Mini Feminist Media Round Up: Long Weekend Edition
We are away in Quebec enjoying the raw beauty of deep winter. I am dedicating the long weekend to my family, but there are scads of things that have popped up on my radar that seem worth just mentioning, with promises to come back to.
Like others, I am enraged that it has taken a UN Human Right’s Watch report to ‘encourage’ the Canadian government to acknowledge the outrageous and long-standing abuses of Indigenous women by many – including our own ‘distinguished’ Royal Canadian Mounted Police. How many women have come forward? How many members of Canada’s Native communities have confronted media and government with the statistics and stories? I am sorry, but a special parliamentary committee is just not enough. Thousands of aboriginal women {and boys}. Thousands of abuses, abductions, harassments, assaults, rapes, and murders. A ‘committee’ made up of lots of white guys who work on Parliment Hill isn’t going to cut it, Canada.
The other outlandish media tidal wave from the last week is the media’s behaviour towards the murder victim, Reeva Steenkamp. Rather than being seen as a woman and a victim of abuse by her partner, she has quickly been cast as “the girlfriend” of Oscar Pistorius. Although Mr. Pistorious was the recipient of olympic medals for his abilities as a runner, it does not make him innocent of the horrendous crime that he has been accused of. On Thursday, The Sun newspaper published an image of Ms. Steenkamp wearing a bikini: I can’t think of why this ‘media’ felt the need to sexualize her body. I AM STUMPED. Other, less trashy media outlets are still managing to fail grossly in reporting this story. Story after story tells of the “Paralympian’s torment,” tragedy and sorrow. This is an obvious example of men being granted immunity and/or innocence because they hold hero status in our culture. Another brilliant example is the ignoring of the rape accusations directed at wikileaks Julian Assange. *I can’t bring myself to actually link to any of these articles. But, here is a feminist response to the murder and the media’s poor behaviour.
If you’d like to read less ranty commentary, you can check me out over at Natural Parents Network, where I am talking about 6 Tips for connecting with Faraway Families. I am also over at Mothers of Change, discussing my family’s experience with the 6 Ingredient Challenge.
Are you following me on Twitter? Would love to have you join the conversation! And don’t forget about our Facebook page, where I tend to post daily photographs of our home-schooling experiences and activities.
If you too are enjoying the long weekend, may it be wonderful and full of fun and family.