ma boudoir

Monday's Show - Sexist Politicians, Burqas, Genderless Kids... and more!

Tune in to Yeah, What She Said on Monday June 29 from 8:30 to 9:00 pm (MST) to hear our feminist news and events show. We'll be discussing a variety of recent news stories relating to feminism, plus we'll inform you about some upcoming feminist-themed plays at Calgary's Fringe Festival.

The show will have a particular focus on two recent stories involving sexist comments from Alberta politicians:
- Alberta Finance Minister, Iris Evans, tells us one parent should stay home in order to raise kids right
- Conservative MLA, Doug Elniski, has some sexist advice for young girls: smile, don't give men shit, and "don't give me that treated equal stuff"

Other news stories we'll be covering:
- President Sarkozy Says Burqa Not Welcome in France
- Swedish couple raises child outside of gender norms
- Dubai is Hot, but Paris is Not! Paris Hilton in Dubai

change of thought

when the news first hit me that mr jackson passed away I was shocked but not too bothered by it. all i could think about was his molestation charges and his freakish behavior.
after watching this incredible video my mind has changed. i have always enjoyed michael's music and the dancing and characters involved in this dance have swayed my thoughts. everyone is guilty of something and maybe mj was not the most innocent person on earth but there is a reason why he is a legend and why there are so many fans and mourners.
rest in peace
"i'll be there"

More Gender Profiling; This Time, In Children's Books

Speaking of forced gender roles (and we'll hear a little bit more about that on tomorrow night's show), I feel obliged to re-post the following from a blogger who'd discovered this book in a library. Apparently it was a satirical book created by Whitney Darrow, Jr. and published in the 1970's. My guess, however, is that it would not be all too satirical in the hands of a 4 or 5 year old kid.

Have a look.

Teach Your Baby Girl How to Spend Money and Wear Lipstick! Essential Life Skills, People!

Fisher Price has developed probably the stupidest toy for baby girls that I've ever seen. It's called "My Pretty Learning Purse" and it comes with play jewelery and lipstick... because you know, jewelery and lipstick are essential to learning. The purse also comes with a dollar bill and a set of keys.

Sounds to me like Fisher Price is not-so-subtly trying to teach little girls what it means to be a woman. Clearly, it's all about spending money and lookin' good.

Naturally, there is a similar toy for boys (oh, how I hate gender-specific toys) except it's a TOOL BOX instead of a purse! Of course! The toolbox includes "manly" items like a screwdriver, hammer and saw.

Way to go Fisher Price for continuing to reinforce these rigid and outdated gender roles.

A Very Powerful, Short Doc: Carissa

I don't even know where to begin with this. I'm often curious to see how far these kinds of documentaries will go in terms of getting to the deep and unpleasantly dark core of reality, but this one has done it. This is the story of Carissa, a former youth sex-trade worker who eventually went on to graduate from UCLA and become a spokesperson for Virgin Mobile's Regeneration Campaign for the awareness of youth homelessness.

I won't speak too much about the video; my summary of it would quite simply do nothing but tarnish its beauty. So, please just take a moment to watch it and share it with any and every one whom you think may need to see it.

(Another great vid courtesy of Current)

Why are Alberta Politicians such Anti-Feminist Dorks?

It hasn’t been a great week for feminists in Alberta. First of all, Alberta’s Finance Minister, Iris Evans, made inappropriate comments about how children should be raised (see my post from June 19). And now Doug Elniski, a conservative MLA from Edmonton-Calder, made sexist comments at a Grade 9 graduation ceremony.

Elniski’s speech, which he posted on his blog (and has since removed due to the controversy it caused), included this advice to young girls: "Ladies, always smile when you walk into a room, there is nothing a man wants less than a woman scowling because he thinks he is going to get shit for something and has no idea what."

He went on to say, "Men are attracted to smiles, so smile, don't give me that 'treated equal' stuff. If you want Equal, it comes in little packages at Starbucks."

Rachel Notley, an MLA for the New Democratic Party is “very concerned that this is the kind of message that may be being given at junior high schools” and says the message is “hurtful and it sets the issue of women's equality back." At least one of Alberta’s politicians is as disgusted and disturbed by these sexist comments as I am.

How the hell can this joker get away with saying crap like this to kids? And on top of being incredibly sexist, he also throws in the s-word. How on earth can this be justified as appropriate for a Grade 9 graduation ceremony? The mind boggles.

Click here to read the CBC's coverage of this story.

Tonight's Show: A Chat With Artist, Jasmine Valentina

On tonight's show, we'll have a sit down with local artist and activist, Jasmine Valentina (a very dear friend of ours, here at YWSS). Jasmine's latest endeavor entitled Domestic Mobility will take to the streets of Calgary on Friday, June 26 from 4 - 9pm and Monday, June 29 from 12 - 3pm.

We'll talk to Jasmine about all of the pressing things, of course: art, activism and feminism in the context of artistic display.

Interviews with passersby will be conducted by Jasmine as she makes her way through urban spaces with her amazing sculpture in tow. The sculpture and interviews will show at Stride Gallery's +15 window with it's opening night on August 6, 2009.

Tune in at 8:30 pm (MST) on CJSW 90.9 FM and www.cjsw.com to hear all about it tonight!

RAUNCH - A Feminist Play Showing in Calgary!

This summary is not available. Please click here to view the post.

"Daddy Boom" in Germany

Fathers Day is coming up very shortly and in honor of all the fantastic Dads out there, I thought I'd post this short video documentary I discovered over at Current last year. It's about the apparent Daddy Boom in Germany where more men than ever before are taking on the stay-at-home parent role while women become the primary breadwinners in what are otherwise traditional families. In the video (posted below), two men are asked to talk about their experiences as stay-at-home dads and how this phenomenon of at-home daddies will shape the future of Germans.

I think the Daddy Boom in Germany says a lot about culture and all of its variables; many of us are used to women almost automatically being assigned the role of primary caregivers. Seeing men in this role is always a nice reminder to all of us - whether we're already comfortable with the idea or not - that men are capable of taking on this role and are likely to do it well with the right kind of social support.

Iris Evans Ignites Furor Over "Raising Kids Right"

Alberta's Finance Minister, Iris Evans, is in hot water over some recent comments she made regarding child rearing. Evans was in Toronto this week speaking about the importance of teaching children financial literacy, when she said that good parenting means sacrificing some income to stay at home while kids are young, as her children have done.

“They’ve understood perfectly well that when you’re raising children you don’t both go off to work and leave them for somebody else to raise,” Ms. Evans said. “This is not a statement against daycare. It’s a statement about their belief in the importance of raising children properly.”

Naturally, this has sparked outrage and debate across the country. I won't write too much about it here, because you can read plenty of articles online about it (this one and this one are good), but I will say this:

When you're a Minister in the provincial government, you can't say shit like this. Period. For most families, their financial reality is that both parents must work in order to earn enough income. Also, there is no such thing as a "proper" or "correct" family. Whatever works for your family is what's right. 'Nuff said.

Ms. Evans has apologized for her remarks, but debate and anger continues to rage on.

Shows You Don't Wanna Miss at Calgary's Fringe Festival 2009!

The Calgary Fringe Festival is the perfect chance to see some uncensored, crazy, amazing theatre where 100% of the ticket revenue is returned directly to the artists. Shows run from July 31 to August 8, 2009.

While checking out the show schedule I noticed a lot of shows appear to have feminist themes, or would at least be of interest to feminists. So I thought I'd post my "Gotta Check it Out" list for y'all. Here are my picks:

The Vagina Monologues - Naturally. I believe that legally, you can't call yourself a feminist until you've seen this play.

"Boobs" - A Tale of Two Titties - Tales about boobs. Seems pretty rad to me.

Inviting Desire - Inspired by real women’s sexual fantasies. What more need I say?

Jenny Wynter's: One Night in Labour - A cabaret-esque tribute to motherhood.

Rocky Horror Show - An absolute classic.

The Cockwhisperer - A Love Story - One woman's search for the love, and penis, of her dreams.


Get out there and support the arts! See the Calgary Fringe Festival website for more info.

Rocker Girl Camp in Calgary - July 2009

Why not send your daughter, niece or little sister to a kick-ass Rocker Girl Camp this summer? The camp is designed for girls aged 10-17 and the only requirement is a love of music and a desire to learn.

Girls will get the chance to learn a variety of instruments, rock out to tunes, dance, and listen to established female musicians speak about everything from touring to songwriting. At the end of the week the girls will present a final concert - rock on!

The camp runs in Calgary from July 6-10, 2009 and is held at the Altadore Baptist Church. The cost is $325. Please visit the Rocker Girl Camp website for all the details.

Tonight's Show: Pure Fashion

Tonight on the show we discuss "Pure Fashion" - a new craze from the religious right. It's a faith-based model training program that teaches young women how to become "pure and dignified" - both in the way they dress and their personality.

Undoubtably one of the most interesting aspects of Pure Fashion is their "modesty guidelines" for how a dignified and pure young woman should dress. A few examples:

• When going upstairs at work or school, a short skirt will show the upper thigh to those below you. This is not a body part for a dignified woman to openly expose in public.
• Tank tops should be worn only with a shirt, jacket, or sweater over them.
• Dresses should have sleeves or be worn with a shrug.

Fashion and Jesus together at last. Oh lordy, we're gonna have some fun with this one. Tune in from 8:30 to 9:00pm tonight on 90.9 FM or cjsw.com.

Woman "Too Young" to have Tubes Tied

A 21-year-old woman in Brampton, Ontario has been told by her obstetrician that she is "too young" to have her tubes tied.



Tarrah Seymour and her husband already have one child and are expecting their second. Together they decided that Tarrah would have her tubes tied after her second child is born. They both feel that limiting themselves to two children will allow them to give the best advantages to those kids - days out at the zoo, college educations, and all that good stuff.



The couple never imagined that their obstetrician would treat them like children who can't make their own decisions. According to the Toronto Sun, the doctor said that a tubal ligation was not open for discussion because Tarrah may become involved with someone else later in life and regret her decision. Because tubal ligation is a permanent sterilization method, the doctor says he won’t consider performing it on any woman under 25.



The couple are understandably upset. “We know what we want in life” said Tarrah. “We want two kids and then we want to start our careers. We had logical reasons behind it. He should have listened and respected that.”



Women need to be able to make their own decisions about family planning. Whether that involves abortion, tube tying, birth control or anything else… we need to trust that women will do what is best for them. If you can’t trust a woman to make her own decisions, how can you trust her with a child?

whenever im upset...

...i just turn you on. SJP that is (you).
the one thing that can always help take my mind off of life is sex & the city. whether its relating your situations to the 4 women or just watching them go through their own difficulties - it all helps. its my type of therapy.
was just watching the episode where carrie sports the fur coat (see below) and heads to a yankees game with the girls. after a few beerskis she asks the new yankee out as her date to the dolce party. ughghhghghhg!!!! tomorrow i may just have to hit up a jays game. i think ill leave the fur coat at home though.

you make me so happy charms!!!!!
things i like about sunshine:
- open patios
- cold vodka
- bright colors
- heat
- dancing in the wild

Lila Rose vs. Planned Parenthood

Now, here's some tricky shit:

Lila Rose (UCLA student and president of pro-life action group Live Action) , has been receiving tons of media clamor following her series of undercover investigations into the apparent corruption within the Planned Parenthood organization. For those who don't know, PP is a publically funded American reproductive health and abortion services provider.

Last year, Lila Rose posed as a 14 year old trying to obtain a waiver from a judge which would give the 'girl' permission to carry out an abortion. Claiming that she had a 31 year old boyfriend, Rose (posing as the 14 year old) was advised by a Planned Parenthood employee to tell the court that her boyfriend was, "17 years old, whatever..." so as not to get the alleged boyfriend into any trouble. Her debate is that Planned Parenthood is operating under poor ethics and defying compliance with the law, therefore, endangering young girls in search of abortion services. The hidden-camera footage we see is out of context and, thus, likely missing some important content. We, the viewers, do not know what is said by either party before or after the clip. The employee could have retracted her suggestion some time after the camera stopped rolling. She may also have known facts about the girls said situation before making the suggestion to obscure the boyfriend's age.


I have not yet been able to figure out exactly what Lila's beef is. Her Live Action organization's project called the Mona Lisa Project accuses Planned Parenthood of contributing to the abuse of young girls by rushing them into abortions under any circumstances and often thrusting them back into the volatile and abusive environments from which they came seeking help. Not once does Lila or Live Action use its investigation to prove that being pro-choice is dangerous in itself. Are Lila Rose's motives political? Self-interested? The stories don't cut to the chase in terms of convincing me that abortion itself is criminal. The videos on the Live Action website tell very little of pro-life values and spend more time attacking corruption within this particular organization, making it difficult to determine where the catch is.

I may be playing the devil's advocate by pointing out that, in the video of Lila's encounter with the Planned Parenthood employee in Memphis, the employee does retract to say that [she] doesn't know whether the girl's boyfriend would get in trouble if the girl were or were not to tell the courts his "true" age. After all, I doubt that she is legally bound to tell the young girl what may possibly happen if the boyfriend's age were concealed. Although unsettling, it's possible the employee [her]self did not know what repercussions would ensue if the girl chose to take her advice. I would imagine that if it were eventually uncovered that the advice given to the "young girl" was to lie about her boyfriend's age, it would be somewhat difficult to criminally prosecute and subsequently charge Planned Parenthood for any illegal activity.

Who knows, maybe the employee did alert authorities once the girl left. Maybe the employee was poorly trained or not properly equipped with information on how to handle such a report. On the other hand, I imagine that without detailed information about this boyfriend, it would be a complex case to report anyway.

As discussed on the most recent episode of Yeah, What She Said, it's worrisome to think that people can be so devoted to bringing down organizations that deal with social issues most others prefer to avoid.

I must admit, I don't understand why the PP employee would encourage the girl to lie unless she was personally determined to see the girl wind up back in a relationship that was potentially unsafe; I won't deny that the video is disturbing in that sense. Live Action's reports on the Mona Lisa Project leave me questioning whether these reports are factual and if any crucial details have been omitted and, if these reports are legit, is PP as an organization behaving this way strictly out of carelessness? Seriously? The fact that Live Action will pursue their efforts to 'expose' corruptness in abortion service centers like Planned Parenthood bothers me. Is it abortion they are fighting against or is it crime? And is The Mona Lisa Project merely attempting to affect the generalized notion that abortion is crime? If so, it's a cheap tactic and it's unfortunate that Lila Rose and Live Action don't think the majority of us will be able see through it.

Among other notoriously right wing networks, Lila appears on Fox TV's Glenn Beck program (where Glenn ends up referring to her as "Twila"), for crying out loud...

Thoughts, please.

Watch more Glenn Beck videos on AOL Video

*Be sure to check out the Association for Women's Rights In Development's article for more on this.

ideas for my room

courtesy of decor8.blogspot.com

courtesy of desiretoinspire.net

Monday's Show - "Feminist" Organizations with Anti-Feminist Values

Can you be pro-life and still call yourself a feminist? Can you be anti same-sex marriage and still call yourself a feminist?

Tune in on Monday June 8th as we discuss women's organizations that claim to be feminist, yet hold values that are associated with anti-feminism. An example of this type of organization is REAL Women, a group of conservative/right-wing feminists that believe strongly in traditional family values. Although they have a great stance on equal pay for equal work (and they support a woman's choice to work or stay at home), on the other hand they are anti abortion and anti same-sex marriage.

We'll also discuss Feminist for Life, a pro-life feminist organization, and a group of anti-feminists known as Ladies Against Feminism.

Catch the show from 8:30 to 9:00pm (MST) at 90.9 fm in Calgary, or stream it on-line from anywhere in the world at cjsw.com.

ABBA and Feminism: Together At Last.

Oh my god, I think my head is going to explode from awesomeness. Two of my favourite things - ABBA and feminism - have come together at last.

In Sweden there is actually a feminist political party called Feminist Initiative (FI!). The party includes men and women and puts forth a pretty rad feminist platform.

Apparently in the past there have been many polling stations in Sweden where the FI! party was not an available choice. So Benny Andersson - pianist, composer and spandex-clad member of ABBA - contributed $1 million kronor ($143,518 Canadian) to ensure that Swedish voters have a chance to vote for the Feminist Initiatve party in today's European Union parliamentary elections.

To Benny Andersson, having the option to vote for all available political parties is an important democratic matter. Andersson released a statement saying, “Because I sympathize with [the FI!'s] persistent struggle for equal treatment, I offered to try and help by providing financial support for an advertisement that explains what to do when the pre-printed ballots are missing.”

Mamma Mia! I think I'm falling in love with ABBA all over again...

pissed off

the finer things in life

a special place for glasses of wine and great meals.
this is where the parties begin.

housewarming parties are so fun, its always great when friends bring you champagne and wine ... helps with how long you last throughout the day though.
sundays i've decided are perfect for throwing parties...especially when its sunny.
CUPCAKES!

the proud new roommates. sexual.

slacker

this is my beautiful sister.
and my roommate.
and my best friend.
loveeeer.

hills aftershow w. jesse & dan the sexy man

Playboy Magazine Promotes “Hate Fucking”

On June 1st Playboy Magazine published an article on its website entitled “10 Conservative Women we’d Love to Hate-Fuck.” For those who don’t know what “hate-fuck” means, here’s a quick translation: rape.

The article was written by Guy Cimbalo and contains repeated references to the authour’s desire to degrade and humiliate certain conservative women based solely on their political ideology. The article only remained on the website for a brief time before word got around via Twitter and the controversial article was removed.

Smart Girl Politics, a coalition of conservative women, has condemned the lewd and degrading article. “The language used in Mr. Cimbalo’s screed was misogyny, pure and simple,” stated Teri Christoph, Co-Founder of Smart Girl Politics. “The vile nature of the article indicates that the author, and apparently Playboy Magazine, advocates violence against women with whom they don’t agree. The true feminists of today will not tolerate this kind of hateful exploitation.”

As a “true feminist” I absolutely agree with Teri Christoph – we cannot tolerate hate towards any women, regardless of their religious or political beliefs, race, class, sexual orientation or anything else.

I’ve never been a fan of Playboy, but this one really seals the deal for me. Here’s a little tip for that jackass Guy Cimbalo: If you want to sleep with a beautiful woman, maybe try respecting her. Just a thought.

Jezebel has more info here.

On The Show, Tonight: A Chat With Kate Reid

Tonight, Geea and I are pleased to have the lovely Kate Reid joining us to chat all about her new album, I'm Just Warming Up. We'll be chatting with Kate about her signature dyke-folk with a kick; we'll also give you all the information you need to know about her upcoming CD release party this coming weekend.

Tune in to CJSW 90.9 FM at 8:30 PM (MST) or stream it online at www.cjsw.com

*Being the wonderful lady that she is, Kate has kindly offered to put you (+1) on the guest-list at the CD release party! Hit us up at yeahwhatshesaid@gmail.com if you want in!

Kansas Abortion Doctor Murdered at Church

George Tiller, a doctor who performed late-term abortions, was murdered while attending church on Sunday morning.

Tiller has been targeted by anti-abortion activists many times before: he was shot in 1993 and his clinic was bombed in 1986.

President Obama has spoken out about this situation, saying "I am shocked and outraged by the murder of Dr. George Tiller as he attended church services this morning. However profound our differences as Americans over difficult issues such as abortion, they cannot be resolved by heinous acts of violence."