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FIRST PEEK
June 17, 2013 · Volume 144, Issue 7
CANADIAN COMMUNITY NEWSPAPER AWARD 2013
FIRST PEEK
I love sex. I think it’s totally awesome and empowering for consenting, of-age guys and gals to do it as often as they like, with whomever they like as long as they’re being safe. I’m a pretty traditional broad when it comes to sex, though: I’m 24, and have only slept with two guys, both of whom I was seeing exclusively. I blame my religious upbringing for my slightly prudish ways, and to this day, I am still pretty picky about who I let down there, but I have good reason for doing so. Guy number two on my list of sexual conquests happened to have human papillomavirus. For those of you who don’t know, human papillomavirus (HPV ), according to the Center for Disease Control (CDC), is the most common sexually transmitted infection (STI). There are more than 40 types of HPV that can infect the genitals, mouths, and throats of both males and females. The CDC says that nearly all sexually active men and women will get HPV at some point in their lives,
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even if they’ve only had sex with one person. If you’re anything like me, your reaction to this is something along the lines of “holy shit.” It’s shocking to me that an STI as pervasive as this one still seems to be flying under the radar. I’m not saying people haven’t heard of HPV or don’t know what it is, in a vague sense, but people don’t talk about it. At all. HPV, like most other big, bad, scary STIs, comes with its share of physical consequences. But — perhaps even more damaging — it comes with a hell of a lot of stigma.
I got lucky with my HPV encounter, as the guy in question turned out to be a pretty decent human who saw fit to alert me of his status before we slept together. However, we’d been fooling around for six months and I could’ve easily been exposed to the virus. I took the proper steps and got tested and was fortunately all right. But the whole thing got me thinking about how fucked up the lines of communication are in a situation involving something like
HPV. The guy wanted to tell me sooner but didn’t want to be presumptuous or scare me off, and the more I thought about his “excuse,” the more it made sense. It’s a tough, awkward, shitty thing to tell a prospective sexual partner that you have HPV – kind of kills the seductive vibe, you know? The fact is that HPV is a transmissible virus, but transmission rates, infection rates, and the ability of an immune system to fight off the virus vary from person to person. So, my guy might have told himself that because we weren’t engaging in especially high-risk behaviours, I didn’t need to know. It’s really a question of timing. But, at the end of the day, it’s my body, my cervix, my cancer risk, and I had the right to know before the relationship ever got physical. The terrible thing here is the fear, so here’s what I really think: let’s all just say “no” to the fear. Statistically, almost every sexually active adult has encountered HPV, so we should be adopting a“we’reall-in-this-together” mentality. Let’s just say “fuck you” to the self-imposed shame, and be honest with our sex partners. And if someone you want to get jiggy with is good enough to inform you of their STI status, reward their bravery and honesty with some protected sex or at the very least, a whole lot of respect. Knowledge is power, people.
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NEWS
According to a new psychological study, men may have a tendency to take the term “tramp stamp” literally. In the grand tradition of sexual signalling (think cleavage, bare collarbones, short skirts, and the colour red), the French study done by psychologist Nicolas Guéguen found that the majority of men believe that women with tattoos are more sexually promiscuous. In France, a select 12 per cent of women sport ink somewhere on their bodies, and previous studies have found that men and women place many unjustified attributes on tattooed women. In one, test subjects were asked to judge two different versions of a photo of a 24 year old woman, one where she had a black dragon tattoo on her upper left arm, and one where she didn’t.
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When she had the tattoo, she was judged to be less honest, generous, intelligent, and artistic than when her skin was bare. Even though most studies of this kind found that men considered tattooed women less attractive, Guéguen found they were also more likely to try to sleep with them. The question then was, is that because they are more promiscuous? Or were men barking up the wrong tree? Guéguen headed to the beach to find out. In the first part of his experiment, a female research assistant was asked to lie on her stomach on the beach while reading a book or magazine, an activity chosen because roughly 85 per cent of women who hang out at the beach solo do exactly that. All the different female assistants in the study wore the exact same red bikini, but in some trials they also displayed a temporary tattoo of a butterfly on their back. The tattoo was roughly ten and a half by five centimeters in size, and was chosen because it was deemed a common design for women to get. Once the target was set, a male observer who was in on the study timed how long it took from the
moment the woman laid down to when a man made contact with her, either by saying “hello” or asking her a question. The study carried out this interaction 220
ur questions ab
out sex.
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Alison Roach associate news editor news@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560
times total; 110 with the tattoo, and 110 without. In the end, the women who wore the tattoos were solicited by men 23.67 per cent of the time, while their bare counterparts were only approached 10 per cent of the time. Men at the beach were also quicker to come up to a woman with a tattoo, taking an average of only 23.61 minutes, versus 34.78 minutes to approach an uninked woman.
The second part of the experiment also involved the woman laying down, but targeted finding out what the men on the beach thought of her. Once she was in place, the male researcher who was observing would go up to a man within ten meters of the woman and ask what he thought his chances of getting a date with her, and the probability of having sex with her on the first date. In that test, male beachgoers thought their chances of going on a date or having sex with the woman were significantly higher when she had the tattoo. From these results, Guéguen concluded that women get tattooed as a way to enhance their sexual appeal to men, and to attract more
Leah Bjornson
suitors. In the same vein, men are drawn to women who show more sexual receptivity; in this case, in the form of a tattoo. For Dr. Elise Chenier, an SFU history professor whose focus is gender and sexuality in the 20th century, the answer to these findings is simple: it’s about class. “Tattoos, especially for women, are associated with being lower class . . . and women that are working class, lower class, are assumed to have fewer moral scruples than middle class, respectable women,” she explained. Chenier likened the popularity of tattoos for showing an anti-establishment attitude to the long hair and loose cotton of the 70s, or lipstick in the early 20th century, which was only worn by prostitutes at the time. “It was Elizabeth Arden who sold lipstick and rouge as a health product,” said Chenier. “It was only by marketing it as a health product that it lost its stigma as being something only sex workers used.” She was also quick to point to the fact that while tattoos may be a rarity in France, they are much more prevalent in North America, and may not convey the same sexual signal here. “Tattoos are becoming more and more normalized, it’s no longer just sailors and prisoners. Especially in Vancouver, it’s a very very trendy thing to do,” she noted. “[The study] only tells us about France. I wonder if the findings would be different in Vancouver.”
NEWS
According to a new study published in The Journal of Sexual Medicine, using the blindfold and furry handcuffs stored in your closet may contribute to better mental health than that of lovers keeping it boring and simple between the sheets. This study comes with the release of the DSM-5, the go-to handbook for psychiatrists evaluating and diagnosing mental disorders. The new version categorises BDSM (short for bondage, discipline, sadism, and masochism) as unusual behaviour; this elevates to mental disorder status when activities harm the practitioner or other individuals. “We define sadism and masochism at this current historical moment as activity on the outer edges of what we find acceptable. We see those people as pushing up against that particular boundary,” says SFU associate professor Elise Chenier. “At the same time, there are other types of sexual expression that we don’t all see as positive in a mental health perspective.” For this sex and mental health study, researchers recruited 902 BDSM practitioners from a sex forum and 434 “vanilla” practitioners from a women’s magazine website, a university website, and a personal secret website. Each volunteer filled out a series of surveys with the understanding that the study was examining human behaviour. Survey types included personality dimensions, rejection sensitivity, attachment styles, and subjective well-being questionnaires. The answers were then statistically analyzed and group differences were evaluated. From these tests, the kinkier group was found to either show no difference from the general population or to exhibit more favourable results than the “vanilla” control group, including
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being more conscientious, open to new ideas, less neurotic, and less concerned about others’ opinions.
They also reported feeling more happiness in the past two weeks and higher stability in their relationships than their less adventurous counterparts. These findings may come as a surprise to some since they are contrary to both restricted views of BDSM activity in the past and
the idea of sadism or masochism as an indicator of mental instability or illness. “Historically, mental health research has been used as a school of oppression against sexual minority groups. Now, you have sexual minority groups using the same tools to try and argue the opposite thing,” says Chenier. “We need to see the research article as a piece of political work, not a piece of objective science because it’s arguing for the validity of sexual practices that are marginalized and oppressed.” The study also reported that 33 per cent of BDSM men respondents were submissive, while 48 per cent were dominant, and 18 per cent switch between being dominant and submissive in bed. Women BDSM participants were 75 per cent submissive, 8 per cent dominant, and 16 per cent switch. Dominant
sex partners scored higher on the study’s mental health surveys, while — as you might expect — switchers scored in the middle, and submissive partners scored the lowest, though never below any of the control group “vanilla” practitioners.
Study researcher Andreas Wismeijer doesn’t offer much explanation for his findings, and only suggests possibilities. In comparison with controls, BDSM practitioners may have a better grasp of their erotic needs and desires,
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translating to more peaceful relationships both in bed and in other aspects of couples’ lives. It was also suggested that associating with the BDSM community — a niche in the grander scheme of sexual practices — may involve psychological work that could inadvertently produce better mental health. “For me, at the end of the day, it’s dangerous to make arguments that people should not be [sexually] oppressed because engaging in these practices brings better mental health,” says Chenier. “What this research is suggesting is that if you want to be happier, you should dominate in an S&M relationship. Well, what about submissive roles in those relationships?” She concluded, “I think, instead, people should be as they are or as they discover themselves to be.”
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SFU bagpipe player Kevin McLean played across Northern France early this month, on a week long trip honoring several Canadian battles and our fallen soldiers. The expedition had McLean performing on former First and Second World War battlefields and memorable locations, including Juno Beach, to commemorate the 69th anniversary of the invasion of Normandy, better known as D-Day. The trip proved to be an especially personal one for McLean, as the communication student also visited the grave of his great uncle William McLean, who died in the Hundred Day Offensive in 1918. The tour, titled Vimy: Leadership Under Fire, is an annual week-long pilgrimage produced by the Canadian organizations True Patriot Love, the Vimy Foundation, and the Young Presidents’ Organization. This year marked the third annual event, taking Canadian business leaders across famous First and Second World War battle sites and cemeteries to preserve interest in the historical sacrifices of canadian military families. McLean plays for SFU’s internationally recognized pipe band, which is currently raising funds for its annual trip to Glasgow in August to compete in the two-day World Pipe Band Championships. The SFU Pipe Band has won the event six times in the past. The band members are trying to raise $10,000 of the $100,000 cost, which is usually almost entirely funded by the members of the band. McLean, who has been a piper since the age of 13, described the experience of playing at the battlefields, graves, memorials, museums, and beaches in Northern France as “incredible.” For him, seeing both his uncle’s grave and
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experiencing these other locations was a reminder of the personal story that each soldier or grave holds. “Knowing that each soldier buried has a family and an unique story like my great uncle’s really struck home,” he said. “It’s easy to get overwhelmed and awed by the size and numbers of the graveyards, but when you realize that each grave represents a young Canadian soldier that left their families, friends, careers, and lives behind to fight for our country, it’s very emotional and it makes you feel very proud to be Canadian.” McLean, who was the sole piper on the trip, was accompanied during the trip by two men whom he refers to as “two of the most proud and inspirational Canadians alive:” Pierre Gauthier, a former soldier who fought at Juno Beach at age 19, and General Rick Hillier, the Chief of the Defense Staff of the Canadian Forces in Afghanistan between 2005 and 2008. “It was an honour to play the bagpipes for these people and listen to their stories and absorb their pride in being Canadian,” McLean says. The most memorable experience of the trip for McLean was giving a performance of four songs and short presentation at the grave of piper James Cleland Richardson, a Vancouver soldier who was killed in the First World War. Originally from Scotland, Richardson was a piper in the 72nd Seaforth Highlanders of Canada, and travelled overseas as part of a large Seaforth contingent. Richardson was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross — the most prestigious award for gallantry that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces — after allegedly rallying fellow soldiers with his music during a battle in Somme, France, in 1916. Richardson died attempting to retrieve his bagpipes that he had left behind enemy lines; he was 20 years-old at the time. For McLean’s involvement, General Hiller awarded him the Commander’s Medal, an honour reserved by the retired Chief for moments by which he is personally inspired. “It was an incredible honour to be awarded this,” McLean said.
NEWS
A city which has caught the world’s eye for all the wrong reasons in the past year, Mumbai has recently passed a ban on provocative mannequins, hoping to halt sex crimes in India’s ancient capital. Representatives from Mumbai’s local authority, a body which is dominated by the rightwing Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party, voted on May 28 to ban the plastic models. The prohibition is based on the “Provisions of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986,” which defines indecent representation of women as “the depiction in any manner of the figure of a woman; her form or body or any part thereof in such way as to have the effect of being indecent, or derogatory to, or denigrating women, or is likely to deprave, corrupt or injure the public morality or morals.” The initiative was led by Ritu Tawade, a member of the Hindu Bharatiya Janata Party. According to Tawade, these “immoral” figures are partly to blame for Mumbai men’s indecent and dangerous behaviour towards women. “It’s time to end shop windows showing women’s breasts and bottoms,” said Tawade. “Young boys see the mannequins and the minds of grown men too are corrupted by these images.” This ban confronts the increasing number of rapes and sexual abuse in India. According to National Crime Records Bureau, the cases of rape went up by 873 percent between 2001 and 2011. Broken down, Mumbai has India’s second highest number of rapes after Delhi, totalling 231 last year; in Delhi, the total was 706. In India’s capital, a woman is raped every 18 hours, and is molested every 14 hours. When looking at the country as a whole, one woman is raped every 20 minutes in India. This is calculated only from the
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reported cases; the actual number of rapes is most likely significantly higher. In a 2011 survey by Trust Law, it was revealed that India is the fourth-worst country for women to live in, on account of trafficking and sexual slavery. It is only preceded by Afghanistan, the Congo, and Pakistan.
This issue hit the world stage last December, when a young physiotherapy student was gangraped on a bus in Delhi. Since
then, the country has been swept by anti-rape protests that have gained impetus from other highprofile incidents of sexual assault in the months following, including a US tourist who was raped in Manali, a resort town in the north. Nevertheless, this mannequin ban has been criticized for its failure to address the deeper cultural issues at play. A survey by the International Centre for Research on Women found that 75 per cent of men in New Delhi felt that “women provoke men by the way they dress.” This thought process does not stop with men alone, as shown by the comments of Asha Gaitonde, a Mumbai waitress: “Girls wear spaghetti straps, short skirts and tight jeans. These clothes make everyone aware of sex and if men start thinking of sex because girls make them look at them, what do you expect?”
Not only do critics find fault with such “outdated” ways of thinking, but in the city’s failure to address other potential causes of violence against Indian women. Opponents of the ban refer to erotic sculptures and carvings at celebrated temples like Khajuraho that feature scenes of group sex and bestiality, claiming that these images are more culturally harmful than the mannequins.
Fingers have also pointed to Mumbai’s Bollywood film industry, which produces films that feature scantily-clad women dancing provocatively.
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The board has started extensive planning on a fall welcome-back event, tentatively scheduled for September 13 in Convocation Mall at the Burnaby campus. The event will be a large afternoon concert with four acts and an after-party at the Highland Pub, to be finalized in the next two or three weeks of the budget being approved in the beginning of July. The SFSS won’t release any names of prospective artists at this time, but president Humza Khan said the “shortlist consists of artists that will appeal to the young crowd in attendance as they are from the electronic and top-40 genres.” The proposed budget for the concert is just under $63,000, with an expected revenue of approximately $70,000 based on sponsorship, food and beverage sales, and 2000 ticket sales. Tickets will be sold in four tiers, from $16, $18, $20, to $25. Tickets will be sold for $35 at the door, and tickets for the pub after party will be $15. Expectations for the event are high; Khan said the concert “could be the legacy of our board.”
When confronted, Ekta Kapoor, a co-producer of The Dirty Picture (2011), responded, “Stop your men. Don’t just cover your women. There’s a bigger problem with the mentality of the men in this country.” Responses from the fashion and advertising industry were similar to those of Kapoor. “If the plastic curves of a mannequin can turn these guys on, they should go see a doctor,” said advertising executive Pritish Nandy. Once approved, the ban will give civic officials the authority to remove any mannequins that they feel are offensive and in violation of the 1986 Act. If shopkeepers refuse, they will be fined. As of yet, the amount of the fine has not been specified.
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OPINIONS
Prostitution is a subjective moral debate, with no clear consensus whether or not it should be legal. As the world’s oldest profession, legal prohibition of it has failed to eradicate the business, and proves that its legal status should be an obvious affirmative. While sex at its best is about love and a true connection between two individuals, people do engage in casual sex for the sheer physical pleasure. Moreover, such trysts can be influenced by drugs or alcohol, or be brought about by lying and manipulation, which would seem far less moral than a sober woman making a rational decision about her body. So when we do not always condemn men and women who choose to be promiscuous, why would we condemn prostitution? Sex in its inherent nature is not illegal, and neither are free markets. I fail to understand the logic behind combining the two and making the result illegal. Many women working as prostitutes freely choose their profession. Should they really be deprived of this choice?
While it is true some women are coerced into prostitution, that does not negate the fact that many women do freely choose it. The coercion itself should be illegal, but we should not take away the choice from those who would like to make it. By legalizing prostitution, a government can help bring these labourers under labour protections that are offered to other workers. Some claim that prostitution is an inherently unsafe venture, and so it should not be sanctioned by labour laws. However, many other industries are
unsafe — such as the mining industry — and this was precisely the reason why government labor laws and unions were created to help protect them. Skills Development Canada states that one in every 68 workers were injured on the job in 2010, with the construction industry being the highest risk industry at 24.5 cases per every 1000 employers.
When an industry is criminalized and the demand for it persists, black markets will emerge. This means no government regulation exists, making the likelihood of abuse, violence, and rape all the more real. By condemning prostitution, we are closing our eyes to the problems that prevail with this profession at its status quo. People who condemn prostitution often base their opinion on the risk of STDs associated with the profession. There are, however, many dangers related to all kinds of legal professions. A person working in a factory risks dismemberment, chemical burns, and in some cases, even death. In 2008 alone, 24 out of 1000 employees of the manufacturing industry were injured while at work. A consumer of any product similarly risks injury due to defective parts or shoddy construction. In everything we do, we are choosing a level of risk that we deem acceptable. In the case of prostitution, the risk of a client catching an STD is known, and the client is willing to take that risk. To use that as a basis for victimization would be silly considering you could catch Ecoli from a bag of spinach. Moreover, legalizing prostitution and issuing state-approved health cards to prostitutes could help eradicate this problem altogether, and provide sex workers with freedoms enjoyed by all other workers in Canada.
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opinions editor email / phone
Tara Nykyforiak opinions@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560
OPINIONS
The most primal and pleasurefueled of all human acts can also be a financial burden for those involved. It’s great that so many young people today are taking proper measures to practice safe sex, so it’s unfortunate and illogical that condoms are priced the way they are. You may never have given it much thought, but the high cost of condoms does have a real impact on drug stores and the choices that couples make. A box of my favourite condoms will run me and my partner $16.99 plus tax. This is exponentially cheaper than the cost of raising a child, but works out to be the better part of a dollar per bedroom session nonetheless. When compared to the BC minimum wage — $10.25 an hour — a box of condoms seems like a lot, because a person has to work one and half hours just to make enough to afford to have this safe sex option. Now, it is easy as a student to get condoms for free through the health centre, but this isn’t always practical. Students such as myself in long-term relationships are in
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need of more than a couple condoms here and there, so this option is only realistic for those partaking in casual hookups. Of course, there are other options. Birth control pills can be cheaper, because many Canadian university student health plans offer them at reduced costs. However, the pill is hormone based, so when a woman uses birth control pills, her natural hormone cycles are altered. Moreover, the pill does not protect against STIs, and there is a long list of potential side effects. Yaz (a specific brand of the pill) was determined in 2011 by the Food and Drug Administration to cause a 75 percent increase risk for blood clotting. More recently, it was linked to the death of 23 Canadian women, so it’s easy to understand why birth control pills are a contraceptive measure not all women need or desire.
One can also suggest various other methods of birth control, such as a copper intrauterine device (IUD). It is good for five years, is non-hormonal, and
costs between $90 to $160. This amounts to significant savings long-term; however, it does not protect against STIs, and not all women feel comfortable with having foreign objects implanted in their bodies. So, if alternative forms of birth control are not what a woman needs or is comfortable with, the only means left for her to practice safe sex — in this case using condoms — will cost upwards of $228 a year, if her and her partner go through a box of Trojans or Durex every month. At this price, sometimes I feel like I’m being punished for being a student in a committed relationship who practices safe sex. A study conducted by Pharmacy Practice revealed the consequences of having a high price on condoms. Of the drug stores featured in the study, up to 11.74 per cent of condoms were stolen in a given month, with the store experiencing the highest theft rates located in a university town. That’s a lot of inventory being stolen, but more importantly, is the message being conveyed: condoms are not priced as an affordable option for safe sex, especially for those in lower income brackets. At the end of the day, the most natural, non-invasive, and most effective means of practicing safe sex are condoms, so it’s a real shame they aren’t more accessible.
Cats are probably the worst thing that can happen to your sex life. When you first step into a strange apartment on your second, third, or eighth date, these little tyrants are often all that stands between you and a sleepless, sweaty night. Sure, claiming to love them seems like an easy way “in,” but you’re only fooling your date, and before you know it your eyes lock with the cat. You, terrified of this threat to your self-esteem’s last hope of redemption; the cat, terrified that it will not be able to get exclusive snuggles at its whim. You sit on the couch. You find a movie that neither of you would really mind bailing out on. You’ve slowly worked your staccato body shakes into tremors, and you’re just starting to wrap your arm
around your companion when, all of a sudden, the cat jumps up and spins around and shoves its face into everything, a full-on panic mode that works every time. A vision may then appear in your head: the cat,
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gracefully spinning through the air in slow motion, before bursting through a pane of glass and falling to its death. Take my advice, do it — throw it out the window. This is not in the humour section; I am telling you to kill that cat. It’s now or never! Well, I guess tossing it off the couch works too. Hey, it looks like someone appreciates assertiveness, because here comes Hot Lips! At this point, make a mental note to watch more John Wayne movies. You stand up with her, and start walking her to her bedroom. Oops, that’s the bathroom. You let her lead this time. Soon enough, you’re taking off each other’s clothes. You’re not even sure whose hands are doing what; if one of you disappeared, it would look like the other was playing charades. Then something furry slips against your legs. Oh no. No, no. It turns out the patio door was open, and that fucker just decided to hop on through. Before you can say “inside cat” your quarry is knocking on the doors of neighbours in adjacent apartments while you sit in the living room to see if your nemesis comes back. And then, it does. The cat is right there at the window, staring at you. As you look into each other’s eyes, you see something you recognize — an insatiable need for affirmation, to be affirmed, always. The both of you are clingers, manipulators, forever begging for love. I should have John Wayned the little bastard through that window back when I had the chance.
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terms and conditions to reflect what they want in a partnership. They have sat down at a bargaining table and negotiated on what their ideal relationship looks like, and determine together how each individual can best benefit from an agreement to date. Relationships, in any construct, are social contracts with certain terms and conditions implied in their creation. The traditional “monogamous”relationship has been one that has persisted throughout the ages with certain adaptations to reflect the times. Though pre-marital couples may not officially sign a contract, there is an implicit understanding that surrounds their existence. I like to think of this kind of relationship as adopting a template that has proven to work, for the most part, in the past. Those who enter open relationships have examined this template and want to modify the
If you want to know the truth about something, you should look at the raw facts and figures with as little bias as possible, and allow your conclusion to emerge naturally from the data. This may seem obvious, but it’s easier said than done; there are many ways in which our culture encourages us to form an opinion first, and then justify it later. For example, many of us were taught in high school to write essays by first choosing a thesis statement, then
In this light, it seems strange that one would condemn the idea of an open relationship as less committed without any notion of what the involved parties have agreed to. Each couple has their own structure and accompanying guidelines that they maintain throughout the course of the relationship. Though the contract might not reflect the societal norm, it
researching the topic for facts to defend that thesis, and finally putting it all together in a final draft. This always bothered me as a student. After all, what if, upon researching the topic, you find your initial conceptions were completely wrong? This method of essay writing teaches students to decide what their opinion is, and then cherry-pick the literature for data that supports their thesis. Computer programmer and essayist Paul Graham writes about the origin of this method of teaching in his article “The Age of the Essay.” Modern English composition classes have their roots in medieval universities, where lawyers were trained in the methods of defending a predefined position. To quote Graham, “defending
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does not mean there will be more leniency or less punishment for not complying with the terms of agreement. Open relationships often get a negative reputation for being purely about sex, but I wholeheartedly disagree. While most couples of this nature are, to varying degrees, accepting of sexual interaction outside of the pairing, it is not the crux of their existence or the thing that breaks them. Monogamous relationships tend to put their focus on their physical aspects. Cheating can be a concern for anyone, but those in monogamous relationships are the ones who tend to rank sleeping with another person to be the worst offense. In contrast, open relationships are often structured around the idea that emotional attachment is more important than the physical. The priority in an open relationship is not about managing what your partner does, or does
a position may be a necessary evil in a legal dispute, but it’s not the best way to get at the truth, as I think lawyers would be the first to admit.”
The “thesis first, facts later” approach to essays appeals to what psychologists call the “confirmation bias.” Once a person has decided what they believe, they will tend to notice evidence that supports their position and ignore evidence that contradicts it. As Neil Gaiman explains it, “decide the universe is, say, run by secret
not do with their body. The traditional relationship used to assume male dominance and implied ownership over a woman, which is something our Western culture has shunned. I think open relationships are a novel way of reflecting on the progression society has made by encouraging dialogue between individuals before entering a relationship that maximizes mutual gain.
Open relationships, just like monogamous relationships, are as unique as the people in them. Some couples prefer disclosure about sexual acts before or after, while others do not. There may be restrictions on who gets labeled
as fair game; these can include or exclude mutual acquaintances. Cheating may be defined in a variety of ways. While there are many variations, there are several common elements that often accompany this breed of relationship. An open relationship is a symbiotic one which thrives on the happiness and safety, both emotional and physical, of the parties involved. Though you may have the freedom to act on primal urges, it is done with consideration of your partner and therefore, makes sexual safety a necessity. When it comes down to it, your partner comes first. The relationship ends when you no longer give them priority. Open relationships are just as serious as traditional ones. The terms and conditions may vary, but they are still part of a social contract. Whether one values sexual or emotional exclusivity, every relationship is a committed one.
enormous teddy bears, and I can guarantee you’ll immediately start running across evidence that this is true.” It’s little wonder, then, that many people think of debates as battles in which the primary purpose is to win against your opponent. Facts and arguments are nothing but useful artillery, and differing positions are just sides in a fight. This is how debates are often presented in TV and radio talk shows. Everyone picks a position the same way in which they’d pick a sports team, and then grasps at whatever arguments they can to support their side. But reality is not made up of teams, and the act of developing arguments in favour of a position does nothing to make that position true. How do we fight the confirmation bias? One idea is to take
a clue from how scientists test a hypothesis by experimentation. A well designed experiment is setup to try to disprove the hypothesis. That way, if the experiment confirms the hypothesis, it’s unlikely to have happened by accident.
So, if you want to have a more accurate view of the world, you should recognize when you believe something that might cause you to be biased, and instead of trying to prove yourself right, test your beliefs by looking for ways you can be proven wrong.
OPINIONS
I was recently out shopping when Bruno Mars’ “Locked Out of Heaven” came on the radio. Now, one of the lines of this song is, “your sex takes me to paradise,” except in the “radiofriendly” version, it was, “your ____ takes me to paradise.” The word “sex” was omitted as if it were offensive profanity. Our society is notoriously oversexualized and, while we do have sexual education and resources in schools, clearly we are not as collectively comfortable with the topic as we may think up here in our ivory towers of post-secondary. In 2011, for example, Fifty
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Shades of Grey jumped to the top of bestsellers’ lists. The series has a weak plot, a shaky premise, little to no character development, and writing quality that makes The Berenstain Bears look like a Dostoyevsky novel. Why did its success soar to such ridiculous heights? Because the topics of sexuality and alternative forms of sex were suddenly open for discussion. It is only in the past few years these topics have been more or less accepted outside of Dan Savage’s fan base.
Sex education is theoretically taught in Canadian public schools throughout elementary
and secondary schools. But that doesn’t mean this always plays out in practice; I, for example, didn’t get my sexual education in school until mid to late high school. In grade five, my teacher misplaced the Why Is This Happening To Me? booklets and, through a twist of events, we had a substitute teacher and were never taught what was happening to our bodies. Luckily for me, my parents had always been meticulous in answering my questions from a young age, so I wasn’t left embarrassed and confused by my changing body. But what if — when my four year old self had asked about babies — my mother had told me about storks instead of drawing out the sperm and egg? In 2010, then Ontario Premier, Dalton McGuinty, launched a new sex education program. Students in Grade 1 were to be taught the correct terminology for genitalia (in part as sexual abuse prevention),
and in Grade three, they were to be taught about homosexuality. In Grade six, they would learn about masturbation and in Grade seven, the topics of oral and anal sex would be explored. Students would also be taught from a young age that gender is not dichotomous.
It was withdrawn almost immediately after Stop Corrupting Children (on the Canadian Values website) and other conservative and religious groups started an uproar, including a petition. Now Kathleen Wynne, who was elected as Ontario’s premier in January, is trying to
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bring it back. On the other hand, a 2001 National Post / Global Poll found that more than 85 per cent of parents agreed that sexual health education should be provided in schools. We’re on the right track. Sex is present in one form or another in all animals, and it is also a factor in healthy relationships. So why is the topic still broached? It is taught in schools and there are a plethora of resources out there, but it is harder to undo the idea of a bird bringing a baby than it is to teach the truth right off the bat. Deeming this natural act as “inappropriate” for children is short-sighted and insults children’s ability to comprehend and accept information. In fact, the taboo that is often attached to the topic of sex is a social constraint, not a natural reaction to it; instead of starting a child’s sex education in grades four or five, it should simply be a topic open for discussion.
Part of why I wanted to do this, what was really the cementing piece, was having a conversation with [my partner] Maike’s kids. She has a boy named Ben who’s 13 now, but was a lot younger at the time, and Jessica, who is now 10. [Both] would talk about some of the stuff they faced with their peers when they said they have two moms, and other kids say “How, how is that possible? What do you mean you had two moms? How come you don’t have a daddy? How do two moms have kids?” Ben’s answer to one of the kids was “I do have a dad, I have a donor dad.” The kids don’t understand what that means and so he had to explain. Then they start teasing him, calling names such as “donut dad,” which in grade three is pretty traumatic, to have someone call your dad a donut dad. [Another experience came from] Jessica, talking about having
to make two cards for Mother’s Day and not doing that for Father’s Day, sort of deciding, “Well, who do I make a Father’s Day card for?” Those kinds of conversations [got me] thinking, “You know, they don’t have any songs that talk about their lives, that speak to their families that they can see themselves reflected in.” All the songs for young people and kids are like, “mommy / daddy,” so I wanted to write songs for them. I wanted to give voice to their stories, and so that’s what started me on it. So then I started thinking, “I want to interview kids growing up in queer families,” because queer kids are subjected to homophobia, but so are kids of queer families even though they might not identify as queer. That’s another strain of homophobia kids can be subjected to, so that was the impetus for the album.
In terms of my own teaching background, I got a teaching degree in 2000. I had an arts undergrad and then I got a teaching degree. I taught for about seven years full time before I became “the musician” (she laughs). I did three years of teaching in the interior. The first year of teaching I was in the closet. I was in Midway, for fuck’s sake. Its a small freaking town, like 600 people. I’m not going to come out in this town, I was freaked out. It was really interesting for me to date a woman who lived in another town; I would go to visit her on weekends and nobody knew about my life. I was not really integrated in the social fabric of Midway, and because I was in the closet and I didn’t really
make good friends with the teachers. In the second year, when my girlfriend and I broke up, I started dating a male gym teacher at the high school, my social life just opened up. Suddenly I didn’t have to be afraid, I didn’t have to be in the closet, and I started to talk about, you know, I did have a girlfriend, because now it was okay. Now I had the safety of being in a heterosexual relationship, so it was such an eye opener from me to go from one extreme from the other. So then I taught for another year, afterwards took another year off and then I moved here, and I worked on the sub-list in Vancouver for about four years before quitting to try to do music full time.
No, it wasn’t, actually. It was a lot of fun because when I was doing the interviews, it was really fascinating to hear people stories. I love the interview process — it was really cool. When I was doing it I was always looking for that little gem, that little phrasethatIcouldturnintoasongorthatcouldbe the title of a song. For instance, “Tummy Mummy,” that was a phrase that this one particular family had used to describe the birth mother of their daughter, and that’s what I built that song around. How can you not write a song around that? It’s so cute! Another song, “Cool Enough to Be Gay” was writtenbecausethereweretwomid-teenboys,and oneofthemwasexplaininghow,whenhisparents called for a family meeting, he was worried about it and he was going to his mom’s house and was
wondering, “What is this going to be about? Did someone die? Is someone getting divorced or are they getting back together? Is mom pregnant?” On the way home, he’s trying to figure out all the possible reasons they’re going to have this big meeting for, and his thought was like, “maybe dad’s gay . . .” but sort of thought to himself “no, he’s not cool enough to be gay.” I just thought that that was the gem of the interview. That’s hilarious. It was fun. People say interesting stuff. The anecdotes . . . it was really cool to turn that into song. It was actually sort of fun, you know, I wasn’t writing about myself for once so it was a nice break.
Yeah, it comes up for me a lot. In particular I remember writing that song because whenever I go into a studio, everytime I’ve gone in — I don’t know if I remember it in the first album because I was working with a woman, she was a lesbian, so I don’t know if that was why — but I’ve worked with two different [guys named] Adam and they were both straight, but I’d have this feeling of, “Oh, my songs are so gay. Why am I writing all of this gay stuff? All of this queer material?” I would just have this negative thought process start happening, you know, enough with the gay stuff already, and I’m playing my songs for the first time and I’m thinking in my head: “What are they going to think about this song?” I’m worried that it’s too queer, or just not legit because it’s queer. So, “Ain’t No Drama Queen” came up because I was having that feeling really strongly that particular week when I was
No, totally fuck that. Nobody ever says “oh that’s too straight.” Nobody ever says, “oh, the stuff on the radio is too heterosexual.” Well, queers are saying that, but heterosexual people don’t. And nobody ever questions if “there’s too many love songs on the radio about men and women hooking up.” I’ve written a similar song based on a similar topic, called “Uncharted Territory,” because some of my friends on my first album said “you sing too much about being lesbian, enough already,” and I had a reviewer say that too about my music. She said something like, “there were two songs on the album that were complete duds, it was starving artist and I’d go straight for Ridley Bent”, and then she said, “Yeah, we know you’re a dyke, we get it, enough already.”
in a recording studio in Toronto, and I was feeling really down on myself about it, about writing about this stuff, wondering what I was doing this for again, how many times can you sing this stuff about being queer? It turns out there’s a lot of stuff you can sing about being queer. It’s the lens that I look through, or that I write though. I find that it comes up in different ways and sometimes in really big ways and sometimes in small ways. As I move through my life, the more I sing about it, the more I write about it, the less that stuff comes up. But I do have internalized homophobia. I mean, I do around my family. Sometimes I go home and I think, “Oh, I’m too much, I’m too out there, I’m too queer, I’m too activist, too . . . much! Too much queer already, stop it!” But when I’m with my friends, that’s what we talk about. We talk about our issues, we talk about what it’s like to be queer in the world so it feels okay.
That was in the review, and I’m just like, “Fuck you!” and then I had some friends say “Well why do you sing so much about it?” Somebody has to. We have to do this and it’s important to me and it’s part of who I am, it’s my identity. Nobody ever says that to straight singers. “Why do you sing about your boyfriend all the time?” You know what I mean? [When people ask] “Why do you have to sing queer songs? Can’t you just sing something that’s more mainstream?” [that] just means more straight or not identifying my queerness, and I get what [they’re] saying. But that’s not what I’m here to do. If I wanted to write a song like that, I would’ve fucking written it four albums ago. Enough already, people. Don’t you get it? This is what I’m doing.
Local folk singer Kate Reid’s new album, Queer Across Canada, dropped two weeks ago. It’s a major departure from her usual work in that it’s an album specifically for kids. The Peak sat down with her and talked about the new album, homophobia, sex, and more.
I think the first part happens first and then the second part happens. I think the music industry is finally figuring out there’s a whole ‘nother audience out there that they can service and make money from, and I think queer, obviously, is becomingmoreaccepted and filter into the mainstream. I don’t watch TV, but I hear about shows like Modern Family, and Glee. I mean we had Will and Grace in the 90s but I think in some ways queer is
becoming a little bit trendy, maybe? And they’re figuring out how to market that because we’re different than we were 20 years ago. Not different, but out there. I guess it’s becoming more part of the mainstream, and more marketable because there’s an audience for it. Young people are out more than they were. Queer families are more visible, and I think the music business has kind of seen that’s something they can work with.
I only got a few of those kind of reviews, “oh, she just happens to be a lesbian.” Most people who review my music get it. They get that it’s actually not just about being queer, they get that that’s a lens that I write through, but that I actually am a human being and I write from a human being’s perspective. I just
happen to be whatever I happen to be writing from a queer place. Most reviewers are intelligent enough to understand that. There’s that one guy and that one woman who didn’t really see that.
That’s where the universal human being-ness comes into my work. Yeah, I identify as being queer, as a lesbian, but I can also laugh at myself and the way I am in the world and the way the world is, and make fun of these things, and for me that was the bridge into roping in a more
mainstream audience. If we have the ability to laugh at ourselves, I think that’s appealing to people no matter how we identify. For me humour was a good tool for that, I saw that as a way to bridge that between the queer community and the nonqueer community.
Yeah, it makes me realize “oh, this is going to be a good show, they get it, they understand it, they’re with me,” and the times when they don’t, I just think “I have to work harder here.”
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What I wanted to do with this album was play around people’s fears around the sex piece. It is the part that, as soon as you say you’re lesbian or gay, they automatically think about you with a same sex partner, and people think about you being in bed with that person. I think it’s just an automatic thing that happens in the brain. Whereas you talk to a woman who says my husband, people just don’t go there. We’re so used to it, but I think because of people’s fears around queernes, that’s where they automatically jump to. It becomes the focus of people’s homophobia because they can’t imagine that that’s OK or normal, or loving, or that it’s actually OK to love somebody of the
same sex. They forget that, aside from our sexual relationships and our intimate relationships, we go to work, we have kids, we have problems, we have money issues, we have communication problems, we love to go hiking — we do all these things that everybody else does, except we have same sex partners. That’s the part of queerness that people are uncomfortable with, the sexual piece, because it’s different than what they do, or maybe it’s something they want to do but they’re too afraid to try, it taps into their own homophobia, it taps into their fantasy that they don’t want to admit to — all of those things.
It was great, I think C.R. Avery is a brilliant artist. He’s a lot of fun in the studio, I love his beatboxing, I love his wordplay. A couple of times when we were just hanging out at his house, we were talking about doing a piece about bullying and the queer youth suicide stuff, and he said, “I really want to get into that issue and really do something powerful around that.” And I said that would be great, so in the studio, Adam [the bass player on QueerAcrossCanada]cameupwiththisbass line, and gave it to C.R. who wrote this piece about it. He wrote the piece for Mother’s Day / Father’s Day conundrum, which I totally love,
but then he wrote this other totally separate thing about this bullying and queer youth suicide,heflippeditandmadeit—Ithinkhe called the song “The Drag QueenVigilante” — about how drag queens go around killing bullies. They basically retaliate, and kill the bullies and throw them in the back of the hearse, and all of this stuff. It’s a great piece,Imeanit’samazing,butIthought,“it’s not good for a kid’s album.” I wanted to, and I thought about it, but it . . . it doesn’t work forthisalbum.Maybeadifferentalbum,but yeah, he does some amazing stuff.
No, I approached him. Yeah, I wanted to have him on the album. I’d been thinking about it for quite a while, and I wanted him to do a spoken word piece and some beatboxing, so yeah it was cool, and he was keen — it was great. I kept running into him in various places, like the airport, and conferences, and I was like, “I want to have you on my next album!” and so it finally came together.
I don’t think I would give myself any advice, because I did exactly what I needed to be doing at the time. I don’t regret being with him. I learned a lot in that relationship about myself. He was, y’know, besides the drugs and some of the stuff, we did have some fun. He taught me a lot about living on the coast, about Vancouver, about some books that I thought were interesting and I didn’t know anything about. I [believe] that we have to go through what we have to go through, and to go back and change something, if I could, I don’t know if I would because I needed to go through that stuff with him in order to understand what I wanted and didn’t want in my life. I always think that relationships are for learning about ourselves and about how to become better people
in the world, and I was really young at the time. I was in my early 20’s. I was having fun! I wanted to do the drugs, too, sure! But it got to a point where it was like, “this is not what I want to be doing anymore.” I learned a lot about myself, and I learned a lot about how I look to other people for my own sense of self, and that was when I was starting to realize that I was doing that in relationships with men. That it was me trying to cultivate a sense of self and some self-confidence through them not on my own, so yeah. My advice? I don’t have any for myself back then. It brought me to where I am today, it gave me a great song, and I don’t regret it.
OPINIONS
SASKATOON (CUP) — Fear of failure is rampant at universities. There is a clearly defined line between success and failure, and it is measured in grade-point averages. Believing high grades are vital achievements, students strive single-mindedly to obtain them. The first thing students look at when a professor returns an exam or assignment is the grade — not the corrections or the suggestions that are scrawled in the margins. There are no marks awarded for doing something new or for caring deeply about what you’re learning. When only the grade is important, students lose any interest in doing work beyond what is necessary to get a good mark. From early childhood, we are taught to fear failure; it’s discouraged by our parents, our teachers and our peers. We learn that failure is something that must be avoided at all costs. Yet failure is inevitable and does not have to be a negative. In fact, it is necessary. Without failure, there would be no growth, no innovation and even no light bulb. Thomas Edison said of his failed attempts at the light bulb that he didn’t fail, he just found 10,000 ways that won’t work. One of the greatest things failure allows for is discovery. It is
Safe sex is awesome, and I applaud any of you reading this who practice safe sex. We’ve come a long way as a society, and it is now fortunately common knowledge that having unprotected sex is dangerous and puts both parties involved at unnecessary risk. It can even be fun, y’know, choosing between all the different condom types, and racing back to the bedroom to give ‘er
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impossible to discover what works if you don’t explore what doesn’t work first. While failure is both unavoidable and essential for growth or innovation, this doesn’t make it any less terrifying. People will go to any length to avoid being labeled a “failure”, but it’s important to remember that this isn’t something you are, it’s something you do.
Failing once does not ensure a lifetime of failure, just as succeeding once doesn’t ensure a lifetime of success. Refusing to allow initial successes or failures to define you is more important. The difference between people we revere and those we have never heard of is that great people in history learn from their mistakes and use them to improve. Fear of failure can drive a student to cheat. When all that matters is your grade, you are far more likely to use illegitimate means in order to get a better mark. Despite this overwhelming fear, failure can be incredibly motivating. I had never come close to failing a test before my third year of university, when I failed my translation midterm. Despite the fact that I claimed to love this class, I didn’t put enough effort into it and my
disinterest showed. Failing pushed me to work harder and more efficiently. I refused to be defined by one botched mid-term, and in the end I had a mark and a body of work that I was proud of despite an initial letdown. Depending on grades to define one’s success also creates students who are afraid to push established
a test drive. Or that feeling when you and your partner have finally found the option that works best for the both of you. Yes indeed, sex is awesome, and safe sex is even awesomer. Because there really is nothing sexier than getting down ‘n dirty beneath the sheets knowing that nobody is at risk of contracting any STIs or potentially creating a pregnancy that isn’t being planned for.
It sucks that not all “safe sex” options live up this claim. You probably recognize Yaz for its colourful and flashy commercials, but it’s been the target of speculation in recent years regarding its level of safety for users. In 2011, the Food and Drug Administration determined that it presents those taking it with a 1.5 times greater risk for blood
boundaries. Instead of trying a new formula or exploring unorthodox theories, students stick to common practices and ideas. This may result in good grades but it stunts innovation. Students who follow this path often end up being largely the same. They become static entities, too afraid to support their own causes.
clots. What’s more, is that the deaths of 23 Canadian women have been linked to Yaz. I dunno about you, but this is very scary stuff! It’s hard enough as a female to decide which birth control option to use, and stories like this definitely do not help in the manner. So boo to you, Yaz, for failing to provide a legitimate option for safe sex.
Failure is a great thing to be good at, because it is necessary to finding success later on. Failure should not be shunned in universities or anywhere else. Why not embrace failure when it happens? Once you fail, you realize it’s not as scary as you once thought. Sure, it stings and it will bruise your ego, but you’ll recover.
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ARTS
Ken and Barbie’s sexless plastic crotches serve as the welcoming banner to Sex Talk in the City, the Museum of Vancouver’s (MOV ) newest exhibit. The exhibit is broken down into three areas: the classroom, the bedroom and the street, with the physical construction of each area carefully flowing into the next while creating a distinct ambience of each physical location. Calling this an exhibit is really a misnomer; it’s more so a thoughtfully constructed installation piece that interweaves Vancouver’s sexy past with each collection of artifacts presented in a unique way. The classroom features desks, questions asked by actual Vancouver school kids scrawled across the tops in vivid black writing, to the backdrop of old sex education videos played on a loop. Concealed behind a door is a set of anatomically correct genitals used for sex education for children with developmental disabilities, while a collection of the old sexual health educational kits used in mainstream programs is displayed behind a pane of glass. A part of the exhibit is devoted to censorship: peepholes against the backdrop of a walllength image of the “Restricted” black panther provide the viewer with video clips ranging from censored moments in history to “good dyke porn.” Walking into the bedroom section of the exhibit, viewers are greeted by a hanging burlesque outfit complete with an ornate feathered headdress. The canary yellow spectre hangs from wires attached to the ceiling, but holds its shape despite being empty — a visual reminder of the way our culture reshapes bodies to fit ideals rather than the other way around. Behind this is a bed with a projected video of Vancouverites talking about what pleasure means to them. To the side, a comprehensive collection of vibrators, from 1890 to today, all on display.
arts editor email / phone
June 17, 2013
Daryn Wright arts@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560
A chest of interactive drawers spans the entire back wall of the room, containing artifacts representing various facets of Vancouver’s sexual history. The advisory committee wanted to mimic the act of “people get[ting] to know sexuality by opening the drawers in their parents bedroom,” explained the exhibit’s curator, Viviane Gosselin. Acting as a transitional space between bedroom and street is a collection of images from Pride Parades past, a fitting manifestation of the personal and sexual becoming political. A series of these images is set on the wall, back-light glowing through English Bay’s blue skies. Staring at the faces of our city’s queer rights fight serves as a reminder of Vancouver’s often forgotten history.
Next is a wall of old mugshots: individuals found guilty of prostitution, owning or operating a bawdy house, or pimping. The shots are carefully framed and look like family portraits hung on vintage wallpaper, but upon closer inspection take on a fancified Georgia Straight back page ads spread. We are presented with just how much has changed with 1960s and 70s clippings from The Ubyssey — UBC’s student newspaper — talking about the experiences of a single woman trying to get birth control; yet some debates, like that of abortion, can to this day be found in the opinions section, though to a lesser degree. Next to it is a collection of prophylactics through the ages, looking more like small torture devices. The exhibit ends with a wall of Post-it notes from exhibit goers: posed with questions such as, “Who is your ideal lover?” we are invited to bare all and in turn see others’ naked desires. The range of responses represented the diversity of approaches we take to sex itself: from humorous and fun like “the pizza man,” to intimate and loving such as “my wife” and “standing next to me.” The night we attended included a “libido liberation”
party, including Coral Short’s performance art piece, “The Insiders.” It consisted of two groups of people in various states of undress moving together in a fabric sphere. It is meant to represent “intimacy, community, trust and genderless beauty through ever morphing giant shapes that move beyond the human
form.” It looked more like a visceral mass dancing its way around the room. While an apt representation of the fluidity of sexuality and desire, it seemed obtuse compared to the subtle and thoughtfully planned exhibit. The rest of the entertainment was the closest thing to a vaudeville show one could hope
to see in this day and age: talents ranged from a dirty haiku competition, Burlesque performances, and the musical stylings of The Wet Spots. Sex Talk addresses sexuality through our collective unconscious as Vancouverites: much as an individual changes, explores, and evolves sexually, so too did our city.
ARTS
June 17, 2013
The mix-tape: it’s been the choice aphrodisiac of disc jockeys, record store snobs and your parents since the 70s. There’s something about a handpicked selection of soulful singles that still has the power to get your figurative and literal juices flowing. For your listening pleasure, The Peak has assembled 10 of the sexiest songs we know — from soul music to shoegaze — into a mix-tape for only the most sensual of occasions. Just press play.
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18 ARTS
Named in part after The National Film Board of Canada, Boards of Canada is made up of brothers Mike Sandison and Marcus Eoin, who have used their unique blend of techno, downtempo and field recordings to evoke both the nostalgia of VHS tape hiss and the calming atmosphere of the natural world. Each of their albums seems to occupy a particular space: 1998’s album Music Has the Right to Children reminds of mossy forests and windy beaches, whereas 2002’s Geogaddi is earthy and eerily mechanical. Tomorrow’s Harvest, the duo’s first full-length since 2005’s disappointing The Campfire Headphase, is their darkest yet; the album calls to mind barren wastelands, endless deserts and post-apocalyptic
Everything that can be written about Loveless probably already has been:
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nightmares that would give Godspeed You! Black Emperor chills. Sandison and Eoin use obscured vocal samples and state-of-the-art recording equipment to create some of their most lush, sprawling ambient pieces. The 17 vignettes on Tomorrow’s Harvest — which average at about four minutes in length — conjure images of Cold War fever dreams and interstellar transmissions bathed in static electricity. Based loosely on Deadly Harvest, a 1977 B-movie about a dystopian future caused by crop failures, the album’s best tracks seem to gel with this overarching theme of hopelessness and decay. The wispy beats and whining keyboards on “Cold Earth” seem to project a futuristic vision akin to Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. The percussive racket of “Split Your Infinities” seems to exist on the verge of total societal collapse, while the reluctant drum machine and pessimistic keyboard riff of early single “Rich for the Dead,” could soundtrack the depletion of the ozone layer. Other Boards of Canada albums might offer more enjoyable listening experiences, but the bleak, colourless aural vista of Tomorrow’s Harvest might stand as the duo’s most rewarding. Like most of the band’s best work, the album urges repeat listens, and only time will tell whether this album will reveal deeper layers.
how the album’s recording almost bankrupted Creation Records, how countless engineers were hired and fired during the album’s genesis, how Kevin Shields and company took 22 years to record a follow-up. The LP, which stands as one of the best and most unique of the 90s, has been poked and prodded like a frog in a high school chemistry classroom. But even the most verbose and well-researched article can’t fully communicate what makes Loveless so fundamental and absorbing, even now, two decades after its release. The album can’t be judged on terms of its song structures or melodies — neither of which are particularly groundbreaking — but rather the tactile experience of its sound, which has been often imitated but never matched. You don’t just listen to Loveless, you feel it, and that’s a tough sensation to describe. From the album’s more accessible tracks like the dance-beat of “Soon,”
Sunbather is a record fueled by intensity. At no point during this album’s seven-track span is any emotion expressed lightly. Even during slower, lighter fare like “Irresistible,” there’s a palpable sense of urgency that runs throughout the LP, like a racing heartbeat. Though this isn’t uncommon in the world of black metal — a genre characterized by its melodrama and extremity — San Francisco foursome Deafheaven’s sophomore release sidesteps the overwrought brutality of their contemporaries in favour of a more complex, densely layered aesthetic. The album is made up of four lengthy, sprawling mood pieces, each separated by a shorter, softer track. Although this track sequencing isn’t the most original, it gives listeners
and the bubblegum-pop refrain of “When You Sleep,” to its more atmospheric sound experiments, Loveless exists in its own sonic sphere, giving the album a timeless and almost ethereal quality. It isn’t a 90s record, and it seems separate from the shoegaze genre it supposedly defines: Loveless just is. Since the album is better off listened to than written about, allow me to make a recommendation: settle into a comfortable spot, pour yourself a cup of herbal tea, turn off the lights in your room, and slip on your headphones. Keep the volume high — Loveless is best heard loud — and close your eyes. No words I could write here can match the soaring highs of this Ireland foursome’s magnum opus. Just listen.
breathing space while also highlighting the potency of pummeling tracks like “Dream House” and “Vertigo.” Guitarist Kerry McCoy’s melodic, post-rock inspired style grounds the album’s busiest, most muscular songs, without subtracting from the breakneck energy of Daniel Tracy’s schizophrenic drum beat or vocalist George Clarke’s impassioned wails. In fact, Sunbather’s unorthodox combination of genres — part black metal, part post-rock, part shoegaze, part emo, part ambient — might be its biggest strength. The broken beauty of McCoy’s guitar riffs seem to argue with Clarke’s emaciated shriek, until you learn that the two are the album’s principal songwriters. Tracks like the off-kilter genre experiment “Please Remember” or the ambient “Windows” seem to further highlight the contradictions in the band’s approach, but the quartet’s impeccable musicianship and conviction serve as the glue that combines Sunbather’s most disparate qualities. As much as I like to think of myself as musically open-minded, I tend to be picky when it comes to metal: so many of the genre’s biggest names always strike me as artificial or simply exhausting. But by avoiding the pitfalls of so many of their peers, Deafheaven have made one of the most original and rewarding LPs in the genre’s recent history.
ARTS
Having just premiered The Interplay Project on June 7 and 8, Vanessa Goodman is also busy preparing for the premiere of We All Know Jane, a work that has her collaborating with Ziyian Kwan and Anne Cooper from June 21 to 22 at The Dance Centre. The idea for We All Know Jane came out of Kwan’s residency at The Dance Centre. She approached Goodman and her Contingency Plan partner Jane Osborne, to ask if they’d like to be involved in the show. She also invited Anne Cooper, whom they had an existing relationship with. The concept of the character of Jane came out of the aspect of femininity that seemed to run through all the artists’ works and the fact that the show is made up of all female
Looking for Tiki to happiness? Or just an escape from bad puns? Check out The Shameful Tiki Room on Main Street. The joint is dedicated to creating an authentic Tiki experience, with its adherence to dark interiors, and music that doesn’t overpower conversations. The decor has been imported from all over the world, with Tapas cloth coming from Fiji and Tonga, Tiki carvings, puffer fish lamps, and even a piece of artwork from the Waldorf Hotel. Expect share plates and many vintage crafted cocktails, including the Zombie, the Jet Pilot, and of course, the Mai Tai.
June 17, 2013
choreographers and performers, explained Goodman. “It’s that aspect of femininity; not necessarily feminist, and the significance of ‘Jane.’ Everyone knows a Jane in their lives.” Fellow Dance Centre artistin-residence and friend Lina Fitzner was actually the one to come up with the name: “She said ‘well, we all know Jane’ one day as a joke, and it kind of stuck.” Goodman mentioned the various “Janes” that people think of: Dick and Jane, Jane Gooddall, Calamity Jane, Jane Doe, and Jane Fonda. The concept of Jane is just a way for audiences to approach the show, and it presents a possible entry point that will be different for every individual. “It offers an opportunity to engage,” explained Goodman. “They are three very different works,” Goodman said, describing the three sections of the show. Her own work is a collaboration with SFU grad Amelia Epp, who specialises in paper sculptures. Epp will be doing a large scale installation
for Goodman’s The long indoors. “It will be a ten foot by two foot organic structure suspended in mid-air,” said Goodman, who describes her work as dealing with bodily systems, organs, and the body as a vessel for abstract storytelling. Choreographed by Goodman, Jane Osborne and Ziyian Kwan perform this work.
The Vancouver International Jazz Festival begins June 21 and runs until July 1. The festival takes place at several different venues across the city and features many musicians taking part, including the Dylan Cramer Trio, Sounds of Youth, and Wake Owl. One performance that should not be missed is on June 27, an evening of David Murray Infinity Quartet featuring Macy Gray. Check the full schedule at coastaljazz.ca.
Wednesday, June 19, the Rio Theatre will be hosting an Improv Against Humanity show by The Fictionals Comedy Co. Officially endorsed by the game Cards Against Humanity, this improv show will bring to life some of the most absurd comedic moments on stage. Nothing will be off limits, and you can expect such topics as “Harry Potter Erotica” and “A Windmill Full of Corpses.” If you’re looking for a good mid-week laugh, tickets are $6 in advance or $9 at the door.
Kwan also performs her own choreography in The neck to fall, which is an ode to the late Amelia Itcush, who had done a lot of research with Kwan. Goodman says that this work deals with various personas and really came out of the research that Kwan and Itcush were involved in. This work has
been in progress the longest, as Kwan worked on it during her residency, premiering it on International Dance Day at The Dance Centre. “Anne’s piece is a fictitious Jane,” continued Goodman. “She does very creative, insightful work and she has a rich history in the community, so it should be great.” The character is inspired by several characters and is an amalgamation of them all, including the two main characters of the Lanford Wilson play Burn This. The choreographic process is different for Goodman each time she approaches a new work. She explains, “this was my first time working with Ziyian, so I wanted to get to know her as an artist and an interpreter first and then let her skill set inform the process.” For the duet with Kwan and Osborne, Goodman began with a series of manipulations, which turned into movements that they abstracted to represent organic structures. “I think it’s better to go in with a structure, a beginning
The Powell Street Festival presents The Orientique on June 22. Taking place at the Sun Yat-Sen Classical Chinese Garden, fashion meets art in an evening of performance, introducing the mixing of fashion design and wearable art. The evening will feature designs by Yasuhiro Tomita of Rukus, Terry Sasaki, and Akihiko Izukura. DJ LKS will provide the music, and there will be dance performances by Ralph Escamillan and Katerina Leppard, fusing together Western and Eastern influences and old and new Japan. Tickets are $15 in advance or $20 at the door.
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and ending, and know the state or environment of the work and then let it evolve from there.” Goodman also emphasized the importance of not getting stuck on a formula and staying fluid in the creative process. In terms of where this project will lead Goodman next, she said that any work she is involved in will end up informing her next work. “There’s always residue from previous works,” she explained. This show has given all of these women an opportunity to work together, support each other’s work, and create something unique by combining their strengths. While the show is comprised of three distinct works, the artists have come up with an overarching theme that holds everything together.
I don’t care where you get it from, but if you need to get your hands on some Earnest Ice Cream, ASAP. If you’re anything like me, you crave ice cream at least once (or three times) a week, and not just anything is going to cut it. This is where Earnest Ice Cream comes in and saves your life. Ben and Erica, the two geniuses behind the locally made treat, realized that they were passionate about making good food — specifically, ice cream — and I’m glad they did. You can find jars of the stuff all around the city, including Dirty Apron, Le Marche St. George, and various Farmers Markets around the city. Flavours range from Whiskey Hazelnut to Blue Cheese and Fig to Mulled Pear. Grab a pint and hit up the beach.
20 DIVERSIONS / ETC
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ACROSS 1: You’re reading The ____. 5: English comedians Alan or Jimmy. 9: A large pine. 14: ____myprofessors.com 15: A kind of video cable. 16: Russian Irene. 17: Shrek, for one. 18: In a paper, ‘and so on’. 19: Bad-tempered. 20: Trompe l’____. 21: Looks into. 23: With 41-across, our school. 25: Erotica, less kindly. 26: Match up. 29: Egyptian god of the afterlife. 33: Have children, biblically. 37: A glow around someone. 39: One of three English rivers. 40: Famous vamp. of Stoker fame. 41: With 23-across, our school. 42: Don’t click these links on the job. 43: On one’s own. 44: On-campus restaurant Club ____. 45: _____ manual, tech howto guide.
46: Let out sound, in bed. 48: You might sign these for confidential things. 50: Norway’s capital. 52: Some students gaze into theirs. 57: Children’s running. 62: Yemen’s neighbour. 63: Someone attractive. 64: With rice, “a” simple Indian meal. 65: Agent Scully of The XFiles. 66: _ ____ came up from the crowd. 67: Beginning of an article. 68: Give up (a habit). 69: Small rodent. 70: Arab royal house. 71: Away from the wind, nautically. DOWN 1: Either a solution to your
problem or (with 80-) how you got there. 2: Willing to please. 3: Open-roofed Roman entrance halls. 4: Capsizes (with “over”) 5: A small red fruit. 6: Latin for ‘to you’. 7: Returns electronics to the manufacturer. 8: Gets a rise out of someone. 9: One of a number of fruits great with tequila. 10: Buildings. 11: Either food or what it’s served on. 12: First bet in a poker game. 13: Gamma or manta. 22: It’s let out involuntarily. 24: Three hours ahead of BC. 27: A carpenter might use one. 28: A spice. 30: Con or scheme. 31: International Society for
Fluoride Research abbr. 32: Embroiders or stitches. 33: Whips and chains and more, oh my. 34: Familiar suffix to the ol’ switch. 35: Big celebration. 36: Planned or market. 38: A smooth route for vehicles. 41: To move furtively. 45: Our southern neighbour. 47: French for “hope”. 49: Aimed for, fished. 51: Spoken tests. 53: Russian spirit. 54: Online correspondence. 55: Jousting weapon. 56: Serpent. 57: Dishonest scheme. 58: Stephen King novel about a dog. 59: In Brussels, as a politician. 60: Concept. 61: Southern Indian province Tamil ____.
HUMOUR
humour editor email / phone
June 17, 2013
Brad McLeod humour@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560
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is provided as reading material at the world’s least successful sperm bank
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As always, remove the Humour section and put the rest of the paper in the recycling.
Once you only have the Humour section, scan the necessary 3 pages and print them out on regular 8.5 by 11 letter paper.
Glue the pages inside a copy of National Geographic Magazine.
Take your copy of National Geographic and hide it inside the latest issue of Hustler magazine.
Enjoy reading this week’s Peak sexy issue without anyone being the wiser.
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HUMOUR
June 17, 2013
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24 LAST WORD
features editor email / phone
Back in high school, my maleness often served as an all-access backstage pass to the more mercilessly misogynistic quips that my fellow classmates would share (when they were, of course, sure there were no women around). I’ve heard them all: men describing women as objects; commenting on their presumed sexual availability based on their clothing, or even their race; and recounting their sexual conquests in supremely disrespectful fashion. The worst of all, though, were the jokes. Those who possessed the unique skill of finding humour in belittling the opposite sex would share bigoted bon mots like: “If a key opens a lot of locks, it’s a master key. If a lock is opened by a bunch of keys, it’s a shitty lock.” I was put off by these blatant expressions of sexism then, but I didn’t say much about it. Whether it was fear of exclusion or simply a lack of bravery, I often stood by silently, listening. Unfortunately I wasn’t the only one: many of my friends would later tell me that they were also offended by these hateful exchanges, but failed to speak up. High school gossip, of course, is just one of the many ways in which women are made to feel guilty for expressing themselves sexually. There’s a historical precedent set for the shaming of women’s sexuality. The nymphs of ancient Greek mythology set the precedent for the dangerous, sexually liberated female archetype; the term nymphomania originated during the Victorian Era to describe a woman who experienced excessive sexual desire or exhibited excessive sexual behavior. At this time, hypersexuality — as it’s now known — was seen as an exclusively female disorder, and was treated as a mental illness.
Chastity belts and accusations of witchcraft often befell sexually promiscuous women during the rigidly ecclesiastical Middle Ages. Though societal reactions loosened during the intellectual and political upheaval of the Renaissance, the sexually repressed conservatism of Queen Victoria’s reign in Great Britain quickly re-indoctrinated similarly repressive moral codes against women. Due in part to the Industrial Revolution and the urban sprawl that resulted, men and women were made to occupy separate spheres during the Victorian Era. Men occupied the public sphere, which included
Rachel Braeuer features@the-peak.ca / 778.782.4560
businesses, economic centres and urban areas; women on the other hand, were restricted to the private sphere, which typically limited their societal roles to childrearing and homemaking. Though the emergence of first wave feminism and the ‘flapper’ subculture of the 20s loosened societal pressures on female sexuality, the nuclear families of the 50s quickly reinstated societal views of promiscuous women as immoral and unacceptable. The sexual revolution and second wave feminism fought back, and modern feminist movements continue to do the same, but there is still progress to be made. In the realm of media, female sexuality is still often seen as immoral or unstable. A common trope in many contemporary films and TV shows is the archetypal femme fatale: these villainous women use their sexuality to control and seduce the men around them, not unlike the nymphs of Greek mythology. In contrast, female love interests are often portrayed as innocent, pure and virginal. This dichotomy — often referred to as the Madonna / Whore Complex, after an antiquated Freudian psychoanalytic term — characterizes female sexuality as dangerous and female chastity as desirable.
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More recently, the SlutWalk movement has inspired many to question their preconceived notions towards women and sexuality. Inspired by a 2011 Torontonian rape case in which women were advised by police not to dress “like sluts,” the movement has sought to reclaim the term ‘slut’ — historically possessing a negative connotation — and combat notions that women are responsible for being sexual assaulted because of their attire.
This is an example of what academics refer to as a rape culture: instead of using chastity belts, our modern society belittles sexually expressive women by blaming them for victimizing themselves. We teach women not to be raped, rather than teach men not to rape. Attempting to control the way that women dress and their presumed promiscuity is not only an unfair form of gender discrimination, it’s also damaging to women’s propensity for self-expression. I wish it were as easy as saying, “Women should be able to have sex with whomever they want, just like men!” Of course, this is completely true, but to reduce the issue to a matter of equality between genders would be to ignore the oppression that women face every day for wearing revealing clothing and for refusing to play into the virginal, innocent archetype that our Western society expects of them. Though this is a multi-faceted cultural issue with no clear solution, men can play their part in helping to reverse these negative stereotypes and conceptions of women in simple ways. Don’t make the same mistakes I did. Don’t belittle women for their sexuality — whether it be heterosexual, homosexual or otherwise — and don’t sit idly by when others do the same. Speak up, and don’t lump women into categories like ‘slut’ and ‘tease’ because of the way they decide to express themselves. We live in a culture that shames women for wanting to enjoy one of life’s biggest joys. Everyone deserves to be able to enjoy a rewarding sex life: after all, sex is awesome. But above all, sex is an expression of love, passion, individuality and desire that should be between equals, no matter what race, sexuality or gender.