Disproportionately Disenfranchised: Gendered Impacts of Interference in Collective Bargaining in Canada

Much has written about the growth of legislative in terference in collective bargaining and the right to strike in Canada in the latter part of the 20th century. However, consideration of the specifically gendered impacts of this interference has been largely neglected. This paper argues that suspension of collective bargaining rights and the right to strike impacts women workers in unique and disproportionate ways. Two cursory case studies from Ontario and Newfoundland and Labrador provide examples of how suspension of bargaining rights has a differential impact on women. The paper calls attention to the need for a heightened focus on the specifically gendered impacts of neoliberal governments’ growing propensity to suspend collective bargaining rights in Canada

Body piercing and the exploration of spirituality, sexuality and fashion

This thesis examines body piercing as a modern aesthetic phenomenon in St. John's, Newfoundland, and explores the manner in which body piercing is utilized by some piercees to help construct and reinforce an intimately personalized sense of self-identity. It focuses on the complex symbolic and aesthetic methods in which thirteen local pierces use body piercing in a variety of different ways to give voice to their sense of self- identity. It focuses particularly on the use of body piercing in the context of neopagan spirituality, sexuality and alternative forms of sexuality such as sadomasochism, as well as the creation of idealized, alternative universes. Furthermore it examines the antagonism perceived by some piercees between body piercing as an element of alternative, fringe culture and body piercings more recent commoditization by the mainstream fashion industry