The world of art is so much more than Europe and the United States, although sometimes it certainly feels that way if you live in the USA and so rarely see anything that is not made in America. If you open an art history textbook in any high school in the United States the book likely starts with Egyptian, Greek & Roman art, various stages of European art and eventually ends with American movements. Its a very narrow view on the history of art.
Is it the art historians that are to blame? Not so, says our resident art historian Charles Moffat. He blames the publishing industry for turning down more comprehensive books in favour of smaller, more Americentric books. The school boards who choose books too are likewise to blame. They figure students won't appreciate books with a more comprehensive view of African, Asian, Russian and (mon dieu!) South American art... and lest we forget Arabic, Indian, Australia and New Zealand... oh and that place north of the USA... Canada.
So lets say we were to go looking for a book that is comprehensive, what would you choose? Charles Moffat recommends a book called "The Visual Arts: A History" by Hugh Honour and John Fleming. The book was 1st published in 1984, but since then has had multiple updates and editions. The huge 960 page textbook had its 6th edition released in 2002 and is due for a 7th edition sometime in the near future.
Glancing through the book its quick to understand why Moffat recommends the book. It has everything from prehistoric art, Islamic art, Asian art and goes all the way up to contemporary art the late 1990s. It also has a lot of information on printmaking, photography, sculpture and architecture too. Almost nothing is left out or ignored. Moffat does point out the book is missing one large aspect of 20th century art however, and that is fantasy illustrations and paintings (fantasy art he says isn't taken seriously by some art historians and publishers).
For this he recommends a book called "Fantasy of the 20th Century: An Illustrated History" by Randy Broecker.
There is a dozen or so other books Moffat recommends, but his point is clear. Art history books, if they are to be accurate, should also be comprehensive. The same goes with websites; Art history websites should endeavour be more comprehensive. Below we've added some new pages on Estonian and Turkish artists.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
In 1971 Linda Nochlin popped the question "Why Have There Been No Great Women Artists?". The answer she gave is that artists are effected by social forces and "that art is not a free, autonomous activity". Instead artists become famous and "great" as the result of the institution of art, the stereotype of the artist-genius, and that women artists are not given the same status because women don't fall into the stereotype of the artist-genius.
Essentially, male artists being accepted as geniuses is the status quo and self-perpetuating. So in reality it is not a matter of skill or genius. It is purely psychological. There are plenty of great women artists out there, but they're not treated the same way because women aren't considered to be geniuses.
Indeed historically women's art has largely been considered to be "arts and crafts", comparative to things like knitting and quilting. But seriously lets stop and consider knitting. What genius woman invented knitting? Somebody, extremely skilled with knots, must have had a brainfart and the next thing you know they've combined yarn and two knitting needles and created elaborate garments composed of knots.
While we're at it, what genius woman invented bread? How did someone, regardless of their sex, manage to combine flour, sugar, water and yeast, and heat it to the point of creating an edible substance? It is a mind-blowing thought to invent such a complicated food substance with little or no previous knowledge of chemistry. Egypt is home to the world's oldest known yeast-bread bakeries and it is presumed it must have been an Egyptian that somehow first figured out the intricacies of baking.
For whatever reason however the women who invent things, or create great works of art, aren't treated like geniuses the same way men are. If a man had invented bread or knitting we would probably know his name, but because it was likely a woman who invented these things their names have been lost to the mists of time.
While we're at it, was Pablo Picasso really that great? I think not. He stole most of his ideas from other artists. Even he himself admitted that Guernica was not as successful as he wanted it to be, and thus Picasso never again attempted a large scale work.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
Less than a month from now the Olympics will begin in Beijing China. Leaving nothing to chance China is even drilling its Olympics hostesses in how to smile for 10 minutes at a time, and to hold that position flawlessly.
To pass testing they must always show between six and eight teeth and be capable of unflinchingly holding their grin for 10 minutes at a time. Training includes hours of walking around with a chopstick clamped between their smiling teeth to build up their facial muscles.
800,000 students are being taught how to clap and cheer in unison, and even the weather will be strictly controlled using "cloud-seeding" techniques to ensure it doesn't rain during the Olympic Games' scheduled hours.
For all its welcoming smiles, for all of China's cultural heritage and charm, this is the face of modern China. A rigidly controlled one where Freedom of Speech is only allowed if it doesn't go against the government's wishes and where even religion has to be strictly controlled and government sanctioned.
The Communist government has even made a set of strict rules for how Chinese are expected to behave during the Olympics, with severe punishments for disobedience.
For example failure to to be neatly dressed will result in people being "transferred to public security departments". That is just for a minor infraction, likely the result of public drunkenness.
There are much more worrisome rules like how Pro-Tibetan demonstrators are to be imprisoned during the length of the Olympic games and only released at the end. There's even a silly new law saying that demonstrators need a permit to demonstrate, implying imprisonment will be done without trial and violators will have no due process.
Then there is all the propaganda prepared for the games. The Chinese government has created a lengthy list of statistics to show all the improvements China has made in recent years. Many of the statistics seem geared to cover up some of China's very serious problems.
The Chinese government claims the carbon monoxide levels in Beijing has dropped 39.4% since 1998, but since its one of the most polluted cities in the world I doubt it makes a difference. With all the rules and propaganda China is pushing many visitors are likely to be both impressed with China, and utterly dismayed with China's government.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
Wikipedia is the ultimate tool for spammers and stalkers.
Think about it.
Thanks to the user information files you can look up a person's interests, everything they've ever added or talked about on Wikipedia, and provides a stalker with some pretty detailed personal information.
Furthermore, it allows people to contact all the users who have contributed to a particular topic or topics just by clicking on the e-mail this user link. I have several issues with this.
#1. This is a clear violation of my personal privacy, but Wikipedia's Privacy Policy is sadly in need of an update. Wikipedia allows users to contact other users as much as they like, allowing them to abuse the system for any nefarious reason with little or no policy on abuse.
#2. It allows anyone to view your personal information, and email you about it, possibly posing as a person of authority or celebrity, and then using that personage to con you.
#3. Children use Wikipedia frequently for school purposes. It is discouraged by teachers, but they still do. Wikipedia thus becomes a back door for pedophiles and stalkers to contact your children.
#4. It allows spammers to narrow their focus to only those people who contribute to a particular topic. ie. Viagra, breast implants, fashion knockoffs, etc. More spam for you just for being an active user.
#5. It also means that if you make a change or leave a comment on a topic that someone else doesn't like, that person can then snoop into your personal information and then harass you for it. Wikipedia is a virtual forum for a plethora of controversial topics... and such discussions are bound to get personal.
I have complained to Wikipedia about the privacy issue and was bluntly told that nothing less than a lawsuit would encourage them to change their Privacy Policy and change the ease of use that people have for invading other users' personal data. I've decided to go the other way: Public Pressure.
Please email info-en@wikimedia.org and complain about their lack of measures to protect the personal privacy of users. We live in a society today that values personal privacy, but thanks to the internet and Wikipedia's lack of measures that personal privacy can be very easily invaded.
Sincerely, Charles Moffat Assistant Editor of the Lilith eZine
Abortion is my topic of discussion today and I am going to start off with some abortion statistics:
73% of American women who have abortions are living below the poverty level (earning $9,570 or less per year).
60% of American women who have abortions already have 1 or more children.
66% of American women who have abortions are not married.
33% of all American women who have abortions are between the age of 20 and 24 and are the largest percentage by age bracket.
52% of American women will have an abortion during their lifetime.
From these statistics it appears that there is a very sizable percentage of young American women who already have kids, are single mothers, are not married and aren't making very much money. Its really not surprising that they choose to have an abortion. If I was working two jobs, making very little money and already had one child to worry about the last thing I would want is to double the problem.
When you're in that situation it doesn't really feel like you have much of a choice. Abortion suddenly became more like a need rather than a choice.
For years the anti-abortionists have been pushing this idea that the stereotypical women who have abortions are "corporate risers" who have sex with the boss to get a promotion, backstab their co-workers, get pregnant and dump the fetus in the nearest available abortion clinic all for the sake of capitalist greed.
And while I admit the United States is very capitalistic, the statistics show that this is simply not true. Instead the women who have abortions are much more likely to be making minimum wage, is already a single mother, may be trying to work their way through university or college, and simply doesn't have the finances to raise 2 or 3 kids by themselves when they have enough trouble with the 1 or 2 they already have.
Why is suddenly a topic for discussion?
John McCain, the Republican Candidate for the 2008 Presidential Election wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, but keep abortion legal for incest & rape exceptions and when the mother's life is in danger. He also wants to prosecute abortion doctors and says he would nominate supreme court justices based on their experience and shared values with respect to abortion.
Could you imagine if abortion suddenly became illegal and the only way you could get an abortion is if you went across the border to Canada or Mexico or pretended that someone had raped you? False rape allegations would skyrocket and cross border shopping and sneaky terrorists would be the least of the border guards' worries. Young pregnant women would be lined up at the border needing abortions.
That or we'd go back to the old fashioned way... illegal abortions in secretive clinics.
And lest we forget the protests. If 52% of American women will have abortions during their lifetime, what about the % who still believes in the right to have an abortion even if they don't need one themselves?
I've been ignoring the male equation in this issue, but think about all the problems that would cause as well. Extra children being born to unwed mothers... shotgun weddings, family strife, homelessness, paying child/spousal support, broken families. Men won't be liking this change much either (despite the fact that 77% of all anti-abortionist leaders are men).
Politicians generally like to stay away from the abortion issue. Its too controversial for many people and they don't want to deal with it. John McCain has been pretty blunt what his intentions are, and for once I don't think this politician is lying.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
The Summer Solstice came and went, but did any of you bother to celebrate it? Or even notice it? Not that it matters. I have a more interesting topic to talk about: Marriage, Divorce and Sex
Call them the Bermuda Triangle of relationships if you want to. So many marriages die due to lack of sex and/or communication. Many of them are doomed from the start because the people getting married don't really understand what they are getting into. To explain properly I will need to split this topic into two sections:
Sex Before Marriage (1): If you're in this camp you believe that your physical and sexual wants have to be met before marrying a person. You know that sex is an important part of a healthy relationship and you want to be sexually compatible with your potential spouse. Marriage for you isn't about having sex, its about the loving relationship you have and the desire to start making babies. This camp has the potential for pregnancy, STDs and the sex may get dull after awhile (which could lead to adultery and divorce).
Sex After Marriage (2): If you're in this camp you believe that love must come first and that your sexual desires will have to wait until you have the ring on your finger. When you do start having sex you will probably be disappointed with your partner's ability, your own lack of experience and/or regret not trying this sooner (possibly with someone else). This camp has the potential for divorce and adultery, but at least when the female in the relationship does get pregnant it will probably be intentional.
Pregnancy and Babies: Nothing throws a wrench into a relationship like a baby, especially if it wasn't planned. The responsibilities, a lifetime commitment and eventually the prospect of kicking them out of the house/putting them through college can be a lot of stress on any parent. Marriage, as an institution, was designed specifically to protect women from being burdened with all of these responsibilities by themselves (and possibly burdening their parents). Most religions are in the sex after marriage precisely for this reason, so that women in society won't be burdened and impoverished by men with loose morals.
For feminists this is a tricky matter because many feminists won't even agree on which camp is best. Camp 1 means the woman is sexually liberated and free to do whatever she pleases but she has to be very cautious about who she is sleeping with and confident enough in her use of protection and her ability to raise the child alone in the event the male has a fear of commitment. Camp 2 means the woman will be sexually inexperienced and repressed, but at least she won't be left holding the baby if the man decides he's not up for this kind of responsibility and financial commitment. (This is why deadbeat dads rank so high on many a woman's list of complete scumbags.)
For men the risks are significantly less and that is one of the reasons men aren't cautious about sex the way women are. Men have a tendency to forget that the sexual act is really about making babies and that there is a financial responsibility attached to it. That financial responsible is virtually guaranteed by laws these days with very rare exceptions. Centuries ago some cultures had much harsher penalties for getting a woman pregnant than merely docking your weekly pay. Marriage at sword point for example was likely more common than we think.
Divorce as a concept has been around a lot longer than most people think and the earliest recordings of divorces date back to ancient Mesopotamia. The Romans for example believe that "matrimonia debent esse libera" ("marriages ought to be free") and that either spouse could get a divorce at will simply by renouncing it. Emperor Constantine however began placing restrictions on divorces during the 6th century and the Holy Roman Catholic church followed suit, making significant efforts to get rid of divorce entirely in order to make men more happy (mistresses were relatively common during such circumstances). Eventually the church made marriage a sacrament and that only annulments (essentially a tax on divorces) could free people from their marital bonds.
Not all men were happy however. King Henry the Eighth, to six wives he was wedded: One died, one survived, two divorced, two beheaded. Britain's modern very high marriage and divorce rate can be traced back to his desire for a divorce and the creation of the Church of England and the separation of that church from the Holy Roman Catholic church.
For our modern society divorce is basically now the sacrament, because without it women would be virtual slaves in their own homes. Feminists unfortunately get the blame for this however despite the laws being in the books for centuries (largely thanks to King Henry the VIII), with many disgruntled ex-husbands blaming feminism and their uppity ex-wives for their financial commitment for raising the kids involved (although they might not complain so much if they had custody more often and had to deal with the stresses of actually raising those kids).
Shared or dual-custody is pretty much the norm these days, unless one of the parents is an alcoholic, abusive, a drug abuser, has a mental disorder or any number of other reasons that would give child services a reason to remove the child from their care.
After reading all of this do you still want to have unprotected sex to a person's you're not married to? If so, try watching this video:
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin & Charles Moffat Editor and Assistant-Editor of the Lilith eZine
PS. Exam season is over and Suzy is now on vacation, which means you can be expecting the Sunday Edition to be back on its weekly schedule every Sunday.
Spring is here and I want to be outside so I will keep this short so you can all go outside and enjoy the wonderful weather.
I figure we should all enjoy it while it lasts because in two months meteorologists are predicting record breaking heat waves, lots of smog alerts and are already getting ready to warn people to stay inside, stay in air conditioned rooms and avoid becoming dehydrated.
Toronto Mayor David Miller has started a petition to ban handguns in Canada, but really that is just a smoke screen. While I support the proposed ban to a limited extent, what we really need is tougher border security on both sides of the US-Canada border.
Hypothetically if I wanted to I could quite easily walk across the border under the pretense of cross-border shopping, purchase a new or used gun in either Michigan or New York state, and walk back with it in my purse and no one (thanks to reverse discrimination against women) would even think to search me or my backpack, purse or shopping bags. I would be just one of thousands of cross-border shoppers who go across the border every day to find cheaper deals. I could then sell the gun on the Canadian side of the border for a tidy profit, paying for all the cheap goods I purchased in the malls south of here and then some.
So much for border security.
We have three options:
#1. Super Tight Border Security - Nothing gets across without being searched, X-rayed and interviewed by border patrol guards on both sides of the border. No more of this cross-border shopping nonsense. Only transport trucks, tourists, people doing business or working on the other side would get across and there would be high fees just to cross the border.
#2. Invest heavily in getting more undercover police officers to catch gun smugglers and illegal arms dealers.
#3. The status quo. Leave things as they are. Continue to allow the flow of drugs/guns and whatever across the border and be prepared to pay the consequences whenever our citizens get killed.
Banning handguns would make it easier to prosecute criminals who take part in violent crimes, but it isn't going to solve the problem of cross border gun smuggling. We can ban handguns if we want to, but it is just one step towards finding a much larger solution.
Why did the Turkey cross the road? To join the European Union.
Sorry, I couldn't resist poking fun at the name we westerners call the Republic of Turkey or Türkiye Cumhuriyeti. (I also think Cum hurry yeti is quite funny.)
The Republic of Turkey sits literally on the border between Asia and Europe (making it one of very few transcontinental countries), and likewise its culture is a mixture of east and west. For 85 years now Turkey has been growing as a secular and democratic republic ever since the Ottoman Empire fell in 1923.
Turkey is also the location of the legendary city of Troy, boasts more ancient temples and palaces than both Greece and Egypt combined and has neolithic architecture dating back to the stone age. The Ottoman Empire (1299–1922) was one of the longest lasting and most widespread empires of the pre-industrial age (the Roman Empire was slightly larger, but lasted only 500 years).
Turkey helped the allies during WWII, was a founding member of the United Nations in 1945, helped the United States during the Korean War, was a bulwark of stability against the Soviets during the Cold War, has had some diplomatic problems with Cyprus that are now being solved, and is a major source of oil for the rest of Europe with major pipelines from the Middle East and the Black Sea traveling through Turkey.
Today Turkey has a population of 71 million people but has a per capita GDP of approx. $9300, which is to say that most Turks are dirt poor despite the economic growth of recent years (5.1% in 2007 and sustained high growth over the last 2 decades). 20% of the Turkish population lives below the poverty line, but things are improving.
And they would improve a lot faster if they became an EU member. Turkey is currently in the process of becoming a full EU member and only yesterday Turkish President Abdullah Gul held a summit meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy in Bucharest. Sarkozy expressed that the "Year of Turkey" in France in 2009 will help eradicate negative notions on Turkey.
And what are the negative notions about Turkey? Well, they did fight on the side of Austrians/Germans during WWI, but have since redeemed themselves. Oh, and 99% of Turkey's population is Muslim, which makes them an excellent model for other Muslim states on how democracy works. France has a strong anti-Muslim community...
But really those seem kind of minor. I think the major problem with Turkey (asides from the name) is that most people don't really know much about Turkey's culture, history and arts (let alone the language Türkiye).
Here to help remedy that we've compiled an overview of the history of art in Turkey. Check it out below.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
This week we've brought you something important, but often ignored. The increasing privatization and commodification of schools and education, not just in North America but from vistas all over the world.
A team of university students from York University have voiced their scholarly opinions on the growing trend of private schools and as a high school teacher myself I am quite worried about this trend.
I taught chemistry at a private school in Richmond Hill (Ontario, Canada) briefly and it was not a pleasant place in retrospect. Dress code alone was almost intolerable. Apparently I can't wear sandals when I teach but high heels are perfectly acceptable.
I now teach at a Toronto high school and despite the larger classes and the smaller computer labs, overall the students are basically the same. They may not have parents who pick them everyday in the family SUV, but their reasons for being there remain the same. They all struggle to learn, most of them want to be there and they are all looking forward to college, university and/or the future.
The one defining difference is that some of the private school students have a sense of snobbery, that somehow they are superior just because they have wealth and a supposedly better education (although seriously, the margin of difference can be measured in the size and shape of the computers and computer monitors in the classrooms/labs). To me private schools are a matter of wastefulness and prestige. They don't get you from diapers to university better than a regular school, they just get you there in luxury.
The problems these days however is that there is a growing trend (pressure from the private school industry) to create more private schools and buyout/convert public schools into private schools. Corrupt politicians who favour private schools for their own children are part of the problem. They see the results of their own children going through private schools and assume falsely that the private school is better.
Private school students have more free time, better computers, more complete libraries and pricier sports equipment and more school trips. Those things can make a difference in how much a student learns and how motivated they are to learn, but it is no guarantee they will learn to be successful in life.
And while we waste all that precious cash on wealthy kids what is happening to the impoverishing children who don't even have computers and barely have enough food to eat, let alone cash for the latest school trip? Poverty is a real threat these days and the more we ignore it the larger the problem becomes. Poverty and lack of education leads to crime, destitution, welfare and beggars on the streets.
Many criminals can trace the root of their problems back to school when they were basically told they were too poor / too average intelligence to ever amount to anything of value. Wealthy parents will have little problem sending their kids to university or college (no matter how brain dead their kids are) and the smarter kids will get bursaries and scholarships to go to the schools of their choice. So where does this leave the poor and average students?
It leaves them in crippling debt or worse.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
It is not like the 1960s when people thought we'd be driving flying cars or visiting Mars for our vacations. No, now we have much more practical aspirations. We're going to communicate more through the internet, text messaging and cell phones will become increasingly cheaper and affordable world wide.
We're going to watch the rise of hydrogen power filling stations across continents and car manufacturers switch to a clean burning fuel that doesn't pollute. A whole new hydrogen industry which will bolster electricity production and renewable energy.
We're going to see the world develop less borders, not more. The success of the European Union has shown that there is economic benefits of working together. South America, Africa, Asian and Middle Eastern countries are already discussing trade unions. Immigration between continents (and the flow of communication) will become more commonplace.
We're going to see education, literacy and women's rights slowly spreading across the poorest nations of the world. It won't be rapid progress (it never is) and there will be roadblocks and problems along the way, but like Pandora's box it is something that has been unleashed and is unstoppable.
We're also going to see governments stop playing this stupid game of global warming "denialism". There will still be scientific stooges from the oil and coal industries that deny it, but with time (and lots of wild weather and droughts) politicians and people will see that we've made some disastrous mistakes and now we have to change our ways. The economic consequences of ignoring it will outweigh the economic benefits of using cheap coal to make electricity (coal-electricity plants is responsible for roughly 30% of greenhouse gases).
This era of inter-continental trade will begin to take its toll on the economy. Already the United States is feeling the effect of cheap consumer goods from China and overseas. Continents need to learn to trade amongst themselves and form continental trade unions. It may be cheaper to build things in Malayasia, but it is not worth it when you could build the same products in Mexico or Canada and still reap the economic benefits in the same continent. We will still be trading raw materials like wood, minerals and metals, but we need to stop outsourcing our manufacturing needs to other countries. It may take longer to realize this, but it is something governments should be thinking about.
Lastly there is the issue of technology. Mankind has made some dramatic steps in the last 12 years in terms of genetics and DNA research. Scientists just this month discovered how to prevent blindness in mice. Will we be seeing a future that blindness is no longer a problem? I don't know. We will make small steps over the years, but we will likely see some dramatic results.
I personally think that we need to be studying the DNA breakdown in cancerous cells from samples taken from cancer patients. I think there is a lot of potential to learn how cancer and DNA effect each other and we can possibly find solutions and cures wherein we could discover the direct causes of cancer (different types of toxins and toxicity levels in the cancerous cells) and maybe even reverse the effects of some kinds of cancer.
Scientists have already determined that there is a direct link between toxicity in our air, water and food and the amount of cancer cells in our bodies. Regular smoking for example roughly doubles a woman's chance of developing breast cancer. Which is silly frankly. Why smoke cancer-causing cigarettes when scientists have already managed to create Smokeless Cigarettes? All the nicotine without the carcinogenic smoke.
Surely if we can make smoke-free cigarettes that scientists can think of other ways to better our society? It is whether governments pay attention however that is the problem. Sometimes the public has to shout really loud to get politicians to pay attention.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
Years ago I kept overhearing people talking about a hotel in Paris. I wondered why they kept mentioning the Paris Hilton this, Paris Hilton that, until I eventually clued in... Oh, some idiot billionaire named his daughter Paris Hilton, and she's one of the heirs to the Hilton hotel chain.
The amount of media attention dedicated to Paris Hilton (and Britney Spears) is ridiculous. Certainly we have better things to talk about than some snobbish rich person's sex video and drunk driving charges?
Like the war in Iraq. Or Afghanistan. Or the American Recession. Or obesity rates in Canada and the United States. Or global warming and climate change.
Except we can only take so much of such topics. Sometimes we just want to tune them out and listen/watch/read something that is braindead and vaguely humourous. That is where Paris Hilton comes in. She satisfies the basic human desires of curiousity and mocking rich people. It is entertainment in the lowest form, but we still enjoy to mock celebrities and their mistakes (and in Paris Hilton's case mock how she even became famous).
We should talk more about controversial issues, but will it do any good in some instances? In many cases lengthy talks always end in stalemates and nothing happens. Wars continue, the White House continues to ignore the economy, fat people still eat more and more because they're depressed and corporations refuse to change or slowly change.
So reading the latest braindead gossip about Paris Hilton is basically a favourite past-time for some people. It keeps their minds off of issues that bother them, but can't do anything about. We can protest the war all we want and demand George W. Bush pay more attention to the economy, but Bush doesn't listen to polls, or protests and doesn't give a shit about the economy.
But hearing the latest stupid thing a celebrity did brightens our existence for the moment and take our minds off these pressing concerns. We laugh, and laughter may not fix the economy or bring peace to the world in a hurry, but it certainly helps. Paris Hilton reminds us that we are human, alive and that we all make stupid mistakes.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
I know I've hit the nail on the head when I start getting a tonne of hatemail. It means I've provoked people to actually think about the subject and possibly have made some great insight.
In this case it is not so great as it is: "Why didn't I realize this sooner?"
For over 11 years now I've been writing about feminist issues. Then back in January I decided to go "behind enemy lines" and do some research. I went to anti-feminist websites and started recording the major complaints and keeping track of which ones were the most frequent complaints. It was a non-scientific survey, but it garnered interesting results.
Child support and spousal support ranked at the top, vastly outnumbering all the other complaints put together. The complaints included a variety of smaller comments about lack of money, that spousal support was like "ex-husband slavery", that they weren't sure if the kids were even theirs because they thought their ex-wife/ex-girlfriend was a slut/bitch/c-word, that women are just looking for free money/blank cheques, that they were tricked into marrying their ex-wives, that their girlfriend forgot to take their birth control pill and just wanted their money, etc.
Which made me realize that the anti-feminists, despite all the posing and maliciousness, were mostly just a bunch of Deadbeat Dads paying (or refusing to pay) child support.
So I wrote an article called "Dealing with Anti-Feminism" in which I explained my results. And then the hatemail started pouring in... from guess who? Deadbeat Dads.
Surprisingly they didn't refute my results. They didn't disagree at all. Instead they just bashed me, told me to go back to the kitchen, called me a lying c-word, a lesbian, compared me to Hitler (like WTF?) and accused me of being a communist.
It all made me laugh and I pondered the question: How does communist countries with dictatorships deal with deadbeat dads? I believe the only remaining countries where this applies is Cuba and North Korea. Do they execute them? Put them in work camps? Do they get off Scot-free?
Somehow I doubt men in Cuba and North Korea are going around impregnating women without paying some kind of social consequence.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
A fundamentalist Christian group called the Canada Family Action Coalition has succeeded in convincing the Canadian conservative government in passing a bill that will see tax refunds be pulled for any movie that contains sex, violence or homosexuality... basically anything that is remotely controversial. The end result is that any Canadian film containing sex, violence or homosexuality will be censored.
A prime example is the movie "Breakfast with Scot", a comedy about two gay men (one of which is a hockey player) raising a young boy.
On television today Charles McVety, the president of the Canada Family Action Coalition verbally attacked the director of "Breakfast with Scot", saying that the new bill would cut funding for such controversial films that promote "gay propaganda". McVety claims that the gay men in the movie molested the boy, but he obviously hasn't even seen the movie at all. It is a COMEDY! Not a porn film.
So apparently gays and lesbians can get married in Canada, but we can't make movies about it?
Unlike the United States, Canada has a very unstable film industry. We NEED the government tax credits to make films in Canada. Without them our directors and producers would make their movies in the USA or overseas where it is cheaper.
Charles McVety argues that he doesn't want his tax dollars going towards filth and pornography... except Canada's porn industry doesn't get these tax credits (please note they are TAX CREDITS, not tax dollars as he claims).
Currently, the federal heritage department tax credit program excludes talk shows, game shows, advertising, corporate videos and pornography from receiving tax credit support. The new bill would also exclude films containing any sexual, violent or homosexual content.
Canadian actors and movie directors are not taking this action lying down. Canadian directors David Cronenberg and Sarah Polley are actively protesting the proposed changes which are currently before the Canadian senate.
Under the new changes directors making any film that contains sex or violence would be financially impossible. Canada's film industry would fall apart and only boring non-controversial films would be made. Anything controversial would have to be made in the USA or overseas.
It makes me so angry... I wish religious wackos would just mind their own business. The rest of us still enjoy those movies and we have rights too.
Suzy isn't available this week so I am taking over the newsletter for today.
The Oscars are tonight and as usual I have no intention of watching it. Celebrity gazing and buzz is not my thing, and apparently a lot of other people feel the same way. The Oscars have been going downhill in recent years due to poor ratings and a lot of people dissatisfied with the results.
I'm not surprised. The Oscars are basically a gimmick to sell movies to the mass populace. Movies that win big at the Oscars get bragging rights that boost their profits and sales. But most of the movies that win I don't really care for.
Lets take the example of The Aviator (which won a tonne of Oscars several years ago). I've watched it 1.5 times and I have no intention of watching it again. It may have won awards but I couldn't care less about it. The Oscars tend to give awards to artsy flicks, those that are perceived as such at least, but that doesn't mean the movie is actually any good.
In contrast to The Aviator I've watched The Hulk over twenty times, but it didn't win a single award and had horrible movie reviews. True, most of the movie was CGI, but the same can be said about a lot of blockbuster movies these days. There is no Oscar for Best CGI.
Conclusions? Just because it wins an Oscar doesn't mean the movie is worth watching again and again. I'd rather watch any of the Indiana Jones movies a hundred times than watch an Oscar winner once.
Sincerely, Charles Moffat Assistant Editor of the Lilith eZine
I think my favourite article this week is "Get Great Abs - The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Abdomen", which was a collaborative effort of several writers and myself. It details not only the health benefits of a muscular abdomen, diet, methodology and over 20 different abdomen exercises.
I've been doing ab exercises for several months now, in addition to my weightlifting routine (see Weightlifting for Women), and I've seen some remarkable changes and made a discovery: Girls with six-packs are hot and I am now one of them.
It happened last week when I looked in the mirror and realized: "Damn! I look hot!" Ever since then I've been riding a wave of giddy emotion, as if I had just climbed Mount Everest AND won the lottery. I can't stop smiling.
Six years ago when I was in university and overweight from too much junk food and lack of exercise I would have never thought it possible. So to me helping to write "Get Great Abs" was part of a personal journey and a completion of that journey, but not the end. I feel as physically fit as I have ever been in my life. I have never felt stronger, faster or more flexible than I do right now, and I know if I keep this up my life will continue to improve.
Now that I have reached my goal I want to help other people to realize theirs. I encourage everyone to at least read Get Great Abs - The Ultimate Guide to the Perfect Abdomen, and try to set a schedule for doing some of the exercises mentioned within and change your diet. If you stick with it you will be as happy as I am with the results.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
We get a lot of hatemail to the Lilith eZine and the Feminist eZine.
Mostly from people who call us "stupid liberal dykes" and "jew lovers" and "communist terrorist sympathizers".
To all those idiotic bigots who send us their hatemail, our sincere thanks. We laugh every time we read your nonsense.
Especially at your horrible spelling, punctuation and poor sentence structures. It is really amazing how many computer literate bigots are out there who can't even use spellcheck.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin
PS. We didn't post any of the death threats we receive. They're not as funny.
Kenojuak Ashevak Eleanor Bond Jonathon Earl Bowser Claude Breeze Bertram Brooker Florence Carlyle Emily Carr Alex Colville Emily Coonan Martha Fleming/Lyne Lapointe Henry George Glyde Lawren S. Harris Robert Harris Prudence Heward Edwin H. Holgate Jack Humphrey A.Y.Jackson Cornelius Krieghoff Joseph Legare Jennifer Linton Arthur Lismer Attila Richard Lukacs Laura Muntz Lyall J.E.H.MacDonald Pegi Nicol Macleod Charles Alexander Moffat Norval Morrisseau Kathleen Munn Lilias Torrance Newton Lucius O'Brien Paul Peel Alfred Pellan Bill Reid George Agnew Reid Carl Schaefer John Scott Michael Snow Tom Thomson Frederick H. Varley Victoria Van Dyke Homer Watson Colette Whiten Joyce Wieland Lawrence Paul Yuxweluptun
We take a lot of things for granted in our western culture. Freedom of speech for example.
You may think nothing of your ability to read things on the internet, but in some countries (depending on what you are reading) you can be sentenced to death.
That is what has happened to Sayed Pervez Kambaksh, a journalist from Afghanistan who downloaded a feminist report about women's rights. He's been sentenced to death for supporting women's rights, which the Afghan government claims is a form of blasphemy.
I'd like to know where it is written that women's rights is somehow blasphemous, but it does remind me of how low our own culture can sink sometimes. The Anti-Feminist movement (mostly made up of deadbeat dads who don't want to pay spousal/child support) who want to take away a woman's right to get a divorce, get child support or even make decisions like when or if to have an abortion.
Imagine for a moment if the father had the right to decide if his sexual partner should have an abortion? To essentially force her into it.
I am sure it happens already, wherein boyfriends force their girlfriends to have abortions, but what if she refused and somehow the man got the legal right to force it? That would be, essentially, slavery.
And that is the problem some countries still face. Women's rights in Afghanistan is like emancipation from slavery, and trying to help free slaves or even reading about it, punishable by death.
People think or say that feminism and women's rights are over, that we've won, but frankly we haven't even scratched the surface of the globe. We may have women's rights guaranteed by our western governments, but the global fight has only barely begun.
And don't think for an instant that we ourselves have had much success either. How many female heads of state have we had in western culture? Kim Campbell of Canada was Prime Minister for a mere 6 months and Margaret Thatcher of Great Britain was Prime Minister for 11 years. That is it.
Pretty pathetic when you think about it.
Margaret Thatcher did prove however that women could be very successful as leaders.
Sincerely, Suzanne MacNevin Editor of the Lilith eZine
Of all the silly things people in North America do, I think Groundhog Day (which was yesterday, February 2nd) is one of the silliest. It apparently dates back to German Mennonites living in Pennsylvania and a folklore tradition that if the groundhog pops out of its hole in the ground on February 2nd and sees its shadow it means there will be 6 more weeks of winter. And if not, its a month and a half... Whats the difference?
By the time March 21st (the Spring Equinox) rolls around does it really make a difference? By that time we're all sick of winter anyway. Plus there's the whole March "In like a lamb, out like a lion" superstition. More nonsense to get people excited about Spring.
Here's another one from Germany: Spring Fasching (it means festival). You dress up like monsters, run around the neighborhood and make tonnes of noise all in order to scare away the evil spirits of winter (and get candy from your grandparents). It is a lot like Halloween in many ways. It is also an excuse for teens and adults to get rip-roaringly drunk.
I guess wherever you go you're going to see people having silly festivals (and getting drunk). Tis human nature to wanna have a good time!