The Copenhagen meeting is almost over. We need to put pressure on Stephen Harper to quit screwing around and pandering to the interests of Alberta oil. Avaaz, a reputable organization, has organized a petition and is aiming to get 500,000 people to sign it. Please–we’ve got to try to do something before Canada completely embarrasses itself and Harper is responsible for developed countries doing little to fight climate change.
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Anastasia
Confabulous readers know that we are supporters of Antigone Magazine’s Dreams for Women project. And now, we’re happy to spread the word that you can enjoy the project every day by buying a fancy new 2010 calendar! This year, Antigone decided to do something different and feature postcards made by some of Canada’s female Olympic athletes. Check out some of their postcards here. Your non-profit can sell the calendar as an awesome fundraiser. And if your business is stocking up on calendars for next year, you can buy in bulk and get a discount.
It’s just been reported on the Ms. Magazine website that the BC Appeal Court has released its written report explaining why there will be no Olympic ski jumping event this winter–for women, at least. The report reads:
The British Columbia Appeal Court provided written rationale for it’s ruling that will allow Olympic organizers to hold a men’s ski jumping event, but not a women’s event in the upcoming Vancouver Olympic games. According to the Associated Press, the Court wrote in its decision that “It is a case in which a non-governmental body (VANOC) is brought before the court as a result of policies which neither it nor any Canadian authority has the power to change,” the justices wrote in the ruling…VANOC simply does not have the power to determine what events are included in the 2010 Olympic program.”
After the International Olympic Committee (IOC) rejected the inclusion of women’s ski jumping in the 2010 games, fourteen athletes brought the issue to court as a sex discrimination case. They argued that the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC) is subject to Canada’s Charter of Rights and Freedoms, and therefore should not allow sex discrimination in the Olympic events it will host. The British Columbia Supreme Court ruled in July that while the exclusion of women’s ski jumping is discriminatory, only the IOC has the authority to determine which events are included.
Now, what’s the rationale here, you ask, for the exclusion of this event? Could there be some kind logic at work here that would not point to good old sexism? Sadly, no:
The IOC says it will not stage a women’s ski jump event because there are not enough women competing at the highest levels of the sport. However, men’s ski jumping also does not fully meet the IOC’s criteria for inclusion but has been an Olympic sport since 1924 and was grandfathered into the 2010 games. Even if the current case is appealed to the Canadian Supreme Court, it will not be heard prior to the 2010 Olympic Games.
Trolling (not the bad kind) through the ole inbox today turned up an interesting bit of email from Christine Brooks, PhD and Shayna Korb, two feminist women researchers from the Institute of Transpersonal Psychology in Palo Alto, California interested in the spiritual experiences of feminist and activist individuals.
Dear readers, they’d like your perspective for a project they’re currently carrying out on this very topic:
We are two Third Wave feminist researchers with our own strong spiritual leanings and have noticed a lack of information on how our feminist peers live out their own spiritual lives. We’re doing a pilot study on third wave feminists’ experience of spirituality, a study that to our knowledge, has never been studied before.
If you identify as a woman and a third wave feminist and you’re between the ages of 18-40, fill out our short (we estimate under 20 minutes) narrative survey!
Sounds like a cool project!
Want to offer your two cents? You can find more info and the link to the survey here. Happy participating, spiritual third wavers!
Eve, the serpent, and an apple a VD remedy. Deconstruct.
- Had she lived–Anne Frank at eighty.
- Looking for engaging international women’s news? Check out this and this and this.
- Time to ramp up that “To Do” list–according to the ancient Mayan calendar, the end of the world is nigh.
- Ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country…and that is to get married.
- In the market for real estate? Cameron Frye’s house is for sale! Anyone? Anyone?
Confabulous badges!
