June 21, 2015
by NC
- Canada got an honest, if horrifying, glimpse into the military’s rape culture this week, from General Tom Lawson, who believes that sexual assault happens because “we’re biologically wired in a certain way”. Anne Kingston contrasts the “boys will be boys” approach to that of the Australian military.
- “Where are the white fathers in the white home? When will white leadership step up and stop white right-wing domestic terrorism? Is White American culture pathological? Why is White America so violent?” Some questions after Charleston.
- #ReadtheTRCreport is an incredible crowdsourced project – over 50 videos have been uploaded, with individuals reading sections of the report aloud – watch, listen or join here!
- “To be a Muslim woman is an act of resistance,” she says of the unspoken assumptions she experiences every day. “We live in these bodies and we live in them our entire lives.” Letters to Khadijah, a Vancouver-based art project.
- A primer for analyzing the new RCMP report on missing and murdered indigenous women.
- Today is National Aboriginal Day! There are many ways to celebrate across the country – here is a list of events taking place – and for settlers, there are some important ways to bring our country to account and begin to rectify a very damaged relationship. From Solidarity Halifax, how to celebrate with justice: “The wealth of this country was, and continues to be, based on the exploitation of Aboriginal peoples and their land, and the violation of treaty rights. While all workers across this country are exploited in thousands of ways by the economic elite (the 1%), we have to acknowledge that even what wealth they have has been built on the backs of the Aboriginal peoples.”
- An Ontario judge in a custody case ruled that parents should let a child explore their own gender, not force one on the child.
- Saskatchewan is Canada’s new abortion battleground
- “I already knew that when you speak unapologetically from a Black perspective, this is perceived as threatening, aggressive, and somehow an attempt to alienate and silence white people.” The brilliant El Jones is a voice that all Canadians should be listening to.
- On Father’s Day, a reflection on learning to mother through your father: “I want to be the kind of mother that my father is to me.”
- “Her internal organs were shutting down and she’d suffered a massive heart attack. The doctors couldn’t stabilize her, and nobody had any idea what was going on until they called an infectious disease specialist, who immediately asked, “Does she have a tampon in?” The model who lost her leg to toxic shock syndrome.
- “In the first eight weeks of 2015, seven trans women were murdered, and they were all trans women of colour. They’re not being murdered just because they’re trans, but because they’re at the intersection of identities, of race, class, homelessness. These issues have to be addressed if we want to end violence against trans folk.” Laverne Cox in the Guardian.
- And if you’re a fan of Orange is the New Black, consider making a donation to those who are living the reality presented in the show – or becoming a pen pal!
- The Conservatives are banning niqabs from citizenship ceremonies, but will not implement the TRC report’s recommendations for the ceremonies.
- “We weren’t used to these things yet. We thought this was as bad as it would get. We didn’t know there’d be a day when they would not only beat that man on television, but they would strangle that man, taze that man, shoot that man, kick that man, kill that man on television.“ A letter to my mother after Charleston
- “The legitimizing of women’s work in the rich Western countries has enabled factory owners in countries like China, Vietnam, and Malaysia to paint their use of primarily women’s labor as congruent with the dominant feminist belief that paid work liberates.” The Sweatshop Feminists
- “On June 11, 1994, somewhere between Hazelton and her house on Railway Avenue, Ramona Wilson had vanished. She had joined the ranks of Canada’s missing and murdered indigenous women—a list that, today, holds more than 1,200 names.” The death and afterlife of Ramona Wilson.
- “Chef du cuisine Kanida Chey regularly harassed Burnham, even grabbing her crotch, according to the application, and he and Lidbury told her she was “harassed,” because she “was hot” and “that kind of attention is flattering.” Serious workplace sexual harassment in Toronto kitchens – luckily, some strong kitchen bitches are fighting back.
What did I miss? Let me know in the comments, or at editors @ gutsmagazine.ca!