WAM! Vancouver members are some of Canada’s most prominent feminist bloggers! Here is a sampling of blog posts containing feminist critiques of the media from the feminist blog, Gender Focus, handpicked by Gender Focus editor and WAM! Vancouver member Jarrah Hodge.

1. What Do You Get When You Put Fox News and AskMen Together? – Roxanna Bennett writes a rebuttal to “5 Feminist Demands She Wants You To Ignore” – http://www.gender-focus.com/2012/01/12/fox-news-and-askmen-together/

2. Oddee Tries to Make a Sideshow Out of Trans People – questioning whether featuring articles with sexualized photos of trans people is appropriate on a site devoted to showcasing “oddities” – http://www.gender-focus.com/2012/01/21/oddee-tries-to-make-a-sideshow-out-of-trans-people/

3. A Part of Our Heritage? Jarrah Hodge takes a look at what parts of Canada’s history are and aren’t represented in those classic “Heritage Minutes” – http://www.gender-focus.com/2012/02/12/a-part-of-our-heritage/ (as well as Part II on race/colonialism – http://www.gender-focus.com/2012/02/16/heritage-minutes-ii-part-of-whose-heritage/ and part III on satires of Heritage Minutes http://www.gender-focus.com/2012/02/20/transformin-heritage-minutes/)

4. Shameless Continues to Provide Positive Alternative to Toxic Teen Magazines – Interview with Editor Sheila Sampath – http://www.gender-focus.com/2012/02/26/shameless-magazine-sheila-sampath/

5. The L Word and the B Word – Alicia Costa writes on depictions of bisexuality in The L Word – http://www.gender-focus.com/2012/04/15/the-l-word-and-the-b-word/

6. Gender Focus Panel on “While the Men Watch” – http://www.gender-focus.com/2012/06/02/gender-focus-panel-while-the-men-watch/

7. An overarching post by Jarrah Hodge on why we have to do media literacy: “Why Study the ‘Unimportant’?” –http://www.gender-focus.com/2011/11/18/why-study-unimportant/

WAM! Vancouver organizer Joanna Chiu has also written a blog series for Battered Women’s Support Services’ media literacy campaign (April 15-21, 2012), where she argued that promoting media literacy can help prevent violence against women.

Day 1: “How Media Literacy Can Help End Violence Against Women” 

Day 2: “Violence Sells? Time to Say Enough to Twisted Advertisers

Day 3: “How to Get Your Messages Heard and Hold the Media Accountable”

Day 4: “Indigenous and Women of Colour Resist!: Making the Media You Want to See in the World” 

Day 5: “Women with Disabilities: Understanding Media Representations to Empower one of the Most Victimized Groups” 

Day 6: “Your Message, Your Voice: Blogging to Fill the Need for Independent Media Analysis” 

Day 7: “Survivors Speak Out to End Systemic Violence Against Women and Girls” 

Have you published feminist media criticism that you’d like to share with WAM! Vancouver? Email us at wamvancouver@gmail.com