Open Letter To MP Rodney Weston re: Abortion

"Good day MP Rodney Weston,

I am 24 years old. I can tell you in all sincerity that I have grown a great deal since I was born. Physically, to be sure, but also in every other sense of the word. 24 years is a very long time. I have learned to tie my shoes and get along with my mother and earn two degrees. I have seen the birth of the internet and social media. I have heard news covering Hurricane Sandy and Sandy Hook. I have watched Gretzky retire and Crosby take the NHL by storm. I have learned about compassion and justice and responsibility. I have evolved.

24 years ago 14 women were murdered in what is known now as the Montreal Massacre. I believe that since then, we have made great strides in educating the country on gender equality. We have more and more women graduating university, working in male-dominated vocations and entering politics (though admittedly only one of our ten MPs is female). We have evolved.

24 years ago the Frank McKenna government put in place the regulations we still use today to monitor abortion. In 24 years, that regulation (which conflicts with the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms) has not changed. It has not been altered, redefined or reassessed. It has remained stagnant. It has not evolved.

The definition of stagnant is as follows: a body of water or atmosphere having no current or flow and often having an unpleasant smell as a consequence. I am writing this letter to state unequivocally that Regulation 84-20 of the Medical Services Payment Act stinks. Please do right by your constituents and break the dam that has been holding us in place for a quarter century. We need some fresh air. We need to evolve.

Thank you,

Rachael Grant"

Please join the writing campaign here: SART will SEND and add your voice to the cause. 

Take Back The Night - Song for Rehtaeh and thousands more

Rachael Grant - Take Back The Night

This is the live version of the song I wrote for the countless victims of sexual assault. 

Take Back The Night March 2013, Saint John NB

A Real American Horror Story

Spoiler Alert: This is going to reveal stuff about season 3, episode 1 of American Horror Story: Coven.

This is coming to you live from actively watching the rape scene from American Horror Story. Literally it's still on as I watch this.

Okay, yes, this show is about magic and witches and crazy alien stuff and haunted houses. That stuff is (HOPEFULLY) not real, but the scene that they just showed is about as real as it gets.

Emma Roberts' character goes to a party with a friend. They get separated and she gets roofied. The next scenes are flashes of frat boys moving on top of her paired with sounds of a very distressed and drugged woman. It's honestly gut-wrenching. It's painful to see the boys, faces after faces, hovering over her. Grunting, thrusting, grinning like they're the smartest guys in the world, and the first to think of drugging an unsuspecting girl and gang raping her.

They're not smart. They're disgusting. They deserve the worst kind of punishment. Unfortunately for most women, they're not witches who can flip the bus that the boys escape on and murder the shit out of those rapists. I sometimes wish that were an option. But you know what? A few minutes later in the episode, after Emma's character exacts her revenge, we find her curled up in the shower, trying to hold herself together.

Because the fact is that even with powers and covens and all the other excellent things that come with being a witch, rape is rape. Trauma is trauma. There's no escaping those feelings.



When the scene first popped on, I was horrified that they were showing it. And then I realized what a favour they were doing for those of us who know that that stuff goes on every day. That scene? It's a reality. It happens every weekend. People need to see it. They need to see it happening to an American sweetheart. Kudos to you FX.

You actually showed a true American Horror Story.