A piece published in the Toronto Star over the weekend may have led you to believe it would, as the headline: “Feminists take opposite stands on prostitution” alludes, explore different feminist positions on prostitution and prostitution law. The author, Rosie DiManno (“one of the Star’s best and most prolific writers“!), immediately trips all over herself [...]
April 10, 2013
INTERVIEW: Meghan Murphy on rape culture, Steubenville, & masculinity
I was a guest on Vancouver Co-op Radio’s The Rational on Tuesday evening talking about rape culture, Steubenville, masculinity and an article I wrote recently: The Steubenville rape case: This is masculinity. Thanks to Riaz Behra, who interviewed me. You can listen to the full interview here: Podcast: Play in new window | Download
April 7, 2013
Tom Matlack: Victim of feminism
Tom Matlack, who I’d pretty much forgotten about because, well, because he’s irrelevant, is at it again. And by “at it” I mean, of course, whining about the mean, mean feminists. It’s his thing. Some history on me and Tom: Back in January, Matlack, who is the co-founder of MRA-lite site, The Good Men Project, [...]
April 3, 2013
Why doesn’t anyone talk about unionizing arms manufacturers? On the idea of sex worker unions
This article was originally posted at Manyfesto and has been republished with permission from the author, Taryn Fivek. No one proposes ending war by unionizing arms manufacturers. Proposing to end violence against women in the sex trade by unionizing them is likewise untenable. The best way to end violence against women in the sex trade [...]
April 1, 2013
PODCAST: Indigenous women & prostitution: An interview with Cherry Smiley
Prostitution is a gendered issue, but it’s also an issue that is very much tied to class and race. Canada’s history of colonialism is not something to be ignored when looking at both causes of and solutions to prostitution. In this episode, I speak with Cherry Smiley, co-founder of Indigenous Women Against the Sex Industry [...]
April 1, 2013
The truth about me (and Steve) *TW for sexy times
It’s time for me to come out of the metaphorical closet, friends. I’m afraid this secret has been weighing on me far too heavily, for far too long. The truth is, I’ve been in bed with Harper for the past year. Literally and figuratively. It all started with this (I’m the one on the far [...]
March 28, 2013
‘Prostitution Chic’ is a thing now
Cool. Earlier his week, The Gloss featured old photos of prostituted women in order to highlight the fact that being poor and having to service nasty-ass dudes in the early 1900s also involved wearing cool tights. A comment left on the post reads: “Well, I’m obviously going to be an old school sex worker for [...]
March 27, 2013
The Nordic model is the only model that actually works. ‘Duh,’ says Sweden
An article was published recently in The Independent looking at the Nordic model in Sweden. The journalist, Joan Smith, took a ride in a squad car to see how a model wherein the buyer is criminalized and the prostitute is decriminalized actually worked. What she found will likely be met, by any progressive, intelligent, feminist [...]
March 26, 2013
The PETA Complex: On post-feminist activism, gender, and veganism
Is it just me, or have we all been drinking the post-feminist Kool-Aid? You know, post-feminism — the idea that women are empowered enough to read Playboy. I can’t help but cringe when I see news reports about the relatively new Ukrainian “activist” group, FEMEN — composed of attractive, thin, young women who protest topless. [...]
March 22, 2013
PODCAST: Gail Dines on Iceland’s proposal to ban hardcore pornography online
Iceland has been called the world’s most feminist country. Ranking first in the 2012 Global Gender Gap Report, the country sucessfully banned strip clubs, adopted feminist legislation around prostitution, decriminalizing sex workers and criminalizing the men who buy sex, and have legislated against printing and distributing porn. Now, the progressive country is considering banning hardcore [...]
March 21, 2013
Review: On Sheryl Sandberg’s ‘Lean In’
Sheryl Sandberg wrote us a “sort of feminist manifesto” and I was like — You know what, Sandberg? I’ll take it. Because even before it came out, people were bashing you. The problem is, Sandberg is apparently too rich to give advice. Her “Lean In Campaign” held little for most women, according to the Washington [...]
March 19, 2013
The Steubenville rape case: This is masculinity
Two high school football players from Steubenville, Ohio were found guilty of raping a 16 year old girl on Sunday. They were both convicted of digitally penetrating the victim, and one was found guilty of illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material. The allegations against the young men, Trent Mays, 17, and Ma’lik Richmond, [...]
March 15, 2013
On ‘gray rape’, Girls, and sex in a rape culture
About five years ago, I was out and about with some dude-friends. We went to a bunch of bars, danced, drank, etc. I was single and also, therefore, mingling. Flirting, they call it. Eventually when there was no more bar-hopping to be had, we went back to a friend’s house and laughed and talked and [...]
March 8, 2013
Postfeminism
This article was originally posted at Manyfesto and has been republished with permission from the author, Taryn Fivek. What is postfeminism? Allegedly it is the space where we can move past feminism, where feminism no longer holds appeal to women and where it can even be harmful to women. As Melissa Gira Grant writes: [...]
March 6, 2013
PODCAST: Status Quo: The unfinished business of feminism in Canada
In this episode, I speak with Ravida Din, producer of a new documentary: “Status Quo: The unfinished business of feminism in Canada“. The film looks at both the history of the women’s movement in Canada as well as some of the key issues we are dealing with today: child care, the live-in caregiver program, the [...]
March 5, 2013
No, being ‘kinky’ does not grant you minority status
You’ve likely heard about the ‘cannibal cop‘ by now. He was a New York police officer whose wife discovered a website open on his computer displaying a photograph of a dead girl. The officer, Gilberto Valle, had been visiting a ‘fetish sites’ (because murdering women is a ‘fetish’ donchaknow) which “show[ed] women in various stages [...]
March 2, 2013
For the record, accusing women of being ‘career feminists’ is sexist
I’m a socialist. Let’s just start with that, OK? I’m anti-capitalist and I’m feminist and I’m living in a capitalist, patriarchal world. I am working class and I will likely always be. I hope to be able to survive and live comfortably some day, while also doing ethical, feminist work. But God forbid I become [...]
April 15, 2013
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