Tag: Gender
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In the Blog
It’s Time For The Feminist Movement To Leave TERFs Behind
Using feminism to justify anti-trans sentiment is nothing new — it’s been a tactic since the origin of radical feminism in the 1960s and 70s. What is new is the rise in platforming transphobic rhetoric in Canadian mainstream media. READ MORE
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In the Blog
How to create a comfortable and efficient workspace for marginalized workers
There is so much to be done when it comes to policies concerning the unique struggles all those employees of marginalized genders face in the workplace, and which demand unique solutions READ MORE
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In the Blog
To Exist Outside of a Culture of “Hustling”
When it comes to “girl bosses,” hustle culture has become an extension of a commoditized and branded feminism – with Black women its biggest victims. READ MORE
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In the Blog
Depression, Debt, and Disparities: How Women’s Finances Affect Their Mental Health
Finances are about far more than one’s standard of living. They mean more than just having the luxury of going out and buying that designer handbag you’ve had your eye on or making sure you’re getting around town in a truly tricked-out ride. Financial issues are, fundamentally, a matter of social justice. And, increasingly, they’re linked to overall quality of life. Economic disparities are being linked to health disparities. This includes not only inequities in access … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Rust Belt Femme: An Interview with author Raechel Anne Jolie
“The Rust Belt gave me my femme identity more wholly, and more fully, and more beautifully than anything else.” READ MORE
Author Raechel Anne Jolie talks to us about growing up in the Rust Belt, becoming femme, and writing a memoir about it all. READ MORE
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In the Blog
Wah Wah Wah: An Interview with Bilal Baig & Celia Jade Green
Warnings: Discussions of sexual harassment I remember the first time I got street harassed. I was 11 years old. A car was parked at a red light and I was crossing the street two minutes away from my parent’s house off of Bathurst Street. The inhabitants screamed at me and made a crude gesture out the window. At that time in my life, I was being fed the idea that attention from boys or men, of … READ MORE
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In the Blog
On Truth, Vulnerability, and The After: An Interview with Andrea Donaldson, Director of GRACE
Grace by Jane Doe from Nightwood Theatre on Vimeo. CONTENT & TRIGGER WARNING: mention of childhood sexual assault (CSA), legal proceedings of sexual assault cases When I first started working on this interview, drafting questions, I was on the subway. I looked up at the news screen and the first thing I saw was “Over 140 women killed by men in Canada in 2018”. I put my phone away and without really thinking about it, pulled out … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Books for Every Child
Books are more than just bundles of paper with words and pictures in them. For many, they serve as a way to visit far off places, meet new people, and partake in adventures never thought possible, all as low as the cost of a library card. Reading is not just a personal experience, but a universal one as well. Although adults can find solace in a good story, they provide an even greater service to … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Calpurnia and The Quest to Write the Truth
“When starting a play, I ask myself, “What’s the last play in the world I would ever want to write?” Then I force myself to write it. I do this because I’ve found that the best way to make theatre that unsettles and challenges my audience is to do things that make me uncomfortable. I work with stories that I find trite and embarrassing, I keep the development of the text as open and unstable … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Aftermathematics
Content Warning: This piece contains discussion of sexual assault and its aftermath, trauma, psychiatry, and includes misogynist and homophobic language. READ MORE
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In the Blog
Letters Loved: Letters to myself
Hello dear Shameless readers! I was so inspired by Letters Lived: Radical Reflections, Revolutionary Paths edited by our very own Shameless editor, Sheila Sampath, that I came back after taking a blogging break and wrote my own letter. Letters Lived is an inspiring short read from writers and activists writing to their younger selves, as adults. Ever want to reassure, guide or share your 20/20 hindsight with yourself after the fact? Letters Lived offers that very promise. … READ MORE
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In the Blog
A Short History of North American Witchcraft
Witchcraft is a concept that Western culture and society at large has been obsessed with for as long as it has existed. Its idea represents the ultimate “other” from a dominating patriarchal, Christian society: a collective of women free from shame and imbued with power, grace, and sexuality. In this dominating society, the idea of a free community of Pagans proved unacceptable, the most notable example being Salem’s oppression of real or imagined witches. However, … READ MORE
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In the Blog
On Femme Competition
Identifying as femme has never made navigating my community easy, in spite of this being the only label that has ever felt entirely right. Being a femme has often meant attending queer events only to be read as a tagalong straight friend, having to prove and reassert my queerness, and continually fighting for visibility. I cannot speak about femme invisibility without addressing the intersections between femmephobia and other oppressions like racism, ableism, transphobia, and fatphobia. As … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Take Back The Night 2016
I feel angry. I feel upset. I feel anxious (actually, I haven’t said that last one to Adli yet!) These are statements I make to Adli when I want to express my emotions. I want him - currently as a cisgender boy - to learn to express his feelings, however artificial it may seem at first. I also have been trying to talk about oppression. How do I educate and support the learning of my kid … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Gender, Race and Autism
I have always been separate from others. When I was little, I was content to melt into the corner with a peanut butter sandwich in one hand and a book in the other, oblivious to the intricate lives of others around me, content to be on my own. However, as I got older, I began to watch other kids my age more - I noticed girls talking together about the latest episode of Hannah Montana, … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Redefining ballet: A queer feminist introduction
It had been a long February. I had powered my way through all three seasons of Dance Academy on Netflix in a single week. This voracious pace might explain why I couldn’t stop thinking about ballet. A few weeks later, at the age of 26, I bought the little pink shoes, tied my hair in a bun, and stepped to the barre for the first time. In those first weeks of “Ballet for Absolute Beginners,” I … READ MORE
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In the Blog
A Lack of Trust In Institutions: Empty Actions vs Real Understanding
At 10:30 on Monday morning I was notified that the door to our classroom was locked, and that I could “feel free to prepare [my] belongings for an evacuation.” We were told that a suspicious person wearing a mask and carrying a gun was spotted near our building. The campus was partially closed, and an emergency was declared. The building across the street was officially “closed,” with students, faculty and staff locked inside. The University of … READ MORE
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In the Blog
Women Deliver, but we can deliver more for all women
From May 16-19, Copenhagen held the largest conference on sexual and reproductive health rights and the advancement of the rights for women and girls in the last decade. Women Deliver gathered 5763 activists, educators, journalists, academics and others to discuss our new development framework (the Sustainable Development Goals) and some of the main issues women and girls are facing today. Hundreds of speakers - from Hilary Clinton, Muhammad Yunus, Ban-ki Moon to the Crown Princesses of … READ MORE
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Blog Series
At the Top of the ‘Class’: Growing Up and Class Background
At the Top of the ‘Class’: Growing Up and Class Background Adli is growing up with some of the best things in life: a loving parent and being raised in a violence-free home. Adli has an educated parent who makes a steady salary and has access to fresh vegetables and organic milk. Adli lives in a big city, with access to diverse people, cultures, resources and spaces. Adli was breastfed. What do these things have to do with class or … READ MORE
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Community Accountability and Transformative Justice for Survivors
Content Warning: This piece of writing includes topics of abuse, sexual assault, relationships to perpetrators and non-legal measures to deal with sexual violence. READ MORE