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Do you have a dream for women? These folks do:
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Antigone Magazine
C/O WILLA
Box 61 – 6138 SUB Blvd
Vancouver, BC Canada V6T 1Z1
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Yesterday was the 80th anniversary of women in Canada being recognized as persons under the law (the law at that time being dictated by the British North America Act). This was as the result of a real struggle on the part of the group of women now known as the Famous Five. The state did not simply hand over this victory to women; it had to be fought for by a ballsy bunch of old broads.
It’s an important history lesson for all Canadians, especially Canadian women, to know about. But it does also need to be studied in conjunction with the darker side of Canadian women’s history, like Emily Murphy’s fondness for eugenics. She, Nellie McClung and Louise McKinney all agitated for the successful implementation of the Alberta Sexual Sterilization Act, which resulted in the sterilization of over 4,700 people deemed to be mentally disabled (and that includes, according to the Wikipedia entry, epileptics, alcoholics and prostitutes–plus sexual perverts, which one can only assume includes gay men).
This is a complicated aspect of Canadian history. The women who fought so boldly for the simple recognition of women as persons–persons!–really only had a certain segment of women in mind: those that matched their own white, middle-class demographic.
Adding to the mixed feelings is the story this week that saw the Famous Five becoming posthumous senators, long after they’re able to kick up any fuss in the Senate. But even if they could, whose interests would they be fighting for?
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Last week, I read an article about a gender discrimination complaint filed against Toys R Us. The complaint was launched by a bunch of Swedish 6th graders who found the Toys R Us 2008 Christmas catalogue offensive because it reinforced stereotypical gender roles by featuring boys in active roles and girls in passive ones. According to the class’s teacher, the complaint brought forward by these children is the result of more than 2 years’ work on gender roles.
This story makes me want to jump for joy. To see an example of young people recognizing and trying to actively combat sexism and outdated gender roles gives me hope that today’s youth really can effect change in the world. One of the students even stated that children of either sex should be able to be whoever they want to be even if “guys want to be princesses sometimes.” How could I not swoon?
And then I read the online reader comments that followed the story. And I wanted to cry.
Although I’ve been around the block enough times to know how attached people are to the idea of gender and gender roles, I somehow am repeatedly shocked at how essentialist some people get. Several readers who posted comments seemed to confuse the Swedish children’s complaint as a desire to obliterate sex/gender altogether and homogenize all human beings, and many argued that there is a distinct, innate difference between boys and girls. Seriously, people, it’s the 21st century and you’re still trying to peddle that nonsense?
There’s really too much to address on this topic in a simple blog post, and, frankly, this whole discussion is so old that I can’t believe I’m even writing about it. But after having researched and written many an undergraduate psych paper on gender roles, I do know that an array of reputable psychologists and sociologists have studied gender and gender roles in children and have pretty much determined that gender is largely socially constructed. The types of toys children are given to play with, the types of clothes they’re dressed in, the types of activities they’re encouraged to pursue, and even how adults interact with boy babies versus girl babies: all that stuff makes a mark on a kid.
I don’t think the Swedish kids are calling for a complete erasure of sex and gender. I think the point is that we all need to be more mindful of how boys and girls/men and women are treated and represented and what kinds of expectations we have on each. The point is that difference shouldn’t be based on biological sex. Boys can be princesses and girls can be knights in shining armour. Get over it.
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I went to an advance screening of Whip It on Thursday night and was so pleased to come out of the theatre with my expectations having been met. To be honest, I was practically giddy afterwards. While the plot of Whip It isn’t necessarily innovative, the movie is still incredibly entertaining and fiercely feminist.
Before seeing Whip It (and before being aware of the rising popularity of women’s roller derby in North America), roller skates brought to mind an image of a 1950s/’60s woman wearing a poodle skirt and skating around serving hot dogs and french fries to patrons at a drive-in movie theatre. Contemporary roller derby has reinvented the roller skate, salvaging the retro coolness associated with this piece of sports equipment and melding it with a punk rock aesthetic and athletically challenging competitive sport that makes current roller derby chicks forces to be reckoned with. Combined with the convention that roller derby players adopt rockin’, tough-girl pseudonyms (Babe Ruthless, Iron Maven, Maggie Mayhem, Bloody Holly), it’s clear that this sport is not for the fainthearted. These girls really can body check.
Whip It showcases roller derby’s legitimacy as a women’s competitive sport complete with requisite athleticism and no-holds-barred attitude. And, while some of the appeal of this movie can be attributed to the hip, retro, punk rock aesthetic that the female figures embody, the roller derby players in the movie are clearly intended to be featured as athletes who kick ass. In fact, at no point in the movie did I feel that the roller derby girls were being displayed for the purpose of male voyeurism (unlike the women in the Lingerie Football League, who act as objects that men can ogle. So gross.).
I do wonder, however, how men figure in the real world of contemporary roller derby. In Whip It, women certainly play the dominant roles in the movie, but the team coach and the referee are both men, which hints just a little bit at the idea that men are still needed/required to regulate women’s sports. I’m not suggesting that the movie would have been better had women played these roles; I guess I’m just wondering why it ended up this way. And, for anyone who is familiar with women’s roller derby in North America, what roles do men play if any? Presumably, they must make up some portion of the fan base.
And, speaking of fandom, I think Whip It has not only converted me into a fan of women’s roller derby but also reignited my love of ripped fishnets and thick black eyeliner. Now if only I had a pair of roller skates…
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Last night, I attended the AGM for METRAC, a community-based organization in Toronto working against violence against women and children. I was formally elected as a member of the board of directors, which I am sooo excited about. METRAC is an organization that walks the walk, and in doing so, offers a really impressive range of programming in the community.
And now, METRAC has joined the social media revolution. They’ve started a blog called the Megaphone Diaries. It’s brand new, so as of today, there are only a few posts, but the staff and volunteers who are going to be blogging there are keen as all hell and have got a LOT to say. I have a feeling it’s going to be a great resource for women and allies working against violence in all its forms.
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