We’ve chatted about cultural appropriation a few times on our blog (see here and here!) So when I came across this highlarious video from the British TV show Goodness Gracious Me I was thrilled - it’s an extremely positive example of a way in which the super-complex topic of cultural appropriation can be attacked with humour instead of, you know, crying.

Happy New Year!

Okay, I waited until after ye olde merry merry to post this, but man, has anyone been following this story about Toronto judge Marian Cohen’s request to have a Christmas tree removed from the front lobby of the provincial court house? You can read a bit about it here, but the gist of it is that she felt it was an inappropriate symbol to greet non-Christians entering a public building, so she wrote a letter requesting the tree be moved out of the front lobby to a less obvious place. What has followed is a sickening backlash attempt to paint her as a “foam in the mouth radical feminist” (yes, this is an actual quote, albeit from the internet, not always the best source for fair reporting) out to yank candy canes from babies’ mouths and ruin Xmas for us all, bwah hah hah.

What makes me either want to bust out laughing or cry hysterically is that this tar-and-feathering is being done in the name of tolerance. Now, Cohen isn’t suggesting that people can’t celebrate Christmas any way they want, and she’s not trying to banish Xmas trees from all areas of public life. But having a tree in, say, a department store or your own house (i.e. private spaces) is a heck of a far cry from a public courthouse, an institution that represents the state — which, last time I checked, is supposed to be separate from the church. Cohen, as far as I can tell, is acting out of concern for immigrants and other folks who might not feel so comfortable being whacked in the face with a religious symbol while inside a courthouse. But if you challenge the hegemonic culture and religion, better watch your back. Why is it so hard for people living within a dominant discourse to understand why those on the outside might not always be so down with it? Whoa, I think I just answered my own question. But seriously, it’s like when people say to me “Oh, you’re Jewish, but you can still celebrate Christmas, right?” Well, yes, I can. But I don’t. Not because I’m a grumpy old poop who hates all forms of celebration and overeating, but because it’s not my holiday, and I don’t want it to be. I don’t observe Ramadan either, and no one’s ever suggested that that makes me a grinch. I don’t think you need a degree in sociology to figure out why.

To be honest, I don’t even really care that much about whether or not a fir tree with coloured lights and silver baubles on it belongs in a courthouse or not. Rather, I am seriously galled at the way Cohen is being treated by these media pundits who, it seems, are just looking for an excuse to point the withering finger of “politically correct beeyatch” in someone’s face. Especially if that someone happens to be a non-Christian female in a position of considerable power. If our supposedly pluralistic, multicultural society is so tolerant, why does challenging one of its dominant symbols result in such hate-mongering? Trying to turn a woman who speaks out against religious symbolism into some kind of Christian-blood-drinking family-destroying monster says way more about the actual level of tolerance in Canada than anything to do with tinsel and candy canes.

Um, happy new year?

Just a quick blog entry to let you know about two great workshops that are happening at The Toronto Women’s Bookstore next month:

JANUARY 2007 courses @ TWB
1. Bisexuality: Exploring the Issues with Cheryl Dobinson (Mondays)
2. Anthology Incubator: From Pitch to Print with instructor-facilitator Anna Camilleri (Tuesdays)

I’m big fans of both women, and the work of each have had major effects on the redefinition of the feminist community at large. Camilleri has been involved in a variety of fab femme projects and produced some of the finest anthologies investigating the queer femme identity, including Red Light: Superheroes, Saints and Sluts and Brazen Femme: Queering Femininity - why not learn the ins and outs of creating an anthology from the best? Dobinson is a bisexual writer, researcher and advocate. In October 2003 she began co-facilitating “Fluid” - a new group for bisexual, bi-curious, pansexual, genderqueer, questioning and other queer youth who don’t fit neatly into categories, through Toronto’s Supporting Our Youth community development initiative.

While I’m here, I also thought I’d mention that feminist press McGilligan Books is back with a vengeance this season, with three fantastic new releases that continue its mandate. Of particular note is Tara-Michelle Ziniuk’s Emergency Contact…

“Emergency Contact reckons with social, political and cultural violations of the body familial dysfunction, mental illness, poverty, addiction, gender and sexual politics, and romance gone awry.”

‘Tis the season for gender and sexual politics…

Nicoles post Violent Times reminded me of something Ive been wanting to post about: assault and self-defense.

This entry is specifically about self-defense against sexual assault since, regardless of where you are pulling them from, the statistics on the number of women who experience sexual assault are, well, terrifying. Most statistics agree that approximately one in four Canadian women will be sexually assaulted during her lifetime. In BC the numbers are even more staggering, with some studies reporting that almost 1 in 2 women (47%) have been sexually assaulted.

But the point of this entry is not to glom together yet more stats that make you want to lock yourselves and loved ones away from the big bad world. The stats above certainly are fear-inducing, and Im not for a moment suggesting that awareness of them be diminished. But if all we do is hear these sorts of numbers, the new fear I start to have is that we are just going to feel more and more helpless. And thats not how I want to live.

We need to change the way we talk about sexual assault. This was really driven home for me about a year ago while watching the news on CityTv (hardly the be-all-and-end-all news station, but I was channel surfing). The story they were covering was an attempted sexual assault. A young woman had been out for a run when she was attacked. She fought back and got away safely. And reading between the lines of the story, it was clear that she had kicked more than a little bit of ass while doing it. The assailant had gotten away, only now he had a scratched up, bleeding face.

What bothered me about this report was that there was so much possibility for a different sort of message, but it was squashed into the standard fear-mongering approach: a dangerous assailant is still at large. The woman was lucky to escape.

But heres the thing. It wasn’t luck: when women fight back against a sexual assailant, 70% manage to avoid or stop a rape.

70%. Some studies put that number even higher, closer to 80%. Only thats not what we hear about. And having a case-in-point handed to them on a silver platter, that’s not how the media portrays the situation. Its certainly not the message I received when I was growing up. Heck, where I went to school they tried to get the whole friggin (all-girls) high school to take a different route to the subway because on occasion there was a flasher on The Path (the infinitely shorter route between the school and the TTC).

That’s a minor example, but more broadly and explicitly we were told not to fight back against men who were trying to assault us. Especially not if he had a weapon. Well, this stat of 70% is regardless of whether or not the attacker had a weapon.

It’s one of the most pervasive and damaging myths I think women are told about sexual assault — that you should not resist the attack, because somehow that will make it worse. When the only thing fighting back does is dramatically increase your chances of getting out of the situation safely.

Studies have also shown that begging or reasoning with a rapist (strategies suggested by some police programs) are some of the least effective strategies. Rape is about power. It is not about sexual frustration. Begging, crying and pleading does not help to take away from the aggressors feeling of control. Not the same way a swift knee to the balls does.

And speaking of a knee to the balls, here are a few tips on fighting back:

* Act Out. Many women find it difficult to draw attention to themselves. Not wanting to appear foolish if youre wrong about that weird feeling you have. So practice trusting your gut. Theres nothing to be ashamed of about looking out for yourself. If someone is trying to move you and you dont want to be moved, drop to the ground. Scream. Create a disturbance. Almost universally attackers do not want attention drawn to themselves. He doesnt want to be caught. Make the biggest scene you can think of making. As one source says, even if you dont think there are people coming to help you, making noise will still let you take advantage of his fear of being caught.

* Keep it Simple. As the great little book, Kung Fu for Girls says: Keep It Simple. Simple Is Effective. Fancy high-kicks are nice in the movies, but they’re slow to execute and take practice to do properly. Remembering the complex but effective 5-step move is probably just not going to happen. So stick to some basic principles, such as:

• Dont risk injury to yourself. This includes punching (unless you have practice and know what youre doing). Use a palm strike. Its just as effective, much easier to do, and much less likely to injure you if you dont get it right. Drop your chin to protect your throat.


• Be vicious. This one might sound strange, or make you uncomfortable, but youre defending yourself. Make him regret choosing you.


• Use any and everything you have at your disposal to win. Stab at your attacker’s eyes and throat with your lipstick, your mascara, your cell phone. Use keys to scratch and gouge. Use your bag to keep a weapon away from you. Put obstacles between you - whatever you can find. Control his hips and his hands.

There is so much to discuss when it comes to personal comfort, ability and safety in the face of assault. Which is why I’m splitting this into two parts. The second part I’ll post over the coming week deals with one of the fundamental myths which stops women from fighting back: “Women can’t win fights with men.”

Teaser: Like heck we can’t.

In the meantime, if you click on the “more” link below, Ive put together from a few sources some more of these myths (and realities) about sexual assault.
(more inside…)

It seems like this year has been a particularly violent one for women in Canada — violent in the public sense, at least. From Stephen Harper’s recent slashing of funding and closing of offices at Status of Women Canada to Peter McKay’s public denigrating of Belinda Stronach (and the ensuing women-hating remarks from the likes of Norman Spector) to the ongoing disappearance of Aboriginal women. At my university, there has been a string of sexual assaults and muggings on campus that the administration has seemed to keep very quiet about, presumably not wanting to attract attention to crime on campus, leaving organizing around this issue to campus groups like the Centre for Women and Trans People.

This excellent piece, linked from the Canadian Dimension site, briefly covers the Montreal Massacre and outlines some of the very important reasons we need to mark December 6th as a day of awareness of the violence inflicted daily upon women in Canada (see, for example, this list of women killed in Toronto this year), not to mention around the world.

Heres a list of events and memorials coming up in Toronto, feel free to post events and memorials happening in your city or town. And heres information about a Dec. 10 action in Ottawa to protest the cuts to Status of Women.