Canice Leung is a former editor of Ryerson University feminist magazine McClung’s, copy editor at Metro, ardent feminist and loudmouth.

Busting common myths about feminism

June 24, 2010

After a year and a half of sharing my views with you all (hopefully ideas that show feminism isn’t just a punchline), this is my last column.

An open letter to the girls of Sex and the City

June 10, 2010

Dear Carrie, Samantha, Miranda and Charlotte...

Summer's four-letter word: Bikini

May 27, 2010

It’s bikini season. Two words certain to strike fear into the heart of pretty much any woman.

The domestic divison of labour

May 13, 2010

I have a love-hate relationship with my vacuum.

Lessons learned from tongue-in-cheek feminism

April 29, 2010

People often say feminists lack any sense of humour and all they do is complain within their ivory towers. That isn’t true and I offer up Boobquake and Ben Roethlisberger as examples.

Honk if you have an opinion

April 15, 2010

I took a little road trip this past weekend to the political heart of America: Washington, D.C. I knew I’d be in for some political amusement, between the circus of health-care reform, teabaggers, birthers, and financial meltdown.

Girls and their guitars an inspiring sight

March 25, 2010

When I started going to punk shows as a teen, there were just a handful of girls in a male-dominated scene. It was apparent there were two options for girls who wanted to fit in: Exploit your sexuality, or be one of the boys.

Out of the mouths of gay teens banned from proms

March 18, 2010

By now you have probably heard about the Mississippi school that cancelled a prom rather than let Constance McMillen, a lesbian student, bring her girlfriend and wear a tuxedo.

Whither our golden girls when Games are over?

March 04, 2010

Both our hockey teams struck Olympic gold in Vancouver. The next day, hockey fever raged on for the NHL.

Re-fashioning feminism for the next wave

February 18, 2010

This past weekend, I led a workshop on online journalism as part of Shameless Magazine’s Wire, a series that teaches high school girls the fundamentals of journalism. I learned what exactly it is teens do on the Internet (lots of Facebook, it turns out) and met some probable future feminists.

Why women's studies programs are needed

February 04, 2010

Last week, the National Post published an editorial in response to reports that women’s studies programs across Canada are either being cut or renamed to gender studies.

Current 'plus-size' trend won't change fashion

January 21, 2010

Fashion is a contentious and strange cultural beast to wrestle with — its idealizing of the female shape is the source of much dieting, disordered eating and insecurity, but it’s an economic powerhouse that is dominated by women as well.

Women robbed of identity under Berlusconi's media empire

January 07, 2010

One of the joys of living in an immigrant household is the access to diasporic television.

Feminist heroes and villains for 2009

December 24, 2009

If you needed any proof that feminism is necessary, all you need to do is look to this year’s newsmakers.

Acknowledging the nuance in gender studies

November 26, 2009

As many women do in university, I took a few women’s studies classes. I remember in one mostly female class of 40, the teacher asked who was feminist; my hand was among a sparse few that went up. But in class discussions, my classmates’ thoughts on gender roles or reproductive rights made clear that’s exactly what they were.

Awareness month more than a colour

October 29, 2009

These days, everything but the leaves is turning Pepto pink, a reminder that it is Pinktober, or Breast Cancer Awareness Month.

Polanski and polygamy: What the news tells us

October 01, 2009

What an instructive week in the news — two things are clear from reading the papers: If you’re a Hollywood célébre who raped a child 30 years ago, all is forgiven; and if you wed 25 women and say your religion commands it, no lawyer or judge in Canada will touch you.

Helping women hold up half the sky

September 17, 2009

It’s alternatingly a point of pride and embarrassment to be a Canadian woman. We’re an egalitarian country, but our annual bilateral aid amounts to $1.5 billion, compared to the $1 billion and climbing we put into the conflict in Afghanistan each year (and at least $10 billion to date).

Runner’s gender testing tests prejudices

September 03, 2009

When the world poked and prodded at prodigious South African runner Caster Semenya, musing whether she was a he, I assumed feminists would universally come to her aid — not so.

Look at how far we’ve come — not far at all

August 20, 2009

The third season of TV series Mad Men premiered this Sunday; in it, the staff at ad agency Sterling Cooper is jettisoned into 1963.

More to Hate about reality TV romances

August 06, 2009

Meet Luke Conley. He’s a great catch: He earns six figures as a real estate investor and is a homeowner at just age 26. He’s ready to settle down — with one of 20 women on Fox’s new reality show More to Love.

Domestic violence crosses all boundaries

July 30, 2009

If the picture of family dysfunction emerging from St. Leonard, Que., about the Shafia family scares you, find comfort with the many Canadians that have, too.

Remembering ‘just another junkie’

July 24, 2009

Sarah Jean de Vries. It’s not a name I knew before seeing filmmaker Janis Cole’s video installation, Remember Their Names, at a Toronto gallery, but I’d now be hard-pressed to forget it.

A checkered history of Canadian feminism

July 02, 2009

There’s plenty to celebrate on Canada Day — we’re a nation of many cultures, many opinions; a vanguard for human rights — so what better time to celebrate (or rethink) what Canadians fought for in the name of feminism.

Women, girls need a room of their own

June 18, 2009

As a kid, my favourite activity was to read children’s encyclopedias; my favourite entry was on aboriginal vision quests. Boys are cast into the wilderness to meditate and discover their life direction; they emerge men of truth and purpose. (No mention of the female equivalent.)

Feminism battleground is women’s bodies

June 11, 2009

In the wake of the unsettling shooting death of abortion provider George Tiller last week, and the release of The Purity Myth — a new book by feministing.com founder Jessica Valenti — it’s clear: Today’s feminism battleground is women’s bodies.