1. SlutWalk was reportedly initiated in response to a police officer’s comment about not dressing like a slut if you don’t want to get raped. The underlying assumption is that one’s attire — specific items or style — sends a message. And indeed it does. High heels, fishnet stockings, and a heavily made-up face are …
Category: gender issues
Apr 25 2018
Canterbury’s Law
When the pilot episode of Canterbury’s Law aired, I was really annoyed. The main character was an intelligent, powerful woman (a lawyer). Good. Who is shown obsessing over her appearance, albeit grudgingly, wondering whether the color of her suit brings out her eyes. Within the first hour, we also see her going to her husband …
Apr 10 2018
because male feelings are more important than …
“because male feelings are more important than women’s opportunities in sport …” Indeed. Check it out: because male feelings are more important than women’s opportunities in sport
Apr 08 2018
13 Reasons Why: How to Make a Movie (and maybe Write a Novel *) without acknowledging the Elephant in the Room
So I’ve just finished watching 13 Reasons Why (Netflix) and am struck by the completely unacknowledged elephant in the room. Not one character acknowledges that almost all of the problems leading to Hannah’s suicide stem from sexism and its many tumours – misogyny, male entitlement, male privilege, hypersexualization, objectification, the rape culture, etc., etc., etc. …
Apr 04 2018
Sexism and Teaching: The Elephant in the Room
Back in 1996, I was fortunate enough to get a job teaching a few courses at a university: several sections of a non-credit remedial English language course, a section of critical thinking, and various applied ethics courses. At the end of the second year, I was notified by the Dean that my student evaluations for …
Apr 02 2018
And here’s something else that would never happen to a man …
So this guy in our neighborhood has early Alzheimers and dizzy spells. He’s looking for a babysitter (his word) and someone to cook for him and do his cleaning so he doesn’t have to go into a home. And he asked me. I have no experience babysitting. And absolutely no aptitude for it. Yes, I …
Mar 26 2018
Solo Women’s Invisible Economic Expenses
It really hit home when my father gave me twenty bucks for a pizza, his treat. As if I were a teenager. Instead of a 50-year-old woman with a mortgage to pay, property taxes, and monthly bills for oil, electricity, phone, internet, tv, house insurance, car insurance… Amazing. He was sitting in my living room …
Mar 07 2018
for my brother, a poem by Chris Wind
(for my brother) I with a grunt of irritation you condescend to be interrupted and move your chair back a bit so i can crawl under your desk (the one dad built special for you now that you’re at university) so i can dust the baseboards as is my job (i’ve already done the rest …
Mar 01 2018
The Academy Awards
Why is the acting category of the Academy Awards sex-segregated (Best Actor in a Lead/Supporting Role, Best Actress in a Leading/Supporting Role)? We don’t have separate awards for male and female directors. Or screenwriters, cinematographers, costume designers, film editors, soundtrack composers, or make up persons. Is one’s sex really relevant to one’s acting ability? In …
Feb 28 2018
Trust – the movie
Trust – the movie I’m so bloody sick and tired of men who assume center stage is for them. The way the movie ends, and most of the way it plays out, it’s about the dad, about how he can’t deal with his failure to protect his daughter. Mom’s not quite so important, apparently, …
fiction
