How About 'March For Choice' Day?

I wrote about this fucking shitshow last year, and it seems like we've reached that time again. Yes, once again, it's time for all those who value vague bits of genetic material over the lives of actual human women to gather together, march to our nations' capital and give away a free iPod or two to the kids that are there on mandatory field trips.... wha???

Okay, I don't think I need to get into how fucked up it is that the pro-life movement is targeting young people with a 'hip and with it' new campaign strategy. It's pretty obviously, completely fucked up. I'm not even going to get into how bizarre it is that is seems to be working, although it is, to me at least, quite effing bizarre. Let's instead focus on what fucking frightening timing this rally comes at.

I've talked about Stephan Woodworth before, haven't I? In case you need a quick refresher he's the asshole who seems to be pushing the hardest for the abortion debate to be reopened. As a backbencher for Herr Harper, one can hardly be surprised. However, the P.M. has held strong to his promise that the debate shall not be reopened. Woodworth seems unfazed by his masters' words and presents himself as an ally, perhaps even a leader to the evangelical and otherwise brainwashed hordes, their shining beacon, their voice on Parliament Hill.

People like Woodworth and his followers are the people that picket clinics set up to help women in need. They're the ones that perpetuate the myth that women use abortions as birth control. They're the ones that leak clinic records to the public at large, shame single women that couldn't support the children they'd have to care for, shame the rape victims for aborting the fetus that shares the DNA of their attacker, shame every woman who dares to make a choice. They're the ones that bomb clinics, kill abortion doctors and make women fear the potential of getting pregnant even more than they already have to. They're bullies. Some might even call them terrorists. But, in the name of their god, they're just doing what they think is right, aren't they? Am I so off base here? To compare pro-lifers with any other group of religious, god-fearing terrorists?

Of course I am. I couldn't say that if it weren't for the anonymity the internet provides. That's your freedom of fucking speech right there. The freedom goes to who it always goes to. That's why there's a 'March For Life' Day, but the supposedly Liberal mayor of Ottawa won't greenlight a 'March For Choice' Day. That's why there isn't a 'March For Choice' Day. And if there is somewhere, that's why it's not of this magnitude. Because no matter how "Liberal" you are, no matter how much you're all for freedoms, freedom of speech, freedom over yourself and your body, etc. it always stops short of women. No one ever backs a womans' freedom of speech unless they're slamming other women. The pro-lifers get heard all the time, because the freedom of speech is not universal. It belongs to men, and men do with it as they see fit.

These people, marching for life, are they ever around after the babies are born? Are they ever there to help the single mothers who go through with their pregnancies? Do they babysit to these women can finish school and get better jobs so that they can support their children better, in lieu of the fathers in absentia? Do they provide financial support to the women who can't make ends meet, but had no choice but to conceive? Of course not. Doing god's work isn't about making sure people turn out okay. It's just about getting your message across and getting your way, whatever the consequences, innocent bystanders be damned. Those are the people in the "March For Life". Rest assured that this parade will never march with one like that.

Regular Posting To Resume Soon, Until Then Here's Something To Be Pissed Off About.

Still quite busy, regular posting should resume sometime next week. But, I couldn't pass up the chance to comment on this. It's not much of an article, but to sum it up Mr. Kyle Richards of Detroit Michigan seems to feel that while he's in jail for bank robbery, he should be allowed his fill of pornography. Being denied said pornography constitutes a "poor standard of living". He feels he is being subjected to "sexual and sensory deprivation." Huh.

Do I even really need to go on a rant about this? Is it even fucking necessary?!?! He's in jail for bank robbery! Jail is not a free-fucking-ride-pleasure-fucking-cruise, first of all! You don't get what you want in jail! If I was in jail, I wouldn't lament the lack of foie gras, truffles and caviar on the dinner menu, saying that anything less than five-star meals constitutes a poor standard of living or culinary deprivation! Next, I will again state that pornography is violent slavery and depictions of dead and soon-to-be-dead women, posed and violated and raped and beaten and killed against their will. It should be stamped out completely, not distributed willy-nilly to prisoners! And, as a matter of fact, I believe that  pornographic material is ruled on a jail to jail basis, as there are still some prisons that hire prostitutes for inmates to rape over the holidays, so that they're not too lonely or whatever garbage excuse wardens come up with to justify the abuse of women by the inmates they're charged with keeping. Part of the problem is that it's men who are the prison executives and wardens, in charge of the institutions that house other men. It's a rape culture mobius strip, as most industries are in todays' society, that just perpetuates hatred of women in all levels of its' being. If prisons are distributing pornography and hiring prostitutes for inmates (and presumably prison staff as well) then how are women employed at said prisons supposed to be safe? Women employed as medical staff or guards (I'm not sure if women are allowed to be guards at male prisons, but if they are this only heightens the danger that they already face) are seen by the inmates and their male co-workers as sub-human due to this material and these practices. It's fucked up. I don't even know how this can be allowed to go on. Prisons are supposed to rehabilitate prisoners. Instilling in them an intrinsic hatred of women seems to go against at least my definition of rehabilitation.

And then there's the P.O.V. sidebar on the story. The CBC likes to run these, wondering what we think about certain issues. "Should prisons accommodate individual inmates' needs?" it asks, linking to this related story and poll. 65.26% of voters say no, but I think that the whole survey is garbage. An individual prisoners' need might be braille. It might be a nut-free meal. It might be a wheelchair ramp.

IT, HOWEVER, IS NEVER PORNOGRAPHY

There is a difference between the needs of an individual prisoner as an individual human being to accommodate his/her basic human needs and the wants of some fucking pervert that will most certainly prove detrimental to his own rehabilitation and dangerous to the public at large. This should not even be a debate. This man shouldn't be deprived of pornography because he's in jail for bank robbery. He should be denied pornography because it's murder on paper, dehumanization between covers, stapled slavery. He should be denied pornography because pornography denies the rights of half the fucking planet. Despite my best efforts, I may not be able to get pornography out of the corner store, off my T.V. and away from my internets, but I sure as shit don't think it belongs in prisons of all places. This kind of "freedom of speech" bullshit by dudes is going too far now. The damage being done is becoming irreversible and generations deep. Those are generations yet to come I'm speaking of. Pornography and the damage it does needs to be stopped now. Perhaps prisons are the place to start.  

Oh Work, Yr So Crzy!!!1!

Work makes you crazy. Or something. That's what a recent study of the Canadian workforce tells us. Around 44% of Canadian workers face or have faced mental health issues which have impacted their work, their work environments and their livelihood. The study seems not to differentiate between stress and mental issues caused by the workplace and those that were preexisting before said employment. And that's what I want to talk about.

How many people have worked in an environment where they felt completely safe? Safe to be themselves? Safe to dress as they pleased, speak their mind on issues no matter their opinion or personal politics? Safe regardless of their sex, gender identity, sexual orientation, race, religion or any other factor that may differentiate them from the ruling class? If you're a white, heterosexual male, you probably answered yes. Actually, you probably answered something like: "Yo dawg, work sucks, but nobody gets on my ass about shit like that, nawmean? They just fuck with me when I'm late 'cuz I was at the club real late last night and I'm all hungover and shit. Fuckin' slave drivers."

For women, people of other races and religions and LGBTQI folks, the workplace is much scarier. At best, you're treated like a curiosity, especially if you're the only one of your particular group around. You'll probably be tokenized, asked questions about your group as if you're the spokesperson, be pandered to and talked down to. Your co-workers might try to "relate" to you. All of this is unwelcome and makes one feel like an outsider, an other. But, it can get much, much worse as I'm sure most of you can attest to.

Because even though discrimination in the workplace is technically illegal in Canada, well, not everybody gives two shits about that fact. And that's putting it mildly. Workplaces are rife with slurs, catcalls, derogatory names and jokes, unwanted physical contact, threats and violence. White, heterosexual males don't have to fear this stuff. They're usually the ones that're behind it, protecting their precious "freedom of speech" and being "caped crusaders in the war against the PC bullshit ruining this country" and whatever. Meanwhile workers of any marginalized group feel the inequality, knowing that their coworkers resent and hate them, chalking up the presence of minorities in the workforce to "quotas" and "affirmative action". And people aren't making the connection between oppressive environments like this and mental health issues? Really?

There's a bigger picture getting revealed here. Mental health issues in the workplace can be tied directly to rising rates of self-harm and the increase of hate crimes in Canada. There is a war going on here at home. And it goes on in homes and at workplaces and in public places and in private places. The war is against the oppressed groups, the people who already have it hard enough. Women, homosexuals, transgender folks, aboriginals, Afro-Canadians, Muslims, Jews, Indians and Hindus, and all other groups that aren't of the three pillars of the ruling class: White. Heterosexual. Males. These are your bosses, your supervisors, your rule-makes and rule-breakers. These are the people that hold your employment and livelihood in their hands nine times out of ten. These are the people that want you to laugh at their jokes, accept their workplace pornography and let their bigotry run amok. And if you oppose them? Well, look at the job market these days. They hold the power. But they need workers. Can we, as a workforce band together and demand better for everyone? Can we hold our brothers and sisters of all races, religions and identities high and demand the equality that would create not just safe workplaces, but safe communities, neighborhoods, towns and cities? Is this power in our hands? Not without organization and camaraderie within the ranks, no. But, if we can foster understanding with one another as members of the non-ruling class, and if those of us that fit the bill of the ruling class refuse to perpetuate the oppressive behavior, if we can stand up for the oppressed too, really stand up for them with no fucking ulterior motives, then maybe, just maybe change can come about. It's a longshot, but doing nothing will accomplish nothing. As long as we live in this society, we need to work. Our jobs shouldn't be the cause of so much misery and pain.

I stand behind any worker of an oppressed group who's ever taken a stand against a racist, sexist or otherwise bigoted employer. I stand behind any worker who actively tries to make a workplace more inclusive and friendly for all workers. I stand behind employers who implement and believe in their fairness and workplace protection polices, who actually protect their workers for the right reasons. I stand behind you, and wish there were more like you. It is you that should be the norm, and your example that should be followed. Thank you to all the brave employers and employees out there, working hard not just at their jobs, but at making their workplaces better. You are all truly heroes in this society. Thank you, really and from the bottom of my heart.  

Did I Mention It's About To Get Bad? Because It's About To Get Bad.

Well, as of today Ontario's prostitution laws go back under review and I have little to no hope that things will be altered for the better, or even left as they are now. The proposed changes serve to decriminalize communicating for the purposes of prostitution, allow one to live off the avails of prostitution (while being taxed legally, of course) and legally run a brothel or bawdy house.

Any pause in my writing can be attributed to me running to the toilet and vomiting furiously.

There are a whole bunch of folks clamoring for the change in these laws, crying about how Canada has been a puritanical, prudish "Nanny State" for far too long. These folks will tell you that prostitution is the worlds' oldest profession, that it's not going anywhere anyways, that what happens between two consenting adults is their own business and blah blah blah. The same lines of repetitive rhetoric that get sloshed around in the early minutes of any defense of prostitution conversation. When pressed a little harder, these  people will tell you that these "new and progressive" laws will make things safer for prostituted women! Ah ha! So it's the safety of the women that we're worried about! Of course, how fucking stupid of me. I know, as most people do that prostituted women live a life of extraordinary danger. Rene Ross, the executive director of Stepping Stone in Halifax, a sex trade support and advocacy group knows that, too. Quoth Rene:

"Countless attempted murders, a few murders, rapes, forcible confinement — we need to come together and realize sex workers are people and are entitled to have some safety just like everybody else." 

A few murders? A FEW fucking murders, Rene? I guess there've been a few casualties of war since that started, too? Fuck you. But, the point is made. The life of a prostituted woman is in near-constant danger. A level of danger that surpasses the already unacceptable level of danger in most women's lives. Knowing that, one may come to the conclusion that being a prostitute is dangerous. So, to help with that danger, these new laws will get women off the street! Away from the dark alleys and cold street corners! Close to telephones and panic buttons so that the authorities, who are always on the side of these unfortunate women can be alerted if need be. That's how these laws will protect prostitutes, by getting them off the mean streets and indoors where they're safe.

But no one has ever been killed or beaten or raped by a street.

Prostitutes get beaten by cops. Prostitutes get killed by pimps. Prostitutes get raped by johns. Prostitution is abuse of women by men. To decriminalize prostitution would be to legalize this abuse. To say to the johns and the pimps and the traffickers "Come on and flock to Ontario! You need not fear here!" But the women would still need to fear. Legal prostitution would mean an increase in demand. Which would mean an increase in supply. Which would mean more trafficking, more kidnapping, more forced women. Women who lost regular jobs could be denied employment insurance due to the fact that there is viable, legal sex work for them to do. Men would become more brazen, more violent as their appetites turn towards ever more perverse acts and situations, just as they do with the pornography they use with intention of acting it out on the prostitutes they buy. Amsterdam is working to reverse the damage done by legalization. We're about to make the same mistake.

The Swedish model, adopted also by Iceland and Norway, criminalizes the johns, the buyers of women. With the men as the criminals, they are reluctant to purchase. This makes traffickers stay away and keeps women safer. If there is no demand, there need be no supply. The best way to keep prostitutes safe is to make men not want to rape them in the first place. And if the only way to do that is to threaten men with jail time and fines, then so be it. Women will truly be safe(er) when there is no more prostitution whatsoever. Until such time when men stop selling women to other men, we should be looking for the most effective ways to keep said women, indeed all women safe. Ontario's proposed law changes do not do that.

This has the potential to be one of the most frightening decisions made in the province of Ontario during my lifetime. And I feel as though this decision will be made to look like a women's rights issue. Like legalization will grant women some sort of freedom they've been clamoring for. Like so many little girls dream of growing up to be prostitutes and who are we to tell them no? This is bullshit of the highest grade. This decision is being made for men, by men and I feel I already know what the outcome will be. If these law changes pass it will be no exaggeration to say that Ontario hates women. I can only hope that not all provinces will follow suit. Canada can't even keep up with the level of human trafficking that's going on now. What would that future hold for us?

If You Say Freedom Of Speech One More Time...

Funny thing, this "Freedom of Speech" has become for us in the western world. It's a powerful statement, mostly baseless, meaning nothing to all, only something to those that utter or shout it from the rooftops, individual as a pretty lil' snowflake to each and every person that invokes its' sacred rights and protection.

Freedom of speech is the domain of white, heterosexual, God-fearing men for the most part, although at times it is loaned to white, heterosexual, God-fearing women that conform to the patriarchy(Kathy Shaidle, I'm looking at you); to white, homosexual males that conform to the patriarchy (Dan Savage, I'm looking at you); to white, heterosexual women who pretend to be homosexual for the approval of the patriarchy. But, it can just as easily be taken away from these people. Freedom of speech belongs to the free. If you are a member of an oppressed group, you are not free, therefore you do not have freedom of speech. Moreover, if you take offense to the freedom of speech expressed by a member of the ruling class, you are an enemy of free speech, a bigot of sorts, an OPPRESSOR. And it is within the freedom of speech of the ruling class to point this out to you.

Case in point (as if I need to cite a specific example for you) the case of one Jack Christie of Whitby, Ontario. Christie was suspended from his high school for creating and uploading to YouTube a series of racist and misogynistic cartoons. His punishment? A twenty day suspension from school, not including his final exams or his senior prom. A mere slap on the wrist. But, to this "caped crusader", even this laughable attempt at punishment is an attack of his right to freedom of speech. Even though in his videos he jokes about racial genocide and invading Sweden to take (and presumably rape) their women. But, hey, it's just a joke, right?

Pornography is freedom of speech. Snuff films are freedom of speech. Upskirting is freedom of speech. The racist/sexist stand up comedian is protected. The perverted cartoonist/comic book artist is protected. The political candidate who wishes to abolish abortion is protected as are the pundits who continuously berate the Human Rights Commission and "climate of political correctness" that we're all forced to live in.

If you are not of the ruling class, you do not have freedom of speech. If you do not have freedom of speech, you do not have a voice in the public arena. If you do not have a voice in the public arena you are silenced in the private arena. If you are silenced in the private arena, then you have no voice at all. And if you have no voice at all, you are not even considered to be human, and therefore unworthy of even the basic human rights. Rights like freedom of speech and protection from verbal and physical attacks made on you by the ruling class due to your status as an oppressed person.

The porn victim has no voice.

The prostitute has no voice.

The feminist has no voice, but fights for one every single day.

The native American/Canadian has no voice.

The people with skin that is not white have no voices, save for the ones given to them by their rulers.

But the most important thing in the western world is that freedom of speech is defended. Because without it, why then we'd all be oppressed. We'd all be mindless drones. We'd all be slaves. Because thanks to freedom of speech, only some of us are oppressed. Only some of us are mindless drones. Only some of us are slaves. Thanks to freedom of speech, as a member of the ruling class, you can say whatever the ruling class wants to hear, wherever, whenever and fuck those that aren't of the ruling class if they happen to be in earshot. You want to know what freedom of speech really is in Canada?

In Canada, you can berate a same sex couple for taking offense to your jokes at their expense. In Canada you can make racist cartoons for fun with no punishment. And in Canada I can get my ass kicked in any sports bar for daring to say that I hate hockey and I hope the Stanley Cup never returns to Canadian soil. And in Canada I can get told to shut up when I say abortions should be legal or that Planned Parenthood needs the funding that was stolen from it. And in Canada there's pornography everywhere and if I don't like it, that's my fucking problem, because apparently men need it and that's a right, too. And in Canada, the pundits for Sun Media get multiple platforms across multiple media to spew their opinions but I have to settle for screaming into the void here, because they don't want to hear what I have to say. That's my freedom of speech. For now.