Branching Out Canadian magazine for women september/october 1977 $1.25 Our Bodies: Taking Control • Is a Hospital Any Place to Have a Baby? • Sterilization and the Law that Isn't There • Self-Defense — Beyond the Hatpin • How Medical Politics Affect You • When a Stranger Says 'Hey Baby!' • Can a Feminist be a Stripper? PLUS: Two Festivals • Vancouver Island Photos • Fiction • Poetry • Reviews Branching Out Board of Directors Regular Columns Dallas Cullen, Evelyn Ross, Jan Walter, Sharon Batt. Elaine Butler. 2 letters Linda Duncan, Barbara Hartmann 3 law Editor Sterilization: What's the Law Pat Wright and Doris Wilson Sharon Batt When There is None? Business Manager 38 film Elaine Butler Festival Notebook: Design Cannes and Berlin Jane Dick and Judith Mirus Brenda Pfleger 42 books Editorial Departments Shirley Swartz Palling The Writer as Psalmist Barbara Hartmann (Art), Diana Feminism in French Canadian (Photography), Shirley Swartz (Book Martin Reviews), Linda Duncan (Law), Literature Simone Rae Anne O'Grady (Fiction), Margaret The Female Factor Donna Cooper (Film) More Books Contributing Editors 48 classified Helen Corbett, Joanna Dean, Jannie Edwards, Jill Mclvor. Susan McMaster Features (Ottawa), Diana S. Palling, 7 A Body Awakening Dulce Oikawa Heather Pringle, Eva Radford, 10 Hospitals: Are They Any Place Helen Rosta, Linda Shorten to Have a Baby? Zonia Key wan Advertising 14 Home Birth Revival Joanna Dean and Jannie Marilyn Fuchs Edwards Other Staff this Issue 17 Haec Ars Viros Dedecet Joanna Dean Annette Henderson, Kay Wilson 18 Taking It Off Anne McLean 20 Wilderness Hike Cherie Westmoreland and Branching Out is published ever> two months b> the New Sally Bowen Women's Magazine Society, a Canadian Charitable Organiza­ tion. Editorial office located at 8631 - 109 Street. Edmonton. 33 "Hey Baby, What d'ya Say?" Karen Joyce Hood phone (403)433-4021. 35 Danger: Construction Ahead Jacqui Vannelli Published with the assistance of Alberta Culture and the Alberta Law Foundation. 36 Body Politics Pat Preston g Copyright 1977 by the New Women's Magazine Society. Edmonton. Alberta. All rights reserved. Unless used in a Women in the Arts review, the reproduction of this work in any form, by any means, including photocopying, recording, information stor­ 6 Two Poems Marilyn Bowering age and retrieval systems, et cetera, is forbidden without the 22 Cape Scott Trail Cherie Westmoreland express permission of the publisher. Send all correspondence to Box 4098. Edmonton. Alberta. 28 fiction In Transit Veronica Ross Submissions should be typed, double-spaced and 32 Calliope in the Cornfield Kem March accompanied by a stamped self-addressed envelope. We review unsolicited manuscripts from Canadian women only. Subscription rates in Canada. $6.00 per year. $11.00 for two years for individuals: 510.00 per year. $20.00 for two years cover macrame sculpture "Pregnant Lady" for institutions. Add $1.00 per year for U.S. rates. 52.00 per year for overseas rates. Advertising rates available on by Francie Ratner request. photo by Lauren Dale Back issues of Branching Oul are available on microfilm from Micromedia Ltd.. Box 34. Station S. Toronto. M5M 4L6. The magazine is on file with the International Women's History Archive, now housed at the Special Collection Library, Northwestern University, Evanston. 1L 60201. Branching Oul is a member of the Canadian Periodical Publishers' Association. Printing by Industrial Printing and Litho Ltd.. Edmonton Typesetting by Superior Typesetting Ltd. Second Class Mail Registration Number 3517. Vol. IV. No. 4, september/october 1977, ISSN 0382 - 5264 September/October 1977 letters May f respond to Ms, Kozub's fully and critically. As Margot Edwards that women have special links with the objections regarding "Open Letter to said at a recent conference, "If you've earth, the moon, the tides, et cetera, that Niles Newton" (May/June 1977) which got to read any of those books, read a they have more soul, are less destructive was printed in 'letters' July/August lot of them." by nature (emphasis mine) et cetera. No, 1977? Eunice Scarfe, Edmonton if there is any truth in it, it is not of our I am sorry Ms .Kozub assumed nature, but of the way we live." "Open Letter" was exclusively about She further states ". it is a good Niles Newton's sexist child rearing ad­ thing that a woman is no longer ashamed vice or a plea for research to inform us of her body, of her pregnancy, of her that we can raise children outside of rigid I take exception to Marguerite periods. But one must not make too sex roles. Surely it is more about me­ Corriveau's view of "feminine" as much of it and believe the female body thods employed in parenting books expressed in her interview with Judith gives a fresh vision of the world. It which have proliferated since Newton Minis (May/June, 1977). would turn it into a counter-penis. followed Spock some 30 years ago. By Ms. Corriveau, discussing the film Women who share this belief descend to any criteria, some of the methods used Eliza's Horiscope for which she was the level of the emotional, the mystical reflect a low opinion of intended readers, associate producer, states "It's impor­ and cosmic. They fall into the trap of readers who by implication are usually tant that women become liberated men who will then be able to oppress women parents. (Dodson even writes a because the conscious aspect of a them more easily." separate book for men: How to Father, woman, her nature [emphasis mine ] is We should not be trying to excuse 1974). Eros the feminine, the affectionate, sexist behavior and attitudes by attribut­ On matters of factual information I the sexual and procreative, the intui­ ing them to something we have no agree with Ms.Kozub that the authority tive." control over, i.e. our right or left brain of people like Niles Newton is very use­ Has it come to this, replacing old hemisphere. ful, but on matters reflecting an author's stereotypes with "new (?) improved" If Ms. Corriveau is right and this is opinion and values I object to the liber­ ones? an important "woman's film," I shud­ ties taken in parenting books in failing to To refute her point of view I would der. give reasons for opinions given or assu­ like to quote Simone de Beauvoir: "... Peter Draper, Sidney, B.C. ming that a given system of values is universal. Failure to analyze research ci­ ted and writing as if all research results are synonomous with truth are other ways of implying that a parent is incapa­ ble of intelligent choices. Surely a parent is more than a means through which 0 petit no some authority's advice should be im­ plemented. Yes, Newton did publish her words tnid-Sept. 20 years ago. Had her method in writing "Differences between boys and girls" (we Hoy e) been less authoritarian, her advice would look less dated Ms. Kozub implies, how­ ever, that Newton's ideas have disap­ Special peared, and hence need not be discus­ sed. Sexist child rearing attitudes have orders hardly disappeared since her book was published, and perhaps child rearing is welcome one of the areas least influenced by fe­ minist thinking. Newton's book is still very much read and undoubtedly in­ fluences the upbringing of many children today. The advice she gives is not altered in the least byMs.Kozub's defense that UMOS-WhyteCWe. E Am out on she is both female and a PhD. If "Open Letter" is anything, it is a plea to parents to read widely, care­ Branching Oui IQUU Sterilization: What's the Law When There is None? by Pat Wright and Doris Wilson Voluntary sterilization is usually un­ you were sterilized when you did not However, if the operation were negli­ derstood to mean sterilization for the want to be. gently done, then s. 198 allows the pa­ sole purpose of family planning. The Could you, as a patient, sue the tient to lay a criminal charge, as it does doctor performing the operation and the doctor who sterilized you? As in any for any other medical procedure impro­ hospital taking responsibility for it are medical operation, your doctor could be perly performed. concerned about their potential liability sued if the operation was done negli­ s. 198 Everyone who undertakes to if the individual, the individual's spouse gently and damage resulted. If you died, administer surgical or medical treatment or the government should take legal the person appointed to look after your to another person or to do any other action as a result of the sterilization. affairs could sue. lawful acts that may endanger the life of The Canadian law on voluntary another person is, except in cases of sterilization is uncertain, as are many There have been no cases in Canada necessity, under a legal duty to have areas of the law. Frequently the reason where judges have said sterilization and use reasonable knowledge, skill and for such uncertainty is that there are for contraceptive purposes is illegal; care in doing so. numerous statutes stating the law in nor are there cases which say it is It is unlikely that anyone would attempt varying ways and conflicting cases inter­ legal. to have a doctor criminally charged for a pret the statutes in different ways. For properly performed sterilization which example, divorce law has become uncer­ Negligence could also take the form has been voluntarily requested. There is tain because of the multiplicity of cases of misinformation or inadequate informa­ no parallel with abortion, for abortion is and varying interpretations by different tion as to the effects and implications of itself considered a criminal act (it is an judges.