The Fulcrum - Volume 79, Issue 6 - The Sex Issue

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IN THIS ISSUE Indigenous language bill needs work P.5 Inuit leaders have concerns over new bill

Ottawa artist highlights climate change P.10

Art, music, the climate - nothing is permanent

The Love and Sex Issue P.13 Navigating the complexities of love and sex

Gee-Gees doing good P.23

Read up on the Gee-Gees’ community service

Let’s talk about sex-ed P.26

Victims need to know when they’re being abused

Bus challenge causes unintended government shutdown P.27 Joining the mile high club P.28 Ty’s tips and tricks

FulcFit food series

Butternut squash soup It’s October, and that means we’re now well into autumn. Plants are dying, but our appetites are not.This means we’re going to need some recipes to warm us up throughout this cool transition to winter.

One such dish I highly recommend is homemade butternut squash soup. I can’t take credit for the recipe, as it was something my mother always made for our family, and still makes sometimes when I visit.

Here’s how you can make your own homemade, reasonably healthy butternut squash soup. Trust me, mom’s recipe is much better than that storebought stuff at your local Metro.

It’s tough, but well worth the effort to prepare!

Photo: Andrew Price.

Andrew Price, Sports Editor

During the school year, it’s all too easy to let your eating habits slip.

To get you back on track, the Fulcrum has some essential recipes so you stay full and fit all year long.

Directions

1. You need one large butternut squash. You’ll want to get this peeled and chopped, and in some places you can get it pre-chopped and peeled.

2. Put this in a large baking dish, and pour a generous amount of olive oil in, about half a cup.

3. Add ¼ teaspoon of Coriander over the squash.

4. Add salt and pepper, again, being generous .

5. Place it all in the oven, setting it 400 C. Bake for approximately 40 minutes, making sure it’s mushy.

6. Now peel three apples and put this in a pot for the soup.

7. Add ⅓ of a chopped onion to the pot, and mix in a bit of olive oil. Sauté this for a few minutes.

8. Now add ⅓ a box of chicken broth, and bring the mixture to a boil.

9. When the squash is ready, add it in when the mixture is soft. You can then add the rest of the chicken broth if you want, and let it simmer.

10. Add a touch of cinnamon for a little extra flavour (optional).

11. Wait 40 minutes until all ingredients are soft, then take off the heat and let it cool a little.

12. At this point you can add a bit of Purée to make it extra creamy, and stir.

Now you’ve got yourself a bowl of irresistible butternut squash soup. Enjoy!

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November 16th SPORTS | 23

NEWS INDIGENOUS LANGUAGE

NEWS EDITOR

Eric Davison news@thefulcrum.ca News Line - (613) 695-0061

BILL GETS MIXED REVIEWS CONCERNS FROM INUIT POPULATIONS DAMPEN “LANDMARK” LEGISLATION

Trudeau’s administration claims to have made reconciliation and compensation efforts with Canada’s First Nations peoples a key part of their platform.

Photo: Max Pixel, CC

Zoë Mason

Staff Contributor

T

he Trudeau government’s Bill C-91: An Act Respecting Indigenous Languages has had its first reading in the House of Commons.

The bill aims to expand official recognition of Canada’s Indigenous languages and supports services and education in those languages.

Trudeau’s administration claims to have made reconciliation and compensation efforts with Canada’s First Nations peoples a key part of their platform, and last week’s an-

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nouncement of Bill C-91 is the latest in a string of legislation aimed at bolstering Indigenous communities.

The federal government claims that C-91 will help reverse the decline of Indigenous languages—a trend encouraged and accelerated by Canada’s residential school system. The Truth and Reconciliation Commission identified the restoration of Indigenous language education as a key recommendation in their 2008 report.

Heritage and Multiculturalism Minister Pablo Rodriguez called Bill C-91 “a major milestone,” but admits that the government still has a long way to go to fulfil their commitment to reconciliation.

Reactions to the proposal have been mixed across Canada, but many hope that it is a

step in the right direction.

“I’m hopeful that this becomes something productive and helpful, but I think a lot of people were expecting a little bit more,” said Darren Sutherland, Indigenous Community Engagement Officer with the University of Ottawa Indigenous Resource Centre.

“There wasn’t a lot of community consultation. I think a lot of people were hoping that it would’ve been a more transparent process.”

There are a number of criticisms regarding the bill, particularly from the Inuit community and the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami (ITK), a not-for-profit Inuit advocacy group. According to a statement by president Natan Obed, “The absence of any Inuit-specific content suggests this bill is yet another legislative initiative developed

behind closed doors by a colonial system and then imposed on Inuit.”

In a document sent to the Fulcrum by ITK, the organization’s stances are outlined in a series of guidelines for any potential legislation addressing Indigenous language. One such request is a “distinctions-based approach,” which would recognize the necessary specificity regarding the needs of Inuktitut. No such provisions exist in Bill C-91.

Sutherland adds “No one is talking dollar amounts. People want to know how much money is going to be committed to this. I would like to see some representative of government step up and say ‘we’re going to at least match the current investment to Indigenous language initiatives, or increase it.’”

Bill C-91 has been in the works for several years and will have to go through the House and Senate before being enacted into law. The process is expected to be complete before the federal election this fall, but before it is, many would like to see amendments made.

For example, ITK and other Inuit organizations hope to see Inuktitut—which is reportedly spoken by 84 per cent of Nunavut’s 51 Inuit Nunangat communities—become a working language of territorial governance.

Sutherland hopes to see the increase of access to and promotion of Indigenous language programming in urban communities. He pointed out that Indigenous peoples who move to urban centres are less likely than their friends and family on reserves to learn their na-

tive language. He also has suggestions on how research and implementation of programming should be conducted going forward.

“This isn’t like regions like New Zealand, or Ireland, places with less language diversity.

There isn’t one solution, the region to region approach is probably the best thing to do,” he said.

“However research would take a lot of time, and most fluent speakers are aging. The communities know what they need, so if they’re willing to listen to what communities already know, and provide some funding to support their efforts, then I think that’s great.”

If you’re interested in Indigenous languages, University of Ottawa offers courses in the Institute of Canadian and Aboriginal Studies.

NEWS | 5

U OF O RESEARCH: PROFESSORS REPORT POOR ACCOMMODATIONS AT WORK

Pilot study finds burnout, anxiety top mental health symptoms

Research underway at the U of O finds 27 per cent of employees take a leave of absence; most often because of work overload. Pictured: Ivy Bourgeault, researcher and Telfer professor.

Photo: Sarah Crookall

Sarah Crookall

Fulcrum Freelancer As the U of O and part-time professors reach a tentative deal on a new contract, research from the university reports systemic inefficiencies may contribute to professors’ leaves of absence.

“All the mental health experiences that students are experiencing—academics are experiencing as well,” said researcher and Telfer School of Management professor, Ivy Bourgeault. “It’s particularly challenging in the very insecure world that is contract faculty.”

With $1.4 million in federal funding, the U of O will partner with 11 universities including Carleton and McGill, to assess the mental health symptoms facing professors and six other professions.

The research focuses on professors, teachers, dentists, midwives, nurses, physicians, and accountants. So far, anx-

6 | NEWS

iety and burnout is reported most often in all seven professions.

The pilot study, funded through a Partnership Development Grant, conducted 200 surveys across the country. It found 27 per cent of employees took a leave of absence, most often because of work overload or poor relations with employers.

Building on research on insomnia in education, Bourgeault says unseen mental health symptoms aren’t always reported in what are sometimes considered good jobs like academia.

“Because of that privilege we may not look at the invisible stressors that are happening,” she said.

The five-year study is asking employees why they take a leave of absence, how they return to work, and which factors stop them from taking a leave of absence when they can.

Bourgeault says workers,

especially professors who experience anxiety lecturing, often don’t return after a leave.

“It becomes very difficult for faculty to come back without teaching,” she said.

“Sometimes it can be interpreted, whether appropriately or inappropriately, that not wanting to teach ... is a way to get out of tasks that are not highly valued.”

Bourgeault added that teaching, administrative work, and student mentoring are typically not valued as much as research in academia. She added that unpaid working hours can be especially stressing for part-time faculty.

At the same time, in 2017– 18 the number of faculty employed as full-time professors increased by 1.4 per cent from 2016–17. According to Statistics Canada, about 230 more professors are signedon full-time.

The data from Statistics

Canada notes, “this may be due to a number of factors such as the movement of the baby boom generation through the workforce, as well as the end of mandatory retirement across Canada.”

In the 2017-18 academic year, full-time professors at the U of O were paid $177,350 on average, with assistant professors pulling in $116,100.

In Bourgeault’s pilot study, pay ranked as the lowest mental health factor in all seven professions.

Professors reported inefficiencies from poor flexibility in accommodation, long-term needs, and systemic barriers.

Bourgeault says not having access to internal research funds, conducting research, and attending meetings can also contribute to high stress for professors.

Referencing creative solutions in sectors like government, Bourgeault says gender diversity in mental health programs can be a

helpful way to address these stressors.

Instead of losing the skills of workers who leave their profession, Ivy said she envisions work environments maintain the skills employees acquired over time. “Maybe there are other ways that we could accommodate—to pick up skills of individuals,” she said.

The Canadian Community Health Survey, commissioned

by Statistics Canada, will occur within the five-year period, and take a closer look at gender.

Drawing on academics’ inability to move for graduate studies and harassment, Bourgeault added that the pilot study found gendered stress differences among teachers.

“Women are less likely to be invited to conferences, they are less likely to get funding to go to conferences, and therefore their progress through their career is much

more limited,” she said.

“There was greater differences when we looked not at gender of the professional, but at gender of the profession,” she said.

Bourgeault referenced management and a culture of presenteeism as factors contributing to leaves of absence.

“We refer to the word ‘presenteeism’ but it really doesn’t capture the visceral nature of what that means—the inability to take a leave, having to go to work when you are unwell,” she said.

Bourgeault says full results of the pilot study are expected this fall, and that students and professors are encouraged to get involved.

“It’s really important that if you’re experiencing stress at work that you don’t just individualize it—that, yes, we want to empower people to take control over their stress where they can, but also to acknowledge where it is a work structure,” she said.

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UOTTA HACK PUSHES SKILLS, CONNECTS TALENT

Region’s largest hackathon hosts over 400 students

Photo: Remi Yuan Landry

Eric Davison News Editor

UOttaHack returned to the University of Ottawa’s Learning Crossroads for the region’s largest hackathon on Feb. 9.

The event challenged students to team up for 24 hours of non-stop computer programing and networking activities. Participants are expected to come up with a project and complete it from start to finish within the allotted time.

“A hackathon is a place where people can work on something that excites them and something they want to do,” says MinhThao Dang, a coordinator for uOttaHack. “Too often in school, you get your projects given to you, and you get too busy to have fun.”

Over 400 participants from universities across Canada participated in the challenge and networked with computer science professionals.

Participants were allowed to set their own goals and challenges for the weekend,

allowing participation from people at a variety of skill levels. Projects ranged from a context-dependent event planner that offered suggestions on what to do based on weather, personal ability, and location to a transit-synced music app.

“It is more about having just an idea. It’s about having something to show off. Instead of having a full, working application like you might do with a full term, you just have a rough outline. But it lets you brainstorm solu-

tions that you don’t get to try otherwise.” says Patrick Elis, a participant in uOttaHack.

“It is stressful, but we are also just here coding for fun— which you don’t get to do often (in school) … there is no stress it is going to be graded, there are no expectations,” Elis continued.

Tech industry heavyweights including Google and Survey Monkey were also present, hoping to find top talent for their growing operations in Ottawa.

The companies encouraged

participants to solve specific problems and prove their worth for lucrative industry positions.

Photo: Courtesy of uOttaHack “A hackathon is an opportunity to see talent in action, working as part of a real team.” said Amar Jasarbasic, a third-year software engineering student at the U of O. “The other side of things, is trying to promote a product— so they challenge students to use a product in some new or creative way and build expertise around products that might not be well known.”

Jasarbasic commented that some of the key players in Ottawa’s booming tech scene were present at the event.

The industry’s interest in the hackathon is another step in linking U of O students with local industry talent.

“We noticed there were hackathons happening at pretty much every major university in Ontario and Quebec, and we felt like we were missing out on that,” said Jasarbasic. “This is something that was missing at the university.”

“A hackathon is a place where people can work on something that excites them and something they want to do,” ­ —MinhThao Dang, coordinator for uOttaHack thefulcrum.ca

NEWS | 7

NATIONAL NEWS

$250K SPENT ON CREDIT CARDS ACCORDING TO RYERSON STUDENT UNION BOARD MEMBER, ANOTHER RESIGNS Raneem Alozzi, Sherina Harris & Emma Sandri The Eyeopener

A board member alleged the current Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU) executive team has spent over $250,000 using the union’s credit cards during a discussion at the RSU January board meeting, and a director resigned following the allegation, the Eyeopener reports.

RSU president Ram Ganesh said during the meeting that the cards could be used by any part-time or full-time RSU staff member. Towards the end of the meeting, Niall Hickey, a director from the Faculty of Ted Rogers School of Management resigned, saying he was disappointed with the union.

Maklane deWever said he saw RSU bank statements totalling a collective amount of $250,000. James Fotak, a Faculty of Arts director, said he saw the statements with deWever, and called them “disappointing.”

“What did you think was going to happen? Do you think we were just going to sit here and let you break financial policies?” asked deWever, student group director. “I email you every month…it’s really not that hard if you just follow the rules and you show up to meetings.”

The Eye previously reported Ganesh decided to divide the $20,000 typically held by the RSU’s general manager (GM) into two $10,000 credit cards, which he and vice-president operations Savreen Gosal had.

From left: RSU president Ram Ganesh, and RSU vice-president student life & events, Edmund Sofo.

Photo: Alanna Rizza

He said that both cards would be streamlined into financial controller Dharshini Jay’s card in January.

Jay said that the decision to give two executives credit cards should have been brought to the board. In response, Ganesh said he had a “difference of opinion” with Jay. “(Policies) aren’t about opinions,” said Chelsea Davenport, Faculty of Community Services director. “As a board we are concerned because you made a change to the (policies)…we want to know why you don’t respect our position.”

DeWever brought forward a motion which, if passed, would require Jay to meet with board directors and members and share financial information at her discretion.

The Board of Directors (BoD) meeting did not meet quorum, which prevented the board members from voting on any of the motions.

DeWever said he had seen the credit card statements and could confirm they were “not OK.” He said purchases were made at Nick’s Sports Shop and LCBO. According to Jay, the RSU needs to get approval for purchasing alcohol, which she said they did not receive. A purchase of over $5,000 on alcohol would have needed to get approval from the board, she said. Board members said they were not consulted about these purchases.

“I know it’s illegal to sell alcohol in Ontario without a liquor license,” said deWever.

“So what events are you having where you are giving away liquor to students for free?”

DeWever also said the statement included a purchase to Credit Risk Management Canada in Stratford, Ont. for $3,000 in October. According to their website, the company provides debt recovery solution and credit investigations, among other services like financial care contact management.

“Finances are public information,” said former vicepresident student life & events Lauren Emberson, adding that this is the case unless the information in the statements could have legal repercussions.

Jay said the RSU has not submitted receipts for any of their purchases since they came into office in May. She set a deadline

of February 1 for the exec team to submit the receipts.

According to Ganesh, the financial statements were not yet reconciled and that he could not provide explanations for the purchases until they were, meaning the receipts are still needed to confirm transactions are accurate. He cited high turnover at the union as one of the reasons for the delay. He did not respond to comment as of publication.

“The board is above the executive,” said Cristal Hines, a Faculty of Community Services Director. “You owe us answers.”

Ganesh said that the executive would provide the “right answers” for the board after the statements are reconciled with Jay by Feb. 1.

POTENTIAL GUIDELINES FOR STUDENT CHOICE INITIATIVE REVEALED

Documents outline essential versus non-essential fees, enforcement mechanisms, timeline for implementation Andy Takagi The Varsity

A presentation obtained by The Varsity that appears to have been delivered by the Ministry of Training, Colleges and Universities (MTCU) outlines which fees will be considered “essential” under the Student Choice Initiative (SCI). The SCI is a policy announced by the provincial government that will give students a choice to opt out from certain fees.

The presentation is dated February 4, and also lays out the requirements for rolling out the opt-out and compliance and enforcement systems of the policy.

8 | NEWS

These policies are part of the MTCU’s recently announced changes to postsecondary education funding, first put forth by the TCU Minister Merrilee Fullerton on January 17.

THE RUBRIC Services considered essential are athletics and recreation, career services, health and counselling, academic support, student ID cards, transcripts and convocation processes, financial aid offices, walksafe programs, and student buildings, including student centres. Student transit passes, which only UTM has, are also considered essential.

Any programs not within these categories are considered non-essential. Individual fees must fit into one of the essential categories to be mandatory.

Health and dental plans are also mandatory, but can be optout if a student provides proof of pre-existing coverage. This system is already in place for U of T students.

Co-op and field trip fees will not be subject to the SCI. The impact on long-term contracts between universities and student associations regarding incidental fees, along with negotiations for amendments, will be the responsibility of those individual parties.

Photo: Sumayyah Ajem/The Varsity

ROLLOUT OF THE STUDENT CHOICE INITIATIVE The MTCU will not introduce any new enforcement mechanisms for the SCI — individual institutions will be responsible for monitoring compliance. Institutions that are not in compliance will be expected to either reimburse students for fees that they opt out from, or the ministry may reduce their operating grants by a commensurate amount.

According to the documents, compliance will be required by the coming fall semester,

through an online system that provides an “opt-out” option simultaneously with paying tuition. Individual institutions may also provide students with an “opt back in” option at a later date.

Fees must be itemized individually, meaning that fees collected by institutions must be separated and cannot be bundled together as, for example, “student activity fees.”

It is unclear whether “essential” Career Centre and Health & Wellness Centre fees would be separated from other “nonessential” student life fees such as for Sexual Diversity Offices

and other student services not established under the “essential” requirements.

According to the documents, the ministry will release guidelines for the SCI “in the near future.

Paige Wiggans — Executive Assistant to MPP and Parliamentary Assistant to the Minister of TCU David Piccini — wrote in an email that the Government of Ontario did not share any documents with The Varsity. Therefore, they “cannot comment on their veracity” as they have not seen the documents.

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ARTS & CULTURE ZHAWENIM DESIGNS

A&C EDITOR Ryan Pepper arts@thefulcrum.ca (613) 695-0062 @pep_ryan

PARTNERS WITH OCDSB TO BRING INDIGENOUS BEADWORK INTO SCHOOLS

BEADWORK USED TO TEACH STUDENTS ABOUT MATHEMATICS, ART, INDIGENOUS CULTURE Ryan Pepper

Arts & Culture Editor

A

recent partnership between Ottawabased Indigenous artist Ashley-Rose Machendagoos and the Ottawa-Carleton District School Board (OCDSB) is bringing Indigenous beadwork into the public school system.

Machendagoos is the founder and owner of Zhawenim Designs, a business that centres around beadwork. She has been doing beadwork since childhood and she taught her-

self how to bead on a loom three years ago. Her passion for Indigenous crafts like beading and dreamcatchers led her to a job at Beaded Dreams on Bank Street. After encouragement from patrons, she founded Zhawenim Designs.

“Being surrounded by beaders, being surrounded by beadwork and beading supplies everyday and talking about beading everyday … I hit my medium, I hit my perfect thing,” said Machendagoos.

“Beading is a medicine, it has the ability to change lives on so many levels, and it’s a much more tangible medicine to use,” said Machendagoos.

“This an actual hands-on

medicine that you can see working.”

Zhawenim translates to “unconditional love” in Ojibwe, which captures Machendagoos’ focus on love and healing in her work.

“The words for love in Ojibwe are, like 15 or 20 letters long, and they have layers of meaning. There’s not just one word for the word ‘love’ and there’s not just one meaning for the word ‘Zhawenim’ either,” said Machendagoos.

This is a time of rapid growth for Zhawenim Designs. They are opening an online store through Shopify and have expanded to a small staff, including marketing director Ross Chase, a Faculty of

An example of Indigenous beadwork gifted to the Fulcrum by Machendagoos.

Photo: Rame Abulkader

Social Sciences graduate at the U of O. The OCDSB approached Machendagoos about bringing beadwork into the school board. Through her job at Beaded Dreams she meets many local Indigenous artists, one of whom put her name on the school board’s radar when they were looking for artists for this partnership.

In the classroom, Machendagoos will be teaching beading and the classroom teacher will be teaching mathematics. Machendagoos never thought about beading as so math-centered until the school board brought it up, and she realized all the math involved.

U OF O IMPROV GROUP GEARS UP FOR OTTAWA IMPROV FEST PERFORMANCE Mandate ranges from training new improvisors to performing across province Ryan Pepper

Arts & Culture Editor Improvisational theatre is getting its time in the spotlight at the end of February with the fourth annual Ottawa Improv Festival (OIF), and this year the University of Ottawa’s improv club will be kicking off the festival.

The U of O’s improv club is two-tier—there’s Room for Improv-ment, a group open to anyone with an interest in improv, regardless of skill level, which gives people a chance to try improv for themselves; and there’s

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MI-6, a touring group that performs at improv summits across the province. The club has been around for over a decade.

“Room for Improv-ment is the space for anybody who wants to try improv, we have weekly jams for people of all skill levels,” explained Charlie Campbell, a second-year philosophy and environmental studies student and an exec member of the club.

“That’s the idea of ‘improv-ment,’ you can learn and try and grow.

Then there’s MI-6 which is the competitive performance team, that will compete with other

MI-6 performs on Feb. 28 at the Ottawa Improv Fest.

Photo: Tuong La

universities at summits and will do local shows.”

“There’s activities, games, things planned out … You start out, do some exercises, do some things that teach you improv fundamentals. At a certain point you’ll break off and start doing more traditional improv scenes that you’d see in an improv show.”

Although improv is, well, improvisational, there’s a lot of work that goes into preparing for a show. Campbell described it as tools to keep in your back pocket—knowledge of how stories progress, different genres

and styles to perform, and other tricks and tools learned from plenty of practice.

“Every improvisor knows story structure, that’s one of the things you study in improv, and so you know how the scene has to go and everybody’s on the same page about where you are and what you’re doing,” said Campbell. “It’s controlled chaos, it’s not just chaos.”

Despite the many tools they can use, the best way to pull of a successful improv show is just to make sure your group has good chemistry. Practicing and workshopping with your group

“It does bridge a gap between our culture and European ways of teaching. To see that mathematics is part of our teaching as well as the teaching that goes in school, just bringing it together, it involves our culture in a way that’s never been done before,” said Machendagoos.

This partnership allows students to learn about math in a fun and hands-on way, but it also allows them to learn about Ojibwe culture. It’s the perfect synthesis between mathematics, art, and education about Indigenous culture.

“I’m not teaching people mathematics like ‘this plus this equals this, it’s more like this is how we flow, this is

how things are done, and at the same time I am talking about our culture,” said Machendagoos. “It’s both a learning process for learning how to bead and to get a glimpse into our culture.”

While Machendagoos has yet to deliver workshops at the University of Ottawa, she has exhibited at the Carleton University Art Gallery to give Carleton students a chance to see a loom in action and to try their hand at beadwork, and would love to bring a similar event to the U of O. “Teaching in general is something that I absolutely love doing, so beading and teaching together is perfect,” she said.

makes it easy to riff off each other when it comes to a performance.

The OIF is the biggest improv event of the year, a threeday festival that brings groups together from Ottawa and farther afield.

“It’s a really good opportunity because you have this amalgamation of improvisors from all over Ottawa,” said Aamir Sholapur, a second-year health sciences student and club exec member. “The troupes that are not affiliated with universities typically have some flair to them that make them different from other teams … so it’s really interesting to see how everyone’s taking a take on improv and that’s all seen at the festival.”

MI-6 opens the festival on Feb. 28 with a ten-minute slot, which is a challenging length of time. Most short skits, as Campbell explained, are five minutes, and long-form sketches run up to half an hour. The awkward timing has forced the crew to think hard about their ap-

proach.

“We’re aiming to do an improv longform game called “Culde-sac,” where it’s these really quick-cut little vignettes,” said Sholapur.

The festival setting isn’t just great to perform in; it’s great for the audience too, who can pack a variety of improv shows into a few days.

“It’s like improv that you’ve never seen before. Everyone there is interested in seeing what’s there. You get to talk with a lot of the improvisors,” said Sholapur.

“It’s like a little taster. We’re talking about different styles and genres and techniques— you’ll see them all,” said Campbell. “If you’ve never seen improv before this is a really good chance to see what the spectrum is.”

Ottawa Improv Festival runs Feb. 28 to March 2 at Arts Court.

You can catch MI-6 on the opening day. For more information about the club, check out their website and social media.

ARTS & CULTURE | 9

OTTAWA ARTIST HIGHLIGHTS CHANGING LANDSCAPE IN WINTERTHEMED PIECES

Pieces centre around impermanent quality of music, shifting climate and landscape Ryan Pepper

Arts & Culture Editor On Feb. 9, artist and professor Jesse Stewart opened his show Icebreaker to examine climate change’s effects on a shifting landscape at the Ottawa Art Gallery with a packed vernissage and found-object music performance.

Stewart is a visual and sonic artist, a music professor at Carleton, and an adjunct professor in the visual arts department at the University of Ottawa, where he gives guest lectures and provides critiques.

Icebreaker is part of the Firestone Reverb Series, which offers contemporary artists the chance to create works in response to pieces in the Firestone Collection, which collects mainly Group of Seven and other landscape paintings.

“Many of (the paintings) are winter-scapes, and I knew that this would be opening during Winterlude, so I was interested in thinking about and creating a response to these winterscapes,” said Stewart. “Specifically, I was thinking: what is the response in a time when climate change is radically altering the climate and the landscape.”

The exhibition centres around three main pieces that each analyze landscapes that would have been familiar to the Group of Seven painters and updates them for contemporary audiences. Juxtaposed next to Lawren Harris’ 1920s paintings of the Arctic, is Stewart’s “Best Before,” a map of the melting Arctic made from bread tabs, all with expiration dates visible.

“A lot of the scenes that his paintings depicted look drastically different now because of climate change, so that kind of juxtaposition highlights the deleterious effect that humanity is having on the landscape,” said Stewart.

“The piece with all the little bread tabs, they have an expiration date on them, and our planet also has an expiration date … if humanity continues to have the negative impact that they are having on the planet,

10 | ARTS & CULTURE

that day is coming sooner than we would like.”

The exhibit also features a projection and sound piece from 2010 of a performance on ice percussion instruments at a Toronto winter festival. Stewart’s musical training is in percussion and he often gives performances on found-object or handmade instruments—in this case, instruments made of ice. The ice has an ephemeral quality, said Stewart, that matches the theme of disappearing landscapes in his other art.

“In all of the pieces there is a feeling of impermanence,” said Stewart. “The video that features the music on instruments made of ice, well all

those instruments have long since melted, so there’s a kind of impermanence embedded in the materiality of that particular piece of music.”

A map of the Great Lakes is made from skids and glass picked up from the shores of the lakes themselves, a commentary, said Stewart, on the fact that the choices we make down south have serious effects here and in the North.

“I don’t want it to be just about the north, I want it to drive home the point that actions that we take here have an impact—our reliance on plastic, for example, so the connection to industry,” Stewart said. “All of the glass comes

Icebreaker is on at the OAG until June 23.

Photo: Parker Townes

“Specifically, I was thinking: what is the response in a time when climate change is radically altering the climate and the landscape.”

—Jesse Stewart, artist from the bodies of water depicted there. But there again it’s thinking of the traces that we make even when we’re discarding things, throwing broken bottles into the lake.

We can make ethical, respon-

CBC CEO’S CANCON REMARKS DON’T HOLD UP, SAYS PROF

Canadian content easily accessible on Netflix—so why are broadcasters worried?

Ryan Pepper

Arts & Culture Editor Canadian content policy and mega-streaming service Netflix have had a rocky relationship the past year. Between a $500-million deal with Netflix failing to deliver and a heated argument around taxes and content creation funds, Netflix has upended Canadian cultural policy. Last weekend, the debate took on a new form, as Canadian Broadcasting Corporation CEO Catherine Tait likened Netflix’s cultural imperialism to that of the British or French Empires during the height of colonialism.

It was a comment that caught many off-guard, including Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa professor who teaches common law and serves as Canada Research Chair in Internet and eCommerce Law. He’s been writing about the intersection of digital streaming services and cultural policy long before Netflix arrived in Canada and runs a popular blog

on Internet law issues.

One recent blog post serves to highlight how off-the-mark Tait’s comments were. While her fears over Netflix’s possible cultural hegemony are shared by others, Geist performed a personal experiment which found that Canadian content is readily available on Netflix.

Type “Canadian” into Netflix’s search bar, Geist found, and you’ll get several categories, ranging from “Bingeworthy Canadian TV Shows” to “Critically-acclaimed Canadian Movies.” Geist’s experiment even found that if you watch some Canadian content, Netflix’s algorithm will recommend more for you. So, where Tait is coming from is tough to figure out.

“I think (Tait) was trying to make the point that Netflix is a very large player, bigger than any Canadian player, and that its impact on Canadian culture and the ability to tell Canadian stories might not be a good one.

Notwithstanding their popularity, they might ultimately

represent a threat to the creation of Canadian film and television productions,” Geist said.

At the core of the debate is the question of whether Netflix will continue to broadcast or even help create more Canadian content by its own volition, or whether the government needs to step in with regulations.

“If the market says this is the kind of content that we want to see, it’s in Netflix’s interest to provide it,” said Geist. “And, in fact, they are providing a fair amount of Canadian content so that would suggest that there are many Canadians who want to see some Canadian content when they watch video and a streaming service would do well to ensure that it’s there.”

“So, at a certain level the debate is really more about do you need regulation to ensure that these services supply and help fund Canadian content, or will the market supply all the incentives that are needed. Tait and others argue that this will

sible choices here.”

In Icebreaker, Stewart adds another exhibition to the ongoing discourse around the Anthropocene and humanity’s effects on the climate and a changing landscape. Juxta-

posed with the earlier Group of Seven works, the immediateness of our changing world is made clear.

Icebreaker runs until June 23, 2019 at the Ottawa Art Gallery.

Admission is free.

The CBC’s CEO recently compared Netflix to British and French imperialism and colonialism. It’s the latest stage in a longrunning battle between Canadian content policy and Netflix.

Photo: Rame Abdulkader

only happen if we require regulation, but part of the Netflix experiment suggests that the market creates great incentives to create Canadian content.”

While one aspect of the debate involves the quantity of and access to CanCon, which is what Tait’s remark concerned, there are also separate debates about applying sales taxes to Netflix and the question of Netflix’s obligations to funds set aside for the creation of new Canadian media content.

Geist said that the sales tax isn’t particularly controversial, and Netflix has said that they will pay sales tax if required to do so. What caused more controversy is if Netflix ought to be required to pay into a content creation fund or whether they should ensure that a certain percentage of their content is Canadian. Domestic broadcasters already do these things, but

under current Canadian policy, Netflix exists in a grey zone.

“In theory the government can legislate anything it likes and can set those regulatory conditions on anyone who wants to operate in its jurisdiction … whether or not it can do so under the law as it currently stands is subject to some debate,” said Geist.

The Canadian Radio and Television Commission is currently reviewing their broadcasting policy, and the next likely step in the seemingly endless struggle between CanCon and Netflix will be in the form of recommendations from the CRTC, due in 2020.

While the argument continues and broadcasters worry, Geist has shown that at least one thing is clear—Canadian content is easy to find and readily available, you just have to choose to watch it.

thefulcrum.ca

SOME OF THE BEST MOVIES TO NETFLIX AND CHILL TO Sophie Miller Staff Contributor

*THIS ARTICLE MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS!*

Need some ideas for a nice Netflix and chill night for your upcoming Valentine’s Day plans or any ol’ date night with your S/O? Well we’ve got you covered, with this variety of films to choose from—perfect for cuddling or to set the mood for more.

GREASE (1978)

NEWNESS (2017)

A timeless classic, fan favourite, and well-known rom-com musical, Grease follows the tale of local greaser Danny and Australian transfer student Sandy. The protagonists fall in love during the summer of 1958, though their connection sours as differences develop—though it’s eventually resolved at graduation as the duo reconcile.

Though a cliché and somewhat overdone love storyline, Grease is a cult classic film which many swear by, and while there are a few sexy references throughout, it still remains an entertaining romantic narrative suitable for a movie night. Grease is a film ideal for easing into things, causing a few laughs, and creating a romantic atmosphere—which is oftentimes a safer option than eagerly diving head-first into the hard-hitting films.

Set in modern Los Angeles, Martin and Gabi meet on the dating app Winx, later meeting in person at a local bar and end up heading over to Martin’s apartment. A relationship ensues, though soon they take to unconventional methods to cure the boredom which creeps in.

A romance-drama film which explores the reality of hook-up apps, online dating, and infidelity, Newness not only portrays

both the good and bad of modern-day dating, but also provides the steamy scenes which many so desire.

While the plot is relatively cliché and predictable throughout, and only adds to the constant argument that “dating apps ruined romance,” Newness still attests to being ideal for a night of Netflix and chill. With an array of explicit sexual scenes throughout the film—including polyamory, open relationships, threesomes, and general scenes of passion and lust—it proves to be perfect for setting the mood for you and your lover.

CALL ME BY YOUR NAME (2017) Call Me by Your Name, a coming-of-age romance drama, is set in 1980s Italy and follows Elio’s ups and downs while exploring his sexuality. The film intertwines the intensity, passion, and sweetness of young love, though also highlights the reality of heartbreak.

Featuring a gay relationship between 17-year-old Elio and 24-year-old Oliver, the film is widely praised for portraying and adding much-needed diversity to the cinematic universe, as it sheds light on the hardships and realities of LGBTQ+ relationships and first loves.

Multiple scenes throughout Call Me by Your Name portray the raw desire between the protagonists—such as the infamous scene with the peach—making it a great candidate for a night of Netflix and chill. Though the heart wrenching finale—whereby a heartbroken Elio stares into the fireplace crying for four unflinching minutes as the end credits roll—may not quite set the mood, Call Me by Your Name will at least make you cuddle up and appreciate your partner more.

thefulcrum.ca

ARTS & CULTURE | 11

(February 2019)

TUESDAYS ARE LOVELY Photo: Ractapopulous, Pizabay, CC

Alex Monteith |

Fulcrum Contributor

The cafe was his safe haven.

A respite from the bar, which he called both work and home.

Every Tuesday around 9:00 o’clock Todd would go down for a cup of coffee. One cream. One sugar.

It helped him to feel human. Like he belonged somewhere and could do normal things at normal hours around normal people.

Today Todd was in need of some normality.

So up the line he went. The usual girl, Henrietta, gave him her usual wooden smile and his usual cup of coffee. One cream. One sugar. Todd liked Henrietta. Henrietta was indifferent to all her customers.

The cafe was uncharacteristically busy for the time of morning. Todd couldn’t find a free spot.

Then he saw it. Or rather, he saw her. Right in the back.

Long brown hair dyed golden by the sun. Lips pastel red, so full, they looked about to burst. She was alone and Todd wanted nothing more than to join her.

This was it.

His moment. The moment he’d been waiting for his whole life.

He took it easy at first. He wanted to play it cool. So he took his time and carefully sauntered over. Left foot over right. It was a long trip.

12 | ARTS & CULTURE

But he managed it all right.

He stood in front of her.

He had no opening line but hoped, perhaps, that the moment would inspire him.

“Hey--!”

Out of nowhere a rotund butterball of a man swung by and shouldered Todd. Todd was unprepared. Todd’s coffee cup came tumbling down, spilling all over Todd and the girl of his dreams.

The girl stood up; outraged.

“Jesus!

Are you stupid or something?

You just ruined my whole outfit!”

Todd tried to gargle up an apology but this moment was not as inspiring as he had hoped. The girl gave him a scolding scowl and stomped out.

Todd went back to Henrietta, shoulders slumped, and ordered another coffee.

One cream.

One sugar.

thefulcrum.ca

Illustration: Sarah Pixie

Intertwined: Growing together through our differences How Canada’s diversity is shaping the modern relationship GRAHAM ROBERTSON FULCRUM ALUM

I

n any new relationship, one of the biggest challenges a couple has to overcome is their own personal differences, from conflicting interests and hobbies to expectations of the other person. When these differences stem from someone’s entire upbringing and identity, including their native languages, the religious and cultural traditions they practice at home, and the colour of their skin, a new set of challenges arise: How do couples in these circumstances navigate their relationship while tackling interpersonal differences, unsupportive families, and more broadly, a society that might not entirely accept mixed couples in the first place?

Long gone are the days where interracial marriages were criminal acts, and indeed, mixed relationships have been on the rise in Canada since 1991, according to Statistics Canada. But members of various ethnic and religious groups still feel pressured to date and marry within their own communities. Beyond the expectations of family, which can dictate whether or not a relationship will succeed or fail, societal norms surrounding dating influence interracial and interfaith couples and how open they choose to be about their relationship, lest they face public scrutiny or disapproval.

Subtle, and not-so-subtle racism In 2016 Minelle Mahtani, an associate professor of human geography and journalism at the University of Toronto Scarborough, spoke candidly with the Globe and Mail about interracial dating in Canada.

“We’ve romanticized this notion far too quickly,” Mahtani told the Globe, and “people who are in interracial relationships are still experiencing a lot of racism.”

A prominent and public example of ongoing racism towards mixed couples was a Cheerios cereal commercial in 2013, featuring a biracial family. Backlash to the commercial included references to Nazis and racial genocide, ultimately leading to the comments section of the video being closed.

Yet some of this public disapproval of mixed couples is not quite so overt. Hanna Méthot, a second-year political science student at the University of Ottawa, who is mixed Korean, white, and Mohawk, says that she and her boyfriend, who is half-Trinidadian and half-Irish, often get stares while out in public. She finds this shocking in 2019, and while they’ve learned to ignore the stares, they initially frustrated her.

Similarly, one mixed Jamaican-Macedonian couple in Toronto recalls being “gawked at” while at a hotel in Toronto.

Ultimately, mixed relationships aren’t commonplace in Canada, despite the growing trend towards them. In 2011, there were only 360,045 mixed unions in Canada, translating to just 4.6 per cent of all married and common-law couples in the country, according to Statistics Canada.

Factors such as class and geographical location play a significant role in the challenges that these couples face, Mahtani notes, such as how comfortable they feel holding hands in public, or their experiences at school and in their communities.

There are also internal challenges that interracial couples face, such as meeting a partner’s parents and families for the first time. Mahtani explains that for people of colour

who have white partners, this can be especially difficult.

There is a certain level of emotional labour that comes with the relationship, as it can be “very tiring” to explain the challenges they face as a result of their race.

Dating beyond one’s faith When it comes to interfaith relationships, the trends resemble those of mixed-race couples. The number of mixed-faith couples has risen since the 1980s, and they tend to be younger, more educated, and reside in more religiously diverse communities than same-faith couples.

Yet these couples still face their own unique challenges, especially when a family is involved and there is ongoing pressure to be with someone of the same faith. Emma Wagenman, a fourth-year conflict studies and human rights student at the U of O, describes her difficulties in a previous relationship with someone of another faith.

“I had to keep him kind of a secret because he was a Muslim and I’m a Christian, so I told (my mom) that he was a Christian and he went to church,” Wagenman explains, noting that her family, who is Mennonite, never met her ex-boyfriend. On the other hand, she never met his.

For Wagenman, this secrecy stemmed from both her and her ex-boyfriend’s families seeing dating as a path to marriage, which meant finding someone who belonged to the same religious community. She admits that their relationship was “doomed from the start” because of this—neither she nor her ex-boyfriend could truly be what the other was looking for.

“It wasn’t until after we broke up that I realized that there was all of this pressure that I had in the relationship to try and be who he wanted in a partner that I could never be,” Wagenman said. “I’m not willing to not be Christian, I wasn’t going to convert for him, but I knew that he wanted to marry a Muslim woman.”

Likewise, she knew that he wasn’t what she wanted in the long term: A Christian with whom she could share a faith, especially when thinking about the bigger picture, such as marriage and children.

“I tried to look at the grand scheme of my relationship; is this going to progress anywhere? Am I just doing this for fun?”

Growing together through their differences Despite the challenges that individuals face when dating someone outside their own race or ethnic group, such relationships can also be great learning opportunities—a chance to share aspects of one’s identity and heritage in a new and intimate way, and an opportunity to learn more about one’s own traditions through this exchange.

Méthot explains that while she and her boyfriend have felt pressured to date within their own race, she feels fortunate that their own families have been accepting of the relationship. The opportunity she and her boyfriend have had to learn about each other’s cultures has been one of the greatest parts of their relationship, she explains.

“Aidan’s (Méthot’s boyfriend) mom has taught me so much about Irish hospitality and immediate love, and Aidan has come to better understand me through understanding my mom’s type of love: unspoken and expressed through meaningful action,” says Méthot. “Understanding one another’s cultural background and upbringing has contributed to a deeper understanding of the way we express and receive love.”

“My family takes him out for Korean food often … we also watch Korean dramas with my mom all the time,” she added. “Aidan embracing my background has led me to learn more about where I come from, and I’m proud of that part of me.”

Wagenman also shares how her relationship taught her more about herself and her beliefs.

“I really liked the fact that he encouraged me in my faith, even though he didn’t necessarily believe all the same things that I did,” she said.

Wagenman recalls her ex-boyfriend showing a great interest in her own faith despite their religious differences, asking her questions, making time for prayer, and encouraging her to seek spiritual guidance when needed.

Yet their religious differences helped Wagenman see that fundamentally, finding someone of her own faith was key, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

Dating outside her faith also helped her gain a unique appre ciat ion for another person’s religious beliefs, while helping her solidify what she wants in a future partner.

The blending of different cultures, beliefs, and traditions is reflective of growing diversity in Canada.

By 2036, visible minorities could make up one-third of the Canadian population, according to Statistics Canada, which means a greater opportunity for the intertwining of both race and religion in relationships. How these relationships play out is dependent on how society responds to these changing trends in dating—whether we support those who step outside of their race or religion for the sake of love.

“Staking a claim on who we get to date just because we’re perceived to be members of a specific community is ignorant and hurtful,” says Méthot. “It restricts love, and love should never be restricted.”

Hanna Méthot is the opinions editor at the Fulcrum.

The Fulcrum spoke with two interracial/ interfaith couples on their experiences.

Illustration: Sarah Pixie

that based on these findings, “health care professionals should be aware of this relatively hitherto unnoticed adverse effect of hormonal contraception.” However, in February 2018, another study concluded that “there is insufficient evidence to prove a link between birth control and depression.”

With a roller coaster of findings comes uncertainty among people looking to protect themselves against pregnancy, amid a lot of unknowns on mental health effects.

“I felt like requesting a female doctor” Although the research is mixed, Robin Pianosi’s University of Ottawa doctor was certain that, despite her mental health side effects, she had to be on the pill — and it wasn’t a one-time conversation.

Researchers have flipped back-and-forth on the impacts of these drugs on mental health. Illustration: Sarah Pixie

Can birth control affect your mental health?

Students call for more research on impacts of hormonal contraceptives SAVANNAH AWDE MANAGING EDITOR

D

uring your time as a student, you might find yourself experimenting with different kinds of birth control, and figuring out which one works best for your body. You might also experience forms of mental illness—but for some people, these events seem to be connected.

Research into this relationship has gone back-and-forth over the years, and the ethical issues with prescribing a placebo for contraception in control groups have complicated the process of establishing cause and effect even further.

Hormonal birth control’s impacts on mental health were first studied in the 1960s and 1970s, with researchers drawing a potential link between depression and synthetic estrogens and progestins in a 1981 paper. However, in 2004 a new study proposed that these mental health symptoms were derived from psychological reactions to the practice of contraception, rather than any pharmacological effects. The authors concluded that more study is needed, but “it is reasonable to hypothesize, given the present data, that contraceptive activity itself is inherently damaging to women.”

But in November 2016, research emerged from Denmark that found an increased risk for the first use of an antidepressant and the first diagnosis of depression among users of hormonal contraception, with the highest rates among adolescents. The authors cautioned

everything (and) frustrated.”

She told me that even though she’s off birth control now, she’s “never been fully the same.”

“I still have some anxiety that’s entered in my brain and hasn’t gone away, and I was never like that before it.”

“You feel like a completely different person when you’re on it” Katherine MacNeil is no stranger to birth control side effects — she tried six or seven different types because of her adverse physical reactions to the pill. When she finally found one she thought would be manageable, she soon noticed the “physical effects were lower but the mental effects were extremely high.”

She told me that although it made sense when he first suggested it, she soon found her symptoms troubling.

Pianosi noted that she had been going through other life challenges with roommates and her physical health, but this was different. Suddenly, she felt like her life was “surreal.”

“At the time I was on it, I was diagnosed with panic disorder and generalized anxiety disorder and it definitely impacted those immensely,” MacNeil said.

“I would walk by the river, and I would think about jumping in the river all the time and swimming away, and I remember having that be my thought over and over again,” she said.

“I was bloated all the time and that too caused anxiety because I was feeling so self-conscious that I was gaining weight,” she said. “I was working out all the time and stressing out over the way I looked because I could feel it causing impacts on my physical image.”

“I wasn’t self-harming, that wasn’t my intention, but I remember thinking over and over again, if I could just get in the river ... and those thoughts went away very quickly after stopping birth control,” she explained. “It was very surreal, it was like a disassociation between what I did and what would actually happen.”

For MacNeil, doctors never identified a possible link between her mental illness and her contraceptive until she came to Carleton. She says that because every other pill had caused adverse physical effects, previous doctors had said she would “just have to take it and live with it.”

Although she started feeling calmer after quitting the pill, she was met with concern at her next doctor’s appointment.

“He was like ‘you’re too young, it’s not worth it,’ and tried to talk me back into it,” she recalled.

Pianosi told her doctor she was interested in an IUD, but he said she would have the same problem. “He seemed very concerned about me in a very personal and uncomfortable way, and I just kept saying I would love to try an IUD, and it was very frustrating and awful.”

In addition, she remembers the physical symptoms adding a lot of anxiety to her life.

She said it was frustrating that her mental health effects often weren’t acknowledged when she sought help.

“I went to a walk-in clinic and said I’m on this birth control, are there any other options, and (the doctor) was like, there’s no proof that it makes you gain weight or distort images of yourself, there’s no proof of that ... she was like, don’t use birth control then.”

Although MacNeil had other challenges in her life at the time, she believes birth control was still the main factor in her mental struggles.

She kept seeing the doctor for three years, and every time she went he prescribed birth control pills to her. She told him she wasn’t interested, and never filled the prescriptions, but he kept prescribing it anyway.

“As soon as I went off it a weight lifted off my chest,” she recalled. “I had a different image of myself … this is the best I’ve been mentally in a while, one year off of it, I actually feel back to 100 per cent myself.”

“He didn’t deny me an IUD, but he really scared me away from it. I don’t have one now, I just have nothing but a deep-seated fear of pregnancy and birth control.”

Help wanted: Birth control research

“I’ve never been fully the same after I was on birth control” Kait Bennett had never experienced anxiety before, but after starting birth control in her first year at Carleton University she began to feel like everything in her life was a huge deal.

“Having to confront my work about needing a day off, I’d be calling my parents like ‘I don’t know how to do this, what happens if they say this, and what happens if this or that happens,’” she recalled. “Everything was a big deal, and I didn’t really recognize that maybe it was birth control, I just thought that I was going through a bit of a difficult time.”

It wasn’t until her mom suggested it that Bennett considered her birth control could be the culprit.

“When I stopped it, all of that went away,” she said. “I wasn’t worried about all of these little things, I felt clearer.”

“I would say birth control was the biggest factor (in my anxiety), because when I stopped it I didn’t feel that same sense of urgency … it really made me very anxious, and I’ve never had anxiety in my life.”

A year later, Bennett decided to give birth control another shot, but found herself in “rages,” and feeling very “mad at

Although the women I spoke with had different experiences, they were unanimous on the need for more research.

“It’s a huge issue because so many of my friends are not even taking any form of contraceptives because of these effects of birth control,” Bennett said. “We can’t even protect ourselves, because of what a pill is doing to us.”

Pianosi agreed that more answers are needed, “with as much passion as (she) can put into the word, yes.”

Until there’s more research on the connection between birth control and mental health, MacNeil suggests doing a little research on your own if you’re planning to try birth control.

“It’s really important if your doctor is not informing you of everything that could potentially happen to do your research yourself, and be aware that there are side effects that maybe they don’t disclose with you,” she said. “Especially if you already have existing mental health issues going into it.”

Bennett sees no reason why researchers can’t answer the questions that these experiences bring to the table.

“Why is it that they can’t come up with something that doesn’t make you crazy, and make you feel like life is over, you know? I definitely think with how many different birth controls there are out there, they need to do more research in finding something that doesn’t do this.”

“A Millenial’s Guide to Kissing” and How We Find Love Cassidy Best explores the world of dating as a young person in 2019 CASSIDY BEST FULCRUM CONTRIBUTOR

“S

o, what are we?” “We’re just talking.” “Have you ever tried Tinder?” “Are you asking me on a date?”

Chances are, you’ve heard at least one of these statements at some point in your young life.

Dating has never been easy, but these days it seems impossible to find something meaningful in the realm of love and romance. It’s no secret that everyone likes to poke fun at millennials for everything from killing mayonnaise (yes, that’s happening) to ruining the cable industry and derailing the sanctity of marriage (or at least lowering divorce rates). When it comes to dating, though, do these critical baby boomers actually have a point? Has our so-called “hook-up culture” changed the name of the dating game?

“A Millennial’s Guide to Kissing,” a short essay by Emma Court published in the New York Times in 2015, discusses the nature of this culture. In her essay, Court details a 12hour romantic interlude on an airplane that is nothing if not indicative of the dating habits of millennials. She makes a poignant statement at the crossroads of deciding whether to pursue the man she had met or to let it be: “And if it did mean anything, we were college students; we knew how to pretend it didn’t,” she wrote.

And they went their separate ways.

Court calls out the media for its innate fascination with millennials and their dating culture as if it is something novel when it may not have changed. Arguably, it is simply that we see more of it since the advent of social media to which we are all so hopelessly attached. Perhaps it is not so much a “hook-up culture,” but a culture of avoiding emotional pain.

A survey of close to 4,000 post-secondary students in the United States, released by Abodo in 2017, found that 8.8 per cent of respondents were using dating apps for hookups versus 11.5 per cent who were on the hunt for love. The

majority of respondents were swiping for entertainment instead. This begs the question, are we really part of a hook-up culture at all?

Millennials have turned the science of dating into the science of avoidance; Court says that our goal is to “keep it shallow so your heart isn’t on the line.” It definitely shows in how we treat phone calls like a poison, opting for texting in shorthand instead, read-receipts off. If we do stay the night, we leave before the sun comes up to avoid the awkward intimacy of the morning after in favour of an uncomfortable Uber ride or the occasional walk home.

The language of the dating game too has changed: The term “dating” doesn’t even mean the same thing as it did to our parents or even our grandparents. Kris Pulver, an Algonquin College student, knows this all too well.

In their experience, dating as a young person means confronting a great divide: Half of us crave hookups, but just as many of us are begging for relationships. People are so afraid to talk about their feelings and personal lives, Pulver added, but are more than capable of sharing all the intimate details of their sex lives.

Collectively, we all understand that hooking up is a part of growing up. We’re spending this time dipping our toes in so many pools to try to figure out what we like and what we actually want. And while our generation is significantly more open about discussing sex and past experiences, we traded that for turning emotions—and the expression of them—into the taboo topic.

In one study that surveyed over 3,000 young adults and high school students, conducted by four Harvard University scholars and released in May 2017, researchers found that this millennial hook up label is overly applied, and the culture overestimated by both young people and adults, actually obscuring the struggle some can face in forming and maintaining healthy romantic relationships.

While the studies and statistics seem to show that millennials are disinterested in or unprepared for both hooking up and dating, talking to the millennial searching for love reveals something more interesting.

According to three young people I spoke to, the common theme is that we are all looking for a connection wherever and however we can find it. And if it means no strings attached to get it, we’ll take the shallow dip even though we’d prefer the deep plunge.

Sydney Burns, a 23-year-old graduate student at Brock University, argued we have forgotten what dating is, along with the magic of the whole experience.

By seeking relationships through popular dating apps like Tinder or Bumble, we make it impossible to experience the butterfl ies in your stomach chemistry that can occur during a fi rst face-to-face conversation. If non-verbal communication means anything, dating apps preclude a lot of it from happening at all: We paste the best versions of ourselves on our social media and dating profi les, and god forbid that change in person, shifting the entire tone and purpose of looking for a partner in the fi rst place. If you can’t be your authentic self in Dating as a young person in 2019 is a beautiful, complex mess.

Illustration: Sarah Pixie

If we do stay the night, we leave before the sun comes up to avoid the awkward intimacy of the morning after in favour of an uncomfortable Uber ride or the occasional walk home. both the online and real world, are you really fi nding what you’re looking for?

So, what does all this mean for people actively using these apps to try and find a partner? They’re adrift in a sea of people who don’t use the app seriously (the Abodo survey found that just four per cent of respondents preferred to meet potential dates using them), or who just want a quick hook up. The sense of rejection comes just as quickly when you receive a message that the other person doesn’t want anything serious or just wants you to join a threesome as a flat out, “no, I’m not interested.”

But what’s a person to do?

Across the board, each young person I spoke to incriminated social media as the biggest problem and barrier to effectively being able to break out of this endemic hook-up culture that we’re all supposedly a part of, whether we’re active participants or not.

Julia Graff, 21, used an interesting word to describe the meaning behind social media and dating apps: protection. Graff argued our phones act as a protective barrier between us and the world, a sort of shield from potential partners. It’s incredibly difficult to make a real connection with people when everyone you see is buried in their phone swiping on Tinder instead of engaging with those around them, Graff said.

Addressing emotions isn’t our strongest trait either.

Admitting to feelings is a foreign concept in our demographic. It runs the risk of showing the cards you play so close to your chest and it’s so much easier to say nothing and assume that connection you felt wasn’t special after all. Court referred to these experiences as “half-formed romantic liaisons that trail you in your youth.”

Court’s metaphor is brilliant really, that our generation treats meeting someone new as though you met them on an airplane—that you only have this one night and no tomorrow, so why not lay it all out physically but protect yourself from an emotional investment, she muses?

I think Court shared her essay because she believed it spoke to a feeling that we all have, in an open and honest way. Our childhoods’ may have done us a disservice—we are all spoon-fed the Disney version of what love is supposed to be, while every experience in our life runs contrary to that. We see no problem avoiding committing because we simply haven’t had that “a-ha!” moment with someone.

This mess of social engagements with all its highs and lows and webs of different short-lived relationships is the real experience of looking for love as a young person in 2019, and the experience of actually finding this diamond in the rubble is beautiful in its complexity.

Perhaps instead of the “bye, see you never!” attitude Court encountered, we should give the “bye, see you next time!” a try. For once, let’s avoid having to wonder what we lost in trying so hard to be the one that cares the least or doesn’t care at all.

Inside the world of sugar dating There were 703 sugar babies at the U of O registered with the popular site Seeking Arrangement in 2018.

Illustration: Kelsea Shore

The U of O boasts one of the largest sugar baby populations of all postsecondaries in Canada

dates less. “I was just rolling in money.”

In tight economic times, sugar dating has emerged as a prominent way for students to make and maintain a solid income, and the most popular sugar dating website, Seeking Arrangement, knows this better than anyone else.

“Drowning in debt is no way to exit college,” the site’s founder and CEO Brandon Wade wrote in a statement from January 2018. “Starting your career life hoping for higher salaries and better opportunities is less of something to look forward to when students know they’re going to be struggling out of the gate.”

Sugar dating 101 Charlie signed up for Seeking Arrangement in October of 2016, not expecting to actually use it. The site claims it boasts close to 20 million active members in 139 countries, eight million of which are sugar babies, and two million which are sugar daddies and mommas. Its user base of students continues to grow rapidly.

At the start of 2018, the site claimed about 13 per cent of all post-secondary students in Canada had tried sugar dating.

The U of O has emerged as a hotspot for sugar babies in Canada, according to the site. In 2018, Seeking Arrangement reported there were 703 sugar babies at the U of O, up 206 from the previous year, making it their top-ranked university for sugar babies in Canada.

Jessica, a second-year arts student at the U of O who has been sugar dating for about a year-and-a-half, attributes the popularity of sugar dating in Ottawa to the sheer number of sugar daddies in the area, many of whom she’s noticed work as government officials. She asked that her real name not be used to prevent damage to her employment and reputation.

“They have money to spend, they’re lonely, they’re busy … they just want someone to interact with,” she said.

MATT GERGYEK FEATURES EDITOR

I

t’s a familiar weekday night in Ottawa and Charlie is getting ready for work.

She dons a new dress and fixes her freshly done hair, both of which she didn’t pay a dime for, while she waits for a pre-paid Uber to arrive to take her across the city to one of the most expensive restaurants in all of Ottawa.

But when Charlie arrives at said restaurant, she won’t be clocking in as a staff member. She’ll be working on her own terms from the comfort of her seat, making double or even triple what some of the minimum wage staffers might take home in an eight-hour shift.

Charlie will earn her income by eating a fully-paid-for fivestar meal with a man almost twice her age with money to blow, after which she’ll receive a hefty direct deposit or hard cash payment. Her only task is to be a companion.

Charlie, a third-year criminology student at the U of O who asked that her real name not be used to prevent damage to her reputation and relationships, is known in the realm of sugar dating as a sugar baby.

In the simplest terms, sugar dating involves romantic and sometimes sexual relationships between older adults (sugar daddies or mommas) and younger women or men (sugar babies) where sugar babies provide their time and companionship in exchange for hard cash, gifts, experiences, or all of the above.

“It’s such easy money, like the easiest money ever,” Charlie said, who is now in a non-sugar relationship and sugar

Much like popular mainstream dating apps such as Tinder or Bumble, users craft a personal profile with photos and a brief bio. But unlike mainstream dating sites, sugar babies also list their spending habits, while sugar daddies and mommas add information about their net worth, annual income and lifestyle budget, and the amount of money they are willing to provide sugar babies with. From there, the matchmaking begins.

“The rise of sugar dating is connected to tuition fees, to the increased cost of living, and the precarious workforce and the low employment rate for youth,” said Sarah Polowin, who holds a master in law and legal studies from Carleton University and wrote her thesis on sugar dating and post-secondary students.

dinner date. She didn’t make quite that much (about $200 instead), but from then she was hooked, making her return to Seeking Arrangement’s website.

From then until November 2018, when she entered into a non-sugar dating relationship, Charlie estimates she earned about $13,000 from eight different sugar daddies: $10,000 in cash, the other $3,000 in free meals, drinks, transportation and gifts.

Charlie is blunt about the fact that sometimes these relationships involved sexual exchanges, making it clear that others she’s been with were just looking for a companion or partner to show off publicly.

“All these guys want one thing and it’s sex … you have to give them sugar,” she said. “I’ve been paid $1,000 for 10 minutes.”

Either way, Polowin found through her research, the chance one would be prosecuted for sexual exchanges while sugar dating is low.

“At face value, if they explicitly say (the exchange) is sex (rather than companionship) for money, then yes,” Daly said. “But sugar babies and sugar daddies work actively to detract from this idea … using traditional romantic discourses to legitimize their relationships.”

“I see (sugar dating and sex work) operating within the same sphere,” Jessica admitted, also speaking to the sexually-nuanced terminology sugar daddies have used when speaking to her. “They talk around it to try and make themselves more comfortable.”

“When you have an arrangement, you’re a sugar baby,” Charlie added. “When you’re meeting up with someone to have sex, you’re a sex worker.”

Jade Sullivan and Judy El-Mohtadi, co-ordinators of the Women’s Resource Centre at the U of O, explained their perspective on sugar dating.

“Even though some people may compare (sugar dating) to sex work or prostitution, we as feminists believe that sex work in and (of) itself is a valid source of income,” they wrote in an email to the Fulcrum. “It is a person’s choice to do what they want, and if they are using their sexuality as a source of income, no one has the right to oppose that.”

Seeking Arrangement makes it clear that it differentiates itself from sex work: The login page of the site clearly states “promoting illegal commercial activities (such as prostitution) is prohibited,” and adds “if you are an ESCORT, DO NOT use this website.”

Their blog even has a post titled: “The Difference Between Sugar & Prostitution.”

Emotional labour

“I think students are recognizing that the time-to-money ratio is in their interest to be sugar dating, compared to working eight hours at Starbucks, which ... is not necessarily enough,” she said.

While sugar dating comes across as a simple way to earn cash, Charlie and Jessica spoke to the emotional labour in the work that can start to take a toll on even the most experienced sugar babies.

A study put out by the Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives in September 2015 found that tuition and compulsory fees for Canadian undergraduate students had tripled since the 1993-94 academic year. In September 2018, Statistics Canada reported the average Canadian undergraduate paid close to $7,000 in the 2018-19 academic year, up 3.3 per cent from the previous one.

“I’ll get super drunk before almost every single date because I have to be nice and it’s hard when a lot of (the sugar daddies) are super irritating,” Charlie said.

Meanwhile, a report from the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now released in August 2018 found the average market rent in Ottawa increased by 25 per cent from 2005 to 2015.

But while floods of students flock to sites like Seeking Arrangement to pay their bills, they’re beginning to notice the fine line sugar dating walks between sex work and legality, a line that can easily be blurred.

The sugar baby experience Charlie forgot all about signing up for the site until a friend directed her to a sugar daddy who found her on Instagram in March of 2018, offering to pay her $2,000 for a single

“The thing is, you have to be the certain kind of person to do this,” Jessica said. “In your head, you really have to differentiate between your job and your real life, and you can’t let it seep in.”

“You have to be an actor, because if you don’t act like you’re into (the sugar daddy) then they won’t want to see you again,” Charlie said, adding she’s rarely attracted to the men she meets through sugar dating. “A lot of the guys on the site want you to be on there because … you like older men and you want to be with an older man.”

But Charlie won’t stop sugar dating anytime soon, and her attitude about the whole thing is strikingly clear.

“You’re not hurting anyone (and) you’re helping yourself,” Charlie said. “Remind yourself that this is an old man that has to pay for my presence: Why would I care about what he thinks of me?”

The criminalization of HIV non-disclosure Experts say work still to be done on curbing prosecution MATT GERGYEK FEATURES EDITOR

I

nside a building near the Rideau Canal in downtown Ottawa, a spacious room is filled with people from all walks of life. It is an unusually warm winter afternoon and sunlight filters into the space through walls of windows. Potted flowers and shrubs rest on a large table surrounded by lively faces, bathed in a golden glow.

Just 30 years ago, a similar gathering space might have been stocked with cold medical equipment, from IV drips to syringes.

These days, the room is full of life.

“This is a place for living, not for dying,” said Khaled Salam, executive director of the AIDS Committee of Ottawa (ACO).

The Living Room is a drop-in centre at the heart of the ACO, a place for people living with HIV/AIDS to gather for support and resources.

As of 2016, an estimated 63,110 Canadians were living with HIV/AIDS and about 17,000 Canadians had died from the epidemic from 1987 to 2013, according to the most recent data available from the Public Health Agency of Canada.

The virus can be transmitted through semen, blood, and anal and vaginal fluids and suppresses the immune system, leaving patients highly susceptible to other diseases.

While HIV is still incurable, it is no longer deadly, largely due to highly successful antiretroviral therapy (ART).

ART works to help the body increase the amount of CD4 cells (a type of white blood cell) in a person with HIV’s bloodstream and decreasing the count of the virus in their bodily fluids.

Ontario emerges as a hotspot for these prosecutions: As of 2009, the province had accounted for close to 50 per cent (104) of all HIV non-disclosure cases in the country, according to a study published by York University sociology Prof. Eric Mykhalovskiy in 2010.

land’s interviewees revealed they had “their request to access doctors ripped up in their faces by prison guards.”

But now thanks to ART, the risk of transmission has plummeted and is now negligible in people receiving the proper treatment. When treatment pushes the number of copies of the virus to 1,500 copies or less per millilitre of blood, the person is considered to have a low viral load and unable to transmit the virus.

A study published in the journal AIDS in 2017 analyzed data collected by the CDC from 1994 to 2010 and found “no association between HIV or AIDS diagnosis rates and criminal (non-disclosure) laws across states over time.”

A landmark study published in 2016 in the Journal of the American Medical Association followed over 1,100 European couples between 2010 and 2014. One partner in each relationship was diagnosed with HIV but was receiving ART, while the other partner was not diagnosed with HIV. Cumulatively, the couples had sex at least 58,000 times without the protection of a condom, but no HIV transmissions were recorded.

The study embodies what experts and advocates call U=U, or undetectable equals untransmittable. Advocates and experts say the law has long needed to catch up to scientific evidence on HIV/AIDS, exemplified by this 2016 study.

“When we speak of the problem of HIV criminalization, we’re talking about the overly broad application of the criminal law,” said Richard Elliott, executive director of the Canadian HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Elliott said the network—and most advocates and experts—aligns with the view from bodies such as UNAIDS that prosecution is only warranted in cases of intentional transmission.

“What people seem to hear is that you just don’t want any criminal law ever used, ever, against a person living with HIV … and that is not the position we have ever adopted ”

By taking treatments regularly as prescribed, people with HIV can live a healthy and full lifespan.

Calls for a narrower scope of prosecution

In a phone interview from Watsonville, Calif., Jennifer Vaughan, who has been living with HIV since 2015, spoke about her experience with ART.

The issue for advocates is the law’s scope is rarely ever this narrow in Canada.

“Everyone thinks it’s still this incredibly deadly disease or really crippling or the medication is really toxic — all these horrible things,” she said. “(But) it’s not a death sentence anymore, it’s so manageable.”

The prosecution of HIV non-disclosure While HIV is now considered a chronic illness, a different threat has been plaguing those living with the disease for decades: The criminal justice system.

In 1989 Canadian courts began charging people living with HIV for not disclosing their status to someone who could be exposed to the virus, usually a sexual partner, even when there is no intent to transmit the virus, no actual transmission of the virus occurs, and when precautions are used. Most commonly this charge is aggravated sexual assault, which can lead to up to life imprisonment and a spot on the national sex offender registry.

Canadian courts have been among the most aggressive in the world in prosecutions of this type, placing third worldwide behind Russia and the United States for the number of prosecutions for HIV non-disclosure at over 200 documented cases, according to the Canadian HIV/ AIDS Legal Network. Three-quarters of all prosecutions in Canada occurred from 2004 to 2014.

The Department of Justice released a directive for prosecuting HIV non-disclosure, what experts called a good step forward.

Illustration: Sarah Pixie

Of the over 200 cases that have taken place in Canada from 1989 to 2016, less than two per cent have involved the intentional transmission of HIV, according to Nick Caivano, previously a lawyer with the HIV/AIDS Legal Network. Less than half of these cases involved actual transmission, the network said.

According to people living with HIV, these laws leave them in a constant state of fear.

“I live with more fear of the laws that are supposedly created to protect society from HIV than fear of actually dying from HIV,” said Josh Robbins of Nashville, Tenn., who has been living with HIV since 2012. In Tennessee, the actual transmission of the virus is not required, and people can be sentenced to prison terms of three to 15 years and fined as much as $10,000. “It’s the most unfair set of laws that I think any country has ever had.”

When convicted due to HIV non-disclosure people can face intense discrimination and violence, according to Alex McClelland, a PhD student at Concordia University whose doctoral work focuses on the lives of people criminally charged for non-disclosure.

As of April 2018, of the 16 people McClelland had interviewed, all had either attempted or contemplated death by suicide due to their charges, they said. One of McClel-

Research suggests prosecuting for HIV non-disclosure isn’t decreasing transmission of the virus.

On the other hand, HIV non-disclosure laws could actually be deterring people from getting tested and receiving treatment.

A survey of close to 450 gay men in Ottawa published in the Journal of the Association of Nurses in AIDS Care in 2012 found that almost a fifth of the respondents was deterred from being tested due to non-disclosure prosecutions.

“If I don’t know my status then I can’t be prosecuted … it’s counterintuitive,” said Sarah North, previously the HIV outreach testing coordinator with the Somerset West Community Health Cente (SSWCHC).

Progress, but much work still to be done Advocates and experts say Canada took a good step forward on World AIDS Day on Dec. 1, 2018, when Minister of Health Ginette Peptitpas Taylor joined the ACO and a number of other groups on Parliament Hill to endorse the U=U campaign on behalf of the Canadian government.

Later that day, the Department of Justice announced a directive for Crown prosecutors of HIV non-disclosure cases, stating prosecution should not take place when the person living with HIV has maintained a suppressed viral load (under 200 copies of the virus per millilitre of blood) “because there is no realistic possibility of transmission.”

The directive also noted those from marginalized populations are disproportionately targeted by these laws.

“We made history that day and years from now … (it) will be seen as a turning point, a milestone,” Salam of the ACO said.

But both Salam and Elliott of the HIV/AIDS Legal Network are mindful that there’s still much work to be done, especially since the directive will only apply to federal prosecutors, who have jurisdiction in the three territories but not the provinces, meaning provincial attorney generals still need to follow suit.

Ontario made progress by issuing a similar directive in 2017 addressing the viral load question, but Elliott points to other gaps in the federal directive, including the point that people with HIV will “generally” not be prosecuted if they have oral sex or use a condom.

“It needs to go further and … say we will also not prosecute people who have oral sex and we will also not prosecute people who use condoms, full stop.”

For Salam, the fight won’t be over until the stigma surrounding HIV/AIDS is struck down.

“At the end of the day, if people are racist … sexist and … homophobic, … they won’t care what law applies to people living with HIV,” Salam said. “If you … (think) people with HIV deserve to be thrown in jail, you won’t care about applying the criminal law because you don’t see them as human beings; you see them as vectors of transmission.”

Figuring L out how love and sex fit with your sexuality

ove and relationships can be confusing, let’s face it. Whether you’ve only experienced friendship or have dated six people in the last month, we all know that relationships take effort and can leave us questioning the most integral parts of ourselves.

Sex is no different. There are endless ideas from media about what sex should entail and who it should be done with, ideas we’ve been absorbing since we were able to read, or even earlier. Then we get drilled with the idea that sex is dangerous in school. It’s no wonder that so many teenagers and young adults are confused about what the birds and the bees are really all about.

For some of us, we also experience the confusion of sexuality from a young age, and figuring out where you land on the sexuality spectrum can be the most difficult experience of all.

A personal essay on how love and sex look as a bisexual person ARIANNA JOHNSTONE FULCRUM CONTRIBUTOR

Being a bisexual woman has given me the ability to be a part of both same-sex and different-sex relationships.

Although I don’t have nearly all the answers, I hope my experiences can help to guide you through the maze that is love and sex.

Virginity For some of us, losing your virginity is sacred. For others, it’s just plain old sex. No matter when you decide to do it, everyone seems to have an idea about what “counts” as losing your virginity.

When I was in high school it seemed that everyone just assumed losing your virginity meant a boy and girl having penetrative sex. So when I shared that I lost my virginity to a girl, most of my peers stood there with one question: “How?” I don’t blame them. Almost everyone is confused about their first time. But if I was so sure about my experience, why was there still doubt? But I realized that most of my friends were straight and probably had never thought about different forms of sex and how individuals in the LGBTQ+ community have it.

When you are bi, from my experience, it can be easy to fall into the trap of believing that you have to lose your virginity with a boy for it to count, since you are attracted to boys and girls. And when you are gay it can feel like society will never truly accept that you have lost your virginity because it doesn’t hit the checklist of including penetration or the opposite gender.

Love and sex looks different for everyone, and that’s what makes it so great.

Illustration: Sarah Pixie

Losing my “boy virginity” and “girl virginity,” as I refer to it, has shown me that the genitals really don’t matter. What does is the intimacy you feel with that person. Whether you count sex as a kinky threeway or a make-out session, you are valid in that belief: No one can tell you what losing your virginity means except for you.

Falling in Love What does love look like? Thanks to TV and movies, growing up I always saw love as a man and a woman getting married and having children.

As most of us know, things are much different in the real world. But how do we possibly figure out what kind of love we desire when the majority of us have only been exposed to heterosexual monogamous relationships?

I grew up having so many feelings towards girls in addition to boys, but since liking boys was the “norm,” I went with it. It wasn’t until I was almost 15 that I knew exactly what “bisexual” meant.

Even if you have been confident in your sexuality your whole life, curiosity can always slip in. The point is, this is anything but a bad thing. Being curious and accepting the spectrum that sexuality is is one of the most beautiful things anyone can realize. I believe that experiences

and trying new things are the best ways to figure out what works for you and what you actually enjoy.

Do the things that you’re interested in, even if you’re scared to try. Get to know yourself first. No matter what sexuality you identify with, you can follow RuPaul’s iconic advice which I wholeheartedly believe: “If you can’t love yourself, how in the hell you gonna love somebody else?”

Romantic Relationships Once you’ve figured yourself out, it is also important to never stop educating yourself about all the different types of love that exist outside of the love you know.

If you are straight and have never experimented with the same sex, you are probably wondering how same-sex relationships work. Being bisexual and trying to figure out my sexuality in my teens exposed me to both same-sex and different-sex relationships.

When I dated girls I often felt more comfortable with them simply because we were both women, usually facing a lot of the same struggles so we could relate to each other and bond on a new level. When dating boys I usually felt more sexually attracted than romantically attracted and it took me longer to develop serious feelings for males. But this is just my experience.

That is the beauty of human uniqueness. We all have different experiences with different people. Although I thought I could never seriously fall for a man as hard as I have for a woman, I found a man who I love more than anyone I have before.

No matter where you fall on the romantic or sexual spectrum with your sexuality, we all have new experiences with each new person we meet. I don’t believe all gay relationships are the same or that all straight relationships are the same because every single relationship is different.

So if you feel like you are out of luck with love, never stop trying. Focus on a person for who they are, not what’s in their pants, and you may open new doors to love you could never have imagined.

Sexual Relationships It’s no secret that being in university allows for many sexual opportunities. The key things to remember (which should be common knowledge) are consent and safe sex, which means checking in with yourself and your partner and using necessary protection.

Sex is an amazing thing, but just like relationships, it won’t be amazing until you truly know what you enjoy first. Don’t be scared of masturbation or porn, which are great ways to figure out what gets you off, and you will have incredible sexual experiences with others.

If you are straight and just want to experiment, go for it! Every sexual act you perform does not determine your sexuality; sexuality is fluid and you can develop new feelings and learn something new about yourself every day.

If you are LGBTQ+ and are stuck in the idea that sex for you and your partner has to look a certain way, you are denying yourself so many experiences. Not all gay women scissor, not all gay men have anal sex, and not all straight people have penetrative sex. Try to remove the label that society has set for you and begin to explore other options.

You may be scared about what others think about your sex life (I know I was).

To those who are ignorant, all I can say is that sex is unique for every couple. What others may like could be completely opposite to what you do, and that’s okay. We all need to start being more comfortable with the fact that everyone is different and what they do in the bedroom really doesn’t affect us.

Whether you’re straight, gay, bi, trans, pan or anything and everything in between, you are special and deserve to have the best romantic and sexual relationships possible.

Dear Ty,

Your Ty Tuesday Questions, Answered

How do I have phone sex and not sound ridiculous?

A lot of this comes down to you and your partner’s personal preferences, but I can lay out some basic guidelines for a hot phone call. Phone sex is more common than you might think, especially when it comes to long-distance relationships.

Surprisingly, a good bout of phone sex can start with a text. Fire off a quick provocative text to your partner to get them going for the phone call that’s yet to come: Anticipation is everything.

Ask Your Love and Sex Questions on Instagram Every Tuesday

Once you’re actually on the call, creativity is key. Don’t feel the need to fall into those cliches of phone sex often depicted in pornos and movies. Instead, talk to your partner through the phone like you’d talk to them if they were right in front of you, clothes off and ready to go. The bottom line is, just lay back and go with the flow, saying what feels right to you.

TY DANIELS LOVE & SEX COLUMNIST

What does it mean if the condom keeps sliding off my partner during sex?

S

INCE THE START OF THE WINTER 2019 SEMESTER, THE FULCRUM’S INHOUSE LOVE AND SEX COLUMNIST TY DANIELS HAS BEEN TAKING QUESTIONS VIA OUR INSTAGRAM PAGE (@INSTAFULCRUM). TY’S COLLECTED SOME OF HIS FAVOURITE BELOW, WITH SOME BRAND NEW ANSWERS. Dear Ty, How do I acquire a sugar daddy and how does the whole thing work?

If you’re interested in sugar dating, your best and safest place to start is with websites such as Seeking Arrangement, where users undergo background checks. Once you’re online as a sugar baby, you’ll be able to make a profile similar to one on popular dating apps such as Tinder or Bumble, but you’ll also be asked to list your spending habits. In turn, sugar daddies (or mommas) will list their net worth, annual income and lifestyle budget, and the amount of money they’re willing to provide sugar babies with.

Dear Ty,

When it comes to nipples (and breasts), the only thing you should actually spend any time caring about is any sudden and unexpected changes, such as bumps, growths or moles. If you do spot something odd pop up out of the blue, it’s a good idea to head to your doctor’s offi ce just to be safe, in case something is up with your health.

Dear Ty,

This most likely means your partner’s not putting the condom on properly. To do so, hold the protruding tip of the condom while rolling slowly down the shaft of the penis, ensuring the condom goes all the way to the base of the shaft, touching the pelvic bone.

On the other hand, your partner could be using condoms that are too small or too big for them. Every penis is different, so spend a bit of time with some measuring tape and a ruler and then head out to your local pharmacy, grocery store, or sex shop to buy the condom that’s right for them.

My new partner goes down on me a lot—which I totally appreciate—but they’re a smoker.

Would this have any impact on my vagina?

Dear Ty,

Research has shown that the vagina, just like your skin or digestive system, can absorb a number of different substances into your body, including steroids, hormones, and proteins.

Honesty here is the key to success. Let your FWB know straight up that you’re looking to be more than friends, but if they’re not interested, that’s something you need to be ready to accept. If this does happen, my tip to protect yourself from ending up in a similar situation down the road is to fully discuss expectations when entering into a relationship with a FWB. That way, both of you will know where things are headed.

That being said, don’t expect to get a headrush or any major issues from having oral sex with a smoker. The key to ensuring you’re always safe is to use protection, even for oral sex. Dental dams, much like your typical penile condom, are sheet-like and easy to apply to the vagina, readily available at your local pharmacy or favourite sex shop.

How do I turn a friend with benefits (FWB) relationship into an actual one?

On the bright side, if things do work out for you two, chances are you’ll have a great relationship and some kick-ass sex!

Dear Ty,

Dear Ty,

You’ll then have the opportunity to explore your options.

When you find a match that seems right for you, you’ll then be able to set up an “arrangement.” Simply put, this is a romantic and sometimes sexual relationship between a sugar daddy and yourself, where you’ll give your companionship and time in exchange for money and gifts. As a sugar baby, you can set the boundaries and parameters of the relationship you feel comfortable with.

How do I give a good blowjob?

I’m fairly sure I’m in love with my boss… help?

The first step to giving any good blow job is proper hygiene. Like Andy from the infamous Fyre Festival documentary told us, it’s important to brush your teeth, floss AND use mouthwash prior to performing oral sex. On the other hand, your partner also has an obligation to keep their pecker equally as clean as your mouth.

This one is tough. I totally understand where you’re coming from since just about everyone has caught feelings for someone they really shouldn’t have.

It’s important to ensure these relationships are always consensual and healthy: If things start to go even slightly downhill, don’t feel bad pulling a cut and run.

Personal preference is also key when it comes to blowjobs: Some like it loud and slippery, while others opt for a more gentle approach, both of which are valid. Ask your partner what they prefer and go from there.

Dear Ty, My nipples are different sizes… is this normal?

Completely. The most amazing thing about being human is that our bodies form in billions of different ways, each one beautiful in its own right. Nipples especially are one of the most unique parts of the body, one often different than the other in sometimes noticeable and sometimes more nuanced ways. Over time, nipples can even change sizes and colour!

But if you’re looking for a lowdown on the basics, start things slow to build up sexual tension: Kiss the chest, stomach and groin before actually making contact with the penis, building up anticipation and sexual tension. Throughout the blowjob, be mindful of your teeth and don’t neglect your partner’s testicles either.

The most important thing to keep in mind is not to take yourself too seriously: Awkward mistakes can happen, just have fun!

Before you tell them how you feel, get familiar with your workplace’s policy, which often varies by industry and profession, usually available online or in your initial hiring package. If telling your boss how you feel and possibly entering into a relationship with them means a potential threat to your or their employment, you definitely need to weigh your options.

If the stakes are high, my advice is to wait to tell them how you feel until you move onto the next job, so you can maintain a solid income and get a relationship going. It’s an obvious win-win.

Love, Ty Have a question you want answered? Ask Ty on our Instagram page @instafulcrum!

SPORTS

SPORTS EDITOR Andrew Price sports@thefulcrum.ca @APricey47

NORDIQ SKI TEAM HEADING TO OUAS

NEW COMPETITIVE CLUB MAKING BIG STRIDES Andrew Price Sports Editor

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t’s the glorious wintry month of February, and that means the University of Ottawa Nordiq ski team is gearing up for competition at the Ontario University Athletic (OUA) championship.

Nipissing University in North Bay, Ont., will play host to the championship this year, and once again the U of O will be fielding a team.

After making the evolution to a competitive club, a big step up from its previous SFUO club status, the team is once again ready to compete on the provincial stage against some teams with varsity status, and therefore different funding models.

“Most of the teams we are competing against are varsity.

Some of them are competitive clubs, but I think that over the years as we build a reputation, I think we’ll be able to attract

skiers,” head coach Sheila Kealey said.

The crosstown rival Carleton Ravens have a Nordic ski team that does have varsity status, with the women’s team winning the 2018 OUA championship. While Kealey notes that as a successful varsity squad with more funding from the university’s athletics department, Carleton has an obvious advantage in attracting members, but hopes to sway some potential prospects over to the garnet and grey through a strong skiing atmosphere.

“Ottawa’s a great place to ski, so we just have to convince them to go here and not go to Carleton,” Kealey said.

While the competitive club status does grant the team more funding from Sports Services, it’s still largely selffunded.

According to Kealey, the club is now allocated $3,000 per season from the Sports Services budget, requiring fundraising on the side to pay for the trip to the OUAs and other team operations.

“The funding is a little bit tricky. We’re trying to do

The U of O getting prepared for the season at Gatineau Parkways.

Photo: Sheila Kealey

more fundraising. I’m trying to get sponsorships in the community—I have some ties with like Nordic ski companies and things like that, so that might be able to attract students,” Kealey said. “I also have a lot of ties to the local ski clubs and things like that to try and integrate us, for instance Nakkertok is a big club

here. You know they’ve given us discounted memberships, so I’m trying to make all these ties and build all these bridges to make this an attractive place to come ski.”

While she’s optimistic about the team’s upcoming performance in North Bay, the U of O will not be fielding a full team due to school conflicts and con-

flicts with other teams. Still, for her, the big victory is getting to go to the OUAs. “I think our guys could end up doing well. Two of our guys compete with Nakkertok, so they have a good chance,” Kealey said. “Lakehead will be strong, Carleton is always strong. You know, maybe we could come fourth or fifth.”

CCHL PLAYERS HIT THE BOOKS AT U OF O CAMPUS

U of O prof, Junior league join forces to encourage student-athlete development Charley Dutil

Associate Sports Editor For many Junior A hockey players, once they reach 19 or 20 years old, they have to begin thinking about their future off the ice. For many, without an offer to a National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) program, they turn to Canadian universities.

The Central Canada Hockey League (CCHL), Eastern Ontario’s Junior A league, has created an education program with the help of the University of Ottawa’s Telfer School of Management professor Jona-

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than Calof.

“When we first created this program, kids would wake up, play video games, work, and play hockey at night,” Calof said. “Now the league and its teams encourage their university-aged players to go to school, and if they don’t, they make sure they work.

Now the players have access to 24-hour tutoring, they go to class in the morning and afternoon, and teams monitor their grades.’’

Conor Matton and Elie Boulerice are both 20-yearold players in the CCHL who study at the U of O.

Matton, from Tecumseh, Ont. near Windsor, currently plays for the Rockland Nationals and is a part-time biomedical engineering student. Still hoping to get a scholarship offer to an NCAA hockey program, Matton takes classes at the university in hopes to get a head start on his education in the case he gets an offer to go to a US university.

“I’m part-time right now.

I rarely miss practice or school—I’ve always been a good student with good time management skills. I think it’s great we have the opportunity to play hockey and go

The Fulcrum talks to some CCHL players regarding their student-athlete experience.

Photo: CCHL Website

to school, and I hope I either get an offer to an NCAA or U Sports program,’’ Matton said.

As for Boulerice, he is currently playing in his fourth season for the Ottawa Junior Senators while in his third year of mechanical engineering at the U of O.

Currently partaking in a co-op offered by his program, the Junior Senators assistant captain has always been a full-time student, balancing hockey and school effectively.

“I think I’m pretty lucky with the way my co-op and classes in previous years have

Still, it’s just the beginning.

Kealey said she thinks a strong performance at the OUAs and in the future could be a catalyst for getting varsity club status, the next step up after competitive club.

The team will travel to North Bay for the first day of OUA competition Feb. 16, ending on Feb. 18. mostly been in the mornings and afternoons,’’ Boulerice said. “It has happened that I’ve had to miss practices, but my head coach understands how important school is for me and is very flexible.”

For Calof, both players are good examples of what he has tried to implement with his hockey education program.

“Before, CCHL players who went to university would put hockey first and then school, but now it’s school first and hockey second,” Calof said.

“For students and players looking to go to a U Sports or NCAA program, grades are as or even more important than results on the ice.’’

“The goal of the program is to make our players attractive to big NCAA and U Sports hockey programs, so they get scholarships and can take the next step in their hockey and academic careers,’’ he said.

SPORTS | 21

“Usually in the playoffs, what it comes down to is good teamwork, special teams, and goaltending.

I know we have good teamwork and good goaltending, but special teams are something you’ve constantly got to work on.”

GRANDMAITRE TALKS HOCKEY AHEAD OF PLAYOFFS

Gee-Gees men’s hockey head coach previews upcoming playoff run Charley Dutil

Associate Sports Editor The men’s hockey team concluded their regular season on Saturday, Feb. 9, defeating the Nipissing Lakers 6-2.

In what has been the team’s best season in program history, finishing first in the OUA with a record of 22-2-4, the Gees are set to take on the Laurentian Voyageurs in a best-of-three series.

The U of O won both games this season versus Laurentian. The first was in Sudbury back on Nov. 10 by a score of 6-5. The Gees also beat the Voyageurs on home ice on Feb. 1, handing them a 6-3 loss.

With that in mind, the Fulcrum spoke to head coach Patrick Grandmaitre about his team’s record-setting sea-

22 | SPORTS

son and about the upcoming playoffs.

The Fulcrum (F) : I think it’s fair to say that your team has been dominant this year. You guys have gotten better every year now since the program was brought back three years ago. What do you attribute your team’s success to?

Patrick Grandmaitre (PG) : I think every year we added depth to our team. This year we added Jean-Francois Plante, Kyle Ward, and Yvan Mongo—good depth pieces that have stepped up and been good players for us. If you look at the last two years, in the second half of the season, we were in both years the best team in our league.

We changed a couple things this season, especially in pre-

season where we cut back on the number of exhibition games we played. If you looked at the last year, I think our harsh preseasons took a toll on our guys in the first half of the season. But with that said, coming back from the Christmas break, we were always rested and in great shape for the second half. So we changed a couple little things, our preseason and a couple players, but except for that we haven’t changed as a team that much. We didn’t change the lineup, our attitude, or system.

F: Is there a player this year that has taken his play to a whole new level and has just made a world of difference for your team?

PG: I think if you look at

—Patrick Grandmaitre, Gee-Gees head men’s hockey coach.

Brandon Jacome, he’s a guy that had a good season last year—good playoffs, and he really kept it going this year, and he’s one of the guys that has stepped up his play this year. I also think our goalies are the first to say they didn’t have the best first half of the season last year, whereas they have been very consistent this year. So I think Jacome and both our goalies are who come to mind first.

F: Who’s maybe more of an unsung hero? Is there a defensive player that really makes a difference in your zone, or a glue guy in the room that keeps it together and makes your team just that much better?

PG: I think that when you look at our team and our statistics, I think it’s kind of easy to forget some key pieces. Those guys can be Jacob Hanlon—he plays against the other team’s top lines night in and night out and also does a lot of penalty killing. Cody Van Lierop would be a guy too—not a guy that picks up a lot of points but he always gets the big hits, blocks shots, and he too plays against the best payers. We have a lot of guys that you know, I think

that there are some guys when we’re all healthy that don’t get to play much on some nights, but now with injuries, (Antoine) Pouliot, (Marco) Azzano and (John) Deacon get to play more. Everyone filling in, everyone chipping in, and I think that’s the strength of our team. We do have a couple of guys that stand out a bit more pointwise but we play four lines, three pairs, and flip our goalies every night. It’s a real team effort.

ing to another and another all within a game. It’s not new for most of our guys at the opposite of a first-year team.

F: Looking forward to playoffs, what’s something your team has to work on to be successful?

F: How much has it helped that most of your team came into the locker room together three years ago and now are in third year, and will all graduate together? How much has this helped your team chemistry and had an impact on the ice and in the room?

PG: I think it’s finding a way to stay healthy, keeping our intensity, and being good on special teams. Usually in the playoffs, what it comes down to is good teamwork, special teams, and goaltending. I know we have good teamwork and good goaltending, but special teams are something you’ve constantly got to work on. Teams are always studying your tendencies and trying to counter your strengths and take advantage of your weaknesses, so it’s always kind of a chess match.

PG: You get to grow as a team with the trust factor there, the honesty and respect too—and it gets guys to play harder for each other, pick up for guys who are injured or not there. The fact that we have lots of third-year guys means they’ve seen a lot in this league, and know all the systems really well, and we can go from one way of play-

Having clinched home ice through the Queen’s Cup playoffs, the Gees will be back home on Saturday, Feb. 16 at 7:30 p.m. to hopefully close out the series at Minto Sports Complex. If need be for a third and final game, it would take place once again at Minto at 7:30 pm on Sunday, Feb. 17.

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Gee-Gees spotted giving blood.

Photos: Courtesy of University of Ottawa Sports Services

GEE-GEES SHINING THE BOXSCORE: IN THE COMMUNITY PLAYOFF SEASON

A look at U of O athletes’ charity work Charley Dutil

Associate Sports Editor Over the last year, the GeeGees varsity squads have had lots of success on the field between the women’s soccer, rugby, men’s hockey, football, and other teams.

However, the Gees’ work off the field usually does not get the same attention.

This year, U of O varsity teams have been giving back to the community in many different ways—some donating blood, others going to developing countries to teach their respective sports, while still others focused on more local causes.

“We’ve done international fundraisers in the last couple of years and because of (GeeGees assistant coach) RoseAnne Joly, we’re affiliated with an organization called Basket Plus that does international work, and last year we built a basketball court in Togo,” Gee-Gees head women’s basketball coach Andy Sparks said. “The girls all traveled to Togo to be there for the opening of the court and to run tournaments. This

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This year, U of O varsity teams have been giving back to the community in many different ways—some donating blood, others going to developing countries to teach their respective sports, while still others focused on more local causes. year it’s Haiti, so the good ladies have got a fundraiser going on in Haiti to built a court, and the plan is to go down there as well.”

On a more local level, the men’s hockey team recently gave blood in association with the Hockey Gives Blood program.

In spite of being proud of his participating players, head coach Patrick Grandmaitre acquiesced that he wished his team could do more, but that the studentathlete schedule doesn’t give his players much time for giving back to the community.

“We’d like to do more—to be honest, we’d like to be more involved and have the opportunity for every guy to do some of these things at least

once or twice a year,” Grandmaitre said. “It’s not easy for our guys who are managing full-time school schedules, four or five practices, and two days of off-ice training a week, but we’re trying to do that stuff on the side.’’

The Gees’ football team and the women’s hockey team also gave blood after losing one of their teammates, Melisa Kingsley, to sarcoma—a rare form of soft tissue cancer. The team also used their Giving Tuesday money to work on building scholarships for their players.

Most of the varsity teams also hosted a “Do it for Daron” game this year and participated in the Bell Let’s Talk campaign, both in order to raise awareness of mental illness.

MEN’S BASKETBALL

WOMEN’S BASKETBALL

MEN’S HOCKEY

FRI. FEB. 1, 2019

FRI. FEB. 1, 2019

SAT. FEB. 2, 2019

CAPITAL HOOPS CLASSIC

CAPITAL HOOPS CLASSIC

Gee-GeES 64 Gee-GeES 61 vs

vs

Carleton 82 Carleton 52 FRI. FEB. 8, 2019

UOIT

6

vs

Gee-GeES

2

FRI. FEB. 8, 2019

Gee-GeES 75 Gee-GeES 69 vs

Queen’s

vs

78 Queen’s

40

SPORTS | 23

The election for next year’s editor in chief will take place on March 5 in the Fulcrum office at 4:30 p.m.

All those with staff status are eligible to apply for the position, and to vote in the election.

To apply: send your resume, platform, and two unedited pieces of writing to manager@thefulcrum.ca by Feb. 22.

List of staff status members: Anchal Sharma, Savannah Awde, Adam Gibbard, Rame Abdulkader, Amy Yee, Parker Townes, Matt Gergyek, Hanna Methot, Andrew Price, Eric Davison, Ryan Pepper, Christine Wang, Charley Dutil, Iain Sellers, Marissa Phul, Sarah Crookall, Sophie Miller, Zoe Mason, Oasika Sharma, Keelan Buck, Owen Falkenam, Yi Wen Neoh, Jean-Luc Ducamp, Jasmine McKnight, Kevin Geenan, Cassidy Best, Jane Furlong, Ben Woodhouse, Mar Khorkhordina, Veronique Therrien.

If you think your name should be on this list, please contact Anchal Sharma at editor@thefulcrum.ca

OPINIONS IMPLANT THE CANADIAN MARKET

HORMONAL IMPLANTS SHOULD BE MADE AVAILABLE IN CANADA Hanna Methot Opinions Editor

T

here is a form of birth control out there that fits almost every woman’s lifestyle.

Health Canada is making it impossible for some to access theirs

Hormonal implants are matchstick sized plastic rods that are inserted into the arm.

They release progestin for three years, stopping you from ovulating and keeping you baby-free. They don’t require you

to remember to take or change them as the pill, patch and ring do. They don’t require you to have an expensive device placed inside your uterus like the IUD. They don’t require you to have a shot every three months, like Depo-Provera.

The implant is perfect for young women who don’t want to have the responsibility of taking or changing birth control, who don’t have the financial ability to afford an IUD, who don’t want the estrogen that Depo-Provera has, and who want to be discreet about

their birth control, like many university students.

Hormonal implants are placed inside your arm, so they pose no physical risk to the reproductive organs. According to the Globe and Mail, hormonal implants are a very popular option among many European young women, and for good reason. They are discreet, reversible, work long-term, and are forgettable. At the time the article was published, hormonal implants were reported to be “used in 86 countries, including Australia, Denmark,

OPINIONS EDITOR Hanna Méthot

opinions@thefulcrum.ca @HannaMethot

Health Canada’s lengthy approval process is restricting birth control options for Canadian women.

Photo: CC, pixabay, Darko Stojanovic

Germany and Britain.” It’s also available in the United States, according to Planned Parenthood’s website. So why isn’t it available in Canada?

It comes down to the numbers.

According to the Globe and Mail, “Merck, manufacturer of an implant called Nexplanon, recently submitted an application to bring the device to Canada, said Dr. Amanda Black, chair of the contraception awareness program at the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada. But

some of Merck’s clinical trial data was not recent enough to satisfy Health Canada.”

When the Globe and Mail article was written, in 2015, Nexplanon had already been on the international market for 17 years (it was first introduced as Implanon in 1998), “so it wasn’t financially feasible for Merck to conduct costly new clinical trials to satisfy the regulatory requirements of a small market such as Canada.”

I understand that Health Canada may have different standards than in other coun-

tries. But do they honestly believe that this company will undergo further expensive trials just to access the small market Canada offers? No. The product is already successful and proven to be effective and safe across the world, surely that’s good enough for Health Canada? Through barriers such as expensive clinical trials, Health Canada is effectively preventing the entrance of the implant to the Canadian market, which only serves to deprive young women of a safe and effective birth control option.

ANTI-BLACK RACISM IN THE CORRECTIONS SYSTEM MUST BE RECTIFIED

ABDIRAHMAN ABDI LATEST IN A STRING OF BLACK DEATHS AT THE HANDS OF LAW ENFORCEMENT Savannah Awde Managing Editor

As Black History Month began last week, so too did the trial of Const. Daniel Montsion, which heard that the officer delivered fatal blows to Somali-Canadian Abdirahman Abdi in July 2016.

But the Abdi case is far

Photo: Bobby Hidy, wikimedia.org, CC

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from the first instance where a police interaction with a black civilian had a lethal conclusion. A report by the Ontario Human Rights Commission released in December 2018 shows that black people are more likely than white people to be injured or killed

by Toronto Police officers, and 20 times more likely to be

shot dead by the police.

As for Ottawa, a CBC report that compiled data from January 2000 to December 2017 shows that two of the eight people who died in altercations with city police were black, while black residents make up only 5.7 per cent of the Ottawa population.

In June 2016, Montreal saw the brutal death of 58-yearold Pierre Coriolan, after the police responded to a call that he was yelling and smashing things inside his home. Although Coriolan was kneeling, saying that he could not lie down, the officers shot plastic and then live bullets at the man—he was pronounced dead in hospital after the altercation.

Further east in Halifax, the CBC reported that black people are three times more likely to be stopped by police, and an investigation is underway for excessive force allegedly used against Matthew

Bishop, who had approached a police officer to ask what he thought of the Black Lives Matter movement.

These injustices are made worse when you consider that, as of April 2018, the CBC reported that of the 461 deaths they counted due to police altercations in Canada, they could find only 18 cases where criminal charges were laid against an officer. Of those charges, only two convictions were made.

Fatality isn’t the only concern around police interactions with black folks—incarceration rates show that this group, representing merely three per cent of the country’s population, make up 8.6 per cent of the federal inmate population.

While in the correctional system, the Office of the Correctional Investigator found that, despite being rated as lower risk to re-offend and lower need overall, between

2009 and 2013 black offenders were consistently more likely than the general inmate population to be placed in maximum security and less likely to be placed in minimum security.

Although this may seem like an aimless recount of injustice in the correctional system, the Abdi case highlights a clear pattern that has plagued Canada’s black population for far too long. Those of us privileged enough to escape these pitfalls have a responsibility to educate ourselves, listen to black voices, and mobilize against these injustices and others.

Similar to the one-day commitment to mental health of Bell Let’s Talk day, one month of celebration and promises to combat anti-black racism during Black History Month is not enough.

The overrepresentation of black citizens dead at the hands of police and disad-

vantaged by our correctional system must be addressed. As Black History Month and the Abdi trial begin in tandem, there is no better time for us to listen to what Canada’s black population has told us for decades: Jermaine Carby, Andrew Loku, Pierre Coriolan, Mark Ekamba, Olando Brown, O’Brien Christopher-Reid, Andrew “Buddy” Evans, Albert Johnson, Michael Sargeant, Leander Savoury, Lester Donaldson, Raymond Lawrence, Ian Coley, Albert Moses, Tommy Anthony Barnett, Andrew Bramwell, Henry Musaka, Alexander Manon, Eric Osawe, Michael Eligon, Reyal Jensen Jardine-Douglas, Frank Anthony Berry, Daniel Clause, Alexander Wetlaufer, Duane Christian, Abdirahman Abdi.* *This list is incomplete, as no government agency or police force in Canada maintains national statistics on policeinvolved fatalities.

OPINIONS | 25

SEX-ED CURRICULUM FAILING STUDENTS Victim should’ve been taught that incest is illegal

U-OTTA WANT THIS: With two locations in the GTA, Ottawa should be next.

Photo: CC, Michael Rivera via Wikicommons

Dave & Buster’s

Stop making this a partisan issue.

Photo: CC, Marco Verch. Modified by the Fulcrum

Hanna Methot Opinions Editor

A recent Ottawa Citizen article details the Jan. 24 sentencing of an Ottawa man for engaging in incestual acts with his 17-year old daughter and for making child pornography. He was sentenced to five years.

The article details that police were called by the mother after she was asked by her daughter whether having sex with her father was legal or not. The article then goes on to say that the victim didn’t want to press charges, and that the father blames his daughter for the vile crimes, even after pleading guilty.

Last year, the Ford government rolled back the modernized sex-ed curriculum that had been around since 2015.

It’s also been recently announced that they considered removing sex-ed courses entirely. It would be easy to point fingers and blame this negligence in sexual education on the Ford government, but this young woman has been in the educational system for approximately 13 years, if she’s in grade 11.

In those 13 years of sex ed, or education in general, not a single authority figure in her life taught her that incest was a crime. That being touched inappropriately by a family member is something to bring up to a trusted adult.

The only reason his secret came out was due to

26 | OPINIONS

the daughter seeking clarity from her mother about incest.

Let that sink in. This is not a partisan issue, if anything, the fault lies on both sides of the political aisle. The educational system has failed this youngwoman, as it has failed a countless number of my classmates, both male and female, that have been victims of abuse by family members.

The daughter in the Citizen’s article is two years younger than me, so we’ve grown up under the same sexual education curriculum. As disturbing as it is, the number of friends who have confided similar abuse stories to me over the years, is more than I can count on two hands.

There needs to be a massive transformation in how we

teach these topics. For starters, younger school-age children need to be taught the proper terms for their body parts, so that they have the proper vocabulary to report these incidents. They also need to learn about consent, and that adults who ask you to keep secrets of a certain nature, should have their secrets told.

We need to help children identify inappropriate and criminal behaviour, so that they can protect themselves.

Teenagers, 17-year olds who are about to graduate out of highschool, need to know that incest is a crime and that what they experienced was abuse.

For every case like this that comes to light, I can assure you there are dozens that never will. We need to change that.

Last year, the Ford government rolled back the modernized sexed curriculum that had been around since 2015.

It’s also been recently announced that they considered removing sex-ed courses entirely.

OTTAWA’S DATING SCENE NEEDS A LEVEL-UP Jena Wren

Fulcrum Contributor Arriving to Ottawa as a young single, I had never really taken into account what the dating scene would be like.

Back home in my small town, the only options really were going to the movies or walking around by the waterfront.

Nothing too flashy or exciting at all. Flash forward to Ottawa with a new red-haired boyfriend, I was overwhelmed by all the possibilities Ottawa has to offer for dating.

Skating on the Rideau Canal, going for hot chocolate and board games at the Loft, and macarons from QuelqueChose are all great for dates.

But four months later it feels as though we’ve fallen into a date routine, mostly just staying in and watching movies.

Despite all the great things one can do in the nation’s capital, it would be great to have something new and hot for date night.

Dave & Buster’s is comparable to an “adult Chuck E Cheese” minus the creepy animatronics and greasy pizza. They offer a full service restaurant, bar, as well as an arcade. First opening in Dallas in 1982, the franchise is now spreading across North America, with two Canadian locations in Vaughan and Oakville. I think we’re defi-

nitely going to want one in our nation’s capital.

Not only would Dave & Buster’s be fun for friend groups, but it would also be an amazing date spot. Think about it; you’ve matched with a really cool person on Tinder and are nervous to meet them. Would you rather sit next to them in silence as you watch whatever movie is playing or would you rather crush them at Pac Man while snacking on nachos?

Competition can be a great tool of flirtation, showing off your fun loving and easy going side.

Lansdowne would be a great place for a Dave & Buster’s as it’s relatively close to campus and a really nice area overall. Lansdowne offers some variety when it comes to restaurants and events, so you could switch up combinations. One day you could go hit up Dave & Buster’s for pre-game drinks, games and snacks, then head over to TD Place to watch a game. The Cineplex is also there which could make for a fun night of movies, the restaurant and arcade. Couples would be able to spice things up however they chose.

Even couples who have been together for a while, like me and my red-head, would definitely love to try out an arcade together. Incorporating an aspect of competition into date night could be a re-

ally fun change as opposed to streaming Game of Thrones in sweatpants.

So here’s how it works: you arrive at Dave & Buster’s with your date and you get a Power Card. This card takes away the hassle of feeding quarters into a game, saving your winnings as well so you don’t have to keep all your tickets to claim your prizes. You can even load up your card using an app if you’d rather that than waiting at the kiosk.

Once you’ve won a few games of skeet ball you can head over to the restaurant and pick from a wide selection of the staple burgers and nachos or even try something different like Build Your Own Churros and the millennials’ favourite: avocado toast. The evening would be filled with delicious food and fun games that could spark exciting competition and conversation for couples and dates.

To top it off, at the end of the night the points are redeemable for prizes, ranging from earbuds to huge plush toys. Winning your date a little plushy at the end of the night is an absolutely adorable idea.

Ottawa doesn’t have its own Dave & Buster’s yet, but I believe that it would be a great addition to our dating scene, for couples young and old on a first date or a 20th date.

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Bus challenge leads to accidental government shutdown

CITY COUNCILLORS MISS EVERY MEETING DUE TO TRANSIT DELAYS

15 Ottawa councillors braved the transit system.

Photo: CC, Tony Webster via Flicker.

Hanna Methot

Tomato Editor

Advocacy group Free Transit Ottawa challenged city leaders to rely solely on OC Transpo for a week. The mayor and several councillors turned down the challenge, leaving 15 of the city’s finest to brave public transit. This led to mass panic as the municipal government faced an accidental shutdown.

The challenge, which ran from Feb. 4 to 10, resulted in a higher lack of productivity than usual, with only three of 23 councillor seats occupied throughout the week. (Councillors who were not part of the challenge still used it as an excuse for their absences).

Mayor Jim Watson tried to pass a motion that would declare himself Lord Protector of The Ottawa Valley, but the meeting didn’t meet quorum.

At another meeting, Watson

and two of the sitting members went to get Beavertails and skate on the rink outside city hall.

Glen Gower, councillor for Ward 6 Stittsville, was stuck on the side of the Queensway after his bus, the 62, decided a highway would be a great place to run out of gas. He not only missed all of his scheduled meetings, but also a gala, his son’s first birthday, and the entirety of the TD Ottawa Winter Jazz Festival, which ran for three days.

Shawn Menard and Catherine McKenney were reportedly misbehaving on their bus ride, carving initials into the back of seats and pulling the ponytails of other passengers. They were asked to sit up front with the driver so she could “keep an eye on them.”

After the challenge, councillors were asked to fill out surveys to share their experiences.

Due to the limited number of sitting councillors, the municipal government had to shut down, leading to the stoppage of snow clearance and garbage pick-up.

Carol Anne Meehan, councillor for Ward 22 GloucesterSouth Nepean said she’s “learned a lot from the experience,” and that she will be looking into “giving everyone in her ward an SUV.” Alan Hubley, Councillor for Ward 23 Kanata South claims “It was the most sadistic experience of (his) life, (and that he) “wouldn’t wish it on his worst enemy.” Hubley notably added another line segment to the rating scale they were offered, rating his overall experience at a negative 20.

Due to the limited number of sitting councillors, the municipal government had to shut down, leading to the stoppage of snow clearance and garbage pick-up. The Tomato attempted to reach out to residents of Sandy Hill but couldn’t reach their doorsteps due to icy sidewalks and massive snow piles.

Mathieu Fleury, councillor for Ward 12 Rideau-Vanier, is assumed to be somewhere along route 12, but authorities are urging him to come home as the challenge has been over for days.

Anybody who may have information of his whereabouts are asked to call Ottawa Police.

Student unions behind Fyre Festival, investigation reveals CFS MASTERMIND BEHIND FAILED MUSIC FESTIVAL, SFUO, RSU ACTING COORDINATORS ot Hanna Meth

Tomato Editor

Fyre Festival, the failed “luxury music festival” was such a disaster, it could give student unions a run for their money.

And it did, causing the secret coordinators of the festival to flee back to their respective universities.

An independent investigation spurred by recent releases of Fyre Festival documentaries, has revealed that student unions were behind the whole thing. Samantha Odd and Angel Shawarma, the lead investigators, held a press conference earlier this week.

“It all makes sense,” claims Shawarma. “Only a student union could reach that level of catastrophic proportions.”

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It seems the Canadian Federation of Students (CFS) was behind the failed festival, which was set to take place in 2017. It had been a ploy to ramp up approval for student unions—little did they know the chain reaction of scandals this singular event would set off.

“According to our investigation, Billy McFarland and Ja Rule were the fall-guys, there were more sinister officials behind it all,” adds Odd. Although she hesitated to name anyone specific, The Tomato learned that the Student Federation of the University of Ottawa (SFUO) and Ryerson Students’ Union (RSU), with their respective histories of financial mismanagement, were acting coordinators.

Following their first failed international festival, the SFUO

executive fled back to Canada and began to plan another festival. They called it FEDStock— and they had a vision.

The Tomato reached out to a former executive member that helped plan both Fyre Festival and FEDstock. Due to the impending investigation and referendum, she wishes to remain anonymous.

“We really wanted to recapture that same vibe from Fyre Festival. Of just mass panic and uncertainty. A little dash of danger, even. We wanted to bring the festival energy right to campus.”

“If I’m being honest, I don’t think we went far enough. We were even planning on using those fireworks, but never got around to it.”

They invited French Mon-

The festival, and student unions, went down in flames.

Photo: Fyre Festival Logo via Youtube. Edits: Rame Abdulkader.

“We really wanted to recapture that same vibe from Fyre Festival. Of just mass panic and uncertainty.

A little dash of danger, even. We wanted to bring the festival energy right to campus.”

tana, who our source says lived up to the expectations they had for him. His performance was brief, fraught with technical difficulties, and admission requirements were fuzzy.

Just as planned.

Our source also confirmed RSU’s involvement in the planning of Fyre Festival.

“They learned a lot about charging credit cards exorbitant amounts. They even got private lessons from Billy, I hope they

put all those skills to good use.”

“Overall, I think Fyre Festival was a great learning opportunity for all the student unions involved. It taught us how to coordinate major events, be communicative with our customers, and have a fun time.”

Odd and Shawarma are both confident their investigation will lead to the discovery of other unions being involved, and they intend to hold those unions accountable.

THE TOMATO | 27

DISTRACTIONS Dear Ty Mile High

YOUR ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO HAVING SEX ON A PLANE. Illustration: Rame Abdulkader

DEAR TY, My partner and I are heading on a vacation to somewhere much warmer than Ottawa over reading week and I’m really excited, but the flight is going to be super long. To help pass the time, an idea flew into my head: having sex midflight. We’ve always wanted to try it but never knew how to actually get away with it—any tips for us?

— MILE HIGH LOVIN

28 | DISTRACTIONS

DEAR MHL,

Phew, this is an interesting one I’ve always wanted to answer. So you really wanna join the mile-high club, huh?

I’m going to break my answer into two parts since there are basically only two ways to have sex on a plane and get away with it unless you’re feeling really kinky and are willing to risk a public indecency charge.

Your first option is the riskiest (which could also be the hottest, if that’s what you’re into) and means getting dirty in your own seat. I would really recommend not doing this if you and your partner are sitting in a row of seats beside another passenger, unless you get the vibe that said passenger is interested in joining or if you know for certain that they’re fast asleep (please don’t slip them a sedative).

Your strongest ally here is a blanket: flag down the nearest flight attendant and secure one of those branded fleece ones every airline carries. Next, set your expectations. Despite what you might’ve seen in pornos, you can’t realistically have full on sex in the actual seats of your plane and expect to get away with it.

Timing is also integral; no one likes interruptions. Wait until the flight attendants have done their rounds for food, drinks,

and garbage and then get into it, allowing the sexual tension between you and your partner to fizzle over until the time is right.

FEATURES EDITOR Matt Gergyek

features@thefulcrum.ca (613) 562-5260 @mattgergyek can, slipping inside with your partner and locking that thing securely behind you.

The rest is really up to you. Plane washrooms are notoriously small, but use that If you’re committed to sticking to your to your advantage. Find new places to put seats, the safest bet is to have all the fun your arms and legs and new positions to you can handle under the blankets using try, maybe even a few you can take back your hands to fool around with your part- to your bedroom back home. When you’re ner. If you’re feeling super gutsy, there’s done, all I ask is you try to leave the place always the option of faking a nap on your cleaner than you found it. On an airplane, partner’s lap under the blanket, and doing that might be easier said than done, but everything but sleeping instead. we need to do everything we can to maintain your cover here. One-by-one, as Option number two is the bathroom, the you came in, slip back out to your seats as notorious place most people earn their if the whole thing had never happened. spot in the mile high club.

If I’m being honest with you though, Setting this one up requires a certain level mile-high sex isn’t all that it’s cut out to of planning. It’s important to time it right: be. It’s tough to get aroused when the You don’t want to be those people hogging passenger in front of you has their seat the only toilet on the plane if a passenger so far back it’s crushing your lungs, or suddenly needs to vomit. That’s why it’s when the airplane bathroom feels smaller best to do this on a red-eye flight, or at than the crib you spent the first few least one that’s longer than three or four years of your life in. I know you didn’t hours. ask for my take, but I gotta say, train sex When the plane settles and the flight at- is where it’s at. Why? The sheer size of tendants are tucked into their sitting areas, the washrooms. The amount of room for activities in there, especially compared to make your move. To start, one of you an airplane washroom, is simply mindshould get to the washroom first, while the other sticks behind in their seat for a boggling. But hey, I’ll leave it to you to compare. couple of minutes so no nosy passenger catches on to all the fun you’re about to LOVE, be having. When the coast looks clear, TY get to the washroom as casually as you

thefulcrum.ca

FEB. 13 TO MAR. 5, 2019

THRYLLABUS

THURSDAY, FEB. 14MONDAY, FEB. 18 Powershift: Young and Rising Climate Justice Conference, various locations THURSDAY, FEB. 14 The Gift of Jazz, National Gallery of Canada—8 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, FEB. 15 Arkells Rally Cry Tour, Canadian Tire Centre—7:30 p.m.

Gee-Gees Men’s Basketball vs.

Laurentian, Montpetit Hall—8 p.m.

Blessed: Hip Hop Dance Party, the 27 Club—11 p.m.

FRIDAY, FEB. 15SATURDAY, FEB. 16

MUSIC ARTS SPORTS FUN THINKING

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Canadian Ice Bar, Andaz Rooftop Loungxe—6 p.m. to 9 p.m.

Fifth Annual Ottawa Winter Brewfest, Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne—7 p.m.

FRIDAY, FEB. 15SUNDAY, FEB. 17 Gatineau Loppet cross-country ski event, Gatineau Park

SATURDAY, FEB. 16

SATURDAY, FEB. 23

Accora Village Bed Race, York Street in the ByWard Market—12:30 p.m.

613flea, Aberdeen Pavilion at Lansdowne—10 a.m.

Gee-Gees Women’s Basketball vs.

Nipissing, Montpetit Hall—6 p.m.

Ottawa SwingFest, Canadian War Museum—7 p.m. to 11:30 p.m.

Choir! Choir! Choir! at the National Arts Centre—8 p.m.

SUNDAY, FEB. 17 11th Annual Winterman Marathon, Canadian War Museum—8:30 a.m.

SUNDAY, FEB. 17WEDNESDAY, FEB. 20 Full Moon Wellness Women’s Retreat, Nordik Spa-Nature MONDAY, FEB. 18 The Magic of MAJINX!, Canadian Aviation and Space Museum—11 a.m.

Watercolour Whale Creativity Workshop, Art House Café—6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.

THURSDAY, FEB. 21SUNDAY, FEB. 24

Eelke Kleijn, City at Night—11 p.m.

WEDNESDAY, FEB. 27 The Walrus Talks Impact, Dominion-Chalmers United Church—7 p.m.

THURSDAY, FEB. 28 Ottawa Senators vs.The Edmonton Oilers, Canadian Tire Centre—7:30 p.m.

FRIDAY, MARCH 1 The Onesie Crawl, kickoff at Pub101—9 p.m.

SATURDAY, MARCH 2 Lynard Skynard, Canadian Tire Centre—7:30 p.m.

Riot Ten and Crankdat, Barrymore’s Music Hall—10 p.m.

SUNDAY, MARCH 3 Ventriloquist and comedian Jeff Dunham, Canadian Tire Centre—3 p.m.

Ottawa Boat Show, EY Centre

TUESDAY, MARCH 5

FRIDAY, FEB. 15-MONDAY, FEB. 18

FRIDAY, FEB. 22

Grey’s Anatomy Trivia Night, Jack Astors Lansdowne—7 p.m.

The Grand Ice Bar, The Grand in the ByWard Market

Nature Nocturne: Tropical Escape, Canadian Museum of Nature—8 p.m.

Mumford & Sons: Delta Tour, Canadian Tire Centre—7 p.m.

DISTRACTIONS | 29

30 |

thefulcrum.ca

Volume 79, Issue 6, February 13, 2019 Spreading the love since 1942.

Phone: (613) 695-0061 | Fax: (613) 695-9006 631 King Edward Ave. Ottawa, ON K1N 6N5 Recycle this or we’ll steal your man.

Anchal “Whip” Sharma Editor-in-Chief editor@thefulcrum.ca Adam “Bullet” Gibbard Production Manager production@thefulcrum.ca Savannah “Blindfold” Awde Managing Editor content@thefulcrum.ca Eric “Granma’s Bible” Davison News Editor news@thefulcrum.ca Ryan “Cock Ring” Pepper Arts and Culture Editor arts@thefulcrum.ca Matt “Ropes” Gergyek Features Editor features@thefulcrum.ca Andrew “Fleshlight” Price Sports Editor sports@thefulcrum.ca Hanna “Handcuffs” Méthot Opinions Editor opinions@thefulcrum.ca Rame “Collar” Abdulkader Visual Editor visual@thefulcrum.ca Christine “Butt Plug” Wang Social Media Manager social@thefulcrum.ca Charley “Poodle Fuzz” Dutil Associate Sports Editor associatesports@thefulcrum.ca Parker “Strap” Townes Staff Photographer photographer@thefulcrum.ca Dorian “Paddle” Ghosn General Manager manager@thefulcrum.ca Kaylum “Leash” Bobal Advertising Manager ads@thefulcrum.ca Videographer videographer@thefulcrum.ca

Sarah Pixie Zoe Mason Sarah Crookall Sophie Miller Alex Monteith Graham Robertson Casidy Best Arianna Johnstone Jena Wren

BOARD OF DIRECTORS Raghad “Vibrator” Sheikh-Khalil Katelyn “Swing” Murray Graham “Chastity Belt” Robertson Jonathan “Nipple Clamps” Rausseo

FULCRUM EDITORS SHARE THE BEST AND WORST OF THEIR LOVE LIVES

T

his valentine’s day, our editors took a look at some of the cutest and cringiest moments in sex and dating.

For the sake of professionalism, their submissions have been kept anonymous.

Cute “Went on a date with a girl and ended up going to her res room. Was unsure about the whole thing, but did eventually go in for a kiss. It was a good call and we dated for some time afterwards.” —Anonymous “The second time I hung out with this guy was after six months of us texting and talking on the phone. We had both travelled to different continents in that time, so you know what they say about distance and fond hearts. We were both eagerly waiting for me to finish my shift at this crappy little pizza place. He had biked across town and was sitting in the parking lot under a tree with his bike, very cinematically. When I came out, I misread his signals and thought him reaching his arms out for a help up was him inviting me to join him on the ground. I dive bombed on him, and that was our first kiss, rolling around in the grass. They say first kisses define how a relationship will go, and it sure has been full of me misreading signals and sparks flying anyway. We’ll be together 3 years this summer.” —Anonymous

Justin “Dice” Turcotte Donya “Bondage Tape”Ashnaei Dayne “Lube” Moyer

Cover: In honour of Black History Month, the Fulcrum has compiled a few of history’s most well known LGBTQ+ black leaders. From top to bottom: James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, Audre Lorde, Angela Davis, jackie shane, Sylvester, Alvin Ailey & Bayard Rustin.

Cover art: Adam Gibbard

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Cringe “I once used seven condoms in one lovemaking session … let’s just say alcohol was involved and I may or may not have had a bad case of the beer goggles.” —Anonymous

“I once got really drunk at a bush party in high school (this may be the most small-town Ontario statement I’ve ever made) and met this girl I really wanted to hook up with.

Problem is, there was no place to go for some decent privacy, so we decided trekking deep into the forest was our best bet. Little did we know the place we decided to call our bed was actually a patch of poison ivy.

Ever had a ferociously itchy rash on your genitals? Not a fun experiAnonymous ence.” —Anonymous

Photo: CC, pixabay, Allclear55

“I once met a girl in a bar back home. When we were done there for the evening we learned we lived about two minutes away from each other, and decided to ride home together. We wanted to have sex but had no good place to go—both our families being home at the time got in the way. So we decided to have some fun in the middle of our local park at 3-4 a.m. instead. Chilly night too. Luckily nobody saw … that I know of.”

Anonymous —Anonymous “I got a runny nose halfway through having sex with this one chick, which was fine since the lights were off and we were doing it doggy style anyway.

We didn’t realize until we turned the lights on in the morning that it had actually been a nose bleed and I had soaked her sheets and splattered her wall with my blood.

It looked like a crime scene. I left pretty quickly after that.”

Anonymous —Anonymous

EDITORIAL | 31