Olympic Politics

I had to share this blogpost I found because reading it made me very annoyed.

Here is where my problem lies:

"... the media here in Australia began to pus the "female athlete as warrier" idea in the promotional videos ... it was difficult not to notice the mannish physiques of the female competitors - for the swimmers wide shoulders, flat breasts and narrow hips, for the runners flat breasts and six packs [interjection: google is trying to spell check 'breasts' into 'tits' ... f**k you google]. And then the notion was pushed that we were supposed to celebrate these body types as the new female sexy ... I told myself that it was only elite athletes who would disfigure their bodies in this way and that most women who took up running and swimming would just add a bit of tone to their physiques. And then the female boxing started. I just turned off the TV and pretended it didn't exist ... But last night I switched on and the first thing I saw was two women kicking each other's heads (I think it was Taekwondo). Enough. If that's the Olympics I don't care for it any longer. "

Seriously? Being healthy is somehow "disfiguring" one's body? Women taking part in boxing and Taekwondo is somehow a terrible thing (no mention, however, of how terrible it is that men also participate in such inherently violent sports!)?

Katie Taylor, Irish  four-time lightweight world champion,
and an apparently "disfigured" woman. I actually think
she's quite pretty.

No mention of how disgusting it is that all the media seems able to focus on is the athletes' bodies and worry about whether athletic women are "sexy" or not; when instead the real issue is whether or not they are actually good at what they have trained years and years to do. No mention about how extreme weightlifting (with all those popping out muscles!) somehow disfigures men's bodies.  No complaints over the crap women athletes sometimes go through - from the outright dismissal of women in sports (I can't tell you how many times I have heard people say that women's sports are just not as exciting to watch as men's sports - simply because they are women), to the inability of the media and the world to treat these women athletes as anything except sex kittens (and when women defy this notion, they are often treated with outright disrespect - from making fun of their "manly" bodies to making fun of their convictions).

Apparently Jessica Ennis is androgynous.
I just can't tell if she's a woman or not, can you?

The only legitimate point here is the author's issue with the reporter's reaction to rhythmic gymnastics - I agree that was stupid:

"I was very disappointed when I sat down with her [the reporters daughter] just now to watch the Olympics and NBC is broadcasting Rhythmic Gymnastics. That's five beautiful young ladies dressed in skimpy outfits, wearing too much makeup, each prancing around the floor tossing a ball in the air."

Those women are in the Olympics for goodness sake! Just because they look pretty doing it does not negate all the hard work and sacrifices they made to get to this point! And I'd like to see this reporter "prance around" the way these women do!    

Why do we have an obsession with women's bodies? Who cares if women are toned, with flatter breasts and smaller hips? Who cares if they're wearing make-up? Who cares if they aren't?
 

Gold-medal winner Meseret Defar just going ahead and
defying some more stereotypes! I heart her hugely! I wonder
if she would be "womanly" enough for this blogger?

What about focusing on how amazing our women athletes are, instead of worrying about whether they are "womanly" enough or "manly" enough? It's downright ridiculous. If I had spent years training for a single event, and all the world could focus on was my abs, my arms, my outfit, or my make-up, I would be extremely pissed off. What about my talent, my hard work, and my SPORT? Hello???

Apparently (according to some reporter) doing this means
you somehow are no longer worthy of admiration or status
as an athlete. Because this doesn't require hard work,
training, strength, and skill at all, right?

Importing Strippers to Canada

I recently tweeted a news article from the HuffPo (originally released by the CBC I believe) on a Canadian policy change which does not allow foreign sex trade workers to renew their visa's. You can read the article here. The article was posted on Facebook by a friend of mine, a self-proclaimed pro-choice feminist, and it bothered me enough that I haven't been able to stop thinking about it.

The first thing that struck me about this article was the lack of information and analysis. I just read over the article now, and they recently changed it to include an "opposing view" - some sound bites from the Anti-Human Trafficking Action Group of Windsor, which are carefully quoted to imply that the girls in question in  this article are not in danger for exploitation. Beyond that, there is no inclusion of statistics or studies done on the psychological and physical well-being of exotic dancers, specifically exotic dancers brought in from other countries. This does a serious injustice to women who are involved in the sex industry, as it implies that all foreign dancers in Canada are living good lives, making good money, and are not being exploited by their employers. I can only suspect that this is far from the truth.

The second thing that I think people should focus on when reading this article is where the reporters are getting their information. Rob Katzman, the Director of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada, is extensively quoted and his words are implicitly assumed to be true in the article.

For instance:

""there is not one bit of empirical data that there is exploitation going on in our industry," especially not at his two clubs.

In 2011, Katzman had 170 women dancing in his clubs and 30 of them were temporary foreign workers. The women came from Poland, Iceland, England, Estonia, and Germany. All have proper paperwork and credentials, he said. All are aware of their rights, Katzman claimed.

"They know the law as well as we do," he said. "Believe me, they complain if the soap dispenser is near empty." [...]

"They aren't the type of ladies who want to do anything but obey the laws," Katzman said. [...]

"We want girls who come from nice families," he insisted. "We just don't have enough Canadian gals to fill the positions." [...]

"The adult industry has no intention to recruit in high schools. That's not the way we do business ... I think [the Toronto strip club owner claiming he would recruit high school students] was a demonstration of his frustration of the situation.""

The article completely ignores the fact that he has a financial stake in the situation. The readers are supposed to take for granted that what he says is true. And the assumption is that stripping itself is not a demeaning and exploitative job - which is a question that anyone considering the safety and psychological well-being of sex workers should at least think hard about.

So we have the Director of the Adult Entertainment Association of Canada extensively quoted in the article. We have the article set up so that his words are implicitly assumed to be a true and accurate representation of the exotic dancer industry in Canada. Do we also hear from the girls themselves?

Sort of.

One exotic dancer from Iceland is quoted, but she is quoted on the condition of anonymity, and no other girls are discussed or quoted. This leads me to believe that the reporters indeed only spoke to one of the 30 foreign workers employed in Katzman's clubs. Hardly a decent representation, especially when the only girl willing to speak in an interview demands to not be named. And especially when this sole girl is speaking on behalf of her employer, who is the focus of this news article.

I have to say that this is a very one-sided news article on the Adult Entertainment Industry's recruitment of foreign "gals".

The worst part of the article?

"One Icelandic dancer, who spoke to CBC Windsor on the condition of anonymity, said she owned two businesses back home. But when the economy went south, she headed to Canada to become a dancer.

"That's why I became a stripper," she said. "We're making good money. We're not stripping for alcohol or drugs.""

What is the implication here?

First, that these women are desperate for money and so became strippers. Hardly a note in favor of the recruitment of foreign workers for exotic dancing.

Second, that in an economic downturn, a woman in dire straights can always just take her clothes off to make some money.

Why is the article satisfied that women must turn to stripping to make a living? Why does the article imply that making money by dancing in strip clubs is a "good" thing as long as it is "good money" and the women come from "nice families" and are not spending their money on things that we deem inappropriate? How is this a satisfactory set of circumstances for women's rights and equality?

One thing is for certain, it is definitely a satisfactory set of circumstances for Katzman.

Well, it was. Until July 4th, when it became illegal for any employer to hire a temporary foreign worker linked to the sex trade. Now he'll have to find Canadian women (who aren't in school) to work for him, which apparently is hard to do.

I wonder why?

Quote of the Week: "take a good long look in the mirror"

 
"When you've got the whole 'choice' side running around demonizing any pregnancy that wasn't 100% expected as a life-ending calamity instead of the normal, ordinary, healthy event that it is, and painting all women who have unplanned pregnancies as weak-minded, easily led, and totally subordinate to an unborn child who threatens neither self, nor freedom, nor intelligence, nor anything else about their mother, I just have to laugh at them. Because then, after doing all that, [pro-choicers] will turn around and call [them]selves ...champion[s] of women's rights in order to defend sex-selective abortions. So, since we're talking about misogynists who've hijacked the language of women's rights, I can only suggest ... that you [pro-choicers] take a good long look in the mirror."

 - Alice, in response to commentary from pro-choicers who claim that pro-lifers who focus on sex selection abortion have hijacked the language of women's rights in order to subjugate women (via Jill Stanek's blog)

Responding to Roe

This is a great video I wanted to highlight from Feminists for Life:

Definitely a must for anyone interested in the abortion debate!