We found that when we simply told teenage women the facts, they became hostile, amd denied our statements, blaming the messenger; so we developed a series of overhead transparencies, based on the nice safe childhood fairy story.

We showed the prince and princess looking over the bills, the princess taking the children to daycare, and choosing a low-paid unsatisfying job within the pink collar ghetto. Then we showed some escape routes: higher education for a career in science, computer, or outside sales; or training for a trade. We showed the princess with her support group, and finished with a drawing from TOOLS FOR CHANGE, showing her trained, equipped, on her way.

But a set of transparencies, which requires a speaker and a captive audience, has very limited impact. We wanted a learning tool that would reach thousands of girls before they made crucial course choices that would shut them out of almost a hundred jobs. So, we thought of a comic book.

Sue Fell Pacaud, a student at Emily Carr College, working on a Challenge '86 grant, produced the drawings, and developed the story line with Donna Stewart, King Edward College librarian Aphrodite Harris, Jane Turner of Moscrop School, Christine Goodman, and human resources counsellor Sandra Berman.

Thanks to our own fairy godmother, the Vancouver Foundation. 5000 copies have been printed and distributed free of charge to school counselors and school boards. Many copies of the comic book had already been obtained by Status of Women representatives from the British Columbia Teachers' Society. If demand is great enough, a second edition may be printed.

The comic book will be followed by a rock video funded by the Canada Council and the Vancouver Foundation.

Of course it will take more than these two innovative projects to undermine a societal myth backed by huge advertising budgets, but through our projects we hope to encourage young women to think of their own futures. In the end, everyone will be better off once women are better off.

Summer Love is available free-of-charge to individual women in British Columbia. Interested persons outside of B.C. should contact Women Skills for further details on cost. Women Skills is a community based non-profit society which focuses on women's work, education and economic survival. It is located at 4340 Carson Street, Burnaby, British Columbia V5J 2X9, or phone (604)430-0450.

CORRECTION FROM SUMMER 1986 VOL.4 NO. 4
ISSUE OF WOMEN'S EDUCATION DES FEMMES

RESERVATION FOR ONE: WOMEN'S GUIDE TO
SAFE TRAVEL. 1984

An excellent and informative pamphlet for women who travel. This nationally acclaimed resource offers tips on: what to do before you leave home; transportation; accommodation; recreation; assertiveness; physical self-defense; and what to do in case of assault.

The cost per guide is $0.25, with $1.00 being the minimum order charge. Available from Victoria Women's Sexual Assault Centre, 1045 Linden Avenue, Victoria, B.C., V8V 4H3.