The Voice of the University of Toronto at Mississauga
MEDIUM THE
MONDAY, MARCH 17, 2008
VOLUME 34, ISSUE 23
www.mediumonline.ca
Successful young entrepreneur is fruitful
Creative Corner
Europe’s elite
Page 6
Page 9
Page 12
Sex (Pub) sells MEGHA KUMAR ASSISTANT NEWS EDITOR
Dancing, drinking and debauchery were the themes of the night on Thursday, March 13 at the Blind Duck, as the Sexual Education Center (SEC) hosted one of the biggest, most anticipated annual events of the year: Sex Pub. Sex Pub was the grand finale of a successfully organized series of events for Sex & U awareness month, which promoted safe sex and a healthy attitude towards sexuality. Other events included an oral sex workshop, a sex toy workshop and a body image discussion, but Sex Pub garnered the highest level of enthusiasm. All proceeds - which SEC coordinator Sulmaz Ghoraishi estimated to be about $4000 - went towards the Sexual Assault/Rape Crisis Centre of Peel in Mississauga. “The organizing was made easier because all the volunteers, executives and the wonderful pub management worked towards it with such enthusiasm and determination that it just kind of sort itself out. That helped a lot,” said SEC advertising director Aimee Bessada. SEC also integrated the student-run, anti-date-rape “Ask First” campaign in the posters, tickets and marketing for Sex Pub to emphasize the importance of mutual consent when indulging in sexual activities. After increasing the quota from last year, all 500 tickets were sold out the day before the pub, and a long line-up was formed from 8:30 p.m. onwards the
night of the pub to grab the first 50 tickets before starting time at 10:00 p.m. The tighty-whitey contest saw a group of men competing in underwear, and the Jell-O wrestling that involved two rounds of women in undergarments fighting in an inflatable pool got loud screams and cheers from the crowd. The most popular attire for the evening was lingerie for girls and boxer shorts for boys, but the crowd's sartorial sense was put to test during the best dressed contest. The “best dressed” winners were a group of three girls dressed like crabs, with red claws and black shorts. They were awarded a $100 gift bag filled with sexual paraphernalia such as a sex toy, condoms, and blueberry cheesecake-flavored lubrication. Well known campus DJ Andrew Mallon, who is a fourth-year visual culture and communication student, played a wide range of music that appealed to house, hip-hop and pop fans alike. Apart from a minor glitch when the sound system got cut off midway, the music drew practically everyone on the dance floor at all times. “This was one of the craziest pub nights ever - the dance floor was rammed with people and it was almost impossible to shut down the dance floor at 2 a.m. when the night ended,” Mallon commented. At the end of the evening, the coat check had a long line of people waiting for up to half an hour, but SEC coordinator Sulmaz Ghoraishi was proud of the success of the event, felt the overall process went smoothly, and that “it was one of the best sex pubs ever!”
Photo/Jeremy Fernie
Students Jackie McKeown and Alison Carson splash around in a tub full of Jell-O as part of the Sexual Education Centre’s annual Sex Pub. The always popular pub also featured a tighty-whitey contest for males as part of the festivities.
IAW encourages spirituality SAIRA MUZAFFAR NEWS EDITOR The Student Centre turned into “little Bethlehem” last week with religious displays and miniature lambs celebrating Islam Awareness Week (IAW). Organized by the university’s Muslim Students’ Association, IAW’s theme this year was “choose your destination.” It provided students with a chance to explore the tenets of Islam, Christianity and Judaism with posters, reading material, free food and special lectures. Monday through Wednesday IAW focused on the lives of prophets Moses, Jesus and Muhammad in an effort to show the connection shared among their teachings about monotheism.
Thursday focused on the idea of the hereafter, judgement, heaven and hell. The week ended with an open-to-all Jumu’ah, or Friday prayer session which included a sermon. Interested students were also given bags containing copies of the Qur’an translated in English, bookmarks and DVDs. While the events were mostly well received, organizers were approached by students concerned about the validity of holding religious events in a secular space like the university campus. MSA’s external relations executive Yusuf Bhatia emphasized that as one of the fastest growing religions in the world, Islam plays a prominent role in the lives of many students at UTM. “Religion plays a major role in the lives of the majority of people in the
world and in the student experience. Just as students are in need of academic, educational and social support and accommodation, so are they in need of spiritual support and accommodation,” said Bhatia.
“To exclude spirituality and religion from the University setting only demeans and undermines the student experience.” - Yusuf Bhatia, MSA External Relations As one the biggest student clubs on campus the MSA works towards pro-
viding students with events and prayer gatherings to fulfill this need. “Any attempt to exclude spirituality and religion from the University setting only demeans and undermines the student experience, which is essential to our overall education,” said Bhatia. Since the campus is also a positive space and against any form of discrimination based on race, gender or sexual orientation, IAW’s organizers were questioned about Islam’s stance on homosexuality. “The MSA has not used any of our events as a platform to address the issue of homosexuality; instead, and in fact, the MSA has striven tremendously in the past and particularly this year in promoting civil liberties for all people, irrelevant of their religion, orientation or race and in doing so, I believe the
MSA has performed a great service to the university community,” said Bhatia. “It was very enlightening and the free food was great. The speaker was very inspiring and I think the information was very well presented,” said fourth-year history student Leena Raza. “It was interesting to witness the intellectual conversations between members of the MSA and the students who attended,” said one of IAW’s volunteers, Sameer Masood. The club regularly participates in campus-wide initiatives like Unity Through Diversity and Xpression Against Oppression. Their biggest undertaking involves providing prayer space and food during the month of Ramadan, when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.