sweaty uncombed women

this is kind of old, but also hilarious.

in the early 1970s the rcmp decided it would be the best idea ever to infiltrate the burgeoning women's movement. they attended marches and rallies, took notes, and put it all into little file folders.

the spies attended aMarch 1972 gathering of women's liberation groups in Winnipeg and put together files on many of the women in attendance. one such attendee feminist: rita macneil.

according to an RCMP memo(some of which still remains secret) "she's the one who composes and sings women's lib songs."

that the rcmp has file on rita macneil totally blows my mind. i mean, it's rita macneil. (for those of who you might not know the magical-ness that is rita macneil, treat yourself to a youtube tour).

the spies recorded faithfully everything that happened at that winnipeg conference, describing one specific session as "consisting of about one hundred sweating uncombed women standing around in the middle of the floor with their arms around each other crying sisterhood and dancing." i secretly hope they took pictures of this.

the rcmp spies noted that these women rejected "notions of leadership as elitist, turned public protest into playful performance, took issue with capitalism and dismissed conformist ideas of middle-class femininity."

that sounds horrible. we all know, thanks to rush limbaugh, that "feminism was established so as to allow unattractive women easier access to the mainstream of society."

it's too bad rush limbaugh wasn't canadian and part of the rcmp in the 70's. he would have done what those wimp rcmp failed to do: stop the canadian women's movement.

if only we had a time machine!