Herizons articles from January 2011

Herizons archives from January 2011

Mixed messages about sex.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2011... In the Fall 2020 issue of Herizons, I read with much interest the article "The New Sexual Exploitation," an exploration of Sharlene Azam's book, Oral Sex is the New Goodnight Kiss. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It strikes me as ironic that some...

Time honoured.(LETTERS)(Letter to the editor)
January 1, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] I read Penni Mitchell's editorial on Time magazine's cover photo of Bibi Aisha in the Fall 2010 issue of Herizonsas I was en route to Kabul, and I wanted to let you know that I found it slightly misleading. I...

Sisters in spirit.(first word)
January 1, 2011... It turns out that you can decimate entire nations by decimating the power of their women. It helps if you've got superior firepower, too, but as far as the colonizing of the upper half of Turtle Island is concerned the decimation of Aboriginal...

Documenting feminist history.
January 1, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Margaret Thatcher once said she owed nothing to feminism, which always made me wonder how she figured she came by the right to vote, let alone run for office and serve as prime minister. And yet Thatcher's apparent...

Leader freed.(nellie grams)(Aung San Suu Kyi)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... The November release of Aung San Suu Kyi, the democratically elected leader of Burma--also known as Myanmar--spurred qualified commendation from women's groups in the country. The Women's League of Burma said it hopes that Suu Kyi's freedom of...

Niqab defended.(nellie grams)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... The Ontario Court of Appeal has confirmed that a sexual assault complainant can testify wearing a niqab. The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund intervened in support of the rape victim in R. vs. N.S. LEAF legal director Joanna Birenbaum...

Pakistan forum appoints woman.(nellie grams)(Asma Jahangir of the Supreme Court Bar Association)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... Human rights activist Asma Jahangir was elected the first female president of Pakistan's Supreme Court Bar Association, Reuters reported. The Supreme Court Bar Association is Pakistan's most influential forum for lawyers.

Driving change.(nellie grams)(car leasing and women)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... We're not sure this is a big equality milestone, but it's an interesting trend. LeaseTrader.com, a U.S. car leasing marketplace reports that for the first time the number of women under 30 driving luxury vehicles is greater than the number of...

Women to unite in Ottawa.(nellie grams)(Ottawa, Ontario)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... Women from around the world will gather in Ottawa this summer for a global women's conference called Women's Worlds, billed as a gathering for academics, activists, researchers, policy-makers, advocates and artists. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Women leaders hit 20 percent.(nellie grams)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... Dilma Rousseff, Brazil's first female president-elect, brings the number of female heads of state among leaders of the G20 states to a record-breaking four, or 20 percent. At the recent summit in Seoul, South Korea, Rousseff was joined by...

FGM recipe for success.(nellie grams)(female genital mutilation)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... UNICEF has released a report urging intervention programs that address the needs and wishes of the entire community in eradicating female genital mutilation. An estimated three million girls and women are at risk in Africa each year, but...

Bubble zone protection.(CAMPAIGN UPDATES)
January 1, 2011... According to the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (ARCC), "bubble zone" protection may be the answer to unwanted harassment of clients and staff at Canada's abortion clinics. An ARCC-backed study found that 64 percent of abortion clinics in...

McIvor takes fight to un.(CAMPAIGN UPDATES)(Sharon McIvor)
January 1, 2011... Fed up with Canadian courts' slow pace of progress on the issue of Aboriginal women's rights, Sharon McIvor is filing a sex discrimination complaint at the United Nations. "Canada continues to discriminate against Aboriginal women and their...

Mind your business.(CAMPAIGN UPDATES)(women and boards of directors)
January 1, 2011... A coalition of investors managing over $73 billion US in assets called on companies to increase representation of women on boards of directors and in senior management. The call from Pax World, Calvert and Walden Asset Management came in...

First trans judge elected in U.S.(nelligrams)(Victoria Kolakowski)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... Victoria Kolakowski, an administrative law judge with the California Public Utilities Commission, was elected Superior Court judge in Alameda County, California, becoming the first openly transgendered person to serve as a trial judge in the...

Phone app fights harassment.(nelligrams)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... Hollaback, a group that confronts the street harassment of women, has released an iPhone application that allows users to report harassment in seconds, according to the New York Times. The data is used by Hollaback to send a follow-up email...

Remember this Alzheimer's prevention tip.(nelligrams)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... For people with Alzheimer's, neurons in certain areas of the brain are unable to take in glucose. According to research conducted by Dr. Mary Newport, coconut oil may help because it is a good source of medium-chain triglyceride (MCT). The liver...

Infanticide defence defended.(CAMPAIGN UPDATES)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... In the fall, LEAF intervened in an appeal court trial to offer its feminist perspective on the ongoing relevance and importance of infanticide as a homicide offence that is separate and distinct from murder. In the past few years, LEAF says,...

Progress on equality stalled.(analysis)(Essay)
January 1, 2011... When Section 15 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms came into force 25 years ago, no one imagined that governments would become major obstructers to the promise of equality enshrined in the Constitution. Yet that is what has happened....

Magazine rallies Afghan women.(Negah-e-Zan)
January 1, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] (KABUL) Transformative change has taken hold of Afghanistan since the ousting of the Taliban in 2001, and, thanks to a new magazine focussed on women's empowerment, women are documenting more of those changes. Legal...

Pick your poison.(cole's notes)(polygamy)(Viewpoint essay)
January 1, 2011... What do the pornography and polygamy debates have in common? Both make me feel like women don't have much choice. I've been fascinated by the current B.C. trial attempting to determine whether the boys over there in the community of Bountiful...

Bending gender: breaking binaries.(Kate Bornstein and S. Bear Bergman)(Interview)
January 1, 2011... In the 15 years since Kate Bornstein's groundbreaking Gender Outlaw: On Men, Women and the Rest of Us exposed the cracks in the construction of gender, the world has seen some significant changes. Not only has it begun to see the inclusion of...

Portrait of the artist as a mother: are artist mothers still marginalized and expected to choose between creative self-expression and their children? the reaction from these artists may surprise you.(Viewpoint essay)
January 1, 2011... It's not the reaction I expected. I'm in my Toronto living room screening the 2008 documentary Who Does She Think She Is? Director Pamela T. Boll profiles five American women and presents a sobering portrait of the contemporary...

Are co-op brothels the answer?
January 1, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Susan Davis, leader of the West Coast Co-operative of Sex Industry Professionals (WCCSIP), smiles wistfully when asked what will happen if her dream of a co-operative brothel materializes. "It will be so good for...

Porn again: why it's time to take another look at a divisive issue.
January 1, 2011... In light of a new documentary celebrating Hugh Hefner as the grandfather of the sexual revolution, feminists might be wondering how mainstream heterosexual pornography has evolved since Playboy was launched in 1953. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] ...

Cover up: why banning the niqab is not the answer.(Essay)
January 1, 2011... France recently enacted a bill banning veils which cover the face. Similar moves in Quebec, Belgium, Holland and some Spanish municipalities to penalize Muslim women who wear full body coverings such as the niqab or burqa are based on...

KT Tunstall: Tiger Suit.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... KT TUNSTALL TIGER SUIT Virgin [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] With her debut single "Black Horse and a Cherry Tree," KT Tunstall set herself miles apart from her Top 40 contemporaries. The follow-up, "Suddenly I See," proved the "Black Horse"...

The New Pornographers: Last Gang Records.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... THE NEW PORNOGRAPHERS TOGETHER Last Gang Records [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Revered alt-country artist Neko Case is more than just one of the most dramatic country solo acts to come out of the Pacific Northwest since Loretta Lynn took...

Lauren Best: Sticker Collection.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... LAUREN BEST STICKER COLLECTION Independent [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Sticker Collection is an impressive debut for a singer-songwriter who is barely out of high school. According to the press bumph, high school is when the now...

Hilary Grist: Imaginings.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... HILARY GRIST IMAGININGS Independent [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Cabaret cool meets ethereal pop, then gets completely subjugated by the wittiest lyrics to recent memory--welcome to Hilary Grist and her new CD, Imaginings. Grist is best...

Nikki Lynette: The Strong Survive.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2011... NIKKI LYNETTE THE STRONG SURVIVE Independent [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] If you've got an ounce of funky diva in your soul, DIY artist Nikki Lynette's first EP The Strong Survive will have you looking for her full-length debut. A...

Hannah Georgas: This is Good.(Sound recording review)(Brief article)
January 1, 2011... HANNAH GEORGAS THIS IS GOOD Hidden Pony [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Calling a CD This is Good is a ballsy move, as it opens up an artist to all kinds of nasty remarks that pass for wit when scrawled by snide music reviewers. Hannah...

The Knife Sharpener's Bell.(Book review)
January 1, 2011... THE KNIFE SHARPENER'S BELL RHEA TREGEBOV Coteau Books [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Tales of immigration to the New World are often told but the return voyages, from New World to Old, are less storied. Likewise, those of us who grew up...

An Unexpected Break in the Weather.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2011... AN UNEXPECTED BREAK IN THE WEATHER DEBORAH SCHNITZER Turnstone Press [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Deborah Schnitzer's An Unexpected Break in the Weather highlights the warmth and winds of Winnipeg's Corydon strip as Schnitzer weaves a...

Her mother's Ashes 3 Stories by South Asian Women in Canada and the United States.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2011... HER MOTHER'S ASHES 3 STORIES BY SOUTH ASIAN WOMEN IN CANADA AND THE UNITED STATES EDITED BY NURJEHAN AZIZ TSAR Publications [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] This new collection containing stories by 24 South Asian writers in North...

Maternity Rolls: Pregnancy, Childbirth and Disability.(Book review)
January 1, 2011... MATERNITY ROLLS: PREGNANCY, CHILDBIRTH AND DISABILITY HEATHER KUTTAI Fernwood Books [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Heather Kuttai masterfully brings the personal and the political together in her book Maternity Rolls: Pregnancy,...

Girl Unwrapped.(Book review)
January 1, 2011... GIRL UNWRAPPED GABRIELLA GOLIGER Arsenal Pulp Press Are you tired of flashy postmodern novels that leave you admiring but unmoved? Are you interested in Canadian social history, or Jewish Canadians, or post-Holocaust fiction or lesbian...

Reluctant Bedfellows.(Book review)
January 1, 2011... RELUCTANT BEDFELLOWS MEREDITH RALSON AND EDNA KEEBLE Kumarian Press [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Can a pair of Western academics really make a tangible difference in the lives of socio economically marginalized women in the global South?...

Victims no More: Women's Resistance to Law, Culture and Power.(Book review)
January 1, 2011... VICTIMS NO MORE: WOMEN'S RESISTANCE TO LAW, CULTURE AND POWER EDITED BY ELLEN FAULKNER AND GAYLE MACDONALD Fernwood Publishing The title of this book says it all. Victims No More: Women's Resistance to Law, Culture and Poweris...

Bone Dream.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2011... BONE DREAM MOIRA MACDOUGALL Tightrope Books [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] It may sound like a strange criticism, but my biggest complaint about Moira MacDougall's Bone Dream is that I wish its title were Saltwater Bone. Bone Dream makes the...

Joy is so Exhausting.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2011... JOY IS SO EXHAUSTING SUSAN HOLBROOK Coach House [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Susan Holbrook's second book Joy is so exhausting is another bright gem, a delightful, witty romp through language and body language. Poems like "Good Egg Bad...

Forage.(Brief article)(Book review)
January 1, 2011... FORAGE RITA WONG Nightwood Editions [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Too often, an overeager didacticism creeps into politically charged poetry and squashes aesthetic considerations. Happily, this is not the case for forage by Rita Wong, her...

Fish Tank.(Movie review)
January 1, 2011... [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] FISH TANK Directed by Andrea Arnold Fish Tank, the second feature film by U.K. writer/director Andrea Arnold, is a close study of rage and its workings within female adolescence. Mia, played by Katie Jarvis, is...

Politics on thin ice.(on the edge)(Bristol Palin)
January 1, 2011... Bristol Palin says it was prayer that got her through Dancing with the Stars. "It is faith that got me through this and just praying all the time and just relying on God and knowing that He is on our side and we'll get through this," said...