What We Missed
Canada is spending $355,000 to reduce sexual violence by promoting self-esteem among Quebec girls and battling sexualization.
Super classy "blow up" ads in New Jersey.
A 11 year-old girl is making a name for herself in drag racing. Nice!
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Canada's new initiative to reduce sexual violence in reality hides a drive towards perpetuating the purity myth.
I wrote about it on my blog:
http://clarissasbox.blogspot.com/2009/07/quebec-against-hypersexualization_20.html
It saddens me that my province should succumb to this patriarchal agenda.
I kind of suspected as much (hadn't heard of it before this, though). Not surprised, however: I don't think Harper's Conservatives would ever willingly support a progressive program for teenage girls' sexuality. The "solid values" line kind of felt a little red-flag-ish to me.
so is canada going to stop those crappy axe commercials? that's hypersexualisation at it's worst.
btw, are they even on the air anymore? any tv i watch is pbskids.
so is canada going to stop those crappy axe commercials? that's hypersexualisation at it's worst.
btw, are they even on the air anymore? any tv i watch is pbskids.
Clarissa,
Thanks so much for writing your blog piece. I'm a Canadian and I just heard about this yesterday. I was shocked and disgusted to hear how they, in effect, are continuing the blame-the-victim approach to working to reduce sexual violence (even though they claim they are not).
I'm also glad you pointed out the sexist way they view values - i.e. "solid values" are important for girls, though not boys, apparently. I could go on but you already said so much so well.
Thanks again!
"By learning self-esteem and self-respect, the girls involved in this project will adopt solid values that will guide them in all aspects of their lives."
They lost me at "self-respect."
And let me get this straight...they want to IMPROVE self-esteem by saying, "If you hadn't had such a negative self-image, you wouldn't have gotten raped"? Nice!
Re: the blow-up ads in New Jersey,
They've been taken down. They weren't up there for very long. I saw them about a week and a half ago, and I noticed they were gone by this past Thursday. I wanted to take a picture of them, but I didn't get the chance. They went up and came down rather quickly.
That one about the evolution of the sexist ad was pretty fascinating. I had been noticing them changing myself, but didn't think too hard about it. They are devious. I know I saw it on some feminist websites a few times, which points up again how bloggers who don't want to support offensive ads are kind of damned if you do, damned if you don't. The only way to be sure you don't have the sexist crappy ads is to get rid of the ad networks. The only easy way to fund a blog is to have ad networks. And even then the money you get is just pennies (not the millions people assume bloggers are making). I feel for you all, feministing crew!
Speaking of sexist ads...
Two Military Daughters Start Sisterhood For Teens (NPR)
If you know who Erin Andrews is, this might be of interest (and is guaranteed to piss you off in any case, if the force of your inner cynic is not too strong for it):
http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/post/Assault-on-Erin-Andrews-privacy-scary-for-all-f?urn=top,177592
It really bothers me that the responsibility of preventing sexual violence is, once again, placed on the shoulders of young women. Where is the funding for teaching young men how to respect women???
Yeah, as I read that article I saw this: "Spokespeople for the minister and her department said yesterday it is wrong to put a "blame-the-victim" interpretation on the projects." And I thought, phew! That's good.
And then as I read the initiatives, I kept thinking, but wait, that sounds like blaming the victim...uh-oh, so does that...and that...damn.
So, in other words, the spokespeople are saying "Don't interpret this the way you should, interpret it the way we tell you to." Nice.
Whenever I see a phrase about battling sexualization, I instantly know it's about turning girls into gatekeepers who only have the "choice" (really the obligation) to say no.