"bed99b20-07a7-4afe-8550-0c0d2896a892"@en . "CONTENTdm"@en . "http://resolve.library.ubc.ca/cgi-bin/catsearch?bid=1213576"@en . "Kinesis"@en . "2013-08-15"@en . "1991-06-01"@en . "https://open.library.ubc.ca/collections/kinesis/items/1.0045777/source.json"@en . "application/pdf"@en . " Dirty pictures\u00E2\u0080\u0094pages 10-14 cmpa \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 $2.25 Sexpiorations Crisis at Women in Focus Violence against women: has the movement been tamed? try to throw the baby bonus out with the bathwater., and much more Kinesis welcomes v to work on all aspects of the paper. Call us at 255-5499. Our next Writer's Meeting is Wed., June 5 at 7pm at Kinesis, #301-1720 Grant St. All women welcome even if you don't have experience. PRODUCTION THIS ISSUE: Debbie Bryant, Christine Cosby, Nancy Pollak, Laurel Wel- don, Ginger Plumb, Lyn Roberts, Simmah Black, Cathy Griffin, Mary Watt, Lizanne Foster, Donna Butorac, Char- lene Linnell, Terry Thompson, Jackie Brown, Rhoda Rosenfeld, Heidi Walsh, Agnes Huang, Sandra Gillespie, Frances Wasserlein, Marsha Arbour, Deborah Mclnnes, Juli Macdonnel. FRONT COVER: Cover photo by Susan Stewart EDITORIAL BOARD: Nancy Pollak, Heidi Walsh,. Agnes Huang, Terrie Hamazaki, Debbie Bryant, Christine Cosby, Sandra Gillespie. CIRCULATION AND DISTRIBUTION: Jennifer Johnstone, Chau Tran, Rachel Fox ADVERTISING: Birgit Schin- OFFICE: Jennifer Johnstone, Chau Tran imes Kinesis Is published 10 tii a year by the Vancouver Status of Women. Its objectives are to be a non-sectarian feminist voice for women and to work actively for social change, specifically combatting sexism, racism, homophobia and imperialism. Views expressed in Kinesis are those of the writer and do not necessarily reflect VSW policy. AH unsigned material is the responsibility ofthe Kinesis Editorial Board. SUBSCRIPTIONS: Individual subscriptions to Kinesis are $20 per year or what you can afford. Membership in the Vancouver Status of Women is $30 or what you can afford, includes subscription to Kinesis. SUBMISSIONS: Women and girls are welcome to make submissions. We reserve the right to edit and submission does not guarantee publication. If possible, submissions should be typed double spaced and must be signed and include an address and phone number. Please note: Kinesis does not accept poetry or fiction contributions. For material to be returned, a SASE must be included. Editorial guidelines are available on request. ADVERTISING: For information about display advertising rates, please contact Kinesis. For information about classifieds, please see the classified page in this issue. DEADLINE: For features and reviews: the 10th of the month preceding publication; news copy: 15th; letters and Bulletin Board listings: 18th. Display advertising\u00E2\u0080\u0094camera ready: 18th; design required: 16th. News About Women That's Mot In The Dailies 0NS 0t0T Sexplorations\u00E2\u0080\u0094a panel di INSIDE W(?m#s\ Throwing out the baby bonus? ...3 by Heidi Walsh Perspective: getting past the Post ...3 by Nancy Pollak Gender bias in the courts ....4 by Lorraine Michael Native activist harassed ....4 Movement Matters 2 by Jill Bend Women in Focus: visibly out of focus ....5 I Inside Kinesis 2 by Nancy Pollak Reseau femmes: part of BC experience ...7 as told to Margot Lacroix What's News? 6 Myalgic encephalomyelitis: a retrovirus? ...7 compiled by Karen Duthie by Joni Miller BC Retirement Savings Plan: too exclusive? ....8 by Agnes Huang Commentary 15 Ellen Pence: perspectives on violence ...9 by Farhat Khan as told to Kim Irving Sexplorations: a panel discussion .10 Letters 19 by Susan Stewart, Nora D. Randall, Patrice Leung and Shaira Holman A.D. Perry and Anita Sleeman, composers by Margaret Boyes ...16 Bulletin Board 21 complied by Lyn Roberts Lillian Allen: why she writes and sings ...17 as told to Andrea Fatona and Kathy March Book reviews: words that ache, ignite and hum.. ...18 by Cathy Stonehouse \ CORRESPONDENCE: Kinesis, Vancouver Status of Women, 301-1720 Grant St., Vancouver, BC V5L 2Y6 Kinesis is indexed in the Canadian Women's Periodicals Index, and the Alternative Press Index. Kinesis is a member of the Canadian Magazine Publishers Association. Second class mail KINESIS Movement Matters Movement matters listings information Movement Matters is designed to be a network of news, updates and information of special interest to the women's movement. Submissions to Movement Matters should be no more than 500 words, typed, double-spaced on eight and a half by eleven paper. Submissions may be edited for length. Deadline is the 18th of the month preceding publication. %%%%%*%%***)\u00C2\u00AB*% Feminist bookfair in Netherlands Amsterdam, the Netherlands has been nominated to host the 5th (V) International Feminist Bookfair in 1992 by the organizers of the I, II and IV Bookfairs at a meeting in Barcelona, Italy in November 1990. At the same meeting, the team agreed to formalize a permanent Secretariat to ensure continuity between the fairs. An Advisory Board was also created to ensure that the wealth of information and experience accumulated is not lost to future organizers of the fairs. Appointed to this board are: Carole Spedding, Elisabeth Middelthon, Maria Jose Aubet, Barbel Becker, Jester Thuma, Urvashi Buthalia, and Carol Seajay. To contact the V International Feminist Bookfair organizers, write: Gerda Mei- jerink, Schinkelhavenstraat 29, 1075 VP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. To receive materials, press releases and debates from the IV Bookfair (which was held in Barcelona) contact: IV Feria Internacional del Libro Feminista, Casa Elizalde, Valencia 302, 08009 Barcelona Research centre at York University The first bilingual (French/English) centre for feminist research is being established at the York University in Toronto. Called the York University Centre for Feminist Research/Centre de recherche feminste a York (CFR/crf), the centre is the culmination of feminist research and teaching in women's studies that has been evolving at York for more than two decades. CFR/crf will serve the research needs of faculty and students as well as overseeing activities already initiated by York's female faculty, including sponsoring conferences, computer networks and providing policy ad- Professor Shelagh Wilkinson, a founding member of York's Women's Studies Research Group, began working on this initiative in 1985. \"I think York is going to be in the forefront of feminist research and women's studies teaching,\" said Wilkinson. The centre will be closely associated with the Nellie Langford Rowell Library which contains more than 6,000 volumes on women, women's studies and feminism. For more information contact: Lydia Lo- bos, Department of Communications, York University, 4700 Keele St., North York, Ont. M3J 1P3. Telephone (416) 736-5010 Endorsing the Indian Act case The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund (LEAF) is sponsoring the court case of Sharon Mclvor, an Aboriginal woman from Merrit, BC who is challenging sex discrimination in the Indian Act. Mclvor vs The Department of Indian Affairs (as the case is known) relates to a 1985 amendment to the Indian Act which, ironically, was designed to end the discrimination and loss of status that Native women faced when they married non-Native men. Specifically, Mclvor is challenging the \"second generation cut off\" provision which denies her children\u00E2\u0080\u0094and thousands of others in similar circumstances\u00E2\u0080\u0094access to Indian status because their Native heritage is traced through their grandmothers, not their grandfathers. Mclvor will argue that the cut-off violates the Charter of Rights and Freedoms by discriminating on the basis of sex and race. Her case now has the official endorsement of the Native Women's Association of Canada, the Assembly of First Nations, and the Native Council of Canada. LEAF is asking women's and other progressive organizations to join with these national Aboriginal groups to endorse Mclvor's legal challenge. For further information about Mclvor's case and the legal issues in question, and to endorse her challenge, contact: LEAF, 489 College St., Suite 403, Toronto, Ont. M6G 1A5 Corrections Due to an error in transcribing, Josette Cole was misquoted about the number of homeless people in South Africa in \"Free market approach ignores reality,\" Kinesis May 1991. The correct number is 7 to 9 million homeless people. Our apologies to Melinda Mollineaux for failing to credit her for the photograph accompanying \"Toying with Black women's bodies,\" in the May issue. Also, if you're interested in buying the Hazel Mote music tape (reviewed in the May \"Making Waves\" column), send 'em five bucks. &yHI]lllHHllHllllllllllilllllllllllllilllllHHlHIII(illilllHilllllHllllllllllllllHllllll Kinesis Women of Colour Caucus contact Farhat Kahn at 734-7885 for information about the next meeting Inside Kinesis We were sooooo close ... So close to booking Madonna for our Annual Kinesis Raffle and Benefit. Sooooo close ... We've still got the hottest Une-up in town on Monday, June 10th. Catch fan dancer Helga, poet Raj Pannu, Random Acts and singer- songwriters Oline Luinenburg, Diane Lev- ings and Sue McGowan at 7:00 at La Quena Coffee House, 1111 Commercial Drive. Tix are sliding scale ($2-6) at the door and there will be plenty of prizes raffled off at the event. Kinesis is on the look-out for a volunteer to write the \"What's News?\" column (see page 6) on a regular basis. \"What's News?\" presents a great opportunity to hone your writing skills, especially if you're interested in news. Weil help you to learn. Call 255- 5499 for more details. We always have new women to welcome as first time writers, proofers and pasters. This month, Mary Watt, Laurel Weldon and Farhat Khan contributed to Kinesis for the first time. This is yet another month of hellos and goodbyes. First, hello to Debbie Bryant, our new Production Co-ordinator. We're thrilled to have Debbie join us in this capacity. For a number of years, readers will have noticed her wonderful illustrations- last month's cover is a good example. Well, now we will also be reaping the benefits of her skills as a designer, teacher and really neat woman. Welcome to an old friend, Debbie. Another change, temporarily, is Ginger Plumb at the typesetting controls. Ginger is filling in for Janisse who is away teaching for a few weeks. And hello to Lyn Roberts, the new, invisible energy behind Bulletin Board. And now, the goodbye. Christine Cosby, our beloved outgoing Production Coordinator ... is going out. Christine came to the paper as a newcomer and quickly became an indispensable presence. She has been helpful and encouraging to literally hundreds of volunteers, she has produced one attractive paper after another, she has weathered the sometimes fierce storms in the production room with ease, her cakes are scrumptious (sauerkraut notwithstanding), her energy apparently boundless\u00E2\u0080\u0094and her personal and political contributions to life at Kinesis have always been thoughtful. Luckily, we aren't facing life without her. Christine will continue to serve on the Editorial Board as a volunteer, and she'll continue to put vegetables in desserts and we'll continue to eat them up. Thanks for everything, Christine. You've been great to work with. On Sunday May 12th\u00E2\u0080\u0094Mother's Day\u00E2\u0080\u0094about a hundred mothers and children enjoyed a VSW sponsored event in honour of single mothers in Grandview Park. Children had a great time on the trampoline, drawing on a giant mother's day card, having their faces painted like turtles and eating chips, cheese and cookies. Meanwhile their mothers looked through the piles of free clothing at the clothing exchange or listened to the entertainment. It was a great day and we are very grateful to all the volunteers and businesses who donated their time and goods to the event: Mina Hayes \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Carrie Smith \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Patty Moore \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Katie Moore-Ostry \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Kim Jackson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Leslie Schwab \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 April Lortie \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Shawna Kinman \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Mary Garnett \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Jennifer Watkinson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Maureen Field \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Sylvie \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Sand Northrup \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Kate Nelson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Jolene \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Calm Davidson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Sundance Trampolines \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 The YWCA \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Chubbie's Pizza \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Nalley's Chips \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Dairyland \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Uprising Bread \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Andy's Bakery \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Circling Dawn \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Sweet Cherubim \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 San Marcos Bakery \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Carmelo's Bakery \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Santa Barbara \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 East End Food Co-Op \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Safeway \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Save on Foods \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Horizon Distributors \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Wild West \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 La Quena \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Carnegie Centre Our thanks also to Vancouver Status of Women members who support us year-round with memberships and donations. Our appreciation to the following supporters who became members, renewed their memberships or donated in May: Tanya Anderson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Gert Beadle \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Liz Bennett \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Kate Braid \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Jo Coffey \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Rosemary Courtney \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Gail Cryer \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Shelora Dalen \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Jill Davidson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Holly Devor \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Joanna Dunaway \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Catharine Esson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Frances Friesen \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Lynn Giraud \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Baylah. Greenspoon \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Tekla Hen- drickson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Suzanne James \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Olive Johnson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 B. Karmazyn \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Naomi Katz \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Isobel Ki- born \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Mary Lane \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Catherine Malone \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Norma-Jean McLaren \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Lynda Osborne \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Claire Perry \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Janet Pollock \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Ronni Richards \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Laurie Robertson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Hulda Roddan \u00E2\u0099\u00A6 Jane Rule \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Jean Scott \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Mary Selman \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Helen Shore \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Sheilah Thompson \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Mary Winder * Computer Training and * { Resume Service * (Computer Sales & Consulting{ { -WP 5.120 hrs for $250 * \u00C2\u00AB -DOSi Hardware 12 hrs for $100 $ { -Lotus 12312hrs for$100 * * - Resumes from $15 * { WOMAN TO WOMAN TRAINING \u00C2\u00A3 { MARGARET 436-9574 * ROBin QOLDFARB rm Registered Massage Therapist KINESIS yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^ //y/yyyyyyyyy/////y//yy/yy/yyyyy/y^^^^ news Throwing out the baby bonus? by Heidi Walsh When the federal government proposes a new social program to fight child poverty, and in the same breath acknowledges the program will reduce government spending and possibly eliminate the universal family allowance cheques, women across Canada should be on the alert. At the beginning of May, the Conservatives floated the idea of a child benefit package which would give up to $3,400 per child to poor families. Details are vague on how the program will be funded and who will qualify as \"poor,\" but one thing is clear: no new federal money will be infused into the program and the program could save the federal government $1 billion a year in its share of welfare payments. Tory MPs have suggested the program would consolidate a variety of existing child tax credits and the family allowance, with the federal government taking over responsibility for all welfare payments to children. Inherent in this proposal is the assumption that $3,400 per year would cover the costs of raising a child. Barbara Greene, the Conservative Chair of the House of Commons Subcommittee on Child Poverty has stated that the proposed credit would be just for children. She has also stated \"The parent would be financed either through the welfare system or a minimum wage. The minimum wage would not have to cover the costs of raising children, just the cost of the adult.\" It is no accident the proposal is specifically aimed at \"child poverty.\" A recent trend in mainstream politics has been to make an artificial distinction between poor adults and poor children\u00E2\u0080\u0094 a distinction which masks the obvious fact that children are poor only because their parents are poor. Ending adult poverty, however, would require a major overhaul of our political and economic systems. In the meantime, say poverty action groups, steps to relieve adult poverty would have to include a commitment to full employment, at least a 50 per cent increase in the minimum wage, widespread and effective pay equity schemes and a fairer tax system. \"Focusing on child poverty as the government does can result in a complete abdication of responsibility for social programs,\" says Janet Maher, Co-Chair of the National Action Committee on the Status of Women's Social Policy Committee. \"The notion is that if you can somehow identify a few children who are poor and throw money at them, you can claim to have done something [and also] reduce your budget.\" Jean Swanson of Vancouver's End Legislated Poverty says the government would use the child benefit package proposal to meet four of their own goals: \"To reduce the deficit, destroy universal programs, maintain wage top-ups and delude people into thinking the government is concerned about poverty.\" Swanson further criticizes the program for limiting its source of revenue to existing credits for families with children. \"This is ridiculous,\" she says. \"The program should be getting its revenue from the rich and corporations, and not just rich people with children, but those without.\" Swanson has calculated that many low income families are likely to be better off under the current child benefit and tax credit schemes than with the $3,400. While adults are held responsible for their own poverty, children rarely are\u00E2\u0080\u0094and politicians have discovered that appearing to help poor children makes good public relations. An appeal in November 1989 to eliminate child poverty by the year 2000 won unanimous support from the House of Commons. Less than a year later, Prime Minister Brian Mulroney hosted the United Nations World Summit for Children and urged governments to \"ensure a dignified future for all children.\" A dignified future is unlikely if the Tories act on their desire to eliminate universal social programs\u00E2\u0080\u0094and the child benefits proposal calls for just that. On the chopping block is the monthly baby bonus (family allowance) cheques to higher income families. The baby bonus was introduced in 1945 to ensure a basic income to families with children and thereby help avoid a post-war recession. Almost all western industrial nations offer universal family allowance programs, with the notable exception of the US. \"It is far easier to scrap a social program that only poor people use...\" Swanson says governments nave a history of manipulating the family allowance to fit their agendas. \"Governments raise it before elections and reduce and de-index it in between. It is totally political.\" Perspective: getting past the Post by Nancy Pollak Perspective, a Calgary-based women's publication, copped a pile of free publicity in May when Canada Post decided to warn the general population of the five-year old tabloid's existence. Warn? In an unprecedented move, Canada Post officials paid special visits to Calgary's two daily newspapers in an effort to alert the unaware citizens of Calgary that 2,000 households would be mailed unsolicited copies of Perspective\u00E2\u0080\u0094full of information, articles, resources and thoughts about ... sex. From women's Perspective, naturally. Canada Post's actions caused an uproar in Calgary and some fairly furious backped- dling in the public relations department, which had initiated the visits to the Calgary Sun and Herald. Lloyd Mildon, the Canada Post official who calls himself \"the guy who did it,\" says that he believed a reasonable person could consider the May issue of Perspective \"obscene\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094and that the post office didn't want to be blamed for offending the public when they delivered the unsolicited copies. Postal regulations prohibit the delivery of obscene items (in the Criminal Code sense). While Mildon acknowledges that untold amounts of pornographic materials flow through the mail system, his sole concern was that Perspective would be arriving unsolicited on 2,000 doorsteps. The May edition of Perspective is an attractive, thoughtful and resolutely sex- positive collection of articles\u00E2\u0080\u0094 tame by feminist standards (there is very little lesbian content and nothing on sexual minorities)\u00E2\u0080\u0094 tame even by Cosmo standards. Articles, poems and interviews address issues around passion, recovering from breast cancer, sex education and therapy, and a playful list of \"turn-ons.\" Canada Post, however, couldn't cope with an article by Gwendolyn, a Toronto sex trade worker, filmmaker and activist. Gwendolyn speaks plainly about men who go to prostitutes and their thoughts about sex with different women. Says Mildon, a male postal worker read the article at the post office, became upset and notified PubHc Relations. After a ruling from Ottawa head office that Perspective was indeed not obscene, Mildon decided to let the mainstream press in on what the women's press was up to. Perspective editor Annette Ruitenbeek says that the paper is routinely distributed to households \"as a means of extending our net beyond the usual feminist networks.\" A quarterly, Perspective has an editorial commitment to documenting women's experience and is run by an editorial collective which, in Ruitenbeek's words, \"is not extensively involved in the women's movement.\" Concerning the May issue, Ruitenbeek says, \"Our premise is that silence around sex is dangerous.\" Canada Post, which never bothered informing Perspective of its plan to notify the press, did take the time to telephone the magazine's funders, the Secretary of State\u00E2\u0080\u0094a move Ruitenbeek describes as \"extremely political.\" (Mildon denies that any official call went to SecState.) As a result, Secretary of State Robert de Cotret issued a statement that, while his ministry does indeed fund the magazine, no funding went to that particular issue. \"We're chronically underfunded,\" says Ruitenbeek. \"If they choose to disown this issue, that's their business.\" Perspective's five-year funding is up in September and they have been informed that they must now apply on an issue-by-issue basis, pending theme approval. It is unclear whether Canada Post's actions affected SecState's approach to the magazine. Perspective is available by subscription fort 9.50/four issues. Write to S05-223 12th Ave. SW, Calgary AB T2R 0G9. In 1973 the monthly cheques were indexed (increased to keep up with the inflation rate) for the first time but also became taxable income. Six years later, the Liberals cut the allowance by over 20 percent to finance most of the Refundable Child Tax Credit. In 1985, the Conservatives partially de-indexed the allowance, which in real terms decreases its value by 3 percenl annually. Since 1989, it has been subject to a \"clawback\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094the higher a family's income, the more the baby bonus is taxed back. At the current rate of $33.93 per child I with much of it taxed back from middle and high income families, the allowance is an easy target for those who believe it has lost its value as a universal program. In fact, universality\u00E2\u0080\u0094the idea of communal responsibility and communal entitlement\u00E2\u0080\u0094is itself | under attack. \"The sneakiest and, unfortunately, most appealing argument against universal socia programs is that wealthy people don't need the benefits, so why should they get them,\" says Trisha Joel of the Vancouver Status of Women. \"In fact, the people who promote that argument aren't really interested in 'saving the taxpayer money.' They want to destroy the idea that society as a whole\u00E2\u0080\u0094 not just individuals\u00E2\u0080\u0094is responsible for our health and prosperity. \"It is far easier to scrap a social program that only poor people use, than one that everyone participates in.\" The family allowance cheque is automatically issued to the mother, unless a divorced or single father has custody of the children. \"For a lot of women, the baby bonus is the only recognition they get that the job they do is important,\" says Janet Maher. NDP Women's Critic MP Dawn Black agrees the family allowance acknowledges the worth of being a mother and recognizes that society has an obligation to all children. She adds that in families of all income levels where women are subjected to violence and male domination, \"this cheque may be the only bit of money a woman has that's not under her husband's control.\" If the Tories go ahead with their proposal, it may be at the expense of the families just above the eligibility cut-off line through a reduction of their current child tax credits and benefits. Says Maher, \"We cannot divert people's attention by spending money on a few at the cost of withdrawing support from the women and children who are just above the level of those who are eligible\u00E2\u0080\u0094the so-called working poor.\" KINESIS ssssssssssss^^ NEWS Gender bias? You mean women, right? by Lorraine Michael The BC Law Society's recently announced study into gender bias in the province's legal and justice systems coincides with a national spotlight on the issue. The study is one of many similar actions being taken by the legal profession across the country. In April, for example, the Law Society of Upper Canada released a report entitled \"Transitions in the Legal Profession.\" The report's recommendations, which were passed by the Society, deal with issues ranging from discrimination against women lawyers to the sexual harassment they experience in the profession. The Canadian Bar Association in Ontario has also announced a study examining gender bias in the courts. The study will be headed by retired Supreme Court of Canada Judge Bertha Wilson. As illustrated in the last few weeks, women who launch sexual assault cases encounter many biases. In one case, Vancouver Justice Sherman Hood ruled that when a woman says no to sex, she might mean \"maybe\" or \"wait a while,\" while a Prince George doctor was acquitted on 16 separate charges of sexual assault by 12 of his former patients, all women. By its own definition, the Law Society's study will be considering such cases and will also make recommendations on how to eliminate gender bias in the system. The Gender Bias Committee has set itself a formidable task. It will explore in depth four areas: substantive and procedural law; gender bias within the justice system from the perspective of the court room; the response of the justice system to violence against women; and gender bias in the legal profession. Women's groups have high expectations of the committee and its mandate and many say the study is long overdue. Among them is Florence Hackett of the Indian Homemakers' Association. \"We have been involved with this issue [the treatment of women in the courts] for twenty years or more,\" says Hackett, who hopes the study will \"make a big difference... [the Law Society] would have more power because they're part of the system.\" Susan Milliken of the Society for Children's Rights to Adequate Parental Support (SCRAPS) also expressed cautious optimism. \"The most the committee can do is identify problems and attitudes that militate against all women and children and then make recommendations for an educational process that can result in changes,\" she says. Protesting Judge Sherman Hood's decision in a rape trial, Vancouver, April 1991 In a scathing evaluation of the 1985 Divorce Act, published in Lawyers' Weekly (August 31, 1990), the federal Department of Justice concludes \"women's situation has certainly shown no improvement as a result of the [Act's] legislation ... The likelihood that divorced women with custody of the children and limited employment opportunities will be living below the poverty One area of concern for Milliken is some judge's and lawyer's attitudes towards women seeking spousal support. In her experience, many women who have made out- of-court settlements are not told they have a right to financial assistance. line has probably increased rather than decreased over the past few years.\" Trisha Joel of the Vancouver Status of Women points to a new phenomenon of women who are losing custody of their children simply because the man is better Native activist harassed by Jill Bend On December 18, 1990, Native rights activist Kelly White was arrested and charged with the assault of a Vancouver police officer after two plainclothes officials forced entry into her home at 10:30pm. When she demanded to see identification and a warrant, White was slammed into the wall, elbow- punched in the face, punched and kicked repeatedly about her body. She has since filed a complaint and called for an internal investigation, alleging police brutality and illegal entry. The trial on the assault charge against White began Wednesday, May 22 in BC Provincial Court. The defence case and summation will continue in early June. White's lawyer, Harry Rankin, will question whether the police conduct in this case was routine or illegitimate and racist harassment. White is from the Salish Nation and is a 33-year old mother of three daughters. Last December, she organized a ten day west coast speaking tour by the Mohawk delegation, which ended in a large public benefit for the joint defenses of the Mohawk and Lil'wat Nations (see Kinesis, March 1991, \"In defence of sacred land\"). White's name and number circulated throughout the city as the contact for this tour. On the day prior to the assault, White returned from an organizer's meeting for the event in Mount Currie. For this reason, the raid is believed by some activists to be politically motivated. \"The public has a right to know why the police are doing these things,\" says White. \"I have been in this community for 16 years, doing events for the First Nations, Native inmates, radio programs, classes in cultural enrichment for both elementary and adult schools, theatre performances...rve been really involved in networking, bringing people together around issues such as racism and class war. Who gave the orders for the police to do this to me?\" White's biggest concern is the psychological effects on her children. Woken from sleep by the shouting, the two youngest daughters witnessed the whole assault. \"Leave my mother alone,\" the ten-year-old screamed in an attempt to help her mother. \"I hate you. I hate you.\" A defendant from the Lil'wat sovereignty case, staying at White's during the trials, intervened against the officer beating her. At this point, some of White's neighbours came to check on the noise. The officers panicked and radioed the emergency code 1033 (police officer in trouble), shouting: \"There's fucking Indians all over the place.\" Within a few minutes, more than a dozen officers appeared at the house, searching the entire premises. According to White, \"My neighbours counted 16 uniforms. Obviously, they were not police on a routine check or who just happened to be cruising by. They were waiting to come in.\" See ARREST page 6 off economically. Joel believes that this is part of \"the backlash from the men's rights groups.\" Joel anticipates that the VSW and Access Working Group will include this issue as part of their presentation to the Gender Bias Committee. The Indian Homemakers' Association has many concerns in the area of male violence. Referring to judges who acquit men charged with beating their wives and children, Florence Hackett wants judges to become aware that this is an unacceptable way to treat women. She also sees a need for a comprehensive study of women who fight back in self- defense, so that women \"do not end up in prison while the [abusive] men continue to walk free.\" According to Cathy Bruce, director of the BC Gender Bias Committee, the committee members are aware of the enormous nature of their task and although they plan to cover all areas, acknowledge that \"some areas will be peripheral.\" The committee plans to hold hearings in eight different locations in the province beginning in the Fall of 1991. In addition to formal hearings, Bruce says, \"the opportunity will be given to individuals who wish to speak in confidence to the committee about experiences they have encountered in the system.\" She says the committee would like to hear from women and men on issues such as family, criminal and civil law and the treatment of women lawyers by judges, lawyers and non-judicial court personnel. All concerned groups will be able to meet with members of the committee, says Bruce, who encourages groups or individuals desiring information to contact the committee. The committee is using the list of women's organizations registered with Women's Programs for their initial mailing. This information package, which will be sent out in June, includes the time and place of the hearings and a paper explaining the study and its goals. The hearings for Vancouver will be held January 17 - 18, 1992. In the meantime, women who cannot wait for the results of a formal study are taking action of their own. In Prince George, women incensed by the acquittal of the doctor accused of sexually assaulting 12 former patients have formed a group called \"Equal Justice for Women.\" Spokesperson Ann Johns says the aim of this group, the first of its kind in Prince George, is \"to serve as a referral network for victims of sexual abuse, as well as to lobby for change in the justice and medical professions.\" For more information call Cathy Bruce at (604) 732-4248 Fax: (604) 738-7134. 4 KINESIS MEWS /y////yy/////yyyy/y/yy/yyyyy/yyyyy^ Women in Focus, In Visible Colours Visibly far out of focus by Nancy Pollak Vancouver Women in Focus, one of this country's few community-based feminist arts centres, is tangled in a mesh of legal and ethical battles that threatens its existence and may deepen divisions among women of colour and white women. The dispute is a complicated mix of financial crisis, racism, organizational and personal exhaustion\u00E2\u0080\u0094and troubled histories. The crisis erupted when In Visible Colours (IVC), a women of colour film and video group, accused the Board of Directors of Women in Focus (WIF) of improperly seizing IVC funds. The board says that after WIF decided to dissolve itself as a society\u00E2\u0080\u0094another controversial issue\u00E2\u0080\u0094they were legally bound to secure the money ($50,000) in order to act in good faith towards their creditors. IVC, which originated as a highly successful film and video festival co-sponsored by WIF and the National Film Board in 1989, was outraged by the WD? board's unilateral removal of the funds from their bank account. The $50,000, which was intended as seed money for a future women of colour festival, now sits in WIF's lawyer's trust account. As Kinesis goes to press, the major players in the dispute are: \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 FVC, which has recently gained legal status as a society in its own right; \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Sue Jenkins, the sole remaining director on WIF's board. Another four directors resigned in April after the WIF membership voted to return the money to IVC; \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 the active membership of WIF\u00E2\u0080\u0094about 30 women\u00E2\u0080\u0094who have formed a steering committee which is willing to stand as new directors of WIF. The steering committee is pledged to return the funds to IVC and to, keep WIF alive. The dispute has gone to court and all three parties have submitted a variety of petitions, counter-petitions and suits. The Vancouver feminist community is largely unaware of the unfolding events\u00E2\u0080\u0094an indication, some say, of how isolated WIF had become in the past year. A Big Deficit\u00E2\u0080\u0094But How Big? Women in Focus Arts and Media Centre formed in 1974 with a mandate to promote women's culture. Over the years, WIF developed an impressive video and film distribution network, operated a visual arts gallery and performance space, and sponsored production workshops, among others. Throughout its history, WIF has grappled with its identity vis-a-vis the feminist and arts communities, an identity that tended to shift with staff or volunteers changes. The current crisis became apparent this January when WIF's board fired the paid director and only full-time staff, Deborah Mclnnis, after a three month probationary period. The board claims that, after the firing, it discovered an operating deficit of $40,000\u00E2\u0080\u0094a figure which is still unconfirmed. Mclnnis, according to sources, had warned the board of an impending crisis for months prior to her firing. After laying off WIF's distribution manager, the board\u00E2\u0080\u0094Jill Pollack, Ingrid Yuille, Jeanne Landry and Sue Jenkins\u00E2\u0080\u0094kept the centre open as volunteers, a task that ultimately proved too exhausting. Throughout the previous fall, In Visible Colours and WIF attempted to negotiate a settlement regarding the IVC monies left over from the festival. No contract had ever been signed between the three parties involved in the 1989 JVC Festival (WD?, NFB and IVC) and the money sat in an account with signing officers from both WD? and IVC. At a November, 1990 meeting, WIF agreed to turn all the funds over to IVC, but the transfer never happened. WD? also proposed a mediator to help settle the matter, a suggestion IVC turned down. By early March, the WD? board was out of energy and, despite their efforts, the financial picture was still grim. At a March 20 society meetings, the board said it could no longer carry on and appealed to the few members in attendance for help. The decision was made to legally dissolve WD?. On April 8, IVC learned that the money in their account had been transferred out and that their representative, Lorraine Chan, had been removed as a signing officer. Jill Pollack, who later resigned from the WD? board on April 20, says the transfer was an attempt to protect the money from creditors. WD? lawyers advised the board to make the transfer, she said, in order to avoid acting in \"bad faith\" vis-a-vis those creditors. \"Our lawyer told us, you can't do it [give the money to IVC] because it would mean we would be dispersing funds in bad faith,\" says Pollack. The WIF board was also dealing with a credit union and a major funder, Secretary of State\u00E2\u0080\u0094dealings which re-enforced the board's belief that the money was legally WIF's. Zainub Verjee, a former WD? employee and co-founder of IVC (with Lorraine Chan) says: \"That is their legal concern. There's also the issue of the WIF board acting in bad faith towards the artist, feminist and cross-cultural communities\u00E2\u0080\u0094 especially in terms of trying to bridge gaps between white women and women of colour.\" Verjee, Chan and the IVC board\u00E2\u0080\u0094along with WIF's active membership\u00E2\u0080\u0094are adamant that the money is both legally and morally IVC's. Also on April 8, WD? proposed two options to IVC via a letter to Barbara Jai.ca of the NFB: 1) that the newly formed IVC society accept $15,000 from WD? in exchange for a \"full release for all parties;\" or 2) that four IVC members join the WIF board and, with other WD? board members, pay off WIF's accounts payable (approx. $30,000) and generally deal with WIF's affairs. In the same letter, WIF's lawyer Kim Roberts described the IVC Festival as \"a project of Women in Focus.\" Pollack concurs with this view. \"Clearly,\" says Pollack, \"it was never the case that it [IVC] was a separate entity.\" IVC refused to consider either option, stating that \"the whole notion of being forced into a position whereby one has to accept what others consider \"choices\" is ... a contradiction in terms.\" IVC also views the idea that they aren't a separate entity a distortion of fact, a view snared by most observers. \"The whole event [the festival] from start to finish, was run by women of colour,\" says Verjee. Upon learning of the money transfer, IVC sent a letter throughout the community urging women's groups to ask WIF to deposit the money in an IVC trust fund, pending resolution of the problem. IVC also started a court action against WIF to get the money back. WIF's lawyer wrote to IVC warning that the letter-writing campaign was possibly defamatory. Distortion of Fact Former WIF board members, WIF members and other concerned women\u00E2\u0080\u0094many with previous ties to WIF as artists or workers\u00E2\u0080\u0094then got involved. At a special meeting on April 20, the decision to dissolve WD? was rescinded and the membership agreed to return the money to IVC. Four WD? board members resigned, believing the IVC decision to be legally untenable. On April 25, over 50 women from the arts community (including WIF and IVC members) met to discuss the situation. A WIF steering committee was struck to explore an action plan for saving the centre, including fundraising and paying back IVC. Since that date, the WIF membership and steering committee have been locked in a struggle for control of WIF with the remaining board member, Sue Jenkins. Legally, Jenkins can serve as the sole director for up to six months or until the next annual general meeting, which can take place in late June at the earliest. Jenkins has questioned the legality of both meetings and has refused to appoint the steering committee to the board. On May 21, in a move to apparently derail a membership meeting called for that evening, she petitioned the court to appoint a management firm to take over WIF's legal and financial affairs. The membership counter-petitioned, blocking the management firm move by agreeing to not discuss comments published about me which may lower my reputation in the community are defamatory and actionable.\" WIF members are both bewildered and angered by Jenkins' actions. \"She has completely disregarded us,\"says Margo Butler, a former WD? staffperson. Fumiko Kiyooka, a video and filmmaker on the WD? steering committee, says: \"Sue feels she has been left to deal with the situation, but she doesn't see that just keeping WIF alive legally is, in the meantime, killing other parts of it, like its community and ethical [considerations].\" Many WIF members now believe the March 20 decision to dissolve WIF and the transferring of IVC's funds were made in an atmosphere of exhaustion, pessimism and fear\u00E2\u0080\u0094especially concerning finances. Whatever the reasons, the money transfer fed into an already uneasy relationship between WIF and IVC. \"During the Festival planning, there was an ongoing struggle between IVC and WIF,\" says Yasmin Jiwani of IVC's original board of directors, referring to a range of problems including sharing space (IVC worked out of WIF's offices) and money- problems which often had racist underpinnings. \"These weren't personalized incidents,\" says Jiwani. \"But [they] had their prejudices backed by power.\" Zainub Verjee says, \"The actual act of taking the IVC money wasn't necessarily a #||E SIZE FITS Att TMjfc IVC funds or the appointment of new directors at the meeting. Jenkins' petition was based on her concern that the May 21 meeting would elect directors who would then bankrupt WIF by returning the money to IVC\u00E2\u0080\u0094the same reason she has given for not appointing steering committee members to the board. Says Jill Baird, a steering committee member: \"My intention is to return the $50,000 to IVC. But under no circumstances do we plan to destroy WD? in doing this. We also plan to fundraise to deal with the society's debt and to [activate] the grants available to WIF.\" Jenkins refused an interview with Kinesis, saying the issues were before the courts and her more pressing task was to appoint a new board and organize an AGM. She then asked Kinesis to publish \"a fact sheet/article\" by her, an offer that was turned down. In a letter hand-delivered to this reporter a few hours before press time, Jenkins threatened to sue, writing: \"any racist act\u00E2\u0080\u0094they were desperate. But how they've dealt with us since has been racist.\" Selina Williams, a member of the new IVC board, says, \"This has been disillusioning and disheartening for the new IVC board. Many of us are younger women and we've seen almost a negative stereotype of white women here.\" With its money frozen, IVC is strapped for cash and having difficulty paying the rent\u00E2\u0080\u0094like WIF. \"We're glad to see the membership of WD? has decided to fight with us to get the money,\" says Williams. The women's art community in Vancouver seems to agree that the prospect of losing Women in Focus and In Visible Colours in bitter, expensive legal fights is unacceptable. It is unclear, however, when the fighting can be stopped. As Kinesis goes to press on May 27, the WIF/IVC situation is changing, with various meetings and court appearances scheduled for the last week of May. KINESIS assssss5*****s$*s$ssss^^ NEWS WHAT' S NEWS? by Karen Duthie No time limit on criminal abuse In a unanimous 7-0 vote, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled in May that a lengthy passage of time would not permit a man accused of sexually abusing his three' daughters to avoid being brought to trial. The BC man abused his daughters between 1957 and 1985, but it wasn't until I that 18 charges were brought against him. A stay of proceedings on the charges, granted by a BC trial judge, was later overturned by the BC Court of Appeal. The man appealed to the Supreme Court on the grounds that the lengthy delay violated his right to a fair trial under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. Mr. Justice William Stevenson wrote in the decision that \"the fairness of a trial is not automatically determined by a lengthy delay ... it is well-documented that, in cases of sexual abuse, non-reporting, incomplete reporting and delay in reporting is common. For victims of sexual abuse to complain would take courage and emotional itrength ... in opening old wounds.\" Pat Marshall of the Metro Toronto Action Committee on Violence Against Women and Children said the decision \"is appropriate and accepting of the reality victims experience.\" The court's decision is an affirmation of the existing law which sets no time limits on when criminal charges for sexual abuse may be laid. Women's groups are continuing to work towards eh'minating the time limit on sexual abuse suits in civil cases, which currently must begin within four years after the complainant reaches age 19. Feds try to block pay equity In early May, the federal government asked the Federal Court of Canada to block a Canadian Human Rights Commission (CHRC) tribunal from investigating pay equity complaints filed on behalf of 68,000 federally employed clerks and secretaries- most of them women. The human rights body believes that the government, in making this move, is ignoring its own pay-equity guidelines established in 1986 and used in all major pay equity cases since then. The government filed its objection to the CHRC tribunal in a Federal Court hearing shortly before the CHRC tribunal inquiry\u00E2\u0080\u0094 an inquiry that could force the government to pay up to $250 million to compensate for discriminatory pay structures throughout the federal public service. The workers are represented by the Public Service Alliance of Canada. PSAC spokesperson Susan Gianpitri is disgusted the government is taking the case to Federal Court: \"It is really disgraceful to watch this government abuse its power and waste taxpayers' dollars when it knows full well that it is wrong.\" CHRC sources say that the government is trying to impede the evolution of equal pay guidelines. The earlier approach of comparing a lone female worker with a lone male worker has been broadened to measure the value of work performed by female- dominated occupations with that of the male-dominated occupations, and has further evolved with federal clerks and secretaries requesting to be compared with any group of men doing work of equal value. The federal government disagrees with this approach, arguing comparisons should be restricted to a single male-dominated occupation. After years of disagreements between the federal government and its unions about the implementation of pay equity provisions, the government acted unilaterally in 1990 and paid $317 million in back pay and $80 million in adjustments. The current dispute stems from the unions' behef that those payments failed to address all the pay inequities. The bad gets worse The second annual study of 15 Canadian newspapers indicates that women receive a fraction of the coverage men get and are getting credit for writing less than a third of the articles. The study, conducted by MediaWatch, a national women's organization concerned with how the media treat women, provides a follow-up to a study done last year. Over the year, while some papers improved, many got worse. \"The dismal findings of our 1990 study were replicated in this year's research,\" said Jennifer Ellis, Communications Officer for MediaWatch. \"Any doubt we may have had about last year's 'A Day in the Life of Canadian Newspapers' study being just a bad day has been eradicated with this second study. I suspect every day is a bad day for women in the Canadian press.\" The Globe and Mail, Canada's national newspaper, rates as one of the worst. Although the average for the 15 papers stud ied was one woman mentioned for every five men, The Globe referred to women one- tenth as often as men, a decline of four percent from its performance last year. In terms of how many bylines women received in the Globe and Mail this year, it ranked as the third lowest of the 1991 sample, down almost seven percent from last year. Of the six newspapers reviewed both years, only one paper, Vancouver's Province, increased the number of bylines that women were getting\u00E2\u0080\u0094by 14 percent. The highest and lowest number of bylines came from the two Winnipeg papers. The Winnipeg Sun had 21 percent more bylines for women than its competition, The Winnipeg Free Press. When women were mentioned, the manner in which they were discussed was often sexist. In addition to using many male gendered terms such as \"manpower,\" \"man- made,\" or \"businessmen,\" women were frequently described by their appearance and their relationships to men. One article, printed in three different papers, referred to one woman as \"his wife\" or \"the wife\" without ever mentioning her name. Meme implant finally banned In mid-April, Health and Welfare Canada belatedly acted on the controversy surrounding the Meme breast implant when it issued a warning to Canadian doctors to stop using the device\u00E2\u0080\u0094a day after the US manufacturer voluntarily withdrew the product from the international market as a precautionary measure pending a full safety review. The Meme is constructed of a foam which easily disintegrates, releasing chemicals sus pected of causing cancer. The over 13,000 Canadian women who have received the breast implant were advised by the government to \"discuss their concerns with their doctors.\" Millions of women world-wide have had the Meme inserted into their bodies, 80 percent for so-called cosmetic reasons, the others after breast surgery or injuries. Recent studies from the US Food and Drug Administration reveal that traces of the chemical 2-4 toluene diamine (TDA), known to cause fiver cancer in mice and rats, can be' found when the implant's polyurethane foam breaks down. The foam, which critics say was intended for industrial uses only, was considered \"attractive\" because it keeps the implant soft, while other implants become hard due to scar tissue. Manufacturer Bristol Myers says that although the company is confident about the implant's safety, shipments have been suspended because \"negative publicity\" from the media will reduce the confidence of their consumers. In the US, several women with Meme implants have launched court cases after developing cancer. An award of $4.45 million was awarded to a New York woman who developed breast cancer after having the implants in 1983. Canadian women have not been so successful. Linda Wilson of Delta BC was the first Canadian to go to court in connection with the Meme. Her negligence suit against her doctors was dismissed in BC Supreme Court last year, and she is now pursuing a product liability suit against the manufacturer. The federal government has provided little information and less support for Canadian women who are concerned about the safety of Meme implants. \"Fetal protection\" policies thrown out The US Supreme Court unanimously ruled in March that so-called \"fetal protection\" policies barring women of childbearing age from certain hazardous but high-paying jobs is illegal sex discrimination. The ruling is considered a victory by women's and labour organizations. The case before the court involved the Johnson Controls Company of Wisconsin, the largest maker of car batteries in the US. Johnson Control policy meant fertile women of childbearing age were barred from certain jobs with either known or suspected health hazards. Writing for the majority, Mr. Justice Harry Blackman recognized that: \"Concern for a woman's existing or potential offspring historically has been the excuse for denying women equal employment opportunities ... It is no more appropriate for the courts than it is for individual employers to decide whether a woman's reproductive role is more important to herself and her family than her economic role.\" Allison Wetherfield of the National Organization for Women's Legal Defense Fund was pleased at the strong wording of the ruhng: \"H this pohcy had been upheld, millions of women could have suffered.\" At least 15 major US corporations, including General Motors, duPont, BF Goodrich, Gulf Oil and American Cyanimid have so-called fetal protection pohcies. The case arose after a lower court decision last November gave the right to the Johnson Controls Company of Wisconsin to bar women of childbearing age from jobs exposing them to high levels of lead unless they could prove they were infertile. The United Auto Workers appealed that decision to the Supreme Court, arguing that companies should make the jobs safe for women and men, not discriminate against women workers. The union was supported in its appeal by Planned Parenthood and the American Civil Liberties Union, who argued that fetal protection rulings are part of a backlash against women who are seen as deserting their role as guardians of the unborn. Sources: Globe and Mail, MediaWatch. ARREST from page 4 Pubhc knowledge and community support are crucial in cases of pohce brutality and racist harassment. Talks Not Tanks, a local coahtion in soUdarity with First Nation's struggles, has sent a letter with the endorsement of 50 organizations to the Pohce Commission on Race Relations, protesting the charges against White. In the four days following the raid on December 18, the Mayor's office received dozens of inquiries regarding pohce conduct in this case. When White phoned her lawyer the pohce kicked out the phone cord. They threatened to hand her baby over to welfare, and then laid an assault charge against her. As they dragged her out barefoot to the pohce wagon, the pohce continued their racist slurs saying, \"Where are your Oka warriors now?\" \"Oka hves,\" and \"Dump her off at Oka.\" Up to now, the pohce have not released any of the findings of their internal investigation. White is adamant that the racist treatment suffered by First Nations' people in the judicial system must be confronted and exposed, perhaps in the form of national tribunals. \"No matter how extreme those pohce forces get, or who gave the orders, they can't take the truth out of our people or our future work. They can't erase us by beating the shit out of our physicalness.\" KINESIS NEWS ////////////////////////////////////// Reseau femmes: Francophone women: part of the B.C. experience as told to Margot Lacroix The 1986 census revealed there were 54,250 individuals hving in British Columbia whose mother tongue is French. By applying the 52 percent \"rule,\" we can calculate that close to 50,000 are women. A number of them have been involved in Reseau- Femmes Colombie-Britannique, an organization being set up to represent francophone women in BC. An upcoming annual general meeting in June will mark Reseau- Femmes' official founding. Marie Dussault, coordinator of Reseau- Femmes, and Louise Cantin-Merler, member of the ad hoc committee, spoke with Margot Lacroix about the organization, the experiences of francophone women in BC, and some of the issues they face. Margot Lacroix: Tell me about the origins of Reseau-Femmes. Louise Cantin-Merler: They go back to 1979. The Federation Nationale des Femmes Canadiennes-Francaises had acknowledged that there was no representation from British Columbia, Newfoundland or the Northwest Territories. [FNFCF, a national organization representing the interests of francophone women outside of Quebec, was founded in 1914 to fight for the right for French schools. It has since become an advocate on behalf of women in all areas of social and pohtical hfe. Its pubUcations include the magazine Femmes d'action, and exceUent tool of information and discussion.] I was vice-president of the Federation des Franco-Columbiens at the time, and was appointed spokesperson at the FNFCF's annual general meeting. Shortly after I attended a conference on women and pohtical education organized by the FNFCF in Saskatoon, along with about ten other women from BC. On the way back to Vancouver, Olga Campo and I talked about doing something\u00E2\u0080\u0094it had been such an inspiring event. We decided to invite other women that we knew to meet, and we ended up meeting and organizing activities on a regular basis for almost three years. We held several information sessions\u00E2\u0080\u0094we would invite someone to speak about different topics, for example divorce. We had workshops on self-defence for a time. We French, especiaUy in the areas of day care and health. Now that we have an office and a telephone, women contact us about the widest range of issues: housing, social services, unwanted pregnancies...Also, women expressed the need to meet other French- speaking women. Marie Dussault: The study showed that there was a clearly-defined interest for a group hke Reseau-Femmes. Consultations we did later on in the suburbs around Vancouver confirmed that women had a great need to meet other francophone women, to speak French outside of the household, and for opportunities for personal growth and development in French. Several years ago, francophone women had some structures that aUowed them to meet as a community\u00E2\u0080\u0094the church in particular\u00E2\u0080\u0094 but now that's gone. Something else is needed, and we hope to fulfill part of that role. Margot: What might characterize francophone women in British Columbia? Marie: It's not exactly a homogeneous population, especiaUy in terms of the origin of its members. Some women have been here most of their Uves, some have been born here, others are either from Quebec, or from a province where francophones are a minority, or even from Europe. Each experience provides a very different vision or perception of \"la francophonie,\" and with it a different sense of commitment towards the francophone community. But there are definitely common experiences. Isolation is probably the most common one, and the isolation is often heightened by the fact of being a woman. Breaking that isolation can be problematic, if you are at home taking care of chUdren, or if your partner does not speak French. The francophone community in BC is stiU a fairly transient population, probably more than in any other province. It has yet to develop a strong sense of itself, but there are signs that this is happening and the current pohtical climate may weU have something to do with this. Perhaps one of the most interesting facts is that women speak French at least twice as much as their male counterparts, according to another study. It is we women who identify most with our culture, and are con- Women deplored the lack of services in French, especiaUy in the areas of daycare and health. did not receive any funding whatsoever, we asked for a small contribution at the door and volunteered our time. We had a hst of approximately 80 women who attended our events on a regular basis. Several of the women involved in the core group started to want to return to work, and things slowed down for a whUe. We had the opportunity to participate in a study concerning francophone women in BC. We were trying to define more accurately what their needs were, and what may characterize them as a group. Women deplored the lack of services in tributing to its transmission. Women are presently very involved in education and have worked very hard to obtain French classes and schools in their communities. Margot: Does this kind of involvement and subsequent political education also foster an awareness of women's issues? And what about the constitutional debate? Marie: Francophone women can be caught between the two roles, arguing for their rights as a minority and defending their rights as women. And looking for funds on both fronts...It is essential, however, that Some members of Reseau-Femmes at launching of March 1991 issue of Femmes d'action the latter role not be neglected because of the apparent urgency of the first, and that women claim their rightful place within the constitutional debate. Margot: I know that Reseau-Femmes is only now organizing itself into a formal structure, and that your energies have been directed towards this objective. Eas the organization had a chance to formulate its position on constitutional matters? Marie: We have yet to do this, but it wiU be a matter high on the priority list in the year to come. We wiU be forming committees at our upcoming annual general meeting, and one of them wUl be delegated to work on developing a position. We have also been busy in the meantime prepar ing women for an upcoming national conference of the Federation des francophones hors-Queoec [The FFHQ is a national organization representing francophones outside of Quebec] so that they can fuUy participate in aU the discussions. An effort is being made nationaUy for greater representar tion by women in these debates. Reseau-Femmes Colombie Britanni- que will hold its annual general meeting on June 11 and is currently conducting a recruiting campaign. For more information, call Louise Cantin- Merler at (604) 7SS-1520. Margot Lacroix is a writer and a francophone who has lived in Vancouver for 12 years. M.E. a retrovirus? Many unknowns, some discoveries by Joni Miller Women suffering from myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) have too often been told it's aU in their heads\u00E2\u0080\u0094a common enough experience considering the sexism in mainstream medicine. GraduaUy, however, medical research is catching up to the reality of ME\u00E2\u0080\u0094and the news is scary. Recent discoveries suggest that the sickness is caused by a retrovirus\u00E2\u0080\u0094 and that it's contagious. A retrovirus works by inserting copies of its genes into the DNA of the cells it invades, effectively taking over the ceU. HIV\u00E2\u0080\u0094 the virus beheved by many to be responsible for ADDS, is also a retrovirus. Myalgic encephalomyelitis (sometimes derisively caUed the \"yuppie flu\") is a devastating disease that attacks the immune system. In the United States, ME is commonly referred to as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. Sufferers experience extreme muscle fatigue, abdominal pain, headaches, neurological disturbances and often brain damage. They are simply unable to carry on with their hves. WhUe ME doesn't kUl directly, some patients have committed suicide. It's probably been around for years, but has now reached epidemic proportions'. Women under 45 are particularly at risk. The majority of reported cases of ME involve women, although it is not clear whether that is because women are more susceptible or because women seek help for their symptoms. Pauline (not her real name), an ME sufferer hving in Vancouver, can point to woman after woman she believes she may have inadvertantly infected. Pauline worked as a health care professional before becoming too UI to continue. At the beginning of her illness, she beheved her problems stemmed from a case of pelvic inflammatory disease, and she continued working despite pain and low grade fevers. Recently, ME patients have been advised by medical doctors not to donate blood, to avoid kissing on the mouth, sexual intercourse without latex barriers, and sharing food or dishes. \"The idea that such a devastating disease may be casuaUy transmitted is horrifying,\" Pauline says. She now washes dishes in bleach, considers a sexual Ufe out of the question, and avoids physical contact with people. Some friends have told her they wiU no longer visit. \"I'm afraid I'U end up talking only to people with ME for the rest of my Ufe,\" she says. At this point, not enough is known about how people are stricken. What seems to be true is that some people can be exposed to the virus and not acquire the disease. There is a case in Vancouver where a man apparently passed ME from one woman to another via sexual intercourse without getting sick himself. Researchers speculate that some people may be genetically predisposed to resist ME. There is also speculation about the role of stress. Many sufferers became UI after an operation or another type of infection. The onset of the Ulness is usuaUy sudden. See ME page i KINESIS ssssssss^sssas^ NEWS A retiring approach: Excluding those who need it most by Agnes Huang The Social Credit government's longstanding pledge to tackle the issue of pensions for homemakers has taken soUd form in a pre-election biU entitled the British Columbia Retirement Savings Plan Act. In March 1991, Carol Gran, BC Minister responsible for Women's Programs and the FamUy presented the biU, whose major feature is the establishment of the BC Retirement Savings Plan (BCRSP)\u00E2\u0080\u0094a provin- ciaUy sponsored retirement savings scheme which any resident of British Columbia may contribute to. The government claims the BCRSP wiU address the needs of women who stay home to look after their young chUdren, and wiU offer protection to the 1.2 miUion British Columbians without pension plans. The Socreds have introduced the act as For many women... disposable income is a fantasy. an \"exposure bUl\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094a legislative approach' the pubUc has been invited to study and respond to. In order to facilitate the bUl's exposure, promotional flyers outUning the bill's main points and featuring the smUing faces of Carol Gran and Premier Rita Johnston were distributed to every household in the province. The BCRSP appears to have a number of critical flaws when viewed as a method of eliminating or even reducing the poverty many women face in old age. Firstly, the BCRSP is not a pension scheme at aU, but a retirement savings plan. As such, the BCRSP is based on the premise that women VANCOUVER ^ WOMEN'S BOOKSTORE 315 Cambie Street Vancouver, B.C., V6B 2N4 (604) 684-0523 Hours: Monday-Saturday 11:00-5:30 pm ftflfes Subscribe! i Canada ude Canada actuaUy have disposable income to be able to contribute to the plan. For many women, especiaUy those most in need of a long-term solution to poverty\u00E2\u0080\u0094 single mothers and women with low-paying or part-time jobs, many of whom are immigrant women\u00E2\u0080\u0094disposable income is a fantasy. \"H people have to make their own contributions,\" says Jean Swanson of End Legislated Poverty, \"the BCRSP excludes those who need it most\u00E2\u0080\u0094those who can't afford food, let alone contributions to a retirement savings plan.\" Contributions to the BCRSP would be locked into the plan untU the contributor retires. The plan member could not transfer them to other retirement savings plans or withdraw them partiaUy or in fuU. This lock-in clause could discourage many women from participating in the plan. \"Women with low incomes and httle job security cannot afford to invest any disposable income which they cannot access untU retirement,\" says Trisha Joel of the Vancouver Status of Women. The Socreds are offering a smaU leg-up to women who work in the home. One component of the plan is the Homeparents Savings Plan contribution grant, which is seen as a means to achieve retirement security for \"homeparents\" (translation: mothers). Eligible homeparents who pay into the plan wiU receive a matching sum from the government, to a maximum of $500 annually. To be eligible for the grant, a woman cannot be employed full-time or have a total household income exceeding $30,000. She must be caring for at least one chUd under the age of 13, and must have hved in BC for at least three years. This grant, however, can actually result in a disadvantage for the woman. WhUe aU other Homeparents Plan members can withdraw their money within the first 60 days of making their contribution, those receiving the grant cannot. The BCRSP's criteria for grant eligibU- ity reinforces the government's narrow definition of the family. Trisha Joel says the plan: \"disqualifies women who care for famUy members who do not faU into the age category of 13 years, including disabled or elderly members.\" As weU, by referring only to husband and wife unions, the plan excludes same-sex spousal relationships from grant ehgibUity. The BCRSP Act also reinforces the dependency of women working in the home on their wage-earning spouses: women would be forced to rely on their spouse's willingness to pay into the plan on their behalf. The $30,000 famUy income ceiling is low and does not take into account the number of people being supported by that money. If a woman is employed part-time and her spouse fuU-time, a famUy's total income is Ukely to exceed the limit. Part-time workers, however, are not always eligible for the Canada Pension Plan (CPP) and virtuaUy never eligible for pension plans provided by employers\u00E2\u0080\u0094in many ways, the crux of the pension problem for women. In BC, 30 percent of women working outside the home have part-time jobs (compared to only 9 per cent of men), and most of their work is in the low-paying service sector. Many women do not qualify for the CPP because, to be eligible, a person must work a minimum of 15 hours a week or earn at least $136 a week. Aside from the retirement savings plan approach, the Socreds are inviting the pubhc to respond to the idea of mandatory employer's pension plans\u00E2\u0080\u0094in effect, privatization of pensions. To this end, the government has offered to absorb the start-up costs of company retirement plans. Mary Rowles of the BC Federation of Labour points out that: \"Since employers are already facing increasing UIC and CPP contributions, it is unlikely that they wiU add a private pension plan to the benefits they offer their employees.\" In general, Rowles is concerned about the bUl's overaU direction. \"Retirement savings plans have never been suitable substitutes for pension plans,\" she says. In pursuing an RSP approach, the government has indicated its intention to shift the responsibility for economic security during retirement to individuals, without addressing the economic discrimination faced by women during their prime working years. ME from page 7 Jacquehne Young of the ME Society of BC is excited about recent breakthroughs in ME research. The ME Society sponsored a pubUc forum on May 11 featuring many of North America's leading physicians in the field. The ME Society was established in 1988 and has grown rapidly. There are now 30 support groups and a central office. The society keeps up on the latest medical information on ME, publishes a newsletter and organizes events for its members. The good news is that researchers are close to developing a simple blood test to identify ME sufferers. Young looks to the development of a blood test for ME as important validation. \"ME\" wiU finally be recognized as an Ulness by everyone,\" she says. Currently, doctors who diagnose ME must first eliminate other possible disorders as the source of the problem. Then, the patient's symptoms must fit a lengthy set of criteria. Young is also excited about the possibU- ity of researchers discovering a cure. Some people have shown improvement after being treated with anti-yeast drugs and a no- sugar diet. Others have turned to bed-rest, vitamins and diet changes. Acupuncture has proven successful in some cases. Young says she has spent $600-800 a month on vitamins and other remedies since she became UI\u00E2\u0080\u0094an approach that would be prohibitive for most women. A drug caUed ampUgin, tested in the US, may be effective in attacking the retrovirus. Young and the ME Society are eager to have the drug approved for clinical trials in Canada. AmpUgen's drawbacks are lack of information about side effects\u00E2\u0080\u0094and its price. AmpUgen is administered through IV's\u00E2\u0080\u0094initiaUy 3-4 times a week, which costs about $1500 Canadian per month\u00E2\u0080\u0094putting it out of the reach of most patients who are often financiaUy devastated by their inabU- ity to work. Young beheves the true extent of the ME epidemic has yet to be uncovered. She estimates that 80 percent of people with the disease are in denial\u00E2\u0080\u0094afraid to acknowledge the severity of their ulness. Increasingly, ME is showing up in chUdren. Jane, Pauline's teenage daughter, is also coping with ME. Jane finds it impossible to get through a whole day of school and usuaUy comes home midday to rest. PauUne worries about whether Jane wUl be able to finish high school and how she wUl hve with the consequences of ME. \"How can you teU a 17-year-old she can't have a love hfe?\" she asks. ME is one of a growing number of sicknesses related to damaged immune systems. While medical science scrambles to find pharmaceutical treatments, health activists are questioning how the chemical poisoning of our air, food, land and water is making us hteraUy unable to hve within our own bodies. The ME Society can be reached at PO Box 35214, Stn. E, Vancouver, BC, V6M 4G4. (604) 526-3993. Joni Miller writes regularly for Kinesis and has a particular interest in health issues. \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 Individual $12 (Personal cheque only) \u00E2\u0096\u00A1 Group/tibrary/lnstitution $24 (USA: add $2 Cdn or US funds; Other r $10 are fax deductible Return this card and your cheque to: WOMEN HEALTHSHARING 14 Skey Lane, Toronto, Ont. M6J 354 Q Cheque enc D Bill me itional Money Orders Only) wooao* Canada's only feminist health magazine lost all their core funding in the last federal budget ... and needs your help. Healthsharing, an independent voice on women's health issues, must now rely on the support of subscribers and donors. If you're not yet a subscriber, join up. And if you care about women and health, feminist-wise, send along some bucks. Your body will thank you. (P.S. Donations are tax-deductible.) KINESIS ///S///S///////SS////////SS/////S///////////////////////////////////////S/////////////S/////////////S//// yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^ yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy/yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy/ International Perspectives on violence: Acting in our own best interest as told to Kim Irving After nearly two decades of organizing women's services, feminists seem to be facing a crossroads in analyzing the effectiveness of our work. In search of some answers, many women involved in eradicating violence against women have turned to the Duluth Minnesota Domestic Abuse Intervention Project. Recognized for their strong feminist stance and their abihty to raUy together community agencies, they were recently invited to Vancouver by the Urban Native Education Centre and the Vancouver Wife Assault Coordination Program. Based on the teachings of BrazUian educator Paulo Freire, the Duluth Project asks the battered women's movement to examine the personal, institutional and cultural supports that perpetrate violence against women. From here, they ask that we develop teaching materials that come from each woman's personal experience and work towards action that wiU change the conditions of her hfe. An example of this work and a central theme for the Duluth Project is the Power and Control Wheel (illustrated this page). Developing the wheel allows women to examine the tactics batterers use to maintain power and control, and to examine how society supports this. \"Liberation is something we can experience now,\" writes EUen Pence in the Duluth manual In Our Own Best Interest, \"as we act and think in our own best interest.\" Pence was in Vancouver as part of the Duluth team and spoke briefly with Kinesis about some of her work. Kim Irving: How has the battered women's movement changed? Ellen Pence: I started doing this work 15 years ago. Then, women were start-, ing to make the connections between their personal hfestyles and the relationship to power dynamics. We understood that there couldn't be equal relationships with men if the institutions in society continued to support men's power over women. We were going, \"oh yes\u00E2\u0080\u0094that institution and this institution\u00E2\u0080\u0094they're aU screwing us\" Then we got money for shelters. The government got the funds through corporations or foundations and even said: \"we'U pay you to do this work, and in exchange, you provide this service for women.\" EventuaUy there [grew] a difference between who got the services and who was providing them. We saw ourselves as helping battered women. We started using words hke chent. We wanted certain things and in order to get those things we started shaping the description of battered women. And this was the beginning of the distancing. We had to make women seem pathetic in order to get money. So we didn't just describe battered women\u00E2\u0080\u0094we described \"pathetic battered women.\" Such as, if we wanted the pohce to arrest batterers rather than making women go to mediation we said \"women are afraid\" and suddenly we had the \"fearful battered woman.\" Which is true, she is afraid. But as we continued to describe this woman to the pohce, the hospital and whoever else, what we got was the \"victim.\" And we don't want to be that. At one time we were demanding that women have a safe place to go. Now we want to provide that safe place and also control it. And I don't beheve you can maintain a radical base if you are not economicaUy seU-sufficient\u00E2\u0080\u0094which the battered women's movement wUl never be. AU this moaning about how other agencies are taMng over \"our\" shelters is because we've become so economicaUy tied to the work. Yet the single greatest contribution that feminists have made to women is to have given women permission to leave abusive husbands. Many women are getting out of violent relationships. So it becomes a question ot 'how do we organize these women once they are out?\" If we are a part of the social service fabric, the question for radical women is \"do I stay within this framework and try to provide radical analyses?\" Our Women's Action Group (WAG) is one way we have answered this. WAG has about 50 associates, with about 25 active members. Our centre gives them money\u00E2\u0080\u0094 these are aU dirt poor women with a miUion kids\u00E2\u0080\u0094and they aU go out and cause trouble. We've found that most women leaving batterers want a sense of community and WAG has become that social network. Often, many women start in WAG and then go on to other more broad-based groups. Kim: But what if the 'action group' goes too far\u00E2\u0080\u0094and begins to threaten the very foundation where it began ? Ellen: When one does action, it has to be responsible. It is quite possible that the action wUl be taken out on other people. Successes are groups hke ACT UP [AIDS CoaUtion To Unleash Power]. People teU them that they go too far, but they have loosened up a lot of money for AIDS research. We had to make women seem pathetic in order to get money The benefit of the \"unreasonable\" action groups is that behind them there's always the reasonable group who can say to funders: \"Look, you wanna fund us or do you wanna deal with them?\" And the funder says: \"Whew! we'U work with you!\" Kim: And I suppose women's anger gets connected with the action. Ellen: I used to land of fester women's anger, thinking I was helping women, but now I don't see anger as that same tool. I'd rather help women see clarity, see the truth of what's going on\u00E2\u0080\u0094looking at the different forces in their hves and their relationships to them. Anger can fuel women into action, or rebeUion, but it doesn't necessarily propel one into radical thought, into a clearer consciousness or revolution. For example, a woman comes into the shelter, reaUy pissed off at some man. She may say : \" I'm gonna do this...,\" and us, the workers are hke: \"Right on sister!\" So the woman goes off, leaves him\u00E2\u0080\u0094but two months later she moves back in with him. Of course, part of that reason is economics, but it is also that her decision to leave was made in this emotional reaction to injustice\u00E2\u0080\u0094her anger. Kim: You seem to have a lot of disagreement with self-help groups and with therapy. Ellen: In aU these chemical and emotional dependency groups, they talk about a void\u00E2\u0080\u0094the void in women, which women fiU up with alcohol, or with men - something. They talk about searching for serenity, to find 'that place'. And actuaUy, this is not a bad description of women under patriarchal rule. This is a totaUy alienating society for women. Because it's alienating, women seek comfort, seek connection. But even though it's aUenation these groups describe, it gets caUed addiction. I don't beUeve women going to these groups wUl necessarUy get stuck there\u00E2\u0080\u0094 because eventuaUy these groups wiU faU women. H a woman is being sexuaUy and physicaUy abused\u00E2\u0080\u0094at some point she wUl emotionaUy break. For those women who get hooked on drugs or self-mutilate, it's probably not real appropriate to sit down with them and say: \"Here, let's read 'How to smash patriarchy in 100 days.'\" What they may need is therapy. But I think that therapy is a limited need. Therapists are unable to distinguish between who needs therapy and who doesn't. Therapy puts people in a centralized place rather than on [the periphery]. Therapists see personal transformation, personal change as freeing women. And that's the big he. There's no such thing as freedom under patriarchy, yet therapists would hke us to beheve that. Kim: What have you learnt about lesbian battering? Ellen: As feminists, we've always had a gender-based theory about battering\u00E2\u0080\u0094 about violence against women. It goes, men batter because of socialization, for political and economic power. Along with that, we had assumptions that if women were in lesbian relationships, they would naturaUy be in equal relationships. A very naive thought. We now know that not many lesbian relationships are equal. UsuaUy one woman has economic power over the other, or another inequality. It was Sonia Johnson who reminded us that patriarchy is a social construct that permeates the whole planet. Every one engages in patriarchal thinking. Women are equaUy taught to value power\u00E2\u0080\u0094our assumption, and mistake, was that this was strictly gender-based. I disagree with theories that say there is as much violence in lesbian relationships as in heterosexual ones. I may be hopeful and naive ... but I beheve that there is a lot of dominance and shoving, and less \"PH kUl you if you leave me...\" Kim: So how do we integrate all women into the battered women's movement? Ellen: Many feminists often want to help refugee or immigrant women have our perspective. We want them to allow us to work in their community, rather than aUowing the development of process. As white women, the true hberation of women doesn't necessarily meet our best interest. So there wiU always be some unconscious, subliminal protection of white status. We've talked and created a movement, whUe stiU clinging to our class and race privUeges\u00E2\u0080\u0094just as white men hang on to their gender privUeges. No oppressive group has ever given up power, unless it was taken. White women set the agenda at their level, kind of hke '111 get the freedom first and then maybe behind me wiU be my sisters'. Yet, the agenda has to come from the most disadvantaged group. However, unless we can structure a truly shared power, or structure out middle class women in leadership positions, I beheve the women's movement wUl never effectively speak to the issues of women of colour. We need to buUd alliances with aU women and as white women we need to give access to money\u00E2\u0080\u0094that part of white privUege and power. We put a lot of energy into getting men to see things differently, into converting men, when, in fact, it's only when women's consciousness is changed that patriarchy wUl change. I kind of see white women as the dinosaurs\u00E2\u0080\u0094and we get in the way a lot. Kim Irving facilitates groups for battered women in Vancouver's downtown east side. KINESIS Sexplorations International Lesbian Week was celebrated last February in Vancouver, and one of the better- attended events was entitled Sexplorations: a forum on lesbian sexuality in politics, the arts and life. Reprinted below are the presentations by four of the five panelists: Susan Stewart, Patrice Leung, Nora D. Randall and Shaira Holman. The evening was emceed by Bet Cecil. Bet Cecil: We are here to talk about sex. This is not a new idea\u00E2\u0080\u0094 many of us have been doing so for years\u00E2\u0080\u0094but we haven't often come together as a community and talked about sex. This is not surprising. Sex is scary territory and discussions have often been painful and polarized. Our natural sexuahty has been taken away from most of us, often through violence, and the struggle to reclaim it has often been difficult. We often experience sex as our greatest strength and our greatest vulnerabUity. Talking about sex, Uke doing it, can make us both frightened and excited. Our sexuahties are diverse. Our personal sexuahty is always potentiaUy changing. We never know what we wiU discover next. We beUeve that it is important to come together as a community to share our thoughts and experiences. Even more importantly, it's vital that we do so in a way that recognizes each woman's right to choose how she wants to express her sexuahty, as long as she has the consent of her partner or partners. It's hard to share our experiences because it means that we have to be okay with another woman's choices, choices that we might find boring, disgusting or frightening. Or fun, or interesting or exciting. It means we have to move beyond \"my way is the right way, the only way,\" \u00E2\u0080\u0094although it may be for you\u00E2\u0080\u0094to \"my way is only one of a number of possibiUties.\" It means we must really hsten to one another and attempt to stand in another's shoes. It means we must talk about ourselves and not about others. It's not easy stuff. Susan Stewart is an artist and photographer. She was a co-creator of \"Drawing the Line\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094an interactive photography exhibit of lesbian sex\u00E2\u0080\u0094along with Lizard Jones and Persimmon Blackbridge. Susan Stewart: For the past couple of years I have been working with Persimmon and Lizard to produce images of lesbian sex practice. Three white lesbians with varied backgrounds representing a smaU segment of a very big picture. The more images we made, the more we realised how limitless were the possibilities\u00E2\u0080\u0094representing lesbian sex- stepping into the void\u00E2\u0080\u0094that huge absence of images to show us who we are, to show us where we've come from. There are, I suppose, certain advantages to never seeing yourseH represented\u00E2\u0080\u0094a certain freedom of invention\u00E2\u0080\u0094a kind of \"we can create our own reaUty\" point of view. But somehow I wonder if that wiU ever balance out the sense of tremendous loss and the wistful longing for our , KINESIS unrepresented history. We know lesbians have always existed, but we have precious httle evidence and so Uttle knowledge of our foresisters. We can only imagine what lesbian culture may have been\u00E2\u0080\u0094here and there\u00E2\u0080\u0094we can only invent, and surmise and seek for reUcs in a culture saturated by heterosexuaUty. None of us are unaffected by the mass media definition of what a woman ought to look hke. The stereotype is branded deeply into our psyches. Of course the vast majority of women, of lesbians, don't fit this mold. It's like the mold is a mass hallucination of perfected womanhood as constructed by\u00E2\u0080\u0094guess who\u00E2\u0080\u0094that other gender. Pretty effective strategy, too. It takes some fancy footwork for a lesbian to free herself from the \"what I ought to look hke\" thinking. Yet lesbians do it, sometimes subtly and sometimes by blatant appropriation, and sometimes by pure creative inspiration. But I digress. We want to talk about sex and art about sex. Making a lot of sex pictures, and putting them up in pubUc spaces brought us face to face with issues of censorship. State censorship, community censorship and self-censorship. There is an intrinsic relationship between each of the three. As artists working to create exphcit images of lesbian sexuahty, we have encountered each of these to varying degrees. State censorship is a concrete reaUty\u00E2\u0080\u0094laws exist, laws are enforced. One side wants censorship, the other doesn't. Fairly clear-cut lines are drawn and reaction sets in. The opposition is a visible entity, something that can be grasped, understood and strategized around. Like a chess game. Censorship within our own community is quite a bit more slippery (by community I am referring both to the lesbian and gay community and to that diverse complement of hfestyles which includes feminists, artists and progressive ideologues). This censorship is best characterized by stony silences, withheld opinions, unspoken judgments and subtle manoeuvering within our pohtical groups, our press and media, to suppress sex radicals and, if I can dust off an ancient but worthy turn of phrase, the women's sexual hberation movement. The third aspect is self-censorship and we have come to beheve that this is the most dangerous and insidious form of aU. Self-censorship is the enactment of our oppression. It is what prevents us ultimately from self expression, and it is exactly what the moral right-wing is after. Self-policing is the most economic, hassle-free form of repression yet invented\u00E2\u0080\u0094and it is very effective. Nobody has to censor us if we censor ourselves. Yet what is the cost? What is the cost of cultural invisibUity? What can we possibly gain by sUence? A lot of questions get raised for us when we do sex-based work. Maybe you know some of the answers. Why do some lesbians dehber- ately set out to make images that wUl upset a lot of people? Why are lesbians walking into the middle of the porn wars when we could be safe at home in bed? We have such fine-honed fear, why do we keep doing things hke this? How much can art effect real hfe? Where do you draw the hne between art you just don't hke, and art that has the power to offend you? Are there pictures you think should offend everyone? How do you feel about someone who is not offended by something that offends you? Can you be against censorship and stiU be offended? Are there pictures you think no one should see? That no one should take? That no one should imagine taking? Who gets to take them, see them, or decide? If you feel a representation of a particular practice should be censored in some way, is it the representation or the practice that you would censor? Is it because the representation may inspire imitations? In art or in hfe? Or because someone may be turned on by the wrong thing? Does it make you feel any different to know the woman represented has control of her depiction? What makes an image sexual anyway? For lots of straight people, any image of lesbians is de facto sexual, but what is it for us? Is it nudity? Costuming? Contact? Passion? AU of these? None of these? What is at the root of the reaction against homoerotic representation? Why an attack on culture and artists? Where does censorship come from? What is a bad girl? * How do we feel about a lesbian who loves sex? How do we feel about \"a a lesbian who asks for sex? How do we feel about a lesbian who displays J her desire? \u00C2\u00A3 How do we feel about a lesbian who says \"I need, I want sex?\" ...who | wants sex with both women and men? ...who sells sex for money? How do we feel about a lesbian who wiU take off her clothes in pubUc? How do we feel about lesbians who find flannel shirts erotic? How do we feel about a lesbian who packs a dUdo? ...who knows what she wants? How do we feel about lesbians who can't stand to be touched? How do we feel about our own sex radicals? ...lesbians who explore the unexplored? ...lesbians who experiment with dominance and submission? ...lesbians who play power games openly and with honesty? How do we feel about women who are turned on by equahty? How do we feel about our passing women, our stone butches, our ultra femmes? How do we feel about lesbians who won't caU themselves lesbians? How do we feel about our own history? \".a culture evolved from butch-femme dynamics, B/F codes? How do we feel about leather jackets, boots, collars and cuffs? How do we feel about lesbians who Uke it in the closet? How do we feel about dykes who wiU flaunt it? ...display it? ...disclose it? How do we feel about dykes who won't talk about it? How do we feel about words like vaniUa\u00E2\u0080\u0094slut\u00E2\u0080\u0094cunt\u00E2\u0080\u0094bitch\u00E2\u0080\u0094fuck- making love? How do we feel about lesbians who are turned off by butch-femme? How do we feel about Daddy-Boy? Lesbians playing men, playing boys, playing faggots? How do we feel about dykes who claim the phallus, the cock, as their own lesbian love toy? How do we feel about ceUbate lesbians? What do we feel for dykes who wear Upstick, heels, lace\u00E2\u0080\u0094who claim traditional codes as their own? How do we feel towards lesbians who embrace what we reject? What is lesbian desire anyway? Lesbian sex\u00E2\u0080\u0094we get to fiU the blank page\u00E2\u0080\u0094we get to invent it, represent it, Uve it. It's our Uves we're talking about. It's our pleasure, our desire, our sex. From my experience the fastest way to cut through self-censorship is to step over the Une. That line we have, that to cross it means we consciously ignore our self-judgement, self-censorship and self-hatred. We cross that Une and we own our desire. We cross that Une and we stand a httle taUer, we stand a lot stronger and we own ourselves. H we take it a step further and represent ourselves\u00E2\u0080\u0094put a part of ourselves out there in the world\u00E2\u0080\u0094then we come ever closer to naming our existence. And more than that, we begin to create a culture\u00E2\u0080\u0094our own culture. We can start mapping our sexual identity, and the more of us that contribute the more accurate wUl be the reflection. We are an incredibly diverse community and our sex practice is equaUy diverse. As the sUence that has characterized our experience as lesbians drops, as our visibUity increases in mainstream culture, surely it is in our best interest to ensure that we bring our entire culture forward, not just those aspects that are most palatable to mainstream tastes. We need to own the entire lesbian body because each part has a vital function to the other. We've made the mistake before of denying parts. In that confusing time in the women's movement of the 1970's when feminists and lesbians were shuffling.around for common ground, there was wholesale rejection of butch-femme sensibiUties, and we almost lost a most vital part of our own history and culture. What we can learn from that mistake is to look around now and notice who is being left out. What parts of ourselves are too painful to look at\u00E2\u0080\u0094what parts are we afraid to own? Who is being shut out and why? When we can identify these things and shape a movement that is inclusive of aU of our parts\u00E2\u0080\u0094 then watch out. Our culture wUl have a renaissance that is long overdue and we wUl set a model of culture-buUding that is progressive, visionary and hot. Because sex is on the agenda and lesbians are on to it. see next page KINESIS Sexplorations continued from previous page Patrice Leung works in film production. Patricia Leung: Ah yes, lesbian sexuahty. We of the lesbian community use the phrase lesbian sexuahty as a weapon to denounce each other. Why? I think it's all because of jeopardy, as in the game show. On Jeopardy there is only one right answer for every question. And this world is so fuU of buUshit, that we love those simple, one sentence definitions. It makes things much easier to figure out. In fact, we want everyone labeUed so that we have a quick way to assess how we feel about that person without going through the long, labourious process of talking to them. For instance, if a lesbian acquires a certain label pertaining to a certain sexual proclivity of hers and that label faUs outside of our definition of lesbian sexuaUty, then she is no longer considered a noble part of the lesbian community and is therefore an open target for ostracism. She has committed the sin of compUcation and must be punished. She has fallen into a grey area and must be condemned. Now black and white is a heck of a fashion statement but it's not a terribly successful way to view the world. I grew up in a home heav- Uy influenced by right wing fundamentalist rehgion. The rigidity of my \"wonder years\" has taught me that those who deem themselves judges of aU that is righteous and correct have a lot of insecurities and fears themselves. In other words, they are just as fucked up as everyone else. These Christians continue to use dogma and rhetoric as weapons to control anyone who is not heterosexual, white and male. Despicable as they are, I have witnessed within our happy lesbian community the use of dogma, rhetoric and labelling as a means of monitoring each other's behaviour, especiaUy each other's sexual behaviour. This in fact mirrors the control tactics used by our homophobic.detractors. Does this mean that we as the oppressed also oppress? Make no mistake, we lesbians are fascists and bigots, we are not hoUer than they. They have shown us the way and it is time we got on our own bus and head in another direction. First off, lets stop shitting on each other\u00E2\u0080\u0094that's figurative, of course, because anything that consenting adults want to do with each other is none of my business. I'm talking about the pain we inflict on each other. We come from so many different places that we are bound to piss each other off. We wUl never aU agree. Fine. But our tactics are despicable. We use rhetoric backed by personal attacks to destroy reputations and self-esteem in order to win. Sound hke the Gulf war? There is no right and wrong lesbian sexuahty, therefore there are no losers. It's impossible to hke every lesbian because, frankly it would be boring and we would have no one to talk about. But please learn some respect for her point of view and her pain. We aU know about pain, it's the one thing aU outcasts understand. She is, after aU, an aUy against the homophobes. Secondly, speak for yourself. Group think is a power game that exists to diminish those outside the group. Lesbian sexuaUty is what you, the individual, want it to be. Set your own terras and conditions, find others who want to play and have fun. Your choices wiU never have the approval of every faction, chque, caucus, posse, harem and potluck in the lesbian community. So please yourseU. We are a community because we have one thing in common, we are lesbians. Beyond that we are fingerprints, aU unique. No one shares my exact past or my particular present and because of that I would not dare to represent aU lesbians. Or aU lesbians of colour, or aU Chinese lesbians of colour, or aU Chinese lesbians of colour who wear glasses. I represent myself and I am the sum of my parts. I am not a label. I am a human being. I wiU not toe the party hne. My sexuahty is mine alone to choose. I fight heterosexuals every day for that. Nora D. Randall figured out she was a lesbian at 24. She's been making her living over the last 20 years doing writing, community organizing and driving jobs. Nora Randall: My idea about sexuahty is that it works against neatness. And what I mean by that is people have a tendency to form groups, families, friends, clubs, parties, countries, communities\u00E2\u0080\u0094you name it. People-have a way of coming together so they know who they are\u00E2\u0080\u0094and they also know who does not belong. I think that sexuaUty is a kind of countervailing force to this tendency and that our sexual attractions lead us to cross the hnes, change groups, re-arrange ourselves. When a group becomes too closed or too isolated, there is a progression that people go through that we have to watch out for. First of all, people lose touch with each other and then they start to worry that there is something wrong between them. They feel weird and then they get afraid and then they get mad and then they hate and then they fight. My idea is that in order to keep this progression from happening, what we have to do is keep in touch and keep the energy and the infor mation flowing from group to group. I know that this is pretty vague and simplistic, but there is a central truth that I am trying to get at about groups and people and individual sexuahty. I'm trying to work toward an understanding that would make it possible for groups to coalesce around certain values and goals whUe maintaining enough communication with those outside the group that they do not become 'those who do not belong' and therefore\" vulnerable to attack. This is the idea behind how I have been working at being a lesbian in my neighbourhood and at my job and in my art. I've hved in the same house for six years and we've had the same neighbours for that long, too. Mostly our exchanges have been \"can I please borrow your ladder,\" and \"we're sorry our kid ripped up aU your carrots.\" Last spring we went to Toronto for two weeks and I asked the ...our sexual attractions lead us to cross the lines, change groups, re-arrange ourselves. next door neighbours if they would mind the house because we'd be gone. And he said, \"Oh, where are you going?\" And I said, \"We're going to Toronto.\" \"Oh,\" he said, \"what for?\" I said, \"We're going to be in the Queer Culture Festival.\" \"What?\" he said. Now this did not come totaUy out of the blue because for six years they've noticed that just about only women ever go into the house\u00E2\u0080\u0094and they aU watched my 40th birthday party from behind the kitchen window curtain. The lack of men has beenjrind of noticeable. It's just that I've never said anything out loud, face to face. my outfit. They are under my jacket so no one sees them, but I started taking off my jacket in the staff lunch room so the staff could see my suspenders. I'm sure that almost aU the people that I work with have never seen a So I said, \"Jackie [Crossland] and I did a show for the VIEW Festival that was a lesbian story and now we've been invited to the Queer Cultural Festival in Toronto so we're going.\" Several months later I got locked out of the house and I went next door to wait for Jackie to come home. We had a great chat about our jobs and what we did. We had such a good time that I took the risk and asked if they would hke to come for dinner. They were delighted. We had a wonderful time again and they were clearly fascinated. They wanted to know how we came to hve such a different hfestyle. It seemed to me that they had never known any gay people. We were reaUy interested because they had really straight jobs, which we know nothing about, so we traded stories. My job is another story. My job is so straight that showing up for work in slacks instead of a skirt was already radical. It took about two months before people would even talk to me. I can't be sure that it wasn't the slacks, because up untU then the woman who had done my job dressed to the nines including heels, earrings, make-up and hair-dos. When things started to thaw a httle, I added a pair of suspenders to woman do such a thing. Most people are friendlier now and they talk to me. I even invited two staff people to see our show at the VIEW Festival, although they didn't come. But Housekeeping did invite me to have coffee at their table. Now this is a big thing, I waited seven months for this. They don't know how I'm different, but they know I'm different. And httle by httle Fm gaining a place in the group. Sooner or later an opening is going to present itselL Basically I've just managed to get my suspenders in there, but I'm just waiting for the time. In my art, this is what I've been doing for the last two years. Jackie and I started Random Acts [a theatre company] to do performance stories. Our first performance was for a general audience at the first VIEW Festival where we did Mavis Tells the Story of Marlene and the Chicken Yard. There was no expUcit lesbian material in the story, but I played Mavis as a lesbian in the way I moved and talked and dressed. Mavis was lesbian\u00E2\u0080\u0094she also wore a Navy ring from her lover. Our next show was Postcards from Hawaii [a one-woman show]. The character only makes one short reference about being a lesbian, so it's mentioned but you could miss it. Next we did Great Explanations: Four Lesbian Stories. This show was totaUy about being a lesbian. We put the word right in the title so that we would be sure it would be used in the pubUcity. Explanations was about lesbians talking abut lesbians in such a way that anybody could relate to it. This worked weU because many of the reviewers would say, \"This is a show for everybody, not just lesbians.\" Then we did Coffeebreak Characters which was about working women who didn't talk about their sexuahty. However, for First Night in Vancouver, we put together a show of Coffeebreak Characters which included a rewrite of one of the Great Explanation stories so the lesbian lover of the storyteUer was obviously the nurse's aid from the first story. [Ed. note: First Night is a pubUc event on New Year's Eve featuring many performers in downtown venues.] We definitely crossed a border which that audience did not expect1 us to cross, but we aU Uved through it. And there has been another development: we got a letter from First Night organizers saying that they had had an angry letter and two angry phone calls about our performance and they couldn't stress enough that this was a famUy evening and they were returning our pictures. Our idea about this is that they could have sent back our pictures and not ever said anything, but they said something. We sent back a letter saying we thought we were doing family material and that this was a time for tolerance and basicaUy we looked forward to hearing from them. We also sent them the text of the performance. What we are trying to do at this point is keep the channels open because I'm hoping that this is what some people caU \"the teachable moment.\" Then we put Great Explanations and Coffeebreak Characters together for a show in Victoria. We were interviewed on TV and we talked about being lesbians. But, to teU you the truth, that's the first time I was interviewed on TV and I don't remember what we said. Jackie said that we said we hked it. This is how Pve been using my sexual energy to go from group to group to break down barriers and build understanding. see next page , KINESIS KINESIS Sexplorations continued from previous page Shaira Holman is an actor, a photographer, and an artist Shaira Holman: Pve been asked to talk about being out at art school: what it's Uke, why I do it, what's in it for me [to be] pushing people's boundaries, and how they react. When I think of why, it reminds me\u00E2\u0080\u0094without belittling anyone else I hope\u00E2\u0080\u0094of a woman who hid Jews from the Nazis. When asked why she'd done that, she said she had only done what any decent human being would have done. Because I do beheve that this is a hfe and death situation. We must be out to survive, both on the spiritual level and on the physical one. H aU queers turned lavender overnight, it would lessen our problems considerably. It would not solve them, there would stiU be the racial ones\u00E2\u0080\u0094some of my best friends are lavender\u00E2\u0080\u0094but it seems to me it would make the fight a lot clearer. ...they are seen as sex pictures because they are about women with power... Pve never thought being a lesbian was not okay, although a lot of other people did. Pve been out since Pve been out\u00E2\u0080\u0094that is, in high school I did lesbian plays. And that scares me a lot. I get very paranoid being out, but its a huge rehef and very empowering, too. I don't ever have the anxiety of losing a friend because I'm a lesbian, because they would never have gotten to know me in the first place. Where I work in school, there is about one other person who is out. The person I work for is very homophobic and very sexist and prob- but I guess they're pretty far out for the straight audience that I chose. I got mostly blank faces and sUence, but I also got some positive and insightful remarks, which both surprised, pleased and worried me a bit\u00E2\u0080\u0094 what did I do wrong? Yet that was what I wanted and did not expect. I did have one woman teU me to my face how awful and violent the show was\u00E2\u0080\u0094which I expected a lot more of, although I was very clear about the consensual content. A lot of my work is sexual, although not expUcitly so. I guess they are seen as sex pictures because they are about women with power, woman who are sexual in their own right, not as compliments to men, not lacking. I do this work first because I Uke it. I don't have some grand philosophy that makes it sound better than it is. I think lesbian visibUity is very important and I want to chaUenge people's ideas about lesbians and lesbians' ideas about themselves and my own ideas about myself. I hope to go beyond documentary because visibUity alone is not knowledge. A lot of the work is about lesbians as heros. I didn't seek to do this, so Pve been trying to understand why that is. For one, lesbians are my heros, but also I think that as lesbians we need new icons outside of the straight world, to rebuUd ourselves because we've had so Uttle written history. And we do have aU these role models in ourselves. Pve been thinking a lot about context and audience, too. Do I show just to lesbians? If not, do I show the same thing to straights? \"Power and Trust\" bridged that a bit because women were represented as subjects, not objects\u00E2\u0080\u0094and because it wasn't so expUcit as to be titiUating. I just had a piece in a show at EmUy Carr [art school] called \"Not For Your Gaze.\" I put a series of fences around a picture and the fences had names hke Censorship, Representation and one unnamed fiU in your s own hang-up. The picture I used had been in a larger piece with other pictures and, on its own, was rather titiUating. WeU, it was supposed to be obscure, but that did not stop men from getting lots of pleasure from it. I changed the picture a.s.a.p. In the context of a lesbian audience, that original picture or any from that series had a totaUy different meaning. It would not have had ably a lot of other very nasty things. And we get along great. Not because I watch my step\u00E2\u0080\u0094quite the contrary. Just the other day he passed along a photography job to me and we got to talking about acting. He asked me why I haven't been doing much acting. I said that they didn't have a lot of calls for bald Jewish dykes. He asked why I shaved my head. (I stiU have the job .) There are a lot of people who avoid me because Fm a lesbian, because of my art work which is usuaUy lesbian and usuaUy around sex. I don't want anyone to assume I'm straight. Maybe that wUl help the next lesbian. In a new situation, Uke a new art class, the first thing I do is something flamboyantly homosexual. Like \"Power and Trust,\" which is portraits of SM dykes. The portraits are not reaUy sexuaUy expUcit, a fence around it questioning the gaze and it would have been asking questions more about SM. I don't work from my head, it seems to politicize itself later as a \"why I'm reaUy doing this.\" I used to just take a lot of pretty pictures and not think about audience and intention\u00E2\u0080\u0094and I stiU want to do some of that. But now I want them aU to be under the heading of \"Lesbian Landscapes,\" sunsets, anything. Because we do see the world differently, hke a different culture. Of course there is our own individual diversity in that and 111 never try to make the definitive lesbian picture. But Jung said that lesbians would save humanity and he might be right. Many thanks to Terry Thomson for transcribing the tape. a KINESIS yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^ ///////////////////^^^^ Commentary It's the process and support that count by Farhat Khan cialization and the subtle yet profound impact they have on my psyche\u00E2\u0080\u0094and on my struggle to change. This is true for most of us and I cannot emphasize enough the importance of having an awareness of and sensitivity to factors such as gender, race and Although almost one year has passed since I moved to Vancouver, I have just re- For the first time in my hfe I have the wonderful freedom and openness to explore my heart, soul, and mind. Growing up with the difficulties that accompany being raised in two very different cultures often created an almost schizophrenic atmosphere. I hter- llHilllllllllllllllllliillllllHIlllllllllllHillllllllllllillllHllllllllllllllllllliimil I have also come to realize that my pure energy and intentions are not enough to make changes... IHllllllllllllHllllllllHlllllllllliillllllillllllHIiliiiillllllllllHlllHlllllHllllllllI aUy had two different Uves\u00E2\u0080\u0094one at school, where I could never reaUy \"fit in,\" and another one at home, where I was hving in the traditions of my parents. ; Looking back, I honestly am grateful to my parents for instilling in me the wonderful richness of our culture. My mother taught me to speak her mother tongue; I have an insatiable passion for our music. Through an understanding of my culture, I have greater sensitivity towards other cultures. But I also resented my parents for not aUowing me to enjoy a normal social hfe with school friends, for providing me with a university education but not aUowing me the freedom to fully utilize the avaUable resources. I understand that my parents only wanted my happiness and they often were acting out of fear of the unknown. But I did not know who I was or what I wanted from hfe. I needed space, so I moved. This was by no means easy and involved a great deal of pain for both myself and my parents. My courage to overcome the many new obstacles lying before me comes from this precious independence. I have also come to realize that my pure energy and intentions are not enough to make changes in my own hfe, as weU as in this oppressive society. I identified with this vital concern when I first read BeU Hooks' words, in her inspiring book Talking Back\u00E2\u0080\u0094Thinking Feminist, Thinking Black. \"Awakening women to the need for change without pro^ viding substantive models and strategies for change frustrates, creates a situation where women are left with unfulfilled longings for transformations,\" Hooks wrote. My transformation is nowhere near complete; but it has definitely begun and there is no turning back. I know it and feel it in my being. Sharing with other women who are working to change the inescapable suffering in this misogynist, racist, classist society gives me great strength and energy to begin my own struggle. However, I frustrate myself because I want immediate change and, of course, this frustration is only augmented by the countless times I am confronted with my weaknesses. I am almost constantly reminding myself that it is going to take time. I honestly cannot describe the intricacies of aU the things that have been part of my so- cently found a supportive arena that has the sensitivity, patience and understanding to help me at this critical point of transformation in my hfe. We are a smaU group of women that meets monthly\u00E2\u0080\u0094but if something requires our immediate attention, we come together and work it out. Because we are smaU in number, we converse intimately and, at the same time, learn from each others' experiences, struggles, fears and joys. This informal but critical exchange not only raises my consciousness but also allows me to relate what I am learning to every day occurrences. I was motivated to write this article when I read Morgan McGuigan's piece in the May issue of Kinesis \"Wanting more than surviving oppression\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094an art review of the Bevy of Anarcha-Fermnists' (BOA) show Women Surviving Oppression, held this spring in Vancouver. McGuigan raises a very real concern in the women's movement: the danger of involving ourselves in actions that do not effect or create any real changes in the oppressive social, economic and pohtical structures. However, I am disappointed that she criticized women who where at different stages of seH-development than herseU. Providing support, encouragement and positive alternatives to women who are at varied levels of self determination is what is needed. McGuigan is right when she says that \"Perhaps the lack of other dimensions is a missing element in feminism today.\" One of the integral problems inhibiting the women's movement today is the lack of constructive support and guidance for women to progress to critical awareness and action. UntU an understanding of the power structures, the sexism, the racism and the classism that exist in society and in the women's movement is reached, we can expect httle change. For example, individual power is influenced by accessibihty to proper nutrition, quahty higher education, to money-lending institutions. If we want to bring about meaningful change, as BeU Hooks states, \"As feminist activists, as feminist theorists, we must acknowledge our faUure to create adequate models for radical change in every day hfe that would have meaning and significance to masses of women. UntU we construct and unless we construct such models, the feminist movement wUl not have revolutionary impact transforming self and society.\" Slowly, ever so slowly, I am beginning to make smaU but progressive changes\u00E2\u0080\u0094such as writing this article\u00E2\u0080\u0094something I would never have done ten months ago. I wUl probably look back with disbelief that I could have once written so poorly. But right now, this is my starting point. My confidence has strengthened and I have more behef in myself to embrace more difficult tasks. I beheve this is part of the continuous process of healing and transformation that is essential to my hberation. Only when I have found a hberatory voice within myself can I begin to constructively contribute to coUective action. I know I come closer to self-empowerment,with every httle personal victory. Farhat Khan lives in Vancouver. Persimmon Blackbridge Sculptor Persimmon Blackbridge has been known to Kinesis for many years, for her strong portrayals of women, her willingness to grapple with difficult political subject matter, and her visually stunning art work. We're not the only ones who've noticed her. This month Blackbridge received the prestigious V.I.V.A. award. V.I.V.A. (Vancouver Institute for the Visual Arts) was set up In 1988 by writer and curator Doris Shadbolt and painter Jack Shadbolt. It awards two prizes a year to \"artists of demonstrated commitment and creative potential.\" Blackbridge Is an open lesbian with strong roots in Vancouver's feminist, gay and lesbian communities. Congratulations! KINESIS sasassssssvsss^^ Arts Composing Women... A.D. Perry by Margaret Boyes Most of British Columbia's composers are unknown to the general pubUc. They make httle money from compositions seldom performed because of pubUc prejudice against new music. It is even tougher to survive if you are female. Anita Perry and Anita Sleeman are two such survivors. It's In My Blood Anita Perry has written music for plays, film, dance and instrumental groups. She has also performed extensively throughout Vancouver, Oregon and West Germany. However, she is unable to support herself through her music and works as a legal secretary and administrative assistant for a Vancouver stockbroker. Perry was born in AUiston, Ontario and moved to BC when she was twelve. As a chUd, she sang httle songs then wrote them down. \"I compose because it's in my blood,\" says Perry. \"I get cranky if I don't. I meditate and get inspiration from above\u00E2\u0080\u0094from the wind, sea, sky and rocks.\" Her formal piano lessons began at eight. Her famUy presented no resistance to her studying arts and in 1982 she graduated from UBC with a major in music. She applied for the master's program but was turned down for the fifth qualifying year required for composition. \"They told me that judging from the work submitted, my standard of composition was not high enough to be accepted into the qualifying year. One of the pieces I submitted had won first place in the Okanagan Composers' Festival. At the festival, I beat three UBC composition students who were already accepted into that program and had been there for several years. \"I suspect that my gender had a lot to do with the decision. The entire faculty was male, and there was only one female out of 15 students.\" After this, Perry supported herself by doing lounge work and playing piano for bal: let classes. But she developed tendonitis in her shoulders from playing for two hours at a stretch, six hours a day, and she had to go on welfare. Then she met her husband, Andre, and moved in with him, thereby cutting down on expenses. She then decided to go to business school which led to her present job. Perry is always aware of being female in the male-dominated world of music. \"It's a man's world in music as it is in aU areas of Ufe. The connections in the music industry are aU men. The heads of record companies are men. There are very few women produc- \"The hardest thing is to break down the boys' club mentaUty. Even when men beheve they are not prejudiced, they stUl are. \"I have struggled long and hard to get media coverage. Most reviewers in this city are male and that may have something to do with it.\" She recaUed an incident when she was ridiculed by male composers for writing a chUdren's baUet. \"They were conveying the opinion that women are not serious about music.\" Perry is recording secretary for Women in Music. \"Men compete. Women cooperate,\" says Perry. \"A friend of mine says that women are process-oriented and men goal- oriented. The group has a lovely spirit of cooperation which is very inspiring.\" Perry described her music and the process of composing. \"My music is classical but romantic. It is classical in that there is a strong sense of form. I don't improvise when I compose. I hear an idea in my head where I develop it a bit and then go to the piano and work on it there. My music is eclectic. I write in a lot of different styles. Whatever I'm trying to say wUl depend on a certain style. If I want to write something comedic, I might try a barbershop quartet. H it's serious, I might write in the style of Benjamin Britten.\" Perry receives very httle income from her compositions. In 1987, she received $400 for writing a 20 minute Suite for Orchestra for an Okanagan orchestra. She gets royalties from performances of her works. At present, Perry is putting out a cassette of baUet music for classes. This was originaUy piano music, now orchestrated on a synthesizer. Two pieces written by Perry, Serenade and Fantasy, wiU be performed on June 10 and June 17 respectively as part of the Vancouver Community Arts CouncU series, Here and Now. I Think Mathematically Anita Sleeman is a composer, music teacher and performer who hves with her husband in North Vancouver. She describes her own music as eclectic. \"I combine various styles in my own way. In some ways it is traditional and in some ways contemporary.\" She was born in California. Her mother was an amateur violinist and her father a commercial artist. Sleeman began piano lessons at three and started composing in her pre-teens. Her first language is Spanish, and there is a definite Spanish influence in her work. \"I was encouraged to hsten to music,\" says Sleeman. \"There was always a piano in the house.\" At 14, she wrote a group of Spanish dances but did no more composing untU entering a community coUege to study theory and composition. After graduation Sleeman married a rancher and moved to a ranch 250 mUes from Salt Lake City, Utah. She raised six chUdren but did no more composing for the next 18 years. \"It is difficult for a woman to concentrate her time,\" says Sleeman. \"I was a supermom geared to doing 40 things at once.\" \"At first I fell into the trap of everything being loud and lacking finesse because of not wanting to appear weak, but I soon got over it.\" In 1963, the famUy moved to the ChUcotins in BC where Sleeman played piano in a Norwegian fiddle band. Four years later, the famUy moved to Vancouver. Sleeman entered the University of British Columbia in faU as a composition major. \"At this time, our youngest chUd was eight and the oldest fifteen. They had to accept more responsibility which was very positive. \"My husband has always been very supportive. He even chopped firewood to pay my copyist in Grass Hills, California.\" (A copyist copies individual parts for performances from a score.) After graduating from UBC, Sleeman taught theory, music history and instrumental techniques at Capilano CoUege. In 1976, she returned to northern Cahfornia and started commuting to Los Angeles twice a week to work on her Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA). \"The process of composing is not sitting out under a tree and waiting for a symphony to come into your head,\"says Sleeman. \"I experiment with and reject many ideas and work with smaU motifs which I expand into longer forms. I think mathematicaUy and construct music according to mathematical guidelines. \"I tend to think orchestraUy. I have each instrument in mind as I construct each section. I work away from the piano but use it to check things out. \"At first I feU into the trap of everything being loud and lacking finesse because of not wanting to appear weak, but I soon got over it.\" Sleeman had advantages in dealing with her male professors. \"I am not small, and I am older than some of them. Also I was very strong from raising six chUdren and Uving on a ranch. \"When the head of the composition department at Stanford University discussed the doctoral program with me, he said he had no composition students over thirty. When I said how prejudicial this statement was to women, he rephed, 'I had a woman student once, and she was not very good.' \" Sleeman also studied piano and conducting, conducted several ensembles and was musical director of the Golden State Chamber Players. When her DMA was completed, the famUy returned to North Vancouver where Sleeman has hved ever since. Sleeman belongs to Women in Music which was formed in 1989 as a branch of the National Women Composers organization. It is now an independent group and membership has expanded to include producers, performers, teachers, librarians, historians, songwriters, broadcasters, and women in musical theatre. Anita Sleeman \"Women composers have to promote themselves,\" says Sleeman. \"They often cannot afford agents. Creative people often don't have the personality to do seUing. Women in Music reaUy helps.\" Margaret Boyes is an avid hiker, sings in a choir and is pursuing a career as a technical writer. .KINESIS Arts yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy/t. Lillian Allen: Why Why as told to Andrea Fatona and Kathy March do you write? do you sing? In Canada, Lillian AUen is the queen of dub poetry. As a musician, her words with rhythm are a powerful caU to recognize that revolution takes place as the everyday challenges of hfe are met, overcome and enjoyed. The feats of the unsung become liberating as Lillian captures them and frames them in rhythms and beats that stay in your head. There is room for aU kinds of people in LiUian AUen's revolution. She has recently published a book entitled If You See Truth, a coUection of poems for chUdren and young people. This pubhcation is an extension of her creative and revolutionary process, and an attempt to incorporate a wider cross section into the process of consciousness raising. LiUian Allen was in Vancouver for the MayWorks Festival, and she wiU return in July for the Vancouver Folk Music Festival. Andrea Fatona: Can you tell us about your new book? Lillian Allen: If You See Truth is poems for young people\u00E2\u0080\u0094the young at heart. ActuaUy I issued a smaller version about five years ago and decided to do what's considered a booklet version. It's making the poetry more democratic, more accessible to younger people\u00E2\u0080\u0094I think that's very important. One of the big lessons I've learned from my daughter is that kids, young people, are whole human beings; they are not just part of something or an aside. They are fuU members of the human race and we need to struggle to make it as democratic as possible to include them. I've had books before. As a matter of fact, I put out a book before I had a record. It's aU about poetry, art, communication. Any medium is fair game. It aU depends on what one decides to emphasize with a particular project. Andrea: Is there an inclusion of young people in the process? Lillian: I do a lot of workshops and work in the schools. I also try to transform my own hfe to be more aware and more receptive and interactive with chUdren. I'm also working on an album for kids. Andrea: How do you see yourself impacting on young Black artists attempting to break into the arts? Lillian: I work with a number of young people on records and in the publishing industry. Basically in terms of someone trying to \"make it,\" I'm not sure if I can be of much use. I'm interested in people finding the forms of expression and making some kind of intervention in society. I find a lot of young people want to make a record tomorrow and they want to be stars. I'm first of aU asking, \"Why do you want to write? Why do you want to sing?\" and they have to probe themselves to see why they want to do it. Some of these young people think they can sing what they hear on radio and make a hit. I'm more interested in making the world a better, more humane place. I provide a lot of support for people to develop work that's culturaUy responsible. Andrea: How does your book connect to the oral tradition of dub poetry ? Lillian: There is always this idea that Black culture/Africa does not have a written tradition. The point I'm making is that in Black culture there aren't straight lines. There isn't a hne from music to poetry, it's a spectrum. There is Bob Marley, who is the recognition for the work in terms of the labour and quahty, because it doesn't fit into a commercial format. That keeps the artist from making the necessary monies needed to further develop and buUd in their field. Societal barriers of racism. Lillian Allen more music, LiUian Allen with her dub poetry, June Jordan who is more written and even Claude Mackay. So one runs up and down the spectrum, and that's the way I wish it to be. The categories of written and oral are artificial. Andrea: Your video\u00E2\u0080\u0094Unnatural Causes\u00E2\u0080\u0094how did it come about, what is it about, where does it fit into the spectrum of expression? Lillian: I had offers to make a video\u00E2\u0080\u0094 a rock video. I decided not to because I wanted to start out by creating a new form by synthesizing various elements. I chose to work with the less rhythmic of the poems to create what I caU a \"filmeo\"\u00E2\u0080\u0094a cross between a film and a video. I'm attempting to do with that video what I do with my poetry\u00E2\u0080\u0094to transform by synthesizing the brain into one artistic place. To synthesize elements from popular culture using a certain intention to transform that form. That was my intention; it was not to present a person on stage with a guitar spouting \"Buy America.\" I wanted to go a httle deeper to see what is actuaUy going on in society and challenge it. I also acknowledge that the audience has a brain and social responsibility, as weU as hves within a social context. So, as an artist it's great for me to be able to access various creative forms. Dub poetry is ten percent of what I do, it's the part that gets out to the pubhc and gets recognition. As a creative person there are no boundaries. Barriers, but not boundaries. The barriers are lack of access, in the broader societal sense. One does not get Kathy March: Are there challenges that are specific to you, as a Black woman, engaging in the revolutionary process ? Lillian: Racism separates us from those people who are part of the racist culture. As far as I'm concerned this is the biggest barrier; it goes into every aspect of hfe. In negotiating this, even in hberal situations (situations where people are in support of you), one has to struggle with the emotional and psychological stuff. All of this in combination with being a woman who is outspoken and is trying to deal with the T.V. image of what women should be, intensifies the struggle. music and whiten it up and capitalize on it; this is the history of the music industry in North America. Kathy: Can you envision strategies to turn this around? Lillian: We do not have the resources, and we are denied access from institutions. I am constantly trying to catch up\u00E2\u0080\u0094I am trying to make money and support other artists. It's a cycle, it's a tough thing. There are att sorts of strategies, but the barriers are always there. Rap is breaking through only because rap has gone to the people. Canada has missed rap and the music industry does not want to critique what has happened. When they are unable to ignore the biUions of doUars which it brings in, then every one wants a piece of the action. It's opening a httle for the rap artist. The young rap artists\u00E2\u0080\u0094that I work with\u00E2\u0080\u0094their perception of making it is to whiten up, hghten up and be sexy. That's the message that comes from the industry. Andrea: It seems as if young Canadian rap artists have to leave the country before they are recognized here, for example Dream Warriors. And the ones who gain recognition are generally male. Lillian: The industry is controUed by males and they are not interested in having an inclusive vision of society. They are looking at the easiest ways to make money. They do not want to hear from anyone who wiU rock the boat. What one says to rock the boat changes from time to time. The decision makers do not base their decisions on art, social responsibiUty or equahty. Andrea: Perhaps a strategy to address these inequities is to operate outside of the established institutions. Lillian: Yes, it has to be; if your art is generated from a culture and generated from inside of you, it cannot be kept down. One has to find ways to get it out and bring it to the people. We have to network and the community has to become a part of it. Andrea: How does the community become a part of the process, not merely consuming the finished product? Lillian: There has to be a dialectic between the community and the artist. It's a larger process and there is no single answer, it's a pohtical process that needs to happen. We are looking at a community that's been exploited, underdeveloped in terms of an accumulation process. We need a whole pohtical and community process. Andrea: Do you want to recap what you think the revolution is about? Lillian: The revolution, as far as I am concerned, is about normalcy. And that is defined as: there is nobody that is inferior and nobody that is superior. As such, [the revolution] is a dynamic struggle that involves those that have been exploited/oppressed and the fight to empower themselves against exploitation and to work ...if your art is generated from a culture and is from inside of you, it cannot be kept down. Kathy: Marlene Nourbese Phillip [a Toronto-based writer] talks about the racism involved in the publishing industry. What about the recording industry? Lillian: It's just as bad. I have had some experience with the publishing industry; I started writing a long time ago and tried to get published but no one would do it as they did not have the market for it. It's closed shop in the recording industry. It's very insidious in the way the whole industry is buUt on Black music and Black music culture. They take Black art form and at those that have privUege and power. And those that come to consciousness about their power, continuaUy divest themselves of power and fight their machinery of exploitation. It is for us to unite with those folks and fight the structure and the power base. Andrea Fatona is a Black woman living in Vancouver. Kathy March is a Black woman who is empowered by her contact with the work of other Black women. KINESIS .^^^^^^^^^^5^^^ Arts Words that ache v^\u00C2\u00A3vS^ & ignite & hum by Cathy Stonehouse HANGING FIRE by PhylUs Webb Toronto: Coach House Press, 1990 \"The proper response to a poem is another poem,\" writes PhylUs Webb, and after reading her recent coUection, Hanging Fire, the reader's own poetic imagination may indeed ignite. In this, her eleventh book, Webb's writing covers wide geographic territory\u00E2\u0080\u0094from her Salt Spring home to Krakatoa and Leningrad\u00E2\u0080\u0094yet always the drama resides on the page, or rather in the meeting of mind and language, where synapses spark. Words, meanings and ideas criss-cross beneath the surface logic or narrative\u00E2\u0080\u0094erupt out of it. Her poems often start with particular phrases or words that \"arrive unbidden in [her] head,\" chronicling with acute sensi- bUity a writer's response to the world. Often chaUenging in her range of vocabulary, and the rapidity with which her connections take flight, Webb never loses her pohtical edge, her playfulness. She writes of old Hitchcock films, the abuses of animal experimentation, her own writers' community, always keenly aware of her art's limits and possibilities. As readers we experience the excitement of \"Words/ jumping the gun/ on soundless- ness,\" of language as a \"River on which we move undulant,/ forsaking aU else for this infectious cruise,\" as weU as how we \"burrow into the paper to court...Something to talk to, for God's sake, something to love that wUl never hit back.\" Hanging Fire is a coUection to return to for an infusion of warmth, clarity and hght. SKY: A poem in four pieces by Libby Scheier Stratford, Ont: The Mercury Press, 1990 In Sky, Libby Scheier's extended poem in four pieces, fire holds the power to transform sUence/amnesia into courageous truth. The Ontario-based poet, author of two previous coUections, uses language as a knife to carve out the raw elements of a universe that contains both \"cherry trees heavy with black juice\" and the rape of chUdren. Scheier's language is taut and vibrates with energy, as if spoken, not a syUable wasted. White-space sUence has its own voice too, heard often between words, pages, sections. The poem's four parts\u00E2\u0080\u0094Sky Narratives, Ocean, Earth Per Verse, and Fire\u00E2\u0080\u0094 aU display both cosmic breadth and stunning specificity. Sky Narratives explores the human relationship to time: \"the long haul of day- hght...the neutral, permanent night,\" and aU points between. It is also about mor- taUty: this sky/heaven \"we can put our hand right through,\" the otherness of death. Ocean takes us into the push/puU motion of \"the time when mother/ surrounded me and betrayal/ was not possible,\" before reaching Earth, \"a large hand on a tiny vagina,\" a spiralling of dreams, memory fragments, the telling and retelling of the experience of being oraUy raped as a child. The power of this work comes from the unspoken ever-present \"why?\" of it aU, the wonder and frustration of trying to \"pierce the skin of the truth,\" then watching it explode into a million pieces. Scheier's poem presents her complex truth in aU its naked horror and blunt beauty, opening up channels of rage and joy. Her words left me aching, angry, deeply empowered. WOMAN SITTING AT THE MACHINE, THINKING By Karen Brodine Seattle: Red Letter Press, 1990 As Karen Brodine writes in Woman Sitting at the Machine, Thinking, \"those most pushed down have the most to say.\" The urgency of writing these words down underhnes the whole coUection, published three years after her death from cancer in 1987. Brodine's words are, to her, very concrete \"crisp black ants on the galleys.\" They are also a direct means of reaching out, hke touch: \"the idea, the letter, the word, the labour that puts them into action.\" Her language is loose, open, often conversational, always grounded, a response to the terseness of labels, to the matter-of-fact words. Her poems record a hfe\u00E2\u0080\u0094in letters, anecdotes, vivid imagery and dreams\u00E2\u0080\u0094always questioning, always connecting. Her writing reveals the seU she was at home in, meshes her experiences as daughter, lover, worker, pohtical activist and proud lesbian, into the \"repetitive process\" of survival. She bravely contrasts the power of white, capitalist, patriarchal society to dehumanize, toxify, dismiss or even end our Uves with her experience of the bond between women, as lovers (\"never a clear separation of power because it is both our power at once\") or coUectively (\"shouting out we belong\u00E2\u0080\u0094knowing we must take power aU together/ in the long run.\") new and gently used books Feminist I Philosophy - Poetry Native - General I Open daily 11am-7pm Coffee Bar il Drive Vancouver BC V5L 3W9 (604)253-1099 Bonnie Murray Cynthia Brook faROLMG DAWN ORGANIC FOODS) Make Donations of Food, Clothing, Tools, Camping Gear, Office Supplies & Rummage Saleable Things 'ALL v&Hang For the LU'Wat People at /ORGANIC RESTAURA1 Circling Dawn. \No meat, dairy or eggs LU'Wat Support Group Co-ordination Meeting here every Tuesday @ 10 am Store Hours Mon-Sat 10-9 Sun 10-7 WS Juke Bar Hours Mon-Thurs 10-9 Fri-Sat 10-12:30 Sun 10-7 Supporting Non-Toxic Agriculture Only Bfrtrc Supporting Native Sovereignty ph.255-2326^ Karen Brodine She records her mother's and grandmother's deaths with grace and simUarly faces her own, candidly describing her mastectomy, chemotherapy, the inner struggle to survive. Survive she does, in her words, in her tangible effect on other people's hves. Her poems refuse death its power to nullify a Ufe, to remove its richness and ordinariness. \"AU my Ufe,\" Brodine wrote, she felt \"the urgency to speak, the puU toward silence.\" The sUence she leaves us with stiU hums with hfe and possibility. Cathy Stonehouse is a writer and part-time typesetter who loves to get free review copies to add to her book collection. , KINESIS yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^^^^^ y/yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy LETTERS Honouring each woman's vision Kinesis: I have difficulty understanding Morgan McGuigan's critique of BOA's presentation of Women Surviving Oppression (\"Wanting more than surviving oppression,\" May 1991). Although she appears not to have attended any of the poetry and music nights, she writes that the show gave a one-dimensional view of women's hves, in that women are portrayed as victims and survivors only, never actors in deterrnining their own hves. I attended BOA's opening night of poetry, music and art, discussing the experience with several other women afterwards. Our reaction was the opposite to McGuigan's. During the evening we laughed, we cried, we were uplifted by the women who danced, talked and sang of how they cope with the oppression aU around us, and how they fight back. P.J. Flaming, frothing with curls and curves, mc'd the show and kept us aU in stitches with her wicked portrayal of Tammy Whynot. This was a multi-dimensional, not a one- dimensional show. And whUe McGuigan was puzzled by BOA's hanging the work of established artists beside those of amateurs, those of us familiar with BOA would have been surprised had they not done this. BOA is not ehtist. They have never edited women's work, pontificating \"This is good,\" or \"This is bad.\" Instead, they honour each woman's individual vision, without restricting or ghettoizing her by tagging her work \"amateur\" or \"professional.\" As for McGuigan's statement that \"...this exhibit presents women as victims and survivors only, never actors in determining their own hves. Women react, they don't act,\" McGuigan should remember that expressing pain and rage is an essential step towards healing, towards a woman reclaiming her own power. A woman is entitled to work through her feehngs at her own pace, without others imposing their own time frame upon her. Only when all the rage and pain is expressed wiU healing start to take place. The last thing women need is someone inferring, \"Come on, you guys, buck up. Time you snapped out of it.\" But McGuigan herseU sends contradictory messages. A few paragraphs before, claiming the show had a one-dimensional viewpoint, she mentioned the \"celebratory, joyous pieces at the FirehaU.\" H the show depicted everything from the oppressive to the joyous, how can it possibly have been one-dimensional? I, and many others, are grateful to the organizers of BOA, who gave so freely and so very generously of themselves, and provided us with a rich panorama of women surviving oppression. Sincerely yours, Jancis M. Andrews West Vancouver, BC Our feelings are constantly denied Kinesis: Morgan McGuigan's review of the BOA art exhibition omitted an important point about Women Surviving Oppression. It takes a lot of strength to express our feelings when they are constantly denied. Images and attitudes that misrepresent us, sUence us. Women who don't want to hear about our pain, sUence us. H the feminist movement wants to liberate women it must meet the chaUenge to accept aU women's experiences. Thanks BOA for the opportunity to share our experiences. M. McPherson Vancouver, BC This is not Whiteboy Art In response to Morgan McGuigan's review of BOA's art exhibit: It's too bad that Women Surviving Oppression offends your middle-class sensi- biUties after having, as you say, worked hard to develop a feminist analysis. Perhaps you should work harder to overcome your bourgeois aesthetic values. And you've grown impatient with the raw expression of our victimization...aw shucks. What do you want\u00E2\u0080\u0094homogenized expression? Modified, sanitized, deodorized expression? Should we package it? Put pink ribbons on it? What are you saying: \"Be a feminist but don't be rude? You're so unattractive when you're in pain?\" Where have we heard ah this before? What are the positive aspects of sexual abuse? You hear \"Women Surviving Oppression\" and hear a feminist slogan. What Keeping our money in our community... CCEC Credit Union lORTGAGES * Purchase Made Possible * Our knowledgable staff at CCEC will take the time to answer your questions and help you choose the mortgage that best suits you. Pre-Approved Mortgages \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Open or Fixed \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 One or Two Year Terms \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Flexible Payment Options No Renewal Fees \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Optional Life Insurance \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 Automatic Deduction Plan Approved lenders for CMHC Mortgage Insurance and the B.C. Mortgage Assistance Plan Let's talk about it..call us at 254-4100 do you want us to caU it? Women Celebrating Oppression Tra La Tra La? \"...extremely hard to get into?\" For whom? The Downtown Eastside Women's Centre is used by 100 women every day. Where would you have hked us to hold it? At the Vancouver Art GaUery? In the lobby of the Bank of Montreal? The VAG is inaccessible to poor women except for Thursday evenings, and that's when I have my therapy group. Is what offends you that we spUt up the show and you had to walk two blocks? That must have been scary. It was spUt because there wasn't enough space for aU the work. You want it to hang in a big white gaUery with 10 feet between each piece, not crowded over bookcases and sleeping sex trade workers. We don't have access to huge white warehouses, and we didn't edit or censor because it's important that aU women be heard. The Whiteboy Aesthetic would have streamlined the show (for Streamlined read: Censored, Judged) and hung it in the sanitized sUent space of a gaUery. The Whiteboy Aesthetic is about exclusion rather than inclusion. It separates \"True Art\" from the community, from our hves, and creates it in the academic void. It reveres the finished product over the process of hving. Is what offends you that we didn't make it Easy and we didn't make it Nice? You said these women have enough pain in their hves. So what should they/we see? Images of suburbia? Other people's wealth? Hey, that'U cheer them up. Decorate. Keeping it Easy and Nice is how we stay trapped in traditional female roles and our denial. What I find so offensive is your term \"amateur\" which tells me to measure my success by being \"legitimate.\" This is Victory you're talking about when you want us to leave our abuse/oppression behind in therapy groups, coUectives and alternative venues. Victory to me is being able to speak in my own voice and be heard by other women. Who do we need approval from to make it good, Acceptable art? Men? Bourgeois feminists? And we're not gonna get it if we don't stop whining? Yes, Morgan, we are saying that art- making belongs to us aU. This is not Whiteboy Art. This is not an academic exercise. This is my hfe, this is me. Overcoming the ghettoization of women's art is important, but not at the expense of the raw power and honesty of our imagery. Ann Ravin Diane Wood Vancouver, BC In response to classist review CCEC Credit Union , B.C. V5N 5P9 Kinesis: In response to Morgan McGuigan's classist review of BOA's \"Women Surviving Oppression\" cultural event, I would hke to quote: \"One reviewer complained that 'with few exceptions...the poems are despairing, why, agonised. The subjects chosen are suffering, dark, hurt, lonely. There is very httle joy. One wonders why.' I think one knows why. This is the world we hve in, the world from which women must free themselves.\" \u00E2\u0080\u0094Dorothy Livesay ...and... \"There are no personal exceptions. Freedom can't exist in exclusivity, or in a vacuum, in the face of someone else's suffering, and certainly not at the cost of that suffering.\" \u00E2\u0080\u0094Robin Morgan, The Demon Lover ...and... \"The thing you have to remember about scar tissue is that it is stronger than the skin it replaced.\" \u00E2\u0080\u0094anonymous ...and... \"sur-vive v. -vived, -viving. 1. to remain alive or in existence; continue hfe or activity. 2. To hve longer than; outlive. \u00E2\u0080\u0094sur- viv'al n.\u00E2\u0080\u0094sur-vi'vor n.\" \u00E2\u0080\u0094American Heritage Dictionary Christine Cumming Vancouver, BC Morgan McGuigan responds: The women responding to my review of \"Women Surviving Oppression\" miss the point of the review. They suggest that I was saying women should be silenced, give up the strength of their images, prettify their work, stop expressing their feelings or be silenced. This is not so. Nor was I offended by the art work. I found it beautiful and moving. What I was saying was that I agreed with the issues\u00E2\u0080\u0094the oppression exists and was well portrayed\u00E2\u0080\u0094but hey, haven't we been saying that for years? When does the next step come? Is there a next step? In the context of 1991, where in many ways the women's movement which I have been a part of has died, I think my questions are legitimate. I have a right to ask them, and the place to ask them is in Kinesis, not the mainstream media. Viewing the art exhibition raised those questions for me, and in that sense the show was a success. My review gave more attention and respect to the exhibition than many rave reviews because I took the issues seriously and thought about what the show was actually saying in the context of a movement Kinesis represents. Do Kinesis readers want thinking, questioning articles to read, or are they interested in moribund reviews that obvious, unthinking and keep to the party line? Do they want debate and social criticism or do they want to read only party approved propaganda ? Is there no place for this type of productive debate and disagreement? We never talk to those who disagree with us. I was hoping Kinesis might provide a venue for such a dialogue. However, the letters seem to indicate an unwillingness to provide a respectful, thinking response, and in fact fall back into knee- jerk, name-calling diatribes that do not help. I find that very sad. Electoral process violates charter Kinesis: It is this citizen's contention that the spirit of the electoral process of Canada is in conflict with the spirit of the Charter of Rights of Canada when any pohtical party is entitled by to run, for example, nine-tenths of its official candidates as men and one- tenth as women in any given election. What has precedence in Canada\u00E2\u0080\u0094the intent, spirit and interpretive understanding of the Charter of Rights or the right of any pohtical party to run whatever gender proportion of official candidates it chooses in any given election? Sincerely yours, Ronald Douglas Mime Toronto, Ont. .Daughters of Promise j A workshop on . Saltspring Island with ? LOUISA TEISCH June 14-18 $250 incl. food & billeting (604) 653-9406 celebrate the erotic in nature and human nature KINESIS Bulletin Board READ THIS AU listings must be received no later than the 18th of the month preceding pubhcation. Listings are limited to 50 words and should include a contact name and telephone number for any clarification that may be required. Listings should be typed or neatly handwritten, double-spaced on 8 1/2 by 11 paper. Listings wiU not be accepted over the telephone. Groups, organizations and individuals eligible for free space in the BuUetin Board must be, or have, non-profit objectives. Other free notices will be items of general pubUc interest and wiU appear at the discretion of Kinesis. Classifieds are $8 (plus $0.56 GST) for the first 50 words or portion thereof, $4 (plus $0.28 GST) for each additional 25 words or portion thereol Deadline for classifieds is the 18th of the month preceding pubhcation. Kinesis wiU not accept classifieds over the telephone. AU classifieds must be prepaid. For BuUetin Board submissions send copy to Kinesis Attn: BuUetin Board, #301-1720 Grant Street, Vancouver, B.C. V5L 2Y6. For more information caU 255- 5499. EVENTS WANNA GET INVOLVED? With Kinesis? We want to get involved with you too. Help plan our next issues. Come to the Writers' Meeting on Wed. June 5 (for the July/August issue) at 7pm at our office, #301-1720 Grant St. If you can't make the meeting, call 255- 5499. No experience necessary, all women welcome. WOMEN OF COLOUR CAUCUS Women of Colour are organizing at Kinesis and we welcome all volunteers past, present and future to our next meeting. For info about the next meeting, please call Farhat Khan at 734-7885. SINGER MAUREEN FIELD Singer/songwriter Maureen Field will be performing original music in a smoke and alcohol free space at Kewal Cafe, 235 E. Broadway on Sun. June 9, 8pm. $3-$5 sliding scale. GRAB YOUR ECO MUG And come on down to the Annual Kinesis Raffle and Benefit, Mon. June 10, at La Quena Coffee House, 1111 Commercial Dr. Doors open at 7pm, entertainment begins at 7:30 sharp. Entertainers include Raj Pannu (poet); Helga (fan dancer); singer-songwriters Oline Luinen- burg, Diane Levings and Sue McGowan, and Random Acts. Tickets $2-$6 at the door. Women and children invited. Refreshments will be available. This is going to sell out, so don't dawdle. For more info, to volunteer with the benefit, or for raffle tix, call 255-5499 or Christine 255- 1937.. LIES AND LABELS A forum on race, ethnicity and the performing arts. This free to the public all day forum will bring together artists, presenters and audience to examine timely and important issues concerning diversity in Vancouver's performing arts. Presented by Vancouver East Cultural Centre, Vancouver Folk Music Festival and Powell Street Festival. Call 254-9578 for a detailed brochure. Sun. June 2 at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. DONDE ESTAN? Where are they? An evening of literature, poetry and music from and about Latin America. Guatemalan novelist Ar- turo Arias, Salvadorean poet Alfonso Qui- jada Urias, The Folkloric Group of the Assoc, of the Relatives of Desparecidos and various musicians. Mon. June 10, 8pm. Vancouver East Cultural Centre, tix $13 at usual outlets or to reserve tix's 254- 9578. LESBIAN AND GAY CHOIR The debut concert by Vancouver's newest choir includes madrigals, Canadian folk songs, pop tunes and community spirit, featuring the four-women a cappella group, AYA. Sun. June 9 at 8pm at the Vancouver East Cultural Centre. For reservations call 254-9578. PUBLIC DOMAIN Artists Sara Diamond and Anne Ramsden, among others, showing June 14- Aug. 3. Opening Fri. June 14 at 8pm. Contemporary Art Gallery, 555 Hamilton St. 681-2700. ^y^C^AyrK screen print f^dM^K \" DESKS\" (fif /\u00C2\u00BB] ^ (604) 980-1 Eastside DataCraphics Office Supplies 1460 Commercial Drive tel: 255-9559 fax: 253-3073 Call or fax for free next-day delivery! The members of the DataGraphic's collective are pleased to announce that we have joined the Communication Workers of America, Local 226. .KINESIS ANTI-FREE TRADE RALLY Canada-U.S.-Mexico Free Trade? We say no dice. Brian Mulroney wants to throw away Canada's future with another bad deal. Can you live on $3.50 a day? Mexican workers in \"free\" trade zones have to. Rally and march Sat. June 1, noon. Meet at Vancouver Trade and Convention Centre at Canada Place. ENVIRONMENT FILMS \"Mars Is No Option,\" an international film festival on the environment and development. Showing June 7-9 at Pacific Cinematheque, 1131 Howe St. Fri. 7-8pm, Sat. noon-6pm and 8- 11pm, and Sun. noon-6pm. Tix are limited, $5 employed, $3 unemployed, festival passes $30 and $24. Contact Faith Moosang 732-9058 or 688-3456. A MESSAGE OF HOPE \"Un Mensaje De Esperanza\" from Chile. Info panel with members of the Folkloric Group of the Association of the Relatives of \"Desaparecidos\" (detained and missing persons) of Chile. La Quena Coffee House, 1111 Commercial Dr., Wed. June 5, 8pm. (See next entry) HISPANIC WOMEN'S CONF. Canadian Hispanic Congress presents Breaking Barriers: Hispanic Women's National Conference. Fri.-Sat. June 7-8. Holiday Inn Hotel, 711 W. Broadway. Registration fees: general - $30, seniors, students and unemployed - $10. Subsidy available for women with limited income. For more info call 682-2363. LITTLE WHITE LIES Written by Celeste Insell, Little White Lies is a play that deals with some of the problems women of colour face as performers. The script is still evolving\u00E2\u0080\u0094in its present form it's a dance/theatre piece. Little White Lies will be presented as a work in progress at the Developmental Arts Society Festival, Heritage Hall, 3102 Main St., June 8, 13 and 15 at 8pm. Tix $6-$8. For info call DAS at 253-2015. DRAWING THE LINE Lesbian Sexual Politics on the Wall by Kiss & Tell just released as a postcard book from Press Gang Publishers. Join us for an evening of fun and celebration Fri. June 21 at The Lotus, 455 Abbott St., Vancouver. (For more info 253-2537). DRAWING THE LINE: Lesbian Sexual Politics on the Wall by Kiss & Tell Just released as a postcard book by Press Gang Publishers Susan Stewart Join us for an evening of fun & celebration Friday, June 21, 8- 10:30 pm @ The Lotus, 455 Abbott Street Vancouver Kiss & Tell presentation, book signing and \"Loony Auction\" For more information 253-2537 cws/cf Canadian Woman Studies The Best in Feminist Publishing CWS/cf is a feminist quarterly packed with accessible writing on current issues, advocacy, action and theory. Each issue is dedicated to a theme you care about. Recent issues include: Women & Housing, Feminism & the Visual Arts, Native Women, Soviet Women and Women & Literacy. Subscribe now! Name PostaJCode Country \u00E2\u0080\u0094- Subscriptions CANADA Individual $30 +GST $3Z10 Institution $40 + GST $42.80 Single copy $8 + GST + postage $956 FOREIGN Individual $30 + $6 postage $36.00 Institution $40 + $6 postage $46.00 Single copy $8 + $2 postage $10.00 All orders must be prepaid. Enclose cheque or money order and send to: Canadian Woman Studies 212 Founders College York University 4700 Keele Street Downsview, Ontario M3J 1P3 yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy yyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy^ BULLETIN BOARD SALTSPRING DANCE First Annual Saltspring Island Women's Dance and Social. Sat. June 22, at Beaver Point Hall. Food and beverages, chemical free event. Tix's available at Ariel Books, Lil' Sisters, Everywoman's Book (Victoria) and Rare Find (Salt- spring). For more info call 1-537-9874. Limited child care and billeting. SUMMER SOLSTICE Summer Solstice Celebration for women and children. Circle 7-8pm. Bring small gift or treasure to share. Open stage and entertainment featuring Sue McGowan 8pm onwards. Sat. June 22 at the Errington Hall, near Parksville on Vancouver Island. $4-$8 admission. Info 752- 2583. YARD SALE Wed. June 26, 2-8pm. Sounds & Furies yard sale. Interesting books, fascinating clothes, prized furnishings...and more. Come on over and hang out. CofFee, desserts, and more. Your donations to sale welcomed. 2130 Parker (btwn. Templeton and Lakewood). Info: 253-7189. YELLOW PERIL RECONSIDERED Showing of Asian-Canadian art in various mediums, including artists Melanie Boyle, Laiwan, Midi Onodera, Chick Rice, Ruby Truly and Jin-me Yoon. Showing to June 8 at Contemporary Art Gallery, 555 Hamilton St.; Or Gallery, 110-314 W. Hastings; and Artspeak Gallery, 3-311 W. Hastings. AMY DENLO Multi-instrumentalist Amy Denio, veteran of the Seattle Tone Dogs plugs into Don Ritter's computer graphics for a collaborative musical and visual experience. Tues. June 25, 5:30pm at the Western Front. Tix at Blackswan, Highlife, Jazz Hotline or Ticket Master. QUEER PRIDE MARCH Queer Pride: Out Living, Out Loving, Out Fighting. Queer Planet invites all lesbians, gays, queers to attend a march on Sat. June 22 (to coincide with Stonewall Festival). March leaves Nelson Park at lpm through downtown and ends back at the park. WOMYN'S COFFEEHOUSE Monthly evening coffeehouses at La Quena, 1111 Commercial Dr. Featuring womyn artists. For dates and line ups, check La Quena calendars and events listings in newspapers. $4-$6 or what you can afford. Performers, volunteers and information: 253-1240 or 253-1101. LEADER TRAINING Vancouver Status of Women is looking for women interested in training to facilitate assertiveness groups. The next three- day training will be offered on Thurs. June 20, 5:30-10pm, and all day Sat. and Sun. June 22-23. The training is provided free of charge with the expectation that trained facilitators will lead one group for VSW afterwards. Any women interested please call Trisha at 255-6554 before June 17 to register. du Maurier Ltd.* INTERNATIONAL JAZZ FESTIVAL VANCOUVER JUNE 21 TO JULY 1, 1991 Featuring WOMEN OF THE WORLD June 28 Commodore June 22 VECC June 22 June 22 June 23 June 21 Glass Slipper Gastown Granville Isl. Commodore June 22 Commodore Yale ASTER AWEKE The Aretha Franklin of Ethiopia... SUSANNAH McCORKLE Gorgeous sultry singing ... JANE BUNNETT Outstanding soprano saxophonist/ composer... KATHY KIDD Serious Afro-Latin fun... JUSTINE Fresh, contemporary Quebecois sounds ... ELLEN MclLWAINE June 21/22 Electrifying blues and slide guitar... AMANDA HUGHES June 29 Shakes your soul with R&B, jazz and reggae... AMY DENIO June 25 New Music interacting with video ... SHELLEY HIRSCH June 27 Evocative vocalist, urban storyteller... plus... Glenna Powrie, Kulintang Arts, The Happy End, Garbo's Hat, Lori Freedman, Babayaga, June Katz, Jennifer Scott, Dee Daniels, Pam Henry, Karen Graves, and more! Jazz Hotline \u00E2\u0080\u00A2 682-0706 Festival program available with complete details at all ticket outlets, plus music stores, bookstores, libraries. Tickets available at all Ticketmaster locations, Eaton's, Black Swan, Highlife, Uhuru. Charge by Phone 280-4444 Commodore Western Front Western Front WOMEN IN MUSIC Thurs. June 20 Women In Music is having a fundraiser at La Quena, 1111 Commercial Dr., 8-llpm. Performing are Rhodea Merol, Lyncaster, Gail Bowen, Violette DuBeau, Cynthia Rose Grant, Lori Freedman among others. Admission $7 employed, $5 unemployed. DISPUTED IDENTITIES Disputed Identities is a mixed survey of works by multicultural video and image makers from Britain and the U.S. Photography works by Ingrid Pollard, Diane Tani, Carrie Mae Weems. Video works by Sharon Jue, Valerie Soe among others. Showing till June 16 at the Presentation House Gallery, 333 Chesterfield Ave., N. Van. Hrs. Wed.-Sun. 12-5pm and Thurs. 12-9pm. 986-1351. YWCA REUNION Calling all past Vancouver YWCA volunteer fitness instructors. The Van. YWCA is planning a reunion of volunteer fitness instructors on June 6. If this is you, please call Program Registration at the YWCA, 683-2531. SUBURBAN IMMIGRANT SENIORS The Burnaby Multicultural Society invites you to the launching of their report Hidden Faces: A Survey of Suburban Immigrant Seniors. Taking place at the Bonsoi Recreation Complex, 6550 Bonsor Ave. in the \"Multi-use Rm.\" June 13, l-4pm. Further info: 299-4808. GLC VIDEO NIGHTS The Gay and Lesbian Centre, 1170 Bute, is showing The Colour Purple, Thurs. June 20, 7:30pm. GLC members free, non- members $2. STONEWALL FESTIVAL The 1st Annual Vancouver Stonewall Festival In The Park will be held 12-6pm Sat. June 22 in Nelson Park (Nelson & Thurlow). Performances include theatre, dance troupes, choirs, bands and sports demo's. The Gay/Lesbian Centre and the Pacific Foundation for the Advancement of Minority Equality (PFAME) are hosting this event. Call 684-5307 for more info. ASTER AWEKE Performs at the Commodore on Fri. June 28, 10pm as part of the International Jazz Festival. Tix available at Highlife, Blackswan, Jazz Hotline and Ticket Master. SOUNDS & FURIES NIGHT A Sounds & Furies night for women on Sat. July 6 at the W.I.S.E. Club. Poetry and lesbian erotica readings by Chrystos, original music by Sue McGowan and Jackie Parker-Snedker, bassist, womyn's craft market, cappucino, desserts, dinner, dancing, fun, fun, fun. Crafts and cappucino at 5pm, dinner avail, from 6pm, show begins at 8:30pm. Sliding scale $6- 12, tix avail from Ariel and Bookmantel. Smoke and alcohol free. Info: 253-7189. Ariel Books With' &qtffos 0bster9<&fam has moved to 1988 W 4th & Maple Vancouver, B.C. V6J 1M5 733-3511 \IRHEART Jnternational Travel Jl call 251-2282 for travel arrangements and information on the 16th Michigan Womyn's Music Festival August 13-18, 1991 2149 COMMERCIAL DRIVE VANCOUVER y\u00C2\u00A3\"fy CUPE AGENCY Astarte's Branching Out! Astarte Sands is pleased to announce that she's moving her Shiatsu practice from her home to a small studio: 1-509 Carrall St. (at Pender) June 1st 1991 - same phone 251-5409 KINESIS Bulletin Board XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX >XX "Preceding title: Vancouver Status of Women. Newsletter.

Date of publication: 1974-2001.

Frequency: Monthly."@en . "Periodicals"@en . "Newspapers"@en . "HQ1101.V24 N49"@en . "HQ1101_V24_N49_1991_06"@en . "10.14288/1.0045777"@en . "English"@en . "Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library"@en . "Vancouver : Vancouver Status of Women"@en . "Images provided for research and reference use only. Permission to publish, copy, or otherwise use these images must be obtained from the Digitization Centre: digitization.centre@ubc.ca"@en . "Original Format: University of British Columbia. Library. Rare Books and Special Collections. HQ1101.V24 N49"@en . "Women--Social and moral questions"@en . "Feminism--Periodicals"@en . "Kinesis"@en . "Text"@en . ""@en .