The Queen's Journal, Volume 147, Issue 17

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the Queen’s University

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journal

Volume 147, issue 17

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Friday, January 10, 2020

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Situated on the traditional lands of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples.

since 1873

Amir Moradi, Queen’s student in third year, died in Tehran plane crash R aechel H uizinga News Editor

Protesters gather at University Ave. and Union St. Thursday afternoon.

PHOTOS BY AMELIA RANKINE

Students, faculty, rally against US escalation with Iran S ydney K o Journal Staff

and

E llen N agy

A group of 30 protesters gathered at the intersection of University Ave. and Union St. on Thursday to denounce the escalating conflict between the United States and Iran.

The protesters chanted “De-escalate, spread peace, not hate.”

Hosted by the Kingston Peace Council, the protesters demanded Canada not impose additional sanctions on Iran after the US ratcheted up economic pressure on the country.

The protest follows the US assassination of Iranian Maj. Gen. Qassem Soleimani in a

drone strike outside an airport in Baghdad, Iraq on Jan. 3. The Iranians retaliated with a ballistic missile attack on US forces in Iraq on Jan. 8, stoking fears of a wider conflict between the two countries.

“It’s good that they’re raising awareness,” Alisha Sharma, a Queen’s student, said. “I wish there was a bigger turnout. I think it affects us more than people recognize.”

Soleimani’s death provoked Iran to call for revenge against the US, raising tensions across the Middle East. US President Donald Trump pledged retaliation over Twitter, threatening to hit 52 Iranian targets, including cultural sites.

The US government said Soleimani had been plotting an imminent attack on US personnel, but did not reveal the underlying intelligence.

“The sanctions just caused the death of over a hundred young people, bright people,” said Parisa Abedi, a Queen’s PhD student studying neuroscience. “I definitely don’t want any more sanctions or war to my people in Iraq.”

“I would hope that at least the people would be affected the least,” Abedi said. “It doesn’t matter [if you’re] Iranian people, Iraqi people. The sad part is a lot of civilians are affected by all of this game-playing in that region.”

Reversing a Wednesday statement, the University confirmed the death of undergraduate Queen’s student Amir Moradi, who was on board the flight that killed 176 people in Iran Wednesday morning.

A vigil for Moradi, an Arts and Science student in his third year, is set to be held Friday evening at McLaughlin Room in the JDUC. “We are heartbroken this morning to hear of the passing of a member of our community who was aboard the Ukrainian flight PS752 in Iran,” a statement issued by the AMS on Thursday afternoon read.

“Although words do little to capture the pain of any loss, our thoughts go out to the friends, family, and all our peers at Queen’s who have been impacted by this devastating news. We are in communication with the University and will update students accordingly.”

Several Ontario university students—including students from the University of Toronto, the University of Western Ontario, the University of Ottawa, and the University of Guelph—were among the 63 Canadians killed in the crash.

In a tweet Wednesday, before the University was aware of a Queen’s student’s presence on the plane, Principal Patrick Deane offered his condolences to the Canadian students who fell victim to the crash.

“Today is a very difficult day in the See plane crash on page 3

Professor reopens Human Rights Tribunal application against Queen’s A decade later, Adèle Mercier takes fight back to Tribunal R aechel H uizinga News Editor Philosophy professor Adèle Mercier filed one application with the Human Rights Tribunal Ontario of Ontario in 2010, and another in 2014. But because of an ongoing legal fight with Queen’s, her applications were deferred

by the Tribunal.

That legal fight was resolved on Jan. 29, 2019, and in July, Mercier requested that the Tribunal reopen her original applications of gender discrimination against the University.

On Nov. 20, the Tribunal granted Mercier’s request, consolidating the two applications into one and allowing it to proceed.

“The applicant’s request to reactivate the application is granted since the other proceeding has concluded,” Vandana Patel, vice-chair of the Human Rights Tribunal Ontario, wrote in her decision to reopen the case.

Parties were required to submit any written responses by Dec. 2, 2019.

Adèle Mercier reactivating Human Rights Tribunal case.

In a statement to The Journal, the University said it would not comment on specific cases. According to Mercier, the University has hired Baker McKenzie, a law firm based in Toronto, as its representative.

Mercier is self-represented.

PHOTO BY TESSA WARBURTON

In 2008, Mercier said there was an increase in the amount of graduate students at Queen’s, which in turn increased the amount of women students in philosophy See Mercier on page 3

IN THIS ISSUE: Women’s sex struggles on campus, p. 4. Queen’s must stand up for human rights, p. 6.

Being a foreign athlete at Queen’s, p. 8. Students’ defining moments of 2010s p. 12. queensjournal.ca

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News

Friday, January 10, 2020

Student details poor treatment, slow diagnosis at Student Wellness Services

Abby Duncan was diagnosed with Lyme disease two moths after seeking help from Student Wellness Services Ellen Nagy Assistant News Editor

Abby Duncan, ArtSci ’22, was diagnosed with Lyme disease by doctors at Kingston General Hospital on Nov. 17 after months of searching for answers from Student Wellness Services (SWS).

In an interview, she told The Journal that SWS failed to listen to her concerns.

Following a bout of strep throat and a cough treated with a puffer, Duncan experienced extreme Abby Duncan, ArtSci ‘22. fatigue and intense abdominal pains. She intended to bring up University provides confidential these symptoms at an Oct. 21 health services, and due to privacy appointment she had booked legislation that protects health with SWS in early September, but information, we are unable to said that she was not given the comment on specific cases.” opportunity to do so.

“Student health is a key focus for “[The doctor] said that I couldn’t the University and we work across bring up multiple issues in one campus and with community appointment, and I would have to health partners to support student book a new appointment,” Duncan wellbeing,” Erdman wrote. told The Journal.

Student Wellness Services “I asked if he could give me declined to comment a referral to someone, and he when contacted. said that in order for a referral, In late October, before her he would need to know more Lyme disease diagnosis, Duncan information, but then didn’t listen was diagnosed with strep throat to my concerns.” and mono by doctors at CDK Lyme disease is an Family Medicine. The diagnosis inflammatory infection that, if was made without doing a blood left untreated, can lead to fatigue, test and doctors prescribed her arthritis, and neurological penicillin for a second time. problems, including paralysis.

“I was on penicillin, and In a statement to The Journal, oftentimes when you have mono, Mark Erdman, community you get a rash that reacts with relations manager, wrote, “The penicillin, so I got a full body

News in brief

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

rash,” Duncan said, “I was itchy to find better ways to manage all over my body, so I went to my emotions, but didn’t offer me Student Wellness.” any tips or help me make any Duncan says a doctor at SWS appointments,” Duncan said. told her to stop taking antibiotics “She sent me to write my exam, because she didn’t have strep where I cried the whole time and throat, telling her she just had failed the exam,” Duncan said. mono and needed rest and a blood Three days later, Duncan went test. A couple of days later, the to KGH where doctors performed blood test revealed she had never a throat swab and blood work. had mono.

“Turns out that I did have strep On Oct. 31, she returned to SWS throat and the rash was scarlet seeking answers. “I was the first fever,” Duncan said. “I was so patient in the clinic. I got there at feverish, I was hallucinating.”

7:45 a.m. and I had the number On Nov. 17, two weeks after she one ticket, and it still took 45 had been treated for strep throat minutes for me to see a doctor.” and scarlet fever, Duncan received Duncan said that the interaction a diagnosis of Lyme disease from a with the doctor during her fourth doctor at KGH. visit was the most discouraging “He was kind of the first doctor I part of her experience with saw out all of these trips to clinics Student Wellness Services. and hospitals that actually paid “She didn’t do any type of attention and wanted to figure examination and said that I was out what was wrong and ran tests,” stressed and not sick and needed she said.

Mary Wilson Trider appointed next Trustees chair

Queen’s Board of Trustees has appointed its next chair, Mary Wilson Trider (Comm ’82), an experienced health care executive and Queen’s alumna.

The Board of Trustees is one of the University’s three governing bodies, along with the Senate and the University Council. The Board is responsible for the overall operation of the University, including overseeing financial matters and making senior appointments.

Succeeding Donald M. Raymond, who has served as chair since 2016, Wilson Trider will begin a four-year term as chair on June 1, 2020.

Wilson Trider first became a member of University Council in 2007 and was later elected to sit as one of its six representatives on the Board of Trustees.

Wilson Trider is President and CEO of Almonte General Hospital and Carleton Place & District Memorial Hospital. As a graduate of the Smith School of Business, she is also a professional

accountant and a Fellow of CPA Ontario (FCPA, FCA).

—Sydney Ko

Proposed JDUC design wins architectural award Canadian Architect magazine announced on Nov. 29 that plans for the JDUC revitalization project had won the 2019 Canadian Architect Award of Excellence.

The award jury lauded the sustainability focused designs and incorporation of historic features, describing them as complex and skillfully executed.

“Our team has worked closely with Queen’s student representatives and the architectural teams to imagine a revitalized JDUC that will encourage learning and community, and be open and inclusive to everyone,” said John Witjes, associate vice-principal (Facilities), in a statement.

The JDUC was built in 1949 and expanded in the 1970s.

The present structure has been criticized for its lack of designated

According to the Canadian Lyme Disease Foundation, the number of symptoms attributed to Lyme disease make it difficult to diagnose in patients. Despite these difficulties, speed is critical when making a diagnosis because if a patient is left untreated for weeks or months, they can develop chronic Lyme disease, which can in turn lead to neurological illness and joint pain.

Duncan said it was how she was treated rather than the slow-moving diagnosis that disappointed her the most. “I kept telling them, I’m stressed because I’m sick. I’m not sick because I’m stressed,” Duncan said. “They didn’t listen to my concerns.”

According to Duncan, she attended a meeting with the executive director and the manager of Student Wellness Services in early December.

“I told them how disappointed I was in the care I received,” Duncan said, “I don’t think anything’s really going to come of that.”

Duncan said she also met with a doctor from Student Wellness Services who reviewed her files.

“She determined that I did not receive the care that I should have.

The doctors who I saw were not following protocol.”

Duncan said that she is now trying to refocus her attention on her grades, but explained her prognosis means that she still suffers from recurrent bouts of illness.

“I know that I can’t go to Student Wellness when I’m sick because it’s not worth the wait,” Duncan said. “I’m not going to go there because I haven’t ever received adequate care there.”

“I would rather go and wait in [emergency] at KGH for eight hours than go to Student Wellness.” journal_news@ams.queensu.ca

space for student life and student governance.

Architects from HDR + MJMA designed the redevelopment plan to include study areas, and rooms for campus clubs and student services, while ensuring accessible access remains a focus.

Architects were celebrated for their clever combination of old and new.

“The complexity of the project is executed very skillfully,” said Cindy Wilson, an award juror whose comments were shared

by Canadian Architect. “The historic façade is re-interpreted in the new, appearing more porous and light while maintaining presence.”

Under the JDUC proposal, the AMS and SGPS will use a student fee levy to contribute $50.5 million and Queen’s will contribute $11.8 million through operating funds and donor support.

JDUC renovations are scheduled to commence once the project meets its fundraising target and the Board of Trustees grants final approval.

—Ellen Nagy

News

Friday, January 10, 2020

queensjournal.ca • 3

Jean Royce Hall sexual abuse case comes to a conclusion All parties sign non-disclosure agreements Carolyn Svonkin Assistant News Editor After experiencing more than a year of sexual abuse at the hands of former Queen’s student Kenneth Gavin Williamson over four decades ago, Byron Ruttan has finally found justice.

Unsatisfied with the 2016 Supreme Court ruling on Williamson’s appeal of Ruttan’s case, which tossed out Williamson’s charges, Ruttan filed a lawsuit against the Ontario government in 2015. He was seeking $2.85 million dollars from the Ontario Ministry of the Attorney General on the grounds that the consequences of Williamson’s abuse have caused him severe depression, suicidal

tendencies, and an inability to earn a living.

According to a Globe and Mail article about Ruttan, the lawsuit also accused the province of negligence in Williamson’s supervision and training as a court-ordered mentor.

The Ministry publicly denied responsibility.

That lawsuit has now concluded, and all parties have signed a non-disclosure agreement. Neither Ruttan or his lawyer, Simona Jellinek, can discuss how the lawsuit ended, including whether Ruttan received anything from the Province. However, Jellinek told The Globe the case is “over to the satisfaction of all parties.”

The lawsuit ended before a new law came into effect that, according to The Globe, many personal-injury lawyers feel gives the Province immunity from similar negligence lawsuits. In a case like Ruttan’s, he would have had to instead sue for breach of

fiduciary duty, which is a far more home in Ottawa, and then began difficult case to make. bringing him to his dorm room in As previously reported by The Jean Royce Hall.

Journal in 2018, Ruttan’s life was In Jean Royce Hall, Williamson difficult from a young age. After his began abusing Ruttan weekly. father left his family when he was Ruttan would stay with three years old, he grew up with Williamson in Ottawa or in Jean his mother and sisters in poverty Royce Hall three to four times per in the north end of Kingston. week, and Williamson consistently At 12, Ruttan began skipping sexually assaulted him. In a school and stealing money from statement Ruttan provided to the his mother. Authorities and the Ontario College of Teachers during Children’s Aid Society intervened, a hearing on Dec. 5, 2016, Ruttan and Ruttan ended up in Kingston testified that anal penetration child-protection court. In 1979, a occurred more than 100 times, judge found his mother unable to and oral sex 10 to 12 times. care for him and ordered Ruttan to The abuse ended in August, accept a mentor.

1980, when Williamson was Williamson was a admitted to the Ontario College of 26-year-old student working Teachers and left Kingston to study towards a Bachelor of Education in Toronto. degree at Queen’s. He met Ruttan Ruttan stayed silent for years, through a juvenile diversion fearing homophobia or that no one program designed to place boys would believe him. He struggled with positive male role models. throughout his adult life, coming After initially meeting at up against the law multiple times Ruttan’s home, Williamson took on charges of theft and assault.

Ruttan to his wealthy family’s He served short stints in jail prior to 2000.

In 2009, he told his probation officer, Sue Corcoran, his story of abuse. Corcoran contacted the police, and Williamson was arrested shortly after at Gananoque Secondary School, where he worked as a teacher. He was released on bail six days later.

Williamson initially confessed he had been involved sexually gender discrimination. to complain about at the with Ruttan to Detective Constable “When there are other women Human Rights Tribunal,” Jason Cahill, but later retracted the in the room, they’ll notice,” she said. statement, claiming it was made she said.

Mercier’s original two out of shock.

As previously reported applications were initially On Dec. 20, 2011, a Kingston

by The Journal in 2014, deferred because she filed other judge and jury found Williamson Mercier accused Queen’s of labour grievances with Queen’s. guilty of buggery, indecent assault, using intimidation techniques In 2013, Mercier was removed and gross indecency. “[Williamson] to silence her and the other two from her office in Watson knew he was in a big brother/ professors after she Hall, igniting a six-year legal little brother position to Ruttan,” filed a complaint of battle that ended in her the trial judge said, noting that gender discrimination in being awarded $25,000 for Williamson served as a role model the philosophy department. general and punitive damages, and father figure to Ruttan.

“We activated the application compensating for mental distress On April 16, 2012, Williamson because it was very, very arising from injury to dignity was sentenced to four years in clear that I was beaten up and foreseeable harm prison. He appealed the conviction because I exercised my right to to reputation. to the Supreme Court of Canada complain, and I don’t want this After the withdrawal of under newly established time happening to anybody ever again,” four other labour grievances, limits for criminal proceedings.

Mercier said.

Mercier was able to reopen her According to Section 11(b) the She added that, while the original files.

Charter of Rights and Freedoms, department conducted an “I’m going to finish what I every Canadian charged with an external climate review in 2010, started, because I refuse to let offence has a “right to be tried her original complaint was them have bullied me away,” never investigated. she said.

“There has never been an investigation into my complaint, journal_news@ams.queensu.ca so that’s one thing I want

‘I’m going to finish what I started’

Continued from front... classes. She and two other senior professors heard complaints from their female students that ranged from being ignored by professors in class to outright hostility from their male counterparts.

In addition to meeting with these women to hear about their experiences in the philosophy department, Mercier received letters from female graduate students detailing their time at Queen’s.

“It’s every graduate woman’s experience, I think, at least in philosophy, that a woman will make a comment and it’ll get zero pickup, zero uptake. Five minutes later, some guy will say the same thing and it will be interesting, it will get uptake and be discussed.”

Mercier said the increase of women in the classroom alerted her students to a pattern of

University offering support to 156 Iranian students at Queen’s

Continued from front...

“Our sincerest condolences to our peers, friends, and Canadian higher education colleagues, particularly in the community as we mourn the Canadian-Iranian community, who loss of friends, students, and may have lost loved ones in this colleagues who perished in the terrible incident.”

Ukrainian plane crash in Iran,” In a statement posted he wrote.

Wednesday, the University said A statement from the AMS it had lowered campus flags to released on Wednesday afternoon commemorate the lives lost and said the organization is “deeply was offering support to the 156 saddened” by the crash.

Iranian students at Queen’s.

“The University is reaching out to all of them to let them know of the support and services available on campus, and many of these students have been meeting at the Queen’s University International Centre (QUIC) to find fellowship and support.” journal_news@ams.queensu.ca

within a reasonable time.”

Bureaucratic errors had caused two three-month delays in Williamson’s trial. The errors occurred during times when large murder trials were the focus of Kingston’s overburdened courts, according to the The Globe and Mail.

The Supreme Court didn’t dispute the facts of the case, or Williamson’s guilt, but upheld his appeal on the grounds that the 35 months between Williamson being charged and the completion of the trial was an unreasonable delay.

Williamson’s Certificate of Qualification and Registration from the Ontario College of Teachers was revoked, and he paid a $5,000 fine imposed by an Ontario College of Teachers Discipline Committee. However, due to his victory in the Supreme Court, Williamson never served jail time. He currently receives a pension.

After disappointment with the Supreme Court ruling—Ruttan was the first crime victim in Canada to have his case thrown out after the Supreme Court’s ruling on time limits in 2016 —it was recommended to Ruttan that he reach out to Jellinek for further legal action. This time, he went after the Province.

Now, four years after Ruttan and Jellinek filed their case, it has finally concluded.

Regardless of exact figures of compensation, Ruttan told The Globe his life has improved since the conclusion of the provincial lawsuit. He lives in a new home near Napanee, with heat, paintings, and a recently purchased TV. Ruttan is also able to provide for his children and grandchildren.

“I get stuff for my kids now I never thought I’d be able to. Like stuff from Amazon,” he told Globe and Mail reporter Sean Fine in December.

Despite Ruttan’s son’s recent request to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Justice Minister David Lametti that they reinstate charges against Williamson, criminal law states he cannot be charged again for the same crimes.

Features

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Friday, January 10, 2020

Features

Navigating the orgasm gap

For some women at Queen’s, pleasure is hard to find Tegwyn Hughes Assistant Lifestyle Editor Abby Duncan, ArtSci ‘22, is fed up with the casual sex she’s had at Queen’s. From inattentive partners to poor communication, the second-year student has had her fair share of disappointing encounters.

“Men always come, but women come not nearly as often. A lot of men either don’t care or don’t ask,” Duncan said in an interview.

She became sexually active in first year and enjoyed how positive campus-wide attitudes about sex were. However, Duncan says that whether sex is pleasurable is not part of the conversation.

“Queen’s is relatively progressive,” she said. “At the same time, we don’t talk about orgasms. It’s never about whether it was good. For girls, sex isn’t always good.”

The Journal spoke with five female-identified students about their perceptions of pleasure, sexual health, and campus culture at Queen’s University. All of them expressed concerns about the ways in which women are conditioned to view their role in sex and pleasure, especially in relationships with men.

When it comes to giving and receiving sexual pleasure with male partners, especially in casual sexual encounters, like those more popular in university environments, these women said they were less likely to experience pleasure or choose to prioritize their own preferences.

Caroline Pukall is a professor in the psychology department at Queen’s, and primarily researches sexual function, dysfunction, and sexual health. Her work has shown that although masturbation consistently results in orgasm regardless of identity, gender has a role to play in pleasure during partnered sex.

Pukall and other researchers conducted a study in 2017, published in The Journal of Sex Research, which concluded that women are less likely to orgasm during partnered sexual activity than men.

“When a man is introduced into [a sexual] context with a woman, there is a much higher frequency of orgasm for the man versus the woman,” Pukall said in an interview with The Journal. “That is where the discussion of the orgasm gap comes up.” ***

Duncan isn’t the only woman at Queen’s struggling to have fulfilling sex with male-identified partners. Ellie McKnight, ArtSci ‘20, has found that she’s hardly ever prioritized during sex with men.

“I have never come while having sex with a man ever in my life. Not once,” she said.

“Up until [I came to Queen’s], all I’d had were male partners, and the signal for sex to be done was them having an orgasm. I feel like people see that as the symbol of sex being completed.”

McKnight believes that the focus on penetrative sex as the main component of mixed-gender sex is to blame for this phenomenon.

“The majority of [my pleasure] was during foreplay,” she said. “Once penetration began and they had their pleasure, it was no longer a priority for them.”

Pukall’s research shows that when penetration becomes the focus of sex, women’s physical desires are not taken into account.

“Penis-in-vagina intercourse [...] will benefit the man, but doesn’t necessarily benefit the woman,” she said. “Intercourse is not the most reliable way that most women attain orgasm.”

Pukall attributes this focus on penetration as the result of ‘sexual scripts’ that are pervasive in society. She says because there is a socially-accepted order to how sex happens, men and women are less comfortable challenging expectations to prioritize individual desires.

“There’s a traditional sexual script where [...] penis-in-vagina is the main event,” she said. “That isn’t fair, because what people call ‘foreplay’ is really the main play for a lot of women to experience orgasm [...] it really downplays everything else that seems to work for women.” ***

For some women at Queen’s having sex with other women, the gendered nature of sexual pleasure couldn’t be any more transparent.

“Having been with men before, you kind of go into it with the notion that it’s about the man’s pleasure [...] It feels more transactional,” said Emma Pritchard, ArtSci ‘20. “Now, having been with women, it’s much more of an equal relationship because there is less of an idea of what’s supposed to happen and who it’s supposed to be about.”

The fourth-year student wasn’t out when she first came to Queen’s and felt a lot of pressure to have the same type of sex everyone else was having. This meant not only having relationships with men, but

having specific kinds of relationships.

“I definitely felt the pressure to take [relationships] further, and when I didn’t want to do that, it made me feel worse about myself,” Pritchard said. “I wouldn’t want to pursue anything sexually, and that would make me feel like there was something wrong with me.”

Pritchard feels a lot more comfortable in her skin now that she’s explored relationships with women. She finds it easier to be open with her partners than before, because she says same-gender sex has less expectations surrounding it.

Pritchard says this has helped her to be more comfortable as a sexual person.

Evelyn Poole, ArtSci ‘21, agrees that same-gender sex sheds a lot of the expectations that exist in mixed-gender relationships.

“Being in a lesbian relationship is so valuable because you learn from your partner,” Poole said. “What I really enjoy about gay sex is that it’s very much about mutual pleasure. There’s no end goal. It’s more about a constructive experience.”

Pukall’s research revealed that women in same-gender relationships were having a greater number of orgasms during sex, in part because a lack of sexual scripts allows for freedom in how same-gender partners have sex.

“You actually co-create goals. It’s not set for you, and it hasn’t been internalized [...] through media,” she said. “If you don’t have a script, it’s yours to create.” ***

The women interviewed by The Journal agreed that dissatisfaction with mixed-gender partnered sex isn’t the only hurdle women face when it comes to de-stigmatizing pleasure. Masturbation is another aspect of sexual health where gender plays a role.

McKnight didn’t use masturbation for self-pleasure until she came to university, and even then, she grappled with a lack of confidence around it.

“I didn’t masturbate successfully for the first time until the age of 20,” she said.

“I always found it gross growing up, and I feel like that’s definitely related to my gender. It’s seen as more normal for a guy to masturbate. For women, when you seek your own pleasure, it has a stigma around it.”

This stigma, Pukall says, stems from the discomfort society feels with women’s desire.

“Studies show that women as a group take longer to get into the behaviour [of masturbating], but with even lower frequency. They never quite reach

GRAPHIC BY AMELIA RANKINE

where men are,” she said. “Part of that is internalized shame. You might think, implicitly, that it is wrong, because it isn’t discussed or portrayed.”

Resources do exist at Queen’s to try to expand students’ knowledge about partnered and individual pleasure and sexual health, in order to combat the stigmas around sex and masturbation. The Sexual Health Resource Centre (SHRC) describes itself as a “confidential, non-judgmental, feminist, queer-positive, pro-choice, sex-positive, and non-heterosexist information and referral service” for the Kingston and Queen’s community.

The centre not only sells at-cost safer sex products and toys but seeks to normalize sexual pleasure by educating students.

“Oftentimes, we only talk about sexual health in terms of [sexually-transmitted infections] or sexual assault, but we also focus on pleasure,” said Justine Aman, the director of the SHRC. Aman added that making sure all SHRC volunteers are educated in terms of sexual health and pleasure makes the centre a welcoming environment for any kind of visitor.

“All of our volunteers are really informed in a wide array of ways people can feel sexual pleasure, so they’re really prepared to have conversations with people about trying to find what they are interested in,” she said. “A lot of people don’t get that anywhere else.”

All the women interviewed by The Journal cited the SHRC as a resource they had used before. Many said the SHRC helped them to practice safer sex and explore masturbation as a form of self-pleasure.

“I went to the SHRC when I was 20, and I got a $150 toy. That opened my eyes,” said McKnight. “I had always viewed masturbation as gross and dirty while I was growing up, and then I found out that other women had been doing it since they were teenagers [...] I got my sex toy, and then three other girls in my house got the same one.”

In addition to using resources like the SHRC to explore sexual interests, Pukall wants Queen’s students to prioritize communication in their sexual relationships.

“If the goal is pleasure, then people have to start getting used to asking for it, and having those somewhat explicit conversations,” she said. “That can teach their partner to check in more often and understand what women’s pleasure looks like. Having these conversations and raising this awareness is really important to get it on people’s radars.”

Friday, January 10, 2020

queensjournal.ca

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Friday, January 10, 2020

EDITORIALS

The Journal’s Perspective

THE QUEEN’S JOURNAL

Reflecting diversity in journalistic style guides ensures respectful reporting Language is constantly evolving, as is the public’s understanding of marginalized communities and identities. The words journalists use to refer to peoples’ identities should stay updated alongside this progress.

Style guides like the Canadian Press stylebook are used by countless news publications to ensure consistency and standardization in their work. Although most style guides make modest strides to stay up-to-date in their recommendations for referring to varying facets of identities and communities, such as race, ability, religion, and gender, the length between updates often results in a lack of truly inclusive language.

In a J-Source opinion, health and social justice journalist Julia Métraux highlighted a lack of representation of the nuances and diversity in disability language in contemporary journalism style guides. While some people with disabilities prefer to be described using identity-first language, such as “disabled person”, others prefer personfirst language, like “person with a disability.”

Seeking out and incorporating existing resources, such as the Disability Language Style Guide published by the National Center on Disability and Journalism, is a vital next step for many publications, including The Journal, to sufficiently represent the communities they cover.

Sensitive journalism must constantly stay aware of appropriate language styling to

best represent the identities of the people they cover in their stories. While style guides prove useful for discussing communities as a whole, the most inclusive approach to variety in disabled language is to leave identity language and titles to a person’s p re fe re n c e .

everyone is entitled to in the media.

Education from disability activists and organizations on what language is and isn’t appropriate, or why some words may be preferred over others, is paramount to good reporting.

Journalism is a platform for exploring and giving voice to issues, people, and communities. As young journalists here at The Journal, we can’t do that mandate justice if we don’t make our publication a safe and inclusive space, beginning with the language we use.

Diversity and inclusivity in reporting is determined by both the stories we publish and our work behind the scenes, in our newsrooms and our style guides.

Adapting our language to better reflect the communities we cover and serve in our publication ILLUSTRATION BY AMELIA RANKINE is a small change, but it’s an important one.

Campus publications are often at the forefront of changes to voice and style in —Journal Editorial Board modern journalism. Student journalists represent a significant portion of the upcoming generation of journalists, which is why it’s important that all of us employ sensitive, empathetic, and respectful Although the government hasn’t practices in our work, and carry them into barred universities from working with our careers as well. the companies, Queen’s can—and Careless diction and vocabulary when should—act on its own. In the last year, discussing marginalized communities fail to several US universities have started reflect the fair and respectful representation distancing themselves from Chinese companies involved in supplying surveillance equipment.

Like these institutions, the University must ensure that research conducted at Queen’s doesn’t wind up supporting human rights abuses in Xinjiang.

Queen’s also invests in Hikvision, which bills itself as the world’s largest video surveillance company. It’s been accused of facilitating mass surveillance of Uyghurs, even providing cameras to re-education camps in Xinjiang.

The University must do better to identify, assess, and act on its ties to companies voice. The technology is one piece of a larger implicated in human rights abuses surveillance apparatus being created in internationally. If you want to make your the region. voice heard by decision-makers, email What’s worse is that Queen’s is standing the Office of the Principal, the Office of the behind the project anyways.

Vice-Principal (Finance and Administration), “In undertaking any research and the Office of Vice-Principal (Research). partnerships, we ensure that work is done in As stakeholders in the Queen’s full compliance with all applicable Canadian community, we must demand answers laws and directives,” the University wrote in from University leadership about why a statement to The Journal in October. “To it maintains—and defends—these date there have been no directives given relationships. in regards to research partnerships with companies from China.”

Iain is The Journal’s Managing Editor. He is a fifth-year History student.

Queen’s has ties to companies involved in the detention of Uyghurs.

We should all care.

Iain Sherriff-Scott Queen’s should cut its financial and research ties to companies involved in the ongoing human rights crisis in Western China, where an estimated 1.5 million Uyghur Muslims and other minorities are being arbitrarily detained in re-education camps.

Currently, Queen’s invests in controversial companies iFlyTek and Hikvision—which were blacklisted by the United States in October for their involvement in the detention and surveillance of minority Uyghurs in the Xinjiang region of China.

According to a US Commerce Department filing, the companies have been “implicated in human rights violations and abuses in the implementation of China’s campaign of repression, mass arbitrary detention, and high-technology surveillance against Uighurs, Kazakhs, and other members of Muslim minority groups.”

Queen’s also has an ongoing research partnership with iFlyTek to develop deep learning modelling that detects and processes speech. The project with the Chinese artificial intelligence firm is valued at $727,000. iFlyTek has reportedly worked with authorities in Xinjiang to deploy a technology called voiceprint, which human rights groups say can track unique signatures in a person’s

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

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Friday, January 10, 2020

queensjournal.ca

OPINIONS

Your Perspective

PHOTO BY JODIE GRIEVE

Students and administrators must do better on fall term break consultations

The University must listen to student voices, but it’s also up to students to speak up Everyone seems to have a different opinion approved by March 2020. Entering this year, on the fall term break’s effects on Orientation student leaders with a voice in the process, Week, student workload, mental health, and including me, assumed the University travel plans. In my view, the conversation would review the policy to determine the surrounding the break is primarily a pilot’s successor. symptom of a larger problem where the To our dismay, however, no such review Administration neglects to solicit student was planned. input, and students neglect to give it.

In October, despite the complete absence To understand what I’m talking about, it of a Senate decision on a fourth year of helps to recap how we got here. Queen’s the break, 2021-22 sessional dates were tasked the Senate Committee on Academic put before the Arts and Science Faculty Procedures (SCAP) with the creation of a Board with the same two-day fall term University-wide fall term break in 2015. break in place. Thankfully, those dates SCAP settled on a proposal attaching a were voted down, thanks to the leadership four-day break to the Monday of of ASUS President Chayce Perkins, ASUS Thanksgiving weekend, but the AMS Academics Commissioner Matthew Mellon, Executive at the time rejected the proposal. and various departmental student council This led to the creation of a task force that (DSC) presidents. produced the current two-day structure, However, it’s become clear in my approved by the University Senate as a meetings with the deputy provost, chair of three-year pilot program in 2017. The SCAP and the chair of the Senate Committee current 2019-20 school year was the pilot’s on Academic Development that the second year.

University has no plan for an assessment to Because of provincial regulations, the help determine the fall term break’s fourth sessional dates for 2021-22 (the year after year. A full review, whatever its form, will the pilot is scheduled to expire) must be only take place next year. As a result, the

•7

format of the fourth year of this term break schedules, educational hours, staff hiring, will effectively be decided by SCAP. The and students’ summers. views of students graduating this year or Moreover, getting feedback from students last year won’t be considered, even though in general is difficult. While recent rallies on they have the capacity to provide the most campus have been cause for optimism, at the valuable insights into the effectiveness of fall recent Principal’s Conversation and sexual reading break. violence policy consultations, I saw perhaps It’s worth considering first why 50 students combined. At a school of 18,000 consultations on the break are in this undergraduates, that’s not enough. uncertain state.

Further, student perspectives that First, initial student consultation was are collected on matters like fall term insufficient. The break was proposed by break are diverse and can be difficult to a Senate committee, rejected by the AMS process cohesively. It’s no surprise that the Executive, and finalized by a University University often decides to simply consult Secretariat task force. All those bodies elected student representatives to gauge engaged in consultations, but when students responses. It’s also no surprise that mistakes were directly consulted in a referendum, happen when a couple of people are tasked they were given only two break options with representing 20,000 people—as was to choose from, despite the existence arguably proven by the AMS Executive’s of far more than two options for a fall 2016 decision on the fall break. term break. Further, the University did Student opinion also has to be balanced not choose students’ favoured option, against that of faculty, staff, administrators, which featured an uninterrupted the principal, the Board of Trustees, Orientation Week, earlier move-in date, the Senate, and other (if slightly more and a four-day fall term break attached contentious) considerations like donations to Thanksgiving. and liability.

Second, there’s been a simple lack of Ultimately, these decisions are hard. foresight. A three-year pilot shouldn’t I believe the Queen’s administration automatically become a four-year pilot. If fundamentally wants what’s best for the a four-year pilot was intended, the break university. But, clearly, student voices are should have been passed as such, with still under-represented. a review scheduled in its third year. If a In response, the AMS has produced a three-year pilot was intended, it should have survey about the fall term break, aiming to been reviewed in its second year in order to ensure graduating students’ voices count, make plans for the break’s structure after and that student input can be made available the pilot’s end. to SCAP before it makes its recommendation Regardless, in order to capture opinion to Senate this month. This is why it’s so changes over time, and ensure all relevant important for you to fill out that survey, views were considered, the University which Queen’s students received by email should have collected student and faculty from the AMS in December, and which is also feedback each year of the break. available on the AMS Facebook page.

Carelessly adding an extra year to the Students are the most critical constituency pilot, as the Administration seems set to at this university. Nobody can hear us if we do, will have real consequences. A year don’t use our voices. It’s imperative we get is a large fraction of students’ time at the fourth year of the break right to ensure Queen’s—it has the power to shape their students have the break they need from university experience. Especially with academics at the most stressful points in the respect to policies designed to improve year. This data will be vital in advocacy this mental health, as the break is meant to, that year and next year regarding the break’s year matters. long-term future.

Finally, the negligence on student This extends to broader student consultation here is not an isolated incident. engagement. When the principal wants This year, two other University policies—the to have a public conversation, attend and Sexual Violence Prevention and Response make your opinions known. An hour of your Policy and Alcohol Policy—have been day is worth directly improving your years contested by student leaders and students on campus. at large, because students weren’t consulted However, to the Queen’s administration: adequately beforehand. If such policies it’s time to do more. Student leaders are objected to by the people they’re shouldn’t be picking up administrators’ slack designed to help, the policy-making process when they fail to consider the perspectives of becomes broken.

Queen’s diverse student body. A university’s The University’s pushes for student policies should reflect the will of its feedback often come too little, too late in students, not its student leaders alone, or reacting to problems rather than proactively administrators who haven’t been students trying to prevent them in the first place. in years. Consultation (if done right) can However, one thing is certain: blaming be effective. the Administration alone doesn’t tell the So, students, fill out that survey. full story.

Administrators, listen to the survey's results.

Something else I’ve learned in my time If everyone does their part, perhaps in as Student Senate Caucus Chair is that future years, we can get the fall term break blame for this situation can’t be placed on right at last. a few administrators. Fall term break has been a massively complicated project, with David Niddam-Dent is a second-year Arts implications reaching Orientation Week, and Science student and Student Senate exam periods, course schedules, faculty Caucus Chair.

Talking heads

... students around campus

PHOTOS BY JODIE GRIEVE

What TV show did you binge over the break?

“Fleabag. It’s a really well-done dark comedy that deals with a lot of social issues."

Desmond Barton, ArtSci '22

“The End of the F***ing World."

Jenny Zhu, Comm '22

“I re-watched The Office because it's my favourite TV show of all time."

Jacob Martinelli, ArtSci '21

8 • queensjournal.ca

Home and away

Sports

Friday, January 10, 2020

Visa? Check. Passport?

Check. Cleats?

Jack Rabb Sports Editor Culture shock, a language barrier, Canadian winter—there’s a lot to contend with for any foreign student at Queen’s.

Some of them are simultaneously grappling with the challenges of playing varsity sports.

Queen’s Athletics boasts athletes from nearly every province in Canada (sorry, Saskatchewan, PEI, Newfoundland and Labrador, and also all the territories). But there are also currently athletes from seven different countries around the world.

When the only connection between your home and a foreign country is your sport, the move can be daunting. But players in volleyball, hockey, soccer, rugby, basketball, and rowers and cross-country runners have all made the leap.

Some are just making the most out of their time on exchange, while others are taking advantage of cheaper tuition and scholarships that aren’t available in their home country.

Of the 400 varsity athletes at Queen’s, 2.25 per cent of them hail from abroad.

Liam Casey is a lock on the rugby team from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Although his family holds Canadian citizenship, he had always lived overseas. While playing in New Zealand, he was scouted to play for the Canadian U-18 team. There, he met Queen’s Head Coach Dave Butcher and got recruited to come play for the Gaels.

“Playing rugby made [my transition] so much easier,” Casey told The Journal. “There was definitely a type of culture shock when I came here [...] but the beauty of playing rugby is pretty much everyone who plays rugby is a beauty.”

“It’s an immediate connection you have with like 40 guys, so no matter what your differences, you can always bond over rugby at the very least.”

Over the past two years, athletes from nine different countries have played for Queen’s.

Coming from such a varied background, Casey was initially taken aback by the homogeneity at Queen’s, and the lack of good food. “I think just the general lack of diversity is pretty shocking and strange […] The food here is expensive and not nearly as good.”

However, Casey said the camaraderie of his teammates helped him get used to Canada.

“If you mean ‘help’ by roasting me mercilessly for saying something stupid like, ‘Jeez, it gets cold here really fast,’ or laughing their asses off when they saw me rolling around in snow for the first time, then, yes, they have been helpful,” he quipped.

“Honestly, I loved how kind everybody is here [...] Everyone here was just so nice, I really felt like I fit in and belonged very quickly.”

Brazilian sophomore Bruno Chan, a wing on the men’s basketball team, felt much the same way.

“I think the most difficult part for me was being so far from my family. Because of my busy schedule with basketball, I can only go back to Brazil once a year,” Chan explained to The Journal. “However, what surprised me was how friendly everyone is here. Living away from your family can be hard, but my friends in Canada have made it much easier for me.”

Chan moved to Vancouver for high school. Previously a soccer player in Brazil, he touched a basketball for the first time in ninth grade.

He had gone to an American school in Brazil, but he hadn’t picked up too much English because all of his classmates were Brazilian, so they usually just defaulted to Portuguese.

“When I first got to Canada, it was a little tough for a couple months,” Chan admitted.

However, by the end of his first season with his high school team, he had gotten over the language barrier, made some friends on the team, and become a starter. A few short years later, his coach put him in touch with the Queen’s coach, Steph Barrie, who invited him for a visit.

“When I got to campus and met all of my teammates I knew that was the place I wanted to go.”

“I’d say being part of these two teams made my experience [of adjusting to Canada] way better and [made it] way easier to make new friends.”

Andrea Bragagna came on exchange from Italy last year, where he had played soccer in the fourth division, Series D. He slotted right into the Queen’s lineup, but there were some peculiarities about U SPORTS that threw him off.

“Something that is really important that I noticed is that everything that is related to sport is[…] very important for the school, for the school as an institution,” Bragagna told The Journal in a phone interview.

“Everything is very formal in relation to the soccer team, or teams in general. You have all this preparation before the game, you have the national anthem, everybody is excused from class because there is a sport to attend, it’s very, very formalized.”

“In Italy, not at all. You will never play for a team of the school. There is no such a thing.”

The Canadian approach to soccer was bizarre for him as well. Gone was the freewheeling creativity of his native Bolzano, replaced with rote, mechanized roles and expectations.

“It’s very practical in Canada, and even

ILLUSTRATION BY AMELIA RANKINE

too much, probably. Your approach to the game and how you stay in the field, it’s too matching to the software that the coach uses.”

“Soccer is something that is uncontrollable.

You can put a team on the field but, during the game, there are certain things that are too variable, it’s not a perfect equation that you can control.”

Through all these differences, Bragagna found his place with the team.

“I really appreciate how the teammates treated me and welcomed me, even though the locker room is some sacred thing for Canadian soccer players. In Italy, for example, there is not that same mindset in the locker room, everyone is for himself, there’s not that deep team cohesion. It’s just something that helped a lot.”

The takeaway from these stories is that sports can transcend barriers—there are rulebooks in every language, but they all mean the same thing. A ball going through a hoop in Brazil counts for the same two points it does in Canada, and the team with more points always wins.

Sports hold the potential to be a great equalizer. On the field, the only identifier that matters is ‘teammate’.

Casey summed it up nicely: “Good rugby is good rugby no matter where you play it.

All you need is good players, a great coach, and lots of determination, and Queen’s has all of them.”

To read the rest of this article, visit queensjournal.ca/

Arts

Friday, January 10, 2020

queensjournal.ca

•9

Owl Farm keeps rocking after decade away from the stage Punk band starts the new decade with new music Pamoda Wijekoon Assistant Arts Editor

After a decade-long break from the spotlight, Kingston-based punk band Owl Farm is undergoing a revival.

They’re bringing their new sound to The Toucan on Jan. 10.

In the seventh grade, JP Simard, Owl Farm’s lead vocalist, was given a homemade mixtape by his friend Chris Lyon. On one side, the mixtape had the Violent Femmes’ self-titled album, on the other, Never Mind the Bollocks by the Sex Pistols. The mixtape ushered in the birth of a punk rocker.

“I was like, ‘Oh’,” Simard said, “’This is what I’ve been waiting for.’”

Years later, Simard and Lyon joined forces again from across

separate musical projects to form Owl Farm in 2007, and, after a decade-long hiatus, the band continues to keep the dream alive, embodying what it means to be punk rock in 2020: loud, authentic, and dedicated to the music.

After adjusting to Lyon’s exit from the band a few years ago, the group—consisting of Simard on vocals, Matt Darch on bass, Jason Berezny on drums, and Ryan Bol on guitar—has finally found its groove as a four-piece ensemble. They’ve developed a bare-bones punk sound and lean into what they love about being musicians—playing live, and playing together.

In 2011, the band distributed copies of their latest unreleased album, A Cautionary Tale, for free.

Each member burned their songs onto discs in whatever order they preferred, without any formal structure to the track list.

Inspired by Radiohead’s free release of In Rainbows in 2007, Owl Farm acknowledged that the

choice to distribute their album for free wasn’t exactly radical.

Prior attempts to sell their albums for profit at their shows had consistently been derailed by band members giving copies away for free anyway.

“Once, we screened our own shirts, and I thought that we would sell them,” Berezney said, “but I didn’t really care about the 10 bucks, and I’d just end up giving those away for free too.”

The group’s members have been in and out of bands since they first began playing music in high school, and as seasoned musicians on the Kingston music scene, they’re happy to sit out the mainstream industry’s rat race to focus on what works for them. After years of touring Ontario and opening for bands they idolized in their teen years, like SNFU, the band is busy appreciating the independence Kingston musicians get from their environment.

“There’s not a million bands

Jan Allen reflects on her career at the Agnes gallery

Jan Allen reflects on her career.

Campus gallery’s creative director

enters retirement

Brittany Giliforte Arts Editor

After 27 years working at the Agnes Etherington Art Centre, Jan Allen, creative director of the on-campus gallery, is retiring.

As of Dec. 2019, her retirement was official, but Allen is still working on fully phasing out of her position.

In the meantime, wrapping up loose ends prevent her from fully leaving the Agnes behind just

PHOTO BY TIM FORBES

yet—this interview with The Journal being one of them.

Allen’s career at Queen’s started long before her employment at the Agnes. She earned her Bachelor of Arts in history in ’86, then her Bachelor of Fine Arts in ’90, and her Master’s degree in art history in ’92. Also in ’92, Allen was hired on as the Agnes’ associate curator.

Her first experience curating an art exhibit was when she was a student at Lorne Park Secondary School in Mississauga.

“I was an art student in high school that was obsessed with art and spent all my time in the art area any time I could,” Allen told The Journal. “[Curating an exhibit] was an idea I had and I had some fantastic teachers that

were encouraging.”

Allen says she felt that the great art being made in her high school deserved an audience. With the help of her teachers, she curated her very first art exhibit.

“I didn’t really understand how perfect it would be for me as a career until a little bit later in life,” Allen said.

As an artist herself, she has a deep appreciation for the creative process. Her own artistic focus is sculpting, though it’s a practice she’s sidelined in recent years due to the demanding nature of her role as gallery director.

Even though she wasn’t working on her art regularly throughout her career at the Agnes, Allen believes it helped her give others insight into what drove her work as director.

“I think people are very interested in that, and I think it helps people to understand my work and my approach to my work,” Allen said.

“A lot of people who work in galleries at large, including the Agnes, have backgrounds as practicing artists. They’re bringing that creative training into that role.”

Allen has spent most of her career as a curator of contemporary art. She was promoted to chief curator at the Agnes in 2007, then acting director in 2012, and officially took on her role as director in 2014.

“When the opportunity to become director arose, I was well-positioned to take it on. I had lots of ideas that I wanted to try to achieve in that role.”

One goal was to reach a larger audience. Again, Allen knew that the great art hanging in the Agnes deserved to be seen

Owl Farm will play at The Toucan on Jan. 10.

SUPPLIED BY MATT DARCH

that are all trying to sound like one another,” Simard said. “Music in Kingston is very personal and unique. We’re not against playing out of town, but we’ve been there and done that. Kingston is just so much fun for us.”

After struggling to coordinate schedules and slowing down to playing two or three shows a year, the band is currently working on new material for the first time since A Cautionary Tale. They’re newly energized by the addition of Bol to the group, who arrived with a back catalogue of music for the band to mine.

Working with local producer James Mulvale, they’ve leaned

away from studio recording and have started releasing live recordings on their Soundcloud page instead. With plans to continue recording their live performances, they’re also getting the ball rolling on developing merchandise and releasing a vinyl.

“We still play together because we love to play,” Berezney said.

“We love playing live music more than going into a recording studio and worrying about how the CDs are going to sell. We’re all going to be playing music when we’re 90 years old, whether we get paid or not. We play because we love it, and nothing can stop us.”

and appreciated.

Throughout her time at the gallery, she accomplished this goal. The Agnes’ funding almost doubled while she was the director. She attributes this to the gallery staff’s hard work and initiatives to increase attendance.

They spearheaded a new community outreach initiative to email out a weekly newsletter, and they continue to welcome new exhibits every semester.

When attendance increased, their funding followed suit.

Looking back at her career, one of the most exciting exhibits that Allen remembers was called Machine Life in 2004.

It featured breaking-edge robotic works of art by Norman White and his students. White is a pioneer of electronic artworks, and this exhibit attracted crowds in droves.

“It drew completely new audiences because of the robotic

nature of the works of art. We had lots of families coming and kids that were really fascinated by that, but also engineering students,” Allen said.

“That was really fun, and I think [it was] an important contribution to the scholarship around the development of electronic arts.”

Heading into her retirement, Allen says she’s still thinking about ways to continue her artistic research in her everyday life, though she has no doubt that art will still play an integral part in her life.

“I’ll miss working so closely with the artists, and of course, the people that I encountered and worked with at the gallery who were just fantastic,” Allen said.

“I also really loved being around and working with students.

That’s something that’s harder to replace, so I’ll have to think about it in my next phase of life.”

LIFESTYLE

10 • queensjournal.ca

STUDENT LIFE

Busting ghosting culture at Queen’s

Friday, January 10, 2020

e l y t s Life

There’s nothing scary about giving potential partners proper closure ILLUSTRATION BY HANNAH LARSEN

Chiara Gottheil Staff Writer It’s safe to bet most Queen’s students have had at least one experience with a ghost—just not the paranormal kind.

A ghost in this context is a person who suddenly cuts off all communication with a romantic interest they’ve been talking to, typically without any explanation.

Someone can ‘ghost’ at any point in their relationship, whether before the first date, or after weeks or months of seeing the other person.

Ghosting can happen to anyone regardless of age, gender, or sexual preference, but the practice has become a particularly common one for university students—including those at Queen’s.

It’s possible that ghosting culture is largely caused by the

rise of dating apps in the Queen’s community. Tinder, Bumble, and other similar apps have revolutionized dating by allowing us to browse potential partners and talk to them in a low-commitment way, moving on whenever we get bored. While dating apps can help us find a romantic match, the problem arises when we take the behaviours we learn from dating apps and apply them to real-life dating.

With so many people available on dating apps, it’s easy to talk to a lot of people at once, making us less attached to any one person.

The volume of people on the apps means that for everyone who un-matches us, a new conversation begins with someone else, which makes us immune to the loss of a potential romantic interest.

Therefore, it’s easy to adopt a mindset that the people we talk to

ALBUM REVIEW

on dating apps are transient. After all, there will always be others to replace them.

Our attachment to people we speak to on dating apps is also diminished by the fact that people aren’t necessarily themselves on these platforms. Rather than experiencing real chemistry or bonding over a shared interest, dating apps are all about catching someone’s attention with a funny pick-up line or a pun. When every Tinder or Bumble conversation begins this way, everyone starts to sound the same.

In most cases, communicating through the interface of a text conversation, rather than face-to-face, eliminates the chance to perceive the other person’s true personality and body language, both of which are important to establishing a connection with someone.

Ghosting on dating apps can be justified—after all, each person on the app has different goals for the type of person and relationship they’re seeking, and the apps are designed to allow people to move on quickly in order to find what they are looking for. The fast-paced nature of the app means that no one becomes too attached to anyone they talk to, so no one gets too hurt if the conversation stops.

However, the mindset that we can easily move on if we realize someone doesn’t match our ideals can make us prone to ghosting outside the context of dating apps: people we’ve met outside of these apps, gone on dates with, or even been seeing for longer

periods of time. Getting used to dating on platforms that don’t always encourage real connections may reduce our sense of empathy.

There are no rules for when ghosting is acceptable and when it isn’t, but when ending a relationship, even a casual one, it’s always more considerate of the other person’s feelings to let them down nicely and give them closure.

Dating apps aren’t all bad: they provide an approach to finding people with similar interests as us that hasn’t been available in the past.

However, we should take care to remember that the impersonal nature of digital dating shouldn’t leave the apps.

Styles walks a “Fine Line” between sadness and hope in new album Singer explores the highs and lows of heartbreak across 12 songs Chloe Sarrazin Copy Editor Last month, Harry Styles released his second solo album, Fine Line.

This comes three years after One Direction (comprised of Harry Styles, Niall Horan, Louis Tomlinson, Liam Payne, and, formerly, Zayn Malik) announced what was supposed to be a mere 18-month hiatus, which is now indefinite.

In a 2010 video diary from One Direction’s time on the music competition show, The X Factor, Louis Tomlinson dubbed Harry Styles “the flirt” of the group.

The nickname was a joke more than anything else, but Styles’ reputation as a womanizer only continued to bloom from there, despite his attempts to deny it.

Since the band’s split, Styles has shed the media’s preconceptions and defined himself as both an influential artist and person.

Today, his success has far surpassed that of his former bandmates, who have all forged new careers as solo artists.

While some One Direction members have struggled to reach the top charts with their solo albums, Harry Styles’ most recent album, Fine Line, topped the Billboard 200 chart for two successive weeks after its release—a week longer than his self-named debut. While Niall Horan’s Flicker also made No. 1 in 2017, Zayn Malik’s latest album only reached No. 61, and Liam Payne’s LP1 hit a mere No. 111.

Louis Tomlinson’s debut album is set to release later this month.

As a band of young, attractive, and talented boys with good hair and chemistry, success came easy for One Direction in the early 2010s. With such a dedicated and prominent fanbase, it would seem natural that all of the former bandmates would also succeed as solo artists. So why has Harry

Styles overshadowed the rest of One Direction?

In a lot of ways, the answer lies in Styles’ new, vulnerable album.

Fine Line distinguishes itself from the more poppy, generic One Direction music that Styles found fame from. This solo album allowed Styles to contribute to the writing of all his songs, as opposed to just a handful that would eventually be shared with and sung by his One Direction bandmates.

He’s been able to break out of the cookie-cutter sound of One Direction and experiment more in his music—and it’s working well for him.

Styles has described this album as his most honest, and it shows through his lyrics. Styles’ heartbreak and sadness shine through in a testament to his recent breakup with ex-girlfriend Camille Rowe.

The album starts off with the song “Golden,” in which Styles expresses his fears about his relationship, singing, “I know that you’re scared / Because hearts get broken” and “I don’t

Harry Styles.

wanna be alone,” foreshadowing the rest of the album. A few tracks later, “Cherry” starts off with the lines, “Don’t you call him baby […]Don’t you call him what you used to call me,” as the couple has broken up, and Styles’ ex has presumably moved on.

This song tugs on the heartstrings, even featuring a voicemail clip of Styles’ ex-girlfriend, Rowe, speaking in French at the end of the song in a nostalgic look back at their relationship.

“Falling” is by far the most emotionally vulnerable song of the album. Styles blames both “drink and [his] wandering hands” for ruining his relationship and asks himself, “What am I now? / What if I’m someone I don’t want around?” As he repeatedly sings that he’s “falling again,” the ballad is both heartbreaking and honest.

Styles is struggling to find his true self.

In contrast to the more heartbreaking songs on the album, “Canyon Moon” feels slightly

ILLUSTRATION BY SHELBY TALBOT

out-of-place, more poppy, and not as powerful as the rest of the album as he reminisces about happier times.

The titular song “Fine Line” concludes the album, simultaneously sad and hopeful for the future as Styles sings, “We’ll be a fine line […] We’ll be alright.”

The album is primarily pop-rock, but also delves into the psychedelic: the opening of “She” is, in my personal opinion (though my dad laughs when I say this), Pink Floyd-esque. It seems influenced by classic rock, making it a far cry from his One Direction work.

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Friday, January 10, 2020

LIFESTYLE

queensjournal.ca

• 11

LIFESTYLE

12 • queensjournal.ca

Friday, January 10, 2020

POSTSCRIPT

Our best moments of the decade Students share their defining moments of the 2010s

These Queen's students reflect on the moments that made the decade.

Ally Mastantuono Lifestyle Editor

When the clock struck midnight this New Year’s Eve, the world not only said goodbye to the past year, but to the past decade.

To say a proper goodbye to the last 10 years, The Journal asked students to share their best moment of the decade. From unintentionally meeting celebrities to getting into their dream school, these students have a lot to thank the 2010s for. ***

“In the past decade, I unlocked a secret realization that has saved my life, cleared my acne, and generally made me a better man: I thrive when Missy Elliott thrives.

My devotion to the rapper and producer exploded after her guest appearance in Katy Perry’s 2015 Super Bowl halftime show.

Despite spending a decade out of the spotlight while quietly managing her Graves’ disease, Missy tore through a medley of hits with energy so infectious I found myself involuntarily krumping hard enough to pop a blood vessel.

Quantifying how much I've listened to Missy's music since that performance is an impossible task akin to walking on the sun.

Her inventive raps soundtrack my workouts, parties, and even one particularly well-received class presentation. I knew I could always count on her sex-positive and lyrically innovative songs to put me in a good mood, even as the decade saw me progress from a bed-wetting child to a bed-making adult.

After a new EP and collaborations with Ariana Grande and Lizzo, I foolishly figured Missy was out of surprises for

the decade. Then, like a gift from hip-hop heaven, she descended from the clouds to bless me with a Twitter follow after I wrote an article celebrating her comeback.

“

Then, like a gift from hip-hop heaven, she descended from the clouds to bless me with a Twitter follow.

”

Through all the life changes the 2010s brought me, I will forever look back at it as the decade I got Missy Elliott's seal of approval.”

—Josh Granovsky, ArtSci ’20

“In 2015, I got to complete my first year of study at the Bader International Study Centre, otherwise known as ‘The Castle.’

First year at the Castle had its own memorable moments and shenanigans, like any other first-year experience, but I didn’t really know how unreal life abroad could get until we went to Liverpool for our midterm trip in October.

While there were many educational moments, the highlight of the trip was far from academic. My friends and I were strolling around Liverpool, and we were vibing with a bunch of people bucket-drumming and dancing in the streets.

Then, some of my friends claimed to see A-list actress Shailene Woodley.

I thought there was no chance of it being her, but I still (speed) walked up to her and asked, ‘Excuse me, has anybody ever told you that you look just like Shailene Woodley?’ She smiled and warmly replied with, ‘That’s because I am Shailene Woodley.’

“

She smiled and warmly replied with, “That’s because I am Shailene Woodley.”

”

We freaked out, and she politely talked to us about what we were doing in Liverpool. After we asked for a photo, she kindly explained that she doesn’t take photos with fans, and the tall man with her asked us to delete any photos we took that featured them. As Shailene and the man were leaving, I realized the man was none other than actor Ezra Miller. I shouted after him, ‘You were so good in The Perks of Being a Wallflower!’

So, sure, the Castle was an enriching academic experience, but as we all know, fame is more important than academics.”

—Pravieena Gnanakumar, ArtSci ’20

“The highlight of the decade for me was winning the 2016 Student Yachting World Cup in La Rochelle France with the Queen's Sailing Team. The event was the culmination of three years of training and competition in which our team campaigned hard in the Canadian and American Collegiate Sailing Leagues.

The amount of work that went into training, qualifying, and fundraising for this competition was extraordinary, and our whole team gave 100 per cent to represent our school and our country on the world stage.

As the new captain of the Keelboat Team that year, I personally overcame huge obstacles to be able to compete in this event, and those challenges helped define who I became through my Queen's career.

The event itself was closely contested, and after five days of racing we finished ahead of the California Maritime Academy by a single point.

Crossing the finish line of the final race brought an overwhelming feeling of elation and gratitude as we realized that all our effort had paid off. The crew was made up of Will Jones, Clifton Kartner, Sam Thompson, Denby McDonnell, Adrienne Gaudreault, Claire Boileau, Connor Mackenzie, and myself.

To them and all the people who supported us along the way: I can never thank you enough.

Cha gheill.”

the finish “Crossing line of the final

race brought an overwhelming feeling of elation [...]

”

—Daniel Sheedy, ArtSci ’19

“Sitting in Grade 12 chemistry class, it felt like my teacher was speaking a different language to the class. Knowing that the rest of my peers only spoke English, I was convinced that they were all pretending to understand her complex scientific language.

Although I could have pushed myself to succeed in chemistry, I felt out of place in the class in a way I knew I shouldn’t. So, without much deliberation, I raised my hand, asked to leave for an ‘appointment,’ and dropped chemistry and biology to pick up drama.

This was my decision of the decade. While I usually overthink things, this taught me a valuable lesson: impulse decisions are not always poor ones. Sometimes,

ILLUSTRATION BY XINYUAN HU

your heart will tell you how to feel in the moment. And when you feel like you’re in the wrong place, don’t hesitate—run as fast as you can to the right one.”

—Samantha Fink, ConEd ’20

“The most amazing moment for me over the past decade would have to be the day I got accepted into Queen’s. Every day has its wonderful moments and its terrible moments, but this day for me was pure joy.

I wasn’t sure if I was going to get in, and as much as I tried to act like I didn’t care, I knew that I wanted admission to Queen’s more than anything else. I was excited, scared, and had never been prouder of myself in my life once I found out I had made it.

I was excited, scared, “and had never been prouder of myself [...]

”

Accepting my offer ended up being the best decision I ever made because it brought me so much more than just an education.

Little did I know that in 2016, I would be starting my journey to making friends, memories, and building the foundation for my future endeavours.

Not to mention that I could not imagine living in a city that makes me happier than Kingston.

I have dug my roots in deep here and plan to stay here post-graduation. Out of everything I’ve experienced over the past decade, I would definitely have to say the day I was offered admission to Queen’s was one of the best days of my life—so far!”

—Emily Elliott, ArtSci ’20