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November

10 Steps to End Violence Against Women

Mon 27 Nov 2006
in

I wrote the following last Friday on the Ottawa LiveJournal community, but one of the moderators of that community thought it was off-topic, so she deleted it.

I was given a sheet with this title this morning by a woman at the Rideau bus stop. It has the following 10 points and the address to the Web site of the “publisher” at the bottom, www.stepitupontario.ca. (The list is also available on the front page of that site.)

Do you mind if I review them with all of you? (If you do, well I’m sorry, but I’ll still do!)

The 10 Steps to End Violence Against Women
(Copied from the Web site mentioned above.)

  1. Understand that violence against women is an equality rights issue.
  2. Recognize that male power is upheld by rape and sexual harassment.
  3. Stop racism/oppression; make Ontario accessible.
  4. End poverty — NOW!
  5. Create and maintain housing, non-profit childcare, training — NOW!
  6. Provide fair access to justice for women.
  7. Hold violent men accountable for their actions.
  8. Stop criminalizing and psychiatrizing women.
  9. Demand secure funding for women’s organizations.
  10. Listen to survivors and women’s advocates — they are the experts!

(I added a missing period at the 9th statement. You know, just to be consistent.)

I don’t understand the link between many of those points and the topic. Number 3, for example, to stop racism. Racism is bad, true, but are they implying that women are another race now? And number 4: poverty, violence…?

My biggest problem is number 8. If a woman commits a crime, I guess because she’s a woman, she shouldn’t be penalized for it. And what psychiatrizing means? I can’t find a definition for that word anywhere, including Google and Answers.com.

Number 2 is a bit sexist or stereotypical to me. I’m a man, and the only power I feel I have is buying things (not people) with the money I’ve earned. That point seems to assume that all successful men are rapists and beat women! Sometimes I feel that, according to society in general, a man who hates a woman is sexist, but a women who hates a man is a feminist. Oh, and since I’m white, surely, I must be racist! And since I eat meat, it means I’m encouraging the slaughter of animals and the destruction of our planet. (Note the last two sentences were sarcastic.)

This sheet psychiatrized me for ever. I say we find ways to eliminate violence for all!

Any opinions?

Chinese student in Kumamoto gets arrested

Sun 26 Nov 2006
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News article on Mainichi
(Via http://games.slashdot.org/games/06/11/26/2138205.shtml)

The only great thing I found about that article is the fact that I was in Kumamoto just a few weeks ago!

And I’m also surprised that something, if anything, happened there. It’s a small town that would really remind you of Moncton, NB!

Cutest box drawing ever

Sun 26 Nov 2006
in

Japanese chocolate box cover.

I bought this box of chocolate dango in Nara, Japan, a town near Kyoto. A dango is a famous sweet in Japan. They are dumplings made of rice flour and often has a sweet bean paste filling. The chocolate kind has a chocolate filling rather than bean paste. They’re not as good, but I just bought it because of the drawing.

This box suggests that the dango inside are made from the feces of the deers in the park of Nara. My father and I used to joke about Whoppers being made of rabbit turd. (And we love Whoppers!) Maybe it’s true!

No more anonymous posting

Sat 25 Nov 2006
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Just a little note about a simple update on my site.

First, I hate spam. My site is being constantly hit with spammers and sometimes my spam filter can’t keep up. (Though, it did a good job at blocking most of the hundreds of spam comments.) Second, I absolutely hate anonymous comments. Even if the comment is positive, I really hate it. I just don’t understand why people want to hide so much, even if all they’re saying is good! If you can’t have enough confidence to write a name, don’t write at all. It doesn’t have to be your real name, at least a nickname so I can know who wrote the comment! I’m being honest to everyone on my site, and I really appreciate people who do the same to me.

To that effect, I’ve made a few changes to how comments are posted on my site. (Not applicable to LiveJournal.) I’m not requiring anyone to log in, but I really do encourage it. If you don’t, you’ll be shown an image containing letters below the field in which you write your comment. You’ll be required to type those letters in a field below the image. This is to prevent spammers.

Also, if you’re not logged in, you’ll be required to provide a name and an e-mail address. You don’t have to put in your real name, and you’re e-mail will not be shown to the public; only to me.

Thanks for understanding!

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