Reach for the Stars an Interview with Hip Hop Musician Kinnie Starr

Made in Canada

WOMEN’S NEWS & FEMINIST VIEWS • FALL 2006 • Vol. 20 No. 2 • Canada/US $5.95 TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT MAUDE BARLOW ON THE DANGERS OF U.S.-CANADA INTEGRATION REACH FOR THE STARS AN INTERVIEW WITH HIP HOP MUSICIAN KINNIE STARR

CROSS PURPOSES A SHORT HISTORY No. 07944 istration OF CROSS-DRESSING

WOMEN 08866 Reg PAP ; Return Undeliverable Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, MB Winnipeg, to: PO R3C 2G1 Canada Addresses Box 128, Return Undeliverable Publications Mail Agreement No. 400 Mail Agreement Publications table of contents FALL 2006 / VOLUME 20 NO. 2

TOO CLOSE FOR COMFORT 20 In her provocative book, Too Close for Comfort: Canada’s Future within Fortress North America, Council of Canadians chairperson Maude Barlow documents how Canada is slowly being brought into lockstep with U.S. foreign, defence and trade policies though a series of behind-closed-door international agreements. by Penni Mitchell

CROSS PURPOSES 24 Through the ages, women have cross- dressed for a variety of reasons. This penchant for men’s clothing has been interpreted in many ways: as disguise, a challenge to traditional gender roles, sexual liberation and/or a literal and symbolic call to arms. by Krista Scott-Dixon

DANCING THROUGH DEPRESSION 28 Creative activity, be it art therapy, journaling Maude Barlow documents how Canada is losing control over the protection or a community dance class, has psychological of natural resources and local industries. See page 20. benefits and can help restore natural rhythms. WOMEN’S NEWS by Mary Glasgow Brown Sekhar Charts Path to Feminist Renewal ARTS & CULTURE 6-14 by Laura Winopol; The Courage of Conviction by Sarah Nadeem Bokhari; Hands Off Our MUSIC REVIEWS Ovaries by Penni Mitchell; Reading, Writing and 32 Anything by Kinnie Starr; Firecracker by The Revolution by Rachel Thompson; Campaign Updates Wailin’ Jennys; Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky by Penny Lang; Impeach my Bush by Peaches; Springtime Can Kill You by Jolie Holland; Piece by Piece by Kathy FEMINIST VIEWS Melua; Above the Madding Crowd by Lee Lindsay; Eye REACH FOR THE STARS Kinnie to the Telescope by KT Tunstall 16 Starr’s new CD, Anything, easily blends hip hop, rock and pop to create a sound that is at once SUMMER READING familiar and unique. Her debut on the critically 35 He Drown She in the Sea by Shani Mootoo; acclaimed Canadian label MapleMusic stands to Brahma’s Dream by Shree Ghatage; Smoke by bring her music and her politics to a larger Elizabeth Ruth; Gotta Find Me an Angel by Brenda audience. by Cindy Filipenko Brooks; Berth by Carol Bruneau 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 Advertising Sales: 204) 774-6225 ISSUES & IDEAS Penni Mitchell ( Design: inkubator.ca 37 Beyond Recall by Mary Meigs; Doing IT: Women Web Mistress: Rachel Thompson/BlueMuse Working in Information Technology by Krista Scott- Retail Inquiries: Disticor (905) 619-6565 Dixon; Battle Cries: Justice for Kids with Special Needs Proofreader: Phil Koch by Miriam Edelson; Que(e)rying Evangelism: Growing a Cover Photo: Courtesy MapleMusic Community from the Outside In by Cheri DiNovo; Feminist Politics, Activism and Vision eds. L. Ricciutelli, HERIZONS is published four times per year by HERIZONS A. Miles and M. H. McFadden; Growing Up Degrassi, Inc. in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. One-year subscription price: $25.96 (includes GST) ($25.96) in Canada. ed. Michele Byers; In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Two-year subscriptions are $39.16+$2.76 GST ($41.92) in Downtown Eastside Vancouver eds. Leslie Robertson Canada. Subscriptions to US addresses are $31.96 Canadian and Dara Culhane; The Hanging of Angelique by Afua funds or $25.96 in US funds. International subscriptions Cooper; Red Light: Superheroes, Saints and Sluts are $33.96. Cheques or money orders are payable to: HERIZONS, PO Box 128, Winnipeg, Manitoba, by Anna Camilleri. CANADA R3C 2G1. Ph (204) 774-6225. Subscription-related inquiries: [email protected] FEMINIST CLASSICS Editorial-related inquiries: [email protected] 43 BY STACEY KAUDER Website: www.herizons.ca Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston HERIZONS is indexed in the Canadian Periodical Index. GST #R131089187. ISSN 0711-7485. ARTS PROFILE The purpose of HERIZONS is to empower women; to inspire hope and foster a state of wellness that enriches women’s 44 Sarah Waters by Zoe Whittal lives; to build awareness of issues as they affect women; to promote the strength, wisdom and creativity of women; to FILM REVIEW: INNOCENCE broaden the boundaries of feminism to include building 45 Directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic coalitions and support among other marginalized people; to foster peace and ecological awareness; and to expand the by Maureen Medved influence of feminist principles in the world. HERIZONS aims to reflect a feminist philosophy that is diverse, understandable and relevant to women’s daily lives. COLUMNS Views expressed in HERIZONS are those of the writers and do not necessarily reflect HERIZONS’ editorial policy. No FIRST WORD BY PENNI MITCHEL material may be reprinted without permission. Due to 5 Pink to Green limited resources, HERIZONS does not accept poetry or fiction submissions. OUT OF BOUNDS BY LISA RUNDLE HERIZONS is a member of the Manitoba 13 Storm of Discontent Magazine Publishers Association. HERIZONS acknowledges the financial COLE’S NOTES BY SUSAN G. COLE support of the Government of Canada through the 15 Coming of Age Publication Assistance Program (PAP) and the Canada Magazine Fund our toward mailing and editorial costs. BODY POLITIC BY MARIKO TAMAKI HERIZONS gratefully acknowledges the 31 Shower Me (Sorry, Us) support of the Manitoba Arts Council. Publications Mail Agreement No. 40008866, PAP Registration No. ON THE EDGE BY LYN COCKBURN 07944. Return Undeliverable Addresses to: PO Box 128, Winnipeg, 48 Board with Sexism MB, Canada R3C 2G1, Email: [email protected] HERIZONS FALL 2006 1 letters

LANDSBERG LAUDED gender discrimination in any form” but are “committed to Finally, a great article about respecting the different cultures we serve by not imposing our Michele Landsberg, whose worth in values and beliefs anywhere we operate.”That’s what I was afraid this world is immeasurable. they’d say. Without Landsberg’s voice, we all Being from the States myself, two words come to mind: “Jim lose. And “with no consistently Crow.”Religion and tradition have been used to justify slavery and feminist voice ... [and] the decline racial segregation in the U.S., so I’m not just singling out Saudi of whip-smart, unapologetic femi- customs.At the time the article was written, Dunkin’ Donuts was nist opinions,”the loss is greater. the only company that refused to engage in such practices. Every woman who ever cared I agree with Lyn Cockburn, who said: “Every religion follows about any woman at all must be sor- some practices that are best put in the garbage can.”Amen to that. rowful. To read this article was to I’m really getting tired of boycotting Starbucks. Thank you feel shamed.What can women think when,in 2006,the country’s for your time and all of your good work.I enjoy your magazine most-respected newspaper is void of feminist opinions? very much. In times like these, our country—in fact, every country across Kara Johnston the globe—needs women journalists like Michele Landsberg. Ajax, Ontario Without similar voices, the world becomes ever more dangerous for everyone. Marjorie Kildare Dundas, Ontario CUSTOM SHMUSTOM The article by Lyn Cockburn about polygamy in Bountiful, B.C., in Herizons’Spring issue reminded me of something I read in an article from the national NOW Times titled, “U.S. Companies Support Gender Segregation in Saudi Arabia.”You may already be aware of this, but here it is anyway: The article stated that Starbucks coffee houses as well as McDonald’s and Pizza Hut located in Saudi Arabia practise gender apartheid. There are separate entrances for women and men as well as separate seating areas.It stated that “the men’s sections are typically lavish, comfortable and up to Western standards, whereas the women’s or ‘families’ sections are often rundown, neglected and, in the case of Starbucks, have no seats.”To top it off, a U.S. official stated that “these firms will bar entrance to Western women who show up without their husbands.” I have written to Starbucks before about this issue, but never got a response until March, after I wrote asking if these practices were still in place. I received a letter from their public relations department stating that: “In accordance with local customs and traditions, Starbucks stores in Saudi Arabia have individual entrances for men and women....” The representative went on to write: “We do not agree with

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PINK TO GREEN They’re everywhere—on bread wrappers, cosmetics, in breast cancer, but an equally disturbing rise in golf balls, cereal packages, bank ads and even a $60 prostate cancer, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, silver coin issued by the Royal Canadian Mint. thyroid and testicular cancers and cancers in Increasingly, I get the feeling that, as a woman, children. All of these are cancers linked to I should buy in to the idea that a cure for breast environmental contaminants found in a recent cancer will be found if I consume products sporting study that analysed the blood and urine of a group little pink ribbons. of Canadians. The study found varying levels But I’m not buying. of toxic chemicals, such as organochlorine pesti- The problem, as I see it, is that the more that cides, PCBs, mercury and lead in all subjects, pink ribbon products line our store shelves, the including children. more breast cancer becomes a mere brand. There A walk or run for breast cancer is a good public is no evidence that greater consumerism will lead relations tool if you are Avon cosmetics, but simply to a cure for breast cancer, a disease that kills running in circles in our neighbourhoods is not 5,300 women in Canada every year. Despite the going to reduce women’s risk of getting breast increase in pink ribbons on products, and the tens cancer. This is not to begrudge the Canadian of millions of dollars raised every year on walks & Breast Cancer Foundation its pink ribbon pro- runs, breast cancer shows no signs of abating— ceeds for public awareness and millions of dollars 21,000 new cases will be diagnosed this year. for research through the Canadian Breast Cancer The pink ribbon bandwagon is so big, you’d Research Alliance. However, if we are serious think they’d have found it by now—the cure, I about preventing breast cancer, we need to mean. Is it really possible that scientists have no demand that endocrine-disrupting toxins be taken clue how to stop breast cancer? Really? off the shelves, and Ottawa must force industry to The fact is that many causes of breast cancer are use green alternatives. This will only happen when scientifically well-known enough to start elimi- the causes of cancer are politicized and we refuse nating them. Enough pollutants are known that the to accept cancer as an industrial by–product. race for a cure could become a race for Parliament I don’t doubt the sense of camaraderie that Hill, where tens of thousands of women in white comes from being part of a large group of women shorts and pink T-shirts demand that toxic soften- bonded by a common cause. It can feel quite ers in PVC plastic be eliminated, something that powerful, after you’ve experienced the disempow- would save untold lives and reduce breast cancer. erment of having surgery and chemotherapy Hormone-disrupting toxins are found in every- following a cancer diagnosis. Still, it is a shame thing from PVC vinyl siding and hospital IV bags to that more of that determined woman energy isn’t plastic containers in the kitchen. When they’re directed at action that will curb cancer by prevent- incinerated or when they break down, are ing it for future generations. microwaved to death or end up in landfills, they Research on drugs, cancer cell behaviour and release dioxins. And when we’re done, we can genes is important. But nothing less than a healthy move on to eliminating chlorine and parabens dose of political action will prevent breast cancer. from personal care products, reducing our expo- Above all else, the bottom line on breast cancer has sure to carcinogens. to be what’s healthy for the environment and for There is, after, all not only a disturbing increase women’s bodies, not what’s healthy for industry.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 5 nelliegrams news RAPE VICTIM WINS REPRIEVE Sekhar Charts Path to Renewal A woman who was by Laura Winopol reportedly gang- raped by government (EDMONTON) Upon learning that his obitu- that’s what we need!” soldiers in the Ivory ary had been published, Mark Twain sent the The wane in organized feminist activism Coast and lived in news service a cable which read: “Reports of and the decline of organizations such as NAC Maoua Diomande sanctuary in an my death are greatly exaggerated.” has meant that “women’s equality has suf- Ottawa church to avoid deportation A feminist version of the same message fered a huge setback in the last 10 years,”said has been given a minister’s permit to was delivered by Kripa Sekhar at Feminism Sekhar. “With no funding for equality work stay in Canada. in the Third Wave, a conference organized by and a right-wing government coming into Maoua Diomande, featured in the the University of Alberta Women’s Studies power, we are on a huge backslide.” Spring 2006 issue of Herizons, was a Undergraduate Association in May. She also believes that divisions within the teacher who organized a vegetable co- The long-time activist and executive movement can be overcome. “When main- operative for women. While it gave member of the National Action Committee stream women abandoned NAC, what you them a degree of financial independ- on the Status of Women (NAC) enthusiasti- were basically left with was a pool of margin- ence, it also brought huge resistance. cally began by telling the audience:“Seeing so alized women—women of colour, lesbians, Diomande fled the Ivory Coast and many young women here today reminds me women with disabilities—and each of them sought refugee status on humanitarian of the ‘60s.” was struggling for more power than the other. grounds. She has said that she did not Sekhar, the conference’s keynote speaker, We really need to look at how we can come receive a fair hearing in part because explained that, “for some time now, there’s back together.” her original hearing was not conducted been a sort of calm among women, almost at The key to the revitalization of the women’s in French, her language of choice. The a level where you don’t hear much.” At the equality movement in Canada is inclusion, hearing officer did not believe her same time, she observes, women are talking she believes. account about the gang rape and her about their frustrations in individual spaces “It doesn’t matter if you’re in New- original claim was denied. or in small groups.“[They are] talking about foundland or in Whitehorse. Every how disgusted they are that they cannot get woman knows what it is to struggle against RING UP food or housing,talking about how disgusted something that’s not fair,”she explained.“All PAY EQUITY they are that this right-wing government has of our goals, eventually, are to ensure that Five thousand current and former taken over with its right-wing agenda, and women’s equality rights are not eroded. Most employees at Bell Canada voted over- I’m thinking to myself: ‘You know what? women—it doesn’t matter what culture or whelmingly to accept a $100-million There’s a lot of women out there—and a lot of background they’re from—are working pay equity settlement in June. men who support them—who think like that towards that goal. I think how we get there The settlement to the 14-year-old and who are ready to get into action!’I’m ask- may be through different paths, but it’s about dispute covers Bell Canada employees ing you to begin that momentum, because us all acknowledging all those paths.” who worked in jobs occupied primarily by women, including operators, dining service and house services workers from 1993 to 1999. The company and the Childbirth Improved with Doulas union agreed to mediation last year. “The settlement is fair and reflects A recent study found that women who doula techniques. The results suggested that Bell’s commitment to an equitable and received continuous support in labour by a labour can be shortened by one hour. diversified workplace,” said Michael doula had significantly shorter labours, Outcomes on newborn health were also Sabia, the president and CEO of Bell lower cesarean rates and higher APGAR shown to be improved by two percent based Canada’s corporate parent BCE Inc. scores for their newborns.While profes- on the APGAR score—a ranking system According to the Canadian Energy sional doulas are trained and certified to health–care practitioners use to measure and Paperworkers’ Union of Canada, provide continuous support to a woman health characteristics of newborns. the minimum payment will be $1,000. during labour, the U.S. study results, pub- The findings could benefit low– An operator working at Bell Canada and lished in the Journal of Obstetric, income women who cannot afford formal who worked the full period covered by Gynecologic, & Neonatal Nursing,looked at birth support but want the positive out- the settlement will receive $16,500. 600 labours where the patients’ female come of having the continuous support of friend underwent four hours of training in a lay doula.

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Union president Brian Payne said the Reading, Writing and Revolution settlement “will bring closure to one of the longest-fought struggles in the on Miss G Lesson Plan labour movement.” by Rachel Thompson In 2002, the company settled a pay equity dispute with 29,000 sales and (LONDON, ONT.) Like many university clerical staff, represented by the students, Sarah Ghabrial and her friends Canadian Telephone Employees were amazed when they took their first Association, for $178 million. women’s studies courses. They asked one another:“Why didn’t we SWISS SAY NO learn about this stuff earlier?” TO GMO The answer became the Miss G Project, Switzerland has an Ontario lobby group looking to empow- taken the toughest er girls in their senior high school years. stand in Europe “We realized how sexist and violent and against genetically homophobic high school was,” Ghabrial modified plants and says. “Nobody gave us as teenagers a safe animals. A majority of voters support- space,”she says.“Girls aren’t given the tools ed a five-year ban on GM farming. The or info to handle all their problems.” campaign, supported by farmers, ecol- The young women—some, like Miss G Project demonstrations caught the attention ogists and consumer groups, compels of the Ontario Education Ministry. Writer Angela the government to impose a blanket Ghabrial, with siblings in high school Rawlings reads at a recent read-in. Photo: Alex Tang today—wanted to end the legacy of sexism prohibition on the cultivation of GM and discrimination. Their mission? To get postcard campaigns. “We’re actually crops and the import of animals whose women’s studies in the provincial high working with them, and not knocking on genes have been genetically modified. school curriculum. their doors.” “The vote reflects the view across The name Miss G comes from the sub- Support from Ontario Minister of the EU, not just Switzerland,” said ject of writings by a 19th-century doctor. Education and Women’s Issues Sandra Adrian Bebb, an expert on the issue at The unidentified young woman, Miss G, Pupatello included an appearance by the Friends of the Earth. was described in the doctor’s notes as minister earlier this year at a feminist read- “unable to make a good brain that could in at the Ontario legislature,where she took DAUGHTERS MAKE stand the wear and tear of life.” her turn reading to the cheering crowd. DADS LIBERAL “She was a young woman who got a bad With so much ambition and success, According to Ebonya Washington of deal out of the education system,” says does anything discourage this group? Well, Yale University, members of the U.S. Ghabrial.“In that way, it’s a very contempo- as Ghabrial points out, “movements costs Congress who have a daughter vote rary story.” dollars.”She and her friends—and now the more liberally on women’s issues, Getting a bad deal from high school is many active volunteers, committee mem- notably abortion. Washington ana- not unfamiliar to those who found it a place bers and workshop leaders—work with lyzed the family composition of where feminism was the f-word, and the small finances drawn from donations. Congress, as well as how the liberal women’s movement was taught as a thing of Nonetheless, Ghabrial, who is optimistic National Organization for Women the past—if at all. Looking back on that and inspired by the group’s successes, ranked each member based on their experience today may make adding quickly adds: “There’s nothing more fun votes on 20 women’s issues. women’s studies to the curriculum seem than meeting with a bunch of feminists Legislators with all daughters have hopelessly far-fetched. and working on an issue.” NOW scores that are 12 points higher But perhaps it’s not so far-fetched after We couldn’t agree more. (out of 100) than those with all sons. all.The London-based project has support- The Miss G Project has chapters across Among those with three children, ers, members and partners across Ontario. Ontario, but is looking to expand across “each daughter is associated with an A proposal for a women’s studies curricu- the country. increase of nearly three points,” lum is under consideration in the depart- Find out more at www.themissgproject.org. Washington said. It didn’t matter ment of education. Rachel Thompson is Herizons’ web whether the Congress members were Ghabrial attributes this good relation- mistress and creative director of Blue Republican or Democrat. ship to successful letter-writing and Muse Media.

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IN CAHOOTS A new quarterly women’s magazine, cahoots, launched in Saskatoon last spring. cahoots features creative non- fiction, personal essays and columns on healthy living, women’s businesses and women artists. Managing editor Carla Atherton describes those putting the magazine out as “a small group of women working from home offices late into the night.” With a subscriber base of a few hundred after just a few issues, Atherton reports being smitten with the publishing bug. cahoots describes itself as an alternative magazine where “discussion, conversation, inspiration, music, art and Raheel Raza is defying tradition and embracing diversity by promoting the belief that women should be literature are promoted as an enriching able to lead prayer and give the sermon in mosques. CP Photo: Nathan Denette and essential part of life.” For more info, log on to www.cahoots- magazine.com . The Courage of Conviction FATHER JAILED FOR FGM by Sarah Nadeem Bokhari A Swedish court jailed a Somali-born father for four years after he forced his (TORONTO) A Pakistani-Canadian Muslim backyard instead of a mosque.She is striving 13-year-old daughter to undergo who broke with tradition and led a congre- for inclusivity. female circumcision, a procedure gation of 40 Muslim men and women in “The attitude shows that Muslims can- opponents refer to as female genital prayer has a simple goal. not be homosexuals, which is totally mutilation (FGM). “My intention was to achieve spiritual wrong,” says Raza. She received support Ali Elmi Hayow held his daughter down equality between men and women and a from the Muslim Canadian Congress, a while the operation was carried out, the direct connection with God,”says Raheel progressive organization of Muslims, as court said. It is the first conviction in Raza, who received support for her well as from her husband and sons. Sweden since the country banned the actions.“I received a balance of criticism As part of her religious work, Raza practice in 1982. Common in parts of and support.” engages in interfaith dialogue with mem- Africa and in other regions, FGM involves While prohibited in Muslim tradition bers of other religious communities.“I go to the partial or total removal of the exter- from leading mixed–gender prayers,women church more than Christians do,”she jokes. nal genital area. are permitted to lead women in prayer. Her goal is to make Islam better understood. The court determined that Hayow, a Aware that some conservative Muslims “It’s a damage–control strategy,”she says. Swedish citizen, had the procedure done think she is setting a bad precedent by lead- Despite claims from conservative during a visit to Somalia in 2001. He was ing men, Raza did her homework. Muslim quarters that changing old ways is ordered to pay his daughter damages of “I was conscious of the fact that my fol- wrong, Raza maintains an open mind. 346,000 kronor ($46,000 U.S.). lowers would be watching me, which led “I can’t say that my Islam is right.Allah is me to be impeccable in my dress and the judge. For me, a Hindu is a Muslim, a END THE WAR speech,” she recalls. “I rehearsed the act Christian is a Muslim and a Jew is a IN IRAQ several times.” Muslim. Who am I to say that anyone is MADRE, an international women’s human Raza opened the gates to Muslim wrong? Islam is all about submission to rights organization, is calling for an Pakistani gays and lesbians in her con- God. Different people submit to God in so immediate end to the U.S. occupation gregation, which gathered in a friend’s many different ways.”

HERIZONS FALL 2006 9 nelliegrams

in Iraq and for the deployment of a UN-led peacekeeping force in place Keep Your Hands Off Our Ovaries! of U.S.-led occupation forces. by Penni Mitchell Arguing that the U.S. has destroyed the governing capacity of Iraq, who consents to donating her so-called ‘sur- MADRE believes that a program must plus’eggs or embryos could be signing off on be put in place to meet the needs of her opportunity of having a (frozen) backup Iraqis for security, functional gov- for her own future use,” Lippman explains. ernment and the provision of “With 25 percent odds of a healthy live-born basic services within a human- child, IVF typically requires more than one rights framework. attempt,so having a backup lets women who Grand Ayatollah Ali Sistani, a want to try again avoid the need for a subse- leader of the Shiite majority, has long sought greater UN involvement. quent round of ovarian hyperstimulation.” Although Sistani is not a democrati- The health risks associated with ovarian cally elected leader, he represents hyperstimulation are one of many reasons The removal of human eggs solely for research Lippman recently joined Hands Off Our the view of millions of Iraqis, presents too many ethical and medical problems, MADRE believes. opponents of the practice argue. Ovaries, an international organization call- Photo: Courtesy HOOO Unlike the U.S. occupying forces, ing for a global moratorium on human egg the United Nations is considered a extraction solely for research purposes. legitimate authority by people in the The Canadian Institutes of Health Research According to the group of scientists, Middle East, MADRE says, and there has approved the first stem cell researchers and women’s health advocates, are indications that the Arab League research project in Canada to use science has not provided sufficient unbi- might contribute troops to a truly fresh human embryos, a move not envi- ased information so that women can give multilateral force in Iraq. Such a sioned when Canada’s Assisted Human their authentic and informed consent to force would help dispel perceptions Reproduction Act was passed in 2004, the procedure. of a U.S./European/Israeli conspira- according to one of the country’s top femi- “Sadly,there have been too many instances cy against Muslims that is currently nist experts on reproductive technology. of coercion and deception, and violations of being mobilized to garner support McGill University professor Abby informed consent,”says Hands Off executive for militarism and a reactionary Lippman is worried that the relaxing of committee member Diane Beeson,a medical social agenda in many countries Canada’s scientific rules on human embryo sociologist and professor at California State of the world. research may mark the beginning of a slip- University, Hayward. “Left uncontrolled, pery slope that could put young women’s embryonic stem cell (cloning) research FEMALE PRES PASSES health at risk in order to provide raw materi- demands will place undue burdens on young, FINNISH LINE als, including human eggs, for embryonic poor women.” Tarja Holonen, stem cell research. At a March 2006 U.S. Congressional hear- Finland’s first female “Practices are proliferating uncontrolled, ing, Beeson outlined how the demand for president, won re- and pressures from scientists to change the human eggs for experimental cloning has led election in January law to allow the creation of embryos strict- to the growing exploitation of women. Citing for six more years. ly for research are growing,”says Lippman, the example of Korean researcher Hwang The left-leaning a former member of the federal advisory Woo-Suk, who falsely claimed to have suc- Tarja Holonen Halonen, the coun- committee on new reproductive and genet- cessfully cloned a human embryo, Beeson try’s first woman leader, finished with ic technologies. explained how the scientific demand for 51.8 percent of the votes, compared Until June 2006, only frozen embryos cre- human eggs has spawned new ethical issues. with 48.2 percent for her conservative ated for reproductive purposes (such as in Not only has Hwang’s research been discred- rival, Sauli Niinisto. vitro fertilization, or IVF) could be used by ited as fraudulent,it has been discovered that Halonen, a 62-year-old former researchers in Canada. The practice of using payment, coercion and lying were used to labour lawyer, campaigned under the fresh embryos for research was viewed as obtain the approximately 2,000 eggs used for slogan “The president for all the peo- ethically troublesome because it could poten- the failed experiments. ple,” promising to safeguard equality tially deny women the opportunity to The extraction of multiple eggs involves and the welfare state. become pregnant. both ovarian suppression and ovarian hyper- “A woman undergoing in vitro fertilization stimulation, using powerful hormones to

10 FALL 2006 HERIZONS manipulate the ovaries to release a dozen or person.When the cluster grows to a size of a nelliegrams more eggs at a time. By comparison, natural few hundred cells,the stem cells are removed ovulation releases one or two per month. and the remaining material is discarded. While hyperstimulation has been used to Researchers hope these stem cells can be DREAM, DREAM, collect eggs for women undergoing in vitro made to differentiate into specific cell types, DREAM fertilization, a growing demand for eggs by which could be studied or possibly used to Significant consequences of dream loss researchers has led some countries to allow create specific tissues or organs. include depression and cancer among eggs to be collected solely for research use. The cloning of embryos for research pur- women, according to a new book. According to Beeson, it is unethical to poses, while legal in some jurisdictions, Many medications—especially antide- expose women to health risks for a procedure including Britain, is currently banned in pressants and sleeping pills—as well as that is purely research-oriented, because the Canada under the Assisted Human evening alcohol consumption, constrain safety of egg extraction has not been ade- Reproduction Act.The act allows research on normal dreaming. The loss of dreaming quately studied. stem cells taken from embryos created for leads to serious illness, especially for “One drug commonly used, Lupron, has reproduction purposes if the providers of the women, according to Dr. Rubin Naiman. not been approved for this purpose, but eggs, sperm and embryos consent. Such In Healing Night: The Science and rather is used ‘off-label.’ Another drug, research will require a license from the Spirit of Sleeping, Dreaming, and Antagon,has been approved for such use,but Assisted Human Reproduction Agency once Awakening (Syren Book Company) no data are available on its long-term safety.” Ottawa appoints the new body. Naiman says: “We are as at least as The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has If Canada ever permits egg extraction and dream–deprived as we are sleep– received over 6,000 complaints regarding cloning for research purposes, Lippman deprived.” Much of what we consider Lupron, including 25 reported deaths, believes that “women who may not have sleep loss or insomnia, especially during Beeson adds. completed their own child–bearing will be the second half of the night, is in actu- Lippman, who is also a member of the particularly at risk, because young women’s ality a loss of REM or dream activity. A Hands Off executive committee,explains why eggs are most desirable for embryonic stem long period of dream–deprived insomnia scientists are eager to conduct research on cell research and researchers prefer fresh is “the single strongest predictive factor human eggs. embryos to frozen ones.” for clinical depression,” Naiman says. “From a strictly scientific–research stand- Women who provide eggs strictly for Evidence from human and animal point, embryo stem cells are a pot of gold. research, where it is allowed, are typically studies suggests that the suppression of Unlike adult stem cells, embryonic stem cells young university students who need money, melatonin, a hormone associated with have the potential to differentiate into all Lippman says. Hands Off wants to ensure peak dream activity, may also be a criti- body tissue and organ types—if scientists these women don’t jeopardize their fertility cal factor in breast cancer. can ever learn to direct them properly and to or health by taking undisclosed risks. prevent the tumours they tend to create.” Also at risk of potential exploitation are N.B. HOSPITAL STOPS Scientists view embryonic stem cells as women with limited resources to cover the ABORTIONS a possible source of treatment for diabetes, cost of infertility services. They may be The one remaining hospital in New Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and other ail- tempted to trade “surplus” eggs or embryos Brunswick that offered abortion services ments. Adult stem cell research, by com- for services like IVF.“This alone should unite stopped providing the procedure on June parison, poses few health risks, since no women’s health activists,”says Lippman. 30, 2006. eggs are required. Although the supply of Over 100 organizations and individuals, Pro–choice activists maintain that adult stem cells is virtually unlimited, the from South Africa to Italy, support a mora- denying women access to publicly cells have proven more difficult to coax torium on human egg extraction for funded abortions is a violation of into differential growth. research. Meanwhile, Korean women’s the Canada Health Act. In order to conduct embryonic stem cell groups are seeking compensation on behalf “Not only is it discriminatory, but it research,embryonic stem cells must be creat- of the approximately 20 percent of the increases the medical risk for teenagers, ed that are a perfect genetic match for a Korean egg donors who claim they were victims of rape or incest, and to women patient. This is done through a cloning harmed by the egg extraction procedures. with a limited income or who live in rural process known as somatic cell nuclear trans- “As a society, we are at a turning point in areas,” according to Judy Burwell of the fer (SCNT). In SCNT,the nucleus is removed our relationship to science,” observes Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada. from an unfertilized egg and genetic materi- Beeson. “We are being asked to make Teenage girls are especially vulnera- al from the nucleus of a body cell from a women the servants of biotechnology, ble because the only local alternative is potential patient is inserted in its place. This rather than being encouraged to insist on a to pay $500 to $750 for abortion servic- cell is then stimulated to begin dividing. biotechnology that promotes the well–being es at the Morgentaler Clinic in Unlike normally fertilized eggs, which carry of all people. Fredericton. “The government must genetic material from two parents, clones For more information on Hands Off,check out take immediate action to ensure that contain genetic material from just one www.handsoffourovaries.com.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 11 nelliegrams

hospital abortion services are reinstated and available throughout the province,” Leaders Skirt HIV at G-8 Summit said Burwell. By Brianna Goldberg PHARMA INFLUENCE UNHEALTHY According to Women and Health Protection, a Health Canada-funded working group, the practice of health advocacy groups accepting funding from drug companies often leads to conflicts of interest. Health researcher Sharon Batt says there is a shortage of public funding for health advocacy groups, leaving the field wide open for pharmaceuti- cal companies to indirectly influence these groups. “When drug companies fund disease- specific organizations as part of their German Chancellor Angela Merkel (middle) at final press briefing at the G 8 summit in St. Petersburg: marketing strategies, corporate priori- No sign of a gender responsive policy for AIDS and other issues. Photo: Briana Goldberg. ties may subtly take hold,” says Batt. A Women and Health Protection (ST. PETERSBURG) With her arrival at the for HIV, but noted that, given progress report authored by Batt documents how St. Petersburg Summit in July, German recently made in Africa, the G-8 should patients’ groups and voluntary organi- Chancellor Angela Merkel became the sec- step up to the gender-sensitive plate. zations allow drug companies to oper- ond female chief of a G8 nation to attend “For the first time in the history of the ate disease-awareness and the G-8 Summit. Not since Margaret African Union, 53 ministers of health sat drug-promotion campaigns through Thatcher’s presence at the G7 has a leader down for three days and discussed repro- public relations companies paid for by in a skirt been seen. ductive and sexuality policy for Africa. The drug companies. Merkel, who has been compared to the idea of sexuality as a topic for ministers is “Drug companies already have enor- Iron Lady in ideology and policy,has not a first—we really herald that.” mous hidden influence in the [health] shown any enthusiasm for so-called He continued:“There is a window of system,” says Batt. “And we’ve seen the woman’s politics,” noted one Deutche opportunity within Africa,” and the G-8 problems this can create, like ghost- Welle article. must construct “a specific plan of gender– written journal articles and physicians And yet, many key G-8 issues call out for responsive policy and financing.” over-prescribing new drugs.” feminist solutions and gendered analysis. But the G-8’s final documents failed to The report calls on Ottawa to tight- In his 2005 Massey Lectures, Stephen incorporate this call from civil society. en up regulations so that all groups Lewis lamented that in regards to HIV in Despite a passing reference to a focus on providing advice to the government Africa, “the stunning absence of emphasis prevention for girls and women (an agree- would be required to declare their on women in the official pronouncement of sources of funding. She also calls on the G-8 is an ominous omen for the deliv- ment to “scale up support to address the the federal government to provide ery of commitments made.” rising rates of HIV infection among young alternative sources of funding so that Unfortunately,the invisibility of the gen- people, particularly young girls and health advocacy groups do not have der perspective of HIV was even further women”), the abstract language of the to rely on funding from the pharma- exacerbated at the G-8 summit, where HIV commitment suggests that it will result in ceutical industry. was lumped together with malaria, avian little tangible change. The report, Marching to Different flu and polio, under the vague agenda of At a summit where Vladimir Kozhin, Drummers: Health advocacy groups in “infectious diseases.”All overarching social deputy chairman of the organizing commit- Canada and funding from the pharma- issues so intrinsic to the treatment of tee commented in a press briefing that “big ceutical industry is online at: HIV/AIDS were left at the door. politics and the problems associated with it www.whp-apsf.ca. Oxfam representative Inguru Houghton are a man’s world,”perhaps this unfortunate was angered by the lack of gender context trend should not be surprising.

12 FALL 2006 HERIZONS out of bounds BY LISA B. RUNDLE

STORM OF DISCONTENT As I write, there’s a whomping, scary, glorious sum- the comforting belief that all is well, and that if a few mer-afternoon thunderstorm going on around me. little things here and there aren’t, well, the feminists The light seeping into the house is dim and eerie, the will take care of it. (Okay, maybe that’s not quite how neighbourhood cats are hiding wherever there’s people think about it, but that’s what I imagine.) shelter, plant life is being pummelled with water, It’s not, of course, that women now lack issues or filling the view from my window with quivering, injustices crying out for change—the deeply per- dancing, writhing green. sistent phenomenon of violence against women Whether a storm like this strikes you as awesome, and girls comes to mind, as does women’s meagre as it did me today, or whether you just find yourself earnings compared those of men, and all of the wondering if your bike’s inside or the basement will ways that violence and a lack of equal pay are be flooded, you can’t help but take notice when the shaped and sustained by institutionalized racism, sky puts on this kind of a show, allowing us a small able-ism and classism. No, there’s no lack of peek into its potentially terrible power. People move issues. It’s the sense of being able to unify activist away from computer screens and work tasks, if only and not-yet-activist women alike in one winnable for a moment, to note that something big is going on struggle to make things better—that is what feels out there. In this way, through rupturing the numb- out of reach. There is so much to be done, and the ness of the everyday, a kind of spontaneous commu- ways to do it all are so diffuse (providing coun- nity is born—we notice the world around us, we selling and shelters, shoring up girls’ and women’s notice the people around us. We’re all getting self-esteem, challenging daily injustices we witness, drenched, or worrying about getting drenched; there unlearning, unlearning, unlearning). The path to are commiserating smiles; we’re all in this together. change is so long and full of difficulty. How could Sure, this sense of community dissolves as quickly there be one issue that rises above the rest? Should as a cloud changes shape, but this foul-weather phe- there be one? nomenon got me thinking about the social/political And yet, broad social change does seem to happen equivalent—that event or issue that makes us drop that way, a sudden convergence with a single eye, so what we’re doing and pay attention, and, for a to speak, working towards a tangible change that we moment, points us all in the same direction. all hope makes everything a little better, a little eas- What will be the next issue that does that for ier, a little more just. It is amazing to think about women in this country, or the world? Can we call for that kind of power, when all of those committed to it to arrive, or can we just keep preparing the ground, social justice focus their energies on the same planting seeds while we wait for the rain? thing—what awesome power and change and growth It is a result of feminism’s legal and rights-based that can unleash. successes that unifying issues are harder to come by Lisa Rundle is a freelance editor and writer. She is these days. Sexist law after sexist law has fallen, all rabble.ca’s books editor. Herizons invites you to write too slowly, but nevertheless surely, since the Charter in with your thoughts about what the next catalyzing of Rights and Freedoms came into effect just over 20 feminist fight might be. We’ll publish a selection next years ago. The general population seems secure in issue. Send your ideas c/o [email protected].

HERIZONS FALL 2006 13 Campaign Update

PLEDGE VIOLATES FIRST AMENDMENT pable of feeling pain until the end of the second trimester and A federal judge in New York ruled that a sweeping restriction on have not developed the processes that would allow them to rec- the speech of groups participating in the U.S.federal government’s ognize pain as a signal of a harmful encounter. international HIV/AIDS program violates the U.S. Constitution. “An absence of pain in the fetus does not resolve the question At issue was a requirement that public health groups receiv- of whether abortion is morally acceptable or should be legal,” ing U.S.funds pledge their opposition to prostitution.Under the wrote Derbyshire in the April 15, 2006, issue of BMJ,formerly pledge requirement, recipients were forced to censor even their the British Medical Journal.“Nevertheless,proposals to inform privately funded speech regarding the most effective ways to women seeking abortions of the potential for pain in fetuses are engage high-risk groups in HIV prevention. not supported by evidence.” Rebekah Diller,the plaintiffs’lawyer,explained:“It’s wrong for the government to force public health organizations to make INDECENCY REVISITED ideological pledges on unrelated issues in order to do their work A recent Supreme Court ruling means that quasi-public spaces of preventing HIV/AIDS. As non-profit organizations partner like bathhouses will not likely face police raids or be charged with government to address social problems, it should be clear with prostitution–related or indecency offences. The case that what counts is whether they do the work, not whether they involved charges of keeping a common bawdy house against two are willing to espouse ideological positions.” Montreal swingers clubs. The ruling eliminates the community standards test for indecency,replacing it with a harm-based test. PAIN POLICY QUESTIONED “How does one determine what the ‘community’ would toler- Three U.S. states—Arkansas, Georgia and Minnesota—mandate ate were it aware of the conduct or material?”wrote Chief Justice health-care providers to tell women that fetuses may be able to feel Beverley McLachlin in the decision. McLachlin and a majority pain by 20 weeks of gestational age, an assertion that is not sup- of justices ruled that, from now on, harm should be the only ported by medical evidence, according to a medical researcher. criteria for determining what is indecent. The court ruled that According to Stuart W.G.Derbyshire, a senior psychologist at consensual partner-swapping and group sex in a commercial the University of Birmingham, fetuses may be physically inca- venue are not automatically harmful. Expand Your

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14 FALL 2006 HERIZONS cole’s notes BY SUSAN G. COLE

COMING OF AGE A small miracle occurred pre-Pride this year when characters’ sense of isolation, but watching the a collection of Canadian lesbian plays was hundreds of lesbian mothers on Dyke and Pride launched. Lesbian Plays: Coming Of Age In Canada Days this year made me think that this play is actually (Playwrights Canada) includes my own play A Fertile dated in the best way. Imagination, a comedy about two lesbians trying to One of its major themes is the couple’s sense that have a baby. Based on my experience with my part- they are entirely alone with their birthing project. ner Leslie, it tracks Del and Rita’s sperm search, Their dyke friends totally don’t get it, and, though attempts at getting pregnant and pregnancy right to there is a tiny dykes with tykes group, Del and Rita the moment of birth. are not looking for new friends. They’re wishing As I prepared the work for publication, reading it women in their own circle were also thinking about took me right back to those months 18 years ago—to having children. The two panic towards the end of the waiting, the wondering, the hoping that led up to the pregnancy—a little late, of course. that moment when Molly popped out. Up to then, I’d And now? Hundreds of thousands of queer parents. seen one birthing film in which the mum crowned A friend of ours who has a party of dyke mums and for two hours. Molly’s head appeared for about five their kids every year on the Friday before Pride minutes before she splurted out—elbow first, since informed me that in her circle alone there were 35 her hand was caught behind her head, then fist, then children and their mothers gathered, including three head and the rest. I, taken totally by surprise, yelped, sets of twins and many women pregnant with their “It’s the baby!” in a gloriously inarticulate moment. second child. At an event in T.O. called Mommie Leslie and I sat for days trying to figure out what Queerest, women with children of all ages read, to put on Molly’s birth certificate—you couldn’t performed and celebrated our motherhood. name to two mothers as parents. The name of the Last spring, a group of lesbians won a joint Charter sperm donor—even if it did belong to my generous challenge in Ontario—Rutherford versus the and loving brother Peter—sure as hell wasn’t going Registrar General of Ontario—which now allows a on any official form. I made a pitch for “Not birth mother to name a woman as the other parent of Applicable,” but that was legally not an option. In her newborn baby! the end, we put father: unknown. By the time you read this, my partner Leslie and I The play was produced five times after its original will have been living alone in our house for a few 1991 Nightwood production, the last time in weeks. It won’t be the same alone as we felt when Montreal in 1997. In each of these productions, I Molly went to camp or on school trips. It’s the empty updated the pop–culture references—Del and Rita nest alone—Molly will be in Montreal at McGill. spend a lot of time fantasizing about the sexuality of So many things have changed since she came into major celebrities—so audiences could connect. The the world. We are different, too, of course. But author’s notes make it clear that I’ll be doing that for though we know so much more about this beautiful every production, but now I’m not so sure. and loving creature we created, as we prepare to say A Fertile Imagination is really now almost a period goodbye to her we are still, like so many parents who piece. Oh, I’m sure women in small towns might watch their kids take off, waiting and wondering. find it cutting–edge and still experience some of the That, we have discovered, does not change.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 15 Indie hop hop artist Kinnie Starr has just released her newest CD, Anything, with MapleMusic. It’s a genre-defying disc that promises to expose her to a wider audience.

Now, her debut on the critically acclaimed Reach for the Stars Canadian label MapleMusic stands to bring Starr and her politics a larger audience. Her new CD, Anything, by Cindy Filipenko is a brilliant showcase for Starr, who easily blends hip hop, rock and pop to create a sound that is at once “I like writing rhymes but I’m not supposed to / writing familiar and unique. (See review in this issue.) The rhymes is not what fair-skinned girls do” uniqueness comes from both her genre-defying —Kinnie Starr, Anything sound and her music’s lyrical content. Starr’s poetry is a vividly honest, sometimes profane examination air-skinned girls who want mainstream of sexual and racial politics—not the stuff of female acceptance aren’t singing about gender poli- artists typically heard on commercial radio. Ftics or First Nations’ issues, either, but that’s “I think if I was male and black it would be okay,” exactly what makes Kinnie Starr stand out. Starr says. “There are a lot of examples of record Favourably compared in the music press to Lauryn labels allowing men to have their own voice. I think if Hill, PJ Harvey and Ani Difranco, Starr has spent her I weren’t female, it wouldn’t be an issue. We’re 10-year career on the edge of mainstream success. supposed to wear short skirts and just shut up.” Her first album came out in 1996 and she has worked Starr is an incredibly grounded artist. It could be steadily—albeit often independently—since then. her locale. She lives on B.C.’s Sunshine Coast in the

16 FALL 2006 HERIZONS small seaside town of Sechelt, where she leads a quiet, blatantly politicized artist is definitely a harder sell anonymous life. than a pop diva, but MapleMusic was willing to take “I’m not big on cities. I like trees and small-town a chance on Starr. people who actually answer your questions in a store.” “There aren’t a lot of people who will touch an But don’t expect her to be making impromptu original artist in Canada,” according to Starr. appearances in local coffee houses, except perhaps “Maple is an amazing record label. They provide me to grab a chai latte. Besides, she says, “I don’t want with publicity, they manufacture the product and anyone to know that I’m an artist, because then get it into stores—all things I would otherwise be they’ll expect me to be cool.” doing alone.” Perhaps it’s the yoga that’s increased her flexibil- With the administrative burden of a musical ity from “zero to about 20 percent,” or the medita- career lifted, Starr is free to do her thing. And cre- tion that keeps her connected to reality, or maybe ating music completely informed by her politics, it’s the fact that she’s been to this rodeo before. The infused with commentary about sexism, homo- possibility of a much larger, if not exactly huge phobia and racism, is very much her thing. career seemed within reach in 1996 when Starr was As Starr’s experience illustrates, being a working signed to Mercury/Island/Def Jam. That label musician is as far from being a rock star as you can released her debut album, Tidy. Like many smaller, imagine. It can mean everything from being a solo act, independent artists signed to because you just can’t afford to the label, Starr was lost in the take a band on the road, to find- shuffle when Seagram’s— “I ALWAYS FEEL LIKE I HAVE ing outlets for your talents, to TO PROVE MY OPINION, which, like whiskey barons of AND I THINK THAT’S WHAT having to carve out a demograph- yore, sought cultural greatness MOTIVATED ME ORIGINALLY ic for yourself. Starr regularly through the entertainment IN FEMINISM.” finds herself doing all three. industry—bought the label in —KINNIE STARR, “Usually, when I perform I’m 1998. Her contract was not a solo act. I’d say I’m on my renewed—simply a business own about 95 percent of my decision of a corporation wanting to redefine itself shows,” she says. “It’s a financial necessity.” under new management. Diversification is also a necessity that has landed While some artists might remain bitter or appear Starr is some unusual places, including singing in cynical after coming that close to the brass ring, Starr Cirque du Soleil’s Las Vegas production of is philosophical and thankful for the experience. Zumanity. The Montreal-based circus arts troupe’s “My experience with Mercury/Island/Def Jam most provocative work, Zumanity is an erotically started my career. When I signed, I was on welfare. daring show the company promotes as “another How could I ever, ever think that was the wrong side of Cirque du Soleil.” In 2003, Starr made her move? It gave me mobility and got me into the pub- cinematic debut in Down and Out with The Dolls, an lic eye. I wasn’t shy about working on labels. I just indie film about the rise and fall of an all-girl band. didn’t have the choice to work with a label on my Although Kurt Voss’s film was widely panned, both next record,” she recalls. the music and Starr’s performance received posi- “The record industry was collapsing. That was tive reviews. That same year, moviegoers experi- 1998 and everyone was merging, and only massive ences Starr’s talents in the chilling Thirteen, a artists were getting released—no smaller artists drama about a 13-year-old living in L.A. teetering were being released,” Starr explains. on the brink of disaster. Starr contributed to the Eight years later, Starr isn’t looking back. Her soundtrack to the disturbing film. new deal with MapleMusic yielded less of an Today, Starr’s biggest challenge is to keep opening advance for producing Anything, but there are other new doors to bigger audiences. Developing a viable payoffs. A glance at any Top 40 chart proves that a career means expanding her market beyond small,

HERIZONS FALL 2006 17 urban venues. So this past summer, Starr performed “My dad defended people who were not benefited by a number of folk festivals, including two of Canada’s the law— prostitutes, Indians, bikers, poor people.” biggest: the Vancouver Folk Music Festival and the Perhaps because she was labelled a “smart kid,” Winnipeg Folk Festival. Starr’s parents were less than 100 percent sup- Indie hip hop with edgy, honest, political lyrics at portive when she chose a career in music. And a folk fest? Well, the honest and political lyrics are Starr admits that her subject matter and delivery compatible. While it may be hard to imagine Starr are sometimes a bit frightening to her middle- coming on stage after say, Sweet Honey in the Rock, class family. or some other earthy festival staple, Starr is just “My dad wanted me to be a lawyer,” Starr recalls. glad to hit the stage. “I am a lawyer, of sorts. The job of a defence lawyer “I’m really thankful they let me in.” is to defend the perspective of the person they’re Starr wants others to know that being a Canadian defending. I always feel like I have to prove my artist is about as far from the rock-star myth as a opinion, and I think that’s what motivated me orig- Elijah Harper is from Stephen Harper. Still, she inally in feminism.” knows what keeps her getting up in the morning to Not that she wants be to be the poster girl for any do it all over again. movement—feminist, First Nations or queer. “It’s the writing,” she says. “I really love writing.” Starr, who has had past relationships with women, Starr comes from a Calgary family where debate and had her music featured on the lesboriffic was the order of the day. Her father is a lawyer of Showtime soap The L-Word, adds that some queer Mohawk descent and her mother’s background is fans want her to proudly hoist the queer flag. European. “I definitely feel that people want their pre- “My parents are both really smart people, so there ferred artist to reflect them,” she says. “It makes was a lot of debating at the kitchen table,” she says. me want to say: “Go take care of that yourself….

18 FALL 2006 HERIZONS I’m over here working on my shit, so you go over there and work on yours.” This strong independence sometimes presents its own set of challenges. “I feel like I have to carry this Aboriginal-feminist flag, and sometimes I don’t feel like I am entitled to either one,” Starr says. “For me, because I’m mixed, I have days when I feel white and days when I feel native. That’s a big part of the puzzle that’s missing. We have our sovereignists and purists, those natives who are pushing for sovereignty and recognition and re-emergence of language. The thing I am quite interested in is: What about all the mixed bloods that assimilat- ed? We’re a massive part of Canada’s fabric of native people.” While she is quick to point out that the world is “still a pretty shitty world if you’re a brown- skinned Indian trying to get a job in a city,” she believes things are beginning to change. “I think it’s an interesting time. It’s the first time in [a long time] when native people are really feeling good about themselves. It’s huge.”

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HERIZONS FALL 2006 19 Too Close for Comfort

MAUDE BARLOW DOCUMENTS HOW CANADA IS LOSING CONTROL OVER THE PROTECTION OF NATURAL RESOURCES AND LOCAL INDUSTRIES

by Penni Mitchell

ince September. 11, 2001, the U.S. administration Too Close for Comfort argues that policies such under George Bush has defined security in the nar- as the proportional energy-sharing agreement Srowest of possible terms. In her provocative book, Too of NAFTA put Canada’s interests at further risk. Close for Comfort: Canada’s Future within Fortress According to Barlow, Canadians must stand on guard North America, Council of Canadians Chairperson Maude to protect not only the country’s water and natural Barlow documents how Canada is slowly being brought into resources, but our sovereignty, too. In doing so, lockstep with U.S. foreign defence and trade policies though she argues, Canada can heed the call for a global a series of behind-closed-doors international agreements. civil society.

20 FALL 2006 HERIZONS Herizons: What is the greatest threat that deep integra- How is the Conservative Party of Canada and its leader, tion with the U.S. poses to Canada’s sovereignty? Stephen Harper, more closely aligned with the views Maude Barlow: The big danger is that it’s happening George Bush administration? across the board—harmonizing Canada’s military, Maude Barlow: I have chronicled many of these immigration, refugee and foreign policies with connections in my book. George Bush’s War on Terror mandate, with all that It’s important to point out that the religious right we know about its threat to human and civil rights. is moving into Canada. Much of the funding for the We’re placing our natural resources further at risk, new evangelical groups that have recently set up shop and eventually moving to the harmonization of social on Parliament Hill is coming from big U.S.-based programs, which would be hard to leave intact if we religious groups like Focus on the Family. These continued on the path of deep integration with the organizations might not have been involved in the United States. drafting of the Security and Prosperity Partnership of North America, but they are providing direction, Does the election of Stephen Harper as prime minister money and energy to the religious right in Canada. entrench the deep integration of We should brace ourselves for Canadian public policies, regula- many future debates about the tion, trade and immigration? “WHEN YOU VOTE ON A separation of church and state. Maude Barlow: BUDGET YOU DON’T SAY Yes, although ‘I’M GOING TO DESTROY These evangelical groups are I think it’s important to say SOCIAL PROGRAMS TODAY.’ pushing to have more of an that the move toward deep BUT THAT’S THE IMPACT influence over Canadian WHEN YOU VOTE FOR integration did start under MASSIVE BUDGET CUTS— political decisions, and all the Liberals. However, the IT UNDERMINES CANADA’S equality-seeking groups should Conservatives represent an SOCIAL INFRASTRUCTURE.” be concerned. —MAUDE BARLOW added danger in that Harper and this group of Conservatives You say that “Canadians continue fit the socially conservative to cherish and fight for the social Bush mould. We can expect to see new threats to legacy that was the triumphant achievement of a genera- rights-based groups in Canada. This could roll back tion shaped by the Depression and war.” How could that many of the freedoms that women have fought for be taken away without Parliament voting on it? over the years, especially reproductive freedom. Maude Barlow: Well, a lot of it got taken away in the The closer that Canada moves to the Bush social 1995 budget. That was the end of the Canada agenda, the bigger the threat to women’s rights in Assistance Plan that guaranteed a federal funding our country. formula for housing and post-secondary education. Also, Harper’s more of a hawk than the Liberals Paul Martin (finance minister at the time) gutted were. If he had been in power in 2003, the Canada’s health-care system by repealing the estab- Conservatives would have taken us into the war in lished program financing legislation that forced Iraq. Canada would have said yes to ballistic missile provinces to spend the money on targeted areas. He defence. The Liberals got us into Afghanistan, but replaced it with the Canada Health and Social the Conservatives are continuing with a bigger Transfer (CHST)—a lump sum the provinces can fervour. We have a lot to worry about. spend as they please.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 21 So our federal government did vote for the grate Canada, the U.S. and Mexico. Significant destruction of Canada’s social programs, which decisions are being made behind closed doors, was pretty outrageous. When you vote on a budget, without consulting Parliament or the public. you don’t say, “I’m going to destroy social pro- It’s not clear whether Harper will be able to grams today,” but that’s the impact when you vote achieve more socially conservative goals with a for massive budget cuts—it undermines Canada’s minority government. For example, plans to social infrastructure restrict abortion rights might not survive a parlia- The Harper government has already put an end mentary vote, and Harper might strategically avoid to the national child-care project—something doing so in order to maintain his image as a mod- social justice organizations fought long and hard erate as he gears up for a majority government in for before an NDP-backed Liberal minority gov- the next election. ernment negotiated the deal with the provinces. We can expect other drastic decisions to be made Stephen Harper couldn’t articulate a vision of Canada in a similar manner. The public needs to remind during the last federal election beyond viewing it— the Conservatives that they were not elected by the us—as an economic entity. What vision did you see? majority of Canadians and that they need to Maude Barlow: Well, that is his vision—Canada as govern accordingly. a strictly economic entity. He wasn’t honest But since the signing of the Security and enough to articulate that during the last federal Prosperity Partnership in March 2005, the federal election. His vision is to hand over the power to government has established cross-border working pay for and legislate social programs to the lower groups that are seeking out ways to further inte- levels of government that can’t afford to pay for it.

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22 SPRING 2006 HERIZONS This would destroy Canada’s ability to ensure much emphasis on developing local markets for equal access to and quality of social programs new products as we do on exports. across the country. The problem isn’t merely that we are dependent on the U.S. as our key trading partner, but that this The North American security perimeter you discuss in relationship is governed by NAFTA. The U.S. is pri- your book—common immigration policies, a common marily interested in our natural resources. passport, even—seem pretty far-fetched. What evidence We are, for example, their biggest supplier of oil. is there that these things are being seriously discussed Under NAFTA, we are obliged to meet U.S. demand behind closed doors? for oil even in times of crisis or shortage. If we Maude Barlow: Well, these issues were all discussed abrogated NAFTA, the U.S would, no doubt, still be as a part of the Canadian Council of Chief interested in buying our oil. The difference is that Executives Task Force on the Future of North we wouldn’t be forced to sell them a certain per- America in 2003. While some of these proposals centage of what we produce. might be progressing incrementally, the Council of Dependence on one market is never a good idea, Chief Executives’ Task Force is but NAFTA has forced us into a openly promoting the idea of a partnership in which we have North American passport. And “DEPENDENCE ON ONE ceded control over our ability to MARKET IS NEVER A they tend to get their way. When GOOD IDEA, BUT NAFTA protect our natural resources the original free-trade agree- HAS FORCED US INTO A and local industries. ment was first being negotiat- PARTNERSHIP IN WHICH ed, politicians swore that it WE HAVE CEDED You say in your book that we are CONTROL OVER OUR didn’t include provisions ABILITY TO PROTECT OUR slowly sliding into a two-tiered allowing corporations to sue NATURAL RESOURCES approach to health care. How governments. Sure enough, the AND LOCAL INDUSTRIES.” exactly could this be carried out? —MAUDE BARLOW corporate sector got its way with Maude Barlow: Health care Chapter 11. being under provincial It’s important to know what jurisdiction, the federal gov- the Canadian Council of Chief Executives’ Task ernment’s primary role is to enforce the Canada Force has in mind, because their agenda is what Health Act by penalizing provincial governments governments pick up over time. who fail to comply, [and to do so] by cutting social transfer payments. Stephen Harper’s decentral- Do we have a hope in hell of stopping George Bush’s ization plans could severely weaken the federal ballistic missile defence plan if Stephen Harper wins a government’s ability to protect the Canada majority in the next election? Health Act. Maude Barlow: No, that’s why it’s terribly impor- While Stephen Harper claimed during the election tant not to let Harper win a majority. We will see campaign that he would not tolerate a parallel private ourselves pulled into the U.S. military agenda so health-care system, he is already demonstrating his fast…. Nothing would make George Bush happier. inconsistency on this issue. He recently praised Quebec’s plan to introduce private clinics. What are some positive things Canada should do Diminishing the powers of the federal government instead? Should we diversify our trading partners so will be detrimental to public health care. Steven that 80 percent of our exports do not go to one country— Harper may have paid lip service to public health the U.S.? care, but let’s not forget that this is the same guy who Maude Barlow: Export-led economic development claimed that we should build a firewall around should not be our only strategy. We need to place as Alberta to protect it from federal interference.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 23 Cross Purposes A SHORT HISTORY OF CROSS–DRESSING WOMEN by Krista Scott-Dixon

Marlene Dietrich in the 1932 film, Morocco, donned men’s clothing and habits and went on to become a Hollywood sex symbol. Photo: Getty Images/Hulton Archive

r. James Barry was a notable medical reformer wore men’s clothing, passed and worked as men in a of the 19th century with an international med- range of occupations, and even married and raised Dical career that included a Canadian practice. families as men. Their exploits are recorded in sto- Biographer Merna Forster wrote, in 100 Canadian ries, songs and art—a testament to both the enduring Heroines, that he championed “improvements that power of gender roles and people’s creative subver- would help women, prisoners, slaves, lepers, prosti- sion of them. tutes and the insane.” Yet the good doctor had a secret Many societies, past and present, have made rules that was revealed by a charwoman examining the body about men’s and women’s clothing. The Biblical after Barry died: The deceased was female-bodied. As exhortation that “a woman shall not wear that which it turned out, Barry was born Margaret Bulkley and pertains to a man, neither shall a man put on a predated the famous Canadian woman doctor Emily woman’s garment: for all that do so are abomination” Stowe by 10 years. was no doubt well-known by two of the most notable Barry was in good historical company. In the 4th female-to-male cross-dressers: Joan of Arc and Pope century BCE, a Greek woman known as Agnodice dis- Joan, a.k.a. Pope John VIII, who is believed to have guised herself in men’s garb to attend medical classes served as pontiff from 853 to 855. It didn’t seem to and become a physician. Her practice boomed until stop either of them from tossing their dresses aside. suspicious colleagues took her to court and forced her Joan of Arc began hearing voices in 1428 telling her to reveal her birth gender. Though she had committed that she would get the English out of France and the a punishable offence, Agnodice was acquitted. Neither rightful king on the throne. Joan was permitted to join Barry nor Agnodice were, in fact, terribly unusual. the army and was instrumental in a series of victories History is full of accounts of people born female who that led to Charles II becoming king, but she was

24 SPRING 2006 HERIZONS captured during a battle and tried for heresy. The case against her focused on the voices she heard and the pants she wore. Largely because of her insistence on wearing male clothing, she was sentenced to death. Pope Joan’s biographers claim she was born in Germany and travelled to Athens as an adolescent, where, disguised as a male cleric, she went on to lec- ture at the Trivium in Rome and became a cardinal. Pope Joan’s real identity was only discovered when she gave birth during a papal procession (no doubt a socially awkward event in 855). One account says she was stoned to death by the crowd, another that she was merely deposed and that her son later became Bishop Joan of Arc has long been a subject of fascination. Here, played by Milla Jovovich, she leads French troops into the crucial battle at Orleans in of Ostia. Other female men of God managed to attain The Messenger: The Story of Joan of Arc, Colombia Pictures, 1999. sainthood via cross–dressing, or living as hermits or monks, frequently undetected until they died. Canadian jurisdictions, likewise, had long-standing been male-identified—people for whom wearing prohibitions against cross-gender dress. In 1918, men’s clothing was a crucial part of their gender iden- Venus Cote, a 17-year-old from Quebec, was sen- tity. Some lived with—and loved—women; others were tenced to two years at a Kingston penitentiary for erotically attached to men. Nobody knows for sure wearing men’s clothing in order to work at the Chaleur how many people born female put on male clothing Bay Pulp Company. and slipped into male society. We know only of those Given such rules, why would anyone risk punish- who were discovered. ment to wear men’s clothing? For most of history, and Even what is considered men’s clothing and in most societies worldwide, women were denied the women’s clothing changes over time and across cul- employment, education and social and economic free- ture. Today, most Canadian women wouldn’t think doms that men took for granted. It’s easy to see how an twice about pulling on a pair of pants. Yet in 1850, independent-minded girl could get the idea to steal when Amelia Jenks Bloomer invented a costume for her brother’s wardrobe and set out in search of adven- women—essentially, a pair of very baggy trousers—that ture on the high seas, follow her male lover into the would enable them to abandon the cumbersome army, or simply enjoy a good cigar with the expanded dresses that flowed to the ground and restricted their lung capacity that being corset-free afforded. movement, “bloomers” were regarded as turning In her book Amazons and Military Maids, Julie women into men and were ridiculed, along with the Wheelwright suggests that “the thread that pulls these women who wore them. stories together is women’s desire for male privilege The meaning of cross-dressing also changes and a longing for escape from domestic confines and depending on historical or cultural context, as well as powerlessness … a lifelong yearning for liberation.” social class. For example, working women have his- Yet, looking through the foggy lens of history, it is torically been freer to dress and behave in masculine not always easy to figure out how these cross-dressers fashion. In post-Revolutionary France, images of thought of themselves or what their contemporaries women in military dress, often engaging in behaviour thought of them. As we excavate the past, we need to be such as smoking pipes and carrying muskets, served careful about how we interpret people’s outward iden- as inspirational motifs in popular culture. To the com- tities and behaviour. Some may have identified as mon folk, such images could be interpreted in many women who simply wore men’s clothes for conven- ways: as disguise, a challenge to traditional gender ience, practicality or performance. Others may have roles, sexual liberation and/or a literal and symbolic

HERIZONS FALL 2006 25 call to arms. Female actors appeared often on the have ranged from sexual fascination to hostility. British and American stage, beginning in the 17th Marlene Dietrich and Madonna became sexual icons century, playing ‘breeches roles’ as in part for wearing men’s suits. As male characters, particularly boys with the military heroine Flora such as Peter Pan or Cupid, but also Sandes, who became a Serbian mili- adult male heroes such as Hamlet tary officer in 1915 and enjoyed a cel- and Richard III. ebrated career, women in male Wars and colonial projects pro- military dress were often vided a good opportunity for celebrated in nationalist fervour as cross-dressing, as beleaguered avenging Amazons. military and naval operations were In the 19th century, bloomerism often happy to take anyone who was disparaged as further proof that could stand upright and hold a women wanted to be men, though weapon. There are innumerable bloomers made it possible for accounts of women soldiers women to engage in activities such and sailors (or pirates) passing as riding a bicycle. Indeed, more as men. Sometimes, according to comfortable clothes became a sym- Wheelwright, they also donned mas- bol of the increasing demands for culine garb as women, as in the case social freedom and access to politi- of the townswomen of Neath, who cal and educational institutions. In requested arms to defend them- 1897, at a demonstration at selves from the French in 1803, Cambridge University against the Pope Joan’s biographers believe she claiming they “have been used to gave birth during a papal procession. granting of degrees to women, an hard labour all the days of their lives effigy of a woman on a bicycle hung such as working in coal pits, on the above the crowd. Several decades high roads, tilling the ground,” and could thus be later, in 1960, the Italian Cardinal Giuseppe Siri quickly prepared for battle. warned darkly that “wherever women wear men’s Social responses to women wearing male clothing dress, it is to be considered a factor in the long run

26 FALL 2006 HERIZONS tearing apart human order.” ment. Fewer are aware of drag kings, a phenome- Today, even more female-bodied people wear non that has exploded in popularity in the last cou- men’s dress. “I have preferred to ple of decades. According to AJ, wear men’s clothes for years,” says who performs as Johnny Class, Jill, a 21-year old in Toronto. “The both female-to-male cross-dress- clothes seem to fit me better, and I ing and drag-kinging are more feel more comfortable in them and popular than commonly imagined. more confident with myself. … I “To anyone who believes that would prefer to cover my curves, female-to-male cross-dressing is rather than flaunt them.” When uncommon, I invite them to any Jill wears women’s clothes, she number of drag events in and Invented in 1851, the bloomer costume feels “very out of place” and drew criticism that it made women around Toronto,” AJ offers. “You shockingly unwomanly. It also appears “silly.” Jefferson, a trans man in to have made them smoke. will quickly realize how many peo- his 30s, remembers starting to ple participate in cross-dressing, cross–dress at age 10. “I started whether on stage as drag kings, or fighting with my parents about wanting to do it. My as gender-fluid spectators and allies.” mom said I wanted ugly clothes. Now I know that Drag performances challenge audience percep- they aren’t ugly, just masculine.” tions and assumptions about gender, demonstrating Thanks to RuPaul and Priscilla, Queen of the that gender is largely a performance of dress and Desert, most people are now familiar with drag queens: men who perform as women for entertain- continued on page 47

HERIZONS SUMMER 2006 27 Depression causes people to withdraw and become lost in their feelings, while dance offers a means to release negative emotions and reconnect with others. Photo: Mladen Antonov AFP/Getty Images

depression, dance was a major part of her recovery. Dancing through “If we’re not connected to our own creativity, we’re disconnected, and disconnection creates illness,” Depression Linda says. During her recuperation, Linda met with four friends who asked her to teach them dance. All by Mary Glasgow Brown the women struggled with depression. In learning to move their bodies in new ways, each learned new ways rom the age of 17, Linda knew that she was partic- to communicate the language of their feelings. They ularly susceptible to the emotional ups and learned new ways to connect with themselves and F downs of life. Five years ago, her depression with each other. “We used dance as the medium became a permanent stay in the house of blues. inside ourselves, for reflection and connection to A combination of stress at work, the onset of God, to each other, and to ourselves, ultimately, as menopause and life as a single mother resulted in a well,” explains Linda. major depressive episode that disrupted Linda’s ability Creative activity, be it art therapy, journaling or to carry out her normal schedule. “Just looking at my participating in a community dance class, has place of work would cause me to shake,” recalls Linda psychological benefits and can be physically useful (whose name has been changed to protect her privacy), as well. Depression causes people to withdraw and sitting in her yellow and blue dining room in British become lost in their feelings, whereas artistic Columbia’s Fraser Valley. activities offer a means to release negative emo- The road to recovery during a three-month stress tions and reconnect with the community. leave from work was a journey Linda eventually leaped Writing in the feminist journal Women and Therapy, through. Literally. Dance had always been a part of therapists Laura Anderson and Karen Gold note how Linda’s life, and while climbing out of the darkness of women have historically used creative expression and

28 SPRING 2006 HERIZONS art activities to express the unspeakable, to soothe the One study participant shared how quilting allows her self and to connect to other women. They created a respite from the difficult task of caring for her sick group model using creative arts that was successful in spouse: “My husband is chronically ill and I am a helping women dealing with the effects of childhood ‘prisoner’ of his disability, but I can let my imagination sexual abuse. It is known that emotional healing is take wings as I piece my patches for a quilt.” blocked by unexpressed emotions and that certain art forms, such as dance, combine the serotonin-balanc- FORMAL ART THERAPY ing benefits of exercise with those of artistic expression. Formal art therapy uses artistic practices within psy- An occupational therapist by trade, Linda found that chological counselling, or simply focuses on the act of in addition to helping express intense emotions, dance artistic creativity as therapy in itself. Art offers a also provides deep-tissue pressure, in the same way means of exploring psychological roots that may cause that aerobic exercise and weight training do. This deep- this debilitating illness. tissue pressure can improve chemical imbalances and “Art enhances creativity, and the minute you provide mental relief as well as physical benefits. enhance creativity, you enhance problem-solving,” By turning to the arts for treatment, Linda typifies the relays art therapist Marilyn Magnuson, on a break from many people who are seeking to manage their health drywalling her basement in Calgary. Magnuson works more holistically. According to a 2003 Canadian Mental with the Calgary Health Region and runs a private prac- Health Association survey, almost half of the women tice. Depression, she says, is often linked to unresolved who struggle with anxiety and/or depression have not anger turned inward. When her patients let their bodies spoken with their doctor about it. The same study notes express themselves by painting or dancing, it allows the that 40 percent of Canadian women experience depres- unconscious to surface: The memories buried from the sion or anxiety at some point in their lives. This suggests conscious are expressed. that hundreds of thousands of women may not believe Body movement, music, reiki, guided fantasy and their depression warrants medial intervention, or else journaling are tools used by Magnuson—whose back- they do not recognize it as a medical condition that can ground includes nursing and a master’s degree in be effectively treated in the traditional medical system. social work—in order to connect people with their cre- The arts, whether practised within formal therapy, ative right brain. Art therapy encourages spontaneous individually or in a group, are one way women can artistic expression without participants worrying reconnect with an artistic creativity they may have about how good the creation looks. felt growing up. For others, it is a creative release While children express themselves with natural they discover when they are older. Most of the artistry from the time they pick up crayons and colour women in a 2000 British study, Managing Depression pictures at the kitchen table, most people lose confi- Through Needlecraft Creative Activities: A Qualitative dence in their ability to create art as they grow up. We Study, for example, began embroidery or tapestry are taught that one has to be highly gifted to participate work in mid-life as a respite from stresses and grief. in the arts, rather than focusing on the joy of express- Dr. Frances Reynolds, the study’s author, reports ing oneself. During art therapy, the act of painting that women found needlework to be a source of becomes meditative and issues that cause depression relaxation and distraction from anxieties. Creating a can arise from the subconscious. piece of art to share with others was a source of pride As Magnuson notes, depression rarely happens in for the women, boosting deflated self-esteem and isolation. Even though there are biological explana- offering an element of control in uncontrollable sit- tions for depression, psychological influences are uations. Other benefits included increased motiva- often present. Medications can treat the chemical tion (in joining a stitching club, for example) as well imbalances, but they do not necessarily get to the as the creation of new relationships with people who could act as a support system. continued on page 47

HERIZONS SUMMER 2006 29 30 FALL 2006 HERIZONS body politic BY MARIKO TAMAKI

SHOWER ME (SORRY, US) If you had told me 10 years ago I would be standing in After all the presents, my mother makes a small a room full of my mother’s friends, drinking tea and speech about how grateful she is for all her friends. eating scones with clotted cream, I probably would These friends, she explains, are her family, and so have laughed in your face. At 20, the very thought it is fitting that they be here to support her, her that I would be doing this, playing the part of the future daughter-in-law and me. There is applause. guest of honour, no less, at a bridal shower would I stand. have seemed as far off and impossible as a sushi din- I thank my hostesses and everyone who came to ner with the Pope. First of all, I would tell you, there’s the shower for their generous gifts. I note that this is no way there is anyone out there crazy enough to probably these women’s first lesbian bridal shower, marry me. Secondly, I would tell you, I’m a very busy and congratulate them on exploring the brave new woman and I don’t have time for a wedding. Thirdly, world of gay weddings—which hopefully will become I might add, homos can’t get married. The possibili- (I don’t say this aloud) not the institution some ty of working as a caterer at one of these events— queers feel they will be, but only another in a line of along with every other artist and arts student in the fabulous parties with tea and napkins, whisky, beer, greater Toronto area—might have entered my mind. hot dogs and poppers, if need be. I raise my cup to Working equally hard as a bride—no, not really. toast us all on a job well done. But yet, here I am, thanking the gathered crowd On the drive home, I am full of thoughts, most of for the avalanche of dining ware that has come as which have to do with the craziness of weddings. part of my (sorry, our) shower, our wedding, our It’s funny being at the centre, rather than on the impending union. periphery, of something North America has such a The wedding shower, as I see it, is a strange little romance with. It’s strange to be a part of ritual with two functions. First, it gives you stuff to set something so traditional—and yes, it’s equally up your house. Why exactly you need more stuff for strange to enjoy it. your house as a grown adult, I’m not exactly sure. When I get home, I make a cave for our cat out of Unless we’re planning on feeding a dozen—in which the mountain of decorative tissue we received with case I would use paper and plastic, because it’s easier our gifts, and a cave for me. I crawl inside my that way—my future wife and I are pretty set. shower cave and think about what it’s like taking In addition to filling up your house, the shower is tradition by the hand and pulling it where I want to also meant to celebrate your future wedding the way go. I decide that it’s okay, sometimes, to let you would mark a birthday, if you celebrated your tradition pull you by the tail, a bit, as long as you can birthday on the day of, and a month or two before, the find a decorative cave and think things through actual date and only invited women. Although a large once in awhile. part of our lesbian wedding is lady fare, our shower, at The next day, Stanley (the cat) pukes up a little our request, is not, and a lone male wanders through ball of pink on our carpet and Charissa wakes up the crowd being congratulated for his bravery. singing, “Here comes the brides.”

HERIZONS FALL 2006 31 arts culture MUSIC

ANYTHING Things get to a rollicking start with “The singer/songwriter with this substantial Kinnie Starr Devil’s Paintbrush Road,”a true twanger contribution to contemporary folk. That MapleMusic, 2006 by newcomer Annabelle Chvostek (who said, Lang is not limited to the conven- Review by Cindy Filipenko replaced Cara Luft), enhanced by Ruth tions and structures of folk. Much of On first listen,Anything Moody’s terrific banjo playing. It’s a toe- Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky is rather comes across like any- tapper with genuine hurtin’ lyrics: bluesy fare. thing being made by “I’m not the cheatin’ kind On “It’s Not Easy,”Lang demonstrates American male hip Who snuck up from behind her proficiency with this New World hop stars. Well, almost. Kicked in the door to someday genre: “When I was a young girl, not Kinnie Starr has a sweet alto that I defy I can’t get her off my mind.” treated right, sometimes I’d cry me to Wyclef Jean to reproduce. As a hip hop The songwriting talents of the newest sleep at night … it’s not easy when artist, this veteran of the West Coast Jenny add a stylistic diversity that was you’re all alone.” Lang is accompanied underground music scene has earned not evident on 40 Days.Falling into by an alto sax and listeners can practi- her chops since her 1996 debut Tidy. the familiar with the roots-inspired cally feel the neon flashing up from the With Anything, Starr returns to the “Swallow,” Chovsteck proves her folk boulevard. This is musique noir. performers’ route, mixing genre with mettle with “Apocalypse Lullaby”and the Never showy, never pointlessly clever, acutely insightful and raw lyrics. For title track. Led by her husky alto, with its Lang has always written the type of example, on “Step Back,”she warns a for- underlying sweetness, “Firecracker” solid songs that seem primed for other mer lover: “Step back, got no more space comes off like a Sarah MacLachlan song artists to cover. And like other artists in for you, gonna get free from that shit you interpreted by Amy Ray. this arena, such as John Prine and do,” while a slide guitar bridges the Nicky Mehta and Moody seem ener- Richard Thompson, Lang’s performanc- wicked rhymes. How many times have gized by the group’s new addition, with es ensure listeners will always prefer the you wished you could say that to some- both taking chances outside the roots original versions of her songs. one who was in the process of breaking box. Moody’s country-pop influenced Thoughtful stuff that speaks of all your heart? “Things That You Know” could easily be life’s emotions, from despair to hope Starr integrates First Nations issues a charting single.While Mehta’s paean to and wonder, Stone + Sand + Sea + Sky simply and deftly,never getting preachy.A lost love,“Begin,”could just as easily slip is a welcome addition to any CBC fan’s feminist, she also casts a keen eye on sex- over to adult contemporary stations. music library.—CF ual politics. Now with the upstart The Jennys are clearly on the move. Canadian label MapleMusic, Starr is Firecracker offers listeners a tight, con- IMPEACH MY BUSH poised for greater things. Her optimism is trolled energy that holds the promise of Peaches evidenced by the title track (and first sin- even greater things to come.—CF XL, 2006 gle) where she sings: “I can be anything, Review by Anna Lazowski now is the time to speak my mind.” STONE + SAND Just because she’s If hip hop isn’t your thing, and you + SEA + SKY Canadian, electro- have a teenaged daughter in the house, Penny Lang punker Peaches sees get this for her. Even the silly pop of “La Borealis Records, 2006 no reason why she Le La La,”featuring Tegan Quin of Tegan Folk icon Penny Lang’s shouldn’t wade into and Sara, has a great political core. Starr latest album is as ele- Bush-bashing.The first song on Impeach shines. —CF mental as the title Stone My Bush, “Fuck or Kill,” contains the + Sand + Sea + Sky lyrics from which the album’s title was FIRECRACKER suggests. Spare, clean taken. As she chants them, the “my” The Wailin’ Jennys production creates the perfect backdrop drops out, leaving just “Impeach Bush.” Jericho Beach Music, 2006 for Lang’s pure vocals and highlights her But fans who love Peaches for her Firecracker, the follow- considerable songwriting skills. unapologetic sexuality won’t be disap- up to The Wailin’Jennys And Lang should be skilled: She’s pointed. With song titles like “Tent in 2004 debut album, 40 been performing her own compositions Your Pants” and “Slippery Dick,” it’s Days,builds on the since 1964. clear that Peaches isn’t trying to break group’s strengths and Now, more than four decades later, she into the mainstream. Instead, she tack- takes them in new, improved directions. has fully reached her potential as a les topics like inequities in sexuality,

32 FALL 2006 HERIZONS penning “Two Guys (for Every Girl),” a needed, and with that flexibility Holland song that upends the standard fantasy of creates lovely musical dichotomies. one man with two women. On Springtime Can Kill You,a tale of And though Impeach My Bush is warning from the grave is set against a mostly a self-produced record, Peaches cheery upbeat sound. And the dirge-like wasn’t shy about getting help from some quality of the love-gone-wrong song of her celebrity supporters. Queens of “You’re Not Satisfied” is given a bit of the Stone Age frontman Josh Homme, flourish by its own horn section. fellow Canuck Feist and even ’80s rock While there are a lot of musicians out icon Joan Jett all make guest appear- there playing around with contemporary ances. As for the sound of her third folk, few do it with as much style as record, Peaches’ production style hasn’t Holland. She puts a current spin on a changed. Overall, it’s fairly stripped- traditional sound that makes it unlike down and basic, but she’s able to use the anything you’ve heard before.—AL sounds she chooses to their best advan- tage, especially on rock-out tracks like PIECE BY PIECE “Give ’er” and “You Love It.” Kathy Melua With Impeach My Bush,Peaches has Dramatico, 2005 once again confirmed that she has bigger Kathy Melua’s brand of balls than any other woman in music— sophisticated jazz is and probably most of the men. reminiscent of 1960s swinging London pro- SPRINGTIME duction. Piece by Piece CAN KILL YOU is an album designed to be accompany Jolie Holland by cocktails, preferably being enjoyed by wild women ANTI, 2006 a crowd of well-dressed moderns stand- expeditions Jolie Holland has one ing on their well-shod feet while sharing bon mots. Canada's Outdoor Adventure of those haunting Company for Women voices you’re not likely It’s young, fun and sexy. Piece by Piece to forget. Born in is not only a jazz album, and that’s to its Texas, she spent time detriment. Melua isn’t bad when she tries in San Francisco before heading to for a crossover sound, like on the U.K. Vancouver, where she co-founded the single “Nine Million Bicycles.” It’s just folk group Be Good Tanyas. But she left that she’s really great on the horn-filled, the band after its first album and head- cymbal-rich tunes like “Shy Boy” and ed back to San Francisco. “Hindu Up the Kush.” As a solo artist, Jolie’s dark style of However, just when this album folky Americana often gets her compar- convinces the listener that Melua may isons to Lucinda Williams and Emmylou be a throwback to the days of Sarah Harris. But it also caught the ear of Vaughn and Dinah Washington, as with eclectic singer/songwriter Tom Waits. the achingly beautiful “I Do Believe in That attention led his label, ANTI, to Live,”Melua trots out the blues standard sign her to its roster. “On the Road Again,”effectively ruining Springtime Can Kill You is Holland’s that thesis. second effort for the label, and it’s a Melua has an amazing voice. While 2006 online now! canoe trips • mountain biking adventures • sea kayaking • smooth,swaying blend of musical styles. there are places where Piece By Piece flyfishing • girls’ camps • artistic retreats • It has the kind of sound you can imagine comes across as a little too slick, overall cross-country skiing • dog sledding and more! pouring off a porch in a sweltering this is a winner. Keep your ears open. www.wildwomenexp.com southern summer. Elements of jazz, This is one that’s going to show up at your [email protected] 1-888-WWE-1222 blues, folk and gospel intermingle as favourite hipster venues.—CF

HERIZONS FALL 2006 33 ABOVE THE Carpenter might record, complete with the was raised in St. Andrews, Scotland. With MADDING CROWD occasional bluesy growl. training in piano and flute, KT picked up Lee Lindsay “Stop and smell the roses, be truthful to guitar in her teens and started writing Tall Poppy Records, 2006 your soul. Find something to believe in, songs. She worked with a series of bands, A kind-hearted produc- long before you die, life ain’t no rehearsal, honing her skills both with groups and as er, friend or family you got to let that curtain rise….” a solo artist. The work paid off when she member should take Yeehaw. Pass me another rack of ribs headed into the studio to record her Lee Lindsay aside and and a cold Canadian!—CF debut album. suggest a shift in genre. Her pop sound has a bit of a rock edge, Marketing Lindsay as another folkie in the EYE TO THE TELESCOPE making songs like “Black Horse” and tradition of gals such as Kathleen Edwards KT Tunstall “Cherry Tree” easy radio hits, both at or Sarah Slean seems wrong. Her guitar- EMI, 2005 home and abroad. But her sound also playing style,lyrics and voice are far better With her debut album, makes her hard to pin down. She doesn’t suited to country. Eye to the Telescope, explore the cheery, light pop of Dido, nor If “a foot on the gas and another on the Scottish singer KT (like the full-on soul sound of Joss Stone. And dashboard”—lyrics from “Wild Child”— Katie) Tunstall is taking she can switch from the soft beauty of isn’t reminiscent of driving down a coun- the British music scene tracks like Silent Sea to more up-tempo try road on a hot summer’s day, I don’t by storm. She scored a Brit award for radio-friendly numbers like “Suddenly I know what is.And only a country girl or a female solo artist and her track “Suddenly See.” While she does both equally well, serious wannabe would sing about putting I See”beat out Coldplay’s “Fix You”for the she seems at her best using her clear, on “old lizard boots,” as Lindsay does on coveted Ivor Novello award for Best Song. slightly raspy voice to belt out over her the opening track,“Journey.” Not bad for a woman who taught her- acoustic guitar. “Life Ain’t a Rehearsal”would be right at self to sing by performing along with With a first effort that attracted too home, fiddles and all, with anything tapes of Ella Fitzgerald. Adopted at birth, much attention, it’ll be interesting to see that Lucinda Williams or Mary Chapin the girl with Chinese and Irish heritage where KT goes next.—AL

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34 FALL 2006 HERIZONS arts culture FALL 2006 BOOK REVIEWS

BRAHMA’S DREAM ‘“I’m all right,’ Mohani said. She joined never feel lost, because the author skilfully Shree Ghatage Kamala who was sitting cross-legged on the uses flashbacks to lead us to a startling con- Anchor Canada, 2005 carpet. Inside everything was hushed. clusion that is as morally satisfying as it is Review by Helen Fogwill Porter Outside the world flowed with sound: the unexpected. Mootoo’s occasional use of sporadic cawing of the crows, the frantic dialect marks the class differences between “On a clear ochre warning of a bicycle bell, the footfalls of the upwardly mobile Indian community morning, standing in pedestrians, the repeated flapping of wet and the poor Afro-Caribbean population. the front verandah of cloth being shaken to dry.” He Drown She in the Sea opens with a Koleshwar Nivas and As I approach the conclusion of the dream of loss and closes with a dream of watching a rain tree novel, I realize the significance of the title. realization. The title of the book forebodes release into the sky a Mohani is with us to the end. tragedy as well as the darker side of the flurry of parrots, human psyche, but Mootoo is too much of Mohani noticed that an accomplished writer for her tale to be the outer corner of her HE DROWN stark. Her story is full of joy and sorrow, left eye had stopped twitching….” That SHE IN THE SEA laughter and tears, loss and gain. It is also a opening passage pulled me immediately Shani Mootoo morality tale, a suspenseful thriller and a into Shree Ghatage’s first novel, Brahma’s McClelland and Stewart, 2005 very sensuous and gratifying read. Dream. I knew right away that I wanted to Review by Maya Khankhoje know more about 14-year-old Mohani, her Guanagaspar is the parents and friends, her extended family imaginary Caribbean GOTTA FIND ME AN and the city of Bombay itself. Set in 1948, a homeland of Harry St. ANGEL momentous time in India’s history, George and Rose Brenda Brooks Brahma’s Dream brilliantly brings to life Sangha, a man and a Raincoast Books, 2005 Bombay and its inhabitants through woman who were Review by Claire Robson Mohani’s eyes. meant to be together, This first novel by B.C. The beloved only child of Keshav and but whose insecurities author Brenda Brooks Kamala, Mohani suffers from a painful conspire with the is so palatable that a chronic bone disorder that will eventually patriarchal and hierarchical society they couple of things I take her life. The illness, and Mohani her- live in to keep them apart. Guanagaspar is found hard to swallow self, are dealt with realistically, but there’s also a stand-in for Trinidad, where Irish- just slipped down easy nothing maudlin here. Ghatage has been born Shani Mootoo grew up before moving in the end. compared with Charles Dickens, and right- to Canada when she was 19. The tale is narrated ly so, but readers looking for a Little Nel- We are introduced to Harry, the main by a 30-something style death scene will not find it in character, through his recurrent dream of a film projectionist who’s still madly in love Brahma’s Dream. tsunami.In his dream,his whole communi- with her teenage sweetheart, Madeline. The India’s independence, Mohandas ty is wiped out, leaving him alone with his only problem is that Madeline drowned Gandhi’s enormous influence on the ancient mother,a poor widow who ekes out a living herself 20 years earlier, a tragedy that has subcontinent, his subsequent assassination doing laundry.This dream presages Harry’s rendered our heroine incapable of love or and the evolution of India’s religions and loss of community when he migrates to intimacy. For a book about loss (actually, cultures form a huge backdrop to Mohani’s Vancouver to escape the racial riots that for any book) Gotta Find Me An Angel is life.At times the tone of the novel is instruc- affected many islands. We are also intro- devastatingly funny. I read it twice, just to tional,but Mohani is such a believable char- duced to Rose,the woman he befriended as savour its hilarious depiction of its CanLit acter that we are always drawn back into her a child while his mother washed Rose’s setting, in which hapless poet Billie Smart life.Ghatage never forgets to keep Mohani at mother’s laundry.Herein lies the crux of the battles for eminence with her nemesis the centre of the story. story: Can the servant’s son aspire to win ffiona perks (“that lower case idiot”). The Late in the novel,Mohani is sitting on the the hand of the mistress’s daughter? Will book is rich with laugh-out-loud scenes, floor in the company of a group of people society let him? And most importantly, will like the Halloween party where Billie and who have gathered together to hear a high- he have the courage to pursue his dream? her editor gesticulate at each other so wildly respected Hindu holy man speak. Swami The story shuttles back and forth ly they seem “to be writing out,punctuating Siddheshwar suggests that Mohani might between Guanagaspar and Vancouver, and and correcting their dialogue in front of be more comfortable in a chair. between the ’40s and the present. Yet we each other’s noses.”

HERIZONS FALL 2006 35 The book is so entertaining that it’s SMOKE in a small ’50s town where conformity is a almost cavalier to cavil at its concept. Yet I Elizabeth Ruth high art. Good friends drop away, girls are couldn’t help but doubt if anyone’s life could Penguin, 2006 repulsed. But Buster develops an affection be so totally ruined by this kind of teenage Review by Zoe Whittall for his pretty classmate, Jelly Bean, who tragedy. Nor could I help but wonder If I didn’t already knows a thing or two about hiding. Her whether Madeline, the ghostly lover, would admire the writing mother forcibly dyes her hair blond to scorn really have drowned herself because she of Elizabeth Ruth, her father’s Mohawk heritage and forces her didn’t want to be gay, since she had kind her second novel, into beauty pageants. Together they form a parents, a good friend and a life apparently Smoke, may have bond based on otherness and the dreamy abundant in joy. passed under my possibilities of life outside the town. In the end, I set such considerations radar with its calm The real relationship at the core of the aside. Gotta Find Me An Angel is essentially blue front cover and story is that between Buster and Doctor comedic, and comedy is a genre that tradi- historical small- John, a kind town doctor with a web of tionally strains the reader’s credulity and town Ontario setting. secrets around his life. Without giving too gets away with it (consider Midsummer Ye t Smoke is a deceptively subversive and much away, Ruth wisely drops hints from Night’s Dream). Despite its odd premise, innovative story. Buster is 15, a handsome, early on about Doctor John’s past. Those perhaps even because of it, this sharp and well-liked young man living on his father’s familiar with these types of visual cues will funny story succeeds, and succeeds wildly. tobacco farm, when he wakes up on fire— begin to understand the mystery at the Read it for its happy ending, and for its literally—the result of a careless drunken novel’s heart. As with her first novel, Ten wickedly observant descriptions of lesbian pre-sleep smoke. He survives largely Good Seconds of Silence,Ruth displays a life. I leave you with this piece of sartorial because of the town’s doctor,the mysterious masterful ability to draw the reader into the wisdom: “a motorcycle jacket is … a judg- and sweet Doc John,who cleans his wounds hearts and minds of characters, leaving us mental piece of clothing…. It either adores and soothes Buster with tales of the Detroit breathless for further details and resolution. you or hoots at the sight of you: Me on you? mob.After his accident, Buster, his face now Brilliantly researched and quietly political, You must be joking!” permanently scarred, must learn to survive Smoke is a smart, engrossing read.

SUMACH PRESS A WORLD THAT IS GOOD FOR WOMEN TRANS/FORMING IS GOOD FOR EVERYONE FEMINISMS: Transfeminist Our leading-edge work is dedicated to Voices Speak Out looking at the world Edited by through the eyes Krista Scott-Dixon of women, with the goal of shaping a Twenty-one provocative essays reﬂect on the better world for all. complex intersections between transsexuality and feminist politics, activism and ideas. Learn more about A must read for activists and scholars seeking our work. to build a more inclusive transfeminist movement and for all those wanting to explore www.wcwonline.org these compelling and challenging issues. WELLESLEY CENTERS FOR WOMEN ---  pgs ˝x˝ . pb 781.283.2500 sumachpress@ on.aibn.com www.sumachpress.com WELLESLEY COLLEGE, WELLESLEY, MA

36 FALL 2006 HERIZONS BERTH Although the vessel she chooses to sensitive, with an active dream life that Carol Bruneau “berth”in isn’t the most seaworthy,Willa she is able to describe in sensuous detail. Cormorant Books, 2005 knows enough to stow a lifejacket near- Her clouded eyes still had an artist’s Review by Lori Lavalee by. Hers is a story of having to make appreciation of colour and beauty: courageous and necessary choices, and “Still feeling vaguely sick and unsteady A military wife as pro- somehow coming out okay. as if a weight inside my head were off– tagonist is a rare occur- centre and pulling it down. Like a huge rence in Canadian ball-bearing loose and rolling around. A fiction. For this reason, loose cannon—huge metaphor for some- and because I am a issues ideas thing that creates its own crazy momentum military spouse myself, …. Meantime the garden in the shadowless I was immediately BEYOND RECALL light is splendid, the Dolgo snow-white, interested in this novel. by Mary Meigs every tone of green, the roses sprouting at Acutely aware of (edited by Lise Weil) last & the rhododendron with its slow the preconceived notions many people Talonbooks, 2005 spring life regulating its pace.” have about military spouses, and of the Review by Jillian Ridington Mary Meigs remained creative and negative stereotyping that is continually “What sticks in the beloved to the end. Can any woman ask perpetuated about this demographic, I mind and why?” asks for more? was prepared for the worst. Mary Meigs Fortunately, Bruneau manages to avoid Meigs wrote her three common pitfalls in her portrayal of DOING IT: WOMEN last entry in the jour- WORKING IN military spouses. First, although Willa is nal that became unhappy in the role she believes she is Beyond Recall on INFORMATION expected to play in the community, she is November 13, 2002. TECHNOLOGY not driven from the pack and branded as On November 15, she Krista Scott-Dixon a misfit. In other words—thankfully and met with her publisher. A few hours later, Sumach Press, 2004 realistically—Bruneau refrains from cre- she died of a cerebral hemorrhage.Beyond Review by Rachel Thompson ating artificial divisions among the group Recall, written over her last two years, is a Being the sole com- of civilian wives. beautiful,whimsical and detailed descrip- puter geek in my Secondly, she doesn’t suggest— tion of the last two years of Meigs’ life. It crowd, you can imag- favourably or otherwise—that Willa is also documents a woman’s life after 80— ine how fun parties unique in her desire to satisfy her indi- a virtually unexplored territory. What are for me. Eyes glaze vidual needs, an anomaly within the sticks in Meigs’ mind as chronicled here is over at the slightest military community. Finally, she makes both visual and visceral. acronym (even HTML no judgments about the choices any of Canadian feminists will remember seems to spook peo- them make.Although Willa wants some- Meigs for her novels and for her role in the ple). I don’t often find thing more, Bruneau does not imply that 1990 NFB film In the Company of an opportunity to talk about what it’s like others are settling for less. Strangers.Mary was an artist,too,and her to be a woman in the tech field, other than The context for Willa’s struggle to come books gave her a third career: that of a to defend my choice to get behind technol- to terms with her isolation and loneliness spokeswoman for older lesbians. In 1999, ogy that it still built for a male world. is solidly and fairly established. The story Meigs had a stroke that undermined her So curling up with Krista Scott- is told in the first person. Willa is a body, but did not rob her of speech, nor of Dixon’s book, Doing IT: Women Working mature woman with a young son. Soon the ability to sketch and write. For the last in Technology, was a bit like finding after their arrival in Nova Scotia, she years of her life, friends cared for her, some friends to talk with about our pas- begins an affair with a lighthouse keeper, enabling her to remain at home and to be sion for all things geek. I marvelled at a story that is beautifully told. a writer until the end.When she began the how informal learning, reminiscent of Although she makes no attempt to be journal that became Beyond Recall,she my own, was described again and again secretive, it takes a while for her husband was coming to terms with her diminished in Scott-Dixon’s interviews with women to notice her absence, due to his many mobility, the need for caretakers and, working in the field. assignments. She makes no apologies for hardest of all, the decrease in time and The Canadian women (almost all from her choices and expects no forgiveness. energy available for her creative work. Toronto!) interviewed showed that women As the title suggests, what Willa needs Although Meigs details the ignomin- in the tech field continue to face barri- at this stage of her life is to be cradled or ious facets of an enfeebled life, the ers—no surprise—preventing them from cocooned so that she may be rebirthed. essential woman is still there—witty, reaching their full professional potential.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 37 Though the way work is done may be “job-stealing enemies”who are willing to BATTLE CRIES: JUSTICE changing (with remote offices and flexi- work for less money, undercutting white FOR KIDS WITH SPECIAL ble hours) as Scott-Dixon finds, the vir- male professionals. tual organization is pretty much the The very readable (though at times NEEDS same as the standard corporation. In the pedestrian) prose comes complete with a Miriam Edelson IT workplace, biases based on gender, glossary (for those who are not initiated Sumach Press, 2005 race, class and ability, along with pay in geek speak) and appendices that chart Review by Emma Kivisild inequity, have not gone away and are pay inequities and gendered domestic– Battle Cries: Justice for perhaps more prevalent than in some labour breakdowns, among other rele- Kids with Special sectors. Scott-Dixon explores these bar- vant facts. Needs is an ambitious riers in depth. In the end, the book shows that despite project that combines The signs don’t suggest barriers for the obstacles, women in IT bring passion, detailed portraits of non-white, female workers will come wit, intelligence and kick-ass creativity eight families, a sum- down soon. Scott-Dixon describes a cli- together in order to shape their careers. mary of relevant mate where non-white women (especial- Women are doing IT, and IT is changing Canadian social poli- ly internationally) are seen as the for the better as a result. cy, a few proposals for action, practical

38 FALL 2006 HERIZONS tips for dealing with hospitals and service discussion of integrated schooling. ism from the outside in can take, and agencies, a picture of life as a parent of a I caught a glimpse of a profound mes- how queer theology can be lived by a special needs child, and more. sage from these mothers, an invitation to queer Christian. So really, this book could be 10 really examine love of life and humanity, The chapter “Qu(e)erying Morality”is a books—but the truth is that 10 books to authentically see personhood and joy. wonderful provocation,especially to those might not all get read, and there is an And I only had to read one book to of us interested in ethics of virtues and undercurrent of urgency here. These are do it. the ideas of good. When we dare to families with little money and no time, assume that our way is the way to live often riding a life/death edge.Activism,be QUE(E)RYING morally and godly, we dare to assume it written or otherwise, is a luxury—a EVANGELISM: GROWING God’s perspective.Although this is ABC of necessary luxury, but a luxury nonethe- A COMMUNITY FROM Protestantism, DiNovo’s queer elaboration less. Author Miriam Edelson cites the THE OUTSIDE IN adds a punch.She argues that human con- example of a facility faced with closure, cepts are bound to fall short of ever whose workers took on unpaid respite Cheri DiNovo Pilgrim Press, 2005 becoming identical to God’s revelation. care to enable mothers (and yes, it is From this humbled position, it is impossi- mostly mothers) to gather and take action Review by Lydia Perovic ble to condemn fellow human beings to keep the centre open. With a medically Fortunately, there’s no whose difference appalls us. fragile child who needs active 24-hour trace of New Age in The expectation is to love your neigh- care,and often siblings to care for,too, DiNovo’s book, no bour as yourself and to love God, but how there would be no other way to take on can-we-all-get-along do we create criteria to filter the just from organized protest. Christianity of the The medically fragile child is at one end amorphous blob- the wicked? God is laughing when the of a special-needs continuum encompass- God—the inoffensive, human is thinking—or trying to be ing all children with disabilities, physical multi-denominational moral,adds DiNovo to this Jewish proverb. and intellectual. The range of special- creature of so many DiNovo’s sermons, like her book, are needs experiences is varied and stagger- writers of the contemporary Left. intensely personal, carefully hermeneutic, ing.Like I said,10 books.Kudos to Edelson DiNovo’s theology is as orthodox as moving and witty. While queer and post- for looking for (and finding) common her politics are radical, and she reads the modern theologies are now common ground, but sometimes I wished for a nar- canon of Protestantism side by side with research interests at seminaries in the U.S. rower focus. Some children with special queer theory, feminism, post-structural- and the U.K., DiNovo is something of an needs will grow into adults who take action ism and deconstruction. Not only does anomaly in Canada. The hope is that there on their own behalf, while others will this dialogue work, but DiNovo shows it will be an entire noisy school in a few always need a parent or caregiver as advo- can also be put to work: her book is about years, where Qu(e)erying Evangelism cate. Specific goals and strategies differ, a how the ethics of unconditional hospital- now treads alone. fact that came out most clearly in Edelson’s ity can be practised, what forms evangel- Lydia Perovic is a Toronto writer.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 39 FEMINIST POLITICS, rural Andhra Pradesh, India, and to stop the practical reasoning peppered with ACTIVISM AND VISION the male violence against women which “strategic utopianism” of grassroots Edited by: L. Ricciutelli, A. Miles was its byproduct.Another discusses how women’s movements in countries large and M. H. McFadden women disrupted Nigeria’s huge oil and small all over the planet. Inanna Publications and industry—the peasant women’s weapon Their essays are written in plain lan- Education, 2004 was their nakedness. guage and show how changing local Review by Wendy Robbins Insights abound. Another discussion social mores and practices can, incre- Claims of feminism’s focuses on the global “care drain”—the mentally and effectively, promote demise have been growing trend for women who normally women’s human rights. Or, to put it the greatly exaggerated,as care for the young, the old and the sick in other way around, the value of universal readers of Herizons their own countries being driven to care human rights theory lies in its service to know. Just how varied for the young, the old and the sick in rich social change. and effective feminist countries as maids, nannies or aides. While many activists are busy to the movements remain, Some of the contributors are well– point of burnout, others are there to despite economic known to Canadian feminists (including remind us of the life-preserving, revitaliz- restructuring, globalization and govern- Peggy Antrobus, Charlotte Bunch and the ing potential of feminist movements. This ment cutbacks, is documented in vivid late Arlie Hochschild) and others are not. readable and moving collection offers detail in this collection of essays pro- They find their way around the postmod- women-centred epiphanies of amazing duced by the international Feminist ern reluctance to essentialize or univer- grace and antidotes to the soulless excess- Journals Network. salize woman, while still holding to some es of globalized capitalism, deepening The challenges women continue to face notion of universal human rights. They patriarchal religious fundamentalisms are immense. For example, this book avoid the paralysis of cultural relativism and the Bush-Blair axis of militarism. includes an article about women’s efforts and overly academic theory, while still Wendy Robbins is co-moderator of the fem- to stop the manufacture and consump- valuing diversity and cultural pluralism. inist listserv PAR-L, with more than 1,500 tion of arrack (a local alcoholic brew) in Collectively, they articulate and celebrate subscribers in a dozen countries.

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40 FALL 2006 HERIZONS GROWING UP DEGRASSI: right interesting and entertaining. a conversational style. The editors TELEVISION, IDENTITY However, the collection would have bene- undoubtedly did this out of respect for AND YOUTH CULTURES fited from some more critical voices, such the women, trying to keep true to their Edited by Michele Byers as Rebecca Haines. The book’s greatest words. However, as a means of bringing Sumach Press, 2005 weakness is that many authors seemed marginalized lives into the mainstream, Review by Megan Butcher satisfied to engage solely in nostalgia, the writing style doesn’t work. Only the rather than really interrogate what it actu- most committed reader will make it Like many of the ally means to grow up Degrassi. through the colloquial and often dis- authors in Growing jointed interviews. Up Degrassi, there’s a Sadly, this replicates the reality of the tender spot in my IN PLAIN SIGHT: world around us, where stories of hard- heart for the Degrassi REFLECTIONS ON LIFE ship are pushed away unless presented in classic series (Degrassi IN DOWNTOWN a way that is both captivating and acces- Junior High, Degrassi EASTSIDE VANCOUVER sible. Although successful in the former, High and School’s Edited by Leslie Robertson and In Plain Sight fails in the latter. Out). The Grade 7s Dara Culhane were my age and looked it.With poor pro- Talonbooks, 2005 THE HANGING OF duction values and bad acting, it felt like Review by Maria Stanborough ANGELIQUE kids in my school doing skits for health The Downtown East- Afua Cooper class. The TV show dealt with issues I was side of Vancouver is Harper Collins, 2006 starved for. And it felt like ours—i.e., not one of the roughest Review by Sheila Nopper American.A generation later,Degrassi: The places in Canada to In 1734,Marie-Joseph Next Generation (TNG) made its debut. It’s call home. These are Angelique, a rebel- slicker, more professional and has lost the streets of the truly lious slave of promi- some, but not all, of what made the first displaced,where more nent merchants in the series edgy.I knew all that before reading than 50 women could French colony of this book.And unfortunately, I don’t know go missing and for Montreal, was hanged much more now. years nothing was done to find them. In for allegedly burning An unexamined—almost fawning— Plain Sight is a vivid telling of lives from down a substantial love of Degrassi is consistent throughout women seldom heard from. portion of the city. Though no one died this book. It left me wondering: If it was The seven women interviewed for this and no one actually witnessed her starting such a groundbreaking series, why do book ended up living in the Downtown the fire, after enduring numerous hostile almost all the authors reference the same Eastside for different reasons—one fled interrogations, she finally confessed to the few episodes? Are documentary-style an abusive relationship, one entered a life crime while being tortured. camera work, unresolved narrative arcs of drug addiction from a place of privilege Based on her meticulous research of and non-professional actors the only dif- and other women just found it was the last church, state and historical publications, ferences between Degrassi and other place to go. For some of the women, the as well as detailed court transcripts of shows? And I don’t need to read more than Downtown Eastside eventually became Angelique’s incarceration and trial, in The one essay concluding that the show was their community, while for others it is Hanging of Angelique, biographer Afua more “real”than its contemporaries, Saved simply the place they ended up. Cooper places the reader within the by the Bell and Beverley Hills 90210,and its The most poignant interview is with social, cultural, economic and political progeny TNG. Like, duh. The collection’s “Anne,”a single mother dealing with men- context of the period during which first of three sections,“Degrassi and Youth tal–health problems.Her story shows how Angelique’s story unfolded—a time of Cultures,”focuses on Degrassi and TNG in our society allows someone to fall through rampantly competitive intercontinental the context of other teen shows and chang- all the cracks and end up struggling on trade and imperial conquests. With an ing eras. “Building Identity on Degrassi” the Downtown Eastside. Despite her attentive critical eye, acute historical sen- examines that issue exactly from various efforts, Anne experiences one setback sibility and compassionate speculation, viewpoints and is the strongest, most after another,“each constituting a brick in Cooper traces the arduous journey of this interesting section. In “Web Sites, Fan a fence that eventually becomes a wall.” now legendary woman from her Clubs & Reminisces” we hear from non- In Plain Sight is accurate. It works as a Portuguese birthplace to her enslavement scholars on their love for the show. snapshot of women’s lives through hard- in the colonies of the United States and, Overall, I really did enjoy reading many ship and challenges. The sentences trail ultimately,Canada.In so doing,she expos- of the essays. The pieces are generally well off, the storylines are not always comes one of the oldest slave narratives of written and thoughtful; some are down- pleted and the language has been kept in North America.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 41 Cooper convincingly challenges the RED LIGHT: Camilleri lays out her purpose in Red self-righteous notion that Canadians were SUPERHEROES, SAINTS Light: to give voice to the hidden heroines, less harsh to their slaves than Americans. to shine light on those icons that exist She notes how, in the early 19th century, AND SLUTS beyond the safety and sanctity of the when many slaves in the United States Edited by Anna Camilleri patriarchal mainstream. In this witty made their way to freedom in Canada via Arsenal Pulp Press, 2005 anthology of personal essays, poems, art, the Underground Railroad, some slaves in Review by Joy Parks photography and other forms that refuse this country were also escaping their Female icons abound to be categorized, 41 women explore a bondage by travelling south to Michigan in mainstream cul- broad spectrum of female iconography, and New England. ture: the goddess/ looking behind and to the side of expect- While Cooper acknowledges that slav- saint, the mother ed images and creating new ones based ery was not the foundation of Canada’s (preferably virginal), on the reality and true rituals of growing economy, like it was in the U.S., she and the bad girl/slut up female. emphasizes that the enslavement of people (most congenial, and While the collection is fresh and even, of African descent—as well as some safest, when blessed favourites emerge, including “The New Aboriginal people from the First with a heart of gold).Composed of impos- Beautiful,” by McKinley M. Hellenes, Nations—was a common institutional- sible assemblies of select characteristics, which makes us rethink the evil step- ized practice in this country for over 200 the female icon is an archetype, unreal mother/wicked witch archetype. “Sugar years.“Slavery is Canada’s best kept secret outside of the conventional collective Zero” is Rima Banerji’s ode to Aileen … written out of official history,”Cooper imagination. The very process of making Wuornos and women like her, and Linda declares in her book. or becoming an icon is about Dawn Hammond creatively depicts how Ye t The Hanging of Angelique poignant- naming/being named,about being judged poorly the Virgin Mary might fare if she ly liberates that story and significantly worthy or not, depending on whatever tried to get welfare in Toronto today. sheds more light on the insidious corrup- dominant values reign at a given point in Red Light, like all of Camilleri’s books, tion within and between the formidable time. What happens when she who is is brave and bold and in-your-face, a Church and the autocratic governments, judged, weighed, compared decides to do brazen mix of passionate intelligence and under both French and British rule, that some naming of her own? A book like Red striking sexuality with the power to stir firmly entrenched the roots of racism in Light happens. one’s inner rebel. this country. In her brilliantly rebellious introduction, Joy Parks is an Ottawa writer.

BRIAND / DUFRESNE traduction féministe 418-525-9164 [email protected] [email protected]

Terri E. Deller, b.a., ll.b.

barrister | solicitor | notary public

801 Princess Avenue Brandon, Manitoba R7A 0P5 Phone (204) 726-0128

42 FALL 2006 HERIZONS arts culture FEMINIST CLASSICS

THEIR EYES WERE WATCHING GOD Zora Neale Hurston First Published in 1937 Review by Stacey Kauder

Their Eyes Were Watching God is the heroic story of Janie Crawford’s search for her identity. From a young girl looking for love in the blooming of a pear tree to a “powerful, articulate and self-reliant” woman, Janie comes to realize the two rules in life: “Got tuh go to God and got tuh find out about livin’ fuh theyselves.” After two unsatisfying marriages, Janie meets Tea Cake and is delighted to find someone who allows her to be equal to him,“somebody [who] thought it natural for her to play.”Janie grows into a woman who has experienced the natural world and has emerged independent, stronger and wiser. She has experienced the love she’d been looking for, is comfortable and secure, “done been tuh de horizon and back,”and returns to town able to tell her own story. In a period when black authors wrote Her characters are complex and filled about political issues and slavery, Zora with the joy of life; they are not down- Neale Hurston gave voice to the experi- trodden and full of suffering. Credited ences of African Americans using folk- with being the first feminist novel in the lore, cultural traditions and, more Afro-American tradition, Their Eyes importantly, black vernacular. Originally Were Watching God has given birth to the criticized for their departure from typical most influential women in black litera- black writings, Hurston’s works, varying ture: Janie Crawford and Zora Neale from fiction, to folklore, to anthropology, Hurston. It’s not just the writings of were relinquished to the past in favour of Hurston that are significant; it is the more conventional male authors—until many women she has influenced, has 1975, when Alice Walker wrote her histor- shown the way to give voice to heroic and ical essay, “In Search of Zora Neale joyful female characters using black ver- Hurston,” in Ms. magazine. Walker is nacular, culture and traditions. Alice attributed with resurrecting the writings Walker, Toni Morrison and Toni Cade of Hurston and placing her in the literary Bambara are just a few who have found a canon, where she belongs. matriarch in Zora Neale Hurston.

HERIZONS FALL 2006 43 arts culture ARTS PROFILE

hidden. “Gay men have often left a mark on history precisely because they’ve been arrested or put on trial. But women have sort of slipped under the radar, in a funny sort of way. The absence of information about the 19th-century stuff was actually quite liberating for me because I could fill in the gaps.” Waters usually starts the writing process with three or four months of solid research.“I had to think really hard about why my characters were in London, because, realistically, people either left or they were sent on war work.So to be a young,single woman in London meant that you had to be in some sort of reserved occupation.” This is where I feel comfortable enough to unabashedly confess my love of Kay, the sweet butch ambulance driver. Waters is pleased and says she grew quite fond of Kay while writing the novel.“I had her in mind right from the start of the book—that I wanted her to be slightly butch, an enigmatic figure and very Sarah Waters: “We’re so used to seeing sex in film and it’s always really seamless and co-ordinated, and in real life it’s quite clumsy.” Photo: Charlie Hopkins capable,being right at the heart of things in the war.I suspect lots of butch women were in their element, with driving and piloting planes and things like that.” SARAH WATERS Like all of Waters’ novels, The Night Watch contains intensely by Zoe Whittal real erotic moments. I asked her how she approaches writing Sarah Waters is much smaller and more composed than I’d imag- about sex.“For me,the challenge is to write about sex in a way that ined—from her epic novels I expected her to be wild-eyed,full of does justice to how transporting sex can be when it’s good, but non sequitors and dramatic hair tosses.But,alas,Waters is sweet- also when it’s not. We’re so used to seeing sex in film and it’s ly poised and welcoming as I greet her in the lobby of the King always really seamless and co-ordinated, and in real life it’s quite Edward Hotel in downtown Toronto on a warm afternoon in May. clumsy.I like to just treat it as part of the spectrum of experiences During one of her many stops along an extensive book tour, we that a character has. It’s not like they enter in the bedroom and discuss her latest novel, The Night Watch. everything changes. It’s part of the same landscape.” The Night Watch is a departure from Waters’widely successful In The Night Watch, Waters manages to switch narrative styles first three novels (Tipping the Velvet, Fingersmith and Affinity) while maintaining the Waters-esque voice that fans have come to which were all set in the Victorian era. This time around, her enjoy.“I was worried that my readers wouldn’t want to move with ambitiously epic novel is set in the early 1940s and follows the me into the ’40s,”says Waters.“I didn’t really appreciate until I’d lives of four Londoners during and after the war. Kay, a butchy moved there,about the 19th century lending itself quite so well to wartime ambulance driver left restless after the war, Helen, her sweetheart,Viv,a glamorous single girl dating a married soldier, the kinds of stories I’d been used to telling,about secrets and rev- and Duncan, an alluring, fey young man imprisoned during the elations. I’ve always wanted to write in a way that suits the fiction war’s duration. All possess startling secrets and desires that of the period.” trouble them. It’s not only the time frame that has changed in The Night Waters is one of the few contemporary literary writers who Watch, Waters’ greatest writing challenge to date.“It’s a lot more make no bones about writing of gay and lesbian characters. She pared-down, quiet, domestic and quite chilly,” she reflects. “I’d claims, contrary to rumours, that her publicist and publishers already made the decision to move into the third person,and that have never suggested she tone down queer thematics or be less sort of made a change. With the first person, it tends to put you out herself as a lesbian writer. right there.I made other decisions—like to have a cast of charac- Many of Waters’ characters deal with intense shame and lone- ters and move between them. It was unnerving to give up melo- liness as a result of their sexuality, but this is never the focus of drama, because I feel very at home with it. But I began to really their stories.“I’ve never especially been interested in just writing enjoy the quietness and the slow buildup of fairly quiet scenes.” a story about people just dealing with homophobia. The gay stuff I highly recommend reading The Night Watch.It’s just as tends to be a bit more incidental to the other issues.” addictive as Tipping the Velvet, with 100 percent less stabbing I ask her about how she researches queer lives when so much is and baby-stealing.

44 FALL 2006 HERIZONS arts culture FILM REVIEW

Lucile Hadzihalilovic reminds us that growing up isn’t all rainbows and unicorns.

INNOCENCE abject cruelty and strange, inexplicable outbursts of rage. Directed by Lucile Hadzihalilovic Many viewers may be disturbed by a world where female Mars Distribution, 2005 pre-adolescence is at once idealized and threatened; at every Review by Maureen Medved step, the film hedges along this tense foreboding. Throughout, Some experiences in life aren’t best explained through linear sto- the girls seem to be in a constant state of ritualized femininity, rytelling,such as the experience of finding one’s way through the tending to one another, taking ballet classes, skipping rope and wild thicket of childhood. twirling ribbons. The few adults in the film blatantly objectify Innocence, by French filmmaker Lucile Hadzihalilovic, adapt- and evaluate the children based on traditional perceptions of ed from an obscure 1888 story, won Best First Film at the San beauty, such as the length and shape of a girl’s neck, leaving the Sebastian Film Festival in 2004. The story is about three young viewer with the impression of produce or livestock evaluated at a girls at a girls’ school that appears to be enclosed within a market. At one point, an adult tells the girls almost like a threat: secluded park. “Sadly, not all caterpillars become pretty butterflies.”It’s as if the Iris arrives in a coffin, and a group of schoolgirls greet her entire film exists as a poetic meditation on the purity of inno- with exhilarated anticipation. Throughout the first third of the cence and its inevitable ruin. And, even more deeply, the film film, Iris asks why she can’t leave the strange sanctuary. The explores that archetypal yearning to step outside the bounds of second third of the story focuses on Alice, who dreams of safety, only to risk disaster. This lush portrait of pre-adolescent escaping the school so that she can know the world outside its femininity is stylistically and thematically reminiscent of the borders.And the third focuses on Bianca, the oldest girl, whose work of Jane Campion and Angela Carter.Hadzihalilovic chooses time it is to leave the school and make her way into the terrify- to leave out story essentials,thus enhancing this world cloaked in ing outer world. mystery, codes and ritual. Innocence compels and taunts viewer Some reviewers have criticized the film’s lack of plot and its expectations of femininity. dalliance along the sharp edge of exploitation: Hadzihalilovic This extraordinary work is at once gorgeous and terrifying, includes many scenes where pre-pubescent girls frolic almost like tapping in to the subconscious of a woman reeling from a naked. However, dramatic intent exists behind such moments. strange, beautiful and horrifying dream. Hadzihalilovic reminds The director skims over these scenes, so that we get the impres- us that growing up isn’t all rainbows and unicorns, just as she sion of an idyllic childhood paradise where young girls are com- reminds us that film is primarily a visual art form, rather than a fortable with their own bodies, juxtaposed with moments of machine cranking out story after predictable story.

HERIZONS SUMMER 2006 45

… continued from page 27 (Cross Purposes) I was drawn to the idea of being on stage, now I am drawn to the idea of providing audiences with alter- behaviour. Jill, who performs as drag king Jakob native views on gender identity. Drag is political for Fyre, explains: “Drag is just a way of having fun and me now, as well as an expression of my diverse accentuating the perception of the male gender gender identification.” image.” The point of drag is that the audience isn’t Although we can make guesses based on our knowl- fooled, but nevertheless buys into the illusion, edge of social conditions, we can’t say for certain why enjoying the contradictions of the fantasy. For AJ, a particular woman preferred trousers instead of a drag is both a personal and a political act. He recalls crinoline. But we do know that by challenging gender that each performance helped him think through stereotypes—intentionally or not—these historic and his own identity change. As a result, he says, “I contemporary characters have helped to empower came out as bi-gendered and now incorporate my women and undress stereotypes about supposed personal gender politics into my acts. While at first gender limitations.

… continued from page 29 (Dancing through Depression) the basement is warm and filled with the voices of dozens of bright, friendly women. While the choir is emotional disturbances. “Women who are depressed open to all women, several members share stories of house strong emotions, and that’s what art gets at.” participating in the choir to relieve depression. The Like other art therapists, Magnuson began coun- choir provides a non-threatening opportunity for selling in a traditional setting before incorporating art creative expression. It also provides them with a practices into her work. Art therapists often use art as tremendous sense of community. a means of stress management in their own lives and Elena, whose name has been changed, relays a find a natural transition when bringing these practices conversation with her doctor about the choir: to their clients. “My family physician remarked to me that it Art therapy has grown in acceptance in Canada seemed that every second woman she saw in her prac- over the past 50 years. Researchers began investigat- tice was talking about how they had joined this won- ing this field in the 1940s, and there are now art derful choir and it made them feel so good. My doctor therapy associations and training institutes, plus a commented (only half joking) that she thought there code of ethics. should be provincial funding for this sort of thing as a An occupational therapist’s approach to art therapy community health initiative,” Elena says. differs from other approaches to therapy in that it While the benefits of physical exercise for mental emphasizes the act of creating as a healing process in health have long been recognized, the benefits of cre- and of itself. Used with some war veterans who were ative exercise are now gaining recognition as well. unable to adjust to a peaceful life at home, art therapy Many women get involved in the arts because they is based on a philosophy that acknowledges the recognize their improved emotional and mental client’s need to learn new skills to improve their health. Some of them are generally healthy individu- social, psychological and physical health. als, while others deal with depression, anxiety and other health problems. COMMUNITY ARTS Regardless of their emotional health, the arts can Many women are involved in arts groups as a means be a resource for restoring and maintaining the of informal stress management. In Kingston, complexities of a human being who consists of body, Ontario, a vibrant women’s choir is a source of emo- mind, heart and soul. The arts offer women an tional rejuvenation for its members. avenue to reconnect with their communities and On a cold January evening, the night outside is their selves. Says Linda: “I come home from dance dark and the wind sharp, but inside an old building and I’m ready to take on the world!”

HERIZONS FALL 2006 47 on the edge BY LYN COCKBURN

BOARD WITH SEXISM Not long after The Da Vinci Code opened in theatres, Way, an omission I intend to repair as soon as I finish Monsignor Frederick Dolan, the vicar of Opus Dei the latest Janet Evanovitch. (means Work of God) in Canada, was interviewed on Evidently, Josemaria also thought women should do national TV. I was fascinated—nay, enraptured. all the cooking and housecleaning in the communities The headquarters is in Montreal, and there are run by the organization. evidently some 600 members here and about Evan did question Fred about this and, to my sur- 86,000 worldwide. prise, Fred answered that women just do the nurturing Author Dan Brown painted Opus Dei as a murder- stuff better and that while there have been a few men ous sect within the Catholic Church, a cult-like involved in cooking and serving dinner and things like group, in fact, which is mixed up in all sorts of con- that, it just wasn’t the same. spiracies and employs albinos to do its dirty work. Besides, said Fred reflectively, we need beauty in If I had written The Da Vinci Code (and I wish I had, the home. “I need beauty.” because I’ve always wanted to own a red Porsche, a Now, I happen to have a number of male friends condo in Paris, a chocolate factory and Antonio who are most nurturing of their kids, their wives and Banderas) I would not have had an albino doing the their friends. In fact, most of the men I know, bad stuff. I would have chosen for my evil guy some- straight and gay, have no trouble dispensing hugs, body like the recently separated Sir Paul McCartney, comfort, food, encouragement, praise and humour who had no business marrying a woman young when it seems to be needed. enough to be his nurse. I must ask them what they think of the discrimina- Anyway, I like the fact that the CBC sent Evan tion against men as practised in Opus Dei. I’m sure Solomon to interview Fred—very ecumenical that. they’ll be both surprised and disapproving. Evan asked all the right questions, and it quickly To be fair, I must point out that the group does became apparent that there is nothing the least bit allow men to use the cilice (sort of like a piece of dangerous about Opus Dei. I doubt the bunch in chain link fence which is strapped around the Montreal has ever done murder, or time. thigh for several hours at a time to cause pain and What they do for sure is sleep on boards: wooden godliness) as often as the women do. boards, planks—the men on weekends and the All in all, Opus Dei is not a sect, nor is it a cult. I do women all seven nights of the week. Just why the think Father Fred is a trifle odd, though—there was women members get to sleep on boards more often that bit about self-flagellation twice a week on his than the men is not something Fred explained bare buttocks. exactly. It does seem rather sexist. Surely the men As for the founder, Josemaria Escriva (no relation ought to be permitted to sleep on planks as often as to Antonio Banderas, by the way), he can be forgiven the women, and I am surprised that, evidently, for his sexist attitudes towards men, because after since 1928, when the group was founded, no man all, he wrote his books and stuff in 1928, when men has complained about this inequality. were not considered to be any good at nurturing or Fred told Evan that Opus Dei founder Josemaria sleeping on planks. Escriva, a Spanish priest, wrote something about But this is 2006, and I do think that if Opus Dei women and planks in his book, The Way. Sadly, while wants to get anywhere it will have to treat its male I have read The Da Vinci Code, I have not read The members with more respect.

48 FALL 2006 HERIZONS Our stories, ourselves

In the tradition of the bestselling Dropped Threads and Dropped Threads 2 comes this new collection of essays from well-known writers and new voices. For this collection, editor Marjorie Anderson took a new thematic path, searching out pieces that don’t necessarily focus on what women haven’t been told, but rather on what they have to tell. In Dropped Threads 3: Beyond the Small Circle, thirty-five women open up their own small circles of experience to others in ways that not only illuminate the lives of individual women but add more threads to the already-rich tapestry of our collective conversation.

NATIONAL BESTSELLER “A thoughtful anthology of essays about knowledge, advice and lessons learned.” —Winnipeg Free Press

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