Anti-violence activist Richard McAdam has started an important new blog related to his work with the White Ribbon Campaign. The blog aims to discuss violence against women in the Halifax area “with a mind to organizing actions that raise awareness of the extent of this societal problem.”
Unfortunately there's no shortage of the violent treatment of women to blog about. In the Greater Toronto area, for example, fourteen-year-old Stefanie Rengel was stabbed to death by her seventeen-year-old ex-boyfriend on January 1st. On Christmas day twenty-two-year old Iliada Zois and her fourteen-year-old brother Jamie were murdered by Iliada’s 27-year-old former common-law spouse. Earlier in December Aqsa Parvez, sixteen, was strangled by her father. One of her brothers has been charged with obstructing the police investigation of her murder.
What do those incidents have to do with an I Wish Hillary Had Married OJ T-shirt currently for sale on Cafe Press, the No means have aNOther drink shirt once available at Blue Notes or the Problem Solved tee that caused a commotion at K-Mart? And how does any of this relate to Toby Keith's Country Music television nominated video A Little Too Late during which he tries to wall his girlfriend (who is tied to a chair, incidentally) up in his basement?
The T-shirts and video are just meant in fun, right? After all nobody was harmed during the production of said materials.
It's certainly not surprising that a culture awash with violence against women (57% of Australian women have at some point in their lives been the victims of violence, the Canadian figure is 51% and in the U.S. it's estimated that assaults on women by partners range from 2 to 4 million per year) would produce likewise hostile merchandise and images but if you're chuckling at this stuff you either aren't in tune with the reality of widespread violence against women or you have a problem with half the residents of this planet.
***Update***
Much of what New York Times Op-Ed columnist Bob Herbert has to say about misogyny in America in his January 15th column is equally applicable to other Western nations: • Read Politics and Misogyny.
Unfortunately there's no shortage of the violent treatment of women to blog about. In the Greater Toronto area, for example, fourteen-year-old Stefanie Rengel was stabbed to death by her seventeen-year-old ex-boyfriend on January 1st. On Christmas day twenty-two-year old Iliada Zois and her fourteen-year-old brother Jamie were murdered by Iliada’s 27-year-old former common-law spouse. Earlier in December Aqsa Parvez, sixteen, was strangled by her father. One of her brothers has been charged with obstructing the police investigation of her murder.What do those incidents have to do with an I Wish Hillary Had Married OJ T-shirt currently for sale on Cafe Press, the No means have aNOther drink shirt once available at Blue Notes or the Problem Solved tee that caused a commotion at K-Mart? And how does any of this relate to Toby Keith's Country Music television nominated video A Little Too Late during which he tries to wall his girlfriend (who is tied to a chair, incidentally) up in his basement?
The T-shirts and video are just meant in fun, right? After all nobody was harmed during the production of said materials.
It's certainly not surprising that a culture awash with violence against women (57% of Australian women have at some point in their lives been the victims of violence, the Canadian figure is 51% and in the U.S. it's estimated that assaults on women by partners range from 2 to 4 million per year) would produce likewise hostile merchandise and images but if you're chuckling at this stuff you either aren't in tune with the reality of widespread violence against women or you have a problem with half the residents of this planet.
***Update***
Much of what New York Times Op-Ed columnist Bob Herbert has to say about misogyny in America in his January 15th column is equally applicable to other Western nations: • Read Politics and Misogyny.
