Vol 56 Issue 18

What you need to know about the TMSU’s past couple of weeks

By Gabriela Silva Ponte

The Toronto Metropolitan Students’ Union (TMSU) kicked off its election season on Feb. 21 with a nomination period, where candidates collect nominations to be eligible for candidacy.

Aside from elections, the students’ union had its fair share of news this week, including two resignations, five removals of members and allegations of a “toxic” work environment.

Here’s everything you need to know about the TMSU over the past two weeks:

February BoD meeting

The TMSU held its February Board of Directors (BoD) meeting on Feb. 24. The meeting was initially announced to begin at 1 p.m. but the time was moved up by one hour without notifying the media or the public, as previously reported by The Eyeopener

This violated Section 4.18 of the TMSU bylaws which state the public must be given notice and an agenda 72 hours in advance of its BoD meetings.

After a concern was raised by Faculty of Science director Shirin Kalavi regarding increased security on campus, the students’ union went on to announce its ‘No Cops on Campus’ campaign was not discussed by Board members prior to its release to the public.

Several Board members shared their dissatisfaction with the campaign, after which TMSU president Marina Gerges told the Board that the students’ union would be taking a different course of action.

“We cannot provide such a campaign and disregard all of the sexual assaults,” said Gerges. “It’s very im-

portant to acknowledge everyone’s problem and it will be so selfish if we think that we can provide a solution [on our own].”

The TMSU set the date for the Annual General Meeting for Apr. 12 from 6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

It amended Section 9 of its Election Procedures Code to change ‘independent’ election candidates to be listed as ‘non-slate’ on this year’s ballots in the hopes of avoiding confusion.

Lastly, the TMSU announced it would be partnering with Adobe to offer a discounted price on the Creative Cloud suite of softwares for all Toronto Metropolitan University students. The price would be $78 to $100 CAD per year, according to vice-president operations and finance chair Spyros Zarros.

BoG representative resigns

On Feb. 28, The Eye reported that Board of Governors representative Joel Kuriakose resigned from the TMSU’s BoD.

In an emailed resignation sent to TMSU executive director Reanna Maharaj and obtained by The Eye, Kuriakose said his time at the TMSU had been “quite difficult.”

He alleged in a call with The Eye that the current union claims he was abandoning his role as a TMSU member, however, he alleged he was consistently left in the waiting room of the Board’s Zoom meetings.

Kuriakose said in the call that he hoped to resign prior to March 2, where he said he was going to be removed from the TMSU by impeachment on the grounds that he had “abandoned” his role.

TMSU puts forward motion to ‘abandon’ five members

The TMSU put forward a motion to remove five BoD members due to abandonment of office at 6:20 p.m. on Feb. 28.

The five members—Arts director Kiera Gray, Board of Governors (BoG) representative Joel Kurikose, Faculty of Community Services director Zroha Khalid, Ted Rogers School of Management director Aman Mathur and April West— were accused of “abandoning” their duties to the Board.

Student groups director Ayra Rajpaul resigned before the abandonment motion was put forward, as previously reported by The Eye Gerges told The Eye that she received Rajpaul’s intention to resign on Feb. 1, but there was a clerical error adding it to the February BoD agenda.

The Eye was not aware of the motion to abandon when it was moved and was later informed on March 1.

Section 4.15 of the TMSU bylaws states that members that fail to attend three consecutive meetings or any four meetings of the Board can be removed on the basis of abandonment by a two-thirds majority vote and “shall be deemed to have delivered their resignation.”

According to Section 4.4 of the TMSU bylaws, any individual that has “abandoned, been impeached or dismissed as a Director” is “ineligible for the Board of Directors.”

Kuriakose sent his letter of resignation to TMSU executive director Reanna Maharaj at 11:50 p.m. on Feb. 28, as previously reported by The Eye Zarros told The Eye in an email that

it was inaccurate to report that Kuriakose resigned from his position while the Board was in an active vote to consider his position abandoned.

He said Kuriakose resigned after it was made clear that Board members were being removed in accordance with the bylaws.

TMSU removes BoD members

The Board was given until 7 p.m. on March 1 to vote on the removal of the five BoD members.

The TMSU passed the motion to remove with two-thirds majority of the vote, as previously reported by The Eye

VP equity resigns

Vice-president equity Areesha

Qureshi resigned from the TMSU effective immediately at 3:31 p.m. on March 3.

As previously reported by The Eye, she cited a “toxic” work environment, difficulty getting projects off the ground in addition to “mis-management and political in-fighting” as reasons for her resignation.

“I hope that my resignation sheds

some light on constant mis-management and political in-fighting at the TMSU,” said Qureshi, in an emailed statement to The Eye

She alleged that during her term, neither she nor the Equity Service Centre staff received support from the rest of the team. “It has been a constant struggle to get any initiatives off the ground,” said Qureshi.

Gerges said it is “disappointing to see that [Qureshi] is making these claims after her resignation,” in an emailed statement sent to The Eye in response to the allegations.

“It is also unfortunate that [Qureshi] has resigned based on incorrect claims similar to those of a previous Board Member,” she said.

Gerges told The Eye in an email that the Board would be considering appointing a faculty director as interim vice-president equity in Qureshi’s place.

“Filling the position at this point in time does not leave much room for someone to learn about the TMSU and develop their own initiatives with less than two months remaining,” Gerges said in her email.

TMU catalyst to train 100 Ukrainians in Cybersecurity this spring

involved with the Cybersecure Catalyst. Finlay did not confirm any specific instructors but said “they are the same industry experts that we work with in delivering our workforce training abroad or at the Cybersecure Catalyst in Brampton [Ont.].”

By Jake MacAndrew

The Rogers Cybersecure Catalyst at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) announced it will train 100 Ukrainians living in Ukraine to become cybersecurity professionals starting in early 2023, according to a Feb. 10 media release.

Participants will learn foundational cybersecurity training including: operating systems, data storage, logic, programming and networking, according to Charles Finlay, the executive director of the Cybersecure Catalyst. The program

will feature the introductory information necessary to becoming a cybersecurity operator—a job Finlay said is vital in Ukraine to advance economic development.

“Providing this kind of foundational workforce training to economically displaced Ukrainians is one way that we can contribute to the reconstruction of the technology sector in Ukraine,” he said. “And in that way, support the reconstruction of that country.”

Ukrainian individuals will be trained virtually by an international network of industry professionals

The pilot project is in partnership with cybersecurity company Information Systems Security Partners (ISSP) and the Government of Ukraine’s Ministry of Digital Transformation, according to Finlay. He also confirmed the program could start as early as the end of March and will be 10 to 12 weeks in duration.

David Shipley, a cybersecurity expert and the CEO of Beauceron Security, a company aimed at teaching the threat of cyber attacks through computer based training, said having more people learn about cybersecurity is crucial to keeping important information safe and in control.

“We want to create a future where humans feel comfortable and confident being in control of the technology they use and rely on every day—

that’s the key part of cybersecurity,” said Shipley, who was also a part of the first cohort of students from the Catalyst back in 2020.

Shipley added it is important for Ukrainians to continue to develop cybersecurity skills because there are usually no initial warnings to an effective cyberattack.

Notably, more than 230,000 residents of Western Ukraine were affected by a power outage in the winter of 2015 after suspected Russian hackers shut down the regions power grid, according to a report by the Council on Foreign Relations.

Shipley said many of the cyberattacks Ukraine experiences are political messages designed to assert Russia’s dominance.

“[Information Technology] was becoming an important part of Ukraine’s economy prior to the invasion, and certainly as they continue to face attempts by Russia to to mitigate the defenses they put in place,” said Shipley. “There are practical lessons, skills and technologies they can develop that will be beneficial as they

recover over the next few years.”

At the launch of the pilot on Feb. 10, Catalyst staff were joined by president Mohamed Lachemi, vicepresident Research and Innovation Steven N. Liss, Canadian Minister of Foreign Affairs Melanie Joly and Sonia Sidhu, the member of parliament for Brampton South.

“The [Cybersecurity] Catalyst responded to international calls to support the economic reconstruction of Ukraine and is well-positioned to help in these efforts. I am very proud of this new program and the positive impact it will make in the lives of those who have suffered so greatly over the last year,” said Lachemi in an emailed statement sent to The Eyeopener Finlay said the program is just beginning and that there is room to grow.

“Our hope is that with support from other partners, we can expand the program and continue to program after the current days and build it into something that’s really important and helpful for Ukraine and Ukrainians,” said Finlay.

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Bossed-up badmintonists bounce birdies in Kerr Hall takeover

By Dexter LeRuez

The Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) Bold badminton team finished seventh in the 2023 Ontario University Athletics (OUA) Badminton Championship at Kerr Hall Upper Gym.

The three-day event, which TMU hosted for the first time since 2018, was capped off with the Bold’s 7-3 victory over the University of Guelph (U of G) Gryphons to secure seventh place on Feb. 19.

“It’s always more exciting for the home team,” said fourth-year badminton player Yufei ‘Fred’ Yin. “It just feels like [your] home court, and you want to win more.”

Despite the home court advantage, TMU had tough competition in their pool. They started their tournament losing 7-3 to the McMaster University Marauders, followed by a 10-0 sweep courtesy of eventual champions, the York University Lions, to end their Friday.

Saturday didn’t start much better for the Bold, who lost 9-1 against the University of Waterloo Warriors, who finished second in the tournament, in their third pool match.

tario Tech University Ridgebacks.

The Bold’s home-court advantage was finally evident in their last qualification tie as the home team took the series 7-3 to guarantee a spot in Sunday’s match.

“Home-court advantage was definitely a necessity,” said TMU assistant coach Ra Seang. “Our lighting system is not the greatest but we took advantage of it, and we got a few good wins off of those.”

Following their win, the TMU players could “stretch, rest and actually prepare themselves for tomorrow,” according to TMU head coach Elena Ng.

made our players play more to the open spots rather than toward them and I definitely think that helped us gain the momentum and the win.”

But scouting wasn’t the only reason for the Bold’s success. Performances from some of the Bold’s standout talent was required to overcome the odds. Players like Jane Zhou, who secured victories in women’s singles and doubles action, or second-year Ivan Li, who had two wins in men’s doubles both played very well for the Bold at the tournament.

But it was first-year Tanish Labha who shined the brightest for the Bold. Tanish went 2-1 in men’s singles action and collected another big win in men’s doubles during TMU’s seventh-place match.

Ng’s break from action consisted of analyzing the Ridgebacks’ match against the University of Guelph Gryphons, a game to determine the Bold’s opponent on Sunday.

The coaching staff’s decision to scout the Gryphons proved valuable as U of G would face TMU for seventh place in the tournament following their 8-2 victory over the Ridgebacks.

In their final match against Guelph, the Bold’s knowledge of their opponent’s playstyle was pivotal as TMU cruised to a 7-3 win to finish the tournament in seventh.

Despite the poor start, there was still hope for the Bold, who’d play for seventh if they could defeat the On-

“We definitely exploited more of their weakness in terms of overall court coverage,” said Seang. “[We]

“Tanish would probably be the most improved [player],” said Seang. “This was, I believe, his first year in the OUA setting. He played some tough matches and he actually came through.”

Although the Bold had promising performances, the team fell short of their pre-tournament aspirations.

“We wanted to go out in sixth, to be honest,” said Seang. “That’s our standard but with seventh, that’s still a win on our end.”

Elsewhere, the 2023 OUA Badminton Championship saw a new champion for the first time since 2016. The University of Toronto Varsity Blues’ six-year championship streak ended as men’s MVP, Victor Lai and the York Lions took home their first banner since 2009. Additionally, the University of

Western Mustangs showed upward momentum in 2023. Led by women’s MVP Jacqueline Cheng, the Mustangs defeated the Varsity Blues in a 6-4 barnburner to claim first place in Pool A.

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These shifts in the hierarchy of OUA badminton have made some in the Bold camp fear that the OUA tournament may be more difficult in the coming years.

“OUA next year will probably be even rougher knowing that there were some upsets earlier on,” said Seang. “The seeding is going to be not in our favour for next year.”

Additionally, roster instability may be on the minds of the Bold heading into next year. Four players from the Bold’s OUA championship roster are in their fourth and fifth years of eligibility. TMU may need to lean on its club roster or incoming talent to fill those vacant slots.

The TMU badminton team will host tryouts next fall for those students who are looking to get into badminton at the club or team level. Tryouts are open to all full-time TMU students.

“Hopefully for the tryouts for next year, we will see some amazing rookies and juniors come in,” said Seang. “That’s up to the gods, unfortunately, if they chose TMU.”

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“It just feels like [your] home court, and makes you want to win more”

“Our lighting system is not the greatest, but we took advantage of it”

“That’s up to the gods, unfortunately, if they chose TMU”

DON’T FU*K WITH OUR FREEDOM

By Negin Khodayari

While I’m lucky enough that my womanhood has not yet been a direct threat to my livelihood, I know all too well that not every woman is as privileged as I am.

I had just turned nine years old the first time I learned of a woman who had been killed overseas for just that—being a woman and protesting for her rights. And while at that young age I may not have entirely understood why that happened—and perhaps I still don’t—the death of Neda Agha-Soltan, an Iranian woman whose murder at the hands of the government was captured on camera in 2009, instilled a rage in me that will not settle until we are all free.

Now 14 years later, not much has changed. Women in my motherland are still fighting for their basic freedoms and I am once again watching them in awe from across the globe.

At 22 years old, I witnessed the uproar over the murder of Zhina (Mahsa) Amini spread as it echoed around the world in the name of ‘women, life, freedom’—one of the most chilling but beautiful slogans I have ever heard. And so, here I am at 23 years old still trying to grasp why this has happened and how it’s still happening. Why can the mere location of where a woman is born dictate her entire worth as a human being?

Iran is just one example of where women’s freedoms are threatened, but there’s no need to travel far to see the injustices we continue to face in this day and age. In June 2022, Roe v. Wade—the 1973 landmark legislation that made access to an abortion a federal right—was overturned just south of the border, in a coun-

try that prides itself on its freedoms and makes promises of a glorious life. As a woman who grew up in a foreign country with the notion that I was safer here in the West, witnessing women not too far from me lose autonomy over their own bodies was particularly disheartening.

In Canada, we continue to learn about the mistreatment of Indigenous women. In 2022, the National Inquiry of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls found that statistics consistently show that rates of violence against Métis, Inuit and First Nations women, girls and 2SLGBTQIA+ people are much higher than for non-Indigenous women in Canada. And despite calls for justice, the genocide against Indigenous women in this country is ongoing.

Additionally, according to the 2019 General Social Survey (GSS) on Canadians’ Safety, half of the surveyed Black women had experienced discrimination in the past five years in Canada, as opposed to 42 per cent of the surveyed Black men. In contrast, only 20 per cent of women who were neither Indigenous nor presented as visible minorities were discriminated against, suggesting Black women were targeted on the basis of their skin colour.

In Quebec, Bill 21 bars civil workers in positions of authority from wearing religious symbols at work. A law that may not directly target women but mainly affects women in religious minorities like Islam, ultimately dictating how they can dress and threatening their freedom of choice and expression.

Also in North America, Queer and Trans rights have been at risk for generations. On March 2 in the U.S., a bill passed banning minors

under 18 from receiving gender-affirming care in Tennessee, according to the state’s General Assembly. The bill sees that doctors will be prohibited from prescribing hormones, among other forms of health care, for transgender minors.

While the American Civil Liberties Union and Lambda Legal, a 2SLGBTQIA+ civil rights organization, say they would sue to stop the legislation from being enforced, there is no guarantee they will be successful.

This is proof of the hurdles women regularly endure as our freedoms continue to be threatened globally in 2023.

In spite of all this—or as a consequence of it—I believe women everywhere are tied together with an invisible bond, weaved from our understanding of the oppression the other has endured and the strength it has taken to overcome it. Regardless of age, nationality, race, sexual orientation or religion, every woman is bound to share a common experience that stems purely from being a woman today.

So when I learned this issue would come out the week of International Women’s Day, I simply couldn’t resist. I’ve been given a chance to showcase women from all walks of life and share perspectives that are not discussed often enough.

The Women Issue aims to pull back the curtain on our experiences as women and non-binary folks in the modern world. I want every woman to see part of themselves represented in this issue. Once you’ve finished reading, I hope you’ve learned something new, found pride in your journey and reignited your passion to fight for women’s rights—wherever it may be.

I’m dedicating this issue to the brave women and non-binary folk around the world who continue to fight for their basic human rights and freedoms

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RE-SHAPING FEMINISM TO CENTRE BLACK WOMEN

ized, more likely than not,” she explains. “That was something I couldn’t do for a long time because I knew I don’t have the same creative liberties as white women do because my body, for some reason, is not my own.”

Reece says the reason Black women’s bodies are so hypersexualized is because of the emphasis placed on certain body parts that society tends to focus on.

“The way in which our bodies are drawn are seen as caricatures with larger breasts and you know, bigger rear ends,” Reece says. “So, there’s this whole narrative around the way in which our bodies are objectified in a particular way as well.”

The lack of acceptance surrounding Black women’s bodies is rooted in how Black communities also view Black women.

In a 2017 thesis titled “Exploring misogynoir and Black male patriarchy through sexual double standards,” Mariah Elizabeth Webber said, “Black men’s ability to objectify and label Black women negatively for sexual expression while simultaneously being lauded for their own sexual conquests is a direct result of patriarchal ideology.”

By Bana Yirgalem

The feminist movement has always been a “double-edged” sword for Shaniqua Mayers.

The fourth-year language and intercultural relations student at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) says although it’s fantastic to support women, she often finds that traditional feminism fails to adequately support Black women like herself.

Mayers says, oftentimes, people don’t understand the nuances of intersectionality when it comes to feminism. She says there’s a presumption that you’re a woman before you’re a person of colour. “Which is not true because people will look at your race first before they look at your gender,” she says.

Mayers is not alone in feeling this way. Many Black women at TMU say most of the Western feminist activism they’re around isn’t designed to include them.

To understand the lack of intersectionality in feminism, it’s important to look at the roots of the movement.

An article in New America—a American thinktank—discusses how early feminism was adopted by white women to better the lives of white women only.

The article states that in the 1960s and 1970s, the National Organization for Women—the leading white feminist organization in the U.S.—was working on providing a wider outreach within corporate and political stand points for white women, excluding marginalized women.

the gender hierarchy.”

Professor and activist Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term “intersectionality” in 1989 in the context of race and gender equality.

She says, “Intersectionality is a metaphor for understanding the ways that multiple forms of inequality or disadvantage sometimes compound themselves and create obstacles that often are not understood among conventional ways of thinking.”

When Crenshaw coined the term, white feminists were forced to confront how their feminism excluded the unique experience of being a Black woman.

Rai Reece, an associate professor in the sociology program at TMU who specializes in Canadian Black feminism, says the experiences of Black women aren’t supported enough in the feminist movement.

Reece says the early white feminists of Western society were concerned about issues in spaces that could help white women thrive while leaving Black women unsupported and unrepresented, like when fighting for the right to vote.

“While there may be gender commonalities because of misogyny or the targeting of sexism and racism against Black bodies, Black women do not walk through the world and don’t have access to the same resources that white women do,” says Reece.

Black women are also known to be overly sexualized compared to white women, especially in popular culture.

Khloé Kardashian, a non-Black woman who profits off flaunting Black physical features, like her breasts, lips and rear end, is praised in the media for redefining beauty standards. While Black celebrities like Chloe Bailey, a naturally thick Black woman who expresses body positivity, is shamed for it.

The thesis explains many Black men go by this ideology because Black boys are encouraged by society to engage in sexual activities to prove their sexuality, while Black girls would be called degrading terms for doing the same.

Rhianna Barrett, a third-year sociology student at TMU, used to be a hardcore feminist before realizing she didn’t benefit from supporting the movement since she felt it didn’t cater to Black women.

Barrett says society’s perception of Black women is rooted in misogyny as a whole, but is layered with misogynoir on top of that. According to Dictionary.com, misogynoir refers to “the specific hatred, dislike, distrust, and prejudice directed toward Black women.”

She also says Black women are particularly sexualized from a young age. “When we’re younger, you can’t flat iron your hair, you can’t wear red nail polish, you’re seen as being fast, as being suggestive,” says Barrett. “As much as it’s an everyone problem, the Black community also festers [this] in its own way.”

Although society has been working to give women more spaces where they can feel accepted, that may never be the case for Black women who feel they have to continuously push to create their own safe spaces since no one else will do it for them.

Barrett believes racism is overlooked and not acknowledged within the feminist movement and says change won’t happen unless people deeply understand racism in the movement toward Black women.

And within this Western feminist movement, the experiences of Black women have been overlooked. In her book, Black sexual politics: African Americans, gender and the new racism , author Patricia Collins argued that “these prescriptive ideals represent a normative yardstick for all femininities in which Black women are relegated to the bottom of

“No matter what Black women do with their bodies, society will always have a problem with the decisions they choose to make,” says Mayers. “It’s either we’re not feminine enough or we’re too feminine in our being sexually overt and it makes no sense to me.”

Mayers adds that she has refrained from posting body-positivity photos of herself online because if she did, she knows people would comment negatively on her posts.

“Had I posted on a public platform, I would’ve been sexual-

She says no one wants to look within and realize, “Hey, there’s a lot of work that needs to be done in the movement to be more accepting to people before you can have any proper change.”

While some TMU students think feminism should focus on keeping white women accountable for their part in upholding misogynoir in society, Reece believes Black women need to be centered within conversations involving feminism.

“We need to expand our understanding of what the feminist movement actually looks like and what it entails and how it’s defined,” says Reece. “Black women should be at the centre of any discussions around feminism.”

Black women at TMU say the Western feminist movement isn’t designed to include them

“It’s either we’re not feminine enough, or we’re too feminine in our being sexually overt”

“People will look at your race before they look at your gender”

ELANA EMER/KONNOR KILLORAN/KINZA ZAFAR/ THE EYEOPENER

‘A SCARE TACTIC’

Content warning: This article contains mentions of abortion

Amelia Parks* vividly remembers sitting in the old, grey house-turned-clinic in Cabbagetown, feeling completely alone after her abortion last year. With the lack of overall information about the procedure and pressure to keep what she was doing quiet, Parks describes it as a “terrible” and “traumatizing” experience.

“I was working full time. I had to take three days off of work, which was really difficult because I couldn’t tell people what I was doing,” she says.

Now, when Parks walks by anti-abortion campaigners on Gould Street, she immediately feels unsettled by the picketers wielding signs with photos they claim depict aborted fetuses.

Seeing these signs at school proves difficult for Parks.

“It’s super triggering to see on campus,” says the masters student at Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU).

For TMU students who frequent Gould Street, facing these anti-abortion campaigns can be jarring, triggering and make them feel unsafe at their own school. A place meant to be a safe space quickly becomes hostile and uncomfortable when seeing their gory, misinformed signs.

University of Toronto assistant professor at the FactorInwentash Faculty of Social Work with research expertise in reproductive justice, Stephanie Begun says anti-abortion protestors are misinformed and try to incite fear and control with their actions.

“These graphic images aren’t even really depicting what happens in the process of abortion. It’s a scare tactic. It’s about control,” Begun says.

TMU students say antiabortion protestors incite fear and spread misinformation

Words by Samira Balsara

Visuals by Kinza Zafar and Vanessa Kauk

In fact, one expert in a CTV article from 2014 stated many of the photos of “fetuses” used by these campaigners are actually computer-generated photoshopped images.

Parks argues the same point, saying all of the campaigners’ claims are full of misinformation.

“They have incorrect signage,” she says. “None of them could tell you the proper way to calculate the gestation of a fetus… They have no idea how that works.” reached out to Toronto Against Abortions (TAA), an anti-abortion group which has been campaigning on public property at TMU since 2016, according to its president Blaise Alleyne. Alleyne says the TAA exercises its Charter rights to show photos of “healthy pre-born children in the womb, and of children who have been decapitated, dismembered or disemboweled by abortion” to prove their stance that abortion is an act of violence and to “call for peace.”

However, Parks says these demonstrations don’t leave any room for a safe discussion surrounding these topics.

“These protesters being allowed on campus just propagates this wall and inability for women to actually talk about these issues that everybody faces,” she says.

Centre after class when they encountered a group of antiabortion campaigners.

While Vashisht usually ignored the protestors, on this specific day she had the urge to say something. “It’s a woman’s choice,” she remembers telling one of the protestors when asked for her opinion on the matter. “That’s as simple as we put it,” she says.

But that one comment from Vashisht was enough to elicit the protestors. “They start asking these purposefully provoking questions to edge you on,” she says.

Eventually, a small crowd began to form and one of the campaigners made an analogy that Vashisht thought was “simply incorrect.” She says they kept saying “What if someone kills a one-year-old child?”

She was shocked to hear such a comparison.

“We’re now talking about a living, breathing self-operating human… versus a fetus—an organism that isn’t fully developed yet,” Vashisht says.

Many anti-abortion campaigns spread misinformation, such as claims that abortions cause infertility and breast cancer, a 2022 report from Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights reveals. One of the largest studies on breast cancer and abortions was published in the New England Journal of Medicine in the late ‘90s. It involved 1.5 million women and found no link between induced abortions and breast cancer. An updated look at this study from 2015 had similar findings.

In the fall semester of 2022, Khushy Vashisht, a secondyear journalism student, was standing at the intersection of Church and Gould streets with her friends waiting for the traffic lights to change so they could cross the road. They were leaving the Rogers Communications

Another common myth is that a significant number of women willingly choose to have late-term abortions. Data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the U.S. published in 2015 showed that two-thirds of all abortions were performed at or before eight weeks’ gestation and more than 90 per cent were performed at or before 13 weeks’ gestation. Less than one per cent of abortions were performed at or beyond 21 weeks, a 2019 study from the Kaiser Family Foundation, an

The Eyeopener out Toronto

American non-profit organization, found. The study also found that these late-term abortions are typically done due to medical concerns such as fetal anomalies or maternal life endangerment.

Dan Horner, an associate criminology professor at TMU with expertise and research in public space and political protests, says anti-abortion campaigners are looking to create doubt in people’s minds. He says anti-abortion protesters use “aggressive” and “jarring” tactics to push their point across. “They’re trying to plant that seed to raise doubts about whether people should have this procedure done. That’s really the goal here,” he says.

In the same comment to The Eye , Alleyne stated she understands some people disagree with the TAA’s message but said it stands by the accuracy of all the information it shares.

Vashisht says removing these protestors from campus would make her feel much more comfortable at school. This move has already been made at some schools. Due to misinformation being spread, Acadia University in Nova Scotia took it upon themselves to remove an antiabortion group posing as a pregnancy support group from its campus in 2018.

“The justification for pushing these activists off campus is actually that they are providing misinformation, especially around the medical claims… They’re baseless claims,” Horner says.

But when it comes to legally removing protestors from TMU campus, it can be tricky. “I think the governing bodies of the university, who tend to be very nervous people, don’t want to rock the boat. [They] don’t want to generate a lot of publicity,” Horner says. “They hesitate, even though it is within their rights.”

The anti-abortion campaigners are careful about where they physically stand at TMU, says Ronald Stagg, a professor in the history department with expertise in the history of social protest. “They’re careful, as far as I have seen, to stay on Gould Street,” Stagg says. He says since Gould Street is on City of Toronto’s public property, the groups are not technically trespassing.

The freedom of peaceful assembly is protected under section 2(c) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms. It includes the right to participate in peaceful demonstrations, protests, parades, meetings, picketing and other assemblies. It also protects the right to demonstrate on public streets.

In a statement to The Eye, TMU president Mohamed Lachemi said while he understands the presence of anti-abortion groups on campus can be upsetting to some students, the university can’t engage with them when they’re on public city property.

“We don’t own those streets and those [streets] are property of the City of Toronto,” he says. “And the City of Toronto does not require permits for people to protest.”

Lachemi said the presence of groups or protests on city property is not an endorsement from the university and TMU encourages students who feel impacted to access support through the Center for Student Development and Counseling.

Vashisht would like to see changes to make campus a more comfortable learning environment. “No one is here to be berated about their personal beliefs,” she says.

“No one is here to wait at a stoplight at an intersection to cross the road and have horrible comparisons and analogies screamed at them in their ear. If something can be done it needs to be done.”

she says.

Krueger adds that she doesn’t recall the exact words spoken to her because of the immediate panic that hit her as soon as the protesters yelled at her.

Krueger, now 23 and a recent graduate of TMU’s creative industries program, describes the encounter as a “horrible experience.” Looking back, she says she instantly froze during the altercation. “Ever since then, even just seeing them makes me uncomfortable.”

Krueger says these campaigns shouldn’t be allowed, noting that school is supposed to be a safe space and the protestors are negating that atmosphere. “The images they use… it can be very, very triggering…[for]anyone who has been through that.”

According to Begun, it’s very likely that these demonstrations will impact students who have had abortions. “Of course that’s going to be triggering and impactful to random passers by, just thinking statistically about how many people do experience and obtain abortions. It’s really part of our healthcare,” Begun says. “It’s common.”

A 2022 statistic from the Angus Reid Institute—a Canadian non-profit foundation committed to independent research—found that two in five Canadian women know a close friend or family member who has had an abortion, while one in six women have had an abortion themselves.

Begun also says the demonstrations happen on campus because they can target group of young people who are still learning. She added that it’s not uncommon for young women to be uninformed about reproductive services.

“I think it’s often a taboo topic. If it’s something that isn’t being talked about, perhaps readily at home, it certainly isn’t being talked about enough in an education system,” Begun says. “So the demise of sex education in Canada and the U.S. is just not covering this at the extent to which it represents an important part of people’s lives.”

Sex education has been under fire as of late. Here in Ontario, the Ford government repealed updated curriculum from 2015 and reinstated the version from 1998 in elementary schools five years ago. The 1998 version lacks concepts such as consent, online sexual safety and even the naming of body parts, a PDF of the curriculum reveals.

Nineteen states in the U.S. have an abstinenceonly sex education. These include Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, Utah and Wisconsin. Only seven states have mandates for sex education, reports from Planned Parenthood and World Population Review reveal.

Begun says schools will typically spend a day or two on the topic of contraceptives, for instance, and then move on. If a student misses that day, they likely will miss any information on reproductive services.

A 2019 report from Action Canada titled “The State of Sex-Ed in Canada,” found that many teens across the country did not know where to access sexually transmitted infection testing, what consent and safe sex looks like or where to access contraceptives. The report also found that teens felt that sex-ed only teaches “fear and shame,” while some call their sex education a “failure.”

Krueger says women’s health in general isn’t as much of a priority as it should be, especially women’s reproductive health. “We’re not taught enough about it.”

Looking back on her encounters with the anti-abortion campaigners on campus, Parks says she recognizes that since she’s a little older, it’s easier for her to deal with the demonstrations because she is more well informed than younger students.

“I know enough to not be upset. But if you were a vulnerable 17-year-old or 18-year-old undergrad student, that’s pretty awful to have on campus instead of having proper resources and education, especially for younger women,” she says.

While access to abortions and sex clinics are available in Toronto, it’s only accessible if you had prior knowledge to locate these services, Parks says.

“Who you are and where you live and what type of circumstances you come from will determine how accessible it is for you, even in Canada, which I think is something that people don’t really realize.”

According to Begun, the overturning of Roe v. Wade makes abortions inaccessible for many Americans, including young people and marginalized communities such as women of colour, people living in poverty and those living in rural areas.

“Those who already faced a lot of systemic barriers and discrimination in our healthcare system feel this even more intensely.” And while a major threat has been made on women’s healthcare just across the border, there is still “work to do” in Canada when it comes to reproductive rights, Begun says.

Canada became one of a small number of countries without a law restricting abortion in 1988, according to the National Abortion Federation of Canada. Now, abortion falls under provincial healthcare systems as a medical procedure, which means access to the procedure differs between provinces and territories.

One afternoon while walking to class in first year, Taite Krueger encountered anti-abortion campaigners outside the Sheldon and Tracy Levy Student Learning Centre. She was walking quite close to them when they asked her to come over and talk.

“I said I wasn’t interested. That sort of triggered them,”

Alongside a general lack of adequate sex education, reproductive rights have also recently been threatened in the U.S. In June 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, the 1973 landmark legislation that made access to an abortion a federal right. The decision tore apart half a century of legal protection and opened the option for individual states to diminish or ban abortion rights altogether, according to research from American University. Since then, 13 U.S. states have fully banned abortions, according to The New York Times.

Krueger says she feels uneducated about contraceptives like birth control and intrauterine devices, better known as IUDs. “There’s so much that we don’t actually know and that we don’t learn. That’s a huge issue,” she says.

“It’s not a constitutional right in Canada,” Begun warns. “Things could certainly change as governments and different parties come into power.”

While it may be a “taboo” topic, for Parks, who dealt with her abortion not too long ago, it’s important to talk about. “[An abortion] is not fun for anybody and [protesters] just make it worse. I don’t know anyone who wouldn’t describe it as not even slightly emotionally traumatizing.”

Parks says she wants to open more conversations about these experiences because it will inevitably help someone who may be feeling isolated and alone.

“It’s a health issue,” she says. “It’s literally basic healthcare and denying people access to that is straight up wrong.”

(MISS) DIAGNOSED

By Danielle Reid

At 21 years old, I had enough. I spent at least two days out of every month for the past six years in agonizing pain and it was getting hard to believe that this could be “normal.” It felt like my period was trying to kill me and I wasn’t going down without a fight.

I demanded that my doctor refer me to a gynecologist—or anyone that could help me.

I listed off my tumultuous menstrual history to my family doctor: the different medical professionals I had seen since I was 16 years old, classes I’d missed because I couldn’t get out of bed, prescription medications that did nothing for me, the ultrasounds and the 4 a.m. visit to the emergency room after excruciating pain that left me screaming because it was just too much to bear—all of it.

Once I finished my extensive list of complaints, we both sat in silence as he thoughtfully typed notes onto his computer. Finally, he spoke. He said he understood and appreciated that I wanted to see a gynecologist— whatever that means—and paused before asking earnestly, “Have you ever tried taking an Advil?”

Cut the cameras. Deadass.

I had first heard about endometriosis on social media.

Celebrities like Eve and Halsey were on daytime TV speaking about symptoms they had been living with for years that were dismissed as ‘just bad periods.’ According to the John Hopkins Medicine website, endometriosis is a painful disorder affecting about seven per cent of women in Canada, that occurs when endometrial tissue grows outside of the uterus instead of on the inside. Symptoms can include painful periods, heavy menstrual bleeding, possible pain during intercourse and infertility. While there are treatments available, many women, including some Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) students like myself, go undiagnosed because period pain is so normalized and receiving a definitive diagnosis can require a super-invasive procedure.

Currently, I have no formal diagnosis but it seemed odd that in all my time in and out of doctors’ offices complaining about the same issue, no one had raised endometriosis as a possible explanation for my pain.

When dealing with health issues, many women students at TMU echo a similar sentiment: they don’t receive the help they need when they need it.

Students say there is a lack of empathy and understanding from healthcare professionals, who instead of helping them with their ailments

and discovering the root causes of serious health issues, dismiss their accounts for menial reasons.

As women continue to shatter glass ceilings, there is one barrier that can often go overlooked. According to a 2000 study in the New England Journal of Medicine titled “Women and pain: Disparities in experience and treatment,” women often go misdiagnosed or undiagnosed by healthcare professionals either because their symptoms aren’t taken seriously or there isn’t enough research showing how diseases present differently in women versus men. The same study found that women are seven times more likely to be misdiagnosed and discharged in the middle of a heart attack because women have different symptoms altogether.

“Hormonal fluctuations through a [menstrual] cycle plays a lot of variables into what [researchers] are studying,” says Nicole Bendayan, a TMU grad and a certified holistic nutritionist who specializes in menstrual health in Spain. ”It’s a lot more variables, it’s a lot more expensive and it’s a lot more work.”

In a Washington Post article titled “From heart disease to IUDs: How doctors dismiss women’s pain,” author Lindsey Bever discusses how women’s pain is not treated the same way men’s pain is treated, because of the false belief that women are overly sensitive and exaggerate symptoms, causing their verbal complaints to be overlooked.

“Women who express their pain are deemed to have a higher threshold for pain, especially for Black women, so it takes them longer to get diagnosed,” says Bendayan.

This lack of treatment and understanding can have lasting impacts. Students say their negative experiences with misogynist healthcare professionals who dismiss their serious concerns, leave them feeling discouraged from seeking help.

“You don’t want to be presented with someone who doesn’t believe you and who dismisses you and tells you nothing’s wrong even though you know there is,” says Bendayan.

In November of her Grade 12 year, Marilyn Saad, a third-year child and youth care student at TMU became really sick. She was coughing and throwing up but by nature wasn’t the type to let sickness slow her down. She brushed it off—

thinking it was just a cold—but her mom eventually convinced her to go to the doctor.

Saad said she could hear a rattling as she breathed in and out and felt an unusual pain in her chest. But after checking with a stethoscope, her doctor assured her there was nothing to worry about.

The next morning, she woke up vomiting and as her chest pains became more severe, she was rushed to the emergency room.

What was dismissed as a cold by her physician actually turned out to be severe pneumonia.

“If you waited just a little bit longer, your left lung would have collapsed...you could have died,” she remembers the emergency room doctor saying.

This wasn’t the first time a physician had dismissed Saad. At the age of 13, she says she was having issues with her mental health. She decided to tell her family doctor she was feeling nervous and scared all of the time.

“He was like: ‘Are you sure you aren’t doing this for attention?’”

Saad says comments like this have had an effect on how she views her health now and caused her to seek validation about her symptoms from people around her.

“I get scared now and I feel like I need multiple opinions because the one person who is supposed to make informed decisions on my behalf is not fucking doing it.”

Kyra Jonker is a registered nurse in Kingston, Ont., who says she has seen medical sexism daily working in the emergency ward.

“You expect women to be expressive and dramatic, so if they’re tough, you don’t believe they’re in pain,” Jonker says.“But if they’re expressive they’re not really believed either.”

She says she even finds herself falling into this trap of overlooking women’s issues. She recalls a specific example where she assumed a woman’s chest pain was just anxiety but it was later revealed that the patient had a rare form of diabetes and her symptoms were causing her to be anxious.

“It’s so dangerous to make those assumptions,” Jonker says. “Would I have done the same thing if it was a guy? Maybe but maybe not because it’s so much easier to say it’s anxiety or women are dramatic.”

When Claudia Matas, a fourth-year performance production student, decided to seek help for her mental health, a friend recommended that she go through TMU counselling services for therapy. Matas filled out

all of the paperwork which asked if she had any preference of who she wanted to see and her only preference was to see a woman.

“I just trust a woman to understand what I’m going through and to empathize with me,” she says.

Matas shared her history of anxiety and depression with the counsellor and a recent car accident she had been in that had led to anxiety attacks and intrusive thoughts.

“I would explain things during the call and I would notice she wasn’t listening.”

Matas says the final line of the email read, “If there’s any problems, these guys will always help,” followed by the suicide hotline number. She says she is only just now reattempting to seek help through her family doctor. It has taken some time because, for her, the previous experience was so invalidating and made her feel like maybe she had been making everything up.

“I was just in this state of mind where I was like ‘Ok. I’m just lying and I won’t get any help. I can make it work.”

For Allie Burn, a recent fashion communications graduate from TMU, years of being undiagnosed for ankylosing spondylitis (AS) has had a long-lasting effect.

Rather than feeling relief, Matas hung up on that phone call feeling discouraged about it.

Days after their consultation, her counsellor sent an email with her final recommendations on how to proceed. To Matas’ disbelief, the counsellor had concluded that her symptoms did not demonstrate a need for immediate help.

According to Mental Health Research Canada, women under 25 are overrepresented among those with anxiety and depression but tend not to seek support because of the inability to pay or lack of insurance coverage.

The Eyeopener asked President Mohamed Lachemi about the students’ negative experiences with the university’s counselling. He said while he’s sorry to hear these experiences, TMU counselling services are open to feedback. “The student wellbeing team is always looking to improve and increase health and wellbeing support for all students,” he said.

AS is an autoimmune disease that, according to Mayo Clinic, can cause your bones and joints to fuse over time.

For Burn, the road to diagnosis wasn’t quick or easy.

She began experiencing unusual symptoms around the time she turned 16 including joint pain, redness in her eyes and sores in her mouth that prevented her from speaking and eating. She had seen a few doctors who began treating each of her symptoms individually, concluding that her red eyes were just chronic pink eye and her sores could be explained by a vitamin deficiency.

Eventually, she was referred by a campus doctor to a rheumatologist, a doctor who specializes in the treatment of muscles, bones and joints.

“[Seeing the specialist] was my first experience with feeling like I was not listened to at all,” Burn says.

Read the full story at thewomenissue.theeyeopener.com

Being unheard and uncared for in healthcare is a stark reality many TMU women face

“It felt like my period was trying to kill me and I wasn’t going down without a fight”

“‘Are you sure you aren’t doing this for attention?’”

KONNOR KILLORAN/THE EYEOPENER

do i have eldest immigrant daughter syndrome?

By Kinza Zafar

Trigger warning: This story contains mentions of domestic violence and suicide

My experience as a first-born daughter to first-generation immigrant parents is one you more than likely wouldn’t expect.

At 16-years-old, my mother arrived to Canada forced into marriage with a man 12 years her senior. I was born two years later, predisposed to a plethora of challenges that permanently altered my biology, from growing up incapable of expressing myself to living with chronic anxiety and depression.

My future was laid out for me. I would complete the legally mandated amount of public education and then be traded from one man—my father—to another chosen for me. This wasn’t just little Kinza’s future but was also the past and present of my mother, grandmothers and great-grandmothers before me. After surviving over a decade of abuse, when I was 10 years old, my mother escaped with my younger sister and I. From that point on, my story’s ending was erased, waiting to be rewritten by my hands.

Though the abuse and violence had ended and we were in a safe home, the trauma that bound the three of us never left. Instead, it shaped me to hide my emotions as to not burden my mother and also conditioned me to step into a care-taking role for my family.

This went beyond merely walking my fiveyears-younger sister to the bus stop, packing lunches or giving advice. It transformed into 10-year-old me helping unpack trauma, consoling my family in times of distress and challenging generations of normalized violence. As a result of continued exposure to domestic violence, I was diagnosed with complex posttraumatic stress disorder at the age of 16.

Dr. Suzanne Archie, a psychiatrist and professor at McMaster University, says when children witness abuse, they themselves experience it. “That trauma can create physiological changes,” she said. “Children are sponges.”

My mom’s memoir, A Good Wife: Escaping

the Life I Never Chose includes “Kinza quotes,” which are words I said as a young child that were pivotal in my mother’s journey in breaking us free. When I was eight years old, I knew my father was abusive and even though I couldn’t articulate it—it was all I had ever known. I urged my mother to leave him, saying if she couldn’t do it for herself, then she should do it for my sister and I.

When my mom shares that story on stages around the world, many audience members approach me afterward telling me how wise and mature I am for my age. Every time, I forcefully smile and thank them, knowing their comments come from a good place. But they also come from a place of ignorance. Being a mature child is an oxymoron–I wasn’t mature, I was traumatized.

my mom held me to a high standard. At the same time it was hard for her to watch me live a life that was safer, happier and healthier than the one she had endured.

I came to understand that my mom was also once a child denied the healthy, loving environment she deserved. Even if there are no excuses for her parental missteps, I can still empathize with the challenges she was predisposed to. Because children internalize nearly everything, many beliefs and thoughts are inherently ingrained in us. “These are unconscious biases that are not really intentional,” Dr. Archie said. “They just are images. They’re cognitive impressions that stay with us.”

Dr. Archie also cited Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, a pyramid indicating human needs in order of importance. According to a 2020 Cell

to end my life in high school left scars that are still healing.

It took years of joint and separate therapy, blown-up fights and tearful conversations for us to be in the place we are today—one where I’m able to freely be my authentic self. However, I’m still reminded of her shortcomings in my raising as I witness her parent my younger sister, who is also queer and struggles with mental health, in a way that is more tender and healthier than how she was with me.

“Every child in the family may not be exposed to the same level of trauma and that sometimes may cause a bit of conflict,” Dr. Archie said. While my sister and I haven’t been in conflict about this specifically—clothes and leftovers are a different story—I do often feel conflicted as the eldest daughter.

It’s difficult—I know my mom did the best she could in raising me, yet I also know I deserved a better parent. This is where dialectical behaviour therapy is most helpful, as it’s rooted in the theory that two seemingly opposite things can be equally true at the same time. I can be empathetic toward my mom and not see my own life through her narrative. I can feel envious of my sister’s relationship with our mom and be glad that she has two supportive people she can come to.

According to Dr. Archie, the eldest immigrant syndrome is not a real medical condition. But it can be used to describe a set of themes around intersectionality, gender roles and the perpetuation of violence.

According to Dr. Archie, adverse childhood experiences can cause a child to become “parentified,” conditioning them to put their parents’ emotions before their own. “Sometimes children become the parents’ main support because there isn’t anybody else. And so then the child has to deal with adult issues,” she said.

My mom my sister and I all had deep wounds but my mom’s were, needless to say, the deepest. She had to do several years of unlearning and unconditioning to be the mother she is today and the journey was anything but linear. Sometimes, breaking a cycle can break you in the process. Wishing for my success,

welcome to menstruation nation

By Asha Swann

On a random Saturday in 2007, I was convinced it was going to be the last day of my life. Seemingly out of nowhere, my jeans were soaked in blood. I was terrified as I frantically tried to figure out what was wrong. My initial reaction was to examine myself for cuts, which left me searching for a wound that didn’t exist. Then I ran through a mental checklist of my symptoms: bleeding, abdominal pain, dizziness, loss of appetite and sudden nausea. I had just seen something about this on Discovery Channel. ‘It must be tapeworms,’ my 10-year-old brain decided. And, just like the Alaskan timber wolf I saw on TV, I was going to die.

Spoiler alert: it was not tapeworms. Not only did my mother assure me that the odds of contracting a parasite in suburban Ottawa were basically zero but she also said bleeding from your

Press study, Maslow’s theory argues that safety needs must be met before one can fulfill love and belonging needs and form healthy attachment patterns. Because my mom didn’t grow up in a safe household and neither did I, we had to learn together what a healthy mother-daughter relationship looks like. As her first-born child, it was up to me to champion most of that change. Our relationship had a lot of blindspots and some hurt more than others. Her refusing to let me dye my hair, pierce my nose or experience young love was frustrating. Her negative reactions to when I attempted to come out as queer in middle school or tell her I felt the need

Growing up faster than you should have doesn’t necessarily mean you’re doomed to an adulthood grieving your childhood. “As a young adult, people can develop healing relationships,” said Dr. Archie.

I can confidently say my mom and I have a mutually healing relationship, one filled with laughter, affirmation and fulfillment. I’m grateful for my mom always trying to be the best parent possible. I’m proud of the strong, unique and joyful relationships my family of three have with one another. More than anything, I’m excited for how we continue to broaden our scope of happiness.

private parts is actually normal for those of us born with the XX chromosome.

I’m not the first girl to think my first period was a deathly omen. According to Plan International, a non-governmental humanitarian organization working to advance the rights of young girls, one in seven girls in the U.K. didn’t know what menstruation was by the time they got their first period. This number was even higher for girls in Afghanistan, with around 50 per cent being unaware.

Period education needs to start earlier if we want kids to know that it’s normal for your body to have these kinds of changes. In my case, even knowing what a period was would’ve saved me an embarrassing amount of panic, allowing me to better prepare myself every month.

In November 2022, writer and comedian Tiffany Springle started a TikTok show called Roe v. Bros. The concept is simple: they ask random men what they know about reproductive health.

With over 12 million views on a single episode, I wasn’t shocked to see that men in their 20s and 30s could not accurately explain what a period is. When a man on the show said he thinks women only use “one tampon per day on their period,” it brought me back to my prepubescent self frantically searching Google for answers.

I wouldn’t learn what a period was in an academic setting for another two years after first getting my own. The main lesson I got from my mom? Write down the dates when you bleed on a piece of paper and shove it to the back of your underwear drawer.

Tracking your period on a piece of paper and then hiding it isn’t exactly what I would recommend to my future kids. It reinforces the idea that this is a secret, a shame that should not be talked about and should never be seen. Read

“You’re so mature for your age” isn’t a compliment

As an uneducated pre-teen, getting your period for the first time can feel like a death sentence

KONNOR KILLORAN/THE EYEOPENER

KONNOR KILLORAN/THE EYEOPENER

i never got the chance to thank my grandmother

KINZA ZAFAR/ THE EYEOPENER

A love letter to the woman who taught me resilience

By Savannah Ridley

As an Indigenous journalism student, I constantly feel like I have to save the world. I have to save my people and I have to save my sisters. I need to organize rallies. I need to educate everyone on this country’s horrific past and present. I need to scream from the rooftops about all the injustices my people have had to face. I’ve always felt that if I just scream loud enough, someone has to hear me but as I get older, I’ve noticed my voice is starting to give out.

I originally chose to study journalism to highlight the beauty of my culture. I had never seen my people in the media in a way that truly showcased who we are. All we really had when I was a kid was Disney’s Pocahontas and Cher in a headdress.

‘past her prime’

By Stephanie Davoli

In the fall of 2022, 29-year-old Farheen Raaj was set to return to her studies for the first time since completing her undergraduate degree in 2014. She was overwhelmed with several emotions—including worry—in the weeks leading up to starting Toronto Metropolitan University’s (TMU) master of media production program.

The idea of re-entering the world of academics made her nervous but concern about her age weighed more heavily on her mind.

“I was terrified,” she says. “I was worried that 22-year-olds are going to completely beat me at this and I will have no idea how to write a paper.”

Upon graduating with a degree in English literature while living in India, Raaj jumped straight into the workforce. Despite having aspirations of one day completing a master’s degree, she couldn’t bring herself to pause her career once she started making a steady income. However, after she and her partner moved to Canada, Raaj realized that her lack of Canadian experience and academic qualifications were making

new information to so many. I know my Elders did not keep their experiences locked away.

My grandmother worked for an Indigenous newspaper—Turtle Island News—and it wasn’t until she brought my seven-year-old self along to cover an Indigenous convention, that I saw my culture featured front and centre. I knew I wanted to do for my people what my grandmother did, even as a little girl. But now, as a journalism student, I’ve realized that people are more interested in Indigenous suffering than anything else.

I’ve sat through class after class detailing the abhorrent realities of residential schools and I always found myself leaving the class feeling bitter. Of course, there’s a sense of relief that this information was reaching more people but I always felt angry that these horrors were

It seems as though it was only when the first 215 unmarked graves were discovered at the Kamloops residential school that the general public started to take my people’s suffering seriously. Again, I was frustrated that it took this long for people to hear Indigenous accounts but I hoped it would spark some real change. Ultimately, the final resting places of my people’s children became a topic for dinner conversation. Every custom t-shirt store I passed had an orange shirt while the total number of unmarked graves continues to climb as more former residential schools were investigated—with 66 being found just earlier this year in B.C. Not to mention the residential school system’s colonial legacy still roars on in the child welfare circuit.

I am tired of my people’s trauma becoming no more than a public spectacle. I often wonder what trendy t-shirt design would render my missing and murdered sisters worthy enough to catalyze action. Maybe if one of the Hadid sisters sported a red handprint across their mouths, my Indigenous sisters would be worthy of protection.

I can’t help but feel defeated when I think of the ongoing tragedies of our stolen women. Fearing for your safety when you walk out the door

is not a foreign concept for women but my Indigenous sisters are forced to accept a certain nihilism knowing they’re more than five times as likely to be victims of homicide than non-Indigenous women, according to a 2021 report by Statistics Canada. Additionally, data from a 2015 report by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police found that Indigenous women make up 10 per cent of the total number of Canadian missing women, despite only representing five per cent of the Canadian female population as of 2022.

As angry and heartbroken as I am for my community, I am constantly astounded by the resiliency and the unfailing Indigenous joy.

My grandmother and her two sisters were affected by the Sixties Scoop. The Sixties Scoop refers to a period from the 1960s to the mid’80s when the Canadian government weaponized the child welfare system to serve as another mechanism to take an inordinate number of Indigenous children from their families. A report by the Community Panel Child Protection Legislation Review in British Columbia noted that child welfare workers looked for any reason to take these children—often without notifying their families—to place them with white families where many faced unspeakable abuse.

I know the horror stories of their

foster families but every time I hear them, I weep. My grandmother passed away 11 years ago after a short battle with cancer expedited by medical negligence. Her experience with the Canadian healthcare system is not unique to her and continues to affect Indigenous women today. Most notably, the death of Atikamekw mother Joyce Echaquan, who was mocked, sedated and restrained alone in a Quebec hospital room when she died, is another example of this injustice.

But when my grandmother was here, she was the most fantastic woman. She grew up under constant fear and unfamiliarity but did not let those circumstances define her. She made it her duty to love her grandchildren with everything she had—and she did not have much—but my cousins and I were none the wiser. She went back to school at 50 to earn her journalism degree to prove to herself and us kids that we could be and do anything we wanted to. She always instilled that mentality in us because no one did it for her.

So when I get really discouraged, I think of my grandmother and all the Indigenous women just like her who wake up every day and choose to love their families and communities despite whatever disparities lay behind them and beyond them.

I do what I do for them.

For decades, women have been bombarded with messaging that they’re out of their prime once they’re no longer ‘youthful,’ but does the modern women believe this?

it difficult to get the jobs she wanted.

So, once things seemed to be looking up with the pandemic, Raaj jumped at the opportunity to enroll in TMU’s media production master’s program.

While she’s excited about entering the workforce with more wisdom than she had when she was in her early 20s, Raaj is aware of some challenges she may face because of her age.

“It does bother me because everyone else who might be interviewing for the same positions as [me] might be 21, might be 25,” she says. “But I have to constantly keep reminding myself that I’m not 19 and doing this for the first time ever. I have something to build on.”

Raaj isn’t alone in feeling the pressures of her age. While it may be easier for more experienced, wiser women to not be worried about the “age-limits” placed on success, getting older is still a concern for some TMU students.

After all, with messaging like: “How to look younger longer. And stop the clock,” “the diet that makes you grow younger” and “you’re never too young to fib about your

age. It can add years to your life!” It’s no wonder why the fear of “getting old” has been ingrained in women’s minds for decades.

These aren’t just made-up phrases to make women feel bad about their naturally aging bodies either. They’re real ‘70s and ‘80s headlines from Cosmopolitan—a woman’s magazine whose mission statement “encourages young women to embrace and celebrate who they are.”

Although it’s rare to see headlines like these grace the covers of a Cosmo today, the sentiment behind the messaging still lingers in modern society— that a woman’s worth is intrinsically tied to how “youthful” (read: conventionally attractive) she is.

This is evident in the way women are treated in the media. This past summer, former CTV News anchor Lisa LaFlamme was let go from her decades-long anchor position because she was “going grey,” which generated international attention. More recently in February 2023, co-anchor of CNN This Morning Don Lemon said “when a woman is considered to be in her prime is her 20s and 30s and maybe 40s, [presidential candidate

Nikki Haley] isn’t in her prime, sorry!” on air. His co-anchors displayed immediate concern, to which Lemon, who has since apologized, responded by saying “don’t shoot the messenger.”

For reference, Haley is 51 years old. Current U.S. President Joe Biden was 76 years old when he took office and former president Donald Trump was 70 when elected. When searching the phrase “over the hill” along with Biden or Trump’s name, the

majority of the results are related to Capitol Hill, not their ages —in the context of describing women, the expression means she is past her prime. According to this messaging, it’s assumed that once a woman passes her prime, she should be worried as her lack of youthfulness and desirability may cost her both career and life opportunities.

Read more at thewomenissue.theeyeopener.com

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oh how i love being a woman

By Daniella Lopez

Womanhood, according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is the state of being a woman but I think womanhood is so much more than just a state—it’s an experience.

When it comes to women, media and everyday conversations can often focus on the negatives that come with womanhood—and rightfully so.

In 2022, women in Canada made 88 cents for every dollar a man made, according to Statistics Canada. One in three Canadian women experience sexual violence, according to the Government of Ontario. And 49 per cent of women in urban cities report feeling unsafe walking alone at night since the start of COVID-19, according to The United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women.

Despite all the challenges women endure in their daily lives, we still come together with strength and resilience and do it with a touch of elegance and charm. I want to highlight the many beautiful parts of being a woman because it’s a unique experience.

The bathroom bond

“Do you want me to come with you?” my women friends ask me as I mention using the bathroom. How can the simplest of words bring me so much joy? Of course, I think in my head. As a woman, the bathroom is more than just a quick pit stop. Sometimes, the

Embark on the joys of womanhood

bathroom is a safe space to cry with friends or a private spot to dish out the dirtiest tea. Oth er times, it’s a judgment-free space to ask for a feminine hygiene product, re-apply makeup or spritz a dash of perfume. The bond between women friends and the bathroom is unbreak able and I love that I get to experience it.

Hyping each other up in change rooms

Picture this: you have a dress on but you’re unsure whether or not it looks good. When you leave the changing room, people slowly turn toward you. In particular instances, you don’t know whether the reaction will be good or bad, especially since your last experience at Aritzia. “The dress looks amazing on you,” a fellow female customer says, recognizing the unsure expression on your face. That compli ment snowballs into more women comment ing on the piece of clothing and you start to feel more confident. The kindness from complete strangers on a woman’s body—which is often heavily scrutinized in society—is perhaps one of the best feelings.

The time and effort of getting ready

Sometimes the best days are dedicated to prepping and getting ready to go out at night. To begin the day, you start with a full “everything” shower that leaves you feeling silky and smooth. Then, you move along to skin and body care: exfoliating and applying lotion. Maybe you want to smell your best, so you put on your favourite

perfume. Now, it’s time to pick the perfect outfit. All done? Let’s move along to makeup: is it a natural or full glam day? Finally, you’re ready to leave. Some might call this unnecessary work, but to me, it’s self-care. It helps me feel my best and while it’s not a requirement to look good, sometimes it’s just fun. Now let’s see where the night will take you.

Lovely social media comments

While the in-person support from other women is gratifying, getting hyped up online is also

just as—if not more—pleasing. After all, real recognizes real and the time that goes into taking Instagram photos does not go unnoticed by other women. Their clever and amusing comments, both from friends and even strangers, makes all the work that goes into your perfect shot worth it. We all know the comments: “Summer as a person,” “Okay miss fit check, I see you,” or “Ahhh looking like a dream.” Thank you to all those who comment heartwarming messages on women’s social media because it truly makes our day.

the eye editors’ favourite women empowerment anthems

ice princess, it can still be appreciated for its emotion, beauty and overall glory.

“Kamali” by Priya Ragu—Shaki Sutharsan, arts & culture editor

By Shaki Sutharsan

At The Eyeopener, our editors are the definition of the whole damn cake and the cherry on top when it comes to staying on top of what’s going on around campus. You might even say that we run the world (of Toronto Metropolitan University). That’s because our motto is basically live fast—not with fact-checking though—die young, bad girls do it well. So how do we do it? It’s easy. Just do a hair toss, check our nails and of course, feel good as hell by listening to our favourite women empowerment anthems.

my heart’s content whenever I hear it nowadays. Nothing screams power like Alicia Keys’ vocals and the purely empowering lyrics of this song. I feel like I can achieve just about anything I set my mind to when I hear this song—except for maybe being a good singer.

This single by Tamil-Swiss artist, Priya Ragu, is one that has been a staple in my playlists for months. Swiftly weaving English and Tamil lyrics together in catchy verses, “Kamali” is a song that speaks to a younger version of myself and tells her that no dream is too big for her, no dream too far away to achieve. In the song, Ragu speaks on the wider possibilities of the world around us and the sheer scope of things we can achieve if we look beyond what is prescribed onto us through persisting gender roles and expectations. “Kamali” is my go-to song for when I’m feeling a little lost or overwhelmed, there to remind me that I was made for more than just what is.

even when you’re alone in your room hyping yourself up just for the fun of it. Twain’s carefree attitude exudes throughout every verse and chorus of the classic song and you can tell that she means every word that she’s singing. And, you know what? She’s totally right, the best thing about being a woman is the prerogative to have a little fun!

“Smack A Bitch” by Rico Nasty—Abeer Khan, Editor-in-Chief

“Smack A Bitch” by Rico Nasty is a song that never fails to get me hyped and ready to face literally anything and everything. As a visibly Muslim woman in a leadership position, it’s common that I have to work twice as hard to have people take me seriously. But playing this track when I know I need to be confident and unapologetic does wonders for my confidence and truly makes me feel like I can do anything. Thank you Rico Nasty for giving me the ultimate woman-in-leadership anthem.

“Girl

On Fire” by Alicia Keys—Gabriela Silva Ponte, news editor

My women empowerment anthem has to be “Girl on Fire” by Alicia Keys. Although I’ve been listening to this song since it played on the radio when I was a little kid, I still sing to

“Let It Go” by Idina Menzel—Natalie Vilkoff, business & technology editor You know those songs that make you feel like you can do anything? Well, this is one of them for me. The second I hear it, I feel like climbing a mountain and building a beautiful ice castle with my magical powers, even if I am actually lying on the couch attempting to sing along.

“Let It Go” can be an empowerment anthem for anyone. It’s about being true to yourself even if you’re afraid to fail and no matter what people might think. And even if it doesn’t make you feel like a powerful

“Man! I Feel Like A Woman!” by Shania Twain—Stephanie Davoli, features editor Men’s shirts? Check. Short skirts? Check! When you hear those first few distinctive opening notes of Shania Twain’s “Man! I Feel Like a Woman!” you just know you’re in for a treat. With lyrics like, “No inhibitions, make no conditions. Get a little outta line,” the late ‘90s hit is truly the embodiment of fun, female empowerment. What’s more, discovering that drag performers allegedly influenced the creation of the song makes the upbeat tune all the more fun to sing along to. This is the song to sing with your girls during a night out—or

“Patakha Guddi” by Nooran Sisters— Zarmminaa Rehman, fun & satire editor

My women empowerment song has to be Patakha Guddi, a Punjabi Bollywood song from the movie Highway. “Patakha” translates to a firecracker while “Guddi” is a kite, so the song narrates the story of the free spirit and attitude of a girl and a relationship with God. The poetic verses and steady rhythm of the music allow you to get away from all that may not be going great, becoming a “free kite.”

Read more at thewomenissue.theeyeopener.com

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KONNOR KILLORAN/THE EYEOPENER