Thursday, November 13, 2003

Holy fuck! What's up with blizzards in November? The weather is terrible out there. When I was walking to Psych this morning, there were times when the wind was so bad I had to stop walking but it would still push me along even though my feet were standing still. I was sliding on the slush! Man, I really don't like winter. Especially in Waterloo. Last year, there would be like 2 feet of snow here and, when I went home, there would only be maybe an inch or less there. It's not fair! The one good thing is that, just like last weekend, Adam and I are gonna hang out again this weekend. He's so much fun! Tomorrow, I'm going over to Laurier to watch the Matrix 1 and 2. I wish I didn't have any work to do this weekend but, alas, I have lots. Saturday, I am supposed to meet Agnes at the library so we can start our Women's Studies projects cuz she hasn't started hers either. I also have to do my project for SMF 206. Maybe Adam can help me? He's smart... and a feministrespects my feminist views! Whee! How totally amazing is that? I mean, most guys will say that they would like for women to have equal rights but don't ever try to do anything to help or even understand where women are coming from (like all my other guy friends... chauvinistic that they are.), but Adam's not like that. He even has a feminist book and, after he is done reading it, he said he'll lend it to me. Sweet!
Oh something else that made Katie and I angry today. After Psych this morning, she grabed a copy of the National Post to read at the library and, in the 'news' section, there was an article about that female hockey player (Hayley Wickenheiser) who made it onto the mens' team. She has decided to leave the team to devote time to her significant other and their adopted son, among other personal issues, and the headline in the Post said something like "One of the guys leaves for motherhood". Oh man, that makes me SO angry! She wasn't leaving just for motherhood, she left for other reasons too. I'll try to find the article on the fucking National Post website. I'm having problems finding it. Well, here are some quotes anyway:

"Wickenheiser packs it in, returns home
Overwhelming homesickness and a sudden reduction in her ice time prompted Hayley Wickenheiser to leave her Finnish men's professional hockey team and return to Canada..."
"omesick Hayley picks motherhood: Wickenheiser quits Finnish men's league
Will she or won't she? Members of the National Women's Hockey League will soon learn if Hayley Wickenheiser will rejoin the nine-team loop she shunned in order to play with the men..."
"'One of the guys' chooses motherhood: 'Unhappy' Wickenheiser quits Finnish men's team
CALGARY - Hayley Wickenheiser, who made history this year when she became the first female hockey player to score a point in a men's professional game, has quit her Finnish club to return home to her..."

It's the headings that really make me angry! If you want to find the article for yourself, you can go to the National Post website by clicking here.
Here's an article that deals with Hayley's leaving the Finnish team without making reference to her leaving simply because of domestic duties. -->article<--

I sent the Post an e-mail. Here is what I wrote:
Dear N. Hassan,
I would like to state my opinion about an article in the National Post. I am going to keep this rather short for I do not have a lot of time, but I found the headline of the Hayley Wickenhauser article rather offensive. The article was published on November 13th, 2003 and it read: 'One of the guys' chooses motherhood: 'Unhappy' Wickenheiser quits Finnish men's team
I found it offensive because it was implying that Ms. Wickenhauser laft the team simply because she wanted to devote her time to being a mother, when that was simply not the case. She was leaving the team because she wanted to reassess what she was doing there and because she was not given very much ice time. I will admit that I have not followed closely on Ms. Wickenhauser's doings but I am sure that leaving her team simply to become a mother was not her intention. It may be part of it, yes, but it is not the entire reason. Not all women leave their careers to become baby-raising machines. That is simply a stereotype and should be ingnored. Some women can balance a career and a family at the same time.
I would greatly appreciate it if, in the future, the National Post would refrain from using any stereotypical terms. If you feel you need to respond to this, you may, but I will be content to know that my e-mail has been read and my opinion taken into consideration.
Enclosed is a weblink to another article from another paper that wrote about the same story but avoided using references to Ms. Wickenhauser leaving to become a parent.
http://www.helsinki-hs.net/news.asp?id=20031113IE4

Sincerely,
Jennifer Chow

If anyone else wants to e-mail the Post, the address for opinions is nhassan@nationalpost.com or you can just click on the name and the link will pop up (aren't I nice?). Anyway, that's all I want to say for now. Well, that and I am exhausted (3 hrs sleep). JeN's mind ejaculated @ 4:34 p.m. | | permalink