OUR SUNDAY LINKS

March 20, 2016

from CJ

GUTS NEWS: We’re looking for a volunteer acquiring and developmental editor to join our team. We welcome applications from everyone and we are particularly interested in hearing from women of colour, Indigenous women, trans or non-binary people, members of the queer community, and members of underrepresented communities. Help sustain the media empire! We can’t wait to hear from you.

The Ethnic Aisle released their new Blood issue this week, and it’s brimming with some incredible content on topics like Indigenous identities and the blood quantum, the stigmatization of queer and immigrant blood donors, intercultural adoption, and so much more.

Desmond Cole on why Toronto’s decision to cut Afrofest is an over-reaction and a mistake.

Minority jobseekers in Toronto are “whitening” their resumes, and apparently with good reason. Despite the popular practice of including equal opportunity statements on job applications, a study out of U of T found there is a major gap between callbacks for minorities with “whitened” names and experiences and those with “unwhitened” names and experiences. Read more about their findings here.

LOL: Dude on twitter threatens corporate statue at major sports centre, police take it very seriously. Stacey May Fowles explains why this is so messed up.

This week in labour news: Manitoba passed new legislation that offers victims of domestic violence paid leave for five working days, and unpaid leave with job security for seventeen. Also! Ontario has the opportunity to pass a similar bill. Find out more here.

We want to note that black women have been saying this for years, but this is still an excellent read: Ta-Nehisi Coats on Nina Simone’s face: “there is something deeply shameful—and hurtful—in the fact that even today a young Nina Simone would have a hard time being cast in her own biopic. In this sense, the creation of Nina is not a neutral act. It is part of the problem.”

Chillary appeared on Broad City this week, and it was just as awkward and disappointing as you could imagine. Here’s an interesting read about why we shouldn’t be surprised that famous millennial women are pro-Hillary, considering their shared experiences of coming up against unrealistic expectations and gender discrimination in their respected fields. But, as the friend who shared this one with me pointed out, it’s incredibly important to also acknowledge the way class can form allegiances like these. Liza Featherstone says in a recent interview, “One of the things that I think is so disturbing about the type of feminism that Hillary Clinton represents is it’s really a feminism for the ruling class.” You can read more about the symbolic political power of Hillary’s gender and her feminism, and how that’s been losing ground, in this NYR piece: Hillary and Women.

Also relevant: Meet Debbie Medina, the democratic socialist who’s running for New York State Senate and sounds incredible.

“When an economic system or government is responsible for personal harm, those affected can feel profoundly helpless, and cover that helplessness with self-criticism. Today, if you can’t become what the market wants, it can feel as if you are flawed and have no recourse except to be depressed.” Why therapists should talk politics.

Jenny Zhang’s “On Blonde Girls in Cheongsams” thinks about how cultural appropriation and racism co-exist: “What I wanted to say was how it felt to grow up in a country that indicated to me everything from the country I was born in looked good on anyone but me.”

A painful and important piece about being a mother and seeking a diagnosis for your sick child: A Journey to the Medical Netherworld

In case you missed it, this is excellent: Erica Lee on reconciliation, Indigenous futures, and ending colonial violence.
omfg: A juror in Hogan v. Gawker case asks Jezebel editor Emma Carmichael if she ever slept with her bosses. Much less distressing content about Jezebel and well worth a listen: deputy editor Jia Tolentino on Longform Podcast last week.

The tedium of trans sex work.

We can’t stop ourselves from clicking on every article with this name, but I promise both of these are worth it: Who Is Elena Ferrante? Who is Elena Ferrante?

This is cool: a punk feminist bike collective reclaiming contested spaces in LA. Read more about the Ovarian Psychos and how they are running gentrifiers out of town.

Two Soft Things, Two Hard Things is a new documentary out of Nunavut exploring how colonization and religion have shamed and erased traditional Inuit beliefs about sexuality and family structure and how Inuit are reframing their past. Watch the trailer!
Sex positive: a comic

I love this: “I believe there is something distinct about queer time. Queer time is a bushwhacked path, a sled’s shaky trail, a web of continual reinvention in many different directions.”

FYI Xena will likely be openly gay in the warrior princess revival series

The racist legacy of the war on drugs is screwed up and unrelenting, and this piece puts forward some incredible research, further evidencing this fact: How America is whitewashing the green rush and pushing black people out of the weed industry.

Editor BB introduced us to this incredible web series about the African diaspora, “Strolling,” and turns out the New Yorker also likes it: Alexis Okeowo talks to “Strolling” Cecile Emeke.

Our favourite Edmonton lady scholars talk about their Harry Potter podcast, feminism, teaching, and their fans.

If you are anything like me, you might be creating an ambitious list of books you want to read this summer. This list is giving me some ideas: the books that changed my life

Mini-music roundup: The boldest women killing it in music right now, 25 songs telling us where music is going, why Fiver Rules, and these kids reviewing “Sorry” (aka the only pop music crit I’m interested in rn).

Reminder: the verdict for the Ghomeshi trial is due Thursday, and if you are in Toronto and interested, there is a rally and march planned to support those who testified, and the countless others who have reported or have not reported sexual assault.