Why I Love Canada

I work in a shopping mall where I meet and help hundreds of Canadians every shopping season.

I grew up on Lake Erie, where on a clear day, you can see Canada like a haze in the distance.

Hockey is one of the only sports I can actually become invested in watching.

None of this explains why I'm suddenly so interested in Canadian politics. 

Be still, my beating heart

Nah, I'm into Canada because its new Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (who's been in office only two weeks) has appointed his cabinet -- and it is completely gender-balanced with 15 men and 15 women. The news has me wanting to bundle up and go enjoy some maple syrup and universal healthcare for the duration of their time in office. 

When asked by reporters why he's chosen to represent men and women equally in the Canadian government, Trudeau, who is "proud to be a feminist," said nonchalantly, "Because it's 2015." 

Jody Wilson-Raybould, REPRESENT

What's even better about Trudeau's appointments is the fact that not all of the people in his cabinet are white, which means that Trudeau's Canada is getting close to gender and racial equality. He wanted to "present a Canada that looks like Canada." And I don't mean tokenism; his appointments of people of color have been smart decisions based on merit and logistics. 

For example, Jody Wilson-Raybould, the new justice minister, is a First Nations woman; as Canadian indigenous women keep disappearing, Wilson-Raybould certainly seems best suited for the job which focuses on tribal legalities. 

(I'm not gonna lie, I'm getting so pumped up here that it's hard not to say "we," counting myself as an honorary Canadian, which I'm not. Unfortunately.)

Come on, America; keep up.

While some reporters say that we shouldn't celebrate this because gender equality should be common sense, I tend to disagree. I mean, of course equal gender representation in politics should be common sense; in America, didn't we secede from Britain because they wouldn't represent us? But that doesn't mean that these steps which are happening shouldn't be celebrated, because the simple fact is that they aren't commonplace.

Even if it's trendy to be a feminist in pop culture (I'm looking at you, Certified White Feminist Taylor Swift), it's hard to find politicians who are out and proud about true gender equality.

All hail the cabinet

So I'm going to keep celebrating Justin Trudeau and his cabinet, and I'm sending mad love to my friends in the north. 

H&M: "White people convey a more positive image"

Some of the photo ads found in the South African stores

This week, popular clothing retailer H&M came under fire for using only white models in ads for their new South African store because they "promote a more positive image for the brand."

What?

H&M just opened their new South African stores, much to the delight of South African lovers of cheap clothing. However, after launching the store, shoppers started noticing something funny: there was almost zero racial diversity in the store's photographs. The company was contacted on Twitter after shoppers about why ads for the store contained only white models. In a failed effort to explain themselves, the company's reps sent out the following tweets:

Courtesy of @_ZuluRose

I don't need to explain why this is unacceptable. Racism is sneaky these days, and this is just one manifestation of an ingrained racism we face today. Still, society as a whole equates whiteness with beauty (and apparently, positivity?) and any other color with, you know, negativity. I guess.  

In response to the backlash, H&M released this statement:

"H&M regrets the response to a social media message that was recently aired on Twitter and wishes to clarify the intention of the message. In no way does H&M state that positivity is linked to an ethnic group. H&M is proudly a global brand that embraces all people who are inspired by fashion, regardless of ethnic background, gender or culture. We wish to [apologize] if our message has caused [offense] in any way as this was not the intention."

Which basically boils down to, "I'm sorry we let out that giant Freudian slip, please keep spending your money at our stores. We hire people of color sometimes, and we love your money."

Idrissi in one photo from her ad campaign

Two months ago, H&M hired their first hijab-wearing Muslim model, Mariah Idrissi, and I had high hopes for the future of diversity in this company (although, I still I have reservations about a corporation that definitely makes their clothing in sweatshops).

But it's clear we still have a long way to go.

Design Post #3

For this design post, I'm going to talk about fonts, and why I chose to use the fonts that I am using in this blog.

First, as an English major, I sometimes get a bit bored with standard Times New Roman fonts; it's what all of my papers are typed in, and while it holds a place in my heart, it's not quite modern enough for a casual blog like this.

So I knew I wanted a script font for the blog title to make my blog look slightly elevated and classy. Also, script fonts look feminine, which ties into the theme of this blog.  This is a font which looks very similar to the one I chose for my title. 

Courtesy of awwwards.com

However, this font is too busy for the headings and descriptions; when tracked closely with so many words, it could be difficult to read (trust me, I tried it). So I chose a more readable font, Tillana, for my heading titles and blog descriptions along the right side of the page.

Tillana courtesy of Google Fonts

Still, even Tillana looks sloppy and unreadable in large amounts of text, so for the body text, I chose a simple, standard sans serif font -- the one you're reading now!

#feministfriday

Fridays are great for a lot of reasons: the end of classes, a relaxing weekend, the chance to step away from academia with a good bottle of your choice of poison and let loose with your friends. 

But I'm going to take a moment to promote something here at SRU that Fridays are all about: feminism. 

The #feministfriday pins worn weekly by FMLA

This semester, the Slippery Rock chapter of the Feminist Majority Leadership Alliance celebrates feminism by tweeting out reasons why they celebrate womanhood and equality with the hashtag #feministfriday. Members of the organization also wear pins (like the one pictured here) around campus on Fridays to spread the word and get people talking about gender equality. 

The discussion is a simple one, and a hashtag isn't going to fix the gender disparity in this country, but it's a good place for a group of undergraduate activists to start.

By making a solid effort to take part in #feministfriday, FMLA and SRU take part in a national conversation about feminism and gender equality; on October 30, several feminist organizations took to Twitter using the hashtag to discuss women's healthcare, women's roles in the workforce, and women's safety concerns. 

The goal is to talk about women's issues until they become everyone's issues and must necessarily be addressed.

Take a moment on this rainy Friday to consider what equality means to you, and to celebrate the women in your life.

And happy #feministfriday, y'all!

This photo (taken from the SRU FMLA twitter) is why #feministfriday is important

I'm too tired to fight the workforce

Last week, a friend of mine got the internship of her dreams. Naturally, I was ecstatic for 
her . . . until she came home on her first day looking severely discomforted. When I asked her what was wrong, she said that nothing had happened, that the day went fairly well -- except her new boss had asked that she not wear heels again.

The shoes with the power to eliminate my friend's credentials 

Why?

"Because the heels made her taller than the men in the office, and really, how can you expect the men to respect you professionally when you're taller than they are? It's just  not right."

That's right: my friend, an accounting student who had beat out fifty other applicants to get this position, was told that she would not be treated fairly, or judged on the merits of her work, if she was taller than the men in her office.

Hopefully this sounds as absurd and offensive to you as it did to me. I had hoped this was an isolated incident, but I wasn't surprised that it's not.

Women already have a more difficult time in the work force when it comes to wage disparity and expectations from employers to lean in (a concept introduced by Sheryl Sandberg), but apparently, in some workplaces, this is not enough: women must also take care of their coworkers egos.

Graphic courtesy of  Brandon Gaille

This isn't uncommon: one-third of all women report feeling some sort of bias or discrimination at work. What's disappointing is that it isn't uncommon.

I don't have a solution for this, or frankly, much energy to fight it. The sad fact is that we live in a world that necessitates articles that teach women how to get respect in the workplace, but coddles men who feel threatened by female colleagues, or even fight back against female bosses for the sake of their fragile masculinity.

Tomorrow, my friend will return to her internship, hoping to advance in the company but perhaps to join the ranks of the one-in-three women who are sexually harassed at work. 

Regardless, she'll do it in flats.

Design Post #2

In keeping with the theme of finding inspiration while getting dressed in the morning, my next design inspiration came from my mascara wand. What I really liked about the design of the wand's label is the combination of the label colors, the shiny effect, and the typographic effect of in the "A."

The colors fade from green, to navy, to purple, to magenta. There is black in the mix as well; the effect is striking because it is dark, but also a bit feminine.  It makes me consider changing the colors of my blog to something a bit darker, because I tend to like darker colors myself anyway. 


The shine on the packaging is attention-grabbing, and although it would be hard to recreate a metallic shine in a blog, I could work on making my blog more attention-grabbing.

Finally, the "A" in the word "LASH" has a typographical effect; it swoops up beyond the rest of the letters, almost connecting to the brand name above it. This is a unique effect, and it inspires my thoughts of typography on the blog. Using dimensions outside the normal Roman fonts could be quite attractive, or at least set my blog title apart from other texts.

A Feminist Movie Review: Crimson Peak

The official movie poster.

At the risk of stepping on the toes of my classmates who run film review blogs, I would like to take this opportunity to write about a film I saw recently and loved, not just for its aesthetics (which were gorgeous) or its plot (which was spooky) or its gore (which was a little too much for me, but was all artfully done, so I handled it).

I loved Crimson Peak because it was a true tribute to women in film -- all because it didn't make a big deal about being a film about two women.

Just so you're warned, there will be spoilers beyond this point: read at your own risk!

Set in the turn of the 20th century, Crimson Peak is the new movie by director Guillermo del Toro of Pan's Labyrinth fame. Starring Mia Wasikowska, Jessica Chastain, and Tom Hiddleston, it follows the life of Edith Cushing (Wasikowska), an aspiring writer (and young feminist) as she falls in love with a mysterious man (Hiddleston) and becomes engaged in a dark scheme involving his sister Lucille (Chastain). Edith ends up further entrenched than she ever bargained for, and finds a well-suited sparring partner in Lucille.

And that's what I loved about Crimson Peak. Although it is a love story between a woman and a man, and although the love is real, the real struggle is between the Edith and Lucille: they are matched in wit and intelligence, and, by the end of the film, with weapons. Because finally, when Edith has reached the climax of her story and she must fight for her life against dark forces, she is allowed to do it for herself; no man saves her from her own fate. 

(A fate, which, incidentally, is allowed to be as bloody and brutal as any battle a man is allowed to fight. Edith and Lucille do not sacrifice brutality because they are feminine women. The effect is visually striking and politically reverberating). 

A moment from the final battle

It's also worth noting that there is a sex scene in Crimson Peak, and unlike nearly every other sex scene in cinematic history, it is the man who is undressed, all so that the overall message was that the woman in the scene could take control of her own sexuality. A conscious choice made to further the feminist ideas of the characters? I was shocked and loving it. 

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about the Bechdel test for movies (Does the movie, 1) have at least two female characters, who 2) have a conversation with each other about 3) anything but a man?) 

Crimson Peak didn't just pass the Bechdel test: it bludgeoned it over the head.

(If you've seen the film, you'll know I just made a joke. Yay!)

Even more thrilling was the research I did after I saw it, when I found out that del Toro took a pay cut on his own salary to convince the studio that funding a female-centric film was a worthy venture.

SO MUCH STABBING

If this was a review blog, I would give this film five stars; even if you're not particularly interested in its feminist tones, it is still an aesthetically beautiful film (as del Toro always delivers) with a good story, twists and turns, plenty of blood, and one particular twist which had me shouting "OH GROSS OH MY GOD" to the person I was seeing the film with.