All posts in Body Politics

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• • Body Politics
  • Queeriosities

  Queer Brown Girl Trying to Get Pregnant, Part 1: The Basics

  June 3, 2013 • deb singh

  Part 1 of 4

  ---

  **This blog may have scenes that include coarse language, nudity, sexuality, and science jargon. Viewer Discretion is Advised.**

  The last 3 months I have been trying to make a baby grow in my uterus. It’s really not as easy as the movies. Moreover, I have been trying to do this without a penis or person with a penis, as it were.

  So, you guys all know I’m queer, right? And my partner and I are ready to be parents together. So I have been going to a sperm bank and buying sperm and injecting it in me. Or, at least, that’s how I like to frame it when people want to know.

  To be more technical about it, I am engaging in donor intra-uterine insemination. That is when you go to a sperm bank and select a donor, get it shipped to a fertility clinic and have it inseminated directly into your uterus.

  FYI – When hetero, cis people have sex, the ejaculate lands inside the vaginal canal (also known as birth canal) or the deeper part of the vagina. It has to swim up through the vaginal canal, through the cervix (the entrance of the uterus), up into the uterus and into the fallopian tubes where the egg or ovum is sitting, waiting to be fertilized by the sperm.

  

  The great thing about being queer and thus going through this process are many!

  For one, I don’t have to settle for the sperm of my husband or boyfriend – I can literally choose from hundreds of donors (possibly creating a super baby). See the Creating Canadian Families website for multiple sperm banks around the world.

  Further, intra-uterine insemination (IUI) gets the buggers (sperms) much closer to the goal post, meaning the sperm don’t have to swim as far.

  The one drawback about these procedures is that they are not cheap. Sperm can very from $450-$700 a unit, and many fertility procedures vary in price from $400-$12 000, depending on what your procedure is.

  Although I am queer, I am now relating a lot more to straight women trying to have a biological child, because wanting to be a mom is a very deep emotional feeling. It’s exciting to be on this journey but, they don’t call it a rollercoaster for nothing (i.e. there’s only one book for lesbians on pregnancy, and author Rachel Pepper calls preconception a roller coaster)!

  My monthly process has been, in part, like this: on Day 1 (first day of my blood red period), I call the doctor to have my sperm delivered to the clinic. Then on Day 11, I start monitoring my cycle; getting blood work done to see how “ripe” my follicle is (the egg or ovum) and if I am surging with the lutenizing hormone (LH). Then for the next 2-3 days, I pee on a stick from a drug store, an Ovulation Predictor Kit, to see if I am surging with the LH. Then when I am, I go in to get inseminated. Insemination takes about 1-10 minutes. Quickest $400 I ever spent!

  Getting inseminated is nothing like any experience I’ve had before - I imagine it’s mostly because I have never been ready to have a child until now!

  Resources:

  The Ultimate Guide To Pregnancy for Lesbians – Google Books

  Youtube video on IUI, Reproductive drugs and multiple births

  Check out the next blog on The Preconception Roller Coaster next month!

• • All About Shameless
  • Body Politics

  Shameless gets a shoutout in Bitch magazine!

  May 23, 2013 • Julia Horel

  Awesome feminist magazine Bitch has given a mention to a Shameless web feature on Health at Every Size.

  The article can be found on page 18 of the summer issue of Bitch (our mention is on page 19!), and in its entirety online at Bitch’s website.

  The fabulous quote in question from our piece is from self-identified fat queer Latina activist Margarita Rossi:

  “Fat hatred is often used to uphold racism, and vice versa.”

• • Body Politics
  • Recommended Reading
  • Trans-

  Recommended Reading: A bra that fits me - A Critique of Chrysalis Lingerie’s May 1st Launch

  May 10, 2013 • Julia Horel

  Teagan Widmer writes at Interrupt Mag about some major issues with Chrysalis Lingerie‘s launch.

  I was super excited about Chrysalis Lingerie’s new line of lingerie that debuted in their online store this week. The company boasts garments created by trans women and for trans women. Their launch has been delayed multiple, but now it was finally coming to a mailbox near you. So when I saw a post on my Tumblr dashboard saying that their store was finally open, I eagerly clicked the link for the store. My jaw subsequently hit the floor, and I don’t mean that in a good way.

  The prices of the garments are high, which is a big problem:

  Most trans women don’t have that kind of earning power thanks to the intersection of transmysogny and sexism (and often racism since there are many trans women who are also women of color).

  And on top of that:

  Upon further examination of the new shop, I came to an even more startling, frustrating, and disturbing realization. Even if I had the money to drop on a beautiful brand-new Chrysalis bra, I wouldn’t be able to buy one that actually fits me.

  Read Teagan’s excellent critique in its entirety here.
  

• • Activist Report
  • Anti-violence
  • Body Politics
  • Guest Blogs
  • Race and Racism

  Guest Post: Woman in Niqab Asking for it?

  May 3, 2013 • Guest Blogger

  by Farrah Khan

  ---

  A consistently held myth is that women who are sexually assaulted “ask for it” by the way we dress or act. However, government reports and community organizations have demonstrated that this doesn’t matter. A woman of any age, physical type, or dress can be assaulted. Violence is violence, and believing in the myth that women “ask for it” is harmful. Not only does it absolve the perpetrators of violence, it also serves as a red herring that pulls the focus away from support for survivors and from strengthening resources that work to eradicate gender-based violence.

  N.S, a woman who alleges that she was sexually molested by her uncle and cousin as a child, has spent six years fighting for her right to testify while wearing her niqab at the criminal trial. She appealed her case to the Superior Court of Justice, the Ontario Court of Appeal, and eventually the Supreme Court of Canada in December 2011. The Supreme Court’s decision focused on the protection of a defendant’s right to a fair trial and the corresponding “right” to face his accuser, in order to test the accuser’s credibility. The Court framed NS’s case as one of competing rights—the accused’s right to a fair trial and the victim’s religious freedom. According to Amna Qureshi:

  …what the Supreme Court did was pit a rather benign and harmless religious freedom against the potential for wrongful convictions and maintaining public confidence in the administration of justice. This has the effect of essentially preventing lower court judges from exercising any independent analysis of the issue if the accused brings any argument whatsoever that their fair trial rights will be affected. In other words, unless an accused consents to the witness wearing her niqab, there will be little room for a judge to say she can wear it.

  N.S.’s case returned to the lower courts for a new trial in April 2013. On April 24th an Ontario judge ruled (once again) that N.S. must remove her niqab to testify in a sexual assault trial. While I agree that procedural fairness is important to all people who come to court, I believe that fairness in this case must extend to the victim. The decision to order a sexual assault complainant to remove a piece of clothing in order to demonstrate that her “demeanour” is trustworthy, risks the kind of victim-blaming that feminists have fought against in other successful legal cases. Many experts have cast doubt on the assessment of demeanour as a reliable source of evidence. Further, this decision sends a message to women who wear the niqab and to the people in their lives that they will not have fair access to the Canadian justice system and therefore are rapeable.

  I sat behind N.S. during the Supreme Court of Canada hearing. I wanted to touch her shoulder and say ‘thank you.’ As an abuse survivor, I never sought formal justice, just like many other women in Canada who experience sexual assault. We know that less than 10% of women who are sexually assaulted report the assault to the police. Like other survivors, I worried that the police would do little to support me, that I would bring shame onto my family and probably most importantly, that no one would believe me.
  
  As a violence against women counselor in the Toronto area, I am deeply worried about the impact this decision will have on sexual assault survivors. Many organizations in Canada including the Women’s Legal and Education Action Fund, the Barbra Schlifer Commemorative Clinic and the South Asian Legal Clinic, support the right of N.S. to testify at the sexual assault trial while wearing a niqab. Child sexual abuse is an epidemic in Canada, where 1 in 3 girls is sexually assaulted before the age of 12. These decisions by the Ontario Courts and the Supreme Court add additional barriers to survivors of sexual assault who are seeking to report abuse to the police.

  There is another prevalent myth to critique here: that Muslim women are silent and oppressed. N.S.’s unwavering efforts to speak out and seek justice substantially challenges this myth. As survivors we are often told to be quiet, by our own families, communities, media outlets, institutions, and the larger society. This silencing is equated with being “good”. However, being a “good” community member, daughter, mother, and friend includes working towards ending the cycle of violence in our lives. Instead of allowing various myths to detract from the salient issue at hand, let’s remember that N.S. is seeking justice, and let’s support her appeal process to Superior Court of Ontario. The lower court’s decision raises the chilling possibility that other women may not put their faith in the same justice system that has failed N.S.

  ---

  Farrah Khan is a community based counselor, artist and advocate. She is the Coordinator of Outburst! Young Women Muslim Program at the Barbra Schlifer Clinic. You can reach her @farrah_khan

• • Body Politics
  • On The Job

  Six Degrees of Inoculation

  May 2, 2013 • deb singh

  When I started at the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre/Multicultural Women Against Rape, I was given a benefits package**. My coworkers helped me to use my benefits package, not just for health care but also for self-care. And so my adventure on new ways to care for myself began!

  Once I got my teeth cleaned, and some of my basic health care needs met, I started to explore my self-care options. I realized I seriously needed a massage, and my coworkers and friends raved about a community acupuncture centre named Six Degrees Community Acupuncture.

  Now, I grew up in the western medical model. When I have a headache, I take an Advil. When I am sick, I down some cough syrup. Acupuncture? Needles in my body? Uh, no thank you. Another bit of context is that it takes me a while to trust a healer. I’ve had lots of them: doctors, therapists, counselors—and some have been whack. So going to an acupuncture clinic didn’t just make me have to learn a new healing method, it also made me have to learn to trust a new practitioner.

  Because of the many rave reviews and suggestions for a great massage, I booked an appointment. The acupuncturist asked me questions about my health and asked me what I wanted. I said a massage. And so she gave me one. I walked out of there after the first visit light as air.

  The next time I went back was the same: I left feeling calmer, elated, feelings of clearness and weightlessness. And the next time was like that, and the time after that.

  Soon, I enjoyed many visits where my practitioner was open to hear me talk about anything, always asked me what I wanted to work on (in terms of massage) and left me feeling relaxed and taken care of.

  After many appointments, my acupuncturist asked me if I wanted to try acupuncture. My acupuncturist had been so nice to me … so I let her poke me. (more inside…)

• • Body Politics
  • Recommended Reading

  Ms. Fit Magazine: “Real World Feminist Fitness”

  May 1, 2013 • Naz Afsahi

  Over the last 15 months I have been on a journey of fitness. I was walking down the street on a cold January morning and realized that I needed to make a change. Since that morning, I have joined a gym, taken classes and began practicing yoga. I’ve devoured the fitness magazines at my local public library and looked up various stretches to release my tight hip flexors and techniques to strengthen my rotator cuffs. Most importantly, I have begun the process of internalizing the amazing things my body can do alongside the importance of what my mind can do. As well, I have been working on my emotional and mental well being, because fitness is about so much more than muscle mass.

  If you are looking for a new magazine that emphasizes these various facets of fitness, check out Ms. Fit. With two issues out already, Ms. Fit is still a young publication, but there are some great articles and testimonials to check out. The site is easy to maneuver, and I imagine you will like their content if you are looking for narratives about personal fitness and health journeys alongside updates about professional athletes.

  Unlike traditional health and fitness magazines you can pick up at a your location chain bookstore, the emphasis by Ms. Fit is less on the specific techniques of workouts, or the gym equipment needed in order to be “fit”. Rather, the content focuses on maintaining an overall sense of fitness in every part of your being. Ms. Fit’s content defines fitness as being about physical health, sexual health and emotional health, as well as, eating healthy and learning to consume in an earth conscious manner with delicious sounding vegan and vegetarian recipes.

  Another positive facet of Ms. Fit is that the site features pictures that reflect a variety of body types, abilities, shapes and colours. And if you like (and since you are on Shameless, I hope you already do!) speaking about our bodies, our sexual reproductive rights, and our pleasure in a possible and non-heteronormative light, then you might enjoy Ms. Fit.

  With future issues, I do hope to see more pieces that deal with one’s mental health and issues that touch on trans-fitness [I admit I am still making my way through both issues, so it is possible I missed some pieces that touch on these issues].

  Check out the Ms. Fit Manifesto here.

• • Body Politics
  • Media Savvy

  Shaming Teen Pregnancy and Parenthood

  April 19, 2013 • Caitlin Blennerhassett

  In his New York Times op-ed, Richard Reeves argues that shame is an integral part of a
  healthy, liberal society. The op-ed was written in response to the New York City Human Resources
  Administration’s recent ad campaign targeting teen pregnancy.

  The campaign ads are featured on bus shelters in “neighbourhoods with high rates of teenage pregnancy,” meaning, in effect, neighbourhoods experiencing poverty and historical disenfranchisement. The ads feature toddlers saying things such as: “Honestly, Mom… chances are he won’t stay with you. What happens to me?“ – thus reinforcing harmful stereotypes while slinging blame at young women. Planned Parenthood issued a statement denouncing the poster campaign, stating that the ads ignore the structural realities that create the conditions for unintended pregnancy while simultaneously stigmatizing and shaming teen parents and their children.

  Robert Doar, commissioner of the city’s Human Resources Administration, in a piece written in the New York Times, states that the goal of the campaign was to, “send a message about personal responsibility that would resonate with teenagers.” These types of ads are nothing new, and are problematic in similar ways to other ad campaigns that focus on personal responsibility at the expense of social accountability.(more inside…)

• • Arts
  • Body Politics
  • Sexuality

  Journey Inward: A Profile of Anna Berankova

  March 25, 2013 • Raisa Bhuiyan

  

  Anna Berankova in a Peruvian desert. (Anna Berankova: www.dancewithintimacy.com)

  I recently had the pleasure of having a chat with Anna Berankova, who has recently facilitated a series of free, women’s sexual-exploration workshops at the 519 and is preparing for the launch of her memoir due out this spring, which looks into the interconnectedness of sex to the physical, spiritual and mental realms of being.
  
  While there are a bevy of wonderful angles that could be taken to describe her body of work, I was most interested in her activism and advocacy around sexuality, and why and how Anna came to the realization of needing to do this work.

  In a radio interview with FemCon that can be easily accessed on her home page, Anna cites the words of renowned sex therapist Gina Ogden to respond to the interviewer’s question: what is sex to you? (more inside…)

• • Arts
  • Body Politics
  • Decolonizing
  • Event Listings
  • Gender
  • Queeriosities
  • Race and Racism

  The Contemporary Urgencies of Audre Lorde’s Legacy

  March 3, 2013 • Ronak Ghorbani

  This coming Thursday will launch a two-week long celebration of poet and activist Audre Lorde. There are free events happening across Toronto and at both York University and The University of Toronto. Check out the list of events below.

  

  Community Arts Practice, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University in association with Women and Gender Studies, University of Toronto Invite you to

  THE CONTEMPORARY URGENCIES OF AUDRE LORDE’S LEGACY, MARCH 7-21, 2013
  
  
  1) Medicines for Survival: Indigenous Knowledge and the Sacred: a lecture by M. Jacqui Alexander

  DATE: Thursday March 7th

  PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 140, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

  TIME: 6 p.m.

  http://www.utoronto.ca/ethnicstudies/fac_wgsi.html

  2) Litanies for our Survival: Visual and Performative Conversations with Audre Lorde and inaugural exhibition in new Community Arts Practice Space

  DATE: Thursday March 7th

  PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 283 and throughout the building, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University

  TIME: 7:30 p.m.

  
  3) Film screening, Audre Lorde: The Berlin Years 1984-1992 (directed by Dagmar Schultz)
  
  Followed by panel discussion with Dagmar Schultz, Marion Kraft, Gloria Wekker, M. Jacqui Alexander, Carol Allain, Farrah Khan, Bonita Lawrence

  DATE: Friday March 15th

  PLACE: William Doo Auditorium, University of Toronto, 45 Willcocks Street

  TIME: 6:30 p.m.

  http://www.audrelorde-theberlinyears.com/emails/orgs_english_short.html

  
  4) What’s (Homo)Sexuality got to do with it? Lecture by Gloria Wekker, with responses from Anna Agathangelou and Jin Haritaworn, chaired by Ena Dua

  DATE: Tuesday March 19th,

  PLACE: HNES (Health, Nursing, and Environmental Studies)building room 140, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University
  
  TIME: 1 p.m.

  5) “After the 9-5 in Audre’s Livingroom”

  (An intimate, collaborative poetry marathon recite &r espond multidisciplinary hangout!)

  presented by backforward collective

  DATE: Thursday March 21st

  PLACE: Whippersnapper Gallery, 594b Dundas St. West

  TIME: 6 - 11 pm

  ALL EVENTS ARE FREE AND OPEN TO THE PUBLIC. PLEASE ADVERTISE WIDELY.
  
  CHECK OUT: https://www.facebook.com/events/563445090342037/

  FOLLOW US ON TWITTER: #audrelordeslegacy2013

  YORK UNIVERSITY SPONSORS: Community Arts Practice, Office of the Dean; ACE and the Seminar Series in Equity and Diversity at FES; Faculty of Health; Centre for Feminist Research at York University and Faculty of Liberal Arts and Professional Studies

  YORK UNIVERSITY DIGITAL MAP: http://www.yorku.ca/yorkweb/maps/KeeleMap.pdf
  

  UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO SPONSORS: Women and Gender Studies; Principal’s Initiatives Fund at New College; Equity Studies; Caribbean Studies; Humanities, Social Sciences and Social Justice Education, OISE; Centre for the Study of the United States; Sexual Diversity Studies; Anti-Racism and Diversity; Status of Women; Cinema Studies; Canadian Studies

  
  CONTACT:
  anique.j.jordan@gmail.com
  or
  Honor Ford-Smith, PhD.
  Associate Professor
  Community and Environmental Arts
  Faculty of Environmental Studies
  280, HNES Bldg
  York University
  4700 Keele St,
  Toronto, ON M3J 1P3

  phone: 416-736-2100 X22629
  fax: 416-736-5679

• • Body Politics
  • Event Listings

  Queer from the Heart: Letters I Never Sent Showcase

  February 4, 2013 • Julia Horel

  consensual. anti-racist. unapologetic. not your average burlesque.

  Start off your Valentines day week with consensual queer love that doesn’t fit into a box and an unapologetic showcase!

  Hosted by Dainty Box and Deb Singh!

  **Featuring:
  Franny
  annu saini
  Maria Mete
  Scorpio Rising
  Genie Emerald
  Aemilius (Milo)
  Black Eyed Floozy
  Joy
  Sidra Mahmood
  Ebonee Darling
  Red Mango
  Zaid Ade
  Jynx
  SPARKLE

  * shout outs to Jenny for an AMAZING poster!

  

  (http://unapologeticburlesque.weebly.com/upcoming-shows.html)

  more performer announcements coming soon…

  Monday February 11th
  Gladstone Ballroom
  Doors: 7pm
  Showcase: 8 – 10pm
  All Ages
  $5-15, PWYC No one turned away!
  Proceeds go towards supporting folks in our communities that are performers, artists, mentors, space providers, etc!

  ** Venue Accessibility: Ramp out front leads into Melody Bar, 2 single stall gender neutral washrooms. One in lobby, the other in between the Melody Bar & Art Bar.

  ––

  Have you ever had a secret, a wish, an emotion, an invaluable piece of knowledge that you might not have had the space or words to share, but that you can no longer keep silent?

  Letters we’ve never sent can range from confessing being in love with a best friend, to having conversations with ancestors, to speaking to the parts of ourselves that we don’t always acknowledge to anything in between.

  Sometimes our letters exist in tucked away notebooks, e-mail drafts and lost in memories. Join us as we unapologetically send our letters out into the world.

  **if anyone has the means and would like to donate any funds to the show beforehand, please let us know! any funds received before the event, as well as the door sales, will first go toward paying a sound technician to make sure the show can happen and then toward performers and volunteers. no pressure, but any money we can secure before the event will go a long way.

  Email Shaunga (shaunga.tagore@gmail.com) or Kumari (kumari.giles@gmail.com) to get in touch about donating, performing, volunteering or any thoughts/questions/concerns!

  **Re-defining Burlesque:
  This is a show where the performers can tell their own stories, not ones that are dictated by what audiences and larger society want to hear, but stories that are unique to them and that no one else can tell. To us burlesque is; storytelling, playing with gender, can incorporate spoken word, singing, acting, dancing and any other talents you have! To us burlesque is consensual: you get to choose who gets to see what, where and when, who looks where and when, what you wear, choose to take off, what to put on, and what stays on the whole time.

  This show gives performance space to emerging, first-time, and seasoned performers who are people of colour, Indigenous, queer, genderqueer, trans*, people of varying body sizes, people of all abilities, people from varying class backgrounds. We acknowledge that even within queer people of colour performing spaces there are barriers of accessibility and still certain bodies and genders don’t get as much space as others. We hope that broadening accessibility and representation will be an ongoing dialogue.

  Looking forward to seeing you there!

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