by Jodi A. Shaw When I think of burlesque, I immediately picture Liza Minnelli in Cabaret. So when I went to a burlesque show for the first time, I was expecting high heels, garter belts, and tight, sexy clothing. I saw the outfits I expected, but I didn’t expect to see all those items of […]
Old spice, new approach
By Jodi A. Shaw Either the media gods have been listening to my pleas or there’s a refreshing new trend in advertising these days. Over the last few months, TV commercials have not only been advertising products and services, but have been encouraging something a little more surprising: gender equality. Amazing! I first noticed it […]
Harper throws women overboard
By Alison@Creekside Gerald Caplan, G&M: The Harper government, women’s rights and the cost of speaking out. The Tories are playing punishment politics with Canada’s progressive NGOs — and eroding civil society in the process. “Despite the chill on speaking out, this week the Canadian Council for International Co-operation announced its fear that its funding is […]
Telling me I’m more vulnerable makes me so
By Jodi A. Shaw Today, for the first time in my life, I was concerned for my safety based on my gender. Working in a northwest Calgary neighbourhood, I was informed by a resident that a “perv” had reached inside a woman’s bedroom window (in a house just down the street) and fondled her breasts […]
On shutting the fuck up
By Alison@Creekside If there’s one thing Steve does really well, it’s using hot button issues to sew strife and division among his enemies. Within a day of Conservative Senator Nancy Ruth’s tactical warning on Monday to NGOs that their insistence on having access to abortion included in Steve’s maternal health initiative for developing countries risked […]
Daniel Day-Lewis: Cure for Hollywood’s llls
By Rachel Krueger If last year’s film version of the musical Nine is at all true to life (and I hope that it is, as there are gratuitous tambourines) then Daniel Day-Lewis gets all the ladies. And apparently he is good for what ails you. Exhibit A: Nicole Kidman. The frozen-faced starlet has wandered vaguely […]
The missing Olympic boycott
By Alison@Creekside Thirty years ago in 1980, Canada joined the U.S. in a 64-country boycott of the Moscow Olympics to protest the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. On Feb. 15, under cover of wall-to-wall Olympics news, Canada joined 15,000 coalition troops in Obama’s assault on the town of Marjah in Helmand province, the biggest offensive since […]
Alone on Valentine’s day? Boo-frigging-hoo.
By Jodi A. Shaw Most romantic holiday of the year, hey? Valentine’s Day is more like the Paris Hilton of holidays: It’s there, we all observe it, and aside from the potential for an anti-climactic sex tape, it’s pretty much useless. I’m not anti-love, romance or grand gesture. I’m a sucker for all the unrealistic […]
Not so kissable lips
By Jodi A. Shaw According to this perky little item, lipstick sales are up 40% since the start of the recession. Apparently the same thing happened after the 9/11 attacks, leading the chairmain of Esteé Lauder to coin the term “lipstick index,” to account for the phenomenon of glossy sales during bad times. Women would […]
What about the kids?
By Bev Schellenberg Now here’s a thought: According to the crown prosecutor in the case of Christopher Pauchay, the father of two children who froze to death while in his care, it’s important that people care for the children they have. Marylynne Beaton says the three-year sentence handed down on Friday, March 6th, sends an […]