LALENA - Blog

I Danced for Johnny Depp: Dancing to Raise Awareness about Abuse

5/21/2022

Last weekend I danced to raise awareness about domestic abuse, and at least in my mind, I danced for Johnny Depp. I danced for everyone who has suffered abuse from someone they loved, everyone who has suffered abuse from someone with a personality disorder. I danced for those have not or can not speak up. And I danced with the joy of being free from abuse.

I’m part of an organization called Shimmy Mob, the world’s largest belly dance flash mob. Thousands of dancers gather in hundreds of cities around the world to raise awareness about domestic abuse, because this is a global issue and it can happen to anyone!

I danced in the live performance by the global Shimmy Mob group. I'm also a member of the online dance troupe the Shimmy Sirens of Zoom :) and our video will be featured in an online halfa today being hosted by Night in the Global Village. I also recorded a solo version, because my friends and fans told me they want to see me and I was too small on the screen in the dance troupe versions. So here you go, friends and fans :D

I think the Johnny Depp v Amber Heard trial has brought the topic of abuse into the news and into conversation with others. I think that there are few silver linings to the train wreck on fire that is this trial.

The first is that Johnny Depp has become a very public face for men who have experienced abuse at the hands of the woman they loved. I think it’s important to recognize that yes, men can be abused too. And it doesn’t just happen to short, slim, small, young men. I vividly recall the first time a male friend of mine confided in me about the abuse that he had suffered at the hands of his ex-wife. He was not someone I would have expected to have been abused. He was taller and bigger than me and he was trained to fight, he was ex-military. But his wife was cruel and they met in the military and she savagely beat him. What he described sounded horrible. I was surprised and I felt touched that he trusted me enough to share his experience with me, that he felt safe enough with me as a friend to trust me, to tell me what happened to him. I feel that Johnny Depp stepping up to speak publicly about his experience is incredibly brave and I think it’s important to have a public figure admit that yes, this happened to him. Men are sometimes abused by women, it does happen, and it's just as sad and awful as women being abused by men.

In a recent analysis by Statistics Canada 44% of women and 36% of men had experienced intimate partner violence. You'll notice those numbers are very similar between women and men and alarmingly high. The actual numbers are probably even higher, since there is a lot of under-reporting (particularly by men) and North America has a low rate compared to the rest of the world. Estimates for global numbers look more like over 50% of people experience domestic violence at some point in their life. And there have been studies showing there has been a recent increase in young males being abused by the women they are involved with, which is worrying trend. And it's been all over the news headlines how much domestic violence has increased during the pandemic. This is a BIG global issue affecting a lot of people!

I think another silver lining from this trial is that it is shining a direct and harsh light on mental illness. It’s giving the public a very clear example of what some specific personality disorders look like. In Amber Heard's testimony and the audio tapes made by the couple when they were together, you can hear it. You can hear how she’s unwilling to admit any responsibility, how she’s inconsistent in what she says, and how she constantly twists what people say and the truth. I've felt this way about a few other female celebrities who have been in the spotlight recently too, like Jada Pinkett-Smith and even Meghan Markle. All of these women seem to have poorly controlled mental health issues that are on display for the world to see, because they are in the public eye. They appear to have personality disorders that are interfering with their lives and the lives of the people close to them.

I think people don't realize how easily you can find yourself in a situation like this. How it can happen if you're just a compassionate, empathic, and kind person. Where you don't notice the red flags until you're already in the relationship, in love...and then you realize the other person is deeply troubled. And you find yourself wanting to help, because you love them. I think that's often the situation that many people who experience abuse find themselves in and it usually starts with emotional and verbal abuse, so you may not even recognize it as abuse at the beginning. You're involved with the person, you may be living with them, you may have children with them. And you love them, you want to help them, you want things to work out, but the other person has issues, serious issues. Often mental health issues, particularly personality disorders that are poorly managed or completely uncontrolled. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, mental health issues do not give you a free pass to abuse someone. Abuse is NEVER justified!

I think it's important to educate yourself about personality disorders, to better understand the signs. Unlike people with anxiety or depression who know they have a problem, often people with personality disorders don't know they have a problem. They don't think anything is wrong with them. Their thinking is quite literally disordered. And personality disorders can be severely affect someone's behaviour, to the point where it interferes with their lives, their jobs, and their relationships. And some of those behaviours can be very harmful to others, especially those closest to them.

They will do things like compulsively lie. It's not something they necessarily control or are even aware of, their disorder compulses the behaviour. You can see this repeatedly in testimony given by Amber Heard. She is completely inconsistent. In one moment she'll describe the "one time" she ever hit Johnny Depp, but yet during the same deposition she talks about several other incidents where she hit him. There's even a tape of a conversation between the two of them after a fight, where Amber is angrily complaining because Johnny is upset that she punched him. You can listen to their conversations* and it's everything I needed to hear to understand that Amber Heard is an abuser. In the tapes made at the time they were involved, she clearly admits to physically abusing him on multiple occasions and she verbally abuses him on the tapes. She mocks him and makes of fun of him. She calls him a baby for running away from fights. She tells him that she can't promise she won't get physical again...that sometimes she just loses it. She even laughs and dares him to tell the world what really happened, saying that no one will believe him, that noone will believe he's a victim of domestic violence!

Can you imagine if the sexes were reversed? If this was a famous man on tape saying all of that to his wife? I have trouble understanding why so many people believed Amber for so long. I guess #MeToo was in full swing and everyone was all "believe all women". I'd like to, I'd like to believe all women and all men. I'd like to believe everyone. When I first heard about this I assumed that they were in an unhappy and dysfunctional relationship, I believed that perhaps the abuse was mutual. And often in cases of intimate partner violence there is bidirectional violence. But after hearing those audio tapes of the discussions between Amber and Johnny that were made at the time these incidents occurred, watching the video of her deposition and how she smiles when she talks about hitting him, and watching her on the stand now in the current trial, I think it's very clear that Amber is an abuser and that Amber has mental health issues. I believe Dr. Curry was correct in talking about Amber having two personality disorders, Borderline and Histrionic. It's been theorized she has Narcissistic Personality Disorder as well, which is possible - many of the traits do overlap.

I think that Johnny didn't realize what kinds of issues Amber had until he was already involved with her, already in love with her. And from what he's said, he grew up in a family where his mom was abusive, so he had already seen and experienced abuse as a child. I don't know the details, but it's possible his mother had a personality disorder too. In many ways, I feel Johnny's story is my story. I grew in a family where I was abused. And later I found myself in an abusive relationship as an adult. It was only afterwards that I realized how much those experiences were connected to each other and related to mental health issues and personality disorders. I didn't realize until later how much my experiences as a child made me vulnerable to getting involved in an abusive relationship as an adult. I was used to "walking on eggshells". I was used to someone who insisted on their version of reality and you just had to agree with it. There was no argument, reality was whatever they said it was. I was used to violence and threats of violence. When I encountered some of those same things in a relationship as an adult I realized I was unhappy and it wasn't healthy, but I didn't understand why things weren't getting better. I didn't understand why nothing really seemed to make the other person happy or improve things. I recall going to a couple's counsellor and essentially having the counsellor tell me that I wasn't the problem, that the other person needed help. But things never got better and I had to walk away. I'm just grateful and thankful that I was able to walk away. I know sadly many people stay in abusive relationships, or worse are killed by their abusive partners.

I think it's important to mention that not all people with personality disorders are violent. There have been some studies connecting personality disorders and violence. But there have also been studies showing upwards of 18% of CEOs are narcissists. Similarly, celebrities and influencers tend to be narcissists as well. For example, Meghan Markle is a relatively nice narcissist, she loves attention for doing charity work and being a "do-gooder". It's not that these people are good or evil, it's just that they have mental health issues. Though it is wise to be wary of narcissists. By definition, they are self-interested and lacking empathy, so they are capable of seriously harming others and they may be unaware of what they are doing. This is also part of what makes them "great" CEOs, they make decisions that are great for them and the companies financially, but sometimes give little thought ethics, employees, the larger and long-term consequences of their actions, etc. They don't give thought to anything outside of themselves, everything is related to them. It can make them highly successful, but it can also make them highly dangerous to other people and the world in general.

I strongly encourage you to educate yourself about abuse and personality disorders. It's vital that we all learn more about this important topic. It affects ALL of our lives. It's estimated about 10% of the population have personality disorders, though it may be higher, and there have been some studies showing an increase in narcissism recently. And if 50% of people experience domestic violence, then it has touched you or someone you know. Now is the time to learn more and understand it can happen to anyone :(

Resources
Are You Dating an Abuser? Nine very early signs of emotional and verbal abuse
If you need help in BC, contact Victim Link BC 24/7 (many languages)
Call 1-800-563-0808
Text 604-836-6381
Email VictimLinkBC@bc211.ca
TTY accessible at 604-875-0885 or collect at 7-1-1

Personality Disorders
I highly recommend Out of the Fog. It's a great resource for information about personality disorders, so you can learn more. They also have a wonderful support forum, so if you have a family member or a partner who has a personality disorder and you need support - this is the place. This is the resource I turned to when I was trying to make sense of an abusive relationship I was in. I learned SO much and I understand so much better now what happened and why.

Donations
If you find Out of the Fog helpful, donate to them! They are a volunteer run organization, so they run on donations and love :)

Also, the Shimmy Mob website has a list of local shelters and support organizations, so you can find a charity in your area to donate to and help your local community

Johnny Depp v Amber Heard Trial
For more insights, I'd suggest the following videos...

*Amber Heard and Johnny Depp Audio Tapes
This is what I consider primary source material. These audio tapes were recorded by Amber Heard and Johnny Depp years ago when they were involved, before the public accusations and their divorce. So if there is anywhere to look for the real truth, I believe it is in these recordings. There are more, but I think these three are prime examples of the kinds of interactions they were having and these specific recordings were made just after some of the major events being discussed in the trial.

Amber Heard's Deposition from 2016
This deposition is interesting because it doesn't match the audio tapes, she contradicts herself a number of times during the deposition, and her stories are different than what's she currently saying on the stand.

AMBER HEARD ADMITS TO KICKING A DOOR INTO JOHNNY DEPPS HEAD - NEVER BEFORE SEEN DEPOSITION FOOTAGE (Raw Footage)
Johnny Depp & Amber Heard Abuse Claims: Amber Admits to Multiple Violent Attacks! (Analysis with transcript)
Johnny Depp & Amber Heard Abuse Claims: Amber Caught Lying Under Oath! (Analysis with video footage)

Current Trial Footage
The Law & Crime Network has complete videos of the current trial and live coverage. Here are the videos with Amber Heard's testimony:

Analysis of Evidence
Incredibly Average has the most detailed and logical analysis of the evidence that I've seen so far. Here are several of the key videos I'd suggest reviewing:

#AbusehasNoGender #MenToo #DancingforJohnnyDepp #AmberHeardisanAbuser #DeppVsHeard #JohnnyDepp #AmberHeard #MeghanMarkle #JadaPinkettSmith #DomesticViolenceAwareness #DomesticViolenceEducation #MentalHealthAwareness #ShimmyMob #BellyDance #ShimmyMob2022 #BetheChange #MakeaDifference

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6 Holiday Shopping Tips

11/25/2021

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Tomorrow is Black Friday, the beginning of the end of the year shopping frenzy.

Though it seems like it started earlier than usual this year. I've already seen a few early Black Friday sales and one "Green Friday" sale, whatever greenwashing craziness that is...

I know most of us will probably buy something this season, so here are some general tips with links for more details.

Only buy new if it makes sense. You really need it, you're sure it's something the other person will really like, etc. Make sure it's for a good reason and purpose, that it is something that will be used and appreciated for years, or eaten if it's food :)
Buy Quality. Consider the product: does it have good reviews, is it well made, will it last? Consider the company: who are they, where is the product made, what materials are in the product? These questions are important for you, to make sure you get something good and safe. They're also important for the health and well being of everyone involved in making the product, and for ALL of the living beings on this planet really. What you CHOOSE to buy can make a BIG difference in the world.
If you have young children or pets, for their safety avoid EVERYTHING made in China, particularly anything they *might* put in their mouth. Many jewellery items, clothing and purses contain lead, cadmium, phthalates and other dangerous chemicals, at levels MUCH higher than what's allowed in Canada. (SHEIN, AliExpress, Zaful haul: Toxic chemicals found in some clothes)
To avoid toxic chemicals, avoid products made in China. Particularly, cosmetics, makeup, anything metal like jewellery, brightly colored objects (dyed or painted) and fake leather products. Also avoid waterproof items like raincoats and umbrellas, and vinyl or plastic items. This is due to various chemicals at dangerously high levels, including cadmium, lead & phthalates.
Buy Direct. Counterfeit products are surprisingly common online. (Counterfeit crackdown: Testing Walmart, Amazon, eBay, AliExpress and Wish) If you buy counterfeit products you're supporting organized crime, and you're likely to get something poorly made with toxic chemicals. So it's best to buy products directly from the manufacturer or from a reputable store in real life. For designer products, consider buying secondhand and pre-loved items from a business that verifies items as authentic.
If you care about the working conditions and the treatment of the people making the products, consider avoiding anything made in China (potentially slave labour). Overseas in general is questionable, but so is LA. (The hidden price of your clothes)

Generally speaking, made in Canada is good, but read the fine print. Make sure it is MADE in Canada, not just designed here. I learned doing local artisan & craft markets and Canadian fashion shows that "local" isn't always so local. At the markets & shows I attended that claimed to be Canadian and local, about half of the products were actually made outside of Canada.

I hope these tips will help you make good choices for your holiday spending. Of course, I also encourage you to check out my online store, where you'll find lots of items designed by me and made in Canada. :) I will be posting some new artwork and items in the next couple of days too.

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Indigenous Peoples Day: The Past and Present

6/21/2021

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Stanley Park in Vancouver, BC

Today is National Indigenous Peoples Day in Canada. It's a day recognizing and celebrating the cultures and contributions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis Indigenous peoples of Canada.

I think this year it holds an extra charge with the recent discovery of the remains of 215 children at a residential school site in Kamloops.

From what I read the Kamloops school had acknowledged that about 50 children had died at the school, but finding the bones of over 200 children was sickening, and that's just one school. When the residential schools were in operation there were 139 schools in Canada. Most of them closed in the mid-1970s, but some remained open until the late 1990s. Over 150,000 children were removed and separated from their families and communities to attend these boarding schools.

Indigenous people have been talking for a long time about how terrible the residential schools were, and they have spoken before about the children who disappeared. It's clear with this gruesome discovery and from what survivors have said, that many of those children were abused and died under terrible circumstances.

Since the remains were found at the Kamloops school, I've seen memorials around town about the tragedy, including this one I saw yesterday in downtown Vancouver.

There have also been calls to search all of the residential school sites for remains. I was glad to read that the Government of Canada has set aside $27 million to support locating, documenting, maintaining and commemorating burial sites associated with former residential schools (and to respond to family wishes to commemorate or memorialize their losses and the children's final resting places).

This is horrible tragedy that took place in Canada and its effects are still deeply felt by the survivors, the friends, family members and communities affected. For those affected by this tragedy there are several crisis lines to call for support.

National Residential School Crisis Line
Support for former students and those affected
1-866-925-4419

BC KUU-US Crisis Line
Support for First Nations and Indigenous
1-800-588-8717

Both of these numbers are open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

I hope that in time we will all come to terms with what happened. That we'll be able to see the extent of tragedy and reflect together on that dark time in Canadian history and mourn for the many who suffered and died.

I hope we will be able to move forward towards a more inclusive society with less prejudice. I've been shocked by how much racism there is in Canada towards indigenous people, and I'm particularly concerned about young indigenous women.

There are still many missing indigenous women, one RCMP report estimated over a 1K, but activists say they have the names of over 4,000 women who have disappeared. And it's known that homicide rates is 6x higher for indigenous women.

I invite you to learn more and take action. Section 15 (page 89) of this summary has a number of actions that are for ALL Canadians to take action. It also includes links a number of resources to learn more.

I think it's important for Canadians to be aware of what happened in past and to be aware of what's happening now in the present. I think we all need to make an active choice to be supportive of indigenous people and communities.

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Are We Ready to Put Covid Behind Us?

6/15/2021

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Yesterday the Premier of BC said “We're ready to put Covid behind us.” And I think there are a lot of people who feel that way. A lot of us feel ready to be done with this pandemic. I know I wish it was over.

I haven't been writing in my blog as regularly as I used to before the pandemic, but if you’ve been following my other social media you'll know I have been posting a lot more there than usual. I've been providing summaries of live briefings held by public health officials here in BC regularly since the pandemic began. And I've been sharing important information and articles about Covid there as well.

I want to start blogging more again about various topics (and creating more videos), but first there's some information that I’d like to share about the pandemic before moving onto other topics. I thought about doing one BIG post on Covid, but there’s a lot of different topics, so I think I’m going to divide it up. To give you a bit of a preview, here are some of the topics I plan to cover.

I think that I’m going to start with the most controversial, which is QAnon. I think that everyone needs to know more about what was and is going on with that. And I'd like to share some information I've learned over the past year about Covid, the origins, health information, medical studies, etc. I think it would be good to talk about masks too and I think it's important to discuss vaccines.

I'd also like to share a bit about how the pandemic has affected me personally and some of the people I know. I want to talk a little about the challenges that I’ve struggled with over the past year and mental health, which a lot of people have struggled with during this pandemic. And I want to share with you some of what I’ve been up to over the past year. I haven’t been posting much about art, but I have been working on art. I've been doing acting workshops, taking a lot of dance lessons, and I've created some new visual art, so I have some new artwork to share too. :)

I just wanted to give you a brief overview about what kinds of topics I'm thinking about covering. If there's a topic you'd like to suggest, let me know. I plan to put up a series of articles over the next few weeks and then hopefully I won’t have to post about Covid anymore. I'm hoping to switch gears and focus on other things.

I thought about doing this at the end of 2020 or at the one year mark in March, but things weren't even close to over then and I was still feeling pretty overwhelmed. I think only now are we beginning to see the end in sight for the pandemic.

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New! My Art on Totes & More

11/27/2020

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I have an announcement! I decided to move everything I sell that's decorated with my art to my Lalena.me website.

Why? It's different customers & fans than my women's clothing business. I've sold just as many items to men as women. :) And I think the people that like my art are likely to be the same people that like my music and my videos. :) Some of the music videos do have a similar aesthetic, like this one.

SPECIAL SALE

To celebrate, I'm offering a sale on totes. Prices Good until Mon., Dec. 30th at 12 midnight. While supplies last.

Basic Tote Bag (Only a few of these left in-stock!)

Origami Tote Wrap (Only a few of these left in-stock!)

Urban Tote Bag (Lined)

All of the items are Made in Canada and decorated with my art. Please support me and Canadian business by buying some pretty, artwork decorated goods. :)

And please share with friends and family who may be interested, share on social media, Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Thank you!

#madeincanada #shoplocal #blackfridaydeals #smallbusinesssaturday

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Feminist Fridays: WAP, Cuties, Cats and Capitalism

9/25/2020

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Is this the new face of feminism?

Note: Since we're discussing the song WAP there will be some graphic language in this post, so #nsfw

Background
A number of people have mentioned Cardi B.'s background in talking about WAP and I do think it’s relevant, since she’s being put forward as a feminist icon. So let's start with a little history in case you don't know. (I don't know about Megan's background, so I won't comment on that.)

Cardi has talked about the fact that she started stripping when she was 19. She’s also talked about what she did when men offered her money for sex, she drugged them and robbed them. So she did what's shown in Hustlers in real life and was never caught or prosecuted. She's also talked about getting back at men who cheat on her by getting them drunk/drugged and having a “tranny” have sex with them.

I think this is part of the problem, a lot of people have, with holding up Cardi B. as a feminist role model. I think we can all agree that drugging, raping, and robbing people is wrong. From her own description, it's clear she was not a good, ethical sex worker. And I think Cardi has some pretty messed up ideas about consent and transsexuals, if she thinks it’s ok to get “even” with a cis-het* guy she’s dating by getting him drunk/drugged and setting him up to have sex with someone who’s a “tranny”.

Beyond Cardi's past though, there's the lyrics to WAP. A number of women have proclaimed WAP as being feminist and a great anthem for female empowerment. AOC (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez) even went so far as to tweet about WAP standing for "Women Against Patriarchy" and Gwyneth Paltrow talked about WAP being "part of the crumbling patriarchy" and glowingly said that "Cardi B is changing it by her incredible lyrical prowess".

Are you blindly ignoring the lyrics? Did you just hear the word “pussy” and decide that it must be feminist and progressive? The lyrics reinforce the idea that the only thing women have of value, the only currency women have to trade is their bodies and sex. The lyrics talk about trading sex for money and cars, using sex to get ahead in your career, and how sex is all that's important get a guy to marry you. Are these empowering, feminist messages? Are these women against patriarchy?

"There's some whores in the house"
Let's look at the lyrics, starting with the backing track, "There's some whores in the house". This line is repeated over and over again like a mantra throughout the song. This is the main message!

(The fact that you never see a guy in the video makes it ambiguous who’s saying this or why. I know it’s a sample, but in the context of the lyrics, is he their pimp? Is he a customer? Is he a neighbour complaining?)

You can interpret "There's some whores in the house" in two ways:

There are some actual sex workers in this house.
There are some women who enjoy sex in this house.

The rest of the lyrics make it clear the answer is both.

The Good
Is it catchy? Yeah, it's catchy as fuck, like an STI (more on that comparison later). WAP is an awful earworm that will get stuck in your head. You have been warned!

The lyrics graphically talk about sex, and comically and ridiculously talk about female arousal, like the line about needing "a bucket and a mop for this wet-ass pussy".

I think the *best* I can say about WAP is that the lyrics talk about women liking sex. Typical cis-het sex with lots of sex work and a little kink. But being raunchy is not revolutionary. There are LOTS of song written and sung by women talking about being aroused and enjoying sex. And I’m not convinced that merely talking about enjoying sex equals female empowerment, particularly considering the lyrics and messages conveyed in WAP overall.

It’s possible that WAP is trying to reclaim the words "whore" and "freak". Both of the women sing about enjoying sex and doing sex work, so perhaps they are trying to reclaim the word “whore”. And there is the line “I said certified freak, seven days a week”, so perhaps the song is trying to reclaim that word as well.

I think that is the most glowing, positive light I can shine on WAP. Beyond that, well, I don't think the messages are particularly feminist and I have difficult seeing this as a great song for young women. Here are some of the lessons you can learn from WAP.

Sex work can pay for your tuition, get you a new car and more!
The song includes a number of lyrics talking about sex work, like "Pay my tuition just to kiss me on this wet-ass pussy...Now make it rain if you wanna see some wet-ass pussy". So the song glorifies sex work as a way to pay for college. There's also a line saying you should, "Ask for a car while you ride that dick". So there are a number of lyrics that talk about exchanging sex for money and goods. Is it feminist to encourage women to do sex work? To demand money before showing your WAP to a guy?

You don't need to use condoms, the guy can just pull out.
There are several lines that talk about the guy pulling out, such as "Wet-ass pussy, make that pullout game weak" and "Quick, jump out 'fore you let it get inside of me". No need for condoms apparently, even though they're talking about doing sex work and having sex with guys who don’t know your name. Apparently they’re not worried about sexually transmitted diseases. Yeah, you thought I was joking about the STI bit.

If you suck the right cock, you can get a record deal.
There's also this lyric, "I spit on his mic and now he tryna sign me". This line is clearly saying she did oral on a guy and now she's getting offered record deal. After #metoo and #timesup is this what we want to encourage? Women willingly sucking dick to get ahead in their career?

How to be a gold digger
And then there's this line, "I don't cook, I don't clean, but let me tell you how I got this ring". Saying quite literally that you can be a talentless whore and still get married. No need for common interests, love, or anything like. No, all you need to do is find a rich guy and have sex with him.

Oh, you don't think that's what this song says? Here's another line "He got some money, then that's where I'm headed, Pussy A1 just like his credit". Either she's looking for a rich guy to get money and goods for sex, or she's looking for a rich guy to marry her. Which is it? Which is a better message for women?

I've read some people think the lyrics are feminist because women used to be expected to cook and clean if they got married, but this song is saying women don't have to cook or clean. Um, really? So it's better to focus on how all women need to do is be good in bed?

Really, this whole song talks about women enjoying sex with men and using sex to get money and goods, get ahead in your career, and get married. Is this moving feminism forward? Is this going to crumble patriarchy? Or are these messages heteronormative?

Why do some feminists think WAP is great?
I've asked women who proclaim WAP to be feminist and empowering to explain what's feminist and empowering about the song. They seem to struggle to explain it and eventually descend to telling me to shut up if I don't like it and insults. Hmm, so much for an open-minded discussion on this topic.

@feminist shared Raquel Willis's post speaking positively about WAP and asking people to “Imagine if women and other folks could love their selves on their own terms without being concerned with the white cis-hetero patriarchal gaze.”

I think that’s a nice idea, but WAP is clearly designed for the cis-het male gaze. Every sexy outfit, pose, and dance move. The lyrics too. Even their bodies! I know Cardi has openly talked about getting plastic surgery to look more attractive to men. All of WAP is designed to appeal guys, maybe not so much white guys, but definitely for cis-het guys!

WAP and young women
A number of people commented online about WAP being great for young women. When I asked of one the commenters why they thought WAP was great for young women and they said WAP makes young women feel good about their bodies.

I'm all for women feeling good about their bodies! But I don't think that's something WAP does. And in terms of its effect on young women, have you seen Generation Wealth? Have you seen Cuties?

Here's a still from the WAP video and a still from the dance performance in Cuties.

A still from the WAP music & a still from the movie Cuties, both showing the same hump the floor dance move.

Notice some similarity there? Yup, it's the same hump the floor dance move meant to look like you’re having sex.

Cuties and #cancelnetflix
Here's a clip of the infamous dance performance in Cuties.

The girls shown in this clip are supposed to be 11 years old competing in a dance competition. I think Cuties accurately points out that the hyper-sexualisation that women are exposed to from a young age puts pressure on them to dress sexy, to do sexy dance moves, to expose themselves, etc.

Should you cancel Netflix? Yes, but not necessarily for Cuties. There are other reasons to cancel Netflix.

I think the director of Cuties is trying to show a young woman's journey and ultimately, she shows a middle ground for the young lead character, not conforming to her family or to dance crew she joined. But there is a LOT of young women dressing sexy and doing sexy dance moves in Cuties, so yeah, pedos would probably enjoy watching it.

At the same time, I think it's probably an accurate depiction of a young woman journey. Women are looking at videos like WAP and emulating the dance moves, and looking at women like Cardi B. and Kim Kardashian as roles models.

However, I do think Netflix choice to use a more sexualized poster for the English version of Cuties rather than the original image used for French release is questionable.

French poster for Mignonnes (Cuties) showing girls enjoying a shopping spree with confetti in the air.

Netflix English language poster for Cuties showing girls in revealing dance outfits posing to look sexy.

Similarly the original English description was, “Amy, 11, becomes fascinated with a twerking dance crew. Hoping to join them, she starts to explore her femininity, defying her family’s traditions.” Netflix later changed the description to "11- year-old Amy starts to rebel against her conservative family’s traditions when she becomes fascinated with a free-spirited dance crew.”

I guess Netflix realized using sexy poster of children and advertising 11 year old girls twerking might not be the best idea.

Big Cats & Tiger King
There's one other detail to WAP that bothers me, the wild animals. I thought everyone watched Tiger King! There should not be big cats in this video. Wild animals should not be exploited. Here's a longer article discussing this problem and how this isn't the first time Cardi has used big cats in her videos. She's a repeat offender.

When she was called out about it by Carole Baskin, Cardi said, “Like, that’s just ridiculous you know? Like, girl, you killed your goddamn husband.” I think her husband’s disappearance is suspicious too, but that’s not the point. The point is Cardi B. is contributing to the exploitation of big cats and using them to to portray extreme wealth in her videos, and apparently sees nothing wrong with that. I guess she doesn't care about big cats.

Sex, sluts and sex workers
To be clear, I love sex, I've enjoyed some porn, and I've even written some erotica. ;) I think being aroused and wanting sex are perfectly natural and normal for anyone, any person, or animal for that matter. And if you want to be a slut, go for it, but I think it’s best to be an Ethical Slut. :)

Much like the lyrics of WAP describe, I want to have sex every day, given a chance 4 or 5 times in a night. LOL But for me personally, I like other aspects to go with that, like common interests, connection, love, a relationship...

And if a billionaire or millionaire would like to date me, send me a message. I would be happy to marry someone wealthy, there are just other qualities I’d be looking for too, like compassion.

And I'm not against sex work. I've had a number of friends and acquaintances who have done sex work. I think it's a skilled profession and it's been around a very long time. But, and this is a big BUT, a lot of women do sex work for the money. They don't do it because they enjoy it, they do it because it pays well, because they're desperate for money. Sex workers usually get paid at least $250 an hour. What other jobs can you get that pay that well? Even Cardi talks about being a stripper to "survive" and clearly she focuses more on music now that she has a choice.

Have you seen how many women suddenly started OnlyFans accounts during the pandemic? It's a sign of the times. Women needed a way to make money, preferably from home, so it makes sense they would turn to becoming web cam girls and offering sexy pics on OnlyFans. I think sex work is something women turn to the same way men turn to gangs and dealing drugs. It's often because they see it as the best option available for them to make money. If there were other options available, many wouldn't do it. And men do sex work too, it's just not as common.

The other day someone mentioned to me that Seeking Arrangements is doing a “Back to School” sale, because you know, it’s time for students to go back to school and they need money. Seeking Arrangements boasts that Sugar Baby University now has more than 4.5 million students, 2.5 million in the US and over 330K in Canada. In its annual report for 2020 it said the number of students in Canada has risen "44 per cent in one year" and that was before than pandemic. A number of articles have been published talking about the growing trend and how it’s increased even more now with the pandemic. In one of the articles a student says, "I knew that the only way for me to make money was to either sell drugs or get a sugar daddy." So I think the comparison to dealing drugs is right on target. Sex work is choice, but what other options do women feel like they have?

Doing sex work, being a sugar baby, even being a gold digger, these are things women do to try to survive and thrive in a “man’s world”. Sex sells! And men have money. As woman, you have accepted that and have chosen to sell yourself as a sex object. In all of these cases we’re talking about a relationship with a man that is centered around the women’s sex appeal and her performing sex acts, and the man rewarding her with money and goods. As a woman, you are being valued for your beauty and how good you are in bed. As a man, you’re being valued for how much money you have.

I do understand in *some* cases there is an actual relationship where the people love each other, but in *most* sex work situations that is not the case and some of those articles included horror stories about being a sugar baby that are comparable to the some of bad experiences sex workers have. The sugar babies interviewed confirmed there is definitely an expectation of sex for money at the start, so I think this is a spectrum of exchanges of sex for money, money for sex. This is capitalism at its core, sell your body for money.

I think the questions I have about WAP are: Are the messages in WAP actually feminist? Or is it enabling patriarchy and promoting capitalism by encouraging women to sell their bodies to chase after wealth at any cost? If you haven’t done so already, I strongly encourage you to watch Generation Wealth and consider these questions.

*cis-het = cisgender heterosexual. One of the most common gender identity and sexual orientation combinations. Cisgender a term for people whose gender identity matches their sex assigned at birth. Heterosexuality is romantic attraction, sexual attraction or sexual behaviour between persons of the opposite sex or gender.

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The Case for Basic Income: Take Action!

9/20/2020

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Saturday was International Basic Income day, but I was busy on a film set over the weekend so I'm posting about it today. :) Plus the marches planned for this weekend were cancelled due to Covid, so I think sharing online is the best option right now.

Basic Income (aka, UBI, Universal Basic Income, Guaranteed Living Basic Income) is the idea that everyone should have enough to survive, enough to cover essentials like food and housing.

This Wednesday, September 23rd the Canadian government will present their plan to fix our social safety net. Now is the time to speak up! Sign a petition, write to your MP, and Justin Trudeau.

Basic Income is key to recovering from the Covid crisis, as the money will support the people who need it the most & it will be directly injected into economy by people spending on rent, food and other essentials. It simplifies support systems & it will help Canada deal with the economic impact from the Covid crisis, the decrease in jobs, and the rise in automation.

Please help Basic Income become a reality in Canada! We need a better support system for Canadians that will actually help everyone & help the economy, now more than ever before.

If you're new to the concept, here's a nice short video explaining "the case for universal basic income in post-pandemic Canada".

Is this a crazy left-wing idea?

No, not at all. Bill Kelly mentioned in his show the other day that "one of the architects of the concept of this was actually long-time conservative strategist and senator Hugh Segal".

Hugh Segal is quoted on the cover of Basic Income for Canadians saying it is, "The new Bible for how to best reduce poverty for millions."

And Former Prime Minister Brian Mulroney says a guaranteed basic income needs to be looked at with “great priority”.

Basic Income is a rare policy that people on the left and right side of the political spectrum support. It's easy to see why if you look at it. It's a good solution for poverty, it has an excellent ROI, and it stimulates the economy. Studies have shown that every $1 invested in the CCB drives $2 of economic activity!

It also simplifies and reduce government programs by replacing a number of existing support programs. Did anyone find themselves looking at the list of various Covid support programs when this first started to try to figure out which ones you were eligible for, personally or as a business? Did you see how long the list was? And yet, they still missed millions of people providing no help at all to many people and small businesses. Introducing basic income at the start of the pandemic for everyone would have been far more straight-forward than the patchwork of programs that is literally pages long and still misses millions.

And if you look at an issue like abortion, basic income can help women, regardless of whether you are pro-choice or pro-life.

Pro-choice: 3 out of 4 abortions happen because the woman can't afford having a baby. Basic Income allows women to choose whether to have a child from a place of financial freedom, rather than insecurity.

Pro-life: Basic Income addresses the most common reasons why women seek abortions, giving them financial security to have a child, the freedom to stop working, and increasing family stability.

Basic Income is cheaper than poverty

The two main criticisms of a basic income are:

Giving people cash will cause them to work less and hurt the economy.
Providing an income floor at a reasonable level for everyone is unaffordable.

Both of these critiques are wrong and poverty is expensive!

Income and wealth inequality are getting worse

A new PBO report says Canada's wealthiest 1% hold more than 25% of the wealth, about $3 trillion. And giving out millions to companies to help with Covid didn't result in those companies spending the funds as intended in the US or Canada.

There has been a dramatic rise in the concentration of wealth during the pandemic.

I think it's helpful to see which companies these billionaires are associated with, so I added the company names below.

And Jeff Bezos isn't just profiting from this pandemic, he's price gouging; "Items sold by Amazon reportedly increased in price by up to 1,000 percent".

Photo by @35mm_johnnyramen taken in the Capital Hill Autonomous Zone (CHAZ) in Seattle.

Housing

I know some people were hoping the Covid crisis would lead to the housing bubble bursting, prices falling back down to reasonable levels, and being able to afford to buy a home someday!

Instead housing prices are going up. Vancouver home prices rose 4.5% in July compared to 12 months ago.

I know you might be getting hopeful and thinking that 270 number might means something like $270,000, but no that's the price index showing how much prices have increased. The MLS Home Price Index composite benchmark price for all types of properties is up to $1,031,400. Yes, over a million for any type of property.

Rents have not gone up in BC yet, but starting this month landlords can evict tenants for not paying rent, and in December rent increases can start happening again. In places like Vancouver, nearly half of renters spend 30% or more of their income on housing which is unaffordable. Nearly a 1/4 spend at least half of their before-tax income on shelter.

Food

I'm sure you've noticed by now that food prices are going up and package sizes are going down. There are lots of articles discussing how the pandemic is causing grocery prices to rise and how "no food category is immune". Food insecurity is “most prevalent among households with low incomes, those who rent … and those who identify as Indigenous and Black” and food insecurity has increased during the pandemic. Food is a basic human need essential for health and life itself. We ALL need food to survive.

Millions of Canadians still don’t have jobs to return to

Many business are struggling. Bars and nightclubs and other businesses have been shutdown indefinitely in many places due to being high-risk environments. Bartenders, DJs, waiters, numerous people have lost their jobs and those jobs aren't coming back anytime soon.

In BC, we have a limit of 50 people for gatherings and ALL of the events where I used to sell my clothing and accessories were gatherings of more than 50 people. Artisan markets, fashion shows, trade shows...large events, indoors with lots of people, which are now banned. This disrupts not just me and the other businesses who attended these events, there's also all the organizers for the events and the workers who setup up the convention halls, food servers, security, etc.

The Covid crisis has "disproportionately impacted our most financially vulnerable: low wage earners, part-time employees, the solo self-employed, youth, and recent immigrants" and estimates suggest that over 1/2 million lay-offs could be permanent.

And automation is coming, very quickly. You may think, oh, that's something far off in the distant future. It's surprisingly close in a lot of fields.

Companies are already testing driverless trucks. "The technology will bring untold profits, but it may cost thousands of truckers their livelihoods."

A number of companies have developed 3D printers for constructing buildings. So far, they can only do as tall as low-rises. They plan to have the machines commercially available later in 2020. The technology looks really cool and sustainable. If so, it could be a great option that could be widely adopted, developed, and expanded quickly.

And a language-generating robot wrote an op-ed article that was published earlier this month by The Guardian. The editor's note says editing "was no different to editing a human op-ed. We cut lines and paragraphs, and rearranged the order of them in some places. Overall, it took less time to edit than many human op-eds.”

Even small companies like mine are looking at how to increase automation and involve less people. I'm looking at doing runways shows using virtual 3D models and I'm considering moving my manufacturing to a new computerized on-demand system that would reduce costs and be more sustainable. But these changes would also mean not hiring local people, such as models, pattern-makers, photographers, industrial sewers...

"In contrast with the industrial revolution, the titans of our new economy aren't creating that many new jobs. At its zenith, GM employed hundreds of thousands. Facebook fewer than 10K. The same is true of globalization...it's outsourcing a lot of jobs from the developed western economies. The terrifying reality is that there is no economic rule which automatically translates increased economic growth into widely shared prosperity." This is a quote from Chrystia Freeland's Ted Talk on "The rise of the new global super-rich". It's an interesting talk discussing the radical shift happening in our economy, a shift that is now being accelerated by the pandemic.

Small Business and Women

Canada has a large number of small businesses & BC's rate of entrepreneurship is even higher than the national average. The businesses hardest hit by the Covid crisis were small businesses and solo self-employed.

Want to take a guess at who the majority of small business owners and solopreneurs are who were hardest hit by the pandemic? Who owns the small businesses that were too small to be eligible for Covid support programs? Who runs the vast majority of solopreneur businesses? Women! Click on the links to read more about The Case for Basic Income for Small Businesses and The Case for Basic Income for Women.

Artists For Basic Income

Artists have been particularly hit hard by this crisis. Many theatres are closed or struggling. In BC, dancing is now banned, both indoors and outdoors. Film and TV production was shut down for months. Now it's finally restarting, but there is a reduction in staff and hours. Even scripts are being written to include less characters and eliminate the need for background actors. Click on the link to read more about The Case for Basic Income for The Arts.

Being a female artist and a small business owner and soloprenuer, these points all speak to me. I know I've found the pandemic very challenging and I know I'm not alone. I've heard from other artists, small business owners, and soloprenuers who are having a very difficult time surviving this crisis.

Take Action!

Sign a petition! Write to your MP. Write to Chrystia Freeland and Justin Trudeau.

Here are some links to help you get started:
Ask your MP & Trudeau to support Universal Basic Income
Sign to Support M-46 Guaranteed Livable Basic & tell your MP to support Motion 46!

#basicincome #artists4basicincome #motion46 #ubi #universalbasicincome

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Black Lives Matter: Protests, Concerns and Suggestions

6/7/2020

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I have some thoughts I want to share about the current Black Lives Matter movement and how it's going so far.

To start, I want to clearly repeat my call to take action:

Speak up to oppose racism and hate in all its forms!

Here are some of my thoughts about what's been going on based on what I've seen and what I've read.

1. Let's try to focus on the matters that most URGENTLY need attention right now, like situations where people were killed!

This started over a black man being pinned under cop's knee until he died. From what I've read, George Floyd did have criminal record and did do some awful things in the past, but it's clear what happened was horribly wrong.

I think Breonna Taylor's case is another good focus, because it's a situation where she did nothing wrong. She was asleep in her home. Cops broke into her her place in the middle the night. Her partner did fire a gun, once. But the cops were in plain clothes and entered unannounced, her partner thought they were being robbed and in danger! Breonna did nothing and she was shot at least 8 times. Why were the cops there? From what I've read, they were doing a "no-knock" drug raid to arrest someone ELSE at a DIFFERENT address, who they had already arrested earlier the same day. There's no cell phone footage, but the facts seem pretty clear.

These are both US cases of horrible treatment of black people by police.

In Canada, I read just this week Chantel Moore was shot by police in New Brunswick when they visited her for a safety check! The police say she attacked them with a knife. There's no video footage. :( But even without footage, a basic Aikido move would be able to disarm someone with a knife. And how bad of a shot are you? Even if you HAD to shoot someone, how about the leg or somewhere where you won't kill them? The cops were supposed to go check to make sure she was safe!

I think these are all good cases to focus on. These are all cases where it's clear something went horribly awry and police killed people.

And I think in places like Canada, the issues we have with racism are broader than just black people. We have a different population make-up and a different history than the US. In Canada, I think our biggest issue is actually with the treatment of Indigenous people. We've had issues with the treatment of black people too (most recently in Toronto when D'Andre Campbell was killed by police in his home while he was experiencing a mental health crisis). Canada has a history of slavery and servitude, but it's a bit different than the US. Some slaves in Canada were of African descent, but many were Indigenous. In addition, many people originally from India migrated to Canada both as indentured servants and as free migrants. (Many indentured servants sent to British colonies later ended up migrating to other places, including Canada.) And there have been incidents of racism directed towards Indo-Canadians. And early settlement, particularly in BC, was helped tremendously by Chinese immigrants, but there have been issues with racism toward Chinese Canadians and Asians in general , both in the past and recent incidents related to the coronavirus.

So in Canada, I think it's bigger than racism towards black people. I think the same is likely true in many other countries too. I think in any case where we're talking about people's lives, it's important to call attention to those specific situations and call for justice. And please do try to keep it specific! If we can get a LOT of focus on a FEW cases that's great!

I think if our efforts get too diluted into too many paths, it will be hard to get the numbers we need to support specific issues, and I've seen this starting to happen.

I've seen a number of posts talking about police brutality towards white people, which does happen and happened just this past week in a bunch of places. I think police brutality is an important issue to address, so yes, let's tackle that too, but it is a slightly different, related issue.

I've also seen some posts pointing out how many white people are killed by black people and pointing out that black on black violence kills lots of people too. There is lots of violence in the world, but I think these conversations are derailing and shifting attention away from the focus on racism and police killing people. "All lives matter" is not a good response to people pointing out racism.

But then, I've seen things like a petition someone put up trying to get the terminology "Master/Slave" taken out of the way camera equipment works.

No, I mean, maybe later. But no one is dying over that! And if you want to go after everything associated with master and slave and everything associated with slavery and servants, good luck. And goodbye to all those cute collars and pretty metal body chains you like to see on girls. And are you going start boycotting Billie Eilish, because she sings about enjoying Master/slave roleplay? (If you don't know what I'm talking about, watch the video and read those lyrics!)

Goodness knows lots of people criticized Doja Cat, because they thought she might be into BDSM race play. Why hate on the black girl for liking BDSM, but cheer on the white girl who likes it?

And lots of societies still have servants. In some places that's accepted and even enjoyed by the people who have servants and the servants themselves (when they're treated well). In some places, that's a job. Like in the US or Canada, you'd just call them cook or a maid or a personal assistant. And how many rich people and celebrities have that?

So again, I urge you, please FOCUS on the BIGGEST issues, the most URGENT issues. I think clear, recent incidents of racism and police brutality that involved injury and death are good areas to focus on and encourage change!

2. There's more than just protesters wanting social justice involved in these events.

As many people have pointed out there are 3 types of people who often show up to these events:

Protesters, people who are there because they believe in the cause and want social justice.

Rioters, people who want to cause destruction, anarchists, people who want to break windows and start fires.

Looters, people who want to steal stuff (and as some people have pointed out, these are often people who are really poor and feel like they could never afford the items they're stealing).

What I haven't seen discussed as much are the other people who clearly appear to be involved in these events, including Agent Provocateurs, inciters, enablers. People who want to encourage and incite other people to violence, rioting and looting. People who enable rioting and looting.

One clear example of this is the "ANTIFA_US" twitter account that posted messages like this one:

According to multiple news reports, the account was actually run by the white supremacist group, Identity Evropa, that was pretending to be an Antifa group. Stop and think about that for a second, why would a white supremacist group want to pretend to be an Antifa group and encourage protests, violence, rioting and looting? Maybe to make black people look bad? Maybe to give cops an excuse to use lots of force? Maybe to encourage black people and allies to go out and infect each other with Covid-19?

Another example is this video showing a white guy wearing a full plastic hood respirator using a hammer to break windows in Minneapolis. He doesn't seem to be with the protesters and from what I understand this was the first instance of property destruction at the event, he started it!

I know there have been accusations he's a cop, but setting aside whether he's a cop or not, he's clearly someone who wanted to encourage rioting and looting with more than just words. He wanted to encourage it with actions!

I've also seen lots of photos and posts about mysterious piles of bricks showing up near protests, which seems suspicious. The mainstream news media has published articles saying there's no clear evidence of anything out of the ordinary, that these piles of bricks are "normal". Still I think it's plausible that someone working in construction might have easy access to a pallet of bricks and the ability to move it into place. Maybe an anarchist? Or a white supremacist with the same motives as Identity Evropa? I haven't seen any clear evidence showing who put the bricks in place, but it is clear there are some people who have NOTHING to do with #BlackLivesMatter involved in these protests.

I know for a fact that the protests in Vancouver this weekend and last weekend were NOT organized by the local Black Lives Matter group. Similarly, the protest in Toronto this weekend was NOT organized by the local BLM group either. The local BLM group in Vancouver issued an official statement about last weekend's protest saying they did not organize it and would not attend the event over Covid-19 concerns. The group was vague about support for this weekend's protest saying they didn't organize it, but then gave a number of safety recommendations for attending. Similarly, the Toronto BLM group put out a statement saying they had "NO involvement in the organizing of any of this weekend's upcoming actions and marches." But then said, "We believe in Black people mourning, grieving, and protesting however works for them..." Meanwhile Crime Stoppers reported the Toronto protest was organized by the Black Bloc, which is an anarchist group.

And there have been photos and videos showing the presence of several far-right groups associated with white supremacists showing up to protests armed with weapons, including the Proud Boys and the Boogaloo Bois.

And then, there's the police. I think it's clear from the photos and videos that have been shared over the past week that there have been a lot of incidents of police behaving badly, particularly in many major US cities. I've seen the footage of an officer shoving a 75 yr. old man down and then a whole group of police walking by his body on the ground with his head bleeding in Buffalo, NY. I've seen footage of a person who was reportedly homeless and disabled and not involved in the protests bleeding from a head wound caused by a rubber bullet in LA. And rubber bullets, those things are not just rubber! It's the outer casing that's rubber. From what I understand the bullet itself is usually metal and/or plastic. And they're huge! And it's pretty clear from the photos I've seen showing up online during the last week that some cops are using them wrong and causing people serious facial injuries! I've also read first-hand reports of terrible treatment of protesters arrested at some of the demonstrations. And I've seen photo and video documentation of police destroying first aid stations, even though the medics were given permission by the city to setup stations to provide first aid!

So I caution protesters, allies of social justice, be careful. If you're going to a protest, please make sure:

You know who's organizing the protest you're attending.
You have people there to take photos and video of what happens.
You're prepared to handle the kinds of things you may have to deal with, like tear gas and rubber bullets.

3. I think large gatherings during a pandemic are a bad idea.

I've seen the footage, thousands of people gathering in major cities around the world. I think lots of people feel strongly about racism and would like to see it end, completely. I know I would!

At the same time, according to the current global data, Covid-19 is about as contagious and deadly as the flu, specifically, the Spanish Flu. It's much less deadly than bird flu. And more contagious and deadly than the seasonal flu and swine flu.

I think this movement happened to coincide with a time when lots of people are unemployed and have been at home for months, so lots of people are tired of being home all the time, many people want to go out, have the time to go out, and it's for a good cause! Still, according to health officials, we should keep our gatherings small and transmission can happen outdoors.

Many people did wear masks, but I saw mostly fabric masks that don't really provide much protection. And in a lot of the photos and videos I saw people were much closer than 6 feet away from one another. And I know that, at least in the US, police used tear gas on the crowds, which causes lots of coughing.

I will echo the advice of BC's provincial health officer, Dr. Bonnie Henry, who apparently is now considered "one of the most effective public health officials in the world".

If you're thinking of going to a protest, consider YOUR health and YOUR family. If you are high risk or someone in your household is, maybe stay home and sign a petition or do some virtual protesting instead.

If you go to a protest:

Wear a Mask
Keep Distance (6 feet away)
Be prepared to self-isolate for 14 days after the protest (yes, really!)
Carry signs to say what you want, rather than chanting, shouting, singing
Keep the group numbers SMALL, here in BC the limit is 50 people per group

So if you have 500 people, that's 10 groups of 50 people, and you could arrange the groups at different locations around the city with signs. If you have thousands, you could have 50 people every couple blocks and you easily stretch a protest across a whole city that way.

I also feel we need to think about other ways to protest. We need to get creative and find ways to make sure our voices are heard, safely. I found this set of suggestions for virtual protesting posted by @sa.liine on Instagram. If anyone knows of other resources like this, please share!

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Design | Content Creator | â–¡â–¡ (@sa.liine) on May 29, 2020 at 11:55am PDT

I think it was a bad idea for Trudeau, Obama and other leaders to appear at protests and encourage these large gatherings. I mean unless leaders want to make sure we re-open completely right now. Or maybe they want to test that "herd immunity" theory? Or see how well cloth masks work? Or maybe Covid-19 isn't really that dangerous and they destroyed people's businesses, jobs, finances and lives for no good reason?

Either this virus is dangerous and you should avoid large gatherings or it isn't. So which is it world leaders? For now, I'm choosing to believe Dr. Henry, because she's been very open and honest in her briefings. When she spoke this past week, she seemed concerned about the large gatherings and the possibility of transmission in large crowds. As she warned, it has happened before in other parts of the world. There have been cases where Covid-19 was transmitted at outdoor gatherings.

I understand it's kind of too late now. Now, we just get watch over the next couple of weeks and see what happens and hope for the best!

Thankfully, here is BC, the case numbers and rates of community transmission are low enough, I think we'll be ok. Though I worry about areas that still have lots of cases and lots of community transmission.

If you were at the protests, please watch for ANY symptoms!

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The Case for Basic Income: Take Action!

Black Lives Matter: Protests, Concerns and Suggestions

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