Toronto Woman Swarmed and Beaten Downtown for Online Entertainment.

A woman was attacked by a group of women near Yonge-Dundas square recently. It appears the vicious beating was filmed and later posted on YouTube as well as on WorldStarHipHop.com.

Click here to read the disturbing article.

Click here to watch the video.

A Guy's Guide to Feminism

Recently I was reading an article about one thing or another and there was a reference to the book "A Guy's Guide to Feminism" by Micheal Kaufman and Michael Kimmel. The title alone intrigued me, so I went and picked it up last week.

I don't know about you, but I know anytime I have talked about feminism, I have received some strange looks, as I am sure many of you have.

"A Guy's Guide to Feminism" breaks down feminism down to the basics from A-Z, and anyone who has ever considered feminism to be an out dated, will definitely reconsider after this. I also think that anyone with any sense will realize that they are feminist even if they didn't know it.

I recently showed it to a (female) friend who considered feminists whiny, out dated and radical. She has since had a change of heart.

Although I have yet to finish it in it's entirety, I would recommend it to anyone wanting an over view of feminism in an easy to read / follow format.

Introducing Racialicious:

I want to introduce those of you who haven't already seen it to the blog racialicious.

This links you to an interview with Mythili Rajiva, whom I got to have lunch with last month at the Dawson College conference on Youth Violence and Education. She co-presented an amazing panel focused on re-examining the murder of Rina Verk from an intersectional perspective that asks big questions about young women's anger. I'm hoping we can get her to visit the program at some point.

Shout it Out!

*Image from http://arabaquarius.blogspot.com/2009/01/duncan-quinn-ad-controversial-offensive.html.*

The above image is an advertisement for Duncan Quinn; a men's fashion line. Do you ever turn on your TV and are shocked at the commercials depicting women as sex objects? Ever seen a scantily clad women on an ad in your streetcar and thought, "Is she even old enough to be doing this?" Shout it out. Check out the website below. Collective Shout is a grassroots organization designed to call attention to media channels which objectify women and sexualize young girls. Their website gives users the chance to post photos, join in discussion forums, and basically just call out these corporations and advertisers perpetuating this oppression.

www.collectiveshout.org

Occupy Seattle

"Seattle activist Dorli Rainey, 84, reacts after being hit with pepper spray during an Occupy Seattle protest on Tuesday, November 15, 2011 at Westlake Park. Protesters gathered in the intersection of 5th Avenue and Pine Street after marching from their camp at Seattle Central Community College in support of Occupy Wall Street. Many refused to move from the intersection after being ordered by police. Police then began spraying pepper spray into the gathered crowd hitting dozens of people. A pregnant woman was taken from the melee in an ambulance after being struck with spray. Photo: JOSHUA TRUJILLO / SEATTLEPI.COM"

Image and caption taken from;

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/gallery/Occupy-Seattle-Protests-11-15-11-32102/photo-1758708.php

For more of the story check out;

http://slog.thestranger.com/slog/archives/2011/11/15/dorli-rainey-84-pepper-sprayed-by-spd-at-occupy-seattle-protest

Occupy

This is absolutely devastating, unnecessary, and inexcusable.

Pregnant Woman Miscarries After Being Sprayed With Pepper Spray

Simple Guidlines for Postings:

                                                                                                                                         

Here are a few guidelines for keeping the blog readable, relevant to all of you, and interesting:

1. Make it simple to read:

• when posting, keep paragraphs short, use simple and clear language

• choose a short, clear title for your posting so that it is easy to identify from the blog archive (right-hand side of the blog page)

 2. Make it interactive:

• give the reader something to do when they look at your posting: ask a question, or provide a link to another site or a video clip or another feature of the web

• post responses to what others have written, and engage with what they have put in their posting

3. Relate it to your learning in AWCCA:

• when you post something, let others know what you are posting and why. Tell them how it makes you think of topics or discussions in this course or your other courses.

4. Show respect for others in your postings and responses:

• be sure to address each other as respectfully as you do in your postings in the course. The etiquette guidelines posted for your course apply here as well....This doesn't mean that you can't engage in controversy or have thoughtful disagreements!

5. Have fun here in the blogospere!!!

• Hopefully you will fine this medium to be one that engages your creativity and your senses of humour. You really don't need to be deeply serious all the time -- we can learn through art and humour and poetry and all the rest of it.

Welcome to the blog, Intro to Feminism Online learners!!!!

The above is a photo from the 2011 Take Back the Night. If  you look closely you will recognize one of the banners at the front of the march! I am just getting this set up, and so I need to go ahead and invite class members who have sent me an e-mail address where I can send the invitation to join the blog.

If you haven't yet done so, send me an e-mail addresss, and I'll send you an invitation to join the blog.

I will post a list of guidelines for blog posting shortly. I always get ridiculously excited about this -- I hope you will have fun with it. It can be a relative low-stress way to learn and learn collaboratively once you get past the learning curve of using the blog interface.