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
The Truth about Women Terrorists in Chechnya
POLITICS - According to the Russian government the women who perpetuated the recent subway bombings in Moscow belong to a Chechen militant women's group called "The Black Widows", women who have had their husbands slain in combat against the Russians.
Videos and photos released by Chechen rebels have confirmed this.
The trick about Chechen rebels is there is a duality about the situation. #1. Not all Chechen rebels are Muslim. There are also Christian and secular Chechen rebels. #2. Their primary focus is their fight to form their own government. They're not worried about creating a "Islamic State", they just want an independent Chechnya free of Russian rule.
The Russian government however is refusing to grand Chechnya independence (which was declared independent in 1991) because of oil pipelines that run through the region and thus instead has chosen to retaliate against Chechen rebels.
For the women involved there isn't a lot of opportunity to do anything else. Russian government programs in the region to promote education for women are almost non-existent, as such women seeking a career really have two choices: Motherhood or Martyrdom.
And when your husband gets killed by the hate Russians the depression sets in. Do you get remarried when no husband will want you since you're "damaged goods"? Or do you go out with a bang?
For un-educated women from Chechnya they're barely even citizens under Russian law. The Chechen people have been relegated to 2nd class citizens and Chechen women? Pfff. They're basically 3rd class citizens. So its really not much of a surprise the people of Chechnya want their independence.
HOWEVER this doesn't excuse their behaviour and attacking innocent people. The recent bombings in Moscow killed 39 people. There are other ways to PROTEST PEACEFULLY, but that is not the way of the Black Widows.
Its not just uneducated women or widows who join the cause of the Black Widows. Its women who just plain loved their country and want an independent Chechnya. Asides from the clothes they still enjoy spending time with friends, partying and doing other things popular with young people.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to go and fight,” says Rosa, cradling a Kalashnikov rifle on her lap and sitting under an apricot tree. “But when my friends told me my nursing skills were needed, I went. Then I found out that everybody had to take up the gun.”
Rosa is a seasoned fighter, battling Russian troops for Chechen independence for over a year now. She says the hardest thing was getting used to the uniform. “At first, when the commander told me to put on fatigues I couldn’t do it. Then I obeyed him, but put a skirt over the trousers.”
Rosa is a member of the Black Widows. Not all of them are suicide bombers, some are simply fighters in a campaign of warfare that dates back before the 1991 declaration of independence. Since then the Black Widows has been responsible for over half the suicide attacks in Russia.
“Chechen women are the most dangerous for national security because they have carried out the most risky operations,” says a study by psychologists Anne Speckhard and Khapta Adhmedova. Women are able to get past Russian troops without being suspected and thus carry bundles of explosives with them for the purposes of eventually staging terrorist attacks.
History is filled with other examples of "Black Widows":
Yael, a nomadic woman, hammered a spike through the head of the sleeping Canaanite commander Sisera after he had fled a battle with the Israelites.
Jewish heroine Judith used her wiles to seduce and behead the drunken Assyrian general Holofernes and save her city of Bethulia.
Celtic Queen Boudicca fought the Romans after the death of her husband, fitting her chariots with knives to slash enemy troops.
Charlotte Corday stabbed Jean-Paul Marat in his bath, thus killing one of the instigators of the Terror during the French Revolution.
Fanni Kaplan, a Russian, shot Vladimir Lenin twice (he survived) because he became corrupt and betrayed her Socialist ideals.
Violet Gibson, the Irish aristocrat, made an unexplained assassination attempt on Benito Mussolini.
Valerie Solanas, 1960s manhater who founded the Society for Cutting Up Men, shot and wounded artist Andy Warhol.
Ulrike Meinhof, German anarchist, was involved in bombings, robberies and gunfights before killing herself in a jail cell.
Women however are still a minority in the history of killers, regardless of their motive. 700 years of homicide data shows male-on-male killings are 40 times more common than female-on-female killings. (Not including wars.)
“There is no known society where the level of lethal violence among women even approaches that of men,” says a study by Canadian psychologists Martin Daly and Margo Wilson. Male murderousness is driven by violent environments, bad childhoods and high testosterone levels that promote aggressive behaviour.
The Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers pioneered female suicide squads in the 1980s. Palestinian, Lebanese and Kurdish women followed suit.
Studies of Palestinian women bombers pointed to two main causes (according to a report from the Israeli-based Center for Special Studies):
#1. The vengeance for deaths of relatives.
#2. Being pushed into the fringes of society where they are made psychologically vulnerable.
Speckhard and Akhmedova’s 2006 study of Chechnya's Black Widows (based on 45 interviews with family members, friends or former hostages of 34 female suicide bombers) has some interesting results: “Nearly all had lost close family members in air raids, bombings, landmines, so-called ‘cleansing’ operations carried out by Russian forces, and in battle.”
When the Russian military is involved in ethnic cleansing its no small surprise the people of Chechnya have resorted to terrorism. Combined with high unemployment rates and low education it doesn't give people a lot of options.
Videos and photos released by Chechen rebels have confirmed this.The trick about Chechen rebels is there is a duality about the situation. #1. Not all Chechen rebels are Muslim. There are also Christian and secular Chechen rebels. #2. Their primary focus is their fight to form their own government. They're not worried about creating a "Islamic State", they just want an independent Chechnya free of Russian rule.
The Russian government however is refusing to grand Chechnya independence (which was declared independent in 1991) because of oil pipelines that run through the region and thus instead has chosen to retaliate against Chechen rebels.
For the women involved there isn't a lot of opportunity to do anything else. Russian government programs in the region to promote education for women are almost non-existent, as such women seeking a career really have two choices: Motherhood or Martyrdom.And when your husband gets killed by the hate Russians the depression sets in. Do you get remarried when no husband will want you since you're "damaged goods"? Or do you go out with a bang?
For un-educated women from Chechnya they're barely even citizens under Russian law. The Chechen people have been relegated to 2nd class citizens and Chechen women? Pfff. They're basically 3rd class citizens. So its really not much of a surprise the people of Chechnya want their independence.HOWEVER this doesn't excuse their behaviour and attacking innocent people. The recent bombings in Moscow killed 39 people. There are other ways to PROTEST PEACEFULLY, but that is not the way of the Black Widows.
Its not just uneducated women or widows who join the cause of the Black Widows. Its women who just plain loved their country and want an independent Chechnya. Asides from the clothes they still enjoy spending time with friends, partying and doing other things popular with young people.
“It wasn’t an easy decision to go and fight,” says Rosa, cradling a Kalashnikov rifle on her lap and sitting under an apricot tree. “But when my friends told me my nursing skills were needed, I went. Then I found out that everybody had to take up the gun.”
Rosa is a seasoned fighter, battling Russian troops for Chechen independence for over a year now. She says the hardest thing was getting used to the uniform. “At first, when the commander told me to put on fatigues I couldn’t do it. Then I obeyed him, but put a skirt over the trousers.”Rosa is a member of the Black Widows. Not all of them are suicide bombers, some are simply fighters in a campaign of warfare that dates back before the 1991 declaration of independence. Since then the Black Widows has been responsible for over half the suicide attacks in Russia.
“Chechen women are the most dangerous for national security because they have carried out the most risky operations,” says a study by psychologists Anne Speckhard and Khapta Adhmedova. Women are able to get past Russian troops without being suspected and thus carry bundles of explosives with them for the purposes of eventually staging terrorist attacks.
History is filled with other examples of "Black Widows":
Yael, a nomadic woman, hammered a spike through the head of the sleeping Canaanite commander Sisera after he had fled a battle with the Israelites.
Jewish heroine Judith used her wiles to seduce and behead the drunken Assyrian general Holofernes and save her city of Bethulia.
Celtic Queen Boudicca fought the Romans after the death of her husband, fitting her chariots with knives to slash enemy troops.
Charlotte Corday stabbed Jean-Paul Marat in his bath, thus killing one of the instigators of the Terror during the French Revolution.
Fanni Kaplan, a Russian, shot Vladimir Lenin twice (he survived) because he became corrupt and betrayed her Socialist ideals.
Violet Gibson, the Irish aristocrat, made an unexplained assassination attempt on Benito Mussolini.
Valerie Solanas, 1960s manhater who founded the Society for Cutting Up Men, shot and wounded artist Andy Warhol.
Ulrike Meinhof, German anarchist, was involved in bombings, robberies and gunfights before killing herself in a jail cell.
Women however are still a minority in the history of killers, regardless of their motive. 700 years of homicide data shows male-on-male killings are 40 times more common than female-on-female killings. (Not including wars.)
“There is no known society where the level of lethal violence among women even approaches that of men,” says a study by Canadian psychologists Martin Daly and Margo Wilson. Male murderousness is driven by violent environments, bad childhoods and high testosterone levels that promote aggressive behaviour.
The Sri Lankan Tamil Tigers pioneered female suicide squads in the 1980s. Palestinian, Lebanese and Kurdish women followed suit.
Studies of Palestinian women bombers pointed to two main causes (according to a report from the Israeli-based Center for Special Studies):
#1. The vengeance for deaths of relatives.
#2. Being pushed into the fringes of society where they are made psychologically vulnerable.
Speckhard and Akhmedova’s 2006 study of Chechnya's Black Widows (based on 45 interviews with family members, friends or former hostages of 34 female suicide bombers) has some interesting results: “Nearly all had lost close family members in air raids, bombings, landmines, so-called ‘cleansing’ operations carried out by Russian forces, and in battle.”
When the Russian military is involved in ethnic cleansing its no small surprise the people of Chechnya have resorted to terrorism. Combined with high unemployment rates and low education it doesn't give people a lot of options.
Erykah Badu goes nude at JFK assassination site
ENTERTAINMENT - On March 17th 2010 singer-songwriter Erykah Badu stripped down to nothing at the site of JFK's 1963 assassination while making a music video entitled "Window Seat", perhaps a reference to the convertible Kennedy was shot in. The video was finally released today.In the video in Dallas, Texas, Badu walks along the sidewalk shedding clothing until she is nude and then falls down (as if dead) on the actual location JFK was shot. Shot "guerrilla style" with only a single cameraman the R&B singer has drawn both praise and criticism for her courageous and controversial video.
Badu says she was making a statement against "groupthink" which she says is an "unwritten rule" that "i will not express my true opinion if it opposes those i love and fear."
Dallas police are currently contemplating pressing charges against both Badu and the cameraman, for public indecency and not obtaining a permit before filming.
In related news...
Sarah McLachlan her renewed "Lilith Fair" tours featuring music by Sarah McLachlan, Mary J. Blige, Sheryl Crow, Kelly Clarkson, Erykah Badu, Sugarland, Heart, Norah Jones, Ke$ha, Corinne Bailey Rae, Loretta Lynn, Emmylou Harris, and Tegan and Sara.
Lilith Fair promotes women in music and feminist issues. Earlier today the Lilith Fair website crashed due to sheer popularity.
Fans who pre-order Sarah McLachlan's new album "The Laws of Illusion" at sarahmclachlan.com will have the chance to buy tickets to the revived Lilith Fair tour before anyone else. The Lilith Fair tour will be visiting 32 cities in North America.
The Truth about Female Tokenism
FEMINISM - Imagine a TV show or cartoon. It doesn't have to be a new one, an older cartoon or TV show will work. Is it balanced in terms of male and female roles?
Lets take Star Trek, The Original Series as an example. How many women are part of the main cast? Two if you count Nurse Chapel (who later leaves but continues doing the voice for the computer) and Lieutenant Commander Uhura (played by actor Nichelle Nichols).
Now its important not to understress the role Nichelle Nichols played at the time (1966-1969). She was one of the first African-American women in a major TV role and also shares the first interracial kiss on television with William Shatner.
Nichols had originally planned to leave Star Trek in 1967 after its first season, but a conversation with Martin Luther King, Jr. persuaded her to stay, stating that she was a role model for the black community.
But what about the female community? We can only assume she played a role for women too... although we must remember Uhura's role was largely that of a secretary.
Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to become an astronaut and actor Whoopi Goldberg (who later played Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation) both pay tribute to Uhura the character. Because Star Trek is such a widespread cultural phenomenon Uhura's token role was actually a major role and a huge positive influence.
Now lets talk about the negative influence of tokenism.
And for this example I am going to use He-Man... or more specifically the only female heroine in the cartoon, Teela. The thing about Teela however is that while she is warrior in the show, she is often depicted as a damsel in distress so He-Man can rescue her (which happens a bit too often). He-Man ran from 1983-1985 and was later relaunched in 2002-2004 for two seasons.
For the purposes of discussion below we will be speaking about the original 1983-85 series.
The storyline also includes the Sorceress (who is essentially a guide / damsel-in-distress) and a twin sister "Evil-Lyn". The duality of Teela and Evil-Lyn cannot be ignored. The two characters are identical with the exception of clothing and personality... the message however is obvious: Teela is good and Evil-Lyn is evil, and their actions are likewise good/evil. Its very black and white and leaves no room for grey. Evil-Lyn isn't just "bad", she can't help being evil. Even if she tried to do a good deed her evilness would cause her to pervert it into something evil... or at least that is what the show suggests.
As token characters Teela and Evil-lyn thus form a metaphor/message for all women. Some women are goodie two shoes and other women are just plain evil. Its a 50/50 split. It also says several other things:
#1. Female warriors are good, female magic-users are evil.
#2. There are very few females in the roles of heroines or villainesses.
#3. Females are weak, easily captured and need to be rescued by He-Man.
This isn't exactly inspiring young women to enter male-dominated careers. What its saying instead is that women are a rarity in such roles and are essentially a liability.
And its the same for many other TV shows, especially cartoons with a token female character. In the case of He-Man the show was reasonably popular with young girls and ended up with the spin-off series She-Ra... which was essentially a whole world populated by amazon women warriors (both good and evil). Oh and the character "Bow" is basically a male version of Teela, a token male amongst amazons. She-Ra basically uses the same formula as He-Man, but in reverse.
The trick about She-Ra however is that her story starts her off as an evil character with a spell on her and was raised as a baby by the villain Hordak. She-Ra only becomes good after He-Man breaks the spell on her / convinces her that her "father" is evil.
You can watch the whole thing here: He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword
She-Ra also has quite a few female villains like the aptly named Shadow Weaver (whom you never see her face) and also Scorpia, Catra, Octavia, Entrapta, etc... its battle royale of the evil amazons vs the good amazons.
And then there's the metaphor... She-Ra is a leader of the Rebellion, which fights against the mostly-male Horde which dominates her world. Its a crude metaphor for patriarchy vs feminism and I am not so sure it works so well.
The whole She-Ra world (Etheria) is basically an overcompensation to botching the He-Man world (Eternia) and an attempt to appease a mostly female audience with parents who are worried about what their kids are watching... hence why feminism is portrayed as a metaphor and the Rebellion are essentially freedom fighters. (FEMINIST = FREEDOM FIGHTER, I really like that definition.) If they had been overly blatant about the metaphor the more conservative parents might have become upset.
Remember the Hercules: Legendary Journeys TV series starring Kevin Sorbo? It lasted 111 episodes and spawned an even bigger spinoff... Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless with 134 episodes.
Not surprisingly Xena has some remarkable similarities to She-Ra. She starts off as evil and then Hercules manages to convince her to become good. Sounds familiar right?
However the similarities soon disappear as Xena is obviously a post-feminist with a healthy sexual libido. The show is just as much for men as it is for women, although the plot does become rather complex in later episodes and the show becomes a bit soap-opera-ish... Xena also has a somewhat ambiguous sexuality, judging from one scene where she kisses her sidekick Gabrielle leading to a whole argument that Xena is bisexual or lesbian... Does it really matter? It struck a blow for lesbians/bisexuals, just be happy about it.
Conclusions
Female tokenism in television is essentially a bad idea. While some good can come from tokenism, its far better to have roughly a 50/50 split. Star Trek: The Next Generation is a good example of this, as the first season starts off with Tasha Yar, Deanna Troi and Beverly Crusher... three characters with specific roles as warrior, romantic-love-interest/shrink and doctor. The success of Star Trek: TNG shows a balance between male and female roles is not a detriment.
Furthermore when tokenism becomes too overt, especially in a popular show, you can expect a backlash or female-dominated spinoff show as a result. Smart writers would be wiser to create a balanced show from the beginning and save themselves the trouble of having to create a spinoff show later on.
Lets take Star Trek, The Original Series as an example. How many women are part of the main cast? Two if you count Nurse Chapel (who later leaves but continues doing the voice for the computer) and Lieutenant Commander Uhura (played by actor Nichelle Nichols).
Now its important not to understress the role Nichelle Nichols played at the time (1966-1969). She was one of the first African-American women in a major TV role and also shares the first interracial kiss on television with William Shatner.Nichols had originally planned to leave Star Trek in 1967 after its first season, but a conversation with Martin Luther King, Jr. persuaded her to stay, stating that she was a role model for the black community.
But what about the female community? We can only assume she played a role for women too... although we must remember Uhura's role was largely that of a secretary.
Dr. Mae Jemison, the first African-American woman to become an astronaut and actor Whoopi Goldberg (who later played Guinan on Star Trek: The Next Generation) both pay tribute to Uhura the character. Because Star Trek is such a widespread cultural phenomenon Uhura's token role was actually a major role and a huge positive influence.
Now lets talk about the negative influence of tokenism.
And for this example I am going to use He-Man... or more specifically the only female heroine in the cartoon, Teela. The thing about Teela however is that while she is warrior in the show, she is often depicted as a damsel in distress so He-Man can rescue her (which happens a bit too often). He-Man ran from 1983-1985 and was later relaunched in 2002-2004 for two seasons.For the purposes of discussion below we will be speaking about the original 1983-85 series.
The storyline also includes the Sorceress (who is essentially a guide / damsel-in-distress) and a twin sister "Evil-Lyn". The duality of Teela and Evil-Lyn cannot be ignored. The two characters are identical with the exception of clothing and personality... the message however is obvious: Teela is good and Evil-Lyn is evil, and their actions are likewise good/evil. Its very black and white and leaves no room for grey. Evil-Lyn isn't just "bad", she can't help being evil. Even if she tried to do a good deed her evilness would cause her to pervert it into something evil... or at least that is what the show suggests.
As token characters Teela and Evil-lyn thus form a metaphor/message for all women. Some women are goodie two shoes and other women are just plain evil. Its a 50/50 split. It also says several other things:
#1. Female warriors are good, female magic-users are evil.
#2. There are very few females in the roles of heroines or villainesses.
#3. Females are weak, easily captured and need to be rescued by He-Man.
This isn't exactly inspiring young women to enter male-dominated careers. What its saying instead is that women are a rarity in such roles and are essentially a liability.
And its the same for many other TV shows, especially cartoons with a token female character. In the case of He-Man the show was reasonably popular with young girls and ended up with the spin-off series She-Ra... which was essentially a whole world populated by amazon women warriors (both good and evil). Oh and the character "Bow" is basically a male version of Teela, a token male amongst amazons. She-Ra basically uses the same formula as He-Man, but in reverse.
The trick about She-Ra however is that her story starts her off as an evil character with a spell on her and was raised as a baby by the villain Hordak. She-Ra only becomes good after He-Man breaks the spell on her / convinces her that her "father" is evil.You can watch the whole thing here: He-Man & She-Ra: The Secret of the Sword
She-Ra also has quite a few female villains like the aptly named Shadow Weaver (whom you never see her face) and also Scorpia, Catra, Octavia, Entrapta, etc... its battle royale of the evil amazons vs the good amazons.
And then there's the metaphor... She-Ra is a leader of the Rebellion, which fights against the mostly-male Horde which dominates her world. Its a crude metaphor for patriarchy vs feminism and I am not so sure it works so well.
The whole She-Ra world (Etheria) is basically an overcompensation to botching the He-Man world (Eternia) and an attempt to appease a mostly female audience with parents who are worried about what their kids are watching... hence why feminism is portrayed as a metaphor and the Rebellion are essentially freedom fighters. (FEMINIST = FREEDOM FIGHTER, I really like that definition.) If they had been overly blatant about the metaphor the more conservative parents might have become upset.Remember the Hercules: Legendary Journeys TV series starring Kevin Sorbo? It lasted 111 episodes and spawned an even bigger spinoff... Xena: Warrior Princess, starring Lucy Lawless with 134 episodes.
Not surprisingly Xena has some remarkable similarities to She-Ra. She starts off as evil and then Hercules manages to convince her to become good. Sounds familiar right?However the similarities soon disappear as Xena is obviously a post-feminist with a healthy sexual libido. The show is just as much for men as it is for women, although the plot does become rather complex in later episodes and the show becomes a bit soap-opera-ish... Xena also has a somewhat ambiguous sexuality, judging from one scene where she kisses her sidekick Gabrielle leading to a whole argument that Xena is bisexual or lesbian... Does it really matter? It struck a blow for lesbians/bisexuals, just be happy about it.
Conclusions
Female tokenism in television is essentially a bad idea. While some good can come from tokenism, its far better to have roughly a 50/50 split. Star Trek: The Next Generation is a good example of this, as the first season starts off with Tasha Yar, Deanna Troi and Beverly Crusher... three characters with specific roles as warrior, romantic-love-interest/shrink and doctor. The success of Star Trek: TNG shows a balance between male and female roles is not a detriment.Furthermore when tokenism becomes too overt, especially in a popular show, you can expect a backlash or female-dominated spinoff show as a result. Smart writers would be wiser to create a balanced show from the beginning and save themselves the trouble of having to create a spinoff show later on.
The Truth about Tiger Woods & Adultery
SEX - I know I might anger some golf fans by writing this, but Tiger Woods isn't all he's cracked up to be.
That much can be easily seen by his press conference today, the first time in months he's been seen in public since the height of his adultery scandal. He was extremely nervous in front of the camera, his eyes shifting across the crowd, fidgeting, stuttering even.
Tiger Woods' fall from grace has been a long time coming. He's been cheating on his wife for years now... but whats funny is how pussy whipped he is now.
There is no other way to describe it. Pussy whipped.
Like a beaten dog, cowering under the couch with its tail between its legs.
Now I want to point out however I don't exactly approve of what his angry wife Elin Nordegren is doing either. She should just dump his ass and leave. Unless they were separated at the time there's really no excuse for sleeping around (with the possible exceptions of swingers or wife/husband swapping, but that is a whole other matter). She has Tiger by the balls now and she's taking the vengeful wife thing to celebrity extremes.
Elin first met Tiger Woods in 2001 at the British Open, where she was the nanny of Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik's children. Tiger had been pursuing her for a year as one of his sexual conquests and eventually asked her to marry him in 2003 and finally married her in a huge $2 million wedding in 2004.
However all that time Tiger had women on the sidelines, and continued to 'knock it in the hole' for many years until his wife found out he was seeing other women, arousing suspicion.
Then the shit hit the fan when a San Diego cocktail waitress came out publicly, announcing she had had a two-and-a-half year affair with Tiger Woods and even produced emails, phone messages and text messages like the following:
"Hey it's Tiger, I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone...You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."
Since then the growing list of women saying "I had an affair with Tiger Woods" has become increasingly long, including naked photos of Tiger Woods having sex with another woman.
Here's the thing however... the only reason Tiger is sticking it out is because he has endorsement contracts with a lot of influential companies. Its not just his wife's lawyer squeezing his balls, its the army of lawyers working for everything from Gillette razors to Titleist golf balls. Their iron grip around his balls must be so tight its hard to speak, let alone in public.
Its amazing he hasn't just called it quits and agreed to a divorce, but instead he's so pussy and lawyer whipped he just keeps at it, not knowing when to throw in the towel. At this point I don't think it can get any better either. At this stage in a relationship the spouse will always be holding that over the offender's head. Whenever they have an argument Elin will automatically win because all she has to do is mention how he cheated and lied to her.
Its all so ironic, funny, sad, pathetic and yet predictable. I frankly wouldn't be that surprised if Tiger Woods committed suicide, except this action is doubtful because for many years now he's had a huge ego, basically thinking he was god's gift to golf (and reportedly having a temper if he didn't win). Still I wouldn't rule out suicide on the basis that he's fallen so far so fast. He's gone from being on top of everything to being the most pathetic person in the celebrity gossip rags.
In many ways you have to feel sorry for him, trapped between the gossip rags and the vicious cutthroat lawyers just itching to sue him. But on the other hand you have to ask...
Doesn't every person who cheats on their spouse deserve to be publicly humiliated?
Yes, there's some truth in that.
That much can be easily seen by his press conference today, the first time in months he's been seen in public since the height of his adultery scandal. He was extremely nervous in front of the camera, his eyes shifting across the crowd, fidgeting, stuttering even.Tiger Woods' fall from grace has been a long time coming. He's been cheating on his wife for years now... but whats funny is how pussy whipped he is now.
There is no other way to describe it. Pussy whipped.
Like a beaten dog, cowering under the couch with its tail between its legs.
Now I want to point out however I don't exactly approve of what his angry wife Elin Nordegren is doing either. She should just dump his ass and leave. Unless they were separated at the time there's really no excuse for sleeping around (with the possible exceptions of swingers or wife/husband swapping, but that is a whole other matter). She has Tiger by the balls now and she's taking the vengeful wife thing to celebrity extremes.
Elin first met Tiger Woods in 2001 at the British Open, where she was the nanny of Swedish golfer Jesper Parnevik's children. Tiger had been pursuing her for a year as one of his sexual conquests and eventually asked her to marry him in 2003 and finally married her in a huge $2 million wedding in 2004.
However all that time Tiger had women on the sidelines, and continued to 'knock it in the hole' for many years until his wife found out he was seeing other women, arousing suspicion.
Then the shit hit the fan when a San Diego cocktail waitress came out publicly, announcing she had had a two-and-a-half year affair with Tiger Woods and even produced emails, phone messages and text messages like the following:
"Hey it's Tiger, I need you to do me a huge favor. Can you please take your name off your phone? My wife went through my phone...You got to do this for me. Huge. Quickly. Bye."
Since then the growing list of women saying "I had an affair with Tiger Woods" has become increasingly long, including naked photos of Tiger Woods having sex with another woman.Here's the thing however... the only reason Tiger is sticking it out is because he has endorsement contracts with a lot of influential companies. Its not just his wife's lawyer squeezing his balls, its the army of lawyers working for everything from Gillette razors to Titleist golf balls. Their iron grip around his balls must be so tight its hard to speak, let alone in public.
Its amazing he hasn't just called it quits and agreed to a divorce, but instead he's so pussy and lawyer whipped he just keeps at it, not knowing when to throw in the towel. At this point I don't think it can get any better either. At this stage in a relationship the spouse will always be holding that over the offender's head. Whenever they have an argument Elin will automatically win because all she has to do is mention how he cheated and lied to her.
Its all so ironic, funny, sad, pathetic and yet predictable. I frankly wouldn't be that surprised if Tiger Woods committed suicide, except this action is doubtful because for many years now he's had a huge ego, basically thinking he was god's gift to golf (and reportedly having a temper if he didn't win). Still I wouldn't rule out suicide on the basis that he's fallen so far so fast. He's gone from being on top of everything to being the most pathetic person in the celebrity gossip rags.
In many ways you have to feel sorry for him, trapped between the gossip rags and the vicious cutthroat lawyers just itching to sue him. But on the other hand you have to ask...
Doesn't every person who cheats on their spouse deserve to be publicly humiliated?
Yes, there's some truth in that.
The Truth about Details
RELIGION/SEX - What does religion have to do with men's magazine "Details"? Well, I'll tell you at the bottom of the article.
Not like it really matters. The content of Details magazine was always a bunch of macho bullshit anyway. Here is list of sample articles listed in Details magazine (Jan/2010):
How Internet Porn is Changing Teen Sex
The Five Creepiest Substitutes For a Woman
Meet the Man Who Has Slept With More Than 600 Women
Should You Get a Sex Coach? Robot girlfriend ushers in a new dawn in "solo" sex
In the January 2010 issue there is an article called "The Lure of Dating an Ex-Lesbian", which we have quoted below (complete with images):
So according to Details magazine...
Lesbianism was just a fad from the 1990s.
There is a mass exodus of lesbians back to being straight.
Lesbians need a man to have babies.
And WTF is up with the photo of a woman sucking a banana?
Okay now here is the truth of it... Details magazine has been hiring a lot of Christians (or born again Christians) on their staff in recent years, including former American evangelical preacher. Try reading the above article and look for hidden messages that sound remarkably similar to the same crap being spouted by right wing Christians who obsessed with trying to convert homosexuals.
Conclusions? Even men's magazines have a dual purpose, to convert people to the Christian right-wing way of thinking: Lesbians and gays are evil! We must convert them into born again Christians!
Details my ass.
Not like it really matters. The content of Details magazine was always a bunch of macho bullshit anyway. Here is list of sample articles listed in Details magazine (Jan/2010):
In the January 2010 issue there is an article called "The Lure of Dating an Ex-Lesbian", which we have quoted below (complete with images):
Certain female archetypes capture men's sexual imagination because they represent that elusive thing men can't have. Among them: the porn star (for obvious reasons), the nun (for obvious, more disturbing reasons), and the lesbian. For Dudus Americanus, this last image tends to conjure up the predictable girl-on-girl fantasies that have consumed him since he first stumbled upon Dad's secret stash of Oui magazines. But what about the guys who manage to break through? Is landing a woman who once found gratification in her own sex really a cause for celebration—or something more like trepidation?
Paul Mattingly, a 34-year-old actor, was doing "Klingon work" at Star Trek: The Experience in the Las Vegas Hilton when he met Anne, the pretty young manager of the attraction's gift shops. He chatted her up at a party (out of costume) and found out she'd dated a few other guys at the Experience, which didn't bother him. But after he and Anne became serious, he learned she'd been romantically involved with a woman for years.
"There was a minute there where I had a little Ben Affleck Chasing Amy moment," says Mattingly. "It was this feeling of 'Clearly, this person has out-experienced me—is that going to come back and bite me in the butt?'" Five years later, it has not; in fact, the two have been married since 2007. And while Anne admits she will probably always be attracted to women, he isn't worried. After all, the Mattinglys now have celebrity analogues. After three years as one half of the most famous lesbian couple ever, Anne Heche ran off with Ellen DeGeneres' very vagina-less cameraman Coley Laffoon. When she split with him, she didn't seek comfort in the arms of someone of her own gender—but instead shacked up with Men in Trees stud James Tupper. Even Ani DiFranco, folk guitarist, feminist icon, and prominent bisexual, just hitched up with a man for the second time last January—in freaking Hawaii. And Lindsay Lohan—well, these days it's safe to say Firecrotch will take whatever she can get.
There are no reliable statistics by which to gauge how many refugees there are from the isle of Lesbos. Nor could there be: Bisexual women, for instance, don't have to "switch teams" to enter into relationships with men, even if they've lived with other women for decades. But if the hasbian (and for simplicity's sake, we'll include bisexuals who've shifted from women to men) really is having a coming-out moment, it might be because the lesbian had her big coming-out moment in the nineties—the decade that saw Cindy Crawford shaving k.d. lang on the cover of Vanity Fair, the birth of Lilith Fair, and the mainstream popularity of lesbian-friendly folksingers like DiFranco, the Indigo Girls, and Dar Williams, not to mention a slew of literal "coming-out moments" set off by Ellen's "Yep, I'm gay" in 1997. Today, The L Word has come and gone, Katy Perry has qualified her confession about kissing a girl with "I hope my boyfriend don't mind it," and the tabloids are far more preoccupied with LiLo's dropout antics than with her sexuality—just as we are more compelled by Rachel Maddow's intelligence than by her orientation. It's safe to say the novelty has faded. A woman who began her sexual exploration in the lesbian-leaning nineties would be in her thirties now. Is it unreasonable to suggest her biological clock could also affect her sexual proclivities?
"It's impossible for women reaching their child-rearing years not to be aware of that at some level, and to have that influence who they're with," says Dr. Lisa M. Diamond, an associate professor of psychology and gender studies at the University of Utah and the author of Sexual Fluidity: Understanding Women's Love and Desire. "I've seen bisexual women who say they could go either way, but as they get older, that structures how they want to be and who they want as a partner. The standard first question, Mattingly says, is "Aren't you afraid she'll go back to dating women?" "Continued change is really the norm," says Diamond. "We have this notion that as people get older, things stabilize. Not so. Meredith Baxter just came out at 62."
Benji Friehling, 26, a restaurateur in upstate New York, had another concern when he started dating his fiancee, who had been in a 12-year relationship with a woman and identified fully as lesbian: Could he possibly navigate the female anatomy as skillfully as a woman? Those concerns weren't limited to the usual matters of clitoral mastery and G-spot triangulation. "I worried that perhaps I was a bit inadequate," says Friehling, "that my penis wasn't as big as her dildo." This sort of fear raises a question about that whole adolescent obsession with girl-on-girl action. Though these guys may be in a better position than the rest of us to act on it, none, including Friehling, has any interest in actually following through—not because they're worried their wives and girlfriends will revert, but because they fear that they themselves won't be able to handle it. And that might be the greatest irony of dating a hasbian: In the end, we're the ones who lack the balls to explore our sexual margins.
"Of course I think about it. What man wouldn't?" Mattingly says. "But my wife's argument is that I wouldn't be able to emotionally survive it because I'm the one hung up on the 'sex is love' thing. She knows enough to know that it'd probably end in tears—and I'd be the one who's crying. She's the one who wears the pants." Anne Heche's rugged-looking new beau, Tupper? He enjoys bird-watching. After high school, he lived on a coffee farm in East Africa where he studied Swahili, and he has since appeared in several Off Broadway plays—not the resume of a dude who opens MGD with his molars and whacks off to Coochie Hoochies 2. It is hardly a stretch, then, to suggest that the reason modern men are more ably attracting hasbians is that modern men are, quite simply, offering these women something close to what they had before. Just look at Tom Cole, a pastoral-care director at International House of Prayer in Kansas City. Without a healthy exploration of his feminine side, he probably wouldn't have met his wife, Donna—who like Tom identifies as a "former homosexual." Before the two met years ago at church meetings for born-again Christians, Donna was in a lesbian rugby league. "They didn't even wear pads or anything," Cole recalls. "She had a tattoo and she drove a motorcycle." Since then, Cole notes, Donna has "softened up," and he's learned that the right woman can get him "extremely aroused." But a few aspects of their former selves never changed. "She doesn't love to cook, that's for sure," says Cole. "But I do, so it works out really well."
So according to Details magazine...
Okay now here is the truth of it... Details magazine has been hiring a lot of Christians (or born again Christians) on their staff in recent years, including former American evangelical preacher. Try reading the above article and look for hidden messages that sound remarkably similar to the same crap being spouted by right wing Christians who obsessed with trying to convert homosexuals.
Conclusions? Even men's magazines have a dual purpose, to convert people to the Christian right-wing way of thinking: Lesbians and gays are evil! We must convert them into born again Christians!
Details my ass.
The Toronto Women's Bookstore in Crisis
CANADA/FEMINISM - The Toronto Women's Bookstore at 73 Harbord Street in Toronto is near financial collapse. 2009 was a very bad year for bookstores in general, but the hardest hit are independent vendors.
The TWB released the following statement to their regulars:
The TWB released the following statement to their regulars:
Dear TWB community,
The Toronto Women's Bookstore is in crisis and we need your help!
Independent businesses and bookstores have been closing their doors this year, and after 36 years it is possible that we will have to do the same if we are not able to raise enough money to survive. TWB is one of the only remaining non-profit feminist bookstores in North America, but despite all of the events, courses, workshops, community resources and additional services we offer, the fact that we are a store means that we do not receive any outside funding and rely entirely on sales and the support of our customers to stay in business.
Over the past few years, our sales have not been enough to sustain us and this is why we are coming to you, our community, for help. If every one of you donated $10 we would raise enough to keep going for 3 months, $20 each would keep us in business for 6 months, and $30 each would be enough for us to keep our doors open, hopefully for good. All donations will go directly towards covering the bookstore's costs, and are a part of a larger plan of action and structural change to make the business sustainable in the current economy.
In the past, when feminist bookstores were closing down all across North America, the support of the community is what kept TWB alive. You are the reason that we are still here today, and we believe that with your help we can once again work together to save this organization where so many of us as readers, writers, feminists, artists, and activists have found a home.
You can make donations over the phone, on our website www.womensbookstore.com (a paypal link will be available soon), or in person at the store. As a non-profit store we are not eligible for charitable status and cannot offer tax receipts, but we are hoping to be able to offer tax receipts for donations over $100 in collaboration with a non-profit charity who shares our mandate, and if that can be arranged we will have that information available on our website and in store as soon as possible.
You can also help by spreading the word to your friends and community, contacting us if you know of any funding we might be eligible for, promoting this fundraising drive in your paper or on your blog, website or radio show, organizing your own save the bookstore fundraisers or just passing the hat at your holiday parties, giving a TWB donation as a gift, and of course, coming in and bringing all your friends to the store for some holiday shopping!
Thank you all for your support,
The Toronto Women's Bookstore Board, Staff & Volunteers
The Truth about Mary Magdalene
RELIGION - Who is this a painting of? Is it Mother Mary, Jesus, his brother and an angel.Or, depending on who you talk to... is it Mary Magdalene and the descendants of Jesus Christ? The painter Leonardo da Vinci was reputed to be a member of the Priory of Scion, a secret society which protects the direct descendants of Jesus Christ.
It doesn't really matter, we will never know the truth on this matter.
What is known however is that Mary Magdalene, the wife of Jesus Christ, did indeed have children and there has been a whole secrecy and mythology following that ever since... and a long list of conspiracy stories, dating back to the Knights Templar, the Free Masons... etc. A big long list of conspiracy theories and conjecture. All of that is "true" but can never be proven beyond the fact of mere hearsay.
According to Catholic, Eastern Orthodox, Anglican, Protestant and Islam Mary Magdalene was a Saint. She was the first to witness the resurrection of Jesus Christ, according to all four gospels. She "was loved by Jesus more than the other disciples", a church leader and an apostle that the other apostles looked up to. According to Luke, Mary Magdalene accompanied him on all his journeys and according to Matthew was there at the crucifixion.
Right: Leonardo da Vinci's "Mary Magdalene" - 1515.
The word Magdalene in Aramaic means "great" or "magnificent", suggesting this was not really her name but a title bestowed upon her.
What is also known is that Mary Magdalene also wrote "The Gospel of Mary", a document which does not appear in any version of the Biblea and was only discovered in 1896 in a fifth-century papyrus codex. All other copies had been destroyed or lost.
Part of the text gets into spiritual transcendence, an idea not really covered in any part of the Bible. Mary asked Jesus about her ability to see him (his spirit) and how a soul ascends to Heaven.
This idea however didn't really fly with Peter however, who had a different idea of how people enter Heaven... this schism between him and Mary Magdalene led Peter to found the beginnings of male-dominated Catholicism... (For fun, check out Peter in The Last Supper... he's the old guy who looks like he is arguing with Mary Magdalene whilst holding a knife in his spare hand.)
Mary Magdalene meanwhile had children to raise, and the political tensions in Jerusalem were becoming worse so she left the region and according to various religious historians went to France (and from this point on it gets into a lot of conspiracy theories, with the followers of Peter / the Catholic Church [the creation of the Catholic Church dates back to the Confession of St Peter, which claims Jesus instructed him and his successors to lead the church] seeking to eradicate Mary Magdalene and her children, and the creation of the Priory of Scion to protect the descendants of Jesus Christ)...So what is the truth?
In this case there isn't any to be found. Some things really come down to faith and what you believe. Do you honestly think Jesus wanted a church that excluded women from becoming priests? Or was that all Peter's doing since he was apparently jealous of Mary Magdalene?
I personally can't believe in any church that excludes women. The truth is the Catholic Church hasn't just excluded women, its persecuted them under the disguise of witch hunts and bloody Inquisitions. To this day the Catholic Church continues to hold contempt for women, despite revering Mary Magdalene as a Saint.
The Truth about Feminism in the United States
UNITED STATES - Remember Hillary Clinton and Sarah Palin? Both were criticized for their looks, their clothing, their voices, their husbands and their children. It wasn't exactly "fair game", but it was certainly sexist. (Please note Sarah Palin is NOT a feminist.)
American women are getting "bitch slapped" back down where 'they belong' on a regular basis in the United States. For all their beliefs about equality Americans still can't accept women as leaders or equals.
The Oklahoma legislature recently approved a move that would compel doctors to fill out 10-page forms on each abortion they perform, including questions about the woman's relationship with the "sperminator"... worse, all these details would then be posted on a public website.
The idea is being pushed by the religious right-wing in an effort to discourage women from having abortions by fear-mongering them and exposing them publicly.
This is just one example of how women's rights are under attack.
If you read Maria Shriver's report "A Woman's Nation Changes Everything" or "When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present" by Gail Collins you will get a better idea of just how much women's rights is under attack by the religious right-wing.
Gail Collins' book has lots of little stories like the woman who couldn't get a lease unless it was signed by her institutionalized mental patient husband or the woman who was shouted out of traffic court by the judge for wearing slacks instead of a skirt.
Collins also writes "Back then, if you wanted a career that involved travel, you'd have to have become a flight attendant..."
"Coffee, tea ... or me?"
The Great Pink North (Canada) meanwhile has free health care and maternity leaves, greater numbers in the workforce and halls of academia, but Canadian women still fall behind in government jobs and executive positions compared to the USA. So we're not much better if you we are realistic about it.
There's also the wage gap, both for wages and pensions. Women in particular suffer in their old age after their husband dies (or leaves in divorce) because they have little or no access to their husband's pension despite serving as homemaker and mother for decades.
Worse, feminism has been so attacked over the years by men and the religious right-wing that young women now associate the F-word with hairy-legs and man-hating Feminazis. So regardless of whether you live in the USA or Canada, the truth is feminism has yet to be accepted as what it really is: Equality.
American women are getting "bitch slapped" back down where 'they belong' on a regular basis in the United States. For all their beliefs about equality Americans still can't accept women as leaders or equals.
The Oklahoma legislature recently approved a move that would compel doctors to fill out 10-page forms on each abortion they perform, including questions about the woman's relationship with the "sperminator"... worse, all these details would then be posted on a public website.The idea is being pushed by the religious right-wing in an effort to discourage women from having abortions by fear-mongering them and exposing them publicly.
This is just one example of how women's rights are under attack.
If you read Maria Shriver's report "A Woman's Nation Changes Everything" or "When Everything Changed: The Amazing Journey of American Women from 1960 to the Present" by Gail Collins you will get a better idea of just how much women's rights is under attack by the religious right-wing.
Gail Collins' book has lots of little stories like the woman who couldn't get a lease unless it was signed by her institutionalized mental patient husband or the woman who was shouted out of traffic court by the judge for wearing slacks instead of a skirt.Collins also writes "Back then, if you wanted a career that involved travel, you'd have to have become a flight attendant..."
"Coffee, tea ... or me?"
The Great Pink North (Canada) meanwhile has free health care and maternity leaves, greater numbers in the workforce and halls of academia, but Canadian women still fall behind in government jobs and executive positions compared to the USA. So we're not much better if you we are realistic about it.
There's also the wage gap, both for wages and pensions. Women in particular suffer in their old age after their husband dies (or leaves in divorce) because they have little or no access to their husband's pension despite serving as homemaker and mother for decades.Worse, feminism has been so attacked over the years by men and the religious right-wing that young women now associate the F-word with hairy-legs and man-hating Feminazis. So regardless of whether you live in the USA or Canada, the truth is feminism has yet to be accepted as what it really is: Equality.
"Feminism needs to rebrand." - Cristina Simonetto, ad copywriter.
Pregnant Woman Wins Court Battle
FEMINISM/HEALTH - In 2008 Ontario woman Jessica Maciel was 20 years old, single and was accidentally pregnant. She chose to keep it. A year later she has a bouncing baby boy.
What she wasn't expecting was to be fired over it. The Nino D'Arena beauty salon in Mississauga apparently didn't want a pregnant woman working in their salon.
Two days ago on Wednesday the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario awarded Maciel $35,000 is damages and lost wages, to be paid for by the salon. The Nino D'Arena salon has also been ordered to implement a policy that will protect women in the future from being fired over a pregnancy.
Maciel was already 4 months pregnant when she first started working at the salon in August 2008. There is no requirement under the Ontario's Human Rights Code to advise possible employers about a pregnancy.
After telling her boss Cinzia Conforti about the pregnancy however she was asked 15 minutes later to leave. It was blatant discrimination.
The court decision to punish the salon and award Maciel "really sends the message that excluding new mothers from the workplace is not an option for employers," says Maciel's lawyer Kate Sellars. Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre receives about 40 calls / week from women facing discrimination.
Other legal support groups are out there all across Canada and the United States. You just have to look for them. Here is the links for other non-Ontario groups.
Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commissions
British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal
British Columbia Human Rights Coalition
Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies
Manitoba Human Rights Commission
New Brunswick Human Rights Commission
Newfoundland Human Rights Commission
Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission
Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission
Prince Edward Island Human Rights Commission
Quebec – Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission
Yukon Human Rights Commission
Word to the Wise: Don't trample on people's Human Rights, because they can sue you and win.
What she wasn't expecting was to be fired over it. The Nino D'Arena beauty salon in Mississauga apparently didn't want a pregnant woman working in their salon.Two days ago on Wednesday the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario awarded Maciel $35,000 is damages and lost wages, to be paid for by the salon. The Nino D'Arena salon has also been ordered to implement a policy that will protect women in the future from being fired over a pregnancy.
Maciel was already 4 months pregnant when she first started working at the salon in August 2008. There is no requirement under the Ontario's Human Rights Code to advise possible employers about a pregnancy.
After telling her boss Cinzia Conforti about the pregnancy however she was asked 15 minutes later to leave. It was blatant discrimination.
The court decision to punish the salon and award Maciel "really sends the message that excluding new mothers from the workplace is not an option for employers," says Maciel's lawyer Kate Sellars. Ontario's Human Rights Legal Support Centre receives about 40 calls / week from women facing discrimination.
Other legal support groups are out there all across Canada and the United States. You just have to look for them. Here is the links for other non-Ontario groups.
Alberta Human Rights and Citizenship Commissions
British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal
British Columbia Human Rights Coalition
Canadian Human Rights Commission
Canadian Association of Statutory Human Rights Agencies
Manitoba Human Rights Commission
New Brunswick Human Rights Commission
Newfoundland Human Rights Commission
Northwest Territories Human Rights Commission
Nova Scotia Human Rights Commission
Prince Edward Island Human Rights Commission
Quebec – Commission des droits de la personne et des droits de la jeunesse
Saskatchewan Human Rights Commission
Yukon Human Rights Commission
Word to the Wise: Don't trample on people's Human Rights, because they can sue you and win.
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