The Bull & Bear | Fall 2019 - Behind Closed Doors

Behind

C lo s e d

DOORS News

Does it Take More Than This?

Opinion Nobody Needs to Know

Arts & Culture

Going Deep Inside Cinema L’Amour

Business & Technology

Keeping Congress Off the Keyboard

behind this issue Editor’s Note

Maya Abramson (Managing Editor) In our media-saturated world, it can often feel like privacy no longer exists. With so much opportunity to share every aspect of our lives, it can appear as though we exist entirely in the public eye. Still, there are things that we don’t share on our Instagram stories.

Whether it is a personal struggle with mental health, a confrontation with one’s identity, or an embarrassing guilty pleasure, there is so much more to us than what the world is allowed to see. And, despite all of the information at our fingertips everyday, there are things that the world hides from us as well: industry secrets, corruption in politics, or the true origin stories behind things we may take for granted. This semester we chose to explore these hidden moments. We asked what goes on behind closed doors.

In this issue we attempt to shine a light on what is typically out of sight. Some of our writers chose to go behind the scenes, enlightening us about truths hidden behind our everyday surroundings. Some attempted to expose dark realities of corruption and scandal. Others discussed personal struggles, which they grappled with in their own private spaces.

This edition of the Bull & Bear is all about opening doors, unlocking different corners of McGill, Montreal, and the world beyond. We hope you look inside and enjoy!

The Team Executive Editor: Sarah Farb

Managing Editor: Maya Abramson

Business Co-Director: Ksenia Shulyarenko

Business Co-Director: Sabrina Barkhouse

Operations Director: Demi Assimacopoulos

Finance Officer: Megan Abellera

Web Editor: Anas Shahid

Media Director: Marie Picard

Audio Producer: Syndy Shi

Business & Technology Editors: Rohan Roychoudhury & Youcef Sahnoune

Copy Editors: Sarah Sylvester, Tara Alami, Emma Slack-Jorgensen, Avery Franken

Arts & Culture Editors: Jenna Benchetrit & Jacob Klemmer

Layout Editor: Beichen Li

News Editors: Andie Habert & Rose Bostwick

Opinion Editors: Sam Shepherd & Liane Faingold

Photographers: Alexandra Makri, Bella Carver, Drake Wong, Elsa Hetletvedt Melis May Sarfati, Mia Gill, Ruby Mouhanna, Ryan Fitzpatrick

Photographers: Emily Handfield, Grace Hennigar, Iman Zarrunkoub,Trevor Cross, Zeyna Benbrahim

Graphic Designers: Erin Sass, Emmy Wang, Axelle Karam, Ao Shen, Cynthia Cui

a look inside

News Does it Take More Than This?

By Rose Bostwick & Andie Habert 4 Trekking Home: The End of a Night Out

By Tali Pukier 8 The Dopamine Dilemma: Student Perspectives on the Ethics of Study Drugs 10

By Emily Johnson Behind Closed *Redpath* Doors 12

By Jack Sydney

Opinion

Nobody Needs to Know: “The Benefits of Healthy, Private Routines” 16 By Liane Faingold & Sam Shepherd Me, Myself, and My Mixed Identity 18 By Alia Shaukat 20 Tackling Society as a High-Achieving Introvert

By Faith Ruetas 22 Private Crises, Public Problems

By Troy Shields

Arts & culture Going Deep Inside Cinema L’Amour

By Jenna Benchetrit & Jacob Klemmer 24 Sex and the City and Call Her Daddy: How Much Guilt is Too Much?

By Olivia Cej 26 Insta-Robbery 28

By Rachel Gertin

Business & Tech

“I haven’t eaten a meal in days”: The McGill Diet 30

By Sarah Caplan

Keeping Congress Off the Keyboard 32 By Youcef Sahnoune & Rohan Roychoudhury Deepfake: Democracy for CGI 34 By Sarah Wang 35 Behind Orange Traffic Cones: Construction in Montreal

By Zabi Asam 36 MindGeek: The Not-so-secret Tech Giant of Montreal

By Zak Nye

NEWS

authors Rose Bostwick & Andie Habert

4

NEWS

DOES IT TAKE MORE THAN THIS ?

Sexual violence is a ubiquitous concern at McGill University. Archived online threads and blog posts accuse various professors of sexual misconduct. Current students, aware of these stories, often hesitate to enroll in certain courses, or express doubt in the university’s willingness to protect them when disclosing their own experiences. In the public sphere, activists in Montreal have taken to the streets throughout the past few years, calling on their universities to take a stronger stance against sexual violence perpetrators.

ing consists of four modules: Sexual Violence, Consent, Bystander Intervention, and Supporting Survivors. In addition to definitions and education, the program presents students with interactive scenarios. These include steps for determining consent under the influence or in cases of power imbalances, acting as an effective bystander, or providing appropriate support to survivors of sexual violence.

The modules have received praise from those who see them as following through on McGill’s 2016 PolIn early September, McGill Univer- icy Against Sexual Violence, though sity brought the topic of sexual vio- they have also faced criticism for lence directly into the spotlight (and lacking important elements. Is this our MyCourses home pages) with the training a step towards increased acprogram It Takes All of Us. The train- countability for perpetrators of inap-

propriate sexual conduct at McGill?

Does it take into account the past requests of activists and adequately address McGill’s specific history? To explore these questions, The Bull & Bear sat down with various stakeholders in the school community involved in anti-sexual violence advocacy to illuminate the process and meaning behind this program.

Community Effort Developed (at least partially) in response to Quebec’s 2017 law Bill 151, It Takes All of Us is mandatory for all McGill students and staff.

Bill 151 mandates that higher education institutions implement sexual violence education programs by Sep 5

NEWS

“Sexual violenc a campus issue

tember 1, 2019. Although the details are vague, this act requires universities to make an effort to “help foster a healthy and safe living environment for students and personnel members.”

One source of contention is the program’s staggered timeline for different members of the community.

All Orientation Week participants were required to complete the module in August. Weeks later, returning students gained access. Students who fail to complete the module prior to November 29 will not be able to register for courses next semester. Staff members, on the other hand, are not given access until January 2020, leaving them without this training for the entire Fall semester.

While Dean of Students Christopher Buddle says that these deadlines are intended to align with the staff performance review period, some members of the community are not pleased. SSMU VP Internal Sanchi Bhalla told CBC News, “The fact that students are being held to a different standard than staff and faculty is absolutely ridiculous.”

McGill Law Professor Angela Campbell, who serves as Associate Provost for Equity & Academic Policies, was in charge of the program’s creation.

Campbell responded to some students’ 6

concerns, and she noted that the mod- with what students were asking for in ule is only “one piece of a larger effort 2016 and again in 2018. Those open to raise awareness and education.” letters have been more or less ignored, with the university instead doing [the] Campbell expressed that rates of minimum to comply with Bill 151.” reporting and disclosure will likely increase as a result of heightened According to an emailed statement exposure to resources included in from SSMU Anti-Sexual Violence the training. “Does this mean the in- Mobilization and Advocacy Commiscidences are going up? I don’t think sioner Maeve Botham and SSMU VP so,” Campbell said. She added, “By University Affairs Madeline Wilson, itself, an online program will not be the university only attempted to conable to do the work of prevention … sult students regarding the module’s Our goal is prevention, to the extent creation once, during a focus group in that we can [prevent sexual violence].” Winter 2019. “This is unacceptable,” their statement read. “Since our initial Student Consultation and Past criticisms, we have continuously been Advocacy told that [the administration] is focusing now on rolling out the module, The process of creating It Takes All and will not look at incorporating our of Us involved a long, thorough pro- feedback until much later this year.” cedure that consulted various institutions, including Concordia’s Sexual Additionally, while the module inAssault Resource Centre coordinator cludes a section on the ambiguity of Jennifer Drummond, McGill Equity consent in the presence of a power imFacilitator Eve Finley, and student balance, which addresses the necessity interns at the Office for Sexual Vio- of the faculty member to submit a relence Response, Support and Educa- port, many in the McGill community tion (OSVRSE). According to Dean have espoused beliefs that this is not Buddle, this formation involved sig- sufficient. Wilson and Botham noted nificant efforts and financial resourc- that the university has yet to address the es. Still, some criticize this process for demands of the 2018 student walkout, failing to include the student body. which include launching a third-party investigation into the Office of SSMU VP External Adam Gwiaz- the Dean of Arts on the handling of da-Amsel said that the efforts dis- complaints against faculty members. played in the program “do not engage

NEWS

ce is e.”

and informational workshops given by volunteers from the Sexual Assault Centre of the McGill Students’ Society (SACOMSS). “This was an initiative that was started by students who saw a need for this education in residences and that the module is not the first time this kind of education has been provided,” they wrote.

resources, and is currently “realistically unable to accommodate all of the students who might want help.”

Indeed, the office is fairly small in relation to the size of the student body. In terms of allocation of resources in the future, Marcotte stated that the Policy Against Sexual Violence’s Implementation Committee will evaluate the OSVRSE and make recommendations based on its findings. However, this review will not be completed until the end of the Winter 2020 semester, so it is unlikely that evaluation data will be publicly available before then.

Although the module attempts to respond to McGill’s specific history, this type of training is neither entirely original nor unique to McGill: Dean Buddle noted that members of the administration modeled the program after online harassment training in On- Does It Take More? tario as well as Concordia University’s Many students have posted on onsexual violence prevention modules. Professor Campbell bluntly noted that line platforms, such as the McGill tShe said, “The degree and scope [of subreddit, to express dissatisfaction Survivor-Centered? sexual violence], I don’t think we fully with the initiative. Some perceive understand. It’s linked to a bunch of isthat the program is simply a liability Concern has emerged regarding sues, but I would definitely say it is one measure or only for the purpose of how survivors of sexual violence will of the key concerns on any campus.” complying with provincial law, callbe expected to engage with the proing the material repetitive, patrongram, given its sensitive and po- When asked whether or not the modizing, and unrealistic. One user even tentially triggering subject matter. ule signals a turn towards greater acexpressed that McGill seems to be countability for those in positions of simply implementing the program to A pop-up at the bottom of the mod- power, Botham and Wilson believe protect itself for insurance purposes. ule as well as a sidebar on MyCourses that while it is good that the uniurges anyone who feels overwhelmed versity recognizes its responsibility Responding to the feedback dior unable to complete the module due to address issues surrounding sexual rected at the nature of the materito its sensitive subject matter to visit violence, it alone is inadequate: “If al, Dean Buddle indicated that the or contact the OSVRSE. Sexual Vio- the university wants to hold abumodule may be “the first time many lence Response Advisor Émilie Mar- sive professors accountable, they students gain exposure to this concotte explained that such students need to take more proactive steps tent in a North American setting.” should contact the office for support to strengthen university policies.” and will be “evaluated...on a case-by“If the university wants case basis according to their needs”, Wilson and Botham emphasized which may in some cases require an ex- the importance of addressing stuto hold abusive proemption from the Program Managers. dents’ past advocacy and specific defessors accountable, in the future, calling the modthey need to take more Marcotte wrote in an emailed state- mands ule “just one piece of the puzzle.” ment: “In highlighting available reproactive steps to sources on and off campus, the goal “It is a form of education, but it is strengthen university is that it will also increase access for insufficient for it to be the only form our community members who have of education,” Botham and Wilson policies.” been impacted by sexual violence.” In wrote. “The education that students Conversely, Botham and Wilson addition to support for the program, receive is only impactful if there is pointed out that, while the training the OSVRSE provides legal support meaningful support for survivors, if is a crucial response from the univerfor survivors, as well as group sessions. there are ways that [survivors] can sity, it “builds on the work that was find justice, and [if ] people who already taking place on campus,” citYet an editorial by the McGill Tri- cause harm are held accountable.” ing projects like Our Shared Spacbune suggests that the office may es (formerly known as Rez Project), require more staffing, funding, and 7

NEWS

TREKKING HOME: THE END OF A NIGHT OUT Thursday night rolls around and the promise of the weekend’s possibilities is on every student’s mind. Rue St. Laurent becomes filled with eager students looking for a break from their busy academic schedules. However, accompanied by this opportunity to let off steam is often the compromise of students’ safety. Despite endof-the-night transportation options, such as SSMU’s Walk and Drive Safe, Uber services, taxis and much more, some students find their nights out and journeys home filled with unwanted invitations, concerning comments, and unsettling situations.

and the bouncers are rude,” she said. that all clubs are open to the public, whomever this public might be.

For some, inside the clubs and bars themselves are the root of unsettle- Inside the club, brushing up against ment. Molly*, a U0 student at Mc- strangers, whether they be othGill, shared her thoughts regarded er students or the general public, is safety when going out. “It’s much practically a guarantee. Molly* comharder for someone to make un- mented on the trends of going out wanted physical or sexual advances in first year. “Cafe Campus Tuesdays [outside], since it’s out in the open. and Tokyo Thursdays are probably People are much more distracted in the safest nights for first-year Mcclubs and it’s really hard to tell in an Gill students. Suwu Wednesdays, enclosed space whether a guy/girl at least in [New Residence] are no is too much in another’s business”. longer popular because of gossip going around that some girls got The Party groped by some of the employees.”

The Pre

Rue St. Laurent is a staple for McGill students thanks to its abundance of clubs and bars. Clubs tend to offer drink deals on specific nights, which lead students to fall into a routine of different spots: Café Campus on Tuesday Night, SuWu on Wednesday, Tokyo Bar on Thursdays, and Apartment 200 and Ecole on the Weekends, to name a few. And while multitudes of students will take up the dancefloor, one cannot forget

If you are going to Rue St. Laurent on a busy night, your evening will likely begin in line. Laura* noted that queues can often be an opportunity for unwanted and non-consensual touching, verbal sexual harassment, and more. “Lineups are a place where I feel vulnerable. It’s the number one place where I feel unsafe.

There’s so many people trying to cram 8

While some can play this behavior off as the nature of club-life, others don’t have that privilege. Laura* was roofied three weeks ago and endures the repercussions in her day to day life. “I feel unsafe just walking alone even though I know I’m okay and that nothing should happen. When I go out now [with a big group of friends], it’s a paradox; I do feel safe, but I know that something could happen to me. Even if it’s a [strang-

NEWS

er] coming up to dance with me, that Enter: SSMU’s WalkSafe and still makes me feel uncomfortable.” DriveSafe. Both organizations operate on a volunteer basis, and those willing to stay awake into the early The Post Chill hours of the morning ensure students get home safely. Some stuUnfortunately, the risk of endan- dents, however, are turned away from germent is not limited to the clubs using these services, despite havwhen students go out. Getting back ing their numbers in their phones. home after a night out is not always as straightforward as it sounds. Due “They say you need to be realto St. Laurent’s proximity to cam- ly fucked up to call Walk or Drive pus, about a ten-minute walk from Safe to order it for it to be worth Rue Parc, many students choose to it.... I’ve never called them. I’d walk home. Although there are an feel bad because it’s volunteers”. abundance of services available, many students choose to walk out of conve- U1 student Natasha* was at Bar le Ritz nience, or in hopes of saving money. one night when her roommate got overly drunk and needed to get home “I’ve never used Walksafe or Drive- because she had drank too much. She safe, since I live so close to St-Laurent. called Drivesafe and was told that due I’ve walked home alone many times to limited cars, the wait time would after a night out and I’ve never had be around 45 minutes. Natasha rean issue with safety or getting home. called a woman with an “unconvincA lot of my friends would agree” ing voice asking, “Uh… could I text said U1 student Ben*. And while you?,” then suggesting asking her it is possible to make it home with- roommate if she was awake. Feeling out incident, anything could occur. unconfident that her friend could take 45 minutes, Natasha ended up calling “I try my best to walk home with my an uber and alerting someone else in guy friends,” said Angela.* “Just hav- her building to ensure her friend got ing them there makes me feel more home safe. “I was pretty disappointat ease. I’ve had cars stop and call ed with the service considering how out to us or random people on the much [SSMU] pushes [students] street make comments to me and to use [Drivesafe] and promote it.” my friends if we’re not with guys.

You’re pretty much guaranteed to get at least one comment while walk- It can be difficult to walk the line of ing back to [the Upper Residences].” ensuring safety and having a good time. Walksafe and Drivesafe are a Other potential dangers can be less useful fallback, though due to limitavoidable. “I heard one story where ed cars and high demand, relying on an extremely intoxicated girl from my SSMU may not guarantee a safe night. residence was picked up from the outside of the lobby by an older guy at 4 am, slept in his apartment, and didn’t realize where she was and what she had done the next day,” recalled Molly*.

author Tali Pukier

Ubering or taking a cab can seem like a smarter, safer option for 2am journeys, though many students lack funds to spend ten to twenty dollars on a cab a few nights a week. *Names have been changed to preserve interviewee anonymity 9

DOPAMINE DILEMMA

NEWS

author Emily Johnson

10

The pressure to achieve academic success makes university students’ stress level subject to the ebbs and flows of their course load. When a seemingly insurmountable work load builds up, the scarcity of time seems to be a student’s kryptonite. During these periods of high stress, students search for study strategies that promise to increase productivity in the short amount of time they have, which for some involves the experimentation or frequent use of “study drugs.”

Student Perspectives on the Ethics of Study Drugs

The consistent themes in student feedback suggests that those who use stimulants are striving to eliminate inefficiencies in their work schedule, therefore reducing the extent to which they must make trade-offs between sleep, studying, working, partying, or other activities.

In a 2018 article for The Bull & Bear writers Molly Harris and Tijana Mitrovic detailed various experiences of students with stimulants. In this article, the use of study drugs is described as a symptom of an unhealthy work environment.The intended use for stimulants, including Vyvanse and Adderall, is as medication for people suffering from Attention Defi-

NEWS

cit Hyperactive Disorder (ADHD). Cassandra* however, describes that one’s ability to focus is so crucial that Alison, a U0 student diagnosed with an unnatural enhancement of it qualiADHD, describes that: “People with fies as an incredible advantage. “People ADHD have a greater concentration underestimate how much a person’s of dopamine reuptake inhibitors, so level of focus can impact the extent the medicine helps bring dopamine to which their intelligence is actualup to a normal level.” When someone ly accessible,’’ she explains. When a without ADHD takes this medica- person has heightened focus, they are tion, they have a different experience able to utilize their brain power in a than someone who needs it. Rather way that was not previously possible. than achieving a balanced dopamine synthesis, their dopamine levels ex- Eva’s* experience using stimulants as ceed that of an average brain. While a high school student embodies CasAndrew*, who does not have ADHD, sandra’s sentiment. She attributed the describes that “The medication focus she achieved, which allowed her made me want to do work, so I sat to write twenty pages of an essay in down and studied 12 hours.” Char- one day by working from 9:00 AM lotte, who does have ADHD, says to 1:00 AM with ease, to the 30 mg she has a different experience with of Vyvanse she had consumed. “There the medication. \ “I don’t feel ‘high’ is no option to take study drugs but or ‘ultra-productive’ on stimulants,” maintain that you would be able shared Charlotte. “I just feel able to produce the same result without to do the things that I have to do.” them.” Eva says, “If you didn’t think there was an advantage in taking McGill’s drug use policies focus on them, you would save your money”. harm reduction and abstain from Andrew* feels that even those without judgment of an individual’s drug use. ADHD experience varying ranges of However, the perceived advantage of focus that are difficult, if not imposa heightened focus level induced by sible, to alter naturally. “Some people study drugs has led some to question have this born ability to focus like craif the use of “performance enhancing zy while others don’t. This advantage stimulants” in an academic setting already exists regardless of the pills.”. may warrant the addition of an ethical dimension to conversations on Those with ADHD have a unique the subject. Both those opposed and perspective on the subject, as some unopposed to the association of study suggested that the misuse of their drugs with cheating agree that they legitimate medication may contribdo not have the capacity to improve ute to many of the myths surroundintelligence. Where the argument ing ADHD. For them, this medtends to diverge, however, is the ex- ication is not a mere “study drug”. tent to which medically induced focus creates an advantage which is “unfair.” Emily*, a student who was diagnosed with ADHD when she was in Grade In Maddison’s* perspective, because Six, felt the use of stimulants as “perthey cannot alter a person’s thoughts, formance enhancers” discredited othstudy drugs do not denote academ- ers’ view on her diagnosis by the occaic dishonesty. She says: “If someone sional comments she gets suggesting without ADHD is getting better she is “lucky” for having a prescripgrades on stimulants, that’s not because tion to stimulants. She says, “They they took a magic pill that made them don’t realize that when they take it, it smarter.” She further elaborates that has a much different effect on them.” a person’s capacity to achieve success Cassandra, who also takes medicaexisted before they took medication. tion for her ADHD, expressed similar concerns, saying that people tak-

ing stimulants when they don’t have ADHD “gives the illusion that people with ADHD don’t actually need it.”

Many of the students ethically unopposed to the use of stimulants compare it to other unhealthy study habits that become popular during crunch times.

Students reported that occasionally making trade-offs relating to health and GPA is seen as common practice in university, so the use of stimulants should not be treated as an anomaly.

Andrew* reflected, “People can say it’s an advantage, but it’s not much different than someone who drinks two Red Bulls and stays up all night studying.”. Following suit, one Reddit user describes their decision to use Adderall as a personal trade off: productivity in exchange for possible health risks.

In this sense, they believe the price of their drug use is paid for by themselves and only themselves, and is therefore not worthy of moral condemnation.

Not everyone agrees that the consequences of illegal stimulant use are limited to those consuming them. The academic environment students are subject to is competitive enough without the added element of drugs, explains Jerald*. He feels that, “The more people using drugs to increase their productivity, the more difficult it becomes to stay afloat without participating.”

As Alex* states, “The ethics behind taking these drugs without ADHD are straightforward and complicated at the same time.” Although the majority of students agree that a clear distinction should be made between athletes using steroids and students using study drugs, the extent to which students believe academic success hinges on one’s ability to focus remains in dispute.

*Names have been changed to preserve interviewee anonymity.

11

If you have yet to visit the McLennan-Redpath Library Complex, or find yourself walking down the Redpath Terrace for the first time, the sight of four doors arranged prominently under the “REDPATH LIBRARY” heading might seem like a natural point of entry. Alas, you would be wrong. Upon closer inspection, it is evident that these doors function as an “emergency exit only.” So why is it that this entrance provides more frustration and less functionality than

even a so-called “Norman Door”?

In December of 2014, the McGill Library embarked on a campaign to collect feedback from students on how they could improve their facilities. Soon thereafter, a post appeared on McGill’s Library website aiming to address various questions that had arisen. The first among this list was a question that might seem familiar: “Why are the doors to the Redpath Library Building closed?” To this, the library responded, citing “funding cutbacks,” and an “additional full time security agent… at a cost of $210,000 per year” to keep the doors functioning.

But other than a brief three-day intermission of the closure in June of 2017, when construction on the McLennan Library entrance forced foot traffic to be temporarily diverted, almost five years have gone by since the initial closure. This has left the aforementioned McLennan Library doors to be the sole public point-ofentry to the connected Redpath Library Building. Despite McGill Library’s assertion that a solution will continue to be worked towards, there has been little visible change, if any.

After the initial closure of the doors in September of 2014, several student initiatives arose in opposition. Among these was a petition titled “Open the Redpath Library doors!” on the online petition site Change.org. At the time of expiry, the petition had only been

author Jack Sydney

BEHIND CLOSED REDPATH DOORS

signed by 219 signatories. A public Facebook group titled “OPEN THE REDPATH DOORS!!!” was created in early November 2014 and currently has 668 members. While still existent, only two posts have been published since 2015, both of which promote unrelated events. At the forefront of both of these initiatives was former McGill Student Alexander Elias.

Only a few weeks after the inception of the Facebook group, a motion was introduced to the SSMU Legislative Council pushing SSMU to “prioritize the reopening of the Redpath doors in ... negotiations with the McLennan-Redpath library” and to “advise and support the student initiated campaign by advertising the petition and mobilising members of SSMU toward this goal.”

The motion was quickly approved.

The minutes from the meeting indicate that Amina Moustaqim-Barrette (the then-SSMU VP External and ‘mover’ of the motion) decided to take action after having met with Elias, the aforementioned founder of the related Facebook group and petition.

Although debate on this issue was limited, notable opposition was drawn.

Then-Councillor Chloe Rourke was the first to criticize the motion.

Rourke questioned the motion with the concern that SSMU may

need “to pay for it” going forward.

When 2014-2015 VP University Affairs and co-mover of the motion, Claire Stewart-Kanigan, clarified that: “[The] motion would … not mandate SSMU to pay for [the] operation,” Rourke countered: “not mandate, but it might be an outcome.”

In hindsight, the SSMU may have decided that Rourke had been right. No mention of the issue can be found in any SSMU Legislative Council motions, minutes or otherwise related documents for the rest of the 20142015 school year. In fact, even from the 2014-2015 school year to the current 2019-2020 school year, no mention of the issue can be found on any SSMU Library Improvement Fund reports or Legislative Council documents since that original motion was brought to the floor on November 20th, 2014.

Further evidence of this comes from a 2018 Reddit post by former 20182019 SSMU President Tre Mansdoerfer. On a post asking members of the McGill subreddit r/mcgill for input on how to improve McGill’s Libraries, Mansdoerfer, under the username “tre_mans,” referenced the Library’s original post, saying: “If the doors were to open, we would need to add another security guard … We’d much rather see $210,000 be spent on new initiatives then having those doors open.”

Should these trends continue, it seems unlikely that the Redpath Doors will open in the near future. However, planned renovations to the library do ensure a long-term result. Through the Fiat Lux project, McGill Library plans to input $140-million into revitalizing the campus’s libraries, with a primary focus on the McLennan-Redpath Library Complex.

Along with details relating to the major aspects of the project, Fiat Lux’s so-called “Master Plan” specifically notes that pedestrian traffic will be better accounted for in the new design. In the document, McGill Library states that: “despite the heavy foot traffic, the circulation in the complex is convoluted and confusing, and does not efficiently connect with other Library and University resources.” And that “limited access points into the complex result in poor connectivity and reduced interaction with the surrounding campus.”

“Why are the doors to the Redpath Library Building closed?” ... $210,000 Particularly, the document emphasizes the issue of the single entryway and the trouble it has caused students: “The primary entrance for Redpath Library Building has been closed due to high security and staffing costs.” It continues to note that “this has been unpopular within the community.”

The project is set to break ground in 2022 and continue on for five years, renovating in a way that will minimize disruption to the normal operations of the library. The final product will have two entrances, one on McTavish, and one on the Redpath Terrace, and will increase the amount of seating in the complex by approximately 182 percent. The Fiat Lux project is sure to open doors for McGill students, hopefully they will be the right ones.

13

OPINION

Nobody Needs to Know “The Benefits of Healthy, Private Routines”

By: Liane Faingold, Sam Shepherd

OPINION

``Why do we feel a burning desire to post these precious moments [...]?”

Consider the following scene: you are at a party. Beer is being sloshed around, young adults are chuckling.

Suddenly, one of your beer-pong opponents sloppily mutters: “Guys, we need to take a group picture — it didn’t happen unless it’s on Insta!”

get someone in particular to notice us on social media, or the agony of curating a picture-perfect Insta feed.

Yet, as we share our lives with our Twitter followers (or, with the readers of our student-run news magazine,) we may also inadvertently be worsenWhat happens next feels like clock- ing our well-beings. Oversharing may work; the entire party comes to a exacerbate insecurity, and research halt, and we proceed to take numer- shows that once a goal is shared with ous pictures, ensuring to capture the other people, it is actually less likely “we know you want to be us” and to materialize than if kept private. the “we’re goofy but still cute” poses.

For this feature, us Opinion editors Why do we do this? Why do we feel decided to celebrate some simple moa burning desire to post these pre- ments that remain central parts of our cious moments that ultimately do daily lives, but aren’t publicly posted or not need to be shared? Some psy- shared in conversation. While we recchologists posit that we fall victim ognize the irony of sharing these acto oversharing precisely when we tivities with our readers, we share these are trying to manage our anxiety on private moments in an effort to celea subconscious level: be it trying to brate the freedom that comes with our 15

OPINION

quiet, subtle routines. There is beauty There is an intense feeling of satisin doing things for and by yourself, faction as I begin my double cleanse so let’s share some of our highlights. at precisely 9:30 pm; first I use an oil cleanser to remove any makeup, and — then a gel cleanser to ensure both a clean face and a clean mind. I use three If you were to ask me what my fa- different serums because it’s been a vourite part of the day is, I would long day, and I deserve it. With every probably lie and say that it’s lunch layer of product that I work into my time. However, the real answer is skin, my mood shifts and I feel increasthat it’s both right when I wake up ingly in control. An overwhelming and right before I go to bed: the time sense of security washes over my body, I allocate for my skincare routine. knowing that I am protecting myself from any free radical — or person I start with a gentle cleanser. With — that I have encountered that day. calm and circular motions, I wash my face from the night’s impurities For those fifteen minutes, I forget and feel secure knowing that I am si- about everything that was troubling me multaneously prepping both my skin and allow myself to only focus on me. and mind for the long day ahead. I -L sip on mint tea as I let the vitamin — C serum sink into my skin — my mind is blank, but my heart feels at Every other day in Montreal, generpeace. I notice this weird feeling in ally in the middle of the afternoon, my stomach once I pick up my mois- I drop whatever book I’m highlightturizer, the final step of my routine, ing (or Twitter thread I’m scrollrealizing that these minutes of pure ing through) to venture forth on a bliss must eventually come to an end. thirty-minute jog along the mountain. As the leaves of Mont-RoyDuring school, my mind can’t stop rac- al Park whiz by, the sparks of stress ing.Days pass by both slowly and quick- and panic in my mind decelerate. ly. Sometimes, I find myself counting down the hours until I can remove my I focus on the crunch of leaves beneath makeup and start my night routine. my feet, or I tune into the frequency of the indie rock blasting through my

headphones. My usual scatter-brained tendencies — the constant paranoia of having forgotten a book at home, having said the wrong thing to a friend, or having left a dirty dish in the sink — acquiesce to the rhythmic tapping of my sneakers against the dirt. One leap at a time, my worry wanes, and as my feet fly forward, I catch my mind and root it in the present moment.

During the day, the jigsaw pieces of my mind are vibrant but scattered.

University can be overwhelming, and it is easy to obsess over the superficial.

Yet, during this thirty minute routine, the trappings of the self-absorbed college kid take backseat to looming maple hickories and smiling Golden Retrievers. During my runs through Mount Royal Park, my thoughts coalesce to form a clear and coherent picture, even if only in windy transience.

-S — At the peak of exam season, I am curled up somewhere in Redpath trying to get another reading done. Moments of solace come when I decide to take a five-minute break to play the electric piano. Once I put those heavy headphones on, blocking out the noise from the outside world, muscle memory takes over, and my fingers play pieces that make the world seem beautiful.

Music has always been a big part of my life. I grew up doing musical theatre and singing in school talent shows.

However, playing the piano has always been a skill that I kept to myself.

While I never had a problem singing and dancing in front of strangers on stage, playing the piano is a different story. Indeed, there is something incredibly intimate about it — while my mind remains concentrated on the task at hand and my fingers do all of the heavy lifting, I feel secure.

Writing and playing music is something that I do for myself. While it is a medium through which I can express myself creatively, in the same way writing is, I feel calm knowing that these pieces are intended for my ears only and that I can escape into a world of beautiful melodies in times when the real world feels empty.

-L — Last year, in the throes of my first Montreal winter, I felt the cold isolation of the city hitting me harder than I expected. I was away from home in a city where I knew very few people, schoolwork was piling up, and the daily darkness was leaving me outright dejected.

In this discomfort, I resumed a hobby that I hadn’t participated in since my early teens: journaling. Every night before bed, I would quickly scrawl three examples of gratitude into a tiny notepad. They could be moments as ordinary as an interesting comment in a lecture, a funny episode of a TV show, even laughing over Mac and Cheese with a friend in RVC. Whatever the moment, scrawling them down onto a notepad brought me a tiny, but pleasurable feeling of satisfaction.

Authors

have

traditionally

used

journals as a method of harnessing self-discipline and creativity. Virginia Woolf once wrote about her own journaling habits: “The habit of writing thus for my own eye only is good practice. It loosens the ligaments.”

Journaling also has been proven to cultivate memory growth and soothe anxiety; clearly, this isn’t a habit relegated merely for angsty pre-teens.

Virginia Woolf I may never be, but my gratitude journal nonetheless helped me survive my first Montreal winter.

It is a routine that I hope to carry with me into this year’s round of cold nights and knee-high snow. These moments bring routine warmth into my life, no matter the weather and they are cozy embraces devoted to myself alone.

-S —

At first glance, time spent alone sounds like a foolproof plan for isolation and pain. Science corroborates how human beings are ingrained with an inherent need for company and affiliation. We also attend a school that leaves us yearning for constant communication. From the moment we first don our Frosh shirts to the day we tip our graduation caps, students post, share, (and even graffiti) their way through their university experience

in a way that leaves some members of our parents’ generation bewildered.

This semester, our writers have opened up about mental illness and menial labour, election hot-takes and climate activism crusades. As we have helped them relay their thoughts to the McGill student body, they have also taught us important lessons about keeping some ideas private.

After all, not everyone is predisposed to wanting to share and promote themselves, and not every moment should be devoted to pursuing some productive, extraneous goal.

Yet these moments to ourselves, however mundane, are precious and invaluable. By closing the door to our rooms, we can spend time acquainting ourselves with our own needs and desires, so we can exit them again with a refreshed sense of agency.

Sylvia Plath once wrote, “I took a deep breath and listened to the old brag of my heart. I am, I am, I am.” By spending time listening to messages from within, instead of broadcasting our thoughts out into the world, we cultivate self-knowledge. And, through this understanding, we also build ourselves.

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OPINION

Me, Myself, and My Mixed Identity

By Alia Shaukat

I first encountered the world of racial fetishization last June during my brief stint on Tinder. That low-stakes, medium-reward dating app that we all know and love seemed like the perfect place for me to explore the dating scene. It was also, as I soon discovered, the perfect place for many men to explore their potential for racism.

Each morning, I would wake up to an aggressive amount of texts inquiring “What’s your race?,” paired with a wealth of heart-eye emojis. This duality of violation and flattery was extremely confusing. Upon revealing my mixed ethnicity to my Tinder suitors, they would praise me for being “different” or “interesting,” and yet the only thing they knew about me was my mixed-race identity. When I was younger, I would have found the comments gratifying simply because they indicated that someone had taken an interest in me. However, now that I am older, I have seen that these compliments are the subtle forms in which racial fetishization manifests. It is a form of racism in which hurtful stereotypes camouflage as compliments and praise.

Racial fetishization, broadly speaking, is an attempt to categorize people based on their race. It is the idea that if someone can determine your race, they can put you in a certain category of how you will perform sexually. Not only does this perpetuate nasty stereotypes, it also minimizes individuality. Instead of your potential partner actually getting to know your sexual 18

preferences, they choose to classify you based off of your ethnicity. These stereotypes may differ among minority groups: East Asian women are viewed as submissive, South Asian and Middle Eastern women as bizzare and alluring, Latina and Black women as strident and aggressive; the list goes on. For mixed people, this fetishization is portrayed as exoticism.

In an article published in 2019, Maya Gittelman describes exoticism as “a manifestation of white supremacy designating something as ‘other’ but non-threatening, unfamiliar but tameable, bizarre but seductive, seductive in its bizarreness.” A mixed person’s identity is the epitome of this duality between strange and familiar: an intoxicating combination for some.

A certain proximity to whiteness inspires desire. We are seen as approachable minorities, an attainable other.

Men find me intriguing because I am different, yet many also find comfort in my whiteness and my inherent distance from the racialized part of me.

My physical traits, personhood, and the intricacies of my DNA invite hyper-sexualization and fetishization.

Our physical features, however, can also be a privilege. The term colorism was coined by Alice Walker as the “preferential or prejudicial treatment of same-race people based on skin color.” Colorism is often presented as only within a minority group, i.e., favoring light skin over dark skin within cultural bounds. Yet the term can apply much further than these boundar-

ies. Our society discriminates against darkness because it indicates distance from whiteness. It follows that many mixed people, including myself, benefit from a “dilution” of our otherness.

I am half South Asian and half white; thus, the problems I face as a lightskinned person are not comparable to the colorism that monoracial minorities face. Indeed, I am not followed around in stores like my father, I am not targeted in TSA random checks, and I am not the recipient of nervous stares from the police. I have never been subjected to a distinct hatred due to my brownness. And for that, I am grateful. My physical attributes give me a privilege that many other minorities cannot claim, yet it nonetheless inspires the intrusion of others.

My skin tans easily in the summer but lightens easily in the winter, and my hair ranges from straight to curly on a daily basis. My nose is long, a distinctly Eastern nose, but the rest of my face doesn’t compensate for it. I am often an enigma to others and therefore endure a long list of unsolicited questions.

This curiosity, although sometimes well-intentioned, can be exhausting.

Today, this hyper-sexualization and fetishization of mixed race people has unfortunately become the norm.

The 2010 National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence study found that mixed race women experienced rape, physical abuse, and stalking by an intimate partner at a rate of thirty point two percent, a rate second only

OPINION

to American Indian/Alaskan Natives at thirty-seven point five percent.

Even still, minority and mixed women are not portrayed in the #MeToo movement as survivors. Their stories are not heard, precisely because they are obscured by this culture of fetishization and hyper-sexualization.

We can point to society’s unsettling obsession with mixed race children on social media. There are thousands of Facebook groups and Instagram accounts dedicated to praising mixed children for their distinctly Eurocentric traits like “light eyes” and “soft hair.” Currently, the Instagram account @mixedbabiesig has 219,000 followers. Instagram tags such as #KardashianKids or #BiracialBabies are commonplace. For mixed people, fetishization starts early and chases us forcefully throughout our whole lives.

Although seemingly minimal, the comments that mixed people endure — known in more academic terms as microaggressions — are simply one way that racism materializes. I have been told, for example, that “mixed chicks are freaks,” making me feel as though my value is provided solely by how “exotic” I am to others. Any time I go out, men like to play the riveting game of “guess her race” as a method of flirting. These men think that if they are able to label me, they will be able to categorize my identity. But there is a clear difference between trying to impress me and reducing me to a sexual object because of my ethnicity.

them isolates me. Uninvited fascination with my ethnicity makes me feel like a shameful obscenity. The praise for my proximity to whiteness makes me look down upon my brownness. Racial stereotyping, fetishization, and hyper-sexualization are a means to reduce my personhood.

But truthfully, mixed race people do not need others to tell us that we are exceptional. Our multiculturalism provides us with a unique and deep understanding towards others.

It provides us with curiosity to explore differences. The discrepancies within our DNA grant us unique flexibility and perspectives. Our idenAnd we have seen this all before — it tity represents plurality and that is is racism in sheep’s clothing, a meth- something that no man on Tinder, od of belittling our culture and min- no intrusive stranger, and no sexualimizing our personhood. Having to ly abusive partner can ever change. justify my relationship with my family just because I look different from 19

OPINION

Tackling Society as a

High-Achieving Introvert

By Faith Ruetas

When I ran for student government in Grade 11, I didn’t expect that winning would entail a pool party with eight quasi-strangers. Nevertheless, there I sat with my fellow executives, musing how this get-together felt like an odd high school version of a corporate mixer. As I had resolved to “put myself out there” in my senior year, I readied for a familiar cycle: gauge the social dynamics, search for a fitting remark, assess their reactions, rinse and repeat.

It was a simple enough formula and one that I had employed multiple times in the past. What I wasn’t prepared for, however, was the chaos of eight self-proclaimed leaders all striving to make their mark on the discussion.

Reference after reference and joke after joke, I scrambled to sift through the innumerable ideas whizzing past.

Though I longed to contribute to the animated conversation around me, nothing seemed to come out.

Sadly, this incident was not an anomaly; there have been many times in which I have been overwhelmed by excessive social stimulation and failed at fulfilling some personal goal.

Growing up, I’ve frequently grappled with this inner barrier. From hearing, “Do you hate us or something?” to, “You’re so quiet,” I learned that reticence was not an admirable quality.

20

When my teachers then advised me, “Give it time” and, “It’ll come with maturity,” I developed the impression that introversion was a shortcoming I would eventually outgrow.

Contrary to popular belief, introverts are not automatically shy in the same way that extroverts are not automatically outgoing. Instead, I’ve since learned that the introversion/extroversion paradigm describes the inclinations of the unconscious mind.

In 1921, Carl Jung introduced this dichotomy as such: while the extrovert generally receives energy from the external world of interpersonal relations, the introvert gravitates to the internal world of conceptual abstraction. In this way, one’s propensity to introversion or extroversion is not reliant upon how they choose to act, but how they’re oriented to act due to their natural processes.

stardom, such as Steve Jobs, Martin Luther King Jr., and Oprah Winfrey.

But what about the strong and silent type? Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, Rosa Parks—there are countless dignitaries who have made groundbreaking impacts on our society, yet are not the paragons of charisma romanticized in the media. Put simply, accomplished individuals are less often associated with success when they don’t display overt interpersonal dispositions.

Today, authors and scholars alike have recognized and criticized this social bias. As noted by Susan Cain, for example, Western institutions are designed specifically for those who thrive in social environments. In elementary school, kids are grouped into pods of desks and forced to collaborate in group projects. In the workplace, promotions are more frequently bestowed upon dominant, Although this typology underlines the outspoken employees. In politics, unique strengths of either end of the potential leaders are often judged by spectrum, Western society undeni- their charismatic abilities and public ably glorifies the extrovert. Just think personas before their actual policies. of the images, TV shows, and movies pervading our media. From a young Due to this ubiquitous esteem for exage, we are conditioned to idealize the troversion, it is thus understood that confident, outgoing leader who thinks one must self-advertise, network, and on their feet and navigates social sit- display the hallmark traits of the exuations with ease. Indeed, people who trovert to advance in our society. For fit this model have certainly risen to the many introverts with an innate

desire to achieve, this raises a certain dilemma. What happens when one is drawn to the ladder of success, but they are met with an opposing way of functioning as a prerequisite to climbing it? Within such an individual, the result is a conflict between a preference for less social stimulation and — knowing that networking leads to greater opportunities — a self-imposed pressure to pursue more.

For the high-achieving introvert, it is common to find oneself resenting the latter part of this moniker. Admittedly, I have pondered how my life would change if I was “liberated” from my introversion: I would be free to engage in small talk without feeling antsy, give a response in class without mentally reciting my answer beforehand, and chat it up at networking events without becoming drained. It’s easy to fall into this way of thinking, especially considering how society instills in us the belief that this personality type is ideal.

However, rejecting one’s introverted tendencies risks wasting an incredible potential for ingenuity and leadership.

Diverging from commonly-held attitudes, the “undesirable” wiring of the introvert holds untold advantages. While extroverts often delve into multiple interests before moving on, introverts take the more cautious approach They choose to weigh expectations and various courses of action in advance. This fastidious selectivity logically bears deeper and more specific proficiencies. Hence, our knowledge is much less likely to be surface-level; if an introvert finds a subject that they’re truly passionate about, they will zero in on that field and explore all of its related facets. When this specialized expertise is then complemented with our higher levels of cortical arousal and preference for solitude (a key ingredient to creativity), the results are trailblazing innovations.

Next, when it comes to leadership positions, the introvert verifies their absolute competence before even contemplating running for that role.

Pairing this ensured know-how with a lower tendency to be commanding, the introverted leader can truly be an asset. Indeed, a passive group of followers may benefit from an extroverted leader, but a proactive group of creatives flourishes under an introverted leader. Essentially, introverts are better-suited to oversee highly-skilled individuals on highly-specialized projects, which makes us vulnerable to manipulation by people who want to be a “leader” for the title’s sake.

it’s regrettable but imperative that we play the games required to advance.

Thus, in a society already stacked against the introvert, it’s illogical to compound one’s struggles by fighting one’s natural way of functioning. Instead, high-achieving introverts ought to embrace their unique faculties and exercise their ambition to do their introverted tendencies justice. Though such individuals will have to venture beyond their comfort zone (for example, temporarily shrugging on the cloak With this in mind, researchers de- of extroversion to engage in social scribe introverts as “a minority in the pandering), this is a small price to pay regular population but a majority in for the accomplishment of one’s goals. the gifted population.” Unfortunately for introverts and for society, biases for To close, a message to my fellow extroversion cause us to be underval- high-achieving introverts: while it ued and passed over. As introverts also may be necessary that you fake it until tend to shy away from self-promotion you make it, may you never lose sight and leadership, this social disregard of what makes you tick. Whatever furthers a negative feedback loop. happens, don’t let our extrovert-centered society stop you from setting This is where the “high-achieving” qu- your sights on the highest mountains lifier comes in. Especially for an intro- possible. In combination, introversion vert, the drive to seek out opportunity and ambition can be a blessing or a burin spite of personal unease is invaluable den. It’s up to you to find your balance. to success, both objective (as in status) and subjective (as in satisfaction).

As the reversal of institutional biases seems unlikely in the near future, 21

Private Crises, By:

Content Warning: This article discusses mental health issues in a candid manner that may be triggering to some readers.

I’m currently writing this as I procrastinate studying for a midterm that’s happening first thing tomorrow morning. I’ve been meaning to study since my last midterm ended, which was a few days ago, and I’ve barely done anything at all. Unfortunately, the feeling has snowballed into something much worse. I feel so terrible about having not studied already that I’m finding it even harder to study now. I’m so stressed about having not yet prepared for the exam that it’s preventing me from, well, preparing for the exam.

laying in bed with zero energy, feeling totally deflated. My brain wanders and I contemplate why I’m even alive and struggle to fathom being alive in five or ten years. As absurd as it sounds, I know that for many people dealing with depression, a failure to imagine oneself living to see the future is a regular symptom. The overwhelming weight of existence just feels so heavy and the continuing passage of time so frightening that one can’t help but feel trapped and futureless.

a call downstairs from my mom, a text from a friend wanting to hang out, or a phone call from my grandma. In that moment, I will put on a mask, transforming from being a motionless blob to my ‘regular’ self, maybe cracking a snarky joke and proceeding as usual.

In that sense, I come out from hiding deep in the dredges of my mind into a suffocated, albeit ‘normal’ existence.

I would like to speak candidly about my issues to others, but I just can’t stand to bear, what seems to There I’ll be, lying on my bed, meta- me, a massive social brunt. I wonI find myself in this state fairly often, phorically lifeless, and then it’ll come: der how many depressed people 22

OPINION

feel the same. How many of us suf- our mental health. These include disfer alone in our rooms, but then connections from meaningful work, exit them appearing totally fine? closeness with other people, purposeful values, and belief in a hopeful fuIf you’ve never dealt with mental ture. While Hari acknowledges the health issues, I may just sound insane. influence that an individual’s brain “If you’re so stressed about not having chemistry can play in depression/anxdone the work, just do the work,” one iety, he places additional emphasis on might say. The problem is that I think the social causes, which I believe is the the same thing myself, but it just doesn’t more productive approach. What else work. I don’t know why I behave this could explain such a massive upswing way; I just do, and I hate myself for it. in mental health issues in recent years?

Reading over this now, I realize this may sound hyperbolic and dramatic, but it’s an honest depiction of how I’ve experienced depression, and I know I’m not alone. The rate of depression among 12 to 17-year-old Americans increased fifty-nine percent from 2007 to 2017, and seventy percent of similarly aged respondents think that depression/anxiety is a “major problem among their peers.” According to research published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, there was a fifty-six percent increase in the suicide rate for people aged 10 to 24 between 2007 and 2017.

“How many of us

suffer alone in our rooms, but then exit them appearing totally fine?”

These are, obviously, massive jumps, and I think it is imperative that we stop seeing depression and anxiety as problems that can be solved as individuals alone. These astronomical increases cannot have happened on their own; there must be some societal root cause(s) leading to huge proportions of the population feeling depressed and anxious.

“being very well off financially” was “essential” or “very important,” while over seventy percent said “developing a meaningful philosophy of life” was of the utmost importance. Clearly, we’ve become far more materialistic and this trend is continuing to climb upwards.

So, based on substantial psychological and sociological evidence, I believe we are not becoming increasingly depressed because our brains have just gone haywire, but because our brains The world’s leading medical body, the are reacting to an increasingly chaotic World Health Organization, once world devoid of the meaningful consaid that “mental health is produced nections humans truly need to be happy. socially.” The presence or absence of mental health is above all a social “These astronomiindicator and therefore requires social [and individual] solutions.” I will cal increases cannot now focus on just one of the many have happened on potential social causes of depression and anxiety: a culture of materialism. their own; there must Research has shown that certain cultural values can increase or decrease well-being. A meta-analysis of research into materialism and its effects concluded that “materialism [is] associated with significantly lower well-being.” Psychologist Tim Kasser ties this conclusion to an associative decrease in the quality of one’s relationships and an increase in pursuing extrinsic, rather than intrinsic, goals. These are known to drastically increase the likelihood of developing depression, so the question then becomes, “Have we become and are we becoming yet more materialistic?”

In the annual UCLA “American Freshman” survey, which surveyed over 120,000 American freshmen in 2017, around eighty-three percent of respondents cited “being very well off financially” as an essential or very important goal, making it the single most valued goal of American undergrads, above “raising a family,” “helping others who are in difficulty,’’ “developing a meaningful philosophy of life,” and What exactly those root causes are is a a plethora of other goals that may little harder to say, but author Johann be more conducive to happiness. In Hari has proposed nine primary “dis- this same UCLA survey in 1970, less connections” that have been damaging than forty percent of respondents said

be some societal root cause(s) leading to huge proportions of the population feeling depressed and anxious.”

We all may be perfectly well-off by the standards of our culture, with our iPhones, new shoes, or whatever else, but, as Johann Hari has put it, so too was a repressed housewife in the 1950s with “two kids, a house, a car, and a washing machine” perfectly welloff by the standards of her culture.

We all need to channel within us what the famous sociologist C.W. Mills called the sociological imagination: distinguishing between “the personal problems of milieu’ and ‘the public issues of social structure.” If more of us struggling with depression and anxiety can begin to understand how our surroundings influence and affect our mental health, perhaps we can muster a collective voice loud enough to begin demanding that the structure of our society must change.

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GOING DEEP INSIDE

C INEMA L’A MOUR

By: Jenna Benchetrit & Jacob Klemmer

Content Warning: Everything you would assume was in an article about Cinema L’Amour (sex, pornography, and general profanity).

There are three respectable ways to react when passing by Cinema L’Amour. The first is to keep your eyes conspicuously locked ahead, making a point of not looking at the nearly nude ladies in your periphery. The second, for those more comfortable with the theatre’s presence, is to take a quick glance at what’s screening that day, just to see. The third is to look ahead, but to turn your eyes at others walking past, because even more fun than seeing what’s playing is keeping track of who’s looking. This Plateau institution is situated on Duluth and St. Laurent, by Segals, Dispatch, and, humourously, the Museum of Jewish Montreal. Every time you get your groceries, every time you get your artsy morning coffee and avocado toast, you walk by. If you live in the Plateau, chances are that you walk by this theatre at least twice a day. And you’ve probably never gone inside.

One would think that in the year 2019, the theatrical pornography experience would be thoroughly extinct, especially given the existence of the internet.

Even with the presumably lower demand, tickets at Cinema L’Amour are cheaper than the Scotiabank Theatre’s — they go for just $12.00, with 24

a seniors’ discount of 75 cents. A bang for your buck… or twelve bucks for a bang. Further confounding is the information found on their snazzy website, which states that the theatre is constantly offering free entry: for couples on Mondays, Tuesdays, and Thursdays; for trans people on “Wow! Wednesdays”; and for women on “Fun, Freaky Fridays.” In an era where folks won’t even leave their house to see a blockbuster, how many will leave their house for Hollywood X-Posed – Part 2? One rainy Tuesday afternoon, we decided to find out for ourselves.

A Supreme Clientele “Everything that happens at Cinema L’Amour is real. Genuine.” These were among the first words that the owner of the cinema, who asked to be referred to in this article as “Steve L’Amour,” told us, after first assuming that we were only in the theatre to buy t-shirts. His words were underscored by a screening of Friends With Benefits (no, not the 2011 romantic comedy), which was playing beyond a set of doors a few feet away from the front desk. Ecstatic moans in the distance punctuated Mister L’Amour’s lamentation of the cinema’s media coverage.

“People mock the theatre,” he noted, citing an article written by a major Montreal publication that he argued was not so much an objective look at the theatre and its history as it was a journalist trying to push some pre-existing idea of what a porn cinema might look and smell like.

But there’s no putrid stench, no fluids on the seats (though Steve does acknowledge that certain corners of the theatre get “more activity” than others); you aren’t slipping on anything as you walk down the aisles.

It’s a regal, 105-year-old venue, with plush red furniture and curtains, ornamental ceilings, and a horse-shoe balcony. The only thing he suggests is bringing your own sheet if you plan on using the private rooms, which are small booths with a window to watch the screening and a couch on which to fuck. They replace the theatre-owned sheets once a day.

Unexpectedly, the programming is mostly English-language productions, but that’s not because it’s mostly Anglos that come to the theatre. It’s because Mister L’Amour thinks that “Québécois porn is terrible.” When asked whether a certain

ARTS & CULTURE

genre of porn performs better, Steve said that few people truly care about the genre, and fewer care whether the film is “really good.” He says that couples of all kinds come into the theatre, and that they’re very accepting of all sexualities and gender identities, but the programming sticks rigidly to mainstream heterosexual porn offerings. The limited range is alienating to a new generation of viewers, but his regulars, a few of whom shuffled unperturbed in and out of the theater during our interview, don’t care. These clients are typically older, straight, cis, white men, and they tend to complain if the porn is LGBT-focused.

Unless, of course, it’s two women.

Rear(end) Window

ing it to be a raid. Some panicked and started running; so the cops started chasing; and a chaotic game of cat and mouse ensued. The constant suspicion seems to be powered by bewilderment that a business of this nature could soldier on for so long.

For all the sexy shenanigans that go down at Cinema L’Amour, we’re struck most by the tristesse of its current narrative: that of a struggling Montreal institution trying to fit in with a new generation that it has only partially engaged. “It’s not the same business as it was,” Steve confides.

And what a “was” this business had!

What other porn theatres have a “history” tab on their website, detailing the singular annals weathered by this theatre, which the website (playing coy, needlessly) calls “the oldest movie hall of its kind”? Opened in 1913, first called The Globe, it was the premiere movie hall for Yiddish cinema in the 20s and early 30s. In 1932 it was renamed “The Hollywood” and continued as a normal movie house. In 1969 (nice) the theatre pivoted to its current niche, renaming itself The Pussycat. It reached its final form, Cinema L’Amour, in 1981 when it was bought

by Steve’s father. That’s right, Cinema L’Amour is a family business.

“Upstairs we only allow couples,” Steve says of the VIP section, which is comprised of several red booths in the balcony. This is a space where, according to Mister L’Amour, “secret rendez-vous happen.” As salacious as it sounds, half of the cinematic experience is hearing a couple hook up loudly on the couch behind you while you’re watching a couple have sex loudly on the screen in front of you. “I think we’re all voyeurs. [Some clients] love that it’s a taboo environment; they love that other people are here.”

He tells us a story about a woman who Steve spoke fondly of the pre-internearly drowned out the movie with net era: “Big business was back in the sound of screams and spanking. the 70s and 80s, when the only place you could see hardcore [pornograWhat these couples do while in Cin- phy] was in the theatre.” But in its ema L’Amour is none of Steve’s busi- 50th year as a porn venue, Mister ness. “What’s permitted? Everything I L’Amour didn’t seem especially optidon’t see,” he says bluntly; it should be mistic about the continued existence noted that Mister L’Amour only makes of the cinema: “Will the theatre exist it to the theater once or twice a week. in ten years?” he asked, “I really don’t know.” A landlord by trade, L’Amour Histoires Du Cinéma L’Amour explained that the reason for the theatre’s continued survival is that he Still, whispers of nefariousness are, ac- owns the building and several others cording to Steve, unfounded. They’re around. “If I had to pay the usual rent also bad for business. He describes an for this place, I’d be closed by now.” incident in which the police entered the establishment with the intention A Hardcore Reality of simply giving it a once-over. But this naturally cleared the place out, The land developers and real estate with more than a few clients believ- moguls buying up Plateau properties

threaten small businesses of all kinds on the boulevard. Cinema L’Amour is particularly at risk, though, given its history of serving an old-school clientele that, itself, is being pushed away to cheaper places. Recalling a tweet that comically rejected “business dudes” proposing to turn the property into a “Starbbuck” [sic], we’re prompted to ask whether many people come by hoping to purchase the cinema. Steve L’Amour shrugs at this. If they want to buy the building, they have to buy the business. “Everything’s for sale for a price,” he concedes. The future of this neighbourhood business is murky — but having been around for so long, the history of Cinema L’Amour is, in a sense, the history of the Jewish quarter itself.

The sobering reality? Most are too shy to check the joint out. “Big businessmen and politicians get dropped off three blocks away,” Steve tells us, “and they walk to the theatre. Or they ask for the back door.” Even regular folks inquire about a back door — no, not that back door, settle down, now.

That sort of skittishness doesn’t translate into steady profit. If people are too embarrassed to even look at the theater, they wouldn’t dare come in to watch Sex With My Younger Sister 2.

“Nothing that we do drives business,” L’Amour goes on, for whom the theater is clearly a labour of love.

“What drives business? Human interaction.” Cinema L’Amour is a place that thrives on connection: between lovers, between strangers, between regulars and newcomers, and between neighborhood folk who never go inside but find familiar comfort in its bright red-and-yellow sign. What would we do without this majestic porn theater, that still announces itself so defiantly and unapologetically all these years later, on one of the city’s most culturally dynamic streets? It’s a bright piece of Montreal’s colourful fabric. As its 50th year edges on, let’s hope it stays erect for years to come.

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ARTS & CULTURE

SEX AND THE CITY AND CALL HER DADDY :

how much guilt is too much?

BY: OLIVIA CEJ

Everyone has guilty pleasures.

Whether it’s the Spice Girls or Top Gun, you enjoy it, but you also have this sinking feeling that you can do better. Sometimes, you have a feeling that you should do better, that for whatever reason you should be a more responsible consumer who rises above popular appeal (yes, I am looking at you, Kanye fans). When I came across Sex and the City on Crave earlier this year, I wanted so much to believe that I was better than it, that I could be above this classic chick-flick style TV show which clearly perpetuated the age-old female imperative to find a husband 26

above all else. I was wrong. Half-way through the first episode, I was completely obsessed. Carrie Bradshaw and her friends were glamourous, funny, successful, independent, and absurdly well-dressed; all characteristics that I admire. As an 18-year-old university student, I could not help but look at the fictional lives of these women and desperately desire it for myself.

Twenty years after the debut of SATC, its legacy continues, and can be seen in the current, wildly popular podcast Call Her Daddy hosted by twenty-somethings Alexandra Cooper and

Sofia Franklyn. Call Her Daddy has similar discussions about sex, romance, and life as a woman in New York City, but the girls of Call Her Daddy ramp it up to 100. Call Her Daddy is shameless, honest, explicit, and most importantly, hilarious. Host Alexandra Cooper described Call Her Daddy as being “a women’s locker-room conversation” to the New York Post. In a period that is becoming more aware of the necessity for an open sexual discourse, this “locker-room conversation” is increasingly relevant and valuable. Recent topics include how to f— k your professor, bondage (with

ARTS & CULTURE

an HDMI cord), uncircumcised penises, and the time Franklyn flashed her vagina at her boyfriend’s entire family while dancing on top of a bar in Mexico. Call Her Daddy is not for the faint of heart, but if you give it 10 minutes you’ll be laughing out loud.

ics, and this remains true even if one puts aside their sensibilities for profanity. During an episode that aired in October 2018, titled “If you’re a 5 or 6, Die for that D*ck,” Cooper and Franklyn gave advice on how less attractive girls should work overtime in the bedroom, in order to please Sex and the City and Call Her Daddy men and keep their attention. Beboth tap into the special appeal that a ing the feminist that I am, that kind chat between female friends has. For of advice does not sit right with me. many women after a night out, a date, or any exciting experience, recounting Both SATC and Call Her Daddy exall the thrilling, romantic, salacious, ist in a postfeminist movement in and entertaining details of the event which sexual liberation is often equatto their friends is second in fun only ed to female empowerment. Due to the experience itself. SATC and to the privileged lives of the women Call Her Daddy provide a substitute of SATC and Call Her Daddy, these for real conversations between wom- works only latch onto one compoen, allowing their audience to live nent of a broader feminist movement through the fictional or just provoc- and continue to disregard and perative lives of the characters and hosts. petuate damaging patriarchal norms that women continue to face. While Despite its broad appeal, SATC in our these shows are given the feminist current socio-political climate is rife label because of their enthusiasm with politically murky and question- about sexual freedom, I believe that able moments. Viewers have started to they are both far from feminist works. notice that SATC is entirely focused on the experiences of four, rich, white SATC and Call her Daddy are enjoywomen and that any character lying able because they are deeply relatoutside of that type seems to portray able. When they discuss their expefairly offensive stereotypes. It is par- riences as women, the good, the bad, ticularly hard to forget one memorable and the ugly, their audience, primarepisode in which Samantha describes ily white, middle class women, can her neighbourhood as being “trendy connect with them. And yet, it is by day, and tranny by night” due to the not just the positive aspects of these presence of transgender sex workers productions that audiences relate to. who operate outside of her apartment.

In the episode “Twenty-Something Girls vs. Thirty-Something Wom“SATC and Call Her en” you nod along as Carrie and her Daddy provide a sub- friends belittle and compete with stitute for real con- younger girls who they view as a threat, and in an episode of Call Her versations between Daddy called “Professional Athletes” women, allowing the hosts talk about how it is stupid their audience to live for a guy to try and make their girlfriend jealous because she will be jealthrough the fictional ous the minute she sees a pretty girl walk into the room. In both cases, the or just provocative audience laughs because, honestly, it’s lives of the characunderstandable. Women are thought ters and hosts.” of as being programmed to view other women as their competition when Call Her Daddy also runs into its fair it comes to finding a partner, and share of controversial claims and top- there is something wrong with that.

In an episode on college life, Call Her Daddy gave its female listeners the advice to know where they sit on their school’s scale of attractiveness, and to act accordingly. Shouldn’t we as women try to actively support other women, rather than hit them with insults justified by prefaces like, “this is gonna hurt feelings, this is gonna rub people the wrong way – but it’s the f—ing truth?” We laugh because it is true, but should we at least be trying to hold ourselves to a higher standard, or even better, not laugh at the world how it is, but strive to improve it a little?

“Women are thought of as being programmed to view other women as their competition when it comes to finding a partner, and there is something wrong with that.”

Guilty pleasures are largely innocent, and I do not believe that there is anything wrong with enjoying SATC or Call Her Daddy; I clearly enjoy them immensely, but some criticism is warranted. These productions offer anecdotes and advice on how to live as a woman in two different historical moments, but they both focus on how to live within the structures and expectations of society. SATC and Call Her Daddy need to be enjoyed critically and taken with a grain of salt. The legacy of SATC is easily identifiable, as are the controversies that arise as a modern viewer. Will similar issues arise in the future of Call Her Daddy? And so, I advise you to not watch Sex and the City or listen to Call Her Daddy for revolutionary advice on how to live and exist as a woman, but to do so if you need some comic relief or some arguably healthy girl talk.

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ARTS & CULTURE

INSTA-ROBBERY: HOW MEGA-BRANDS STEAL FROM INDIE DESIGNERS AND GET AWAY WITH IT

The digital age has fuelled a particularly toxic relationship, and it’s not you and your ex. A convergence of Kardashian-Jenners, fast fashion conglomerates, and increased visibility through social media has created a theft monster. Lesser-known creatives are getting completely ripped off, and no one is doing anything about it.

In June 2017, Kylie Jenner’s lucrative Kylie Shop brand released a new line of styles. The two-piece camouflage sets were almost identical to those sold

by PluggedNYC, who then took to Twitter to compare the styles side-byside, adding email evidence that Jenner had ordered from their store. Yes, they had receipts. This outcry came just after Jenner’s older sister Khloé Kardashian was accused of stealing pieces for her denim line Good American from smaller designer Destiny Bleu. When Khloé’s team released a statement claiming they had never heard of the brand, Bleu countered with emails proving her stylist had borrowed clothes from the line back in 2016. Not to mention the fact that 28

By: Rachel Gertin

both brands are black-owned. Yikes. Originality is not exactly fast fashion’s forte. The industry was built on keepOn the one hand, the digital age ing up with the latest trends at dirt makes pulling evidence remarkably cheap prices -- oh, and environmental easier, but hundreds of designers like degradation. Often these designs are these continue getting ripped off. The taken right from the styles of small, only legal action pursued in these cases predominantly black designers, with was Khloé’s team ordering a cease and no credit or royalties given. Fashion desist against Bleu. As PluggedNYC Nova is a big player in fast fashion; if told Fashionista, money is power, and you follow an influencer on Instagram the Kardashians have both. Accusa- they have likely collaborated with the tions often blow over within days and brand. Their social media presence because of their lower prices, bigger is so prominent it’s hard not to cave brands can keep raking in the dough. and add one or two items to cart (I Although the Kardashian clan seems may be speaking from experience). to be involved in a new scandal each But the brand, like the Kardashians, week, they are not the only fashion is often under fire. While cases of culprits. These instances indicate a size exclusion and colourism highlarger trend happening in the fashion light the brand’s skewed values, there community, one that implicates indus- have also been several accusations of try heavy hitters like Fashion Nova. stealing. Many -- mostly black, indie designers -- have called the company “Lesser-known cre- out for taking their styles, and have atives are getting been either ignored or blocked. Luci Wilden is just one example: the artcompletely ripped off, ist and business owner of Knots & and no one is doing Vibes dealt with the brand upon noticing they had ripped off her croanything about it.” chet dress, detail for detail. Fashion

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Nova brushed her off, never even answering her email to their public relations department. Ironically, Kim Kardashian feuded with the brand when she accused them of knocking off her gold dress, but designers like Wilden who lack the finances for legal fees get hit the hardest.

Fashion conspiracy theorists, particularly Diet Prada, have speculated as to whether or not Kardashian and Fashion Nova have a secret relationship regardless of their digital beef.

It seems too coincidental that the styles Kim wears and shows off to her 150 million followers end up online just days after she posts in them.

The family has also worked repeatedly with other fast fashion brands like Pretty Little Thing, Boohoo, and Missguided, and they aren’t exactly the type to miss a cheque. Even if Kim is working behind the scenes with Fashion Nova, her outcry of copying attracted more media attention than any other designer ever did.

She brought attention to the American copyright laws that have fuelled this plagiarism-fire in the first place.

Put simply, there is no fashion copyright protection in the US. The law “does not provide exclusive rights for inherently useful items”, so a brand can copy designs from anyone, churn them out to their millions of followers and gain market access and profits that others couldn’t. If loopholes in the law are the fire, social media is the tinder.

“While

the

ment where real talent gets ripped the same table behind closed doors. off with virtually no repercussions.

What’s most shocking is the overtness Yes, stealing ideas in the fashion in- of the plagiarism. In both the Kardustry has been, and will continue to dashian and Fashion Nova scandals, be, quite commonplace, but it is also incriminating evidence brought forimportant to recognize who is getting ward was disregarded and they continstolen from. A striking percentage of ued selling the stolen designs. It’s this these artists are independent black de- complete lack of respect for the artists’ signers. The Kardashian-Jenners have livelihoods and creative property that a particularly sour cultural appropri- should frustrate people the most. Exation track record, earning the repu- cept, right now, it isn’t: disrespect for tation of being culture vultures sev- the creative process is one thing, but eral times over. Most recently, Kim’s targeting black designers specifically shapewear brand sparked controversy should have consumers up in arms. from its original name Kimono, as in the Japanese robe. Only after exten- sive public backlash threatened the “It’s this complete lack of profitability of the line was the name switched to Skims. This, however, was respect for the artists’ livenot an isolated incident. From fuller lihoods and creative proplips to cornrows, the family is consisthat should frustently praised for sporting looks black erty women are devalued for. While they trate people the most.” continue to cash in lucrative deals with massive clothing brands, small designers lose out completely. This is Most indie designers don’t have not an appreciation for the creativi- the resources to go through expenty of others; it’s blatant theft. In the sive court processes. That’s where most painfully ironic way, these are the the good of social media might be styles that continue to garner the Kar- able to counter the bad. Where’s the dashian family praise as fashion icons. public outcry and support for smaller designers that Kim Kardashian It’s a vicious cycle: designs are sto- so easily generated? The stealing len by social media moguls, posted nor the law are likely to change, online by fast fashion brands, profits but let’s exchange this tinder for a roll in, and both parties gain more fire extinguisher. For fashion’s sake. money and influence. It’s not hard to imagine that these two groups sit at

[Kardashians]

continue to cash in lucrative deals with massive clothing brands, small [black] designers lose out completely.”

How can indie designers build a brand with their designs constantly being duped for a fraction of the cost? This phenomenon creates a problematic creative environ-

Fashionnova released a knock-off (left) less than 24 hours Kim Kardashian was seen in a vintage Thierry Mugler (right).

Image: Harper’s Bazaar

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Eating is one of the few things that we all do — but the funny thing is that how we eat, what we eat, when we eat, and where we eat is entirely differs from person to person. Food can be a source of comfort— a warm and gooey grilled cheese on a cold day— or a sweet indulgence when you need a pick-me-up. However, it can also be a source of anxiety. It makes us question why we are eating when no one else is, or what the person beside us in the library will think of the smell of our lunch. Some eat to live while others live to eat, and these juxtaposing sentiments often go undiscussed - especially among students. Eating is something that we all do differently and view differently. Without diving into the realm of eating disorders, it’s time to acknowledge how eating habits are often compromised in the university setting.

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“it’s time to acknowledge how eating habits are often compromised in the university setting.”

In university, it often seems like standard meal times and proper meals are seen and practiced as an abnormality.

In my case, this change was gradual; it snuck up on me and I didn’t even notice it until it was so pervasive that I couldn’t ignore it anymore. When I think about it, it makes sense: until university, so much of our schedule is structured around mealtimes.

Growing up, my classes and extracurriculars were always scheduled to accommodate meals. I would have breakfast before school, a break for lunch, and a snack during recess when I was younger. Not all of these meals looked the same every day or

were even consumed all the time, but the structure of my day was centered around eating those three meals.

In university, there is no such schedule. I remember being in first year and realizing that I was accountable to no one. Sure, I had class– but no one would know if I was there or not— and I certainly didn’t have to be home in time for dinner either. It was a strange sensation that was simultaneously freeing and frightening. Living in residence allows you to opt into a meal plan which, despite its downsides, is extremely helpful in transitioning into university life. But even with this option, it can be difficult for first-years to step away from their social life or their studies to go and get food. When I asked students in a survey if they prioritize their studies over eating, the majority said yes. The main thing these McGillians had to say

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Samosas have become a McGillian staple.

Image: Daria Kiseleva

is that they felt like their peers were not taking the time to eat because cooking is stressful and/or buying food on campus is expensive. Overall, it seems that the lack of healthy and affordable choices on campus serves as justification for students’ unhealthy habits. Pair these problems with other anxieties around eating, and you have a whole new monster.

In high school, people would either excitedly (or begrudgingly) share when they had pulled an all-nighter to finish a major assignment. When I got to McGill this quickly shifted to a proud announcement of neglecting to eat due to academic stress, but it wasn’t once a semester; it was daily.

Many students shared that they feel there is a sentiment on campus, that by not eating or prioritizing their physical and mental wellness, in some ways, they are “doing it right.” Many added that they thought skipping meals in the spirit of studying was glamourized on campus, and unfortunately they believe many of their friends see not eating as a benchmark for success and proof of their commitment to the rigorous demands of McGill.

One person even said that in order to be a true McGillian your diet should be made up of mostly samosas and Krispy Kremes. Alternatively, other people admitted that they use food as

selves, it can be challenging to ensure that we take the time to grocery shop and cook nutritious meals, especially if we know we are only cooking for one.

Food was such a great source of bonding in first-year; so many of my friendships were formed sitting around the huge tables of Bishop Mountain Hall.

Breakfast clubs and late-night carrot cake marked my first year experience.

But now, I don’t live with 750 of my peers, nor do I indulge in homefries with people that I sort of know. I no longer take a lunch break. Instead, I eat while I catch-up on readings, or I have a bite en route to a class. Every day is different. When school is most a “reward” for getting their work done. intense, my days become more unThey promise themselves they can eat predictable, and this affects my abilsomething once they’ve finished their ity to cook and take the time to eat. work, but because their work often takes longer than expected, they end up skipping meals for long stretches “Simply put, many stuof time. How did we get here? And struggle to why do we continuously put this pres- dents sure on each other when we know that eat proper meals. “ it’s so toxic? Why do we believe that we can’t have it both ways: be healthy and have time for everything else? All this being said, eating habits on campus are not completely toxic. I spoke with many students who said “...in order to be a that they still eat three proper meals true McGillian your a day. Nonetheless, I think our university’s eating neglects the ceremony of diet should be made the meal itself. So many of us prioriup of mostly samosas tize our studies over eating. It’s a chore, and Krispy Kremes.” something on the to-do list. Still, by bringing it to the forefront and taking the time to enjoy a meal, whatever that I entered university with what I would meal may be, it can give us the time consider a healthy relationship to- we need to socialize, debrief the day, wards food, good eating habits, and self-reflect, and just step away from taking the time to eat. I sat down with the mindset of academia. Many of us people and indulged, not only in a feel a little scattered when it comes to meal, but in a social experience, and food, but I truly believe that by bringI think that unfortunately so much of ing back some order to this part of our this routine has perished from my ev- lives and enjoying a nice meal with eryday life since coming to school — friends or even just with ourselves, especially after the security blanket of this will give us the daily rejuvenameeting up with friends in the dining tion that we need to take everything hall was taken away. Simply put, many McGill has to throw at us in stride. students struggle to eat proper meals.

When we are only accountable to our31

Twitter used to be the hub for memes, too-much-information life updates, the jokes of the day, or any other number of creative ideas one could fit within 140 characters.

Now, that has changed.

Today, the average Twitter feed is a sea of campaign slogans, mottos, and politically-charged comments from politicians and followers alike. It appears as though the face of democracy, as well as the right to free speech and discourse, have both been relegated to the (now 280 character) tweet at all levels of politics. From your local representative to the President of the United States, Twitter has become the new face of communication between the government and its people. What used to be fireside chats, emergency news reports, and radio specials has now been concentrated into tirades of tweets, which one can use to demand of politicians just about anything.

Over the last three years, we’ve experienced the shockwaves of US President Donald Trump’s presence online, the man who revolutionized “poli-tweets,” by declaring trade wars, policy changes, and attacks on other candidates through his Twitter page. In fact, a study by the Social Science Research Council found that anti-Muslim sentiment, a key talking point on President Trump’s twitter, has increased substantially on the platform in recent years. As such, some believe the politicization of Twitter is a positive thing - politicians have direct access to voters, free advertising, and can keep up 32

with social media. However, Twitter as a corporation no longer does. In fact, ahead of the 2020 election, one of the most important elections in modern times, Twitter will be banning all forms of political advertising on their platform— an effort posed to prevent micro-targeting and misleading information that can influence voters.

In his own Twitter thread, the company’s CEO Jack Dorsey stated that the ban follows the belief that a “political message should be earned, not bought.” Dorsey is referencing the ability to promote and sponsor particular messages, as candidates frequently do during campaigns. Dorsey states that moreover, this ban on political advertising isn’t about free expression, but is instead about paying for reach, and that “paying to increase the reach of political speech has significant ramifications that today’s democratic infrastructure may not be prepared to handle.”

Dorsey’s claims aren’t unfounded; as Twitter’s role in the 2016 American election cannot be understated.

Indeed, current US President Donald Trump is inextricably linked to

Twitter’s prominence in the political sphere. According to political science professor Barry Burden, President Trump’s “aggressive and unconventional use of the platform violated standard norms of campaigns by being uncivil, conspiratorial, or offensive.”

Consequently, Twitter has become the new face of political discourse and, as Pew Research Center writes, the Trump era has fueled “widespread polarization and partisan animosity”, especially for young adults, who now represent an equal share of the electorate as baby boomers.

Going into the 2020 US presidential election cycle, Twitter’s recent move has changed the game for politicians at all levels. Given that the site is now banning “platform messages” that include stances on environmental concerns, as well as abortion and other issues, candidates will be hard pressed to advertise in traditional ways which, as a country, will create quite the shift from what was seen in 2016.

In another corner of the room lies an equally dangerous facet of the politicization of technology: Facebook.

Once positioned as a popular and

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widespread way to share information or stray thoughts, a series of scandals throughout the past decade has peppered the company’s credibility with bullet holes, especially through the political lens. Facebook has been sharing personal data with third-party applications for several years, and while it has always been known to the public user body that this phenomenon occurs, the tangible effects of such a process were not clearly seen or dealt with until after the 2016 United States Presidential election.

Trump’s campaign team invested copious sums into Facebook advertisements, and with the help of a third-party company that harvested personal data from Facebook users, strategically targeted certain demographics with their political ads. The exposition of this process (via whistleblower, of course) brought into light the great dangers of holding private information online, but even more so, the great potential of the political world to gain an extra vote by any means necessary. The scandal even crossed international borders – it is infamously speculated that Russian involvement, in an effort to sway the most recent presidential election, was made possible only through the widespread power of social media.

Alas, the peaceful place where mothers and fathers tagged each other in archaic Internet quips has changed.

As the dust from the aftermath is still in the process of clearing, it seems as though the involvement of foreign countries, unethical use of private data, and deep involvement of the government in the ads we see on social media have successfully paved the way for more panic. Now that the long, cold arm of the political world has permeated the likes of Facebook and Twitter, a significant amount of unrest will pave the way for governmental involvement with social media.

ternet technology giants to limit or ban the presence of political ads on their platforms. In fact, a letter from campaigners and academics urged Facebook and Google to implement such a ban on these ads ahead of the impending elections, in lieu of a more complicated legislative motion. In light of Twitter’s recent choice, the pressure exerted on the tech giants is even greater. Despite the fact that Twitter has been praised for their moral decision to ban the ads, Mark Zuckerberg has “remained unchanged on his decision to continue hosting political content.” While he claims to be open to curbing the spread of false political information on Facebook, the results of this adamancy could be risky for a major election or movement. Ultimately, it could create significant friction between government, citizens, and firms. This friction represents the dawn of a new era – one where politics and technology have been forced to run parallel in a world where their perpendicularity can lead to serious consequences for both the public and private sectors.

Going forward, the name of the game will be regulation, bringing into focus the role that legislation plays in internet politics. As Dorsey stated in the aforementioned Twitter thread, Twitter will hold fast in their anti-politicization of the site until there are robust regulations in place to make sure that no candidate has an unfair advantage.

Dorsey believes that if regulations are put into place, they need to focus on advertisement transparency and conditions that can be applied across any election.

The question is: how can legislators make widely applicable laws to hold internet giants accountable?

If you’re anything like us, you could not help but laugh The upcoming set of elections in both when Congress the UK and the US will place an in- brought in Facecreasing amount of pressure on In- book CEO Mark

Zuckerberg and Google CEO Sundar Pichai for their respective senate hearings. It didn’t take long to realize that the majority of Congressmen and women had almost no clue how services like Twitter and Facebook even operated, much less how to regulate them. Today, technology is innovating at rates society has never seen before - and Congress just can’t keep up.

Columbia University Law Professor Tim Wu, also a columnist for the New York Times, mentioned that Facebook, among other online technology giants, “by tinkering with its rules for political ads, gives itself a special, unregulated power over elections”. Any governmental leverage supported by the digital media world, he claimed, builds major potential for corruption and false neutrality. Increasingly, the line between a once independent haven for personal opinion and the strong sway of the government is being blurred. We are witnessing such a high level of friction between technology and politics that the spillover into private and public sectors comes at the expense of the user. In reality, balancing the playing field and ensuring that the consumers of technology are not subject to conniving sways should be a top priority for all parties. Perhaps this is why the world is moving so rapidly to keep Congress off of the keyboard.

BUSINESS & TECH

In October, Gemini Man bombed at the box office.

With Will Smith playing a 51-year old assassin tasked with the job of killing Junior, his own 23 year-old clone, Gemini Man is packed with action and combat. It really makes you wonder how a one-man show can so convincingly portray two different people. Strategic camera angles, perhaps? Post-production editing?

Does Will Smith have a secret twin?

Well, the secret’s out. Junior isn’t played by a secret twin... nor is he played by Smith under layers of prosthetics and heavy makeup. In fact, he isn’t played by anyone at all. He is one hundred percent CGI, from his photogramatic skin pores to the manipulation. But with Zao, just one digital tears spilling from his eyes. selfie allowed you to insert your own face into hundreds of music video and Gemini Man’s reception was a tough movie clips. With the tap of a button, pill to swallow for acclaimed director you could trade places with LeonarAng Lee and A-list lead Will Smith. do DiCaprio, staring out at sea on the The movie’s global opening weekend Titanic. This subsequently kindled earnings totaled about $60 million, conversation on what would happen which doesn’t look good compared to when Deepfake creators move on from its $140 million budget. Seems like its generating celebrity pornography – groundbreaking high frame-rate tech- which accounts for over 96 percent of nology – which cost filmmakers tens of their current content right now. Will millions of dollars – didn’t exactly in- they become interested in manipuspire the public to flock to the theatres. lating democratic elections, bullying people, or slandering corporations?

New Zealand visual effects company Weta Digital spent hundreds of hours The amount of available Deepfake modelling and animating Junior. But content has doubled in the last year, the people may be justified for their making questions around the furelative indifference over these inno- ture of this technology more imvations. After all, stuff like this has portant than ever. And the price of been done before, for a minute frac- innovation in realism is dropping tion of the cost. For example a par- too... exponentially. In as little as ody remake of The Matrix that was ten years, Weta Digital’s fancy high uploaded by a single Deepfake creator frame-rate CGI will be an expectwho goes by “Sham00K”. Or the viral ed service for the graphics industry.

Chinese app Zao, which exploded last month when it launched on the App In the same way blogging changed Store. It was controversial for many the traditional publication industry, reasons. Previously, Deepfake had only Deepfake is making CGI accessireally been used on celebrities and ble to the average Joe. Anyone with public figures, who have a wealth of a smartphone can use Zao and have image and video data available online. a laugh. But where Deepfake differs from blogging is its near total lack of This data could then easily lend itself to monetizable opportunity. It’s hard to 34

imagine the currently underground operation being structured to fit into any business model, or receive corporate sponsorship. Of course, the free, open-source nature of the software is also a major roadblock to commercialization. This means there is no incentive to develop and improve the technology – unless perhaps you are a fan of Scarlett Johansson. Weta Digital was certainly paid for their efforts in large sums for Gemini Man, but is Hollywood the only place for Deepfake? Can CGI be democratised, if you will, for the use of everyday people?

This is where things can get interesting. Companies like Facebook and Google have all been trying to improve Deepfake detection for a while now, primarily with aim to deter the proliferation of “fake news” articles on their sites. But they can take this further, and help bring Deepfake in the right direction. Perhaps one day we may see upgrades to Snapchat Bitmoji or Apple Memoji, or even physical representations of voice assistants like Alexa and Siri. Few know what other applications this software could have in our world, but the future certainly looks bright. So long as we use it for good.

So, dear Deepfake creators, please don’t be evil.

BUSINESS & TECH

A commute through Montreal is never complete without seeing one of those bright orange trottoir barré signs. Closed sidewalks, blocked roads, crumbling potholes, and loud drilling are just some of the inconveniences caused by the city’s seemingly never-ending construction projects.

Not only are these projects poorly planned, understaffed, and underfunded, but behind the scenes, contract-rigging has led to widespread annoyance due to citywide construction.

Rush hour is inevitable where there is construction. Shifts end at the same time that traffic begins to build up, requiring police and construction workers to direct discontinuous traffic flow through congested lanes. These standstills lead to decreased productivity and lateness, yet when there is low traffic at night, many construction crews are not working, as the “industry is working at full capacity” according to the Association de la Construction du Québec (ACQ) and does not have enough workers to cover shifts. The ACQ projects that roughly 20,000 more workers are needed to meet project demand over the next decade. As project demand continues to increase, so does Quebec’s infrastructure budget deficit, expanding from $11.8 billion in 2015 to $16.4 billion today. Large projects are getting their required funding, therefore tightening budget constraints for small maintenance projects, decreasing workforce size and efficiency, and lengthening required dead-

lines. How contracts are chosen for funding, however, has been exposed as an unfair process in Montreal.

This September, a $26 million lawsuit was filed against Frank Zampino, the former second-in-command at Montreal City Hall, and construction tycoon Tony Accurso. Documents indicate that Zampino would award Accurso and his businesses with city construction contracts in exchange for political and other favours. These contracts were rigged to increase bid prices, providing major profits for Accurso’s companies, and then would be delayed or cancelled, creating advantages for individuals at the expense of Montreal’s citizens. Zampino has also been sued in other city-based cases, such as a $14 million suit for a cancelled water meter contract. Engineering consulting firms were also accused of involvement in the collusion and contract-rigging scandal. A judge has stayed proceedings against Zampino for potentially illegal wire-tap recordings used against him as evidence. The Crown is looking to appeal this decision and proceed further with the trial.

development is the planned construction of Montreal’s largest luxury condo tower and complex, Maestria. The environmentally responsible project will feature two towers of approximately 60 stories each, connected with a skybridge and overlooking the Quartier des Spectacles. In addition, there will be restaurants and retail spaces open to the entire MontreThe Charbonneau Commission, a al community. As the housing marpublic inquiry into the construction ket in Montreal continues to boom, contract-awarding process in Que- perhaps this stunning project can bec, has claimed that allegedly cor- lead the way to fair and thoroughly rupt firms have since been flushed planned construction in the future. from the system and that the province now needs to effectively plan how to proceed with new and upcoming contracts and projects. A promising 35

BUSINESS & TECH

ery of the content is unimportant to the challenges of the firm’s operations. Compared to YouTube, one of the most well-known content distribution platforms, which has a daily viewership of 30 million users, it is obvious that MindGeek is a powerhouse of online content distribution. With their ever-growing tech opportunities, MindGeek has even branched out into virtual reality, and pushes the envelope in terms of development of immersive content.

integrated, with companies such as PornHub, Brazzers, and RedTube under their control. MindGeek’s Most of us living in the city of Mon- reach is global, with its employees treal are well aware that it houses an spread across offices in the US, Cyincredibly robust technology sector, prus, Romania, Canada, and the UK. with many international firms choosing to base their regional operations At first glance, it is difficult to ascerin the city. On top of this, there is an tain what exactly MindGeek does. ever-growing list of start-ups being On their website, they say that their founded in the city on a daily basis. mission is “to deliver a world-class portfolio of entertainment experiencHowever, many may not recognize es and IT solutions to a global cusMindGeek, one of the lesser-known tomer base.” They don’t mention that tech giants of Montreal. A Montre- the “entertainment experiences” they al-founded pornography conglom- offer are of the pornographic variety. erate now based in Luxembourg, MindGeek is a behemoth in the The true challenges of operating the billion-dollar pornography industry. MindGeek websites, which receive While the name may be unknown, a total traffic exceeding 115 million the properties owned by the com- users daily, are at their core issues of pany are expansive and vertically technological logistics. The deliv-

Not only are they further developing content delivery methods and experience types, MindGeek also has access to one of the largest pools of user data. Through tracking of user movements and browsing, MindGeek tailors their plethora of content to the interest of the user, further boosting views and revenue. Due to their vertical integration of distribution and production, as well as their technological prowess, they deliver tailor-made content more effectively than other online distributors.

The relatively low costs of video production in the pornography industry make it much easier for MindGeek to quickly produce content that their users seek. PornHub, for example, which accounts for approximately 100 million of the 115 million daily MindGeek website users, has one of the most transparent data analysis operations of any content delivery company. The site provides daily updates on recent search trends, user behavior, and more.

Despite the taboo surrrounding discussion of erotic matter, MindGeek has become one of the most powerful players in the online content delivery field, and is a strong competitor in the field of technology within Montre al.

Their abilities in technological growth, traffic support, and data analytics are evidence that while we may not talk about them often, perhaps we should.

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Credit: Drake Wong

Credit: Drake Wong

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