From AOL Fanhouse Via Racialicious:

There’s a bit of a controversy going on at the Australian Open after a TV camera lingered on Venus Williams’ behind and the Australian tennis coach Roger Rasheed, who was working as an announcer for an Aussie TV station, commented on it.

Racialicious sums it up by noting “the comments on this page are even more priceless: ‘if she doesnt want to be objectified, then she should not dress like a ho’”

In a past life, before Amélie, I passionately hated the movies. For a while I thought it was a sign of ADD: I couldn’t sit still for a 2-hour film without chipping the concrete floor with my impatiently tapping toe. More recently I’ve realized my aversion to movies was one of the many bruises I suffered at the hands of the stifling jockocracy in which I was raised. The road to recovery is long. Even last weekend, when the opening credits of a wonderful, low-budget, gardening documentary came up, I had a flashback of helicopter blades, machine gun fire, plastic cleavage and fart jokes.

When I was growing up, going to the movies was in the same category as watching the guys play sports - it was the only thing to do. It was also an activity where my girl friends and I were expected to be passive, but still flirty, spectators. Sure, it was more fun than hanging out alone, but it was far from fulfillment and far from fair.

(more inside…)

There really is nothing to warm the heart like a bunch of gals in fishnets, crash helmets, and vintage rollerskates hip-checking each other and cursing like sailors.

from Susan Moss’s Roller Derby photo exhibit (Susan Moss)

If, like me, you are missing the gene required for rollerskating (also walking in high heels, appreciating small dogs), you can still check out Susan Moss‘s photo exhibit of the ladies in question, which will be on display at Blizzarts (3956a St. Laurent, in Montreal) for the month of November. The show kicks off with a vernissage on Nov. 1st from 8 to 11 PM.

The Montreal derby gals also have a bout coming up on Oct. 28th - sadly (for me) it’s in NYC, but cross your fingers for them nonetheless. And, if you think you have what it takes to strap on your kneepads, grease up your wheels, and get medieval on someone’s hiney, the crews are always looking for new members. Toronto also has several teams - check out The Smoke City Betties and The Gore Gore Rollergirls for starters.

An interesting quote on the tender side of wrestling from Bret Hart’s autobiography Hitman, out in a few weeks:

“…but I also saw the good side of pro wrestling. To me there is something bordering on beautiful about a brotherhood of big tough men who pretended to hurt one another for a living instead of actually doing it. Any idiot can hurt someone.”

The New York Times reports that Girls Are Often Neglected Victims of Concussions, though they don’t really manage to explain why.

“Generally speaking, the medical profession does not do a very good job in recognizing that female athletes sustain concussions at an equal or even higher rate as males,” said Dr. Robert Cantu of Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, one of the nation’s leading experts in concussion management. “It’s flying under the radar. And as a result, looking for concussions in women is not pursued with the same diligence, and it’s setting girls up for a worse result.”

The article also touches on some of the dilemmas posed by university sports scholarships - in this case, their lure can keep girls on the field even if they have already had a couple concussions and are at risk of post-concussion syndrome. Sports scholarships are relatively uncommon in Canada, but that doesn’t keep Canadian girls from competing for American scholarships.

Forest City Velodrome London Ontario

2007 - 2008 Women’s Development Program

The Forest City Velodrome in London, Ontario has secured special funding
to assist in the development of a squad of up to 8 elite women track
cyclists. The program is aimed at athletic women, ages 15 - 25, who may
not have previously been involved in cycling. Interested individuals or
groups would come to FCV on an ongoing basis to train, race, and
eventually compete at the Provincial and National levels.

Initial benefits of the program include free instruction and track bike
rentals, and the cost of start up equipment. Individual training programs would be integrated with other activities the athletes are involved with, accommodating school and work commitments.

Subsequent benefits include ongoing training and support and assistance
attending the Canadian National Track Championships and competitive events at other tracks. Squad members would be asked to purchase an FCV student membership and participate in either 2 FCV training sessions per week or one training session and one race night, on an ongoing basis. Prospective squad members are welcome to come to the velodrome Saturday afternoons at 3pm and try out track bicycling for up to 3-weeks prior to making a commitment.

Startup funding becomes available upon purchase of FCV membership.

The first weekend camp is scheduled for Saturday night October 13th from
6pm - 9pm, and will wrap up on Sunday October 14th 9:30am - 1pm. All camp costs are supported by the Forest City Velodrome and the Ontario Trillium Foundation.

For more information, please contact Dina Ridha - Development Program
Liaison at info@ForestCityVelodrome.ca and go to
www.ForestCityVelodrome.ca.

If you’re looking for some fun on Vancouver Island this Labour Day weekend, you might want to check out the latest camping-biking-fundraiser from bikefurthereatcloser.com

Chelsea Trousdell, a student at Emily Carr, and Marla Temoin, a recent graduate of the University of Victoria are gearing up for an intercontinental quest to raise awareness for climate change. They will ride their bikes 30,000 km - from Victoria, BC to Argentina, around South America, up the East Coast of the US, and across Canada back to Victoria. As if that wasn’t inspiring enough, these gals will also follow a 100-mile diet for their entire trip.

By following the growing seasons, eating locally and relying on pedal power, Chelsea and Marla aim to lead by example, support local economies and promote mindful consumption. I’ll say.

Bookmark their website, because they will be blogging their adventures once they’ve hit the road.

There are two crucial things every cyclist should know - how to change a flat, and when your bike is too messed up to fix yourself. In which case, it helps to know a good mechanic, and if you’re in Montreal then you’re in luck. Revolution Montreal (1757 Amherst, in the gay village) is our city’s new woman-owned bike shop, where Danielle Flowers will true your wheel and her partner jj levine will - wait for it - give you a lesbian haircut for $15. It’s kind of like “Shoes Shined While U Wait”, only queerer.

Flowers says she started the shop because she wanted a safe space for women and queer folk to get involved with their bikes, and goodness knows it will be a breath of fresh air.* And in levine’s experience, dykes and queer kids often have trouble getting the haircuts they want at conventional salons, so the two put their heads and their business sense together, and Revolution Montreal Bike Shop And Lesbian Haircuts For Everyone was born. I wonder if they’ll install my new spokey-dokes.

To read more, check out this article, and then get out there - the streets are waiting.

(photo by Meera Margaret Singh)

*a li’l sidenote: I have known many, many extremely lovely mechanics who are also menfolk. But I have also had male mechanics condescend to me, try to cheat me, and even get all sleezy-like - while signing up for the mailing list at my local drop-in bike workshop, the mechanic said “So, what’s your email? Hot-babe dot com?” At the community bike co-op, for crying out loud! Hence my perhaps poorly-thought-out kneejerk tendency to want to throw my arms around every lady mechanic I come across.

When the Community Bicycle Network‘s BikeShare program was forced to close this year due to lack of funding (though not a lack of enthusiasm or merit), I foolishly didn’t realize that was not the end for all of CBN’s programs, most particularly — Wenches with Wrenches. Wenches with Wrenches “is an ongoing program of CBN volunteers who host bicycle repair workshops run by and for women in downtown Toronto. The idea has been to make basic bicycle repair skills accessible to women in the hope that participants will then share their knowledge and their confidence with others in the community.”

You gotta go.

Fortunately, I am not too late to spread some word — there appears to still be room this year in both the June and September sessions. The sessions consist of four lessons, one a week, and the cost is $30 or pay-what-you-can. You can register at Urbane Cyclist.

Knowing your rear sprockets from your crank arms is some of that pretty pretty shiny practical knowledge that no one can take from you, and it is enormously empowering even to pick up a few basics (adjusting your seat height and tilt and cleaning your chain can add years both to your knees and your bike). Wenches with Wrenches delivers on these basics and goes beyond to give you a comprehensive understanding of how it all fits together, and how you can keep it that way. The sessions are hands-on, and you bring your own bike, so what you’re learning can be applied in real-time.

Bikes are one of those marvels of mechanics that we tend to get a bit blasé about. But they’re a straightforward sort of complicated and once you start fiddling with your bike, you may find it very hard to stop. So get down with your inner-mechanic and sign up for a Wenches with Wrenches session. You’ll be tweaking your brakes and patching your tires in no time.