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.
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Save The Date! Shameless Parties With Granny Boots, Dec 10
Just a quick note to mark in your calendar that Shameless magazine will be hosting an all ages event at the Gladstone Melody Bar in Toronto on December 10. We’re doing so in partnership with the fabulous Granny Boots.
More details to follow, but for now jot it down!
Wed Dec 10th from 7:30-10pmish
Gladstone Melody Bar
1214 Queen St West
(Brought to you by the Gladstone Hotel and Chelsey Licht-a-Womyn, Granny Boots is FREE weekly entertainment for queers. If you love to be home by 11pm or like to party hard till midnight, this night’s for you. Every Week is Different! Email chelsey.lichtman@gmail.com if you wanna host a Granny Boots!)
The Fourth Annual TorontotheBetter film series, in coordination with Students on Seven (SOS), 7th Generation Image Makers and the Indigenous Education Network proudly present the screening of:
Beyond the Seventh Generation
A series of short films created by local indigenous youth filmmakers
To be preceded by a smudge conducted by the Indigenous Education Network and followed by a Q&A with some of the filmmakers - Movies, Discussion, Action
Don’t miss this exciting one time Pay What You Can screening!
When: November 18, 2008 at 8:30 pm
Where: Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE/UT)
252 Bloor Street West (above St. George station)
Room 5-260
My younger sister informed me of this during my latest research on youth sexual health resources online.
rejectionhotline.com provides a telephone number you can give to those who apparently “can’t take a hint” when you turn their proposition down.
The thought of this (US-based) company making profits now over the reality of pushiness that exists in our overtly sexual world is disgruntling. But I have to admit the message you hear when you call it is actually kind of funny.
Now, I’ve had my fair share of persistors, although I’m someone who really doesn’t care about being “mean” or being called a bitch if the answer isn’t what they want to hear. No means no, and I have frequently been annoyed by the “Oh but I’m saying no because I have a boyfriend” reasons. Actually if I were single, I’d say no to you too. Thanks.
But not all situations play out like that, and I can definitely see where safety and violence prevention must be considered, especially if you just aren’t a very vocal person.
Thoughts anyone?
Debate is brewing about whether or not coffee cups, plastic bags and water bottles should be banned. The coffee cup purveyors don’t think you could handle it.
“…the possibility of a ban or restrictions raises questions about whether consumers can break their reliance on non-recyclable coffee cups and disposable takeout containers.”
- from the Globe and Mail
Dirty Little Spoons à la Toronto’s Guerrilla Gourmet
The optimistic viewpoint would say that yes, humans of all stripes, even the spoiled ones, can waste less and survive. In fact — and try to stay with me — if we continue to waste as much as we do, we might not survive.
What’s your take? Do you always BYOmug? Are you motivated by discounts, like getting a Grande for the price of a Tall? (Or a Liatorp for the price of a Flarke?)
I know this is usually Anna‘s domain, but a few weeks ago some of the bloggers and readers here were having a conversation about women-friendly hip hop and I just wanted to add another name to the list of artists worth a listen.
Based in New York and Detroit, MC Invincible drops some rhymes with some serious focus. In her work she talks about feminism, racism, social justice, homophobia, depression and more. And she puts her money where her mouth is, working with Detroit Summer, a collective directed towards transforming some of Detroit’s communities and neighborhoods through youth-led media projects, potlucks and actions.
Check out her video for ‘Locusts’, which is equal parts music video and documentary film about the destruction of Detroit’s neighborhoods, and the communities that are fighting to put their city together again.
The recipients of the 2008 Person’s Case Awards were announced earlier this month. The award honours people who have made “outstanding contributions” to the advancement of Canadian women and is named for the five women who, in 1929, won the right for women to be recognized as persons – The Famous Five.
The list of recipients is impressive but Shari Graydon – a longtime feminist activist and writer – wonders why the youth award was given to a man named Ben Barry for running a modelling agency. Shari has passed on a letter she wrote to the Persons Case Award Committee (see below). In it, she argues that the Person’s Case youth award could have been handed out to one of the hundreds of young women across Canada who struggle to improve women’s lives in meaningful ways.
I agree with Shari. In the face of the continual violence, exploitation, and oppression women in this country face, and considering the tricky tactics the beauty industry uses to sell us things we don’t need, I do not believe that running a for-profit modeling agency should be recognized as making an “outstanding contribution” to women’s lives, and I can think of dozens of young women activists (many of whom frequent this blog) who deserve this award. Maybe Shari’s letter will inspire you to nominate someone next year.
“The 2008 Data Book from Montana Kids Count, which just hit the
shelves, is boring and bland, but its informative sections on
juvenile justice and the data snapshots of Native American women and children sound alarm bells.Here’s an example. On page 9, in the middle of a chart, is this
shocking bit of news: Native women in Montana have an average life expectancy of 64 years, compared to 81 for the general population.”
Sixty-four years!
This reminds me of a great article from the Missoulean last year that detailed the reality of violence against Native women, in particular rape, and how much that affects our life longevity. Living our lives under these horrendous conditions certainly does not bode an equal chance of a long, healthy life.
Unfortunately, this is no surprise to me.
Apparently you can use sex to sell anything, even organ donation:
From the Belgian men’s magazine, P-magazine. Ad by Reborn to be Alive.
This is so gross. If this woman was actually in need of someone’s organs, she’d be laid out in a hospital somewhere at death’s door. These are not acceptable circumstances to want to be “inside” someone.
Also, do people think sex is the only reason men do anything? Why don’t they get more worked up about the fact that most advertising assumes that men are callous and sex-obsessed?
Hat tip to Feminist Law Profs.
Global warming just got a little worse on November 10th… we lost someone pretty damn cool.
Miriam Makeba was a South African singer and civil-rights activist who spoke out against apartheid and injustice in the strongest, sweetest, most melodic voice you could imagine. She was exiled from South Africa after she left to pursue a musical career in the US and found her passport had been revoked when she tried to return. But she was no less active (or controversial) a voice in America - she testified to the U.N. against apartheid, recorded an incredible canon of protest songs, appeared in documentaries and films (and on The Cosby Show!), and was married for a while to future Black Panther Stokely Carmichael.
As a person who grew up in a North American urban middle-class milieu, I am accustomed to a certain kind of protest song - that is to say, the kind that comes with screeching guitars and four-four beats and lots of angry yelling. Preferably with ponytails and fishnets and liberal doses of raging against The Man. But listening to Miriam Makeba makes me remember that anger and protest can take other forms and reach other audiences. What’s even more important is that Makeba makes the experience of people living under unjust conditions visible and palpable through her music, and that’s about as valuable as art can get, IMHO.
She collapsed after performing her hit song Pata Pata in concert last week, and died shortly thereafter. I know it’s cheesy to point out, but she really did die doing what she loved.
Here is Miriam Makeba in what I would guess to be the late 60s, singing Kilimanjaro.
Read obituaries for this exceptional human being here and here.
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