Prostitution: Criminalizing the Men

FEMINISM/SEX - What is the point in arresting prostitutes? We charge them, fine them and release them back on to the street within 48 hours.

But the Johns and pimps on the other hand... to say nothing of sex traffickers who smuggle children into sex-slavery. Those are the people we should be worried about.

"89% of prostitutes desperately want out"

In the world of international exploitation and sex trafficking, it's men, the customers and the people pushing the women into into sex, who should be charged and tossed in prison.

Some women choose to work as prostitutes, but many admits its "the ultimate act of humiliation and desperation". They do it to survive and put food on the table. Studies show that 89% of prostitutes desperately want out. They're hungry, need to feed children or give health care to aging parents, and the only alternative is to take their clothes off and service a line-up of willing men.

In some countries there's really no other kind of work for young women to do, especially in countries with struggling economies. Its not like the United States or Canada or other western countries where prostitution is largely a choice. In many countries they don't have other options available.

And even here in Canada there is surprising results for the makeup of prostitutes. Many of them are immigrants with poor English, struggling in this new place. In Vancouver many of them are Native Canadians who were raised on reserves and are now being controlled by pimps who pay them with drugs.

The drugs keeps them controlled and coming back for more.

The pimps are the root of the problem and the Johns seeking a "moment of bliss" are the demand. So how do we cut off that demand?

"These men never ask how she is, how did she get here, is she being forced. They don't look into her eyes beyond the veneer of gaudy makeup, stiletto heels and cheap clothes. They just want to get their rocks off. When money changes hands, it's the ultimate conscience pacifier. They don't have to deal with guilt," says investigative reporter Victor Malarek, author of "The Johns: Sex for Sale and the Men who Buy It".

"They delude themselves into believing that every moan and groan is because of their magnetic masculinity. They want to believe it, and the women are trained to do this," says Malarek.

And the type of men who use women in this way, they're not exactly pro-women, just pro-sex. "When anyone on the... sex sites raises the question about conscience, they are immediately asked, "Are you a feminist, a fem-Nazi, a fundamentalist? Who are you?" They don't want anyone to raise the question," says Malarek.

Then there's the STDs, the beatings, the men who pay extra for strange services (including having sex without a condom)... and even murders. Legalized prostitution comes with all the same risks as illegal prostitution, the problem is its giving men a green light to do whatever they want, without fear of police looking over their shoulders.

Even in drug-and-sex-crazed Amsterdam, the mayor is saying, "What a big fricking mistake." Women there are still controlled by pimps, beaten, trafficked, forced and controlled with drugs. There is almost no measures to protect women and organized crime is rampant. The government there has essentially becomes pimps and pushers.

Prostitutes in Sweden have been reduced by half.

So what would happen if we started having sting operations and charging Johns?

Well, theoretically we could get that 89% of women out of the business and doing something else. Give them job training so they can find jobs and create careers with a future.

In Sweden the government decriminalized the women and criminalized the men. Since then the number of prostituted women has been reduced by half. Norway just introduced identical legislation in January 2009.

So would it work in Canada and the United States?

"I believe it would. We have a mishmash of laws that don't seem to make sense. Sweden is concerned with equality of women ... and an option for women to be retrained, to seek psychological help, all the safety valves. Here, there is certainly no protection for women," says Victor Malarek.

Laziness seems to be the key for some of these men. They say they don't want the drama, they don't want to invest in relationships, because it takes too much time, effort and emotional strain.

But if it was illegal for men, if the police did a lot more sting operations to catch Johns, it would cause men to be more worried about getting caught with their pants down and their balls on the chopping block.

If its proven to work in Sweden and Norway, why can't we do it here?

Feminist killed in Afghanistan

POLITICS - Sitara Achakzai, a female provincial official known for fighting for women's rights was gunned down in southern Afghanistan on Sunday.

A Taliban spokesman, Qari Yousef Ahmedi, claimed responsibility for the attack.

Four men drove up on two motorcycles and shot Sitara Achakzai as she was getting out of her car, just outside her home in Kandahar city and then rode off.

Sitara Achakzai, a dual German-Afghan citizen, spent the years of Taliban rule in Germany and returned to her native country to fight for women's rights, says Shahida Bibi, who worked with Achakzai as a member of the Kandahar women's association.

A member of Kandahar's provincial council, Achakzai was vocal in encouraging women to take jobs and encouraging them to fight for equal rights. According to relatives she also has a 99-year-old mother and sister living in Markham Canada.

Canada's First Female Warship Commander

CANADA - Commander Josee Kurtz of the HMCS Halifax is taking on a historic role for the Canadian navy. She's the first female commander of a warship.

The veteran navigator became the first woman to command one of Canada's legendary warships, a development she said highlights the progress females have made since they won the right to serve on naval vessels 20 years ago.

"Twenty years ago, having a woman commanding officer was not on the radar screen of any leadership," says Commander Kurtz as her sailors readied the ship for a brief run through Halifax harbour to mark the change of command. "I think it's a tremendous achievement that here we are, 20 years later, and somebody has been able to demonstrate that a woman can do the job equally as well as her male counterparts."

Kurtz downplayed the significance of her gender to the 225 crew on board the navy frigate, who she claimed cared little about whether their commander was a man or woman. She did however acknowledged that her appointment as commander of the HMCS Halifax might inspire the two dozen female crew members and others who may be new to the Canadian Forces.

Women in the Canadian navy were traditional given communications and nursing roles, fulfilling stereotypes that women should be given roles assisting the men.

"I see myself as no different," she said. "I do realize, however, that because of who I am and because of my place in time, my position is significant to many women... They look up to what I have done," says Commander Kurtz.

Six years ago Lt.-Cmdr. Marta Mulkins became the first commanding officer of a Canadian naval ship, aboard the HMCS Kingston, a much smaller vessel (55 meters) with less armaments (1x Bofors 40 mm 60 MK 5C cannon and 2x M2 Machine Guns) assigned to the Canadian Coast Guard.

Kurtz signed up when the navy was just opening its doors to women on a trial basis after a discrimination complaint led the Human Rights Commission to order the Forces to integrate females in all occupations.

Kurtz admits that she's had to prove herself over and over again as she's moved up through the chain of command, from a weapons officer and then combat officer to the executive officer on HMCS Ville de Quebec. "You are tested and you are scrutinized," Kurtz says. "There was some reluctance when we first joined . . . but when they realize you can do the job just as well, that scrutiny goes away."

Kurtz served on the Ville de Quebec when it was deployed to Somalia last year to participate in anti-piracy and escort duties through the United Nations World Food Programme.

After signing up in 1989 in her hometown of Joliette in Quebec, Kurtz knew then that she was entering a profession dominated by men, but insists the navy has evolved into an organization that accommodates anyone regardless of race or gender.

Kurtz's husband was in the navy for 20 years but is now home taking care of their seven-year-old daughter.

So will there be more female commanders? Canada's navy has 33 warships and submarines. When will we see the first female submarine commander? Or the first battleship?

On May 17th 2006, Captain Nichola Goddard, (Canadian Forces Land Force Command), became the first Canadian woman to be killed in action since World War II, and the first Canadian female combat soldier to be killed on the front lines.

Who says women aren't ready to fight and die for their countries?

ABOUT THE HMCS HALIFAX:

The 4,770-tonne, 134-metre vessel is the lead ship in her class, can clock over 30 knots/hour and is equipped with 1x Sea King helicopter, 24x Honeywell MK 46 Torpedos, 16x Sea Sparrow Surface to Air Missiles, 8x Harpoon Surface-to-Surface Missiles, 1x 57 mm Bofors Gun, 1x 20 mm Vulcan Phalanx Close in Weapons System (CIWS) and 6x .50 Calibre Machine Guns. The ship's most recent combat mission was patrolling the Persian Gulf off the coasts of Iraq and Iran after September 11th, from 2001 to 2004. It returned to Canada for a major weapons refit in 2004.

The HMCS Halifax will spend roughly two years undergoing a modernization and technical program to get the new crew combat ready.

Boxing and Breast Implants

FEMINISM - Female boxers are a rarity. Female athletes in general seems to be a rarity.

So when I heard a female boxer has been banned from fighting - because of her breast implants - I thought, well, what should we make of that?

Sarah Blewden, 25, has been told that repeated blows to her false breasts could knock them out of shape and damage her breast tissue. She was stunned when she was told she wasn’t allowed to fight under Queensbury rules due to her implants.

A medical expert from the association said Sarah’s chest was at risk of ‘capsular contracture’ or distortion if they were repeatedly hit. Blood cells in the breast tissue pushed forward by the implants could also be harmed, the medical expert ruled. Sarah said: ‘I think it is just ridiculous. My surgeon said they make me no more vulnerable than any other woman. They are not enormous ones - they are in proportion.'

These are not 'huge' breast implants as you can see from the photos. She got them because her breasts looked deformed and she wanted a more natural look (that's right, breast implants that look normal).

Technically speaking breast implants are very difficult to break or get dislodged, and as it stands many female boxers wear protective gear over their breasts to prevent regular injury.

INTERESTING POINT: There are a lot of male boxers with pec implants to make them look more buff, but none of them have been banned for the same reason that Sarah Blewden is being banned for.

So is this really a worry about injury? Sarah Blewden evidently is confident enough that her breasts won't be injured and is willing to take that risk that she's wrong. And even they did somehow get damaged, she could easily have surgery to fix the problem.

Male boxers with pec implants are also confident their implants won't be damaged either.

So why the double standard?

Its because women are supposed to be beautiful, and female athletes are often discriminated against in sports because they're worried about the marring of female beauty.

The sentiment is nice, but its not necessary. We girls can take care of ourselves.

Sarah Blewden still hopes to box in the 2012 Olympics in London.

See Also:
Sport in a Masculinist World
Gender Biases in School Sports
Weightlifting for Women
The Often Misunderstood She-Hulk
You throw like a girl!
Women's Fitness

Ursula Andress on Osteoporosis

ENTERTAINMENT/HEALTH - Ursula Andress is the original James Bond girl, but she is hardly the stereotypical image of the osteoporosis sufferer. Andress is the iconic Bond Girl, emerging from the Jamaican waters like mythical Venus in the 1962 film 'Dr. No', complete with a knife tucked into her hip-belt.

Andress, 73-years-old, still looks to be around 60-something and unmistakable with her sharp cheekbones.

She is currently the spokesperson for 'Timeless Women: The Campaign for Stronger Bones', a program aiming to raise awareness of osteoporosis. It is a disease that weakens bones, making them more susceptible to breaks or fractures, usually in the hip, spine and wrist. It also reduces the body's ability to grow new bone tissue and repair micro-damage.

One in four women over the age 50 have osteoporosis. And it is surprisingly deadly, one out of five Canadians who fracture a hip will die in less than a year.

People as young as 25 can be affected by osteoporosis, as can men. One in six men over the age of 50 has osteoporosis.

"I have to accept the truth," says Andress. "Why would I want to hide it? If I can help other women I am happy to do it.

"It is important to reach the public. It is very important to create awareness and get a checkup (a bone-density test). I never took osteoporosis seriously: `Oh, it's an old-bone disease and can be cured with calcium.' It's a sickness and I was diagnosed at 60. I did the mammogram, blood-pressure test and they asked if I'd had a bone-density test. When they did it, they said, `On your left hip, we don't like that. Take this medication.'"

Staving off osteoporosis is best using a combination of exercise (especially weightlifting) and a high calcium diet. Sometimes that is not enough however.

"I was snow shovelling and I fell down. They told me then that I had osteoporosis. I had been taking extra calcium, and that wasn't enough."

For her condition, Andress intravenously takes an $800, annual dose of Aclasta, a medication that inhibits the release of calcium from bone. Before her fall, Andress thought she was warding off osteoporosis with calcium, but her lack of exercise had resulted in her body not absorbing all of the calcium she was eating.

Now Andress is on a huge exercise kick. "I don't do crazy things but I do certain exercises. I never go to the gym – I have a huge property and I work in the garden. I swim a lot; I have a pool. I walk so fast nobody can follow me. I don't lift weights except for 150 flower pots. And I do the lifting wrong. You are supposed to crouch down." Andress admits she should be doing more weightlifting but says "I am active and my freedom is so important. I will give up anything but my freedom. I need it to exist. I don't do anything more carefully. I hope not to fall but you never know: You go skiing, you fall."

Thankfully she doesn't ski any more.

"Dr. No was my first movie and they asked me what kind of gymnastics I do," she recalls. "I have never worked out in my life. I was born with an athletic body. As a child, I biked miles and miles to school and I did competitive swimming. I walk briskly but I do nothing with fanaticism."

Andress also appeared in over 30 films including Fun in Acapulco, What's New Pussycat?, The 10th Victim and Casino Royale (1967).

Andress was married to John Derek from 1957 to 1965, when he divorced her for younger actress Linda Evans.

Andress's advice for women getting older? Lots of milk and an active lifestyle.

QUESTION: Is Osteoporosis a feminist issue?

Yes, because its an issue of exercise and education. Women need to ignore the stereotypes about female athletes and go out there and exercise more.

German gunman kills 11 women, 4 men

The German highschool student who killed 15 people yesterday was deliberately targeting women.

Tim Kretschmer's motives are still unknown, but his victims were primarily female: eight of nine students killed were teenage girls, and all three teachers were women. Three men were killed later as the suspect fled and had a shoot out with police.

A 17-year-old schoolmate said he had been studying this year with Tim Kretschmer at a private business school, and described him as quiet and reserved.

The two played poker together, both in person and online, as well as a multiplayer video game called "Counter-Strike" that involves killing people to complete missions. Tim was quite good at the game apparently.

Based on Tim Kretschmer's choice of targets one would think he just hated women, like the École Polytechnique Massacre in which a gunman in Montreal killed 14 women and injured 10 other women and 4 men.

In that massacre, Marc Lépine deliberately separated the men from the women in the room and started executing the women. Lépine claimed he was "fighting feminism", while he shot all nine women in the room, killing six of them. Lépine then moved through corridors, the cafeteria, and another classroom, specifically targeting women to shoot.

In Lépine's suicide note he included a list of nineteen women whom he considered to be feminists and wished to kill.

See Also:
Dealing with Anti-Feminism
Feminism vs. the Evil Lessers
NRA Subverting Feminism for Guns
Femicide in Guatemala & Canada
Gender Violence in Mexico

The Truth about Women in Conservative Islam

FEMINISM/RELIGION - Check out the video titled "The Violent Oppression of Women in Islam", produced by the 'David Horowitz Freedom Center' (an Israeli group that is promoting war against Islamic countries).

WARNING! THIS VIDEO IS EXTREMELY VIOLENT AND NOT RECOMMENDED FOR CHILDREN!



The video depicts the much-publicized horrors of repressive conservative Islam and tribal ways in Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan...

But does this justify invasions and war for oil, territory and other material gain on the broken backs of women who are stoned, whipped, beheaded, mutilated and murdered "for honour"?

Talk about usurping feminism.

Yes, the truth is women are treated horribly in conservative Islam. (Please note the differences between conservative, moderate and liberal Islam.)

But how will war fix that problem? The answer is it won't. In fact it only makes the problem worse because it polarizes/jades Islamic societies and they become MORE conservative.

The politicians in Washington, London and the Hague don't give a damn about women's rights in the Middle East. George W. Bush's so-called "war on terror" has paid only lip service to women's rights.

Female journalist Sally Armstrong from Canada and filmmaker Shelley Saywell have been spreading the truth about women's rights in Islam, but is there anybody doing anything about it?

Yes, there's a few education programs out there, training Muslim women to join the work force, become doctors/etc, but in a world where women are denounced and killed for being liberal and courageous, its very difficult and the programs are few and far in between.

In Iran, eight women currently face death by stoning, a torturous form of execution that can last half an hour or more.

In Saudi Arabia this week, a 75-year-old Syrian woman has been sentenced to 40 lashes, four months imprisonment and deportation for unlawful "contact" with two young men reportedly delivering bread to her. A woman can't even shake hands with a man without the risk of being denounced and executed.

Women in such countries are legally "chattel", like furniture and livestock, and may not mingle with unrelated men without the presence of a male family member. They're basically slaves.

Why aren't moderate Muslims denouncing these crimes? Because they're afraid of being executed too.

War is not the answer to these problems. Activism, training and jobs for women is the answer.

But before you get pissed off, remember that according to UNICEF: Every year, 500,000 Christian young women die in childbirth, mostly because they have no choice, no contraception, no access to reproductive medicine, and were far too young to be having children.

That is thanks to the dictates of the Vatican. Catholic women have one of the highest death rates for childbirth.

In Brazil last week, the doctors who performed an abortion on a 9-year-old girl who was pregnant with twins after years of "alleged" sexual abuse by her stepfather, were, along with the child's mother, excommunicated by the Catholic Church.

The child rapist however remains a good Catholic, according to the Vatican. Mind-boggling isn't it?

Never mind that the life of a child, whose body would not bear one fetus, let alone two, was at stake. Never mind the emotional and physical trauma the 9-year-old girl has already endured. Never mind that she had been sexually abused by her step-father since the age of 6, along with her disabled sister.

We have our share of religiously-supported violence against women in North and South America.

Why aren't moderate Roman Catholics denouncing these crimes? Because they're afraid of being excommunicated by the Vatican too.

Evidently its not just patriarchy that feminism should be worried about. Its FEAR.

See Also:
Religion and the Rape of Children
Pakistani Teen murdered and her baby tossed into canal
Domestic Abuse in the USA
Virginity, Chastity and Muslim Beauty Queens
Taliban kill top Afghan policewoman
Killing Female Babies in India
The Truth about Rape Victims in Saudi Arabia

International Women's Day

FEMINISM - Sunday March 8th is International Women's Day (in Canada and several other countries IWD is celebrated on March 7th). Around the world women will be gathering together to promote equality, better pay and an end to discrimination against women.

International Women's Day did not come about by chance but evolved under pressure. This pressure was brought to bear as women reacted to hardship experienced by female needle trade workers in New York City in 1908. Due to poor working conditions, several female workers in that trade perished in a fire. The tragic event led women in the needle trade to demand better working conditions, the right to be unionized and the right to vote. Their ideas gained momentum with wide acceptance of IWD on a global scale, in both developed and developing countries, since 1910.

WORLD WIDE PROBLEMS

Female Genital Mutilation

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), between 100 to 140 million girls and women worldwide are living with the consequences of female genital mutilation. In Africa, about 92 million girls age 10 years and above are estimated to have undergone the procedure - the partial or total removal of the external female genitalia, the partial or complete closure of the vaginal opening, or other injury to the female genital organs as part of cultural, religious and social reasons. The procedures are mostly carried out on young girls, sometime between infancy and age 15.

Violence against Women & Femicide

The WHO reports that about 5,000 women are murdered by family members in the name of honour each year worldwide. See The Ten Worst Countries for Women.

Also, in a 10-country study on women's health and domestic violence conducted by WHO, between 15 per cent and 71 per cent of women reported physical or sexual violence by a husband or partner. See Femicide in Guatemala & Canada or Gender Violence in Mexico.

Stonings of Women

In countries like Iran, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Nigeria and Saudi Arabia the stoning of women is still highly practised. In one case in Nigeria, Safiya Hussaini Tungar-Tudu, a 30-year-old woman was ordered stoned to death for having sex outside marriage after asking a court to force a man that she alleged had raped her, to pay for her newborn daughter's naming ceremony.

IWD LOCAL EVENTS

If you live in a major city, check out the local events that feminists are doing tomorrow in your local city newspaper.

In Toronto Canada, Feminists are having a three part event on March 7th:

11 AM - Rally at OISE auditorium.

1 PM - March down Bloor Street and Yonge Street. See map.

1:30 PM onwards - Fair at Ryerson University, 55 Gould St.

The Truth about Affirmative Action

FEMINISM/POLITICS - Is affirmative action a good thing?

But first, lets stop and ask what is affirmative action?

Affirmative action is about taking sex, race and ethnicity into account when giving people jobs. So for women in politics, affirmative action is hiring/electing more women for high and low ranking positions, so that the sex distribution is eventually roughly 50/50.

The point of affirmative action is to address social disadvantages so that equality is endorsed in the hopes that eventually people hire equal or proportional numbers of staff from different backgrounds.

But is affirmative action a good thing?

Lets say for example I have a job available for an assistant manager. I want someone with experience and don't want to promote someone within the company because none of them have the relevant skills/experience.

I narrow down the resumes to 4 candidates, one Caucasian female, one Caucasian male, one ethnic minority female and one ethnic minority male. They're all roughly the same so I have decide whom to hire which one is best suited for the company. Depending on the current ethnic/sex makeup of the company I could pick any which one of them. In theory if we have a shortage of white males (fat chance that will ever happen) I should hire him. Depending on the company however it is possible.

Typically the ethnic minority female should be the one hired, but if the company already has plenty of ethnic minority females maybe the Caucasian female or the ethnic minority male would be a better choice. Its all about balance and can sometimes be a difficult challenge.

If all else fails, stick their names in a hat and pick one randomly.

So affirmative action is usually good for women and minorities.

But what about the company? Does the company somehow benefit?

According to a new report from the Fawcett Society in the UK, yes they do.

Companies who hire equal numbers of women develop higher productivity, more profits and are more resistant to corruption and bankruptcy during times of recession. The report also discusses how women in the UK are currently dealing with the American recession and gives several possible solutions for addressing the inequality of women's pay and the lack of affirmative action in the UK.

One of the ideas is to fill government imposed quotas, similar to what Norway has done and has achieved remarkable success with.

In Norway, women's representation in boardrooms has soared from 6% to 44% since they first introduced quotas. The rule in Norway states that either gender may not exceed 60% of the workforce in public owned companies (ie. government buildings, utilities, etc). By enforcing this in public companies women get more experience, better resumes and this follows over into privately owned companies as those women take new positions later in life.

As a result of the changes Norway has seen a blossoming of its productivity in the workforce, with men and women realizing that if they want that promotion they're not just competing with the other men or the other women, but all the people... so if they really want that promotion they need to work harder.

The report's five point plan includes:

1. Promote women’s rights and stamp out discrimination.
2. Deliver a bold package to end pay discrimination.
3. Promote flexible working as a solution to the recession.
4. Fast-track women into decision making positions using quotas.
5. Ensure women’s skills are harnessed through education.

The real trick, for most industries, is that affirmative action is largely optional. Some industries just plain have a shortage of women who have studied that particular field (ie. engineering or physics).

But that could be addressed through university quotas, allowing in more female applicants wanting to study physics, engineering, etc.

OR, depending on the field of study, it could be addressed by getting rid of class size caps, allowing more of both women and men into the program.

The point I am making is that affirmative action can be used smartly, and actually benefits companies in terms of productivity/profits.

See Also:
Women during Recessions
Jobs for Girls and Women
The Truth about Women's Work
Are High Heels a Detriment or a Benefit?
Male Hysteria at Work

Canadian Conservatives Eroding Women's Rights

FEMINISM - Women's rights are falling to the side and being ignored in Canada, and its largely due to the Conservative Party of Canada which has been deliberately unraveling the rights of women.

For example, lets take the Conservatives' new "Equitable Compensation Act".

It has NOTHING to do with equal pay.

In fact, it's the opposite. It removes any chance women in the federal civil service have of fighting for pay equity by denying them the right to complain to the Human Rights Commission, or to go to court, when they believe there is discrimination. Instead, pay equity issues are to be solved as part of the regular bargaining process but - get this! - if anyone (including unions) agitates on the basis of pay equity, they face a $50,000 fine.

Ergo the Conservative Party is forbidding a woman from fighting for herself and, simultaneously, penalizing her union $50,000 from fighting for her.

Once this proposed legislation is passed, a woman working in the federal public service will have fewer rights than women working elsewhere in Canada.

This is nothing new either. Prime Minister Stephen Harper began attacking pay equity for women years ago when he was director of the right-wing National Citizens Coalition. He has been dead opposed to women receiving equal pay for equal work for as long as he's been in politics.

And what is even sadder is that the Liberals and NDP are quite powerless to stop this new Act because it was part of the recent February 3rd budget, which has already been passed and is now being tweaked, which the Liberal Party supported so that Canada didn't go to a new election. There has been a tiny bit of fuss about the new "Equitable Compensation Act"... but otherwise it has been largely ignored.

WAKE UP WOMEN OF CANADA! YOUR RIGHTS ARE BEING TAKEN AWAY!