (Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays, concert during Vancouver’s Comedy Festival in the pronounced ‘Pee-flag’) event. The first Ellen show summer. Yes, her themes were deeper, but didn’t that just had just been cancelled and she was thinking of doing make her funnier, I argued, because everyone knows, a new show. She wanted to do a pilot and an HBO spe- comedy equals tragedy plus time. And she was dealing cial. After the PFLAG event, Betty Degeneres was so with issues we all think about: disappointment, aging, impressed with Kurt that she suggested that her terrorism and the inappropriate use of cell phones. daughter take a look at Kurt’s tape. “Totally unknown “When you’re on your way out of your 30s, it’s not to me,” says Kurt, “she got a hold of it, watched it and just about disappointing your parents, it’s about dis- called me out of the blue and asked me to write for appointing yourself,” she counters, “so it’s hard to go her.” She had no experience writing for another up on stage and make people laugh, because while comic—it’s a different process than writing material they’re laughing they’re also thinking about their own you’re going to perform yourself. You know your lives.” Yes, and isn’t that the best kind of comedy? The voice, you understand your own stage presence—but kind that makes you think? She doesn’t concede, but Kurt figured she was up for the challenge. She said she takes a sip of coffee and thinks about it. A truce? sure and ended up working with Degeneres, writing These days, Kurt has altered her personal life along for the HBO special and some material for the pilot. with her show. After six years in L.A., she’s now based When I caught up with Elvira in Vancouver, she was in Toronto and keeps an office in L.A.. “After touring with her newest show, a one-woman comedy September 11th, I came back home. The timing coin- act that is somewhat different from her earlier work. cided with a new relationship and new realizations. I After 15 years, her voice has changed. needed to come home to find a way to work different- “It’s becoming more distilled, less traditional ly.” After spending the better part of 15 years on the stand-up. I’m taking on themes so much deeper than road, she realized she needed to stop, to sit still and typical stand-up comedy,” she explains as we sip our take the time to face her demons. coffee. “Like disappointment, for example,” she says. Yes demons. She’s a stand-up comic, a ‘funny girl,’ This is a theme that’s personal to Elvira. She learned but one who ponders. She thinks about her show, about disappointment from her eastern European relationships, her life, politics, the environment. parents, who, she says, “have no joy in their lives. To Kurt is serious. Serious about issues. Serious about them, the world is a bad place and the sooner you her comedy. Serious about communicating with her learn it the better. If you don’t ask for anything, you audience. And she’s seriously funny. If you missed won’t be disappointed when you don’t get it.” her show on this latest tour, do yourself a serious Kurt worries that she learned her parents’ lessons favour. Catch her the next time she performs in a so well in the first 20 years of her life, she’ll be town near you.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 27 Right stuff. Wrong time. Though women outperformed male astronauts, the woman-in-space program was mysteriously and abruptly cancelled in 1961. Read the incredible story of the ‘First Lady Astronaut Trainees’ – including first-hand accounts from 11 of the women themselves – in a riveting new book by The Globe and Mail reporter Stephanie Nolen.

"...a well-researched combination biography, exposé and historical piece..." – Roberta Bondar, The Globe and Mail

"...a superb snapshot of a little-known chapter in the history of technology and American history in general." – Quill and Quire

Penguin Canada www.penguin.ca/moon

28 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS Hormone Therapy: A Prescription for Replacement by Penni Mitchell

In 1966, an American doctor named Robert Wilson trials—the gold standard of drug testing—had con- wrote Feminine Forever, a book that promoted estrogen firmed that HRT prevented heart disease. replacement as a miracle cure for women’s aging Much of the belief that HRT prevented heart disease woes. “Breasts and genital organs will not shrivel,” stemmed from the Nurses’ Health Study, an ongoing the good doctor promised. “Such women will be observational investigation of more than 121,000 much more pleasant to live with and will not become women who are surveyed about their lifestyle and dull and unattractive.” According to Dr. Wilson’s son, medical conditions every two years. It observed that Wyeth-Ayerst, the manufacturer of Premarin, paid women who took estrogen for 10 or fewer years report- the expenses of writing the book and financed his ed a lower rate of coronary heart disease. However, father’s lectures throughout the U.S. since it wasn’t a double-blinded study with a placebo Later, when it was discovered in 1975 that taking group, no one could say for certain whether the corre- estrogen increased women’s risk of uterine cancer, a lation was due to taking estrogen or to other factors. formula of estrogen with progestin became the stan- There was little doubt, however, that the medical pro- dard hormone replacement therapy (HRT). fession’s endorsement helped HRT become the top- Officially, HRT was approved as a temporary measure selling drug in Canada by 1998. Premarin sales had to provide relief for women experiencing debilitating reached $1 billion in North America and in Canada the hot flashes and night sweats—a target market that number of prescriptions topped four million, according includes not more than 10 and 15 percent of women to pharmaceutical sales tracker IMS Health. Drug man- in menopause. Yet prescriptions for HRT were hand- ufacturers helped get the message out by sponsoring ed out like candy to millions of symptomless women brochures and advertising to physicians supporting the on the basis of endorsements and claims that were lower heart risk idea. The reaction of millions of healthy not adequately tested. North American women was, ‘Well, why not?’. The Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists of The answer came last July. A 16,000-woman study Canada recommended in 1994 that all menopausal on HRT and heart disease sponsored by the U.S. women take HRT for at least 10 years—regardless of Women’s Health Initiative (WHI) was called off early whether they experienced any disruptive symptoms. in order to protect the participants’ health. It found Feminist doctors were outraged. B.C. endocrinologist that healthy menopausal women who took combined Dr. Jerilynn Prior was one of them. Yes, she said, estrogen and progestin hormone therapy for more estrogen decreases at menopause and yes, the risk of than four years had a higher relative risk of invasive heart disease increases at menopause. However, to breast cancer (26 percent), strokes (41 percent) and say that heart attacks are brought on by a deficiency of coronary heart disease (29 percent) compared to estrogen is “like calling a headache an aspirin-defi- women who were not given HRT. ciency disease,” according to Dr. Prior. More signifi- cantly, no double-blinded randomized clinical … continued on page 45

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 29 WOMEN UNITE! Joss Maclennan Design CEP 91/CLC Art by M. Laville

SISTERHOOD SOLIDARITÉ www.caw.ca cole’s notes BY SUSAN G. COLE

WEST WING WRITERS TAKE A NOTE When somebody like Francoise Ducros goes down so conversation, setting off the controversy that led to completely and with so many of her so-called her resignation. Fife also advanced The Post’s pro- colleagues cheering, you have to wonder whether war, pro-U.S. agenda. This is a hero? being a woman had anything to do with her demise. Fife sits right in the ideological pocket of owners I didn’t want to be knee-jerk about this, so I tried to the Aspers, the media moguls accused of censoring weigh all the other factors stacked against her. Take columnists and foreign correspondents who didn’t the fact that she is a lawyer, not a journalist, a fact that tout the Aspers’ line on Israel. And let’s not even talk alienated her from the press pros. She never bought about Conrad Black’s political legacy. You want to ask into the fundamental idea that information and the the Ducros detesters in the press corps, “Exactly public’s right to know matter deeply. Or so I’m told. who’s the bad guy here?” And true to her LL.B., she preferred an adversarial And has anybody noticed the deafening silence approach to just about everything. from Chris Hall, the CBC reporter who had the A party loyalist, she saw herself as guardian to original conversation with Ducros? What’s stopping Chretien’s gate and her job as keeping people from him from telling us what he thinks? I’m not penetrating it—unless, of course those journalists suggesting that he should have come to Ducros’ were going to say something she approved of. If they defence, only that some clarification was in order. didn’t, she could be brutal, closing the door and Confirm or deny, say that the comment was cutting off all access. inappropriate, or articulate why you didn’t report the She was a Chretien loyalist too, and being apparently earth-shattering conversation yourself. communications director for a lame duck prime But say something, minister doesn’t make the job easy. Let’s be honest, I can accept that Ducros was something of a pit bull she was a Chretien crony. The Prime Minister was a and that she was doggedly partisan—she was a staunch personal friend of Ducros’ father, who was a judge— defender of the security overkill at the Quebec something else that bugged media reps. economic summit. Nor did her remarks tend towards You could say that she was doomed from the start and the sentimentality that might be expected from a that the press never liked her but then you’d have to woman. Her past remark that Canadians shouldn’t be notice that the team of journalists on Parliament Hill is compensated for tainted blood that gave them HIV overwhelmingly male and accustomed to easygoing because they weren’t tested at the right time is just guys in the position of director of communications. one example. Ducros was the first woman to have the job. She At a recent panel in Ottawa in November on the succeeded Peter Donolo, a man that the corps loved. subject of political journalism, former Southam He went on from his position inside the PMO to be a Press writer Lawrence Martin expressed his lobbyist for the Bank of Montreal as they tried to unabashed relief at the changing of the guard at the stickhandle a proposed merger with the Bank of Nova director of communications. With Ducros gone and Scotia through Parliament. Did we hear the media ex-CTV reporter Jim Munson in, at least the guys in pack on the Hill bemoaning that move? Not really. the press corps can have a drink with the guy. I’m fascinated that so many commentators Perhaps the surest sign that all is not easy for complained about Ducros’ partisanship and her blind women in the Parliament Hill press corps is that loyalty, but not about The National Post journalist Robert none of the women working there that I talked to were Fife. He’s the guy who reported Ducros’ infamous willing to speak openly about the subject. quote—referring to George Bush as a moron—after Susan G. Cole is Entertainment/Books Editor at Now overhearing it in what could be construed as a private Magazine in Toronto.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 31 arts lit ARTIST PROFILE

Nice Girl, Grisly Topics AN INTERVIEW WITH CAMILLA GIBB

by Maria Stanborough

Author Camilla Gibb’s ‘petty details’ come full circle. Photo by Maria Stanborough.

id-way through Camilla Gibb’s latest novel, modest. It takes an outsider to tell us we’re good.” The Petty Details of So-and-so’s Life The success of her debut made it possible for Gibb M(Doubleday Canada 2002), the protagonist to make the transition into full-time writer. At the Emma is warned, “You’re not going to find happiness time, Gibb was ensconced in academia, with a Ph.D. or meaning. It’s in the details. The petty details of … in anthropology from Oxford and a post-doctorate life, and how you make them all add up.” position in Toronto. Gibb didn’t start out with this philosophy. “But I knew in my heart that I couldn’t teach “I used to listen to people in elevators talking about anthropology, that I wanted to write.” what they watched on TV the night before,” she recalls, Although she no longer teaches anthropology, the over coffee on a brisk fall morning at the International study of human behaviour still fascinates her. “I was Writers Festival in Vancouver. “I couldn’t believe that touring in Japan,” she explains, “and someone asked that was it–that was life. I thought, ‘There has to be some me why such a pretty girl was writing about such grisly bigger piece or meaning.’” topics … I’ve always been drawn to the dark side. It’s But then again, she didn’t start out as a writer, either. just more interesting.” Gibb arrived on the literary scene in 1999 with her Like Mouthing, The Petty Details of So-and-so’s Life debut novel, Mouthing the Words, about a young girl takes the reader into difficult childhoods. But what who fights back against her abusive father. In Canada, tragedy there may be is averted as we are shown their Mouthing the Words had an initial press run of 1,500. world through the children’s playful imaginings and When it was picked up by Random House in Britain, secret language. Emma and Blue, sister and brother, are Gibb was told that the novel would sell worldwide. And more or less orphaned by their parents at a young age. sell it did. It has been published in 14 countries, in 11 As they struggle into adulthood, they eventually, and different languages. It won the City of Toronto Book most unconventionally, come to terms with the past. Award and placed Gibb on Britain’s Orange Futures While Emma runs away, Blue is committed to list of major talent to watch. finding the family he never had. Of the two, Blue is “It’s such a Canadian story,” says Gibb. “We’re so the more interesting character. Gibb seamlessly

32 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS moves him from a helpless child into a rough-and- to terms with your family. It’s part of becoming who tumble man you would cross the street to avoid. you are.” Despite this, he holds onto his childhood naiveté With the past in order, the future looks promising for and his intense need for his father’s approval. He Gibb. Her first novel is being developed into a film searches out his father with a desperation that script. The Petty Details has been received with critics’ ultimately leads to the novel’s startling and praise and readers’ enthusiasm. And she is working on unsettling conclusion. her third novel, Sweetness in the Belly, about an Irish “Blue was the harder character to write,” Gibb family travelling across North Africa, arriving in explains. “He is incredibly boyish in the way that he Ethiopia in 1974, the year Emperor Haile Selassie is didn’t use language to communicate. So it was hard to overthrown. “It involves politics and power, mysticism show who he was.” and religion,” she says of her current project. The magic of Gibb’s novel lies in how she is able to Meanwhile, the details of Gibb’s life have come full translate the confusion of childhood into the bold circle. “One day I realized I was one of those people in uncertainty of adulthood. The characters go forward the elevator, talking about last night’s TV. That’s with absolute confidence in their actions, as offbeat as when I knew there was no big meaning or key. they are. It is this mixture of foolishness and grace that Happiness–it really is in the details.” marks Gibb’s characters and novel as unique. Maria Stanborough is a writer and lighting technician “I think that’s something everyone has to do: come living in Vancouver. arts lit WINTER READING

SAINTS OF BIG needs: a truck, a girlfriend, acceptance more to the fore. Although the novel HARBOUR among his peers. But Guy’s story is much divides its attention among many strong by Lynn Coady more complex. Raised by a single mother, characters, we come to know each with an Doubleday Canada, 2002 his family has been continually terrorized eerie depth. Corrine Fortune, Guy’s by his larger-than-life, emotionally would-be girlfriend, whose depression Review by Kerry Ryan abusive Uncle Isadore—a fascinating and insecurity is manifested in a series of At first, Saints of Big character Coady has handled so delicately terrible lies is just one such character, Harbour, the third and that, even as he boorishly wreaks havoc on crafted with bang-on realism. most recent novel by everyone in his path, the reader can’t help All in all, Big Harbour isn’t a pretty accomplished being entranced. place to visit–drunken characters are Vancouver author Marianne, Guy’s mother, struggles to forever sleeping on the living room floor, Lynn Coady, seems to hold her family together as she takes jobs getting beaten up in bars or going on be about a teenaged cleaning houses to make ends meet. Her violent rampages. Bleak as the story may boy’s troubled rela- inability to break the cycle with her be, Coady’s wit and warmth save it from tionship with his brother Isadore becomes key to Guy’s being a depressing read. Her insight and domineering, alcoholic uncle. But, like powerlessness—a problem that goes much story telling are exceptional and her the town the story is set in, there’s much deeper than any bout of teenage angst. rendering of small town Acadia is more beneath the surface in this powerful As the novel progresses, the chapters exquisite. Saints of Big Harbour is truly a and beautifully written novel. shift points of view and time. As we are delight to read. The main character, Guy Boucher, introduced to the spectrum of Kerry Ryan lives, reads and writes in seems to have simple, typically teenaged perspectives, Coady’s skill comes even Winnipeg.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 33 DYING IN A STRANGE books and procrastinates on her graduate COUNTRY schoolwork by writing reviews. 2XW¶Q$ERXW7UDYHO,QF by Tahira Naqvi '2(6127&+$5*(6(59,&()((6 Toronto South Asian Review, 2001 RQ:HVWMHW-HWVJR7DQJR=LS&DQMHW THE GIRL WITHOUT DQG6N\VHUYLFH Review by Mridula Nath Chakraborty ANYONE Tahira Naqvi’s Dying in by Kelli Deeth a Strange Country is a Harper Perennial Canada, 2001 poignant and moving Review by Stacey Kauder commentary on what it Named one of the top means to be an immi- 100 books of the year grant in the U.S. of A. $PHPEHURIWKH,QWHUQDWLRQDO by the Globe and Mail, *D\DQG/HVELDQ7UDYHO$VVRFLDWLRQ Naqvi’s work carries The Girl Without little of the heaviness Anyone is both elo- that can make an immigrant reader long to quent and unsparing- flee the country of her adoption, but instead ly truthful to the voice surprises the reader with its wit and light of a young girl hesi- touch of humour. One of my favourite tantly entering womanhood. Each of the stories from this collection is about a young 11 short stories represents a milestone in Muslim woman’s search for halal meat the protagonist, Leah’s, life. “Fifteen (animals killed using methods that cause as Almost” and “Survivors” hold forth a vol- ²2VERUQH6W60F.LP&RXUW\DUG little pain as possible) and her triumphant ume of Leah’s life, where she fights for :LQQLSHJ0DQLWRED‡5/< discovery that kosher meat will do the job. SK‡WROOIUHH love in the midst of broken relationships, ID[‡HPDLORDW#PWVQHW “Thank God for the Jews!” she says. In among people who continue to love another story, a nine-year old boy despite disappointment and heartbreak. understands the meaning of the schoolyard In “Niagara Falls” we are introduced to taunt “hybrid” when his mother uses the Leah’s neglectful father and his girlfriend example of a crossbreed between Macintosh Selena, who receives “the gentlest of his and Golden Yellow apples. touches.” Leah is desperate to be cared Naqvi’s characters are Pakistani- about, and yet at the same time is ruthless Americans trying to find community and in her determination to destroy both of her meaning in their chosen lives, where old parents’ intimate relationships. She certainties have given way to new displays an often-disturbing ability to fend challenges, despairs and exhilarations. for herself with implacable selfishness. Combined with the idea of ‘everyday as A mature adolescent Leah is featured in problematic’ is the ever-present “White Carpet,” still lonely, still “trapped diasporic mirage of ‘return’—the ‘never- in delicate but indestructible netting” say-die’ hope that one will not be buried which shrouds her. She feels alienated in unfamiliar, and often hostile, earth. from her school friends who smell as And yet, the return is a mixed blessing fresh as toothpaste, and idolizes their too, an appeal to which the prodigal can wholesome popularity. only say, in Faiz Ahmad Faiz’s beautiful “Blizzard” genuinely reflects the lyrics, “Beloved, ask not for the love we adolescent female belief that a man’s love once shared: Mujh se pehli si muhabbat will make her important. Although Leah’s mere mehbub naa maang.” Even as these loneliness makes her prone to this lie, she brave new adventurers walk the paths is bold and aggressive with boys, regardless upon water to converge upon their of propriety and dating rituals. Leah leaves adoptive nation, all is not lost, and they all of her sexual experiences stronger, discover that their strands have remained more confident. Rather than wallow in her “smooth, elusive, separate” with the scent loneliness Leah glorifies in it, wanting to of coriander, cumin and turmeric, in the be the girl without anyone, striving to be “a spaghetti bowl that is America. person who walked without doubt.” Mridula Nath Chakraborty is addicted to The stories that unfold are beautiful and

34 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS sad, complete renderings of dysfunctional young novices in a convent, lesbian lovers Donovan’s Station, McGrath’s first adult families and Leah’s emotionally evocative and sometimes between mothers and novel, more than met my expectations. struggle to exist within them. Kelli Deeth daughters. Their intimacy is rivalled only by Donovan’s Hotel, situated a few miles west spares the reader no emotional break — intimacy between men under threat of of St. John’s, was a familiar landmark of from humour to shock to empathy — in death in jungle warfare, and is similarly my childhood. My grandfather regularly Leah’s quest to be someone special, “a doomed by forces beyond their control that took us out that way for summer drives in person with power.” pull them apart. Hence, the novel’s major Mr. Ariel Snelgrove’s taxi. Keziah Stacey Kauder is a Toronto writer. theme is the struggle of women to forge and Donovan, the novel’s protagonist, is maintain bonds with each other in a loosely based on an ancestor of McGrath’s CLOSER APART patriarchal and militaristic world. who ran the hotel for many years. Admirers of Reid’s first novel will be The book covers Mrs. Donovan’s long by Gayla Reid Stoddart, 2002 pleased to note the link between the two. life, an eventful and often chaotic one that Closer Apart precedes the earlier novel moves from deep sorrow to intense Review by Joan Givner chronologically, going back over three happiness with many other emotions along The brevity of Gayla generations to depict of foremothers of the way. Rich in telling detail and a strong Reid’s second novel Bernadette, the narrator of All the Seas of sense of local history, Donovan’s Station belies the breadth of the World. holds the reader’s attention throughout. its scope, for, in a Joan Givner’s latest novel, Half-Known Lives, Keziah is a woman of strong opinions and mere 249 pages, she is published by New Star Books. secure self-esteem. It’s only toward the manages to portray the end of the story, as she lies in her bed lives of four genera- DONOVAN’S STATION paralyzed by a severe stroke, that we see a tions of women. She more vulnerable side of her nature. After does so, moreover, against a richly textured by Robin McGrath Killick Press 2002 the death of Keziah’s first husband, Paddy social background that extends from the Aylward, she describes how, “We came Review by Helen Fogwill Porter cities and outback of her native Australia to down over the stairs with him, making the Italy and Canada, while encompassing three As soon as I heard the narrow turn, and the stiffness hadn’t set in major wars of the Twentieth Century. title, I was sure I’d be for his legs were dangling down at the Like many novelists with expertise in hooked on Donovan’s knees, tripping out a jig on the steps like a the short story genre, Reid achieves a Station. I enjoyed sev- dancing doll…. We set some boards over highly concentrated effect through her eral other works by the two puncheon tubs Judith had hauled in passages of dialogue and selection of author, including from the road and I stripped him down….” evocative detail. She also brings from her Trouble and Desire There is mystery here, and religious distinguished short story collection, To Be (short stories), Escaped intrigue, some of it involving historical There With You, the narrative technique of Domestics (poetry), and Hoist Your Sails and figures in the Catholic church. using a series of paragraphs that work Run (young adult novel). I closed the book with a stronger grasp through juxtaposition, rather than transition. Here, the sections are longer than paragraphs, but they achieve a similar purpose of erasing the (often false) distinction between minor and major incidents in human lives, and between personal and political events. Although the lives of the four women— Rose, Ellen, Alice and Bernadette—are lived out far from the battlefield, the women experience the wounds of war indirectly through their relationships with men, most of them involved in active duty. Yet, although her female characters are involved with husbands and lovers, it is their relationships with other women that have the greatest intensity. These relationships are between twin sisters, close friends,

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 35 on life in and near St. John’s in the 1966. Her reverie is brutally interrupted. MILE END nineteenth and early twentieth centuries “She didn’t hear the small thunder of high by Lise Tremblay than I’d ever had before. Keziah Donovan heels coming at her from behind.” Nor Translated by Gail Scott will take her place along with Margaret did she see a woman, dressed in evening Talonbooks, 2002 Laurence’s Hagar Shipley, Sinclair Ross’s gown and tiara, leaping over her into the Review by Cy-Thea Sand Mrs. Bentley and Bernice Morgan’s Mary river. This tense episode marks the Lise Tremblay won the Bundle on my list of Canadian literature’s beginning of a sinuous and gripping tale. Governor General’s most memorable characters. Cleo, in shock and too petrified to seek Award in 1999 for La Helen Fogwill Porter is a Newfoundland writer. help, runs away. Woodrow slyly drops a danse juive which has hint. “Having seen this kind of watery exit now been translated by from the world before, she did not want to SPELLING MISSISSIPPI Montréal writer Gail witness a second such act of strange and by Marnie Woodrow Scott. That translation, private violence.” Knopf Canada, 2002 Mile End, is a sad tra- Needless to say, Cleo is consumed with Review by Irene D’Souza jectory of one woman’s attempt to free her- worry and becomes obsessed with the self from the prison of self-hate. It is a With the mighty incident and the survivor Madeline, who novel of place; Mile End simultaneously Mississippi River pro- has miraculously escaped a watery death. refers to a district in Montréal and to the viding a majestic back- Cleo spends the rest of her holiday seeking central character’s persistent hopelessness. drop of intrigue, and answers to the mystery of Madeline. Who Tremblay’s main character describes the city of New Orleans is she and why did she dive into the water? herself as a “pink fattie with a lovely face, the setting for Like the Mississippi, the narrative moving with a sort of flaccidity.” Unnamed romance and charm, meanders smoothly, cascading with by her creator, she lugs around her excess short story writer intimate details of the women’s lives. A (familial) weight inside a defined space. Marnie Woodrow makes an impressive therapist would have a field day. They both (Mile End is Mordecai Richler territory— debut with her novel, Spelling Mississippi. have maternal issues: Cleo copes with a Portuguese enclave of poverty, Hasidic The author’s skill in spinning a good abandonment, Madeline with suffocation. families, cheap Chinese restaurants and yarn is evident - romance, drama, betrayal Woodrow’s upbeat senses of humour grottoes.) Tremblay’s character is married and sex - it is all here, punctuated with and her pacy command for balancing the to the district; simultaneously, she is fascinating historical detail. sensuous and the cerebral keeps the plot profoundly and sadly displaced and unable Cleo Savoy, a Canadian vacationer, is floating. In many aspects the story line to flourish creatively (despite sitting alone on the dock in the French recalls the quirky movie Desperately encouragement from her musician friend Quarter, contemplating life. Her affinity Seeking Susan. Do the twain meet? Read Paul). Her unresolved feelings about her for water stems in part from being the book to find out. father and mother are eating her up, while conceived during Florence’s great flood of Irene D’Souza is a Winnipeg arts writer. fries and Coke serve to replenish her with “a sense of well-being.” She finds it hard Don’t be afraid of the F-word to bend, hard to breathe and impossible to BUILD YOUR FEMINIST LIBRARY WITH WOMEN’S PRESS let go of a past that, in the end, will compel her to kill. To compensate for her character’s turbidity, Tremblay employs short, staccato sentences. Tremblay writes: “It’s been snowing for days. The streets are layered in dirty muddy white. I have trouble walking. I get home at last, exhausted.” These lean sentences bear the weight of her character’s bulk. The sentences clip along the pages of this “Good writing breeds short novel like the high heels Tremblay’s “She got the class, Humourous, in-your-face, goodgood writing...”writing...” character could never negotiate, creating she got the sass...” risk-taking social commentary A different anthology. a singsong effect that becomes

UTP Distribution: 1.800.565.9523 monotonous. Perhaps this is Tremblay’s Women’s Press: 1.800.463.1998 point: despair becomes boring and

36 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS sometimes must end with an explosive act born,” she says. Traci’s mother, the therapy: I may never see you again so I that will catapult its sufferer into a new woman that Traci desperately does not guess I love you after all,” she says. dimension. The novel ends with such an want to become, was once a fighter of Tamaki has a gift for the angry young act; the deed is as unnerving and dramatic tooth decay (read: dental assistant) and is woman voice—an honest, engaging insight as a summer storm in Montréal. Like now an enclosed performance artist into the whole disaffected post-whatever deafening thunder, the main character’s (read, frustrated mother, prone to scene. Her language is concise and desperate, final act provides relief from throwing dishes out the kitchen window). unsentimental, but deeply felt (don’t let the novel’s overwhelming sense of low, Traci’s journey to reclaim herself forms her fool ya). Bitter and sweet, Tamaki’s (emotional) atmospheric pressure. the arc of the story as she struggles to heroine has you rooting for her all the Cy-Thea Sand works at the McGill Centre for come to some kind of terms with her way. Research and Teaching on Women/Centre de family. “Goodbyes are the best family Tamai Kobayashi is a Toronto writer. recherche et d’enseignement sur les femmes in Montréal.

COVER ME by Mariko Tamaki McGilligan Books, 2000 Review by Tamai Kobayashi Traci Yamoto (actually it’s five m’s but four of them are silent) is a young Japanese Canadian grrrl, sur- viving private school hell (barely) and her dysfunctional family (is there any other kind?). Smart, sarcastic and oh so alienat- ed, she survives her mother’s breakdown, only to be confronted by her own. With a distant brother, drama queen mother and an endearing but ineffectual father, Traci’s problems are complete. Through the ritu- als of cutting she tries to carve out her own identity, but spins into a psyche ward and ends up with a choice: should she kill her parents or start a band? The story is recounted as Traci, now purple-haired and tattooed, races to meet her father for a lunch in the bowels of Bay Street. Traci is a bristling mass of kick- ass angst, forever trawling for her father’s approval, rebelling against the haunting mirage of her mother, the anti-Traci. Told as a first person narration by a 20- something rocker, it is clear that glibness a shield from pain, Traci’s story is funny, sad and irreverent: a perfect combination of ‘fuck you, world’ and ‘fuck me, the razor blade slipped.’ Cover Me begins with the image of tiny white shoes. “When I tell this story, I say my mother was dressing me before I was

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 37 arts lit ARTIST PROFILE Understanding Women’s Depression AN INTERVIEW WITH JANET STOPPARD by Roewan Crowe

anet Stoppard, a professor of psychology at the provide solutions to our health and societal concerns. University of New Brunswick in Fredericton, is a Stoppard observed in our interview that, “It seems Jresearcher on women’s mental health with a par- like, as a society, we can’t respond to or understand ticular emphasis on depression. Her latest book is women’s distress without making it into a mental ill- Understanding Depression: Feminist Social Constructionist ness.” According to Stoppard, women are in a double Approaches (2000, Routledge). She is also a co-editor bind here. On the one hand, there is a kind of legit- (with Baukje Miedema and Vivienne Anderson) of imization in the depression label – at least it validates the Women’s Bodies/Women’s Lives: Health, Well-Being and serious nature of a woman’s pain. On the other hand, the Body Image (2000, Sumach). label erases the factors contributing to depression, Understanding Depression: Feminist Social Constructionist decontextualizes women from the sources of their suf- Approaches explores the process by which women’s fering and individualizes women’s oppression. experiences of distress are constructed and medical- Importantly, it is not only mental health practi- ized as “depression.” Stoppard highlights several tioners who often think this way. Culturally, we have findings on gender and the pharmacology of antide- lost an understanding of why people get depressed. pressants that have important implications for “From a Western standpoint, women have notions of women. First, antidepressants commonly prescribed how to be a good woman, and these notions are high- have slower ‘‘clearance’’ rates (the time it takes to ly regulated and are taken for granted in our culture,” leave the body) in females compared to males and she explains. The myth promises that if we are good therefore have a greater ‘‘bioavailability’’ in women’s mothers, good daughters, good wives, etc., then we bodies. This means that the amount of a drug will be rewarded with the good life. Rather than let go required to produce an effect will typically be lower of cultural prescriptions of what it means to be a good for women than men, although prescribing patterns woman, we buy into the medical model’s construc- do not generally reflect this difference. Second, she tion of depression. We need to explore the contextual describes how the bioavailability of antidepressants reasons why women may be struggling in their lives— is increased when used with oral contraceptives, a such as poverty, living in an abusive relationship or combination likely to occur when women of child- feeling overwhelmed and unsupported as a parent. bearing age receive treatment for depression. A third Stoppard’s research is important because it places finding is that the active effects of antidepressants women’s experience at the center of inquiry about may be reduced in individuals exposed to chronic depression. The next step, she says is “more inter- stressors such as poverty and victimization. disciplinary approaches and to develop other ways of When sex-related drug effects are ignored, the con- understanding women’s experiences of depression.” sequences include increased risk of toxicity and Understanding Depression: Feminist Social Constructionist adverse effects for women who take antidepressants. Approaches begins to do just that. In addition to the problems associated with antide- Roewan Crowe is a writer and artist who teaches part- pressants, there is an increasing dependence on men- time at the University of Manitoba in the Women’s tal health experts and profit-driven corporations to Studies program.

38 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS at times, heartbreaking essays, stories, femme experience. Reading it, one begins photographs, poems and outright to understand that a femme is whatever Non Fiction manifestos, lie some essential truths she decides she is, when ever and how about gender, about being both queer and ever she decides to be it. And this is all BRAZEN FEMME: feminine (whether you are a biological subject to change. Without warning. QUEERING FEMININITY female or not). There is Anna Camilleri’s Joy Parks is a regular contributor to Edited by Chloë Brushwood Rose “Cut from the Same Stone,” an explosive Girlfriend magazine in San Francisco, The and Anna Camilleri essay about learning from her mother Gay and Lesbian Review Worldwide and Arsenal Pulp Press, 2002 how “high femme-ness” is a way of Sojourner (Boston). becoming stone and untouchable. “Gonna Review by Joy Parks get my girl body back: this is a work in MARIE ANTOINETTE: Lesbians like me who progress” by Leah Lakshmi Piepzna- find themselves on Samarasinha is a lush, painful rush of THE JOURNEY the lipstick and lace words that deal with sexual abuse and by Antonia Fraser Doubleday Canada, 2001 side of the queer vulnerability and how femme bodies and fence will appreciate faces become canvases for self- Review by Barbara M. Freeman the enormous chal- expression. “Whores and Bitches Who Marie Antoinette is lenge faced by Chloë Sleep With Women” reminds us that many popularly known for Brushwood Rose and femmes in the 50s urban gay her cruel response to Anna Camilleri. Their latest collabora- communities were prostitutes, a fact the starving French tion, Brazen Femme: Queering Femininity, silenced by a sanitized lesbian history that populace, embodied seeks to define, make visible and cele- traces its lineage through Sappho and in the quip, “Let them brate she who has been most misunder- Boston marriages. “Big Fat Femme: eat cake!” But accord- stood: the femme lesbian. Suspect within Squeezing a Lot of Identity into One Pair ing to her biographer, the lesbian community for her exaggerat- of Control Top Nylons,” by Abi Stone and Antonia Fraser, she never said those ed femininity, misinterpreted and Allyson Mitchell is a so-truthful-it-hurts words. Fraser argues, on the contrary, maligned, the femme often lives in a look at body image and the politics of the that this famous Queen of France was strange no-woman’s land. She survives by fat/femme image. And finally, “A slandered and vilified in her own time taking pleasure in her own femaleness, Fem(me)inist Manifesto,” by Lisa Duggan and over the past 200 years as extrava- scoffing at the vulnerability others see in and Kathleen McHugh is brilliant in its gant, cold-hearted, uneducated, naïve, her, loving the inexplicable female mas- wit and irreverence. malicious and licentious. She was, in culinity of butches and making herself up Brazen Femme succeeds in short, the victim of political manipulation as she goes along. demonstrating common issues while and bad press, and was not the cause of Within these angry, defiant, brave and staying true to the inherent vicissitude of the French Revolution. Born in Vienna in

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 39 1755, she married the future king of reinterpreting the story of this famous of academia. Angelou’s struggles as a France at 14, and died at the guillotine in queen has no doubt added substantially to black woman are chronicled in her Paris at 37, found guilty by her anti- the endless debate about her life and transformation from abused child, monarchist enemies of plotting against times. teenage mother and civil rights worker to her adopted country. Barbara M. Freeman’s latest book is The a gifted writer. As one of the first black Fraser certainly sees Antoinette’s Satellite Sex: The Media and Women’s Issues women to make the best-seller list, she character flaws, but she is more forgiving in English Canada, 1966-1971 published by also paved the way for African American than most, arguing that she had neither Wilfred Laurier University Press (2001). women in the film industry. the training nor the temperament to be Angelou has written a short book vague politically influential. She also brings to A SONG FLUNG UP TO on details and sparse of description but her biography a consciousness of the powerful in its message of one woman’s queen’s vulnerability as a woman, and an HEAVEN struggle for personal survival and to understanding of her attempt to defend by Maya Angelou create a better life for African Americans. Random House, 2002 herself against her enemies on the Besides acclaim as a poet, author, grounds of her status as the king’s wife, Review by Heather Marie playwright, dancer, singer, actress, and especially as the mother of the heir to At the age of 74, Maya historian, editor, producer, director and the throne. This stance was not just a Angelou has finally mother, Angelou’s stories have won her feminine ploy, according to Fraser. Marie come to terms with Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award th Antoinette came to respect her husband her 40 birthday by nominations. and deeply loved her children, whom she writing, A Song Flung A Song Flung Up to Heaven propels the refused to abandon. But as courageous as Up to Heaven, the sixth reader along a timeline of defeats and she could be in the face of adversity, installment of the victories, from her work with Malcolm X especially near the end of her life, she was story of her life. in New York, to life in Hawaii, Cairo, not politically astute enough to avoid Thirty years ago the words “What you Ghana and Los Angeles. Through her tragedy. looking at me for? I didn’t come to stay,” words we are conjoined to her family, the The author is not very critical of the launched her contemporary classic, I Harlem Writers Guild, the work of Martin material excesses of the French court, Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. These Luther King Jr. and the grief from his given the oppressive conditions under same words close this volume of the core assassination that charted Angelou’s later which many ordinary citizens lived, and events of the life and times of Angelou works. dismisses too easily the erotic and the civil rights movement in America. She says, “I thought if I wrote, I would possibilities of her subject’s passionate Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson have to examine the quality of the human friendships with two women of her inner in 1928 in segregated rural Arkansas. spirit that continues to rise despite the circle. Still, Marie Antoinette: The Journey Although the written series ends in 1968, slings and arrows of outrageous fortune.” is an intriguing read. Fraser, in Angelou’s life continues today in the halls Fortunately for us, she has continued to do just that. Heather Marie is a Winnipeg freelance writer.

“HONEY, WE LOST THE KIDS” RE-THINKING CHILDHOOD IN THE MULTI-MEDIA AGE by Kathleen McDonnell Second Story Press, 2001 Review by Anne Rochon Ford In 1984, Kathleen McDonnell shook the feminist movement with her provocative book, Not an Easy Choice: A Feminist Re- examines Abortion.

40 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS She took the sacred cow of a woman’s Sally Armstrong was Armstrong responded to this challenge right to choose, arguing—without calling one of the first and spent six years bringing the voices of into question the importance of advocat- international Afghan women to the attention of the ing for choice—that feminists should journalists to bring international community. She was elated to acknowledge that choosing whether or not the plight of Afghan find these women again after the U.S. led to have an abortion is not an easy choice women to the world’s bombing, coping with their rapidly and one that can leave scars. Horrors! attention. As editor of changing lives and anxious to begin McDonnell received a great deal of flack Homemakers’ exercising the freedoms denied them by the for her book, while others quietly shook magazine, she traveled to Afghanistan and Taliban, particularly access to education and their heads in agreement. later wrote an article that resulted in more health care. She writes of the extraordinary Now she’s done it again. She has than 9,000 letters from Canadians pride and passion Afghans have for their written a book that speaks directly to demanding support for Afghan women. country, in addition to their amazing feminists raised in the 50s who came of In 1996, Armstrong journeyed to determination to survive and relentless age believing they would never expose Afghanistan to meet a woman whose name, refusal to be governed by outsiders. Most their children to the violence of war now for security reasons, could not be revealed. In passionate is her message of the courageous rampant in video games, or the drivel of her new book, Veiled Threat: The Hidden Power Afghan women and the brave struggle they television they grew up with. But many of of the Women of Afghanistan, Armstrong lead to secure their human rights and us feel we may have seriously failed; we details how, through contacts in Pakistan, she participate fully in building peace and thought we were going to raise near- discovered a woman risking her life and security in their country. perfect kids and instead find them defying the Taliban to provide desperately Although the Taliban is ousted from addicted to playing Metal Gear Solid 2 needed health care to Afghan women control, much work is still needed to while trying to reassure us it’s not going refugees in Pakistan. That woman was Dr. erase the legacy of female oppression that to make them gun-loving adults (“It’s just Sima Samar, who was named Deputy Prime has seeped into the country and into the a game, Mom!”). We ask ourselves Minister and Minister of Women’s Affairs to minds of young people who have known whether the kids are any better off having the interim government of Afghanistan. the horrors of war for the past 23 years. Leave it To Beaver and Father Knows Best Armstrong describes in rich detail the Veiled Threat documents these horrors and replaced by the boorish Homer Simpson. women who worked in a rehabilitation describes what women, individually and ‘Chill out,’ says McDonnell. In a friendly clinic in Kandahar. Beneath the confining in solidarity with one another, are doing style using well-referenced and reasoned burqas are vibrant, compassionate women to change one of the greatest human arguments, she argues that a cultural shift who implored her to tell their stories to rights crises of our times. of enormous proportion has taken place. the world: “No one in the world cares...no Carolyn Reicher is a volunteer with Women Children no longer are protected from one in the world can hear us.” for Women in Afghanistan in Calgary. what she calls “the unholy trinity” of sex, death and profanity. The authority of adults has been totally undermined in the space of one generation. The centres of excellence Who provides care in the McDonnell is to be honoured for the for women’s health present home, and under what contribution she has quietly made over conditions? It’s not just a the years to nudging those of us on the left Research Bulletin Vol. 3 No. 1: and in the women’s movement away from personal matter; it’s about our entrenched positions—be it in the health reform. Includes the belief that abortion does not leave Who Cares? Charlottetown Declaration emotional scars or our collective angst that we haven’t raised perfect kids. on the Right to Care. NEW KNOWLEDGE Anne Rochon Ford is a Toronto writer and researcher specializing in health issues. Research Bulletin is completely bilingual and absolutely free. Order now!

VEILED THREAT Canadian Women’s Health Network Suite 203 – 419 Graham Avenue, Winnipeg MB R3C 0M3 by Sally Armstrong Penguin Books, 2002 Ph: 204-942-5500 • Toll-free: 1-888-818-9172 Toll-free TTY: 1-866-694-6367 • Fax: 204-989-2355 Review by Carolyn Reicher

e-mail: [email protected] • Website: www.cwhn.ca NEW QUESTIONS

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 41 arts lit MUSIC NORAH JONES She may be the daughter of ’60s sitar album, Tired and Emotional, followed. Come Away With Me virtuoso Ravi Shanker, however Come The cost of fame was high. She battled Blue Note, 2002 Away With Me proves that Norah Jones is alcoholism throughout her 30s. Now the Review by Cindy Filipenko her own woman. 46-year-old singer, sober since 1993, enjoys the status of national treasure in Norah Jones’ Come Ireland, promoting a variety of social and Away With Me is sim- RED BLUES political causes. ply the best debut Mary Coughlan Cindy Filipenko is a Vancouver writer. recording by a jazz T&M, 2002 vocalist since Ricki Review by Cindy Filipenko Lee Jones’ self-titled The tenth album from SO MUCH SHOUTING SO 1979 album. Making matters sweeter is prolific Irish blues MUCH LAUGHTER the fact that Norah Jones is a fairly awe- icon Mary Coughlan, Ani DiFranco some piano player to boot. Red Blues is primarily Righteous Babe Records, 2002 The title track of this stunning collection comprised of Review by Anna Lazowski has evolved into a major breakout single, American blues and A great way to hold receiving airplay across the band, from pop standards. Happily, predictable selec- the attention of your adult contemporary stations to those tions like “One For My Baby”, “Black audience between featuring a demographic more used to Coffee” and “At Last” take on a new charm discs is to release a Britney Spears. “Shoot the Moon” looks when infused with an audible brogue. live album, or in this poised to be the second offering, the song Other choices contained on Red Blues case, a double live having been featured on TV’s ER. are downright inspired, such as the heart- album. With DiFranco’s relentless release This native Texan who now calls New wrenching “I Would Rather Go Blind” and schedule—she often releases a new studio York home has phrasing and a depth of “She’s Got A Way With Men (And She Just album every year—it’s little wonder she tone that seems incongruous with being Got Away With Mine)” a hilarious honky opted for a follow-up to her 1997 live 22 years old. Through her name appears tonking romp which features Frank Mead effort, Living In Clip. on only three of the recording’s 11 on the soprano saxophone, music’s The first disc is called Stray Cats, alluding original songs, this small sample shows ultimate comedy instrument. to the mixed bag offered, from standard live that Jones’ talents extend beyond However, the more contemporary songs cuts to a few that are rarely played onstage. interpretation of other songwriters work. in this collection of covers are less even. “Letter to a John, Napoleon, Cradle & All” While some of her lyrics are reminiscent While her version of Randy Newman’s and “Grey” are a few of the 11 tracks that of earnest adolescent poetry, her “You Can Leave Your Hat On” is lovely in make up the disc. There is also a version of melodies ooze sophistication. its simplicity, her guitar-heavy rendition “Shrug” that captures the song’s first live, The cover choices on Come Away With of Grace Jones’ late ’70s disco hit “Pull Up public performance. Me are bold and unique: Hank Williams’ To The Bumper” is simply odd. The second disc, Girls Singing Night, “Cold, Cold Heart” and J.D. Loudermilk’s Coughlan fulfills the role of blues features tracks like “Dilate,” “32 Flavors,” “Turn Me On.” These country classics are singer, the same way Bonnie Raitt does, “Not a Pretty Girl,” “My IQ” and You Had revitalized by simple, elegant jazz with a solid low-range and sincere Time.” The 13 tracks on this disc are a arrangements that showcase Lee delivery. And while there are certainly cross-section of songs from DiFranco’s Alexander’s solid, clean bass work. But better vocalists covering the same intensely personal collection of female the real standout in the cover material, Coughlan exudes the same kind songs. The liner notes explain the title of departments is an the closing track, of legitimacy as Raitt. this disc as “two feminists poking fun at Hoagy Carmichael’s “The Nearness of If Coughlan has limitations as a singer, their own stereotypes,” a reference to a You” tackles this standard the way it was she is certainly inspirational as a person. pre-show exchange between DiFranco and meant to be played: solo. Committed to a mental institution after a her keyboardist/backing vocalist Julie Wolf. Band members, guitarist Jesse Harris suicide attempt at the age of 16, homeless Recorded in venues from France to and the aforementioned Alexander, have on the streets of London at 18, a single Idaho, the sound quality is good and the contributed a number of songs here, mother of three at 23, Coughlan cut a brass instruments and vocal harmonies go including the breezy “Feelin’ The Same demo a couple of years later and got her a long way to filling out the sound. They Way” and “I’ve Got to See You Again,” that big break the next year when she appeared also offer interpretations of these songs have the feeling of tunes destined to on Ireland’s Late Late Show. A sold-out that sound different from the album cuts, become standards. tour of Ireland and best-selling debut meaning you won’t just be paying for the

42 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS same studio style performance with some regions and having palmately lobed leaves was brought into the studio and their clapping mixed in. But because of and large flowers with showy sepals. Also energy seeped into the recording. DiFranco’s sheer volume of songs from called windflower. Rockier tracks like “Back in the 70s” which to pick, there’s a good chance many 2. A sea anemone. and “A Body Needs” have thoughtfully individual favourites didn’t make the cut. Mia Sheard has the kind of sound that written lyrics, but Sheard really shines This is not a best of, but it does offer her seems like it could fit comfortably into when her vocal talents are stripped down fans the chance to take home a bit of the any era. She is regularly compared to on quieter, more introspective cuts like energy that DiFranco is often able to Mary Margaret O’Hara and Jane Siberry, Sunday and Small. On Reptilian, Sheard capture live. but her sound is more straightforward often seemed to be competing to be heard and less eclectic. On Anemone, the basic over the instruments. The mix on this ANEMONE arrangements are fairly simple, a mix of album is much more favourable, as Mia Sheard guitar, bass, drums, piano and loops. But Sheard’s vocals easily cut through to Perimeter, 2002 guest performers like Ron Sexsmith, Kurt become the prominent feature they a·nem·o·ne, n. Swinghammer, Ford Pier and others add should be. 1. Any of various elements of violin, cello and French horn Anna Lazowski is an associate producer at perennial herbs of to individual tracks. CBC Radio’s Definitely Not the Opera. the genus Anemone, Fans of her last album, Reptilian, will native chiefly to find Anemone a worthy follow-up, though northern temperate if listeners notice more of a live feel to the record it’s because her working band arts lit FILM

GASOLINE short films and for her work with a mother, things go out of control and the Directed by Monica Stambrini number of Italian directors, including mother accidentally is killed. Stella Review by Randi Spires Bernardo Bertolucci. doesn’t believe she would get a fair trial Although Gasoline was scripted, and she doesn’t want to go to jail. So now produced, and shot in Italy, it is really an the two young women must dispose of the American film at heart. The scriptwriters, body and remove any evidence that a committee of four, including the director Lenni’s mother had actually been there. and Elena Stancaneli, author of the novel That’s where the road trip begins. on which the film is based, pay conscious One of the themes of the film is how homage to Hollywood genre flicks, road mothers can stay with us long after they’ve movies and buddy movies. It’s a well gone. Throughout the film, poor Lenni is produced, loving homage, easy on the eyes beset by her dead mother’s voice almost and on the mind, although some may constantly proffering instructions and Regina Orioli, as Lenni in the film Gasoline: far more watchable than Go Fish. complain that it feels like Cliché City. And advice. Surprisingly, Mom is much more it’s true, some of the plot points are rather accommodating of Lenni’s choices when It is said that books beget books and obvious, but no less effective for all that. she is no longer alive to enforce social movies beget movies. (O.k., some books The film opens with Lenni, an upper- conformity. beget movies too, but not in the same middle-class university dropout, necking Gasoline, slated for release in the way.) The truth of this can be seen in with Stella, her auto mechanic girlfriend. spring of 2003, lacks the razor-sharp, Benzina (Italian for gasoline), one of 250 They are interrupted by Lenni’s enraged smartass wit that characterized Callie films screened at the recent Toronto fashion-plate mother, who roughly tries to Kourie’s road movie Thelma and Louise. International Film Festival. drag her wayward daughter away from the That said, Gasoline is far more watchable Benzina, or Gasoline, is a first feature garage and her working-class lover into a than politically correct films like Go Fish film directed by American Monica life of respectability. When Stella tries to because of its appeal to ordinary filmgoers, Stambrini, known for her well-received defend Lenni against her rampaging not just highbrow cinephiles.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 43 cer was behind a study to see whether tamoxifen … continued from page 29 could reduce breast cancer for women categorized as Dr. Marcia Stefanick, the principal investigator of ‘high risk.’ The Breast Cancer Prevention Trial the WHI study, concluded that, “They linked up a very involved over 13,000 Canadian and American women beneficial product for treating menopausal symp- and ended in 1998. toms to be the answer for treating all of a woman’s “Fewer women taking tamoxifen developed breast aging problems.” A bigger problem than the natural cancer within a four-year period,” confirms author aging process, according to Kathleen O’Grady, com- and breast cancer survivor Sharon Batt. That study munications director for the Canadian Women’s was halted early, too. In this case, the researchers Health Network is “the approach that says you pre- claimed that the results were so clearly in favour of scribe first and test after.” tamoxifen as a preventive treatment that they wanted In The New York Times, Cynthia Pearson of the National more women to be able benefit from taking it. Women’s Health Network in the U.S. echoed O’Grady’s Critics have pointed out that the tamoxifen study concern, fuming, “Hello? You couldn’t approve a drug was less a case of disease prevention than one of dis- for healthy men without a randomized clinical trial.” ease substitution, since participants taking tamox- So gaga were most physicians about HRT that when ifen developed higher rates of endometrial cancer, women first learned that long-term use of the drug blood clots and other illnesses. Tamoxifen’s preven- appeared to be linked with an increased risk of breast tive effects also appeared to wear off after year four, cancer, they were tut-tutted and reminded that since around the same time the study was halted. heart disease is a bigger killer than breast cancer, “Three women taking tamoxifen died from blood HRT was worth the risk. clots in their lungs and an update on the trial shows For another group of women, the risk of breast can- continued increase in endometrial cancers including

BACK TO THE We design. DRAWING BOARD AFRICAN-CANADIAN FEMINISMS Edited by Njoki Nathani Wane, Passionately. Katerina Deliovsky & Erica Lawson Feminists of all colours and cultures have been waiting a long time for this book. — ROSEMARY BROWN $26.95 pb 336 pages SUMACH PRESS

Designers of new Herizons’ look | inkubator.ca [email protected] www.sumachpress.com 416-531-6250

44 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS four cases of uterine sarcoma, a rare, aggressive form Batt belongs to The Working Group on Women and of cancer,” according to Batt, who is the Elizabeth Health Protection, a coalition of health activists call- May Chair in Women’s Health and the Environment ing for a host of reforms, including consumer input at Dalhousie University. into the country’s drug regulation process. And Since then, tamoxifen’s manufacturer, AstraZeneca, environmental groups from Greenpeace to the has changed the product insert to contain a warning Sierra Club of Canada are also demanding that about the risk of potentially fatal strokes, pulmonary Health Canada and Environment Canada follow the embolism and uterine malignancies. Despite the precautionary principle. warning, Batt is still worried. She believes that the “The first rule of disease prevention is to put safe- strategy of prescribing drugs to healthy people—pri- ty first, and that means before trade and profits,” marily women— “threatens to overtake and even dis- says Batt. place the traditional public health strategy of There are some positive signs. In 2002, the federal identifying and removing the causes of disease.” Health Products and Food Branch announced a pub- A case in point is that breast cancer rates have lic advisory committee, however it has yet to be steadily increased over the last century. However, in formed. Bringing doctors on side is another part of spite of evidence that environmental toxins such as the challenge. As ethicist Susan Sherwin points out in pesticides mimic the effects of estrogen in the body The Politics of Women’s Health: Exploring Agency and and increase the risk of breast and other cancers, the Autonomy, “Few physicians demand examination of chemical/pharmaceutical industry has successfully the potential contributory role played by the use of kept public attention focussed on the notion of ‘a pesticides or chlorine, or the practice of feeding arti- cure.’ It’s an approach that’s lost its charm with ficial hormones to agricultural animals.” politicized breast cancer survivors. And few inform their patients that alternatives to “As long as the federal government and the cancer HRT exist. Black cohosh, for example, has been found industry encourage women to believe that prevention in a new clinical trial to be as effective as standard of breast cancer comes in pills, we will never get to the estrogen therapy in reducing hot flashes. However, end of this,” according to Barbara Brenner, executive the Society of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ new director of Breast Cancer Action in San Francisco. guidelines on HRT state that “alternative therapies Healthy women are once again being recruited for are limited in their effectiveness.” the Study of Tamoxifen Against Raloxifene, a study The guidelines also say that combined HRT “should comparing the effectiveness of raloxifene and tamox- not be initiated or continued for the sole purpose of ifen to prevent breast cancer among healthy women preventing future cardiovascular events.” identified as ‘high risk.’ Tamoxifen is currently pre- An increasingly vigilant consumer health move- scribed to some breast cancer patients to reduce the ment is demanding not only a change in the power recurrence of the disease. Health Canada hasn’t imbalance between individual women and their approved the drug—as the U.S. Food and Drug physicians, but between the gatekeepers of health Administration has—as a preventive treatment for and the pharmaceutical industry. Reducing the breast cancer. However, Batt and other health activists health risks to healthy individuals from drugs pre- want to make sure that this new form of chemotherapy scribed for preventive campaigns is now part of does not become widespread in Canada. that effort. As Barbara Brenner of Breast Cancer “The precautionary principle states that when Action puts it, “Women have been guinea pigs for there are reasonable scientific grounds that a prod- too long.” uct may be unsafe, we should take precautionary Penni Mitchell is editor of Herizons. Check out the report measures,” Batt explains. The precautionary princi- “Preventing Disease: Are Pills the Answer?” on the web site ple would place responsibility for demonstrating of the Working Group on Women and Health Protection, safety on the manufacturer. (www.whp-apsf.ca).

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 45 classified ads

Women’s Day card. One only Calculate your Classified Ad Price: TRAVEL price: $3.25 or 5/$15 ($2.75 – No. of words x $1.00 GALIANO WOODRUFF BED & Multiply by frequency: (No. of Issues) 4/$10 U.S.). Send cheque or BREAKFAST on Galiano Island, money order to Mary Billy, Subtract Discount* (see below) British Columbia. Looking to get Add 7% GST #214-1098 Wilson Crescent, away and relax? Meander Total Enclosed Squamish, BC V0N 3G0. For forested trails, birdwatch along more information phone Discount: Take 20% off for placing your ad in secluded bluffs, rediscover the (604) 892-5723 or email 2 issues; 30% for 3 issues; 40% for 4 issues. timelessness of waves washing [email protected]

M the beaches, or just relax in the R Include your name, address, phone number, copy and O tranquility of our home in a F F indicate under which heading you wish your ad placed. CULTIVATE herstory today. R casual atmosphere. Phone: E Travel Services Grow organic heirloom veg- D (250) 539-5844; email: R Mail Order Manuscripts/Research etable, flower and herb seeds. O O [email protected] S Counselling/Body Work Employment Send $2 in stamps or Canadian D E I Tire money for informative F

I Send to: Herizons Classifieds TRAVEL TO MEXICO There are 50 S catalogue. Refundable. Circle S P.O. Box 128, Winnipeg MB Canada R3C 2G1 great reasons to spend a win- A

L Dance Seeds, RR#3, Brussels,

C Or send copy by email to: [email protected] ter holiday in Las Joyas, in Michuacan, Mexico and living Ontario, N0G 1H0. circledance- in a 300-year-old hacienda is [email protected] just one of them. Sitting under a huge bamboo, listening to EMPLOYMENT Terri E. Deller, b.a., ll.b. the birds sing, is the second. PROFESSIONAL ACCOUNTANT Contact Betty Kehler via email (CGA BBA) relocating to Regina barrister | solicitor | notary public [email protected] seeks position in NPO or chari- 801 Princess Avenue ty. 14+ years NPO experience in Brandon, Manitoba R7A 0P5 MAIL ORDER accounting, finance, budget- Phone (204) 726-0128 HONOUR special women in your ing, management, etc. Contact life with a new International Janet @ (306) 757-8219

Women’s Health Information You Can Trust BARRISTERS SOLICITORS THE CANADIAN WOMEN’S HEALTH NETWORK LAURIE M. ANDERSON The official Women’s Health Affiliate of the Canadian Health Network B.A. (HONS) LL.B. www.cwhn.ca

155, 1501 17 Avenue S.W., Telephone: (403) 244-2898 1-888-818-9172 Calgary, Alberta T2T 0E2 Facsimile: (403) 244-2897 Women Nina Feldman (905) 685-1937 in Print Books & Other Media Counselling and Consulting for Women 3566 West 4th Avenue, Vancouver BC V6R 1N8 Voice 604 732-4128 > Fax 604 732-4129 113 Louisa Street 10-6 Daily > 12-5 Sunday St. Catharines, ON L2R 2K2 Order books reviewed in Herizons by mail. [email protected] > www.womeninprint.ca

46 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS body politic BY AMBER RICHELLE DEAN CHASING DOLLARS INSTEAD OF CHANGE Reading an old copy of Kinesis newspaper’s 25th I see a difference when I compare the outlook of Anniversary Edition recently, I was struck by the num- many of today’s workers to the philosophy behind the ber of articles from the 1970s that outlined ultra-radi- founding of women’s organizations in the ‘70s. cal, grassroots actions and demonstrations of diverse Services for abused women were founded out of a sense women’s groups across the country. By contrast, news of a shared struggle with women who were raped and for the ‘90s shifted to the development of new services abused. These early activists not only extended help to for women or threats of funding cuts to these services. abused women, but also encouraged them to engage I began to wonder how a movement that began with with feminism, with the women’s liberation move- such radical roots could possibly have developed the ment and with the activism they themselves took part service-oriented, often apolitical institutions that in. They tended to build relationships with the women many women’s service organizations are today. they were trying to help, and included them in what I have been thinking about this because my own they were creating: a social movement that they hoped experiences working at a sexual assault centre, a would change the world and the plight of women every- women’s shelter and branches of community justice where. A shared belief in social change underlined the organizations that serve women have often been less- radical elements of this work and made it political. than-fulfilling. I came to these organizations as a The women who started these organizations eventu- young, radical feminist seeking ways of contributing ally realized that in order to continue to be effective, to the feminist movement and searching for a com- they needed permanent funding. The main problem munity of like-minded feminists. with continuing to run organizations without sufficient What I often found instead was a service environ- funds lay, of course, in the fact that the work tradition- ment where politics were discouraged because of the ally done by women would remain undervalued. The threat they might pose to the organization’s funding. women’s movement was also rightly demanding The philosophies of professionalism had become so women’s work be recognized as work, and insisting entrenched that, for the most part, my co-workers that this work was worthy of compensation. couldn’t see connections between themselves and the But the public funders did not tend to be too fond of women that they were ‘serving.’ The prevailing atti- the radical politics of these organizations and, as a tude seemed to be that there was an ‘us,’ the staff, or result, many women’s service organizations became a charmed inner circle in control of the funds or the less political. More attention began to be paid to the programs offered, and a ‘them,’ the disadvantaged development of standards, guidelines, boards and women that we helped. bylaws to show that the organizations were ‘credible.’ As Today’s shelters and sexual assault centres still pro- organizations began to employ more people, the roles vide the essential assistance to abused women that they of volunteers often became less and less significant. did 20 years ago; in fact, they probably do a better job I’m concerned that the vision of too many women’s of providing this assistance than ever before. organizations today is tied to increasing funding, hir- However, they aren’t necessarily locations of activism ing more staff and starting more programs, while the and the people who run them and work in them often more political vision of a world free of violence do not define themselves as activists or even feminists. against women is taking a back seat. From my experience, too many workers in today’s In the scramble for professional status, something women’s service organizations consider themselves valuable has been lost. Too many women’s service to be ‘social workers’ or ‘crisis workers’ first. They organizations have lost touch with their radical roots. have been trained in the practice of ‘professionalism’— We need to remember that women started this move- namely, the creation of artificial barriers between ment as a revolution: to make a world free of rape, themselves and those that they serve, their ‘clients.’ abuse and violence against women.

HERIZONS WINTER 2003 47 guest room BY MARIKO TAMAKI

ANGRY NAKED WOMAN Did you ever have one of those days when you look poor man whose skinny ass I chewed into tiny bits like shit and you feel like shit and then someone gives after an hour of searching for something that would you like a minute dosage of attitude and you think, squeeze over my thighs… I swear, this poor man with “Well, it should just be legal to kill this person?” all his efforts never had a chance of becoming Okay, well that’s what this is about. anything more than a pothole in the road of my rage. To all the little-butted, skinny people in the “You know,” he said, as we neared the finale of my audience, I apologize in advance. All I can say is that fitting routine, “maybe you should try a plus-size store.” you should all just be grateful that I’m here today and I gathered my things, my courage, and my dignity, beyond that, you should be thankful that I didn’t come and pushed my way out of the tiny pen that had served here nude. Because let me tell you, as of late I am as my dressing room. getting closer and closer to angry nakedness. The next “What’s your name?” I asked. time you see me I’ll just be a pissed-off vagina. This “Ben,” he said. past Wednesday at Toronto’s Women’s Bathhouse, “Ben,” I said. “Here’s the situation Ben, I have to when I looked around at all the naked bodies, what I give this performance tomorrow and you know Ben, I saw was not an erotic display, but a practical option in was going to do a poem about my Visa card, but you a world where finding anything above a size 12 is like know what I’m going to do now, Ben? I’m going to do finding a virgin at a university dormitory. a piece about snot-nosed Gap boys with little asses I spent six hours yesterday scouring Toronto for a who work at boutiques that sell clothes for anorexic decent outfit that would fit over my thighs and I came picks who make up all of 7 percent of the population.” to three conclusions: “Don’t you think that’s just a little bitter?” asked Ben. 1. This city sucks—it’s hot, it contains no changing “Do I look bitter to you Ben,” I asked, edging my rooms bigger than my cat’s litter box, and it’s hot. sweaty body further and further into his personal 2. I hate all salespeople and blame them for the part space, “or do I look dangerously agitated?” they play in pushing a line of clothing that only fits a I left a sticker on the door that said: when the small fraction of the population (even if they aren’t revolution comes, you and your cohorts will be the the ones who make the clothes, I blame them anyway). first up against the wall. 3. All well-dressed fat people should be fucking You think it’s a joke, but I’m serious. worshipped and hailed as the gods they are. In the end, no thanks to Ben, I did find myself an Should I not choose to walk around for the rest of outfit that day (a little polka-dotted number that my days angry and nude, I’m going to opt instead to makes me look immature but well dressed), but wear a T-shirt that says I’m a well-dressed fat person memories of that particular exchange (and others and I deserve your respect for my efforts. like it) remain. And for those of you fed up with us fat chicks and I have a plan. I’ll gather an army of fat angry naked our bitching about our big fat asses and the problems soldiers and we’ll take to the streets. We’ll go to the they cause us, let me assure you no one is more tired Gap and touch all their clothes and use up all their of listening to me bitch about my big fat ass than me. perfume samples ‘til they agree to stock sizes 16 to 30 The only person who is possibly more wary of my as standard practice. big fat ass than me might be the retailer who tried to Look out, Ben, the revolution is coming. help me find an outfit amongst the racks at a store Excerpted with permission from True Lies, by Mariko that shall remain nameless. Okay, it was the Gap. This Tamaki, © Women’s Press, 2002.

48 WINTER 2003 HERIZONS 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