By Kristi Coleman, Fund Development & Communications Assistant, YWCA Edmonton

Violence against women is something we’e all heard about, but it’s usually regarded as a “Women’s issue.” The struggle to end violence against women and protect and support its victims has typically been a movement headed, and made up of, dedicated women. For the average guy, it can be hard to know how to get involved in this struggle, or even if you’re welcome at all. But men have a crucial role to play in the fight against gender violence. 

There are staggering stats:

• Every six days, a Canadian woman is murdered by her current or ex romantic partner. (Statistics Canada, 2009)
• Half of all women in Canada have been victims of physical or sexual violence. (Statistics Canada, 1993)
• Violence against Women costs tax payers over $4.2 billion for lost wages and productivity, as well health care, social services criminal justice services. (Statistics Canada, 2005)

Women make up half the population of Edmonton, Alberta, and Canada, and violence against women affects us all; therefore we all have a part to play in ending it. Men have a rightful place in the movement to demand equality and safety for women, children, and men. It’s a cause that more men are beginning to speak up about, and encouraging other men to do the same.

Men such as Jackson Katz, a former college football player and self-described “Anti-sexism Activist.” Katz talks to sports teams, law enforcement and the US military about violence against women and gives them tools to address sexism in their everyday lives.

Or Michael Flood, an Australian man who educates others about violence against women and what role our culture has in excusing that violence.

Coming up in September, there is a special opportunity, just for Edmonton men, to join the fight against violence against women, and have a lot of fun with other Edmontonians! YWCA Edmonton is holding its second annual WALK A MILE IN HER SHOES® event to help women and their children walk away from violence. Men will sign up to walk, either independently or as a group, and raise money through donation pledges from their family, friends and co-workers. On Tuesday, September 13, all of the Walkers will come down to Winston Churchill Square, put on some fabulous high heel shoes and, after a brief tutorial, walk a course around the square (not an actual mile!). Shoes are provided; ski poles are recommended for especially wobbly Walkers!

Donations will go to YWCA Edmonton programming to support women and their children who are escaping violence.

This is a great event, and the funding is direly needed to provide sustainable support to the women of Edmonton. Last year we had an amazing group of Walkers come out for this event, including Mayor Mandel, the Edmonton Police Services and the whole Harry Ainlay High School football team!

Want to get involved? There are many ways to make a difference through this event (the best one involving some fabulous cherry pumps).

1. You or you and your friends/co-workers/brothers/teammates can sign up to walk.
2. You can donate to a registered Walker or Team.
3. You can nominate a man to Walk a Mile.
4. You can make a general donation to the YWCA Edmonton.
5. You can sign up to volunteer to help run the event (heels optional, ladies welcome!).

If you would like more information about Walk a Mile, please contact Lisa Evangelos by e-mail; lisa.evangelos@ywcaofedmonton.org or phone; 780.423.9922 ext. 238.

If you would like to speak with a YWCA representative about this event and the program and services offered by YWCA Edmonton, please contact Communications Manager Amber Niemeier, (e-mail: Amber.niemeier@ywcaofedmonton.org and phone: 780.423.9922 ext. 281).

Looking for more?

Here are some great ways that Jackson Katz suggests men can fight violence against women and sexism every day.

1. Approach gender violence as a MEN’S issue involving men of all ages and socioeconomic, racial and ethnic backgrounds. View men not only as perpetrators or possible offenders, but as empowered bystanders who can confront abusive peers
2. If a brother, friend, classmate, or teammate is abusing his female partner — or is disrespectful or abusive to girls and women in general — don’t look the other way. If you feel comfortable doing so, try to talk to him about it. Urge him to seek help. Or if you don’t know what to do, consult a friend, a parent, a professor, or a counselor. DON’T REMAIN SILENT.
3. Have the courage to look inward. Question your own attitudes. Don’t be defensive when something you do or say ends up hurting someone else. Try hard to understand how your own attitudes and actions might inadvertently perpetuate sexism and violence, and work toward changing them.
4. If you suspect that a woman close to you is being abused or has been sexually assaulted, gently ask if you can help.
5. If you are emotionally, psychologically, physically, or sexually abusive to women, or have been in the past, seek professional help NOW.
6. Be an ally to women who are working to end all forms of gender violence. Support the work of campus-based women’s centers. Attend “Take Back the Night” rallies and other public events. Raise money for community-based rape crisis centers and battered women’s shelters. If you belong to a team or fraternity, or another student group, organize a fundraiser.
7. Recognize and speak out against homophobia and gay-bashing. Discrimination and violence against lesbians and gays are wrong in and of themselves. This abuse also has direct links to sexism (eg. the sexual orientation of men who speak out against sexism is often questioned, a conscious or unconscious strategy intended to silence them. This is a key reason few men do so).
8. Attend programs, take courses, watch films, and read articles and books about multicultural masculinities, gender inequality, and the root causes of gender violence.  Educate yourself and others about how larger social forces affect the conflicts between individual men and women.
9. Don’t fund sexism. Refuse to purchase any magazine, rent any video, subscribe to any Web site, or buy any music that portrays girls or women in a sexually degrading or abusive manner. Protest sexism in the media.
10. Mentor and teach young boys about how to be men in ways that don’t involve degrading or abusing girls and women. Volunteer to work with gender violence prevention programs, including anti-sexist men’s programs. Lead by example

I stumbled upon this dance floor at Churchill Square last night. Downtown is not dead!

Good morning Edmonton. I’ve got to say, I’m totally into this summer weather we’ve been having lately. It feels so good.

You know, you’d think people creating ads would take some time to think about what they were doing. But, I guess, some businesses still have to learn about social media the hard way. And by “hard way” I mean doing something that’s not all that thought out and being lambasted by people far and wide.

Hey, advertising doesn’t always work. Sometimes things get lost in translation or execution; that’s totally fair. And if something falls flat, or offends, you can apologize and explain that it wasn’t your intention. Then everyone can move on.

But then, you get businesses like Fluid Salon, which doesn’t really apologize, blames the rest of us for not “getting” their “art” and not doing enough to end domestic violence (again, you and me, not them) and you can’t help but wonder what is going on…

Also, I don’t think I saw the “media” talking about boycotting your salon so much as regular people.

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Sidenote: This is a good example of news and objectivity. Newsrooms are covering the story, but their headlines offer items like “a campaign for a local hair salon is raising eyebrows”  and “ad being called ‘disgusting.’” That leaves a lot of room to say glorifying domestic violence might not offend everyone, or shouldn’t. By way of clarifying that point I offer a fake headline of  ”Certain neighbours don’t like new condo plan” which is a totally acceptable place for objectivity because it’s going to be a subjective decision-making process.

If newsrooms, and the humans working in them, expressed that this was unacceptable (which I think they’re doing by non-objectively choosing to cover the story) they’d be saying to the audience that they are a part of the community and want the best for Edmonton. That’s not to say you can’t get the salon owner’s take on the ads and issue.

A couple of journalists did express actual human emotions about the ads on Twitter (and in opiniony places like blogs), but we need to see that become part of news coverage. Your audience knows you’re humans, knows you have reactions and emotions, and it’s ok to show that. It might even make stories better. Leaving room for people who might welcome domestic violence in ads, or who don’t think the moon landing happened, doesn’t make you fair and balanced, it lets down your audience.

Balancing that journalism criticism, is this story from Fish Griwkowsky in the Journal. He’s writing about local filmmaker Trevor Anderson and it says at the end of the story that the two know each other and work together. That doesn’t make the story about Anderson’s new movie any less interesting. More of this please!

I promise to keep the journalism discussions at a minimum in the rest of today’s Headlines. 

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My input on a late-night bus for Whyte Avenue is to create city-wide 24-hour transit. It doesn’t have to be as many routes as even the weekend or evening schedule, just a handful of Edmonton-crossing routes to move nightlifers and shift workers around.

(Speaking of neighbours not liking condos…) Interesting facts jump out at me in this story on some new condos at 125 Street and 102 Avenue. If nothing has really changed at the intersection since 2001, how can the City go from looking at 75 units, denying 250 more housing units, to considering an approval of 250? Maybe the story just needs more detail, but something feels strange…

West Rossdale, however, is getting new housing approvals.

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Happy Birthday, Alberta Progressive Conservative government. I didn’t get you a cake, but Dave found some 1971 election ads you might like to get nostalgic over.

Speaking of the ever-governing PCs…Doug Griffiths may have hurt the slim chances he already at becoming the next Premier…But he apologized.

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A small justice program, that brought together offenders and victims, is being scrapped because of cost. The restorative justice grant was going to cost $351-thousand next year. Yet, in a $678-million budget it might the only program cut.

So you’re telling me I can’t just create my own landfill? Where’s the Alberta Advantage?!

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Hope it was a good Ramadan. Enjoy the food and festivity at Eid.

This post is a combination of “downtown is where it’s at” and “Edmonton’s library is cool.”

Tomorrow – Friday, August 26 – the Edmonton Public Library is flipping all of its best parts inside out and taking the Stanley A. Milner branch across the street, and outside, to Churchill Square. It’s an event called EPL Squared.

There will be a book sale (with the profits going to help fire-ravaged Slave Lake’s library), a human library (where you borrow a person instead of a book), lots of games, stories, music, an e-reader kiosk, and Marty Chan’s Secrets of the Square.

Make the jump to find out what that’s about. 

Marty Chan is the current EPL Writer in Residence, and he’s got a treasure hunt for EPL Squared:

If you solve the puzzles you could win EPL swag, Kobo e-readers, or an iPad2.

After all of that fun and excitement, head on back to the Milner branch for an interactive viewing of The Princess Bride.

Because it’s just not the same to watch the movie alone:

I can’t think of a much better way to spend a Friday with the family, or skipping work.

I mean, on a lunchbreak from work.

(Full disclosure: Our lovely and talented Creative Director, Sally Poulsen, produced those two videos for the EPL.)

While Whyte Avenue’s Art Walk has nothing to do with the TV comedy Bob’s Burgers, they do have streets of art in common.

Yes, today through Sunday you can find artist after artist all around Whyte Avenue and Old Strathcona. More than 200 artists will be selling their paintings, drawings, photos, sketches, and anything else they can fit onto the sidewalk. It’s always a busy weekend, and remember to bring cash.

It’s a Handmade Mafia weekend, so get yourself over to the Strathcona Baptist Church for plenty o’ fun. (It ties into the Art Walk too.)

If you’re into rabbits you’re going to want to check out the Year of the Rabbit and Hare Band Cabaret at the Catalyst Theatre. Even if you’re not a fan of rabbits, the stone and canvas art from Jason Carter and a play by Bridget Ryan may be just the ticket.

In other festival news…

The Freewill Shakespeare Festival continues in Hawrelak Park, with Othello and Twelfth Night. The Edmonton International Street Performers Festival is in Churchill Square, with some late night madness this weekend to close things out. The Edmonton and Northern Alberta Historical Festival wraps up this weekend too. That seems so timely with all the history and heritage in the news this week.

Race Week Edmonton officially begins on Monday, but the annual Soap Box Derby is Sunday on Victoria Park Hill. Also in racing this weekend, the Sourdough River Festival (and raft race), in Terwillegar Park.

In live music…

The Grapes of Wrath play two shows at the Haven Social Club tonight…Samantha Schultz will wow you with her guitar skills at the Blue Chair Cafe tomorrow evening…Ghost Cousin releases a new album Saturday night at Wunderbar…and our old pals Boy and Gurl come up from Calgary for a show at On The Rocks Sunday…

On Sunday, a new Fork Fest begins. Get your eat on!

The Eskimos, FC Edmonton, and Capitals are all home for games this weekend.

Yes, that blue stuff is called sky. It’s been a week or so since we saw it and it’s glorious.

Nobody will be happier to see thesun return than those who have been out in the rain (and mosquitoes) at the Edmonton International Street Performers Festival. It’s been going all week at Churchill Square, rain or shine. Now is the time for those of us fairweather festival goers to head on down and catch musicians, face painters, actors, magicians, human knots, comedians, jugglers and acrobats.

The Street Performers Festival runs through Sunday. And Friday and Saturday nights have special “late night madness” shows at the Stanley A. Milner Library.

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You know, speaking of sunny skies and things to do, it is Thursday. And Thursdays in the summer mean Latitude 53′s Summer Rooftop Patio Series. Tonight is a partnership with M.A.D.E and food from Elm Cafe. Thursday night hasn’t had it so good.