I have to admit lately I feel *very* ambivalent when I see everyday activities turned into political statements. One minute you’re shopping for some new undies at Zellers, the next, reading the 3 pack of bamboo bikini cuts that says “Protecting your earth” and thinking, “Is this true - does covering my derriere with bamboo instead of cotton really make a difference?”

The trendier social politics becomes, the harder it is to discern genuine change from marketing rhetoric. The more we consume, the more we use consumption to define our politics, saying things like, “I stopped buying Nikes in 2000 because of their labor practice”. As social marketing evolves, it attempts to define consumer politics so we don’t have to make the effort. So when going out to buy diapers the consumer doesn’t just have to decide if absorbency and convenience trump ecological responsibility, they also have to read, “A dollar from every package of Huggies sold helps educate a child in India!”

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PETA is up to its old tricks again, in a protest against the Ringling Brothers circus in Houma, Louisiana. A female PETA activist was painted in orange and sat in a cage on a busy street corner wearing only a bra and underwear. The orange paint was supposed to represent the caged tigers that are often featured in Ringling Bros. circus shows.

While I understand the importance of promoting the cruelty of animals in circuses, I can’t help but wonder if PETA is incapable of demonstrating in a way that isn’t sexist or objectifying women. From their track record so far, it doesn’t look good.

It looks like someone’s cycles are in sync!

First (thanks for the alert Cate!) gURL.com posts an historical overview of menstrual products. Then Grist posts about our contemporary options from an environmental perspective.

The two-part series contains irreverent product reviews from staffers. They test both outerwear and innerwear.

I appreciate that they report on the bunching factor. Um, and Anna? You’ll be glad to see they assess each product’s odor as well.

It’s awesome how 300 years later, homemade cloth pads are back in style. Oh, who am I kidding? As if they ever left!

gURL.com has this brief history of menstrual products through the ages, which also doubles as a fascinating social history of periods.

It includes some awesome tidbits, like that when the makers of Midol first started marketing the drug as a painkiller for period pain they shied away from actually, you know, using any of those words - instead promising Midol would “lessen pain and discomfort on certain days.” Amazing.

The Canadian Federation for Sexual Health (formerly known as Planned Parenthood of Canada) proudly presents:

An anti-choice archbishop who vocally criticized the appointment of Dr. Henry Morgentaler to the Order of Canada is visiting Ryerson next Thursday.

Several (amazing) pro-choice students are (rightfully) against the visit.

The Ryerson Catholic Students’ Association will have an information booth and Archbishop Thomas Collins will be there to answer people’s questions.

I would also like to personally add that many students at Ryerson have made remarkable efforts to represent themselves as a pro-choice campus that provides equitable education on abortion and reproductive rights issues at large.

I can name only too many events that they host, are present at, or support where any student can ask questions and get good information on all issues having to do with choice. (And that’s not only because cool people like Judy Rebick and Dr. Cyndy Baskin teach there)

Thoughts, anyone?

Want to show the world that fashion isn’t just thousand dollar brand name outfits and underweight models? HERE’S YOUR CHANCE!

If you’re like me and appreciate fashion that strays from the norm, maybe the third annual Toronto Alternative Arts & Fashion Week will be your style.

[FAT], as the event is known (yeah, we know), will be celebrating “the fusion of over 120 artists from around the World”.

Offering a stage and audience to designers daring to do something different, the show exhibits unique clothes, non-typical shows, and runways with models that are larger than a size 0 and darker than a pale ivory.

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Wow, there are only too many problems with this! Many sex workers use Craigslist to find clients, and it would be nice if the community was asked before rules are made to supposedly “protect them”, yet again.

From the Bound, not Gagged blog for Sex Workers:

“In a move to appease law enforcement, Craigslist announced today that they will limit Erotic Services postings only to those who can pay a fee with a valid credit card. This comes several months after Craigslist changed their Erotic Services ad policy to require a valid telephone number in order to post.”

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Apologies for posting this so late, but it’s definitely worth a read in its entirety!

Here we present to you the Manifesto adopted at the Pan-Canadian Young Feminist Gathering Toujours RebELLEs / Waves of Resistance, Montreal, on October 13, 2008. More than 500 young women between the ages of 14 to 35 gathered from every single province and territory to reclaim feminism and try to take it back for what it needs to be so we’re all included.

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