December 21, 2014
- More frat-boy, rape culture perpetuating bullshit was recently exposed at another Canadian university, this time at Dalhousie University in Halifax, with CBC and Global reporting that a group of male students in the faculty of dentistry were responsible for creating a Facebook page with misogynistic, sexually violent posts. The South House Sexual and Gender Resource Centre (formerly the Dalhousie Women’s Centre) released a statement, rightly demanding that the university’s president expel the men involved in the misogynistic group.
On Friday, more than 200 people gathered outside Dalhousie President Richard Florizone’s office to protest the administration’s response to the situation. Isabelle Côté provides insight into the “restorative justice” offered by the Dalhousie administration.
- Sadly on Tuesday the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office announced that it would not be pursuing molestation charges against Bill Cosby. “As is the case with most of the claims being brought up by the alleged victims, the LAPD’s reason for closing this case is quite simple: the statute of limitations has passed.” While there are many brave, thoughtful pieces on the topic of Bill Cosby circulating online, we keep returning to this cultural analysis by the Crunk Feminist Collective — “Clair Huxtable Is Dead: On Slaying the Cosbys and Making Space for Liv, Analise, and Mary Jane.”
- Between the Bronomicon (“a portmanteau created by combining an existing word with the word bro”) and “Leigh Anne Tuohy, Racism, and the White Saviour Complex” (a reflection on The Blind Side lady being the absolute worst), The Bell Jar’s content has been spot-on this week.
- This week two men were arrested in the case of Jada, a Texas teenager who was horrifically raped at a party, and then subsequently abused on social media, with photos from the attack having been circulated among her classmates. Jada has been incredibly brave throughout the trial — in an interview with MSNBC, she said, “I would like to see justice. Justice in full effect and that’s it.”
- Nina Power sat down with James Butler and Jacqueline Rose on Novara Media’s latest radio show to discuss feminism, violence and power.
- Autostraddle reports on “Free Our Sisters, Free Ourselves,” an NY gathering that honoured “Black women and trans and gender non-conforming people who have been murdered by the police.” The event was part of the 11 Days of Action called for by #ThisStopsToday.
- Struggling for gift ideas? Bitch has put together an amazing Queer Music Gift Guide.
- A crucial herstory from one of the creators of #blacklivesmatter movement.
- “Do Black Lives Matter in Canada?” is a short but important read on systemic racism in our country, focusing on the way Canadians sought to distance themselves from anti-Black prejudice following Ferguson.
“Over the past several months, dozens of (primarily white) commentators have noted that ‘Canada’s own Ferguson’ is the violence inflicted on Indigenous people by Canadian police. Such analogies, particularly when made by those of us who are non-Black and non-Indigenous, are problematic.”
- Journalist Jesse Brown responds to the CBC’s announcement that it plans to remove all of Jian Ghomeshi’s Q shows from their online archive. What’s interesting about this short piece is that Brown explains how this material was instrumental to his investigative piece, and served (from a journalistic perspective) to corroborate the statements of Ghomeshi’s victims.
- Brianna Golberg, who had a brief stint as a producer at Q, suggests that the precarity of temporary, contract labour, facilitated exploitative relationships between employees and employers at the CBC, and allowed predators like Jian Ghomeshi to thrive. “It’s this kind of environment where master manipulators like Ghomeshi are enabled to run wild. They prey on the many disenfranchised underlings around them — the interns, the young contract producers, the roiling sea of eager and insecure.”
- The New Yorker and The Atlantic offer some final thoughts on Serial, which officially wrapped up this week. Have you found a podcast replacement for Serial? If so, share in the comments below!
- “Upsetting Vibrartor Reviews” is a funny read put together by the incomparable Mallory Ortberg. Looking for more sexy content? Check out GUTS’s very own, “Open Secrets” — this week, the the answers from our sex survey focused on the question, Do you masturbate? How much? What turns you on when having sex with yourself?
- Go read Brit Bennett’s piece “I Don’t Know What to Do With Good White People” — it might just be the best writing Jezebel has ever published.
Happy Holidays!
GUTS will be taking a short break between December 22 and January 3. Stay tuned, as the new year brings new content from our Sex Issue and Open Secrets!