Did The Anti Abortion Group Go Too Far With Incendiary Ad?
According to the Guttmacher institute, black women have higher rates of abortion than white women or hispanic women. The statistics do not tell the full story.The anti abortion groups are linking race to abortion. The words in the ad “black children are an endangered species” is offensive.
Margaret Sanger the founder of Planned Parenthood, was a racist, she believed in eugenics. Sanger lectured the KKK in America about eugenics. Sanger was involved in creating the racist “Negro Project” focusing on metropolitan black neighbourhood in the USA. Sanger wasn’t concerned about assisting black women to have more reproductive rights she was concerned about eugenics.
However, where are the black heterosexual men? Black heterosexual men deserve a part of the blame here. Some black heterosexual men are not taking care of their children and black women have a lot of burden on them.
The decision to have an abortion is a tough choice for a woman. The reason “abortions” are “tough” in our society is due to the entrenchment of morality.
No woman wakes up in the morning and says “well today is Wednesday time to have an abortion.” For women, it is a difficult decision whether or not to have an abortion.
Why are black women being blamed for taking control of their lives? If a black woman wants to have an abortion it is her choice and her right. I am pro-choice, I believe a woman has a right to have an abortion. Women have a right to control their own bodies. The abortion debate needs to be linked to patriarchy and male domination.
No man has a right to tell a woman she can or cannot have an abortion. Abortion rights are about female reproductive rights. After all, the government does not tell men we can’t have prostate operations. The government does not attempt to control male reproductive rights.
I believe since the beginning of civilization men have attempted to control women’s bodies because we are not a part of the childbirth process. Men have created
proscriptions to control female reproductive rights because of jealousy and misogyny. Female and male politicians must stand up for women’s reproductive rights
and fight male domination in relation to the abortion debate.
Link: http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5hVPN2jSeFwagJEk9CTRZQpPl6NjgD9DS3HLO0
Why Are Some Heterosexual Men Threatened By Male Figure Skating? Is There Only One Form Of Masculinity That Exists?
Last night, I watched the men’s short program and the skating was excellent. However, the bias the judges have for the Russian Evgeni Plushenko is such a joke!
It is ludicrous that Evgeni Plushenko is in first place. Plushenko’s skating is very athletic, he has the quad, but his weakness is his artistry. Plushenko has no connecting steps, poor footwork, and slow spins. Why isn’t Plushenko penalized for his lack of transition?
It is hypocritical for the judges to inflate Plushenko’s marks when his skating is incomplete. It doesn’t make sense to me that Plushenko is in first place when he his artistry is horrible.
The skater’s performance is supposed to “illustrate” a story to the audience, this is the reason music is included.
The skater’s job is to “paint” and “interpret” the story correctly through the foot work, spins, jumps, edges, to the audience.
If figure skating was just about the jumps there would be no need for the music. The music sets the mood since figure skaking is entertainment, it is not just about the jumps.
I disagree with Elvis Stokjo’ argument that men’s figure skating is “soft”. I think it takes a lot of courage, talent, and determination, for men to compete at the elite level in figure skating. All the male figure skaters at the Olympics have a passion for the sport and they deserve our respect.
Masculinity is socially constructed by a homophobic society that preaches to men that we must conform to compulsory heterosexuality. Lesbian feminist Judith Butler’s analysis is correct, gender is performative. Society lectures to men that we “better” do our “gender” right or we will be “punished”. Gender is also sociallly constructed, there is no true or false to gender. Gender is reiterated multiple times to appear natural.
The male figure skaters know homophobic men like Elvis Stokjo are “judging” their masculinity but they don’t care. Stojko’s argument about masculinity is so rigid. What is masculine? Does masculinity mean having “no feelings” or “no emotions”? The male figure skaters are showing their “feelings” on the ice that’s more masculine than being a superficial macho brute.
I think it takes a “strong” man to stand up to other men that want to put you in line. There seems to be this demarcation of what it means to be a “real man.” The male figure skaters challenge this heterosexist image of masculinity that is engendered through compulsory heterosexuality.
Figure skating is a combination of both the jumps and artistry. I understand that some heterosexual men like Stojko feel their masculinity is threatened by the “effeminate” male skaters. However, I think the “soft” skaters are a lot more exciting and fun to watch.
The openly gay American skater Johnny Weir was robbed! Johnny skated clean he nailed all the jumps and he has the artistry. However, Johnny is in sixth place!
Johnny’s performance was superb!
The judges are homophobic, they are “punishing” Johnny Weir because he is an openly gay man! So what? I can’t believe the issue of sexuality is even an issue in men’s figure skating! Johnny is an interesting character in men’s figure skating, but he is also very talented. I think people forget that Johnny is a three-time US men’s champion and a World’s Bronze Medalist. Johnny should be higher than sixth!
Switzerland’s Stephane Lambiel had a chance to challenge Plushenko but he messed up his quad jump. Lambiel is in fifth place. I believe Lambiel is the most talented skater in the men’s competition he has the complete package. Lambiel has the jumps but he also has incredible footwork, speed, and jumps.
I believe that men’s figure skating challenges the ludicrous heterosexist image that all male figure skaters have to macho. Men’s figure skating is very athletic, you have to complete three revolutions, have excellent speed, and good spins.
Of course, you need the jumps but the skating is not just about the jumps. The Japanese skater Daisuke Takahashi and American skater Evan Lysacek performances are superior to Plushenko. Plushenko’s skating is very “boring”, he is just a robot he has no “transition” steps he’s just “jumps.””
Canadian Patrick Chan performance was a huge disappointment and I am not surprised. Chan is in seventh place, and he has a serious attitude problem. Chan got into verbal arguments with France’s Brian Joubert and the Russian Plushenko. Joubert and Plushenko are former World Champions and Chan is not. Chan has a lot to prove.
Chan is very young, but his advisers need to teach him that humility is very important.
Meanwhile, France’s Brian Joubert’s skate was horrendous. Joubert is a former European and World Champion, yet he capitulated again at the Winter Olympics! Joubert is in seventeenth place. Two time US champion Jeremy Abbott crumbled under the presssure he forgot to complete his triple axel. Recently, Abbott won the US men’s championships defeating Weir and Lysachek. Abbott has a lot of talent but did not execute, he is in fifteenth place.
Salon.com Article: Former Figure Skating Champion Elvis Stojko Says Men’s Figure Skating Is Not Masculine.
Can figure skating go butch?
Men’s figure skating has never been the manliest of sports. Routines are punctuated by dramatic hand motions, the costumes often look like they’ve escaped from a very gay zoo, and currently, its best-known figure is a man who wears a giant fur hat and hangs out with Lady Gaga.
But some members of the skating community believe the sport’s effeminate image is increasingly a problem. Last year, Skate Canada told athletes and officials to talk up the sport’s toughness in order to attract more of a “hockey crowd,” and three-time world champion Elvis Stojko, the first man to land a quadruple-triple combination jump in competition (in 1997) and a skater known for his butch style, has spoken out on the issue. The sport really needs to start emphasizing “masculinity, strength and power,” Stojko has argued, if it wants to be taken more seriously. His remarks infuriated some gay groups, who perceived them as a slap in the face to the sport’s traditional fans.
Stojko (who is doing Olympic analysis for Yahoo) spoke to Salon over the phone from Mexico, where he now lives, about “Blades of Glory,” why the gay community needs to get over itself, and if it’s really possible to get NASCAR fans to watch men’s figure skating. The Olympic men’s competition begins Tuesday.
There’s been a lot of discussion about masculinity and figure skating recently. Do you think the discussion has been productive?
It basically started about one year ago, when Skate Canada said that they weren’t getting enough young boys enrolling in skating. People tiptoe around the topic, and I was like, “You know, I’m just going to say it: Effeminate men’s skating is not my style of skating. In men’s skating I like to see power and strength.”
Why do you think it’s become so difficult to recruit young male skaters?
Some guys get into the sport because it’s difficult — the spins, the speed — and they like to showcase that within the music. When you’re not appreciated for that, it takes its toll. And then when people call them effeminate, they get pissed. People call them gay, and some people don’t like to be called that.
It’s not the skaters’ fault. It’s the way the system has been rewarding them. You have to have a program that’s dynamic. If it’s the same from beginning to end, and it’s soft and doesn’t have dynamic strength and power and quickness, the routines become very much the same, and it becomes very boring.
Skating can’t just be one thing. It’s got to have something for everybody. There have been so many different personalities, from the Kurt Brownings to Rudy Galindo, who was completely the opposite. There was a very classical style to Todd Eldridge. Now it’s starting to become very much the same.
Hasn’t the new judging system, which was instituted after the 2002 Olympic figure skating scandal, helped?
Sort of. Some people say it leans toward the technical only because they break it down in a very technical way. The system itself I’m not a huge fan of. The quad jumps don’t get enough credit. You can’t carry speed through a footwork section, because you’re trying to do so many combinations of things. It limits the skater.
They implemented this five years ago, and now they’re seeing a drop in young male skaters. It also alienates the audience, because people got used to the 6.0 score. Now it’s just a number. For a lot of people it’s like trying to decipher a code.
Do you really think, though, that figure skating can attract the NASCAR fan?
If you want to open up figure skating to another audience, you need to create something that’s going to allow everyone to watch. If you have a male masculine person watching it, they need something to relate to. Other guys relate to Johnny Weir’s thing. You need to have guys doing jumps, so a person who also watches NASCAR can identify with it and say, “Hey that’s awesome — how many rotations is that?” or “How fast did he spin?” instead of, “How pretty was that guy?”
I think the reason some people get offended is because calling a man “effeminate” is usually code for “gay.”
People in the gay community have to realize they’ve got to take themselves out of it. It’s not against anybody. I’ve been getting heat for this, but there are people behind me saying that they appreciate it. It’s about what people can identify with when they’re watching the sport. It doesn’t have anything to do with gayness. Effeminate men can identify with effeminate skating. Masculine men can’t identify with that. When I watch it, I can’t identify because I don’t move like that. My consciousness doesn’t feel like that.
What is feminine and what is masculine skating?
It’s the way you carry yourself. There’s a certain strength to it when a masculine skater steps onto the ice and attacks a program. With the feminine skaters, the use of the hands becomes very soft, down to the fingertips. There’s a lot of little details, but essentially you can pick up on it in the first few movements.
It has a lot to do with choreography. A lot of the choreographers out there, the male ones, are very effeminate. The skater ends up picking up that style. As a male skater I don’t want to be considered a beautiful skater. I want to be a strong skater.
American Evan Lysacek is being promoted as a more macho skater. Do you think he is an heir to your kind of masculine skating?
I don’t think so. I think he is more masculine than Weir, but there is a power and rawness and organic-ness to his skating that’s missing. At the beginning of his career, it was there. If you try to refine something too much, you lose its organic essence, and you refine and refine, and it becomes boring. It becomes something that’s more of the choreographer’s point of view rather than the skater’s point of view. Obviously his skating looks stronger than Johnny Weir’s, but he’s missing the aggressive punch of someone like Brian Joubert.
I take my hat off to him, because it’s hard for a tall skater to be as consistent as he is. His impact is his size and the use of his arms, but there’s a lot of flailing going on. Sometimes it becomes nondescript. Evan’s skating is stronger than Johnny’s, but in my opinion it’s not strong enough.
What do you think of Johnny Weir?
Johnny is one of these skaters who is obviously unique. He has his own sense of style, and doesn’t care what anybody thinks, and he’s not always trying to impress. He’s like, “I don’t care if you like it or not, just watch me.” He’s not my style of skating, but he’s a talented skater — otherwise he wouldn’t have been on the podium at world’s. Everyone is putting focus on Johnny, of course, because he stands out.
Weir has a film out, and now a TV show. In a sense he’s as much a media personality as a skater. What do you make of that?
I think it is going in that direction. Going your own direction and being outlandish with a lot of things can create media attention, and the media latches on to something that steps out of the norm. It is definitely new to have a skater have his own show.
Do you think it’s unfair that you didn’t get that kind of attention when you were skating?
God, no. When I was competing, at the height of my career, we didn’t have YouTube. I carved out my own niche. To say it’s unfair, that’s kind of small. The thing that impresses me about Weir is that he doesn’t care what people think. I’m the same way in that direction. I say what I feel. You can take it or leave it. With Johnny, he’s doing the same thing in this other direction. I can appreciate his whole motto, that he just doesn’t care.
“Blades of Glory” painted the sport as a hyper-effeminate joke. Do you think the film’s mocking take is the result of the sport’s feminization?
Absolutely. There’s truth behind it, but they take it to a whole other level. Some people got offended by it. Men’s skating is a very small world, and there are diehard fans that watch it. They get very, very touchy. As a skater you’re used to it. As a kid, you’ve got to make sure something like that doesn’t get into your consciousness. I thought it was hysterical, because that is what the rest of the world sees skating. If the sport of skating wants to be taken seriously, it needs to change.
There’s been a persistent inaccurate rumor that you’ve gotten into a fight with Eric Lindros. Why does that rumor have such a long shelf life?
It’s funny because that rumor was 15 years ago and continues to go on. There was one story that he was picking up these girls, and I stepped in. Or he was being rude to people, but it all ended up with me beating the crap out of him.
Did you ever get teased for being a figure skater?
I was picked on in school. People called me twinkle toes. It got annoying because that’s not me. Later on in life, you’re just like, “I know who I am, and I don’t care what people think.”
I’ve been called everything under the sun. Everything from being told that I’m only a jumper, there’s no artistic bone in my body, that I’m hideously ugly, that I look like a hockey puck. It got to the point where they said I’d gotten too masculine, and I was like, “What? I’m a guy!”
Call For Submissions: Ladies Submit Your Work For The Mixed Race Women Anthology The Deadline Is April 15th 2010!!
Website: http://www.yorku.ca/inanna/about.html
Position: Writer — Call for Submissions
Term: Requests for Proposals
Location: North America
Salary: N/A
Start Date:
Job Description
OPEN CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS!
OTHER TONGUES: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out
Co-editors Adebe D.A. and Andrea Thompson are seeking submissions for an anthology of writing by and about mixed-race women, intended for publication in Fall 2010 by Inanna Publications.
The purpose of this anthology is to explore the question of how mixed-race women in North America identify in the 21st Century. The anthology will also serve as a place to learn about the social experiences, attitudes, and feelings of others, and what racial identity has come to mean today. We are inviting previously unpublished submissions that engage, document, and/or explore the experiences of being mixed-race, by placing interraciality as the center, rather than periphery, of analysis.
Please send one (1) submission of up to 2500 words of poetry, fiction, creative non-fiction, or spoken word as a SINGLE attachment to
othertonguesanthology@gmail.com
Black and white images and artwork should be 300 dpi and sent as attachments in jpg. of tiff. format. Artwork and photography limited to three (3) per applicant.
Please include your contact information, including your name, address, phone number, e-mail, title(s) of work submitted, type of submission, and a short artist bio (50 words max) in the body of the email, with your name and the type of submission in the subject line (e.g. “Jazmine – Poetry Submission”). All submissions are due April 15, 2010. Incomplete submissions will not be considered.
If you prefer that your contribution remain anonymous, please include this preference at the top of your submission. All personal information you provide will be kept strictly confidential.
If you have any questions about this project, please contact the Editors, Adebe DeRango-Adem and Andrea Thompson, at othertonguesanthology@gmail.com
For more information: http://www.adebe.wordpress.com http://www.andreathompson.ca or visit us on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=276479812662
We look forward to reviewing your submission!
Adebe DeRango-Adem & Andrea Thompson
Editors, Other Tongues: Mixed-Race Women Speak Out
othertonguesanthology@gmail.com
It is time for the Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper To Open An Inquiry into the cases of missing & murdered Aboriginal Canadian women.
The Winter Olympics, in Vancouver British Columbia, has received positive media attention from around the world. The Winter Olympics is supposed to illustrate to the world that Canada is a great multicultural nation. Meanwhile, beneath the surface of the Winter Olympics is the fact Canada is still very racially stratified.
However, yesterday, there was a quiet, dignified, protest in downtown Vancouver. The focus of the protest is to raise awareness about the missing, murdered, Aboriginal Canadian women across Canada.
The statistics are shocking, over five hundred Aboriginal women have disappeared or have been killed across Canada. The eerie silence of the Harper government to these tragedies is not surprising but still disturbing.
Some of the Aboriginal women missing and murdered were sex workers & drug addicts. Why does it matter to Canadians that some of these First Nations women were prostitutes? The topic of prostitution is an incendiary issue because some people confuse prostitution with morality. Sex workers are professionals, their job is to provide a service for their customers. Prostitution is the world’s oldest profession for a reason. The heterosexual men demand the services of female prostitutes.
Don’t sex workers and drug users deserve the same human rights as other Canadians?
It appears in Canada, there is an elitist essentialism that prostitutes and drug addicts do not deserve Canada’s respect or support.
The sex workers in British Columbia and across Canada are providing a service to the middle and upper class Canadian men that buy their services. The clients of the prostitutes are Canadian men from across the class and social spectrum. For example, clients of the prostitutes are doctors, garbage men, teachers, bus drivers, politicians, judges, police men, parents, brothers, fathers, grandfathers, uncles.
The question remains, why hasn’t Prime Minister Stephen Harper opened an inquiry into the violence against First Nations women? Canadians must become informed about the fact First Nations women are devalued in Canada. The Canadian government must have a more proactive approach to assisting Aboriginal women to have more agency over their own lives.
Aboriginal women encounter multiple forms of oppression in Canada in relation to their race, sex, gender, sexual orientation, class, and employment status.
Since Aboriginal women are marginalized, they are viewed as inferior by the hegemonic, Canadian system, that values the “Mythical Norm” over women of colour.
Alexandre Bilodeau Wins Canada’s First Gold Medal On Canadian Soil, Can His Win Bring The Country Together?
Twenty two-year old Alexandre Bilodeau of Canada won the men’s moguls at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver British Columbia yesterday. I am so happy! The win is signifigant, because it is the first time a Canadian athlete won a gold medal on home soil.
I am also proud of Jennifer Heil of Canada, she won a silver medal in the women’s mogul event on Saturday night. Heil deserves Canada’s respect she tried her best!
Bilodeau upset the former Olympic champion Dale-Begg Smith of Australia to win the men’s event. Begg-Smith is actually a Canadian citizen, but he is now competes for Australia. I thought the judges were going to cheat for Begg-Smith because I thought his performance wasn’t that great.
I believe Begg-Smith did not deserve a silver medal, he should be in fourth place.
I am thrilled that the judges rewarded Bilodeau for his incredible performance! Bilodeau is from Quebec,at the back of my mind I wonder “can this victory bring the country together?” I am serious, there has been so much division between French and English speaking Canada. I just think Bilodeau’s performance is wonderful for Canada!
I watched the men’s moguls and it was an exciting competition! The speed, strength, power, these mogul skiers have is incredible! The flips are just amazing!
Gayblackcanada 
