Canada

Hillary Clinton has recently made waves in Canada with a few of her statements regarding maternal child health and the lack of Inuit inclusion in the recent multi-country "discussions" on arctic sovereignty.

These are both particularly sore spots for me - one being that the current government in Canada has itself in a tizzy deciding whether or not contraception and abortion should be part of Canada's all of a sudden, magical "important stance" on maternal child health in the upcoming G8 summit (and for those of you who know anything about the Conservative government and party in Canada know that for the most part they don't really give a shit about vaginas). Hillary said that maternal child health SHOULD include contraception and abortion. So thank you Hillary for that.



But while she was in Canada she did interviews on The Hour and elsewhere talking about "fighting terrorists" and how Canada's 2500 troops should remain in Afghanistan after their commitment to pulling out in 2011, among other pro-military highlights and ignorant commentary about women in Islam.

How do you listen to Canadian music? With your ears, eh? Silly…
Sorry, must have been the feminist jokes post from earlier today that inspired that one. Anyways, we are indeed heading to the Far North for today’s B-sides as we rock out with Nova Scotian and lady tune-weaver Leslie Feist.
Performing as Feist, the woman who made counting fun again ("1,2,3,4"…) has been on hiatus since her last album, "The Reminder" came out in May 2007. Come back!? Please?!

Recently in Sweden, adult film director Mia Engberg received 500,000 kronor ($69,000USD) in public funding from the Swedish Film Institute to create a collection of feminist pornographic films. Just before the final product—entitled Dirty Diaries—was released, conservatives in the European country expressed outrage at their tax dollars being used to fund the film. Ironically, the protesters weren’t upset that the money had paid for the production of pornography, but rather that it was used to further a feminist agenda. When I read about the controversy surrounding Engberg’s film, I couldn’t help being pleased about the Swedish media's engagement in a discourse that escapes so many on this side of the pond.

If you don’t know who Courtney Trouble and Bren Ryder are, it’s probably because you’re not into queer and feminist porn. Here’s a snapshot for the uninitiated: Courtney is an American avant-garde feminist porn director and the founder of No Fauxxx, the longest running queer porn website and social community on the ‘net. Turning away from her pursuit to become a firefighter, Bren decided to create a queer inferno through the adult films made by and shown at Good Dyke Porn. For those interested in what the Anti-Feminist Initiative Swedes were up in arms about, I interviewed two of North America's leading ladies of lasciviousness to engage in a discussion that is pro-porn, pro-queer, and pro-feminist.