From the Publisher: Feminist entrepreneur Shauna Rae, founder of Radar Media, recently attended a public library hosted drag story time protest in Ingersoll, Ontario and wrote about her experience. 

We republished the article as written to elevate awareness that although trans hate speech is illegal in Canada, these protests, often led by outsiders, continue.  In his post-event letter to the public, Brian Petrie, Mayor of Ingersol thanked the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) for working to de-escalate the situation multiple times. Reports  about the event in rural media say adult protesters were flashing white power symbols while holding bibles, and attempted to take over the children’s area.  People’s Party of Canada Oxford County candidate Wendy Martin was one of the protestors, holding a sign that read “Not for Children”, despite the fact that clearly, parents who are bringing their children to storytime think otherwise. 

Find out more below. 

---

Yesterday, I had a bird’s eye view of a drag storytime protest at a rural southwestern Ontario library.

Let me start by saying, my observation wasn’t from a non-partisan position, I am a supporter of drag storytime and I often stand with Sista Patricia and her Drag Storytime Guardians (DSGs). My observation is also from that of a white, cis, hetero woman, with the privilege, power and comfort that allows. One of the fundamental things I observed was that our rural communities are under attack, not by folks that live, work and play within our own communities but by folks who have come to promote hate in a strategic and calculated way.

I met with the DSGs group and drove in to Ingersoll with them. When we arrived, there were two protestor groups already there.

There was this group below, who held prayer circle both outside and inside the library, many holding these small white signs the fellow on the left is holding below.

Then. There were two fellows, and a couple of their supporters who seemed to be much louder. They were also accompanied by a media person, who you can see filming in the background (below). He’s from a company called Go Teams Media. From their website: “GO Teams Media (GTM) is a gospel outreach media ministry with young adults for conversing and connecting on The 3 Big Questions that matter most. Our GTM anchors and camera crews are equipped to team up with local partner churches to “go” into the field and capture on video meaningful, respectful, and vital community conversations about life and death matters together.”

It seemed very important that they were filmed. And they seemed to be at least friendly with one another.

There were a number of police officers there, both inside and outside the library. They actually spoke with this fellow (in the video below), he was being asked to clear the sidewalk so folks could enter the library.ed to be at least friendly with one another.

Each side of the protestors seemed to keep to themselves until I saw this [videotaping] happening . Did this religious group hire/partner with the Go Team Media group (mentioned above)? And are they all working together?

What happened next was, as families were entering the library, so too were the religious folks. Like they’d done at a drag storytime in Parkhill, Ontario, last this month, they tried to take the seats the children were meant to sit in, however, they were asked to vacate them. That did not deter them. They surrounded the area where the Drag Storytime was to be, with signs and bibles in hand. A number of supporters, including myself, held banners to shield the kids from the protestors. There were two police officers inside the drag storytime area at all times. There were terse words shared but no shoving nor physical altercations.

One of the things I went there to witness was, I wanted to see the hate for myself. I made a point of looking directly into the eyes of these folks (the religious folks inside the library), and not one of them would look me in the eye. To me, this meant they had to de-humanize me and any of the supporters, including the children and their parents, in order to carry out the protest.

How is this love or a loving act?

Because I know that I am cis and heterosexual, I was able to rebuff this and not be antagonized. I know that it’s not me they hate. THEY don’t know that but this definitely gives me (and any cis hetero allies) a different perspective and another layer of comfort.

Another observation was the looks on the kids faces as they entered the library, likely the library those kids have been to many times before with their families. I couldn’t shake thinking about what they must be wondering. Why are so many adults here? Why? Why are they angry? Are they angry at US? Their innocent faces will stick with me.

So will the joy in their faces when the Drag Queens arrived (they were just elated), their comments that ‘pink is my favourite colour too!’ and when one Queen asked a little girl about her two-spirit rainbow skirt, the Queen remarked that it was very special to them, as they were two-spirit. The child sprung up with glee and said, “I AM TOO!” Then later during question time, one of the other children asked what two-spirit meant and it was a beautiful teaching moment.

And the stories. The stories the Queens read were beautiful, just like any book a mom, dad, grandma or grandpa may read to their own dear little ones, all of them with the message that it’s okay to be different.

After hearing the stories and witnessing the interactions the Queens had with the kids, I just could not wrap my head around what the big deal is.

But after also witnessing the conversation between the two protestor groups, I’m now wondering what common ground the religious right and the freedom fighters have found? Is it fear of losing control? Is it furthering the Conservative right agenda? What exactly are both groups afraid of?

Because what I know about hate is, it comes from deep rooted fear, and whether it’s a fear of losing control, a fear of being controlled, a fear of what one doesn’t understand or a trigger from a past experience, it’s all based in fear. Whatever the root of that fear is, that’s what’s driving this agenda, not love.

I saw actual love inside that library, in the joyful smiles and excited energy of the kids, when they lit up when seeing the drag queens and listening quietly, filled with glee, to the stories, interacting with these characters in dress up. And I saw the love of the people that showed up to support protecting that joy, some had never supported something before.

There are many more supporters and the numbers are growing. What are we supporting? Ironically, it’s REAL freedom; the freedom to show up as your authentic self in the world, whatever your colour, your gender, your sexuality, your special abilities, all are needed, supported and embraced. And we’re witnessing the pulling apart of systems of oppression that have kept so many pushed down for so long. We are healing together, not in isolation.

And there’s nothing more powerful than that!

---

Publisher’s note: You can follow more of Shauna Rae’s work here.

Related Reading

Trans Rights Are All Rights

November 26, 2019 No Comments

Trans exclusionary talk from so-called radical feminists is not just hurtful, it can be criminal. The problem is, what to do about it?

Read More »

Feminist in the City

September 24, 2019 No Comments

Leslie Kern’s second book, “Feminist City: A Field Guide,” is a collection of essays that invites readers to question the design of urban spaces and the ways cities can be more inclusive and safe for everyone.

Read More »

The Power of Love—and Trans (National) Collaboration

April 2, 2019 No Comments

“Today [International Trans Day of Visibility] is a beautiful day–something that means more and more to me as I have become less visible as a trans-guy”-T. Thomason

Read More »

The post Teaching Kids Love in a Time of Hate appeared first on LiisBeth.

‘Women on the Map’ is a project of the SPARK movement created from the concern of the invisibility of historical women figures all over the world.

After noticing that from 2010 – 2013 only 17% of Google Doodles around the world honoured women, the not-for-profit company approached Google to fix the problem. Google agreed and the two groups have worked together through the Field Trip App to feature more historical women figures.

Now, when users log into Field App and enable history notifications, their phone will buzz when they are approaching a location where a woman made history and can read about her and her achievements.

What is interesting about SPARK is that they are run by an international team of girls ages 13 to 22. Self described a “girl-fueled, intergenerational activist organization working online to ignite an anti-racist gender justice movement,” SPARK did all the research and work on the 100 women who are currently featured on the app.

Some of the historical figures featured are:

The Arpilleristas in Santiago Chile: A group of women who wove colorful tapestries documenting the turmoil and violence of Pinochet’s regime.

Mary Ellen Pleasant in San Francisco, CA: An activist and abolitionist who, among other things, would dress like a jockey to help slaves escape their plantations.

Mary Anning in Lyme, England: A renowned fossilist who discovered fossils of a Plesiosaurus, rocking the scientific community to its core.

The list is still small but this is only the beginning. SPARK is asking for people to nominate more women and contribute to the database. So if you have notable feminist entrepreneurs from history that you want to see put on the map, check out their website for more information about getting involved and supporting their cause.

The post Field Trip App Puts Historical Women on the Map appeared first on LiisBeth.

Through the actions of many people, groups and technologies, transformational social change is within new reach but it is also causing new and very different expectations of nonprofits groups.
In his provokingly titled article for the Stanford Review, Paul Klein explains why nonprofits are losing their monopoly as the most effective agents of social change.
Klein is the President and Founder of Impakt, a Toronto-based corporate social responsibility consultancy. He believes that significant new innovation from nonprofit organizations will not be possible until they begin embrace structural change themselves.

Unless nonprofits evolve, he explains that corporations, B Corps, and social enterprises will eclipse them. Funders have become impatient with the status quo in the nonprofit sector. They are limiting themselves by “slow-moving, institutional, and self-interested business practices” – making significant social change almost impossible.

Funders at all levels expect high performance and as a result are more selective about what nonprofits they support. They want social change organizations to do whatever it takes to get the biggest results at the lowest cost in the shortest period of time. They also want to see more collaborative efforts between companies and countries in setting strong goals, having clear plans, and openly demonstrating progress.

So the big question is, should nonprofits be biased towards putting themselves out of business?

With constraints to agility and innovation, Klein argues that it is time for nonprofits to be less bureaucratic and more responsive to the changing contexts in which they operate. “Funders are expecting significant change from charities,” writes Klein. “Starting with an intention of being much less institutional and much more entrepreneurial.”

Jay Coen Gilbert, cofounder of B-Lab explains that funders want to focus on what works. He outlines some of the changes that would help move organizations toward solving issues faster in a way that funders want to see:

1. Pay-for-performance: Linking salaries and bonuses to specific social change objectives.
2. Establishing review process: Looking at the data of all programs to identify initiatives that (a) other organizations would handle better or (b) consider partnerships with the private sector in order to improve performance
3. Introducing new exit protocol: Major supporters would diminish investment requirements as social change outcomes improve.

Many are still uncertain however of how shifting to a new structural model would fair for the majority of nonprofits. Mission drift, loss of focus on the communities and budget restraints are among the primary concerns. The gap between the capacity of small nonprofits versus large nonprofits raises another important question of how would smaller, local nonprofits benefit from a switch to for profit models.

For the full article and discussion, visit this link.

The post Are Nonprofits Getting in the Way of Social Change? appeared first on LiisBeth.

This is especially true for entrepreneurs who feel they face discrimination based on who they are or where they come from. A 2014 study from NYU and Wharton reported that women-only teams had a 40% better chance of meeting fundraising goals using crowdfunding.

In a Fast Company article, Ryan Caldbeck, CEO of crowdfunding platform CircleUp, tells writer Lydia Dishman that he doesn’t believe the success of crowdfunding to be gender-specific. He believes that women “are a clearly identifiable group that is benefiting from this transformation, but there are many others, including entrepreneurs in rural areas.”

In the article Dishman speaks to how crowdfunding acts as a buffer to unconscious bias and benefits underserved entrepreneurs. Aside from Caldbeck, Dishman also talks to entrepreneur Bonnie Marcus, author of The Politics of Promotion, and serial entrepreneur Courtney Nichols Gould, cofounder of SmartyPants vitamins, about what it takes outside of a capital campaign to secure growth for your company.

Read the full article here: Is Crowdfunding Leveling the Play Field for Female Entrepreneurs?

The post Is Crowdfunding Leveling The Playing Field For Entrepreneurs? appeared first on LiisBeth.

We’re still smiling this Wednesday, albeit a bit nervously. What started as a bit of elfish fun about gender inequality, surfaced a real issue about who and what are shaping our children’s gender perceptions.
London creative agency Anomaly worked on Elle Magazine Uk’s #MoreWomen campaign which highlighted how few women there are in senior positions.

For Christmas they wanted to create more conversation about perceptions of gender. In their 90 second video they asked children “If Santa was a woman, could she do the job?”

The response they received was disturbingly based on bad stereotypes.

The “women can’t drive” stereotype:
“She would get lost in the sky.”

The “women can’t possibly do anything else if they have children” stereotype:
“If she had a baby then she’d be like doing the presents, taking care of the baby, giving it milk…”

And our personal favourite, “the delicate flower” stereotype:
“She would get a headache.”

Save for one boy pointing out that “Girls aren’t any different than boys,” the video concludes by asking what would a lady Santa be good at, which the last child undoubtedly concluded would be “Cooking.”

Terrible right? But there it is. Now the big question is how can we start amending theses stereotypes before a future generation of CEOs, VCs and HR teams are tainted too?

Excuse us while we go re-pen our own wish lists to Santa.

The post If Santa was a woman, could she do the job? appeared first on LiisBeth.

Turn off your television
and have a listen:
I was born to realize this,
I have a mission.
Every time I open my eyes
I have a vision:
We get to make the decisions
of how we want
life to be.
The future is not
pre-conceived you see.
 

We are in the moment
of dreaming the dream.
Creating
everything we see
attracting
and becoming
who we were meant to be.
Imagination begins
with you and me.
What do you see?

I see
solar-powered
street-car
refueling stations
built on
renewably-constructed
highways
across the nation,
and in global warming’s heat
I see
geothermal cooling stations
and rainwater irrigation
for little local operations
organic food gives good vibrations.

Healthy people
in full civic participation –
unparalleled cooperation.
I see a rise in self-actualization.
Limited only
by imagination.

Our gifts, talents and passions
realized.
Shining light into the night
then we can drop
the 9-5
and do the thing
that make us feel alive.

The work
that truly is in line
with our values
beating deep inside
the heart of the heart
of the heart
of life.

Vibrations
reverberating
outwards
rippling
changes,
bringing light.
Like a magnet
deep inside
attracting like to like to like.
Taking action,
like compassion –
creating a new life.
Where everyone
can realize
and have the chance
to be revitalized,
by clean water, air and food –
free of chemicals that aren’t good for you.

I see us turning inwards
into self
and shining outwards,
radiating health
and to each other,
sharing wealth,
knowledge, skills and care.

What we do for
each other
when no one paid us
to be there.

In full emancipation
from giving our life force
over
to the corporation.

Our hearts
beat
in syncopation
the earth
vibrating
in reverberation.

Our voices singing
sweep the nation.
Freeing up the occupation
of the preceding
generation.

Moving monorails
fly –
station to station.

The magnets
push against
each other
propelling
forward motion.
Activation.
Feel the pulse
of acceleration.
A speeding
future innovation.

Feel the tingly
new sensation
of the new earth
activation.
Trees enlisted in
cooperation.
Every time we breathe
we are exchangin’

Should we trade
a quick fix now
for sustainable operations
that can last
for generations?
Our great-grandchildren
eating, speaking, breathing-in
emancipation.
From the addictions
and distractions
from our patience.

I see how it will go.
There will be a balance,
there will be a healthy flow
of energy, synergy, cooperation, collaboration
and creativity.
This will be inside of each, you see
but also flowing between you and me
and out into the community
like permaculture – need and offer –
in reciprocity
and in the school the dreams will be.

The place where imagination will play free
cooperation and care in continuity
feeling the freedom of possibility.

The children have their physical and emotional needs met
you see
by community or by workers paid properly.
For the work of steering the future of our wealth and world you see.
Workplaces like engines of peaceful prosperity
churning out work in environments designed
by principles of sustainability.
Free-flowing conversations leading innovation
flowing naturally from creativity.
Healthy breaks when breaks need be.

Everybody breathing.
Moving,
stretching.
When need be
being heard and being seen.
Helping each other reach a common goal
healthy competition just for fun,
but not egos crushing egos, playing power games.
That has been forgotten in the name
of guiding the boat together.
The boat that not only makes us better
but keeps us human
on the planet.
No one takes her any more for granted.
The seeds of future
planted.

I plant my feet here
on the earth.
The motion
of my imagination
like a birth.
Water
gushing.
Body
knowing
exactly what to do.
Nature says
work with her
hold on tight.
We are bursting a blast of light
into and through the darkest night.

Blind faith
the vision now in sight.

© Move-N-Music

The post Vision appeared first on LiisBeth.

The study looked at more than 90,0000 Kickstarter projects – 30% of which were created by women. Researchers focused on key questions including: how likely are you to start a second venture, and were men more overconfident than women, as opposed to being optimistic?

“In fact, overconfidence is the biggest psychological predictor of whether or not you’re going to become an entrepreneur.” say’s Wharton. “Having misplaced confidence in yourself and thinking you can win when other people always lose is a strong predictor of entrepreneurship. We call this kind of overconfidence classic, Greek-style hubris — the idea of unfounded self-confidence.”

The study defined optimistic as the entrepreneur who would launch another project because the had missed their fundraising target. Comparatively, Overconfident defined those who decided to try again despite missing their first target.

On average, the results showed that women were less likely to launch another project regardless of whether their first attempt had succeeded or failed. They were also more dissuaded by big failures. These finding led researchers to believe that women had lower levels of overconfidence, and higher levels of humility.

The study concluded that men and women perceive failure and success differently. Women see failure as a sign that they are not cut out for entrepreneurship, Men see it as a stumbling block that they can overcome if they try again. Women tend to view success as sheer luck, where men will see it a s a testament to their natural skills and hard work, despite if they have previously failed or not.

“We found that — in our sample, at least — if women were as immodest and as unhumble as men, and as overconfident, there would have been 30%, roughly — about 28% — more female founding attempts in our sample,” Mollick says. “That was a huge number of people being discouraged by this psychological characteristic. It explained a lot of the gap in the founding rates between women and men in our sample.”

Mollick noted that this type of mentality hurts women as a group. Individually it saves them from not buying into doomed ventures, but with fewer women buying into the idea of the entrepreneurial “lottery ticket” you have fewer “lottery winners” as women, which means fewer role models for women entrepreneurs.

Mollick brings up the the issue of homily and the principle of “birds of a feather flock together.” The Boy’s Club is a network that has been in place for 10 – 20 years and people tend to like people like themselves. VC’s tend to be mostly male; they have friend networks that are mostly male. This results in a strong network of men who talk to each other, which can make it much more difficult for a woman to get access to the right kind of people when launching an enterprise.

This was most likely chivalric venture capitalist Sir Michael Moritz’s issue. It’s not a question of how hard you look, but what you can actually do to help support the representation and promotion of women in areas where they face the most disadvantage.

Mollick explains one experiment where researchers took a successful Kickstarter project and we created two exact versions of that project. The only difference was between the two creators — in one case, it was created by Jessica Smith, in the other case, it was created by Michael Smith. Everything from clothing, to presentation style, to natural good looks was on the same level.

Researchers wanted to figure out whether the project being created by a man or a woman made a difference, so they asked participants to judge where project quality was better.

Mollick explains their findings:

“We found out that men didn’t care whether a project was created by a man or a woman. There was no significant impact. At least in this case, it didn’t seem to move the needle. With women, it turned out to be really interesting. Two-thirds of women actually thought the project created by the man was better than the project created by the woman.

[However], we took a bunch of measures, and we realized about one-third of the women in the sample were what we called “activists.”

These were women who knew that women were underrepresented in technology. They felt that women suffered from discrimination in this field, and they thought it was important to try and fix that. They thought either the government should help or they should help or it was important to try and change this. Those women were much more likely to [fund] a project created by a woman.

So all of the success that we found — the reasons why women were doing better than men [on Kickstarter] — came from a small group of women who were helping to support other women in areas where there was the most disadvantage for them.”

So the answer to the mystery of where are the women does not lie in how do you increase the numbers of women entrepreneurs and having more participate. Instead, for real change to happen, it comes down to how involved you are willing to get in actively making change happen.

For more information on Hubris and Humility: Gender Differences in Serial Founding Rates, listen to the podcast interview on the Knowledge@Wharton show on Wharton Business.

The post Why are women less likely to be entrepreneurs than men? appeared first on LiisBeth.

Kate Beaton was born in Nova Scotia, took a history degree in New Brunswick, paid it off in Alberta, worked in a museum in British Columbia, then came to Ontario for a while to draw pictures, then Halifax, and then New York, and then back to Toronto. Maybe the moon next time, who knows.

The latest Hark! A Vagrant collection, Step Aside Pops is available as a convenient paper bound package. For everyday fun make sure to follow Kate Beaton on Twitter.
 

Susan B. Antony may not approve.

Dude Watchin’ with the Brontes

“Florence Nightingale should can it!” Crimean War Nurse Mary Seacole FTW.

Bummer History with Laura Secord

Check your closets for Straw Feminists!

The post Canadian Illustrator Kate Beaton's Hark! A Vagrant appeared first on LiisBeth.

Kate Beaton makes comics about Mary Seacole, Marie Curie, Susan B Anthony, The Brontës, Canadians, superheros, fat ponies, and more. Beaton lampoons historical and literary figures across the board. Her lively drawings and sharp wit have us laughing our way through our midweek. She launched her website Hark! A Vagrant in 2007, which according to the Paris Review receives more than a million hits each month.

More about the illustrator, in her own words:

Kate Beaton was born in Nova Scotia, took a history degree in New Brunswick, paid it off in Alberta, worked in a museum in British Columbia, then came to Ontario for a while to draw pictures, then Halifax, and then New York, and then back to Toronto. Maybe the moon next time, who knows.

The latest Hark! A Vagrant collection, Step Aside Pops is available as a convenient paper bound package. For everyday fun make sure to follow Kate Beaton on Twitter.

Susan B. Antony may not approve.

Dude Watchin’ with the Brontes

“Florence Nightingale should can it!” Crimean War Nurse Mary Seacole FTW.

Bummer History with Laura Secord

Check your closets for Straw Feminists!

The post Canadian Illustrator Kate Beaton’s Hark! A Vagrant appeared first on LiisBeth.

In a recent Quartz article, Entrepreneurs don’t have a special gene for risk—they come from families with money New York based writer Aimee Groth writes:

“… the most common shared trait among entrepreneurs is access to financial capital—family money, an inheritance, or a pedigree and connections that allow for access to financial stability. While it seems that entrepreneurs tend to have an admirable penchant for risk, it’s usually that access to money which allows them to take risks.”

When needs are met its easier to be creative. More money means bigger but safer risks, and undoubtedly more successful ventures. “Many other researchers have replicated the finding that entrepreneurship is more about cash than dash,” University of Warwick professor Andrew Oswald told Quartz. “Genes probably matter, as in most things in life, but not much.”

Following your dreams can be a dangerous business. $30,000 is the average cost to launch a startup and the majority of startup funding usually comes from the personal assets and investments of founders.

In a response article on Inc., Minta Zeltlin a business technology writer and the former president of the American Society of Journalists & Authors, agrees that the start-up world favors those who come from privilege, and that access to capital is just one hindrance to making it big.

Other factors to consider are the right education, connections and the right background for your start-up tribe.If you don’t have this preferred cocktail, the startup culture you are trying to penetrate may not be that welcoming.

“You don’t need Startup Castle to know that if you drink Bud rather than craft beer, prefer Nascar to tennis, and like pickup trucks better than hybrids, you’re going to be a bad cultural fit in the start-up world,” Zeltin writes. “If you think that won’t affect your chances for success, just ask the nonwhite, nonmale, nonyoung entrepreneurs who’ve been there.”

Change won’t be easy. Beyond access to money, creating scholarships and bursaries for the non elite, its going to have to be a change in attitudes.

Zeltin talks about startup culture catering to the 1%.”They do things like deliver gourmet meals to people with plenty of money but no time to cook, or shuttle the children of professional parents to ballet and soccer practice at $12 to $15 a ride,” she explains.

“Fubu is a great company that demonstrates the good things that can happen when entrepreneurs don’t fit right into the Silicon Valley mold. But “For Us by Us” can mean the opposite too: Upscale services provided by entrepreneurs from well-to-do backgrounds and aimed at customers whose demographics mirror their own. Until we learn to create a startup culture that welcomes everyone, that’s the best we’re going to get.”

The post Does access to money define your success as an entrepreneur? appeared first on LiisBeth.