Year 2000 Women - Amazonian Superwomen?

Back in the 1950s Associated Press writer Dorothy Roe made a series of predictions for the fantastic future of what she thought women and gender equality would be like 50 years later in the year 2000. Among her prognostications about greater gender parity was the belief that women of the future would evolve into Amazonian Superwomen.

Below is part of the text written by Dorothy Roe:

The woman of the year 2000 will be an outsize Diana, anthropologists and beauty experts predict. She will be more than six feet tall, wear a size 11 shoe, have shoulders like a wrestler and muscles like a truck driver.
Chances are she will be doing a man's job, and for this reason will dress to fit her role. 

Her hair will be cropped short, so as not to get in the way. She probably will wear the most functional clothes in the daytime, go frilly only after dark.

Slacks probably will be her usual workaday costume. These will be of synthetic fiber, treated to keep her warm in winter and cool in summer, admit the beneficial ultra-violet rays and keep out the burning ones. They will be light weight and equipped with pockets for food capsules, which she will eat instead of meat and potatoes. 

According to 1950s futurists, women of the year 2000 would be giantesses. Her proportions will be perfect, though Amazonian, because science will have perfected a balanced ration of vitamins, proteins and minerals that will produce the maximum bodily efficiency, the minimum of fat. 

She will go in for all kinds of sports – probably will compete with men athletes in football, baseball, prizefighting and wrestling.

She'll be in on all the high-level groups of finance, business and government.
She may even be president.

So they would be Amazonian giantessses who like to go "frilly only after dark".

Wow. I wish such a turn of events had come true.

 such a magnificent turn of phrase — it sounds like the Victorian equivalent of Skinemax, which would consist solely of a salacious sousaphone solo.

The illustration above is from a December 24, 1949 Associated Press piece by weight-loss entrepreneur Ann Delafield. In this similar article, Delafield cited sunshine as a catalyst for women becoming Amazons. Except for two problems. As a biochemist I know that sunshine makes almost no difference on growth patterns, and two, even if that was true modern women spend way more time indoors than any previous generation.

The difference between 1900 and 1950 was largely due to better food and healthier conditions. The difference between now and 1950 also has other factors like rising rates of anorexia, obesity and the fact that women are still loath to enter male dominated fields.

Despite the 60 years that have passed since the 1950s Wonder Woman is still running around in her tight clothes and showing lots of skin. Some things never change apparently.

Controversy attracts Lawsuits

Note to Self:

In the past 4 years roughly I have been threatened with 5 different lawsuits from various different people... mostly because I like to say it how it is. None of the lawsuits amounted to anything more than threats and I am easily amused by vague attempts to get "blood from a stone".

Speaking honestly and truthfully means people get easily offended. Especially if you say anything remotely controversial and they dispute the truth / facts of your statement.

You asked me if those pants made your butt look big.

I responded "Your butt is always big."

And that is the truth of it. Getting offended because a friend (or enemy) told you the truth of the situation or explained the facts to you doesn't mean you have to get all upset about it and angry at them.

Anger isn't going to help solve your problem.

The Five Stages of Acceptance

Denial (My butt is not fat!!!)

Anger (How dare you say my butt is fat!!!??? You're supposed to be my friend.)

Bargaining (Listen, I didn't call you fat, how come you get to call me fat?)

Depression (I'm sooooooooooo fat!)

Acceptance (Okay, so I am fat, curvy and voluptuous. I guess I should use that as an asset.)

So in the end if I (or anyone else) says something truthful and factual you need to understand that getting angry and threatening to sue the person isn't going to get you what you want. Denying it, being angry, trying to bargain isn't going to get you anywhere. You need to be depressed about it for a bit, realize its just the way it is, and then accept it.

Of course some people just have anger issues and never get past the anger stage, but that isn't going to help them. It will just make their lawyers bill bigger trying to move the immovable.

Side Note:

I am really into fun analogies today...

Trying to break the unbreakable.
Trying to squeeze the unsqueezable.
Trying to scare the fearless.
Trying to conquer the unconquerable.
Trying to quench the unquenchable.
Trying to penetrate the impenetrable.

And my personal favourite: Trying to rape the unrapeable.

Crazy Stuff People Say to Feminists

FEMINIST - All women are feminists. What is sad is the women who don't realize they are feminist and have confused feminism with male-hating.

Check out the video below to see some of the crazy stuff people say to "non closet" feminists. By 'non closet' I mean activist feminists. Out there actually doing something about it. There are tonnes of women out there whom I would describe as 'closet feminists', meaning they support women's rights but they don't make activism part of their regular lifestyle.

The Truth about Child Slavery in America

These videos show some very interesting statistics about child slavery and prostitution in America.











Abducted Girl: An American Sex Slave is an indie film looking for producers / $$$ so the film can be made properly. I think it has potential.



What is a real shame is that the average Hollywood producer would rather be making be making an action blockbuster with no moral value than making a film with actual substance and purpose.



The closest thing is the Liam Neeson film "Taken", which points the finger at Europe when in truth America has more than its share of child slavery.







Another film on this topic I'd recommend is the 2000 film "Suspicious River", which shows the slippery slope of prostitution into slavery.

The Truth about Anti Feminist Hate Speech

FEMINIST - If you've ever read someone's blog post, misogynistic essay or YouTube rant supporting anti-feminism or violence against women you know how annoying and infuriating it can be to think there is very little you can do to prevent such horrific hate speech from being spread over the internet.



And the saddest part is that such hate speech is really just a bunch of lies and misinformation, often depicting feminism as some kind of female supremacy movement. ie. http://bit.ly/oo5paM



Well I am here today to tell you there is a way to fight back against such websites. Here is some useful tips on:



HOW TO FIGHT ANTI-FEMINISM



#1. Blogspot and similar free websites have Terms of Service which prohibit the posting and promotion of hate and/or violence. In the case of Blospot all you have to do is click the "Report Abuse" link at the top of the page, follow the instructions and submit the website where you saw hate speech. (You can also report nudity, exploitation of minors, illegal activity, copyright violations, etc. Do not submit false claims however, it won't help.)



#2. YouTube (and similar video websites) also have the option to report videos for hate speech. On YouTube you need to click Share, and then click "report this video as inappropriate". ie. Today I reported a video on YouTube which compared feminists to the KKK.



#3. Independent websites (the server is owned by the user)... there isn't much we can do about them. Its their own website and their own server so we can't do much about it, can we. Or is there? If you visit Alexa.com you can visit the entry for that website and place a negative review. If the website in question is also a company (or the person who owns it works for a specific company) you can also post negative reviews via Google Maps / Google Places.



#4. NEVER, EVER link directly to the website you are trying to get rid of. Linking to the website is just free promotion for that website. Refer to the site by name only or use a bitly.com shortened version of their URL, and even then I recommend only posting it like "http://bit.ly/oo5paM" and not as a clickable URL.



#5. Post responses to that website or video. Fight back against their argument using reason, logic, facts, statistics with references (don't make up false statistics), quotes by famous personages. Refute their claims. ie. If they are saying things like "feminists hate porn", inform them that this is inaccurate. There are way more pro-sex feminists than there are anti-sex feminists.



#6. Don't bother emailing or responding to emails from anti-feminists. They won't listen to reason and will talk until they are blue in the face out of sheer stubbornness. Don't waste your time on people who have already gone down the road of hate.



#7. Don't fight fight hate with hate. You have to be better than them. Speak and write things calmly, avoid using caps or bold text (use italics instead) and explain things logically and honestly. Anyone who can read between the lines and isn't narrow minded will be won over by your calm and logical argument. Anyone who is thinking with hate on their mind is a waste of time. Its the people who are open minded you need to win over to the side of truth, justice and equality.



The truth is there are many way you can fight back against anti-feminist hate speech. It just takes calm and affirmative action.



See also Dealing with Anti-Feminism







NOTE: Normally I am against censorship, but when it comes to hate speech we have to stand up for truth, justice and equality.

The Truth about Car Advertising

AUTOMOTIVES - The thing about car advertising is that, yes, it often uses sex to sell a product... but really it just keeps going further downhill all the time.

Its like car companies are competing to see which one can make the raciest / most controversial ad, because the shock value ends up creating lots of buzz. But what happens when they annoy people by going TOO FAR?

Below is a series of examples of car advertisements that go too far.










Of course its not limited to car ads... sometimes its just plain ridiculous what companies will stoop to sell anything from bubble gum to beer.

The Truth about Book Writing

Hello folks!

Yes, its true, I am writing a book about feminism. More specifically an eBook (although maybe someday I will publish it on recycled paper).

Those people interested in pre-ordering my eBook should email me [suzannemacnevin {atsymbol} gmail.com] and I will add you to a growing list of people interested in purchasing it.

Not to worry, you won't be paying for it right away when you join the list, you can still change your mind later! When my book comes out I will be adding a PayPal button link here and I will email all you wonderful people and tell you its ready.

My book will be filled with feminist facts, quotes, truths and humour. Some of it may be sad, but I hope to enlighten and education you with some of the feminist wisdom I've garnered over the years.

For now I am working with the possible title of "Feminist Truths", but I might change it if I think of a better name.

Also I've decided to opt for the Edition route... that way I can create 2nd Edition and 3rd Edition versions later. My hope is that my book will someday be mandatory reading for university students studying feminism or gender studies.

And thus inspire a whole new generation of feminists.

Yours Truthfully,
Suzanne MacNevin

The Truth about Father's Day

The third Sunday of June is Father's Day, a day on which we children celebrate our father's, give thanks to them and remind them how much we care about them.

The first observance of Father's Day actually took place in Fairmont, West Virginia on July 5, 1908. It was organized by Mrs. Grace Golden Clayton, who wanted to celebrate the lives of the 210 fathers who had been lost in the Monongah Mining disaster several months earlier in Monongah, West Virginia.

Since then the idea has caught on globally and it is now a tribute to quality dad's around the world.

And a burning admonishment of those father's who were never there, are now sitting at home lonely and wondering what they did wrong. Or maybe they know what they did wrong and now feel guilty, but either haven't apologized or their apology wasn't considered sincere enough.

Regardless...

What I really to talk about is MY FATHER. Donald or Don MacNevin.

My father was always sort of quiet and reserved, although he did like to talk sometimes and would not stop talking when he really got going. I take after him in that way.

He was traditional in many ways, but he was always supportive of everything I did.

He didn't treat me like a girl. Or a boy either. He treated me like a person. He valued my opinion, especially when it came to clothing. He just didn't seem to have a knack for matching ties to the clothing he was wearing.

Today, even though I am in England and he is over in Canada, I will be phoning him via Skype and it will be the first time he has ever used the device. To him these new fangled technologies are nothing more than a modern miracle and the idea that he can phone his daughter over the internet, across the Atlantic Ocean and see her via a webcam is like Moses parting the Red Sea.

I love my father. I think he is one of the best dad's in the world. Oh sure, he makes mistakes but they're honest mistakes. He's a meat and potatoes, salt of the earth, honest to a fault sort of guy. And he's my dad and I will always be proud of him.

So if you get a chance say so. Lift up your wine glass, beer can, coca-cola or whatever you have handy and give thanks to a parent who was always there, always supportive, always loved you and you loved them back through thick and thin.

Yours Truthfully,
Suzanne MacNevin
Father's Day 2011

The Truth about Rape Trials

FEMINISM - Fact: Only 49% of sexual assault trials in Canada end in convictions.

It doesn't take a genius to realize similar statistics likely exist in the USA.

But here is the kicker. Most sexual assaults don't even go to trial. Only 9 to 10% of sexual assaults in Canada are even reported to the police.

According to Statistics Canada there is approx. 26,000 sexual assaults reported to police each year. But because Canadians only report 9% to 10% of sexual assaults that means there is between 260,000 and 286,000 sexual assaults per year.

Lastly only 20% of those include physical injuries.

Thus for 80% of cases sexual assault is very difficult to prove. And for the 20% that does have physical injuries, there is still no guarantee it will go to trial.

What is also known is that you are more likely to be sexually assaulted by someone you know, a friend, co-worker or even a relative, not by a stranger. Sexual assaults by strangers is actually pretty rare. However because women are often assaulted by friends, family, co-workers, etc. this is why so few people report it to the police.

Once it does get reported however the police are (generally speaking) very thorough. They interview the woman multiple times, comparing her story to make absolutely certain she isn't making it up. If there is any doubt the charges end up being dropped.

Thus the percentage of false claims that make it to court is so small its not even a percentage point. It is 99.99% or better truth.

Which means its practically a fact, but the problem is how do you prove it?

And that is where the he-said-she-said system comes into play. Without secondary witnesses and character witnesses, how are we to know who is telling the truth?

He says it was consensual. Or claims they were both drunk. Or whatever excuse he can think of. ie. She seduced him and just wants his money. Seriously, whatever lie that sounds plausible is the one that he will use in court.

She says it was rape. There was nothing consensual about it. She said NO and she meant it. She wasn't playing around. She wasn't seducing him or flirting with him. She was tricked, cornered, fooled, abused, assaulted, and then dismissed like yesterday's garbage.

It would be wonderful if someone could invent a lie detecting machine which is 100% infallible and allowable in a court room. Perfectly accurate. It measures their vitals, their heart rate, their hormone levels and brain activity.

And then the liars would be caught and put behind bars for their crimes. The system would be so much simpler with a lie detecting machine which works perfectly.

See Also
The Vagina on Trial
Stop Rape
Abortion, Rape and the American Way
Gender Violence in Mexico
The 10 Worst Countries for Women

Canadian Feminists divided over Prostitution

SEX - Prostitution is legal in Canada, but there are a lot of things which restrict how a sex worker is allowed to ply their trade in Canada. Recently Justice Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court struck down the following sections of the Canadian Criminal Code:

Section 210, which prohibits maintaining, owning or being a member of a “common bawdy-house.” The result is that brothels are no longer illegal in Canada.

Why is this important? Because brothels are safer than walking the streets or answering outcalls. With brothels comes security and bouncers for kicking out the rowdy men who don't follow the rules.

Section 212(1)(j), which affects those living “wholly or in part on the avails of prostitution of another person.”

With this struck down, prostitutes are able to support dependents, including children and partners. It also means that if they run a brothel they can pay to have a bouncer, an accountant, desk clerks, etc.

Section 213(1)(c), best known as the “communicating law,” which prevents street prostitutes from screening clients before putting themselves at risk.

With this gone prostitutes can now screen individuals they choose to have sex with, often because they don't feel comfortable with the person. Examples: Too creepy, scary looking, is a member of the NRA, or even just plain ugly.

The constitutional challenge was made by members of the Sex Professionals of Canada (SPOC) because they felt these laws were unfair and dangerous to the lives of sex workers, regardless of their intent.

Justice Susan Himel agreed and these laws were struck down because they endangered the health and safety of sex workers.

There are those feminists out there that argue that allowing brothels and screening will lead to an increase in pimping (which is still illegal in Canada) and organized crime / trafficking of women.

In major Canadian cities prostitution is not only common, its easy to find. Just open a NOW magazine in Toronto, flip to the back pages and you'll find advertisements for both male and female sex workers. You can also go to Craigslist or Kijiji. Or you can walk down one of the less reputable streets in the middle of the night.

For feminists however there is a huge ideological gap.

In the right corner we have the anti-sex-trade feminists, who believe prostitution should be completely illegal and that prostitutes should essentially be rounded up, forced to go to university and get decent jobs like the rest of us.

In the left corner we have the pro-choice feminists, who believe prostitution is going to happen regardless of what laws we implement because women sometimes just get desperate and are in a bad situation. They believe sex workers need to be protected, given more options for their personal safety and given choices so they can decide for themselves what they want to do with their lives.

Its actually very similar to the whole "women have the right to a safe abortion" argument. On the right side we have people who oppose abortion entirely. On the left side we have people who believe abortions are going to happen regardless and thus we should try and make it as safe as possible.

This isn't so much about "right and wrong", its about ensuring the safety of women who make those decisions, because they're going to make those decisions anyway regardless of what laws are out there. They're desperate enough to try anything.

Justice Susan Himel of the Ontario Superior Court struck down as unconstitutional the bawdy house provision, which by preventing sex workers from sharing premises that ensured their common safety, increased their risk of exposure to violence.

The “living off the avails” section, which criminalizes those being supported by a sex worker, was meant to target pimps, it also affects a prostitute's live-in family, including partners, parents and children, as well as security guards or bouncers who might protect her.

The communication law was declared unconstitutional because experts all agree the greatest danger to street sex workers is their inability to safely screen johns before jumping into their cars.

“For me it's not complicated to understand why there's a divide: it's two visions,” says Diane Matte of Montreal's Coalition Against Sexual Exploitation, who has a street-level view of the sex worker industry. “The SPOC women do not hide the fact that they want to open brothels,” says Matte.

That much is certainly true. SPOC wants to open brothels and make prostitution a lot safer through government regulation and private security. The brothels would be owned by the prostitutes themselves, not by pimps.

Matte wants a Nordic model, such as the laws currently in place in Iceland and Sweden, which has decriminalized sex workers while criminalizing their clients. But all that does is cause prostitution to driven further underground, where violence is more likely to happen.

“As a criminologist I can guarantee you that that doesn't work because it doesn't remove the criminal element from prostitution,” says O'Doherty, who teaches at the University of the Fraser Valley. Making demand illegal only serves to drive sex workers underground, she says.

As the world's oldest profession prostitution will never be eradicated until we've eradicated poverty entirely. And even then we will have another problem, women who don't have sex for money but instead just "slut themselves around willy-nilly for kicks". (For reference being slutty isn't a sin per se, but doing so without regard to personal safety, the safety of others, and ignoring the feelings of others is a cause for concern.)

And lets face it, there's way more sluts than there is prostitutes.

The primary difference however is that sluts have the option of screening their sexual partners and can have sex in the privacy of their own homes if they choose to. They can be safe about it.

Which is what sex workers want to. Safety.

Eventually they will hopefully find a different job, go back to school, etc. There is no pension plan when you're a sex worker. Eventually even sex workers have to start thinking about retirement.

The Truth about Women and Gun Control

POLITICS - Gun control is actually a gender issue. Why? Because when you compare the percentage of men who support gun control and the percentage of women who support gun control you see some startling differences.

Support Gun Control
U.S. Men: 51%
U.S. Women: 64%

Against Gun Control
U.S. Men: 46%
U.S. Women: 30%

Undecided
U.S. Men: 3%
U.S. Women: 6%

(Source: Pew Research Center / 2008)

Education is also another big factor in who supports gun control (people with a college or university education are over 25% more likely to support gun control), as is race. 75% of African-Americans support gun control, but only 54% of Caucasian-Americans support gun control.

In Canada and the U.K. we have stricter gun control and it shows in our much lower crime rates.

For the purpose of this blog post however we're going to look at the example of Mavis Moore who was 4-years-old when she first had a gun pointed at her. She and her mother were picking up a newspaper in their small Saskatchewan town of Crown Butte when a neighbour decided to point his .22 at them and threatened to kill them both.

Mavis Moore was so frightened she remembers dropping her blue mitten in the snow.

“You can't imagine what it's like, this adult man having a gun on you and threatening to kill you and your mother,” says Mavis who is now 72-years-old. Her mother picked up her daugher and the mitten and left immediately.

She also recalls how decades later, while out hunting (Mavis is now an avid hunter) how a fellow hunter suddenly aimed his cocked rifle at her in the northern Saskatchewan bush. He claims he had mistook her 5-foot-4 frame, draped in red, for a moose.

Guns are a constant threat in the lives of rural Canadian women. Many rural Canadian families have guns in their homes (from my perspective, my family had 2 that I knew of).

Mavis Moore, who grew up in Crown Butte, Saskatchewan, says she is incensed at Prime Minister Stephen Harper's attempts to scrap the Long Gun Registry in Canada. Mavis is an avid hunter even at the age of 72, but she strongly supports the Long Gun Registry.

“That makes me so mad,” says Mavis, who still owns three licensed and registered long guns. “It's not a matter of rural versus urban. It's a public safety issue. How many women and children in rural Canada are threatened in their own homes with a gun? More than we want to know, I think.”

According to a Harris/Decima research poll released on Sept. 8th the difference between urban and rural men who support gun controlis very little.

48% of Canadian men say its a bad idea to abolish the Long Gun Registry.
42% of Canadian men support abolishing it.
10% of Canadian men are not sure.

There is only a 2% difference between whether the people polled who live in the city or the countryside in terms of support. [It should be noted only 18% of Canadians live in rural society.] So gun control support has very little to do with where you live.

49% of Canadian men who live in cities support the Long Gun Registry.
47% of Canadian men who live in rural society support the Long Gun Registry.
41% of Canadian men who live in cities support abolishment.
43% of Canadian men who live in rural society support abolishment.

In contrast
49% of Canadian women who live in cities support the Long Gun Registry.
47% of Canadian women who live in rural society support the Long Gun Registry.
30% of Canadian women who live in cities support abolishment.
40% of Canadian women who live in rural society support abolishment.

Overall 48% of Canadians support keeping the Long Gun Registry, while 38% support its abolition.

(Harris/Decima interviewed just over 1000 Canadians. A sample of this size has a margin of error of 3.1%, 19 times out of 20.)

Meanwhile 81% of Canadian police officers support the Long Gun Registry and say they use it help protect the public. Officers consult the registry before responding to domestic violence 911 calls to see if there are guns on site, and also for murder and criminal investigations.

Over 1,500 Canadians were refused gun licenses between 2006 and 2009 because background checks determined they were a criminal risk.

6,093 gun licenses were also revoked during the same period due to continuous screening, court orders and public safety complaints.

Police and criminal psychologists all agree these revoked gun licenses and refusals to grant gun licenses have saved lives, but unfortunately it's hard to document prevention. We have no way of knowing how many lives the Long Gun Registry and similar gun control measures have saved.

What is documented is that 69% of homicides, suicides and accidental deaths in Canada involved long guns in 2004, a drop from 72% of firearm deaths in 2001. More drops are expected in the future as more statistical data becomes available.

And what is also known is that rural and farm women are more likely to encounter domestic violence involving long guns.

“Rural and farm women who experience violence in the home describe a cycle of intimidation with guns . . . which makes it really difficult for women even to report what's going on, “ says Jo-Ann Brooke, director of the Women's Sexual Assault Centre of Renfrew County in Pembroke, Ontario.

Domestic abuse victims say they support the Long Gun Registry because it takes the responsibility for reporting the presence of guns out of their hands, and alerts police to the guns if they are called to a domestic violence incident.

The $4-million annual price tag for running the Canadian Long Gun Registry is worth it.

See Also
Gun Control in Canada
Handguns in Canada
RCMP Report vindicates Long Gun Registry
Canada needs to keep Long Gun Registry
Stephen Harper's Gun Raffle
Jordan Manners and the C.W. Jefferys Massacre
Killer Goth on the Rampage in Montreal
German gunman kills 11 women, 4 men

The Truth about Human Trafficker Peter Nygard

Have you heard the recent news about Peter Nygard, a fashion guru from Canada?

Let me give you the summary... Peter Nygard is a 67-year-old millionaire fashion designer. He has a net worth of $800 million USD. He owns his own island in the Bahamas, a tropical Fort Knox with swimming pools and shark tanks that would make a James Bond villain jealous.

On Peter Nygard's island his employees aren't allowed to leave and they are docked so much pay they're basically his slaves. If they don't do what he tells them to he physically, emotionally and even SEXUALLY abuses them.

One of his sex abuse victims was a 16-year-old girl from the Dominican Republic and she has since gone missing. Peter Nygard's lawyers claim she is perfectly fine and have even shown members of the media letters claiming she thinks Peter Nygard is nothing but a "perfect gentlemen"...

In reality the poor girl was probably fed to one of Peter Nygard's sharks. Its just a theory, but its entirely possible when you realize how many bodyguards and lawyers work for Peter Nygard and get an insight on his intimidation tactics. Watch the CBC documentary about Peter Nygard.

The only reason Peter Nygard hasn't been caught is because he has an army of bodyguards, lawyers and all his workers have to sign confidentiality agreements. Those ex-employees who go against him (like those in the CBC documentary) are sued for breach of contract and intimidated until they agree to a settlement.

But wait there's more... Since the airing of that documentary 5 days ago its since come out that one Peter Nygard's pants factories in Jordan is using 1,200 slaves workers from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh and India.

Here's what happens... the company imports the women, 75% of them just teenagers desperate for work, from their home country. They are stripped of their passports and all of their belongings, then forced to work 110 work weeks where they are constantly docked pay for "sloppy work" and help captive to pay off their indentured servitude.

But they never do. Many of the women in these sweatshops simply go missing when they've outlived their usefulness.

Peter Nygard's clothes is sold to a variety of stores including his own Nygard outlets. Other stores that sell his clothes include: Dillard's, J.C. Penney and Wal-Mart

The women are forced to work 16-hour shifts, from 7 a.m. to 11 p.m., seven days a week.

"There are also mandatory, all-night 23-hour shifts, from 7 a.m. to 6 a.m. at least once a week," says Charles Kernaghan, director of the U.S.-based National Labor Committee (NLC). "The exhausted workers are at the factory over 110 hours a week, while being cheated of over half the legal wages due them. Instead of earning the 74.5-cent-an-hour minimum wage in Jordan, they are paid just 35 cents an hour."

Because the workers aren't allowed to leave the factory they must buy their food from the people running the factory. The end up in an endless cycle of wage slavery.

"When workers ask for the return of their passports and to be paid correctly, they are slapped and threatened with forcible deportation," said Kernaghan "There are also serious allegations of sexual harassment, even rape, and of workers being overworked to death."

The 1,200 slave workers are housed in filthy primitive dormitories without heat and with only sporadic access to water for two hours, three or four days a week. The dorms are infested with bed bugs and, shown photographs of the insects, entomologist Dr. Susan C. Jones of Ohio State University confirmed the bed bugs were engorged with blood.

"All labour laws in Jordan, not to mention the International Labour Organization's (ILO) internationally-recognized workers' rights standards, are being blatantly violated at the IBG factory," said Kernaghan. "In fact, the Jordanian Ministry of Labour has placed the abusive IBG plant on their "Golden List" of best factories."

In a single week, from January 28 to February 17, 2010, Peter Nygard imported more than 280,000 women's pants made at the IBG factory, worth $2.5 million. Many of the pants retail for $38 USD. The workers were paid approx. 9 cents for each pair of pants they sewed and make only 3.9 pairs of pants per hour.

Peter Nygard is famous for his alcoholism, his temper, his lechery and now he will be known as several more things: A rapist, a murderer and a human trafficker who deals in slavery.

See Also:
Peter Nygard's empire reeling from CBC expose
Fashion Salon: Boycotting Peter Nygard
In My Hair: Peter Nygard: 21st Century Slaveowner
Facebook: Boycotting Peter Nygard

UPDATE! THE OLD BOYCOTT PAGE WAS DELETED NO THANKS TO NYGARD'S LAWYERS: Please join the new group at Boycott Nygard's Brands

Confronting Misogyny

There are plenty of websites (and blogs) out there which bash feminists and decry the horrors of feminism. These websites are perpetuated by misogynist (women hating) males that have been dumped one too many times, who have been raised to believe that women deserve to be bashed around, and that women are MEANT to be slaves to a man's every whim.

"Clean my toilet bitch. Go make me a sandwich you lazy cunt. I need a beer refill you stupid whore!"

You get the idea.

There are literally tonnes of websites that fit that generic description, their primary motivation being to bash women, degrade feminists and piss on equal rights.

But I'm writing here to say that its well past time women stand up and confront these misogynistic jerks. CONFRONT THEM and show them you are not going to be bossed around with their manipulative statistics that claim women aren't date raped, that "patriarchy is a good thing" and "women should go back to the kitchen and stop messing up the economy".

Their Misogynistic lies are all about getting attention to soothe their male egos (and possibly make a buck off advertising on the side by posting complete garbage that will make people like myself fuss about it).

Well I'm not going to fall for that trick. Thats why I'm not going to post any links to their idiotic websites and instead I'm going to re-post their garbage on here and then analyze it so we can see these lies out in the open for everyone to see (and without the pricks making $ off the attention).

I feel its important that other women out there do this too. Confront the Lies. Confront the Misogyny.

Why?

Because Misogyny will only continue to perpetuate UNLESS people confront it.

Its a battle of the sexes alright and we have to stand firm and fight for our rights.

Sexuality and Truth

Sexuality and Truth
By Suzanne MacNevin

In our modern society people are often discriminated against based upon their sex or sexuality. Both women and men are discriminated against and discriminate against others. Likewise, heterosexuals and homosexuals discriminate back and forth and pass judgement far too easily.

The problem I have is that people are not honest when they discriminate. They provide 'reasons' (excuses) to justify their actions or their speech. Lets start with the example of Gay Marriage.

Marriage is a promise to stay faithful to your mate. It embodies truth, honesty and love for one another. Marriage based on a lie (such as marrying for money) is not a real marriage.

EXCUSES:
In traditional Christian thought, marriage is for the purpose of one thing, and its not love: To make babies. The idea of gay marriages with the lack of children is therefore an abomination in the eyes of traditional Christianity.

The next factor is the idea of gay married couples adopting children and the idea that gay couples can't raise children properly or might molest the children. Homophobes are scared and upset at this idea because it gives gay couples the same right as heterosexual couples.

If we allow gay couples to marry, whats next? Polygamy marriages? Beastiality marriages? (Besides the point that there is no way beastiality marriages will ever become legal.)

Thus you see the excuses line up, and you could see more of them. But the fact remains that marriage is still just a promise and an oath, and totally unrelated to the other factors.

Whether or not people actually believe their own excuses is besides the point. My primary concern is the fact that they are lying just for the sake of being ignorant and mean.

People derive pleasure from being mean, but what they don't realize is that their discrimination just makes people MORE determined to fight for their rights.

Twenty years ago gay marriages was barely an issue. It rarely made headlines. These days its constantly in the news and the gay community isn't going to give up until they have won their rights.

And as for the people who stand in their way? Well, they will simply be exposed as liars, bigots and homophobes.

People talk a lot about who will be the first female president or the first black president of the United States. I'm actually more curious about who will be the first lesbian or gay president. Its not an issue yet, but I think someday it will be.

Thoughtfully,
Suzanne MacNevin