Just when we are starting to rid ourselves of some of the world’s most offensive and misguided memorials to men of yore, some conservative politicians in the state of Georgia believe its time to erect a statue in honor of — wait for it – U.S. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas. Let’s not rehash history except to say the appointment of Thomas in 1991 led to a nation-wide movement against sexual harassment in the workplace. Democratic state Rep. Donna McLeod’s response? “I’d rather them keep a Confederate monument than a statue of Clarence Thomas. That’s how much I don’t like the idea.”
Half Baked
Fashion company caught with pants down
We should have seen it coming. The saggy, show-your-boxers pants that have sometimes been enough to get a Black youth arrested are now a high-price, fashion statement for style-conscious dudes with dough. These Trompe-L’Oeil Sweatpants, selling for $1,190 USD, are ever-so-artfully designed to give the impression of a glimpse of boxer. So what was seen as slovenly, disrespectful, looking-for-trouble and verging-on-criminal in black youth is now de rigour for the monied. The elite shop selling the copy Cat pants has been accused of appropriating and/or gentrifying what originated as a defiant form of dress arising out of oppression and abuse.
AK
(Not Even) Half Baked
Prophylactic power plays
This week California became the first state to make it illegal for a man to remove a condom during sex without a woman’s consent. How something with such grave consequences for women could fly under the legal radar for so long is difficult to understand. For the sake of a more intense sexual experience, a man exposes a woman to the risk of disease and unwanted pregnancy, not to mention an assault on her autonomy. The practice, known as stealthing, is about to get an important hearing in Canada. In November the Supreme Count of Canada will hear arguments from a feminist legal body (LEAF) in connection with a case known as R. v. Kirpatrick, posing the question of whether someone who initially agrees to a woman’s request to wear a condom and then doesn’t comply is committing a sexual assault. The Court’s decision “will impact marginalized individuals – including Black, Indigenous, and trans women – who are disproportionately the victims of sexual violence, and often denied the equal protection of the criminal law,” says a Leaf spokesperson.
AK
Half Baked
Paying for pink
Why is the world so intent on gouging women? Women make less than men while paying more for the same stuff. This month, an international ride-hailing company operating in Nairobi decided to provide female customers with a woman-driver-only option to address widespread harassment and assault from male drivers. Nice idea, but it turns out this service to offer women safety will cost them more. Once again, the pink tax — where women pay more than men for the same product or service — comes into play. This longstanding trend has included everything from shampoo, deodorant and pink-packaged laxatives and razors to haircuts and dry cleaning. New research by ParseHub shows that the gap, which has been known about for years, is as bad or worse today. The data company’s first study in 2016 found that women paid about 43 per cent more for hygiene products. Its new research shows the gap has only widened.
AK
(Not Even) Half Baked
Macho men front and centre please
Chinese leaders have long let it be known that they don’t like girls. That is plainly seen in the staggering number of girls they have caused to be sacrificed through abortion during the country’s one-child policy and the number that they have exported through adoption. Now the country is letting it be known that it doesn’t like anything girly either, and that includes ‘sissified’ men. China recently announced new rules to combat the propagation of non macho images. Under new rules, the country’s media must “resolutely put an end to sissy men and other abnormal esthetics.” This anti-girl thing, rooted in a centuries-old patriarchal society, has caused a few problems including an epic population warp (43 million more males than females) with huge numbers of unmarried men and rampant sex trafficking, prostitution, and violent crimes. Maybe its time to loosen up on the girl vibes.
Fully Baked
Another blow for fake history
There are now only 600 statues of Christopher Columbus left in the world, down one since the announced exchange of the Columbus statue in Mexico City for one honoring Indigenous women. Removed last year for renovations just in time to escape being toppled by protesters, the monument of the once-venerated navigator never made it back to its lofty perch on Paseo de la Reforma boulevard. The new statue, announced this week by Mayor Claudia Sheinbaum, is of an Olmec woman, whose ancestors are believed to come from one of the oldest civilizations in Mesoamerica. One more small dent in the fallacy of the “discovery” of the Americas.