How to Get your Messages Heard and Hold the Media Accountable,

with Strategies from Jennifer Pozner

by Joanna Chiu

“Hey! We’re all trying to get the same thing here!”

This statement, hollered by one camera operator to another jostling to take video footage of a small group of “scantily clad” young women at SlutWalk NYC’s march last October, demonstrates what the SlutWalk NYC Media Team was up against.

While living in New York for a year, I perhaps foolishly volunteered to help with media outreach for SlutWalk NYC. I had mixed feelings about the movement, but I thought that joining survivors and allies to collectively protest victim blaming and sexual assault sounded like a good cause. I had written previously about SlutWalk Vancouver for the Georgia Straight and had analyzed the media coverage of SlutWalk Vancouver, so I wanted to help SlutWalk NYC articulate its messages to the media and learn something about the rough-and-tumble New York media scene in the process.

On the morning of the march, I rushed around Union Square Park frantically trying to figure out what to do with the hordes of journalists and camera crews that were literally falling over themselves in the presence of a few bras and fishnet stockings. Many media organizations had arrived at the scene looking to grab shots of the proportionally few women (mostly young, white and slim) who were wearing what some consider shocking dress, while rendering invisible the vast majority of participants (including men and people of colour) who showed up in the clothing they would normally wear to work or school.

At SlutWalk NYC, note how cameras were trained on one protestor,

ignoring the casually dressed crowd.

The controversy that the SlutWalk movement had generated made it easy for SlutWalk marches to get attention from the media, but difficult for organizers to convey their messages when media organizations had preconceived ideas about the movement.

In retrospect, I thought that us organizers were pretty naïve to think that spending months in preparation, including sending out over 100 personalized press releases, could prevent the corporate media from sensationalizing a march called “SlutWalk,” or even to stop blaming victims of sexual assault in their news coverage. That night, after returning home to see that more than a dozen mice had moved into my studio apartment, I hid under the blankets on my bed and cried for a bit.

New York City mice: not so cute when they’re

eating your food and nesting in your closet.

But while SlutWalk may have been particularly prone to attracting sensational media coverage, the struggle to get events covered accurately (or covered at all) in the media is an all too familiar problem that all activists face. It was something that I certainly encountered organizing events to help end poverty, promote gender equality, and remove landmines for well-established organizations like Oxfam Canada and Amnesty International.

I turned to a valued mentor, Jennifer Pozner for some much-needed advice. Pozner is the director of Women in Media & News (WIMN), a media analysis, education and advocacy group. Pozner provides media literacy training to individuals, campuses and organizations, and is the author of Reality Bites Back:  The Troubling Truth About Guilty Pleasure TV.  She also appears as a frequent media commentator on outlets such as NBC, CNN, MSNBC, and the Daily Show, and like the pro she is, she kept a smile on her face while debating Bill O’Reilly, Sean Hannity and Joe Scarborough on Fox News.

Pozner and me at SlutWalk NYC. I look deceptively calm here!

Her sign read: “NYPD: We need anti-violence education NOT

fashion tips. End Slut Shaming.”

Chiu: Why is it so tough to see good mainstream media coverage of activists’ events like anti-violence marches?

Pozner: We can talk about the reasons why there is bias in media coverage of social justice issues for hours, but here are some bullet points.

1. It is cheaper and often more effective to run sensational headlines that scare, shock or shame. It is much more expensive to do actual reporting that does not rely on shock value. In the U.S., when six parent companies owned by rich, white men control the vast majority of everything we see in the media, it’s not surprising that the overwhelming coverage of violence against women, as well as other social justice causes, are problematic at best, and damning at worst.

2. Another reason for poor coverage of causes like sexual violence is that many stakeholders in the media don’t like to talk about the amount of sexism filled in the industry: such as in the use of sexual violence as entertainment in television, film and video games, and in advertising to sell everything from shoes to cars to burgers.

3. And lastly, the overarching reason is that feminism, like most social movements, poses a real potential threat to dominant power structures, whether it is legal, governmental or the media. These institutions are very set in their ways, and there has always been a backlash against the potential feminism holds to change the way the system works.

Chiu:  Despite all these obstacles, what are some ways that activists can get their messages heard in the media, and hold media accountable for harmful coverage? 

Pozner: Individually, we can write letters to the editor every time we see inaccurate or rape culture-supporting articles in media outlets that blame the victims and let the perpetrators off the hook. Activists often feel tired of sending letters but every editor I’ve spoken to say that their newsroom reads those letters and takes them seriously.

Information technologies also give individuals more ways than ever before to push back against sexism and rape culture in the media. You can use social media to call attention to problems you see in coverage and to also lay out good examples of media coverage, and to support independent media organizations.

Our power is maximized when we act collectively. On the collective level, organizations can really start to change the tone of media coverage if they create a media plan. Part of the plan should include monitoring how violence against women is covered in local or national media, and then to target those media outlets strategically—praising them for what they do right, and offering suggestions on how they could do to make improvements. If we understand the rules of game, then we are able to play the game in a way that’s more effective, and frame our events and causes in a way that will promote better media coverage.

Chiu: How can activists deliver their messages in a way that is more likely to attract a wide audience? 

Pozner: Careful messaging is very important because of commonly held notions that feminists are fringe, angry and male bashing. To break from decades of age-old stereotypes, we really need to deliver our messages in unique, powerful and effective ways. That usually means telling engaging personal stories that connect to larger community struggles or policies that are backed up by facts and figures. It’s good to avoid jargon, to be accessible to people outside of the feminist community, and to engage people’s emotional and intellectual sides simultaneously.

Chiu: What resources would you suggest for activists to learn how to improve their media literacy to better resist against oppressive media representations?

Pozner: WIMN has some resources online, and we offer media trainings regularly.

The book, Spin Works: A Media Guidebook for Communicating Values and Shaping Opinions, is an activist-friendly guide to public relations.

I’ve written many articles for FAIR, a media watch group, when I was Women’s Desk editor there, and the archives are accessible here.

Bitch magazine has had some great pieces over years, and their anthology, BitchFest collects some of their best cultural and media criticism.

There are some classic, older books like Virgin or Vamp: How the Press Covers Sex Crimes, that provide detailed case studies. The old problems remain the same, but the solutions need to change with time.

More recently, feminist bloggers and writers Samhita Mukhopadhyay, Jessica Valenti and Jaclyn Friedman have published the following books that contain great pieces on rape culture, victim blaming and media criticism: Outdated, The Purity Myth, and Yes Means Yes!

Chiu: Thank you! And for resources focused on Canadian media, I’d recommend the Feminist Media Project and a new book by pioneering feminist journalist Michele Landsberg, Writing the Revolution. I also invite anyone interested in engaging in Canadian media criticism to join WAM!  Vancouver’s listserv.

How Does She Resist:  Resisting Media Representations to End Violence Against Girls and Women 

Prevention of Violence Against Women Week April 15 – 21, 2012

Follow on Twitter #resistmedia

Violence Sells?

Time to Say ‘Enough’ to Twisted Advertisers

by Joanna Chiu

Before anyone had even heard of the show Jersey Shore, MTV leaked out a clip of Snooki (Nicole Polizzi) getting punched in a face by a man in a bar, and the clip went viral, prompting articles like “The Countdown to Snooki Getting Punched in the Face Is On!” (trigger warning for link).

The author of that article for Barstool Sports wrote:

“But as much as I enjoyed the first episode it was all overshadowed by the upcoming scenes when Snooki gets coldcocked in the face by a dude. I literally have to take sleep medicine now before I go to bed now just so I can relax and not think about how excited I am for it. Because I’m telling you right now this is destined to go down as one of the greatest moments in the history of television.”

MTV waited until the last minute to announce that it wouldn’t air the footage, and denied having leaked the clip, despite having included part of the clip in the trailer for the show.

That is just one of thousands of disturbing examples of violence against women being used for decades to promote everything from men’s suits to high fashion to vegetarianism (You can thank PETA for that one).

This ad is from the 1950s. Not much progress in depictions

of women in advertising has happened since then.

This 2007 ad for Dolce & Gabbana, which became known as simply “the gang rape ad,” depicts a man pinning down a woman while other men look on.

This isn’t just a case of “sex sells.” These tactics are continuing to go on and on because advertisers, organizations like PETA and entertainment companies believe that images of violence against women can sell products and influence behaviors.

But millions of media consumers can’t all be sadistic women-haters, right? The average person in North America sees 3000 advertisements per day. I’d much rather believe that many people just don’t take the time to critically evaluate advertisements, or to use tools like online petitions to pressure advertisers and media companies to make improvements.

But unfortunately, unless more people stand up to twisted advertising tactics, images of violence against women will continue to proliferate.

Being critical of the media doesn’t mean that you have to live in a cave the rest of your life. If you enjoy “guilty pleasure” TV, for instance, there’s nothing wrong with watching it. The goal is to transform the way you engage with media so that it has less power to influence you—including your self-esteem for example.

One out of every four college-aged women has an eating disorder, and three minutes spent looking at a fashion magazine caused 70% of women to feel depressed, guilty, and shameful (Source).

Poor self-esteem and body image can lead people to feel depressed, fall short of their potential or tolerate abusive relationships, according to Psychology Today. And when there are thousands of toxic messages in media and advertising that can threaten your sense of self-worth every single day, developing media literacy can actually help you feel happier and be more successful.

It was clear to Adios Barbie co-editors Sharon Haywood, Pia Guerrero and Ophira Edut that promoting media awareness would be a cornerstone in their efforts to promote healthy body image. In addition to providing media commentary on their website and book, Body Outlaws, Adios Barbie editors lead media literacy workshops on topics including body image, race and representation, and violence in the media.

“When we started Adios Barbie in 1998, the general public didn’t even know what the term ‘body image’ meant. Our intent was to inspire critical thinking around the negative impact media representation has on healthy identity and body image,” says Pia Guerrero.

Men suffer from violent and hypersexualized content in media as well, Guerrero argues:

“While the media drills into us the constant message that the role of women is to be submissive to men and be passive sexual objects to be physically admired or consumed, it also sends the message that men are inherently violent, inconsiderate and tough. This representation of both genders has become ‘normal’ in our culture and as a result is left unquestioned or accepted.”

And if that doesn’t sound bad enough, Adios Barbie points out that ads featuring women of colour can reinforce both gender and racial stereotypes, such as this ad for Tiger Beer, which ran in the U.K:

Luckily, Adios Barbie is part of a great variety of innovative efforts to educate the public to be more media aware, including the award-winning film and lecture series by Jean Kilbourne, Killing Us Softly: Advertising’s Image of Women.

So there is hope! Once more people become media aware, the 3000 advertisements and other forms of media we see every day will have less power to perpetuate things like violence, sexism, racism and body anxiety in our society. Here are some simple steps you can take to take back the power from advertisers today:

Watch This:

Get Media Aware:

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/index.cfm

http://www.adiosbarbie.com/category/media/

http://www.realitybitesbackbook.com/

Saw Something Horrid? Start a Petition Quick and Easy Here:

http://www.change.org/

http://www.care2.com/

Banish Sexists Ads Here:

http://sexistads.tumblr.com/

http://msmagazine.com/blog/blog/tag/sexist-advertising/

Or Blog About It!

http://www.gender-focus.com/ (Gender Focus is one of the best Canadian feminist blogs in my opinion)

http://community.feministing.com/about/

http://www.feministe.us/blog/archives/2008/04/07/feministe-feedback-how-to-start-a-successful-feminist-blog/

Day Two

Prevention of Violence Against Women Week April 15 – 21, 2012

Battered Women’s Support Services presents:

How Does She Resist?  Resisting Media Representations to End Violence Against Girls and Women

Day One

How Media Literacy Can Help End Violence Against Women by Joanna Chiu

How Media Literacy Can Help End Violence Against Women

by Joanna Chiu

Like many students who were sexually assaulted in college, I didn’t identify what had happened to me as sexual assault until after I graduated. That moment of realization happened when I was sitting at a lecture hall back at my alma mater, the University of British Columbia. I had just returned to Vancouver from New York City, where I had completed a magazine internship and observed the curiosities and arrogance in the world’s media capital firsthand.

I was excited to be back in my hometown to catch a talk at UBC from feminist activist and writer, Jaclyn Friedman. Friedman is the director of WAM! (Women, Action & the Media): a global network that promotes gender justice in the media. She also co-edited the groundbreaking book, Yes Means Yes!: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape with Jessica Valenti.

In her lighthearted but powerful presentation, Friedman talked about how messages in the media blame and shame survivors of sexual assault, and condone or trivialize sexual assault. In Canada, 1 in 2 women have survived at least one incident of sexual or physical violence, and in Vancouver, rates of sexual assault have only increased in recent years.

Jaclyn Friedman giving a talk at Memorial University

Photo credit: James Learie from Muse Magazine

An idea that is common in the media, which helps sustain this epidemic of violence, is the notion that a person could be “asking for it.” For example, The New York Times wrote an article last year that was heavily victim blaming against an 11-year-old girl after she was brutally gang raped in Texas. The article included a quote saying that the girl “dressed older than her age,” and speculated about what the girl could have done for her rapists to “have been drawn into such an act.”

When Friedman stressed to UBC students that wearing a skirt, flirting, or getting drunk does not mean that a person deserves to be raped—that no one deserves to be raped period—I realized that I was wrong to blame myself.

But instead of feeling ashamed, understanding that I never “asked for it” gave me a renewed sense of purpose. As a journalist, I decided that I could help dismantle rape culture in the media.

Later, I interviewed Friedman for an article about how rape culture impacts the mental health of people of all genders, and she told me that she thinks of rape culture as “a system of institutions and behaviors that allow rape to continue unchecked.” She also explained:

“Part of rape culture is about keeping women ashamed of and alienated from their sexuality. This can lead women to feel depressed even if they have not been sexually assaulted. Rape culture also tells men that they always need to aggressively pursue heterosexual sex, while masking their emotions, which can again lead to depression.”

To help facilitate more connections and conversations between Canadian media makers and activists, including discussions on how to resist rape culture, I started the first Canadian chapter of WAM! in Vancouver. Our chapter launched with a conference last year that brought together over 100 participants, including members of rabble.ca, Antigone magazine, and the Vancouver Media Co-op, and we just held another conference this year.

Me welcoming participants at WAM! Vancouver’s 2011 conference

Photo credit: Beth Hong

Before getting involved with WAM!, I thought I was already quite media savvy, but I soon learned that identifying as a “progressive” or being privileged enough to get a degree in journalism did not make me immune to wanting to skip lunch after flipping through a fashion magazine. Developing media literacy is not an easy thing to do.

The daily bombardment of degrading and oppressive messages in the media makes it very hard to not internalize some of those messages. A recent study by the Parents Television Council found that since 2004, there has been a 120% increase in depictions of violence against women on television, and even more disturbingly, there was a 400% increase in the depictions of teen girls as the victims of violence.

Using images of violence against women to sell suits

Battered Women’s Support Services wants to spread awareness and share strategies about how to resist media representations during Prevention of Violence Against Women Week. This is because the media plays a key role in perpetuating inequalities in society that support systemic violence.

BWSS researcher Silvia Almanza Alonso writes:

“BWSS’ goal is the elimination of all violence against women. Therefore women’s representation in media becomes a crucial element of this mandate…Women are represented by media in an unequal scenario: a scenario where the powerful, privileged media presents a monolithic and oppressive view of womanhood… Sadly, we get this message every day, many times a day.”

Being female is not the only identity that makes a person more likely to experience violence and oppression. In the coming week of daily blog posts, I will discuss how factors such as being a person of colour, having a low income, being transgender, or having a disability can intersect to make an individual more likely to experience violence—and how that is all reflected in the media.

Fortunately, the media also provides a variety of opportunities to resist against harmful representations of women and girls. All over the world, survivors of violence and their allies are creating films, essays, zines and blogs, and taking advantage of social media and tools like online petitions, to change a media landscape that traditionally marginalizes their voices.

I will profile media makers and media activists such as filmmaker Elle-Maiia Tailfeathers, media literacy educator Jennifer Pozner, the women behind the zine Margins, and the editors of Adios Barbie. Their stories offer lessons, strategies and inspiration on ways you can improve your media literacy, and harness the power of the media to help end violence against women and girls.

Any feedback on this blog campaign is welcome! Please use the comment space below to discuss, debate and share resources, and please don’t hesitate to contact me directly at editor.joanna@gmail.com or on Twitter @joannachiu.

Suggested Reading:

On Rape Culture:

http://yesmeansyesblog.wordpress.com/2009/07/23/this-is-what-rape-culture-looks-like/

http://www.racialicious.com/2012/01/26/some-notes-on-rape-culture/

On Media Literacy:

http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/teachers/media_literacy/what_is_media_literacy.cfm

http://www.wimnonline.org/

On Privilege and Intersectionality:

http://finallyfeminism101.wordpress.com/2007/03/11/faq-what-is-male-privilege/

http://news.change.org/stories/intersectionality-101-sexism-racism-speciesism-and-more

Day One

Prevention of Violence Against Women Week April 15 – 21, 2012

Battered Women’s Support Services presents:

How Does She Resist?  Resisting Media Representations to End Violence Against Girls and Women

NEWS RELEASE

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Angela Marie MacDougall
Executive Director,
Battered Women’s Support Services
604-808-0507 • www.bwss.org

Janice Abbott
CEO, Atira Women’s Resource Society
604.813.0851 • www.atira.bc.ca

DOWNTOWN EASTSIDE VANCOUVER WOMEN’S GROUPS COLLABORATE TO TAKE ACTION ON VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN

Vancouver, Coast Salish Territories, BC – April 5, 2012 – Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS) and Atira Women’s Resource Society have collaborated to deliver Downtown Eastside Vancouver Community-based Women Assault/Sexual Assault Program . The Program will deliver a dedicated Education and Awareness Outreach, Mobile Crisis Response and Follow-up to support women survivors of violence in Downtown Eastside Vancouver (DTES).

“There is no dedicated women assault/sexual assault service in the DTES. Approximately 90% of all incidences of physical and sexual violence goes unreported and according to Vancouver Police Department, reported incidents of sexual and physical violence against women in the DTES neighbourhood are almost double that of other regions of Vancouver” said Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director, BWSS. “Women are less likely to access and service providers are less likely to refer women to anti-violence services located outside of the DTES, due to women’s experience of being stigmatized and stereotyped.”

It is estimated that 8,000 women are in or navigating through the DTES, with 60/40 ratio of men to women. Women in the neighbourhood are diverse and include Indigenous women, Immigrant women, mothers, single women, young women, senior/elders, women of colour, refugee women, women who do sex work, women who use licit and/or illicit substances, women who are living in grinding poverty, women who are homeless or under housed.
The Program will take action to prevent violence and sexual exploitation through 1) Education and Awareness Outreach, 2) Mobile Crisis Response and 3) Follow-up to enhance DTES communities to become an effective resource in violence prevention and effective intervention for women survivors of gender violence.

“Atira Women’s Resource Society is delighted to be partnering with BWSS in filling this critical service gap in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside. Negative experiences with the criminal justice and health systems, fear of retribution and further violence and the pervasive misconception that there must be physical violence inflicted by a stranger for a rape to be considered “genuine” have long prevented women from reporting most of the violence they experience” said Janice Abbott, CEO, Atira Women’s Resource Society. “We expect this project will provide the support that allows women the opportunity to make real choices about reporting assault and that the partnership will inspire the community to come together to eliminate the profound incidence of violence against our women.”

The Program will draw on strong collaborative relationships with Downtown Eastside Women’s Centre, WISH, Vancouver Women’s Health Collective, Lu’s, BC Women’s Hospital and Health Centre, Nurse Practitioner Outreach Clinics and Sexual Assault Services strengthening the web of support for women survivors of violence.

Community-based Women Assault/Sexual Assault Program has been funded as a pilot project by Ministry of Public Safety Solicitor General with support from Central City Foundation.

How Does She Resist?

Resisting Media Representations to End Violence Against Girls and Women

Prevention of Violence Against Women Week

April 15 – 21, 2012

Battered Women’s Support Services (BWSS)

Presents:
How Does She Resist? – Resisting Media Representations to End Violence Against Girls and Women

“Battered Women Support Services’ (BWSS) goal is the elimination of all violence against women. Therefore women’s representation in media becomes a crucial element of this mandate. BWSS’ statement of philosophy recognizes that “…battering is the result of a world view which supports the right of some people to oppress others. That right is granted by the privilege of status associated with gender, race, religion, class, sexual orientation, age and physical ability”. This battering takes places right before us, as women are represented by media in an unequal scenario: a scenario where the powerful, privileged media presents a monolithic and oppressive view of womanhood. In this context women are constantly reduced by the media to body parts (i.e. a set of legs, a pair of breasts, etc.) or objects of sexual desire. This creates the ideal environment to perpetrate abuse and violence. Women are not human anymore, but dismembered objects lacking of dignity. Sadly, we get this message every day, many times a day.” ~ Silvia Almanza Alonso

During Prevention of Violence Against Women Week we will engage our online community to resist media representations as a way to prevent violence against girls and women.

We will feature guest blogger Joanna Chiu, guest videographer Camila Galdino, and contributions by Silvia Almanza Alonso, BWSS YOUth Ending Violence Program, and more…

During the week of April 15^th – 21^st, 2012, join our online community to engage, empower and prevent violence at www.bwss.org/endingviolence

Here is a selection of Ending Violence blog posts on women (and men) resisting media representations:

Fighting Sexual Assault One Tweet at a Time by Sady Doyle

Porn Addled Teenage Boys do Rule the World by Soraya Chemaly

Missrepresentation the Media is the Message and the Messenger a Film Review by Dana Gore

Retro Sexism:  The Desperation of Sleemans Old Milwaukee Free Girl ad Campaign by Angela Marie MacDougall

Beauty and Body Image in the Media

Men Speak out about Sexist Coverage of Rape a call to action

Mad World Toy ads and Learning Gender posted Bitch Media

Beauty Redefined

Media Misses the Point by Athena Affan

Bic Soleil and Fluid Hair Salon: Misogynist Advertising Making News… Again by Angela Marie MacDougall

Joanna Chiu

Joanna Chiu is an independent journalist and editor, and the founder of WAM! (Women, Action & the Media) Vancouver chapter. At WAM!, Joanna works to connect activists and media makers to advance women’s media participation, ownership and representation. Her writing on feminism, politics, social movements, racism and sexuality appears in publications such as The Nation, AlterNet, The UTNE Reader, The Georgia Straight, Herizons Magazine and rabble.ca. As a columnist for Canada’s top feminist
magazine, Herizons, she provides her perspective on Canadian politics and culture in each quarterly issue. She has also provided media commentary for outlets such as Vancouver’s News 1130 Radio, Jezebel, The Village Voice, and Toronto’s CIUT Radio. Joanna holds a Masters of Journalism degree from Columbia University. You can learn more about her work at www.joannachiu.com at www.wamvancouver.wordpress.com

Camila Galdino

A Brazilian publicist and passionate feminist, Camila Galdino also loves movies, photography and the arts. After nearly a decade of political activism in Brazil and South America, Camila now lives in Vancouver and despite the challenges of the new language she aims to continue her path of political activism in Canada. Following a long period of study and analysis, Camila began working with what she calls Feminist Communication. This involves producing videos, photos, advertising campaigns and other forms of media in order to promote feminism and transform communication from an instrument of power and domination into a political tool that can also be used for to produce historical accounts of feminist struggles and achievements.

Prevention Week Round-up

Day One

How Media Literacy Can Help End Violence Against Women by Joanna Chiu

Day Two

Violence Sells?  Time to say ‘Enough’ to Twisted Advertisers by Joanna Chiu

Angela Marie MacDougall co-hosted with Irwin Oostindie  W2 Morning Project on Co-op Radio CFRO 102.7 FM and interviews Jennifer Pozner and Joanna Chiu  Interviews begin 20 minutes into the hour long broadcast.

Day Three

How to get your Messages Heard and Hold the Media Accountable, with Strategies from Jennifer Pozner by Joanna Chiu

Day Five

Women with Disabilities: Understanding Media Representations to Empower one of the Most Victimized Groups in Society by Joanna Chiu

Day Six

 Your Message, Your Voice:  Blogging to Fill the Need for Independent Critical Analysis by Joanna Chiu

Resisting Media Representations. How Women Can Effectively Challenge the Way They Are Represented. A Literary Review by Silvia Almanza Alonso

Day Seven

Survivors Speak out to Break Silence about Systemic Violence Against Women and Girls by Joanna Chiu

Open letter to Premier Christy Clark on the Budget for BC’s Justice System

March 20, 2012

The Hon. Christy Clark
Premier, Government of British Columbia
PO Box 9041 STN Prov Govt
Victoria, BC V8W 9E1

Dear Premier Clark,

appearance dates. For example, the median length of time it takes for a small claims case to get to trial has increased to 400 days, up from 320 days in 2008/9.

Notably, the Ministry failed to meet any of its goals with respect to timelines for civil and family matters. For example, the median time it took for an applicant in a family matter to obtain an initial order was 98 days. The Service Plan attributes this to “increased scheduling delays in Provincial Court for child protection cases and family hearings.” Such lengthy delays in these types of hearings are particularly troubling given the significant and serious interests at stake in family and child protection matters.

However, these facts must be placed in context – you say that “while there is more money and less work coming onto the system, the delays are getting longer”. In fact, as you can see from your own documentation, there is less money and more work straining the justice system, which may well explain the longer delays.

Funding for Legal Aid

Additionally, you commented in the Legislature that there is “more money for legal aid.”

The $2.1 million that will be added to the Legal Services Society’s budget in 2012/13 to support family law and child protection services will only allow LSS to maintain current levels of service, and represents the first funding increase for LSS’s family law programs since 2005.10 After the decimation of family law legal aid in 2002 and the slashing of LSS’s budget by almost 40 percent over three years, this tiny increase will do little to assist the thousands of individuals – women in particular – who need legal advice and representation to effectively access the justice system and meaningfully assert their legal rights.  Numerous individuals and organizations highlighted the need for adequate legal aid funding in the government’s budget consultation last fall. As Sharon Matthews, president of the BC Branch of the Canadian Bar Association pointed out, “Without an adequately-funded legal aid program, the justice system will continue to face increased costs and stresses from unnecessary case filings, prolonged hours of trials and hearing and the attendant delays, and decreased public confidence as important cases get thrown out due to delay.”

However, the government has declined the opportunity to invest in an effective and efficient justice system in its latest budget, maintaining the status quo for the province’s legal sector. While the budget allocated an additional $237-million over the next three years to the Ministry of Justice, much of that funding is reserved for existing services: $66-million to keep 168 police officers hired in 2009 to combat gang activity; $42-million to sustain court and prosecution-services staff hired within the past year to avoid the closing of some courtrooms; and $30-million to fund RCMP cost increases, mainly salary and pension expenditures.

The underfunding of the justice system, and legal aid in particular, undermines our democracy and the rule of law. When low-income clients cannot access to legal aid, they do not have equal access to the justice system, and cannot assert their rights on par with those who have the resources to pay for legal representation. This profound inequality in access to justice erodes public trust in the fairness and integrity of our court system.  We agree with the multiple statements from judges across the province in past months regarding the dysfunctional state of our justice system. Its ability to handle its caseload is “abysmal” and requires immediate action. The system is “threatened, if not imperilled,” by the lack of funding, which has contributed to “intolerable delays” that result in serious cases being thrown out of court.  We can say it no better than a frustrated Justice Russell of the BC Supreme Court who, in deciding a family case involving two middle class litigants who did not qualify for the “almost non-existent legal aid available,” but who could also not afford representation for their complex legal matter, wrote: “It is shameful that in our wealthy province we no longer have resources available which would give real help to parties in this situation.”

Premier Clark, we call on you to clarify your comments in the Legislature on February 15, 2012, and to tackle the crisis in our justice system in a manner that prioritizes equality, fairness and the right to access justice. In particular, we seek your clarification regarding the information you were relying on in claiming that there is more money for the justice system, the number of cases are dropping and the length of cases is staying the same, in light of the contradictory information contained in the government documents set out above. We are pleased that you want “to get to the bottom” of the problems in the justice system, and we hope you will do so on the basis of the real facts. We look forward to your response.

Yours truly,
Kasari Govender
Stephen Portman
Jim Russell
Co-Chairs, on behalf of the Coalition for Public Legal Services, including:

 Access Pro Bono Society of British Columbia
 ARA Mental Health Action, Research & Advocacy Association of Greater Vancouver
 Atira Women’s Resource Society
 Battered Women’s Support Services
 BC Coalition of People with Disabilities
 BC Public Interest Advocacy Centre
 Community Legal Assistance Society
 Ending Violence Association of BC (EVA BC)
 First United Church
 Kootenai Community Centre
 Okanagan Advocacy & Resource Society (OARS)
 Parent Support Services Society of BC
 Pivot Legal Society
 The Poverty and Human Rights Centre
 Together Against Poverty Society
 Tri-City Transitions Society
 West Coast LEAF
 Vancouver & Lower Mainland Multicultural Family Support Services

CC:
Hon. Adrian Dix, Leader of the Official Opposition
Hon. Shirley Bond, Minster of Justice and Attorney General
Hon. Leonard Krog, Opposition Critic for the Attorney General
Please send return mail care of West Coast LEAF, 555 – 409 Granville Street, Vancouver BC, V6C 1T2

1http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2009_Sept_Update/estimates/Estimates_Sept_2009.pdf
2 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2010/estimates/2010_Estimates.pdf
3 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2011/estimates/2011_Estimates.pdf
4 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/2012/estimates/2012_Estimates.pdf
5 http://www.bcbudget.gov.bc.ca/Annual_Reports/2010_2011/pdf/ag.pdf
6 At page 13.

7 Supra
8 See Performance Measure 4: Civil and Family Timelines, at page 20.
9 At page 21.
10 Ministry of the Attorney General Press Release, “Legal aid for children and families increased” 30 December 2011, online: <http://www.newsroom.gov.bc.ca/2011/12/legal-aid-for-families-and-children-increased.html>.
11 Select Standing Committee on Finance and Government Services, Report on the Budget 2012 Consultations, online: <http://www.leg.bc.ca/cmt/39thparl/session-4/fgs/reports/PDF/Rpt-FGS-39-4-1stRpt-Budget2012Consultations-2011-NOV-15.pdf>.

12 Sunny Dhillon, “For BC’s strained justice system, a status-quo budget” 22 February 2012, The Globe and Mail, online: <http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/national/british-columbia/bc-politics/for-bcs-strained-justice-system-a-status-quo-budget/article2345751/>.
13 R. v. Blattler, 2012 BCPC 0035 at para. 57, per Justice Steinberg.
14Jonathan Fowlie, “Lack of court funding targeted by B.C.’s chief justice,” 24 November 2011, The Vancouver Sun, online: <http://www.vancouversun.com/business/chief+justice+sounds+alarm+over+lack+funding+courts/5762815/story.html>.
15 DeKova v. DeKova, 2011 BCSC 1271 at paras. 14, 15.

Women, Violence and BC’s New Family Law: Applying a Feminist Lens

Forum will be webcast and qualifies for 3 hours CPD credits

In November 2011, British Columbia passed a brand new Family Law Act, which will be phased in over the next year. From a feminist lens, this forum will discuss and debate key changes to the province’s family law and considerations for women who experience violence.   This family law forum will provide an overview of the changes to family law with emphasis on women who experience violence.  Areas to be explored: 

1. alternative dispute resolution,

2. protection orders,

3. children and parenting,

4. gender neutrality,

5. funding issues including legal aid and

6. key practice for women’s advocates and family law lawyers.

Presenters: 

Kat Norris, Lyackson, Coast Salish Nations

Spokeswoman, Indigenous Action Movement

Agnes Huang, Barrister & Solicitor

Susan B. Boyd, Professor of Law  Chair in Feminist Legal Studies and Director, Centre for Feminist Legal Studies

Laura Track, Legal Director, West Coast Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund

Angela Marie MacDougall, Executive Director, Battered Women’s Support Services

Where:

SFU Joseph and Rosalie Segal Centre

515 West Hastings Street

When:

Friday, March 9, 2012

9:30 am – 12:30 pm

RSVP

to attend in person or via webcast (to receive log in info)

endingviolence@bwss.org

Thank you to our funding partner, The Law Foundation of BC

W2 Utopia – 2nd Annual Festival of Women in Digital Culture

 
We were so excited to be part of W2 Utopia:  2nd Annual Festival of Women in Digital Culture.

Tuesday, March 6th and Wednesday, March 7th, 2012 tune into W2 Morning Radio Project on Co-op Radio CFRO 102.7 FM
 
Women, Violence and the Law
 
Co-host Angela Marie MacDougall,
ED, Battered Women’s Support Services joined by:
 
Susan B. Boyd
Professor of Law  Chair in Feminist Legal Studies Director, Centre for Feminist Legal Studies,

Ram Sidhu
Manager, Legal Program, South Fraser Women’s Services Society

Robyn Gervais

Lawyer, Former Independent Counsel, Missing Women’s Commission of Inquiry

Laura Track
Legal Director, West Coast Women’s Legal Education & Action Fund, and

Rosa Elena Arteaga
Manager Direct Services and Programs, Battered Women’s Support Services
 
W2 Morning Radio Project broadcasts on Co-op Radio CFRO 102.7 FM.

Here the links:

Women, Violence and the Law – W2 Morning Project on Co-op Radio – Monday

Women, Violence and The Law – W2 Morning Project on Co-op Radio-Tuesday

Much gratitude to Irwin Oostindie – Executive Director, W2 for sharing the airwaves with us.

Women, Violence and BC’s New Family Law – Post Production Resources

Thanks to all who attended our forum.  The forum was a joint production between University of British Columbia Law, Centre for Feminist Legal Studies, Agnes Huang, Barrister and Solicitor, West Coast Legal Education and Action Fund and Battered Women’s Support Services

Post production resources:

 Webcast of March 9, 2012 Forum

Power Point Slides from the March 9, 2012 Forum

Much gratitude to The Law Foundation of BC for providing the funding for the webcast.

Michelle Thrush

Vancouver Tour 2012

In acknowledgement of National Aboriginal Achievement Awards and Full Circle First Nations 11th Annual Talking Stick Festival

Battered Women’s Support Services

presents

Michelle Thrush

A One Woman Show (x 2)

Michelle Thrush, 2011 Gemini award for Best Lead Actress for her role on the APTN hit series Blackstone. Michelle uses her gift as an actor to promote healing through the arts and to explore creative expression. Michelle is well known for her work in community, including the teaching drama and comedy act  “Kookum Martha” the elder that tells it like it is!! And “Majica” Right Next Door, who through story and drama allows a safe place for adults to connect with their own childhood memories to promote healing and empowerment.

Join us for two extraordinary events

Performance # 1

Michelle Thrush

as

Majica

W2

111 West Hastings Street, Vancouver

Thursday, February 23, 2012

1 to 3 pm

Performance #2

Michelle Thrush

as

Kookum Martha

And

the Blues, Roots and Soul of Murray Porter, arriving straight from receiving a JUNO nomination for his new album `Songs Lived & Life Played’

Native Education College

285 East 5^th Avenue, Vancouver

Thursday, February 23, 2012

Doors at 7 pm

Tickets sliding scale $5 – $20

For more information email Monica Louis at monica@bwss.org or call her at 604-687-1868

This event is a collaboration between Native Education College and Battered Women’s Support Services

On the Shafia Case…

by Elamin Abdelmahmoud

On the Shafia case..

Hey yo.

I don’t want to spent a lot of time on this matter, but I was stirred to comment (however briefly) about the Shafia murder trial.

I presume your basic knowledge of the case, as most mainstream media outlets spent a considerable time with it. It was, after all, a most horrific crime. Today, the verdict was handed down to the father, brother, and mother – all guilty, and all facing life in prison.

Before going on, I would like to reiterate the heinousness of the crime here.  I have no intention of arguing for the convicted members of the Shafia family, making excuses for them, or pardoning them of the crimes they have been accused, charged, and convicted of.

This piece was inspired purely by the discussion that the verdict has generated.  Specifically, the expression of outrage at ‘honour killings’ (the going term) and the lament for Canadian multiculturalism and how it has gone too far. I would like to suggest that, actually, by dubbing this an honour killing, we satisfy an elementary understanding of the crime while sidestepping the larger point.

The point, of course, is that this was a crime about control. Shafia was obviously exercising a level of control over the victims, and asserting his male dominance by robbing them of their agency. The violent act was Shafia’s response based on his belief that he has agency over these women, and they ought to act according to his worldview, a worldview many attribute to his ethnic background.

I have no intention of condoning this particular worldview. Y’all use words like “backwards”, “uncivilized”, and I’m not sure if those words are the precise words, but I’ll take your words and instead sub in “unacceptable”. I think that’s fairly agreeable? You can add an F word for good measure.

Where we go wrong in the discussion is here: we take Shafia’s robbing of women’s agency (with its cultural justification) and we call it an ‘honour killing’.

Instead, I suggest we drop the specific-language act and instead, we call it what it is: an exercise of controlling women.  A deplorable practice of abuse of women, one that depends on deeming women not worthy of making decisions about their own bodies.

The reason I suggest we abandon using exceptional language is this: the same underlying assumption, the assumption that women ought to not make decisions about their own bodies, that women are not deserving of agency over their own destinies is used every single day in “our culture”, whatever you take that to mean (In this particular piece, I am taking that to mean some dominant culture, and not diving too deep into this).

Every time a woman is raped, a policy is passed about women’s bodies without taking agency into account, or a domestic abuse is committed, it is stemming from that exact belief. It gets a bit tiresome making the parallel everytime: Yes, a man who commits an “honour killing” is using his cultural baggage to justify his horrible act. But you know what? So is a man who rapes a woman because he thinks women’s bodies do not belong to them.

The mistake, in my opinion, made in discussing the Shafia case is assuming that cultural baggage only affects a certain segment of the population. Worse, there also seems to be an assumption that rape is a bunch of singular incidents and not culturally learned. Same thing as domestic abuse. We barely connect these crimes to a cultural learning that is pervasive throughout our culture, and that learning is the same one Shafia, his son and his wife were guilty of: the learning that women’s bodies must be controlled, and that women should possess less agency over their bodies.

So, to sum it up: Yes, the murder of these women was a heinous crime. Yes, it is a result of cultural understanding of how much agency women should have over their own bodies. But we need to ask ourselves, how many other crimes are we not attributing to the same cultural understanding? Stop calling it honour killing, and start calling it an exercise of stripping women of power. Then look for other examples of it, and you’ll find them all around you.

I have no intention of “relegating or implicitly excusing the role of culture” in this crime, as some folks have commented to me. On the contrary, I’m asking you to consider the role of culture in all violence against women.

As a final word, I guess, one of the hardest lessons I’ve learned is to question where my gut response is coming from. I’m not assuming yours is invalid. I am, however asking you to consider the possibility that it might be coming from a place of not spending time questioning where your own ideas may be coming from.

Oh, hey, if you have a comment back, tweet me: @elamin88.

_______________________________________

Editor’s Note:

At Battered Women’s Support Services, we have spoken about the need for a deeper analysis and understanding of violence against women and the role of culture.  Our training programs, our speaks and our written materials always present an understanding that violence against women is an issue across and within all cultures, communities, nation states and is profoundly embedded in what we would understand as mainstream Canadian culture. The continuation of highlighting the specific manifestations violence against women within specific “cultures” through over representing specific “cultures” as some how more violent presumably than Canadian “culture” is a misrepresentation of the culture of violence against women that all the women who access Battered Women’s Support Services know all too well.  The following Spiral of Gender Violence illustrates how violence follows girls and women through the life cycles.

UPDATE* In 2010, Gerald Caplan wrote the following for the Globe and Mail:

“But terrible things still happen to women everywhere, as the domestic violence figures for Canada demonstrate. No nation, religion, class or ethnic group has the monopoly on misogyny. Honour killings should be seen not as uniquely evil but as the most extreme and perverse proof of this truth. That’s why it’s encouraging that women’s equality groups have been so vocal in their denunciations of all violence against women and are supporting women in minority communities to give them the strength to stand up for their rights.

Despite the remarkable progress women have truly made in the past half-century, clawing for every inch of it, the struggle for women’s equality can never rest. It simply has too many enemies, always fighting to keep women in their place, where they belong, dead or alive. Young women who dismiss feminism as irrelevant or outdated are, I’m afraid, dead wrong. The struggle is never over.”

UPDATE *

Yasmin Jiwani offered the following in the Montreal Gazette:

“Calling the murders “honour killings” accomplishes two goals. First, it makes it seem as if femicide is a highly unusual event. Second, it makes it seem as if femicide is confined to specific populations within Canada and specific national cultures or religions in the world at large. But Canadian statistics prove otherwise. According to StatsCan figures, from 2000 to 2009 an average of 58 women a year were killed in this country as a result of spousal violence. In that same period, 67 children and young people aged 12 to 17 were murdered by family members. In contrast, recent estimates tell us that there have been 12 or 13 so-called honour killings in Canada in the last decade. It does not take a genius to see that comparing 12 or 13 against the hundreds of women and children who were victims of familial violence serves only to frame “honour killing” as peculiar, when in reality it is part of a larger pattern of violence against women.”

Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/Should+call+honour+killing/6074266/story.html#ixzz1l4jYw7Y6

The Lifetime Spiral is designed by Asian & Pacific Islander Institute on Domestic Violence (2007)

We recognize that it is of critical importance to identify the historic, legal, attitudinal and behavioural discrimination women experience that is embedded in mainstream Canadian culture and within Immigrant communities.  The message continues to be a difficult one for Canadian society to manage as illustrated in the following media reports and in the promotional materials for an upcoming training for service providers co-sponsored by Vancouver Police Department and BC Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General.

http://www.vancouversun.com/Shafia+jury+finds+guilty+shameful+honour+killings/6071601/story.html

http://montreal.ctv.ca/servlet/an/local/CTVNews/20120130/mtl_shafia_community_120130/20120130/?hub=MontrealHome

http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2012/01/30/mohammad-shafia-was-so-obsessed-so-closed-minded/

FEMINISM IS FOR EVERYBODY – Passionate Politics

by bell hooks

Feminism is for Everybody – Passionate Politics

INTRODUCTION
Come Closer to Feminism
Everywhere I go I proudly tell folks who want to know who I am and what I do that I am a writer, a feminist theorist, a cultural critic. I tell them I write about movies and popular culture, analyzing the
message in the medium. Most people find this exciting and want to know more. Everyone goes to movies, watches television, glances through magazines, and everyone has thoughts about the messages
they receive, about the images they look at. It is easy for the diverse public I encounter to understand what I do as a cultural critic, to understand my passion for writing (lots of folks want to write, and do).
But feminist theory – that’s the place where the questions stop. Instead I tend to hear all about the evil of feminism and the bad feminists:

• how "they" hate men;