Canadian Government Thwarts Women Yet Again

Stephen Harper is Bad News.

Why? I'll tell ya why! In 2007, Harper's federal government changed the objectives and funding for the Status of Women Canada (SWC) program. Notably, the word "equality" was removed from the SWC's mandate, and the SWC's budget was slashed by $5 million. As a result, associations such as NAWL (National Association of Women and the Law) faced some huge setbacks. The NAC (National Action Committee) condemned this move and blasted the government for its actions.

I bring this up because of the recent noise surrounding Proposed Bill C-484, called the "Unborn Victims of Crime Act". Basically, it's an amendment to the Criminal Code which would grant personhood to the fetus. So if a man shot and murdered woman who was carrying an unborn child, he would be arrested on two murder charges instead of one. On the surface, this may seem dandy (well, not to me).

People are unimpressed. And for good reason. If passed, this bill would be an unconstitutional infringement on women’s rights, and would result in harm against pregnant women. It's a step towards re-criminalizing abortion, plus the bill could also criminalize pregnant women for behaviours perceived to cause harm to their fetuses.

Hmm, I may have to write a letter to my MP or something.

ETA: Here is a sample letter you can send to your MP and you can go here to find your MP. Cheers y'all.

The Wonderful Future...

You know how when a decade nears its end you get a glimpse what the next one will be dominated by? Because, obviously, there's no clear-cut divide between one decade to another, it's just a general transition. So what will the 2010's be like? From what I'm seeing lately, it will be as divisive as it will be revolutionary. There will be a lot of backlash in many different arenas of life. But most noticeably, we will "go green" in a lot of ways.

Gonna Make It Out Of This One Way Town

My weekend in Ottawa was lovely. The drive up was back-breaking and went late into the night, but when I got to my friend Rachel’s house we immediately hit up the patio. She had beer and wings, I had nachos and a cocktail… good times.

The next day we had brunch at a quaint diner down the street, walked off our greasy food by heading to the market (passing Parliament on the way). After the market we walked back to her place along the Rideau Canal (where, to her amazement, we saw an otter swimming through the shallow murk). After chilling for a bit we headed to the Glebe, which is a neighbourhood with a stupid name and probably should be called Yuppieville instead. ;) We checked out some of the stores and then went to an amazing Italian restaurant for dinner.

After dinner we went back to her place to make copious amounts of mixed drinks in martini glasses. I made some pretty amazing concoctions on the fly, my favourite being the one with melon and peach liquor, vodka, and orange juice, shaken with ice and strained. Then we were off to Elgin Street to meet with some of Rachel’s friends, maybe, and go to a club. We met up with her friends but they ended up going to a different club than us. The club we ended up going to was nice, with decent music and really cool laser/smoke/light effects. Also, we were both underdressed compared to the other chicks in the club with their three inch heels and tiny dresses, with our jeans and t-shirts, so dem boys totally left us alone. Hurrah. We left the club around 3 AM and proceeded to drink lots of water and eat some amazing leftover veggie lasagna before crashing for the night.

The next day I was feeling lazy so we stayed in and watched Firefly all morning. Then I headed back home. On the way I took a little side trip through Kingston. The first thing I wanted to do was drive past our old place, but it didn’t elicit much of a reaction out of me. Driving by Stauffer, however, gave me a huge wave of nostalgia. As much as things have changed there, so much has stayed the same.

Hooray For Entertainment

You know you're a Final Fantasy fan when you're eating sunflower seeds and you read the container then flip out because sunflower in French = tournesol. Ahahaha.

I've downloaded some fun music since last night:

1. Samim - Heater
2. Dave Armstrong - Love Is Gone
3. Ne-Yo - Closer
4. Janet Jackson ft. Ciara - Feedback

As an aside, the video for #2 makes me roll my eyes. It's one more in a long line of useless dance videos that feature gratuitously sexualized women, a la Calabria, Let Me Think About It, and Call On Me. Great songs, pathetic videos. Alas.

The Best Thing Since Sliced Bread

I discovered a most excellent food item last week. Lately I’ve been craving buttered popcorn at night, but I know that shit is so very unhealthy. But when I was doing my weekly grocery shopping, I came across the following: buttered popcorn flavoured rice cakes. Wow. Nutritional information showed that it was low in sodium and fat yet had a good dose of vitamins A and C. I thought, "This will either taste horrific or amazing. I MUST KNOW WHICH ONE IT IS!" I bought it and opened it up when I got home... it tastes exactly like buttered popcorn. But healthy! It’s my new favourite thing. :)

Here's another fantastic quote that's been wasting away on my computer. I think it was said by blogger Bitchy Jones.

... just shut up about how women are so lucky as if having more wardrobe options in some way makes up for, you know, all the other oppression. Cause having to fight for the right to, you know, like sex without being a dirty evil whore is such a full time job I don’t really spend a lot of time marveling that I can wear trousers *or* a skirt to do it in.

Heh, damn skippy.

Current State Of Affairs

List of things I need to do:

- Buy TP and juice boxes
- Send in a bunch of clothes for dry-cleaning
- Bring back my spring shoes from home

I'm having one of those moments where I wish I was making more money. Six figures would be so nice. Excessive for just me, but nice nevertheless. One of these days...

Isn't it interesting how we force ourselves to drink foul substances just because of their effect on us, and because of their socially acceptable nature? Or is that just me? I'm talking about alcohol and coffee of course. BLRAGH, this French Vanilla concoction is disgusting.

Chain Of Logic

Last night in the shower I was thinking about stuff and ending up mixing math with feminism. Like, there's an equation that links power, respect and femininity together. Seriously...

Respect directed towards a woman = (Amount of socialized femininity she practices) - (Power she possess due to other privileges i.e. race, education, class, etc.)

This means that the more power a woman has due to various reasons factors, the more she is encouraged to embraced the traditional trappings of femininity: high heels, perfectly coiffed hair, manicured nails, and an eating disorder a slim, bikini-worthy figure. This is why, in my mind, Hilary Clinton gets so much flack. She doesn't dress in a typically feminine manner, but she is a powerful woman, and it irks everyone to high hell. It's almost as if with a woman with a good deal of power, her potential must be negated by practices that serve to remind her that she is a woman above all, not just a person.

(Yes, yes, I realize there's a crapload of faulty logic here. :P)

Some People Say Awesome Things

(Courtesy of Twisty)

Femininity, in fact, can’t even be practiced without stuff (which is one way of debunking the argument that it is an inherited sex trait). It is simply not possible for a woman without makeup and deodorant and lingerie and kitten heels and diet pills and clothes without pockets and anti-wrinkle cream that promises “glowing skin” and self-help books explaining the best ways to suck up to men and jewelry and razors and tweezers and lemon-scented cleaning products and boxes of Lean Cuisine in the freezer — all stuff that must be bought — to be fully feminine.

Femininity — selling it, doing it, approving of it, pinking it, drinking it — is antifeminist, fool.