Antigone Launches Feminist Social Networking Site on International Women’s Day!

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Blog for IWD, canadian, change., feminist, movement, social networking, women

This post is part of Blog for International Women’s Day

Hi Friends!

Happy International Women’s Day!
My name is Amanda Reaume and I am the Executive Director of The Antigone Foundation. We believe it’s time for Canada’s feminists and women’s organizations to work together to leverage the power of social networking to connect around common causes and concerns across the country, both online and in person.

That is why we are launching Antigone Connect , an online site working to engage women’s organizations and feminists across the country to work collaboratively for women’s rights and equality in Canada and around the world.

Our Goal:

We are hoping to create a powerful online network that will be able to help lead the Canadian women’s movement forward in the coming years. As we approach Canada’s 150th Anniversary, we are all aware that there is a great deal more to be done in Canada to ensure women’s equality. More women in politics and managerial positions, accessible child care, changes to the Indian Act, equal pay, and equal pensions are just a few of the things that the Royal Commission on the Status of Women identified as necessary for equality nearly fifty years ago. They have still not been fully realized and this is going to take cooperation and coordination to accomplish.

Canadian Women’s History

This past fall, Antigone Magazine put together an issue about Canadian Women’s History and we spoke to Marilou McPhedran. She talked about how women organized around constitutional issues in the 1980s to ensure that women were included within the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As McPhedran mentions, they did this without even a fax machine. With phone trees, letters to MPs and a lot of conviction, these women changed our country. We can too. Many of us now have access to e-mail, the internet, social networking, maybe even Blackberries and Smartphones. Some also have well paying jobs and contacts with women and men in power who support work for women’s equality. We owe it to our foremothers to leverage all the technologies and privileges that we have to connect and make sure that their legacies are not forgotten.

Your Help

But this network is not going to happen overnight. We need your help in the days and weeks ahead to expand it and bring to the table the voices of women from all backgrounds, from groups that might not readily identify as feminists, or those who might have difficulties accessing the internet, and the voices of women and men that are allies to the work that we do. We need you to tell people about it. To e-mail your contacts about it. To post it on Facebook or Twitter. To contact your friends who might have worked for feminist causes in the past but who have gone off in other directions. To help the technically unsavvy negotiate the technology! We need to come together to create this network across Canada.

Canadian Women’s Future!

Inspired by the next issue of our magazine (to be released in March 2010) entitled The Future of Feminism, we will be offering individuals and organizations opportunities to write about their visions for Canadian feminism. In blog entries, on Antigone Connect forums, on Dreams for Women postcards, and by leading online chats, we invite people to contribute to imagining the future of feminism. Email us at antigonemagazine at hotmail.com if you are interested in helping out.

Join Us

We launched this campaign this week and we are moved and excited by the response so far. It would be great to see you at Antigone Connect.

Thanks in advance for giving this a few minutes of your time, and for sharing this message with anyone you know who would like the women of Canada to unite together to transform our country.

Thank you!

Amanda Reaume and the Antigone Team

Executive Director, The Antigone Foundation
www.antigonefoundation.wordpress.com
Author and blogger, Some Leaders Are Born Women
www.someleadersarebornwomen.wordpress.com

photo credit: wikimedia commons

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Theories of Subjectivity: Art Project

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feminist art subjectivity

Students from WMST 328: THEORIES OF SUBJECTIVITY have
created wonderful and inspiring art projects (sculptures, masks,
paintings, quilts, music, and much more…).
Please come to WAGS (Women and Gender Studies Center) to have a look at them. Also, they will be on display at the Women’s centre on April the 10th from 1:00-2:30.

Screaming Queens: The Riot at Compton’s Cafeteria

UBC’s Critical Studies in Sexuality Program presents Susan Stryker (internationally recognized scholar of sexuality and gender) presents her movie “Screaming Queens”.

March 26th @ 4pm
BUCH A 205, UBC Point Grey Campus

On a hot summer’s night in 1966 in the city’s Tenderloin district, a group of transgendered women and gay street-hustlers fought back for the first time in history against everyday police harassment. This was a dramatic turning point for the transgendered community and the beginning of a new human rights struggle that continues to this day.

Come, see the move, talk with Susan!

Woman’s weight becomes the isssue… agian

I was flipping through my guilty pleasure, People Magazine, which is usually my own one-way pass to completely turning off my mind. However, it wasn’t the inane celebrity articles or fashion glorifications that stopped me short, but an ad for milk. Part of our generation like MTV and Rollerblades, the ‘got milk?’ campaign is a series of ads featuring well-known celebrities with milk mustaches. The theme is usually related to whatever the celebrity is well known for (i.e. milk helps the Williams sisters stay in top tennis form, and Sheryl Crow play music well). However, this particular ad has Grey’s Anatomy star Sara Ramirez talking about how in “show business your figure, well, shows”.

Poor Sara Ramirez. A talented actress and singer, she is known as the ‘curvy one’ on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy. Recently, her character was dumped for the white, blond and thin Izzie (Katherine Heigel), during which much comparison of exterior was made throughout the story arc. This was not unexpected on the show, as we all know how Hollywood tends to treat its women. What bothered me is that the milk campaign decided to go the same route. The ad plays on the fact that Ms. Ramirez is on the the hit show, in which she plays a doctor, specifically a bone doctor. If I remember my grade two science correctly, milk may do something good for your bones. On relying heavily on fan’s knowledge of the show (the tagline was ‘Great anatomy’) there was a chance here to play up the professional accomplishments of the character that Ms. Ramirez plays. Nope, this was a chance to showcase the fact that all eyes are on her weight at all times.

Woman’s weight becomes the isssue… agian

I was flipping through my guilty pleasure, People Magazine, which is usually my own one-way pass to completely turning off my mind. However, it wasn’t the inane celebrity articles or fashion glorifications that stopped me short, but an ad for milk. Part of our generation like MTV and Rollerblades, the ‘got milk?’ campaign is a series of ads featuring well-known celebrities with milk mustaches. The theme is usually related to whatever the celebrity is well known for (i.e. milk helps the Williams sisters stay in top tennis form, and Sheryl Crow play music well). However, this particular ad has Grey’s Anatomy star Sara Ramirez talking about how in “show business your figure, well, shows”.

Poor Sara Ramirez. A talented actress and singer, she is known as the ‘curvy one’ on the hit show Grey’s Anatomy. Recently, her character was dumped for the white, blond and thin Izzie (Katherine Heigel), during which much comparison of exterior was made throughout the story arc. This was not unexpected on the show, as we all know how Hollywood tends to treat its women. What bothered me is that the milk campaign decided to go the same route. The ad plays on the fact that Ms. Ramirez is on the the hit show, in which she plays a doctor, specifically a bone doctor. If I remember my grade two science correctly, milk may do something good for your bones. On relying heavily on fan’s knowledge of the show (the tagline was ‘Great anatomy’) there was a chance here to play up the professional accomplishments of the character that Ms. Ramirez plays. Nope, this was a chance to showcase the fact that all eyes are on her weight at all times.

Criticism of the Media Giving Legitimacy to Sexist Tripe…

Tags

criticism, Media, Sexist

Australia’s The Age has a great article about how news outlets cover the ridiculousness that is Maxism’s recent poll of the World’s Five ‘Unsexiest Women’. Because women’s sexiness or unsexiness is obviously their defining feature. And their can’t possibly be anything to women besides whether they are considered ‘Do-able’ by young Maxim men…

According to the editors at Maxim, Spears scraped in at number five because she carried excess “pudge” following the birth of her two sons. Madonna featured following her “rapid post-nuptial deterioration” and appearances in “pharmacy menopause aisles”. Sandra Oh, star of the TV drama Grey’s Anatomy, made the list for her “cold” manner and “boyish figure”. British singer Amy Winehouse sported “translucent skin” and a “rat’s nest mane”.

Former Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker must be thrilled to discover that she topped the poll. The magazine editors thought her a clear winner, whose presence in a show with sex in the title was apparently inexplicable given the fact that she has a head like a horse.

So this is how I see it. Giving birth is not sexy. If you used to be sexy, but now carry a bit of healthy post-pregnancy weight, you’re also out of favour. If you don’t strut around with your breasts on display or are an otherwise prickly character (which means, I think, unwilling to get said breasts out for the boys at Maxim), you’re a sure bet for the list. Best of all, if you display the natural signs of ageing or are experiencing natural bodily processes like menopause, then you’re fair game.

Perhaps buoyed by the knowledge that celebrity sells, the results of the Maxim poll have done the circuit as a news item — yes, a news item — over the past week. I saw the list on at least one commercial network’s nightly news bulletin and it has been news in India, the United States and Britain. It even made its way onto The Age website, which is where I first read about it. All this comes on the back of a recent Esquire poll ranking the sexiest women alive. That too, it seems, was newsworthy.

In calling this kind of vicious, sexist rubbish “news”, the poll is given a smidgen of legitimacy. The media implicitly support the notion that it is OK to scrutinise and rank women on the basis of the most superficial and degrading of all criteria — their appearance.

In the past three decades, as women have made advances in public life and steps have been made towards greater equality between the sexes, the scrutiny of women’s bodies seems to have gathered pace. Take politics as an example. In Media Tarts, Julia Baird’s excellent book examining the media’s treatment of Australian female politicians, Baird argues that women in politics are rarely judged on their merits. Media commentators are far more interested in women’s hairstyles (Bronwyn Bishop, Julia Gillard), sexual histories (Cheryl Kernot), polka-dot dresses (Joan Kirner), sexiness (Julie Bishop, Natasha Stott Despoja) or unsexiness and weight (Amanda Vanstone) than their policy stances or the contributions they might make to the fabric of our nation.

Indeed, in many respects, women are still seen as less the sum of their parts and more the sum of their “bits”.

I can hear the naysayers: if you don’t like lists like these, don’t read them. And I agree. But even if — like me — you don’t actively seek out polls like these, assessments of women permeate every aspect of our culture. Ask any woman and she’ll tell you that such images are the reason she spends hours in front of the bathroom mirror, worrying about her every blemish or ripple of cellulite.

Media outlets need to be much more reflective about the role they play in fostering this kind of self-scrutiny among women. They must abandon the practice of uncritically promoting sexist material about women, of the kind we see in the Maxim poll. Because, as a woman, I can only do so much to avoid such harmful nonsense.

Criticism of the Media Giving Legitimacy to Sexist Tripe…

Australia’s The Age has a great article about how news outlets cover the ridiculousness that is Maxism’s recent poll of the World’s Five ‘Unsexiest Women’. Because women’s sexiness or unsexiness is obviously their defining feature. And their can’t possibly be anything to women besides whether they are considered ‘Do-able’ by young Maxim men…

According to the editors at Maxim, Spears scraped in at number five because she carried excess “pudge” following the birth of her two sons. Madonna featured following her “rapid post-nuptial deterioration” and appearances in “pharmacy menopause aisles”. Sandra Oh, star of the TV drama Grey’s Anatomy, made the list for her “cold” manner and “boyish figure”. British singer Amy Winehouse sported “translucent skin” and a “rat’s nest mane”.

Former Sex and the City star Sarah Jessica Parker must be thrilled to discover that she topped the poll. The magazine editors thought her a clear winner, whose presence in a show with sex in the title was apparently inexplicable given the fact that she has a head like a horse.

So this is how I see it. Giving birth is not sexy. If you used to be sexy, but now carry a bit of healthy post-pregnancy weight, you’re also out of favour. If you don’t strut around with your breasts on display or are an otherwise prickly character (which means, I think, unwilling to get said breasts out for the boys at Maxim), you’re a sure bet for the list. Best of all, if you display the natural signs of ageing or are experiencing natural bodily processes like menopause, then you’re fair game.

Perhaps buoyed by the knowledge that celebrity sells, the results of the Maxim poll have done the circuit as a news item — yes, a news item — over the past week. I saw the list on at least one commercial network’s nightly news bulletin and it has been news in India, the United States and Britain. It even made its way onto The Age website, which is where I first read about it. All this comes on the back of a recent Esquire poll ranking the sexiest women alive. That too, it seems, was newsworthy.

In calling this kind of vicious, sexist rubbish “news”, the poll is given a smidgen of legitimacy. The media implicitly support the notion that it is OK to scrutinise and rank women on the basis of the most superficial and degrading of all criteria — their appearance.

In the past three decades, as women have made advances in public life and steps have been made towards greater equality between the sexes, the scrutiny of women’s bodies seems to have gathered pace. Take politics as an example. In Media Tarts, Julia Baird’s excellent book examining the media’s treatment of Australian female politicians, Baird argues that women in politics are rarely judged on their merits. Media commentators are far more interested in women’s hairstyles (Bronwyn Bishop, Julia Gillard), sexual histories (Cheryl Kernot), polka-dot dresses (Joan Kirner), sexiness (Julie Bishop, Natasha Stott Despoja) or unsexiness and weight (Amanda Vanstone) than their policy stances or the contributions they might make to the fabric of our nation.

Indeed, in many respects, women are still seen as less the sum of their parts and more the sum of their “bits”.

I can hear the naysayers: if you don’t like lists like these, don’t read them. And I agree. But even if — like me — you don’t actively seek out polls like these, assessments of women permeate every aspect of our culture. Ask any woman and she’ll tell you that such images are the reason she spends hours in front of the bathroom mirror, worrying about her every blemish or ripple of cellulite.

Media outlets need to be much more reflective about the role they play in fostering this kind of self-scrutiny among women. They must abandon the practice of uncritically promoting sexist material about women, of the kind we see in the Maxim poll. Because, as a woman, I can only do so much to avoid such harmful nonsense.

Antigone at Media Democracy Fair on Friday!

Antigone is going to be at the Media Democracy Fair this Friday and we encourage you to drop by! It’s going to be a lot of fun and a great opportunity to support your favourite independent media!

Media Democracy Fair:

Come to the FREE Media Democracy Fair and meet representatives from your favorite local independent media outlets. 4:30pm – 7pm Friday October 26th at the Concourse in SFU Vancouver (Harbour Centre) 515 West Hastings Street.

The Media Democracy Fair is FREE. Admission is open for everyone. Bring your friends and family to the Media Democracy Fair and stay for the discussions.

To stay in the loop join the local media democracy Announcement Mailing List

If you represent a local media group and would like table space at the MDD please email (stephenaATsfu.ca)

For press information please email (faizakATsfu.ca)

Exhibitors

Who can you find at the Media Democracy Fair?

Adbusters
Amnesty International
Antigone Magazine
Beyond Robson
ICTV
Canadians for Democratic Media
CCPA
ChangeEverything
CITIZENShift
Community Media Education Society (C.M.E.S.)
COA News
Columbia Journal
Common Ground
Co-Op Radio
CJSF 90.1fm
CiTR
DOXA Documentary Film Festival
Epoch Times
FreeGeek Vancouver
FreeNet
NowPublic
Only Magazine
Our Paper
People’s Voice Newspaper
Rabble.ca
Straight Goods
Submedia
SFPIRG
The Tyee
The Vancouver Community Television Association (VCTA)
Vancouver’s Anti-Poverty Committee
Vancouver Observer
VIVO Media Arts Centre
Work Less Party
Xtra West

Antigone at Media Democracy Fair on Friday!

Antigone is going to be at the Media Democracy Fair this Friday and we encourage you to drop by! It’s going to be a lot of fun and a great opportunity to support your favourite independent media!

Media Democracy Fair:

Come to the FREE Media Democracy Fair and meet representatives from your favorite local independent media outlets. 4:30pm – 7pm Friday October 26th at the Concourse in SFU Vancouver (Harbour Centre) 515 West Hastings Street.

The Media Democracy Fair is FREE. Admission is open for everyone. Bring your friends and family to the Media Democracy Fair and stay for the discussions.

To stay in the loop join the local media democracy Announcement Mailing List

If you represent a local media group and would like table space at the MDD please email (stephenaATsfu.ca)

For press information please email (faizakATsfu.ca)

Exhibitors

Who can you find at the Media Democracy Fair?

Adbusters
Amnesty International
Antigone Magazine
Beyond Robson
ICTV
Canadians for Democratic Media
CCPA
ChangeEverything
CITIZENShift
Community Media Education Society (C.M.E.S.)
COA News
Columbia Journal
Common Ground
Co-Op Radio
CJSF 90.1fm
CiTR
DOXA Documentary Film Festival
Epoch Times
FreeGeek Vancouver
FreeNet
NowPublic
Only Magazine
Our Paper
People’s Voice Newspaper
Rabble.ca
Straight Goods
Submedia
SFPIRG
The Tyee
The Vancouver Community Television Association (VCTA)
Vancouver’s Anti-Poverty Committee
Vancouver Observer
VIVO Media Arts Centre
Work Less Party
Xtra West

What a Day!: An Interview on CBC Radio One, a Workshop with the BCCIC and Speed Dating…

Tags

Antigone Magazine, BC Council of International Cooperation, CBC Radio One

Okay, so maybe there was no ‘speed dating’ per se… although there were a couple of jokes regarding speed dating because of the set up of the room where I did my workshop… But back to the things that actually happened. Like being interviewed by CBC Radio One’s ‘The Coast’ about Antigone Magazine and the workshop that I gave last night for the BC Council of International Cooperation. My workshop, entitled ‘Texts and Cybertexts: Zines, Blogs and the Politics of Change’ went over great! I spoke about the history of zines and blogs and some steps on how to create them and then we all worked together to make a collective zine.

Can anyone say cool? Honestly, what a great day! Check out the pictures from the workshop and the one at the beginning of the post from CBC’s studios (that’s me attempting to take over the airwaves). Now that I have a program put together for this workshop and for the talk that I did about women and politics, I’m more than willing to do workshops for any interested organizations. Just contact me (antigonemagazine@hotmail.com)… or you know go through my media people (I’m kidding).

For anyone who heard about Antigone from the CBC, here’s some more information about our magazine and blog:

Antigone Magazine is a semi-annual magazine about women and politics at the University of British Columbia. Founded by Amanda Reaume with the help of WILLA UBC (Women Involved in Legislative Leadership Association), the magazine was launched in November, 2006. Antigone seeks to be a publication about women, politics, women and politics and the politics of being a woman and has interviewed the likes of Kim Campbell and Elizabeth May.

Antigone is currently seeking to expand to other universities. If you are not a UBC student and would like to buy a yearly subscription ($12) please e-mail antigonemagazine@hotmail.com

Special thanks to Kate (my media tutor), Caro (my understanding boss who let me run off to the CBC in the middle of the workday), Meredith (my secretary/cheerleader), my mom (who taped the interview), Gillian (the cool woman from the CBC who tracked me down) and Kaitlin (my one and only Assistant Editor/Underling).