Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Jaclyn Friedman Take the Theory to the Next Level
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
PINK SHMINK MINNIE BRUCE PRATT SEX AND WHY RIBBONS OCCUPY THE SINGLE JUST DON’T CUT IT CAPITALISM WOMAN WOMEN’S NEWS & FEMINIST VIEWS | Winter 2012 | Vol. 25 No. 3 BUY CANADIAN THETHE LURELURE OFOF BONNIEBONNIE MARINMARIN ARTIST EXPLORES GENDER AND DESIRE RADICAL HOMEMAKERS MOVEMENT OR MYTH? BITCHIN’ ’BOUT $6.75 Canada/U.S. STITCHIN’ CONFESSIONS OF A RELUCTANT CRAFTER Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866; Display until March 30, 2012 CAW Full (bleed) Win-12.indd 1 11-11-28 2:03 PM WINTER 2012 / VOLUME 25 NO. 3 news SEEING RED OVER PINK . 6 by Amanda Le Rougetel CAMPAIGN UPDATES . 8 THE POET VS. THE PROFITEERS AN INTERVIEW WITH MINNIE BRUCE PRATT . 11 by Joy Parks 11 features CONFESSIONS OF A RELUCTANT CRAFTER . .14 The knitting trend has hit Canada by storm. So what’s a feminist to do: Join the rebel fibre movement or cast dire warnings that women will soon be barefoot in the kitchen? by Deborah Ostrovsky BASTARDS AND BULLIES . .20 Dorothy Palmer’s debut novel, When Fenelon Falls, features Jordan, a young girl who is adopted and disabled. The protagonist reflects some of Palmer’s experiences about what it is like to be adopted and disabled. by Niranjana Iyer THE LURE OF BONNIE MARIN: LESSONS IN TRANSGRESSIONS . .24 Visual artist Bonnie Marin freely mixes gender, race and even species in erotic environments that are part middle class 1950s normalcy and part spectacles of perversity. 14 by Shawna Dempsey HOW FEMINISM CAN IMPROVE YOUR SEX LIFE . .28 Two new books about sex and politics paint a provocative picture of feminist dating 45 years after the personal was declared to be political. Writers Samhita Mukhopadhyay and Jaclyn Friedman take the theory to the next level. by Mandy van Deven FAMILY PORTRAITS . .34 Julia Ivanova credits her outsider status as a advantage in making documentaries. Born in the Soviet Union, she immigrated to Canada in 1995 and has been drawn to telling unique stories about families across borders. by Brittany Shoot RADICAL HOMEMAKER STIRS THE POT . .36 Shannon Hayes set out to create sustainable work that would bring together her degrees in agriculture and community development. Radical Homemakers maps her view that domestic work can be an ecologically driven choice that undermines consumer culture. by Tina Vasquez 28 HERIZONS WINTER 2012 1 VOLUME 25 NO. 3 MAGAZINE INK MANAGING EDITOR: Penni Mitchell FULFILLMENT AND OFFICE MANAGER: Phil Koch ACCOUNTANT: Sharon Pchajek BOARD OF DIRECTORS: Ghislaine Alleyne, Phil Koch, Penni Mitchell, Kemlin Nembhard, Valerie Regehr EDITORIAL COMMITTEE: Ghislaine Alleyne, Gio Guzzi, Penni Mitchell, Kemlin Nembhard ADVERTISING SALES: Penni Mitchell (204) 774-6225 DESIGN: inkubator.ca RETAIL INQUIRIES: Disticor (905) 619-6565 PROOFREADER: Phil Koch 47 COVER: Bonnie Marin, Fishing Lure, oil paint and collage (2008) HERIZONS is published four times per year by HERIZONS Inc. in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. One-year subscription price: $27.50 arts & ideas plus $1.92 GST = $29.42 in Canada. Subscriptions to U.S. add $6.00. International subscriptions add $9.00. Cheques or money orders MUST-HAVE MUSIC . .38 are payable to: HERIZONS, PO Box 128, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 12 by Dinah Thorpe and The Five White Guys; CANADA R3C 2G1. Ph (204) 774-6225. The Mosaic Project by Terri Lyne Carrington; SUBSCRIPTION INQUIRIES: [email protected] Lucky Tonight by Romi Mayes; Light of Day by Amanda EDITORIAL INQUIRIES: [email protected] Rheaume; Doing It For the Chicks by Kate Reid. ADVERTISING INQUIRIES: [email protected] WEBSITE: www.herizons.ca WINTER READING . .40 HERIZONS is indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index and heard Missed Her by Ivan E. Coyote; Revenge by Taslima on Voiceprint. Nasrin; Various Positions by Martha Schabas; Irma Voth by GST #R131089187. ISSN 0711-7485. Miriam Toews; Missing Matisse by Jan Rehner; The purpose of HERIZONS is to empower women; to inspire hope The Kid by Sapphire; The Odious Child by Carolyn Black; and foster a state of wellness that enriches women’s lives; to build King Kong Theory by Virginie Despentes; The Love Queen awareness of issues as they affect women; to promote the of Malabar by MerrilyWeisbord; Feminism for Real: strength, wisdom and creativity of women; to broaden the bound- Deconstructing the Academic Industrial Complex of aries of feminism to include building coalitions and support among Feminism, edited by Jessica Yee. other marginalized people; to foster peace and ecological aware- ness; and to expand the influence of feminist principles in the FILM REVIEW . .47 world. HERIZONS aims to reflect a feminist philosophy that is Blank City by Celine Danhier diverse, understandable and relevant to women’s daily lives. Review by Maureen Medved Views expressed in HERIZONS are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect HERIZONS’ editorial policy. No material may be reprinted without permission. Due to limited resources, HERIZONS does not accept poetry or fiction submissions. columns HERIZONS acknowledges the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian PENNI MITCHELL . .5 Periodical Fund (CPF) of the Department of Canadian Heritage. Incubating Change SUSAN G. COLE . .13 With the generous support of the Manitoba Arts Council. Dishonourable Killings Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866, Return Undeliverable JOANNA CHIU . .31 Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB, Canada R3C 2G1, The Occupation of Women Email: [email protected] Herizons is proudly printed with union labour at LYN COCKBURN . .48 The Winnipeg Sun Commercial Print Division on Ethical Brew Erupts Forest Stewardship Council®-certified paper. 2 WINTER 2012 HERIZONS letters ABOLITIONIST OBJECTION We thought that Women’s Worlds was a place where Well, the choice by Herizons to put Joanna’s Chiu column we could talk freely. A group decided that we didn’t have [“Women’s Worlds Collide,” Fall 2011] at the front of the that right. Are we going to talk about that? Respectful dia- magazine tells it all. I always suspected that the editorial logue also means letting women decide for themselves line of Herizons was pro-sex trade; now I’m sure. what they want to hear and letting them express their I’m one of the co-coordinators of Global Fleshmapping/ views. Painting the feminist abolitionist position [regarding Les draps parlent/La Resistencia de las mujeres, an aboli- the sex trade] as being harmful to women, violent or con- tionist art and politics project that we organized within servative does just the contrary, but no one seems to care. Women’s Worlds [international conference] that took If Herizons wants to play arbiter for the sex industry, it place in July. I’m amazed that no one, even from the or- would be nice to say it clearly like Joanna Chiu did in her ganizing body of Women’s Worlds, took the trouble to ask column…. Clearly at stake are two visions of women’s us how we felt when a group of women organized a sit-in equality. Can we talk about that? and made noise outside our venue during the last day of The Concertation des luttes contre l’exploitation our event at the July conference in Ottawa. I personally sexuelle (CLES), which is, with Vancouver Rape Relief and felt unwelcomed during and, mostly, after the congress. Women’s Shelter, the group that put the event together, Where does that take us? How I feel doesn’t seem to be has a very lively and growing young feminists’ abolitionists taken seriously. Why? group. They are facing the same bashing and are told that We had 16 diverse women seated around our discussion they do not represent their generation or have been brain- table for 90 minutes each day. We had women from washed by second wave feminists! Bangladesh, Italy, Mexico, Haiti, South Korea, Nigeria, If Herizons’ readers want to know more about Global Morocco, Denmark, Sweden, Canada and Japan repre- Flesh mapping/Les draps parlent/Resistencia de las mu- senting organizations that are actively working against jeres, they can visit the Rape Relief and Women’s Shelter commercial sexual exploitation. There were women who website http://bit.ly/oLxaZP or the CLES site at http://bit.ly/ have been in the sex trade, native women, racialized uX8pOo. women, and violence-against-women activists, academics DIANE MATTE and students. And all of them agreed that prostitution is part Montreal, QC. of the patriarchal set-up to keep women at men’s service and that it is an industry that feeds on women’s economic EDITOR’S NOTE: Herizons publishes articles that reflect a dependence and exploitation. These women’s credibility is spectrum of views on sex work and prostitution and does denied on a regular basis, and they are often simply told to not have an editorial line on prostitution. Columnists are shut up. They are treated as being brainwashed, outdated freely encouraged to express their views within the par- feminists, moralists or prohibitionists, etc. ameters of Herizons’ purpose as stated on page 2. CORRECTION Quebec’s occupational health and safety laws. In In the Fall 2011 issue of Herizons, we published the fact, it was amended legislation in the provinces of article “Is Your Boss a Bully? ” by Barbara Janusz. Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Ontario to which the Near the end of the article, the following statement author originally referred. appears and, due to an error on our part, gives an In the name of accuracy, therefore, the paragraph incorrect impression. It reads: should start: “Within Canada, only Quebec has a separate “Within Canada, only Quebec has a separate tribunal authorized to provide redress to bullied em- tribunal authorized to provide redress to bullied ployees. Under its occupational health and safety employees. Under amended provincial occupational laws, employers who fail to diffuse a hostile work health and safety laws in Saskatchewan, Manitoba environment are investigated and may be fined.