2 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011

MCCLUNGS.CA 3
 Complete with fishnet stockings, hand-made signs and hollers, Toronto’s first-ever
SlutWalk this April meant more to us than just raising awareness about victim-blam-
ing and slut-shaming in society. The march also signified that people should be free
to dress the way they want without labels—free to express their individualism without
judgment. Editors-in-Chief: Kristina Gutauskas
Arti Patel
Though this freedom translates beyond physical appearances, we spend much of this Managing Editors: Samantha Anderson
issue celebrating the body. Through the art of movement, one dancer overcomes Lakshine Sathiyanathan
ballet’s anxieties in “Pressure En Pointe” (pg. 6), and we show you step-by-step how Assistant Editor: Hilary Hagerman
to pull off a basic breakdance stance in “Bust a Move” (pg. 35). Feeling comfortable in Head of Research & Copy: Julianna McDermott
your own skin is another strong theme, highlighted in one writer’s personal account Handling Editors: Katia Dmitrieva
on losing hair while gaining identity in “My Kind of Beautiful” (pg. 38), and a drag Arta Ghanbari
king’s journey to self-discovery in “The King Takes the Stage” (pg. 19). In typical Rachel Reindorf
McClung’s fashion, however, we find it important to provide a diverse read with Kimberly Rupnarain
our main feature exploring the dangers of over-prescribed medication to women in Matthew Scianitti
“Chemicals for Candy” (pg. 27). Niki Singh
Copy Editors: Pia Bahile
This may be our last issue as editors, but we’re not done just yet. This summer, we’ll Jannen Belbeck
continue to update our site www.mcclungs.ca and tweet @mcclungs. We’ll also Portia Favro
remain active on Facebook and in the community hosting a workshop for young girls. Claire Prime
Kelsey Rolfe
If you take anything away from these articles, we hope it’s a new appreciation for the Fact-Checkers: Jackie Campbell
unique and beautiful person you are. Natasha Fonseka
Jillian Bell
Don’t hold back. Express yourself. Sara Mahmood

Cover and poem photos by Katherine Engqvist, poem illustration arranged by: Jennifer Yeung
Roohi Sahajpal
Editors-in-Chief, Web Director: Angie Torres
Online Editors: Sara Faruqi
Arti Patel & Kristina Gutauskas Jennifer Tse
Art Director: Jessica Chiu
Assistant Art Director: Eric Zhou
Illustrators: Erika Elsner
Vanessa Faulkner
Noelle Geniza
Michael Guo
Hazel Santiago
Jennifer Yeung
Photo Director: Katherine Engqvist
Assistant Photo Director: Katia Dmitrieva
Photographers: Marc Felizardo
Yeugenia Kleiner
Jennifer Tse
Leila Reyhani
Promotions & Marketing: Sarah Lipsit
Advertising Director: Alyssa Friesen

Writers:
Pia Bahile, Jillian Bell, Erin Byrnes, Jessica Chiu,
Meghan Davidson Ladly, Christina Fanioudakis, Sara
Faruqi, Stephanie Fereiro, Natasha Fonseka, Jessica
Galang, Ashleigh Gaul, Brittany Harris, Julianna
McDermott, Arti Patel, Claire Prime, Kimberly
Rupnarain, Lakshine Sathiyanathan, Matthew
Scianitti, Virginia Sexsmith, Vajiha Sipra, Olivia
Stefanovich, Acey Rowe, Sophie Yalkezian
Special Thanks to: Jaclyn Mika, Chris Kaufman,
Oakham House, PointOne Graphics

4 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011

 male artists. But there are female rappers worth thanking for carving out their own piece of the trend slows down, an

TABLE OF CONTENTS
game, allowing women to be included and empowered by their music. Here are some women who
have elevated the role of females in hip hop—both the genre and culture.
1981: After meeting Fab 5 Freddy of The
Sugarhill Gang, Blondie is inspired to
include a rap verse on their single
“Rapture,” done by female Debbie Harry.
This is widely known as the first commercial
female rap - and one of the first
chart-topping rap performances ever.
alternative hip-hop movement is
By: Sophie Yalkezian born through the likes of
Editor: Hilary Hagerman K’Naan and Kanye West. The
female face of the movement
1985: Females are still rarely heard in the genre, which belongs to M.I.A. The Sri-Lankan
remains underground. This makes Salt N’ Pepa’s debut born artist is commended for
1998: Lauryn Hill releases blending elements of world
Hot, Cool & Vicious so significant. With their assertive 2002: Lisa Left Eye Lopes, the hip-hop
her solo debut The music and electronica with
subject matter about sex and female independence, the 2011: Lil’ Kim release
Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, portion of girl-group TLC, dies in a car hip-hop. She is given a spot on
duo (and their DJs) mark the first all-female hip-hop group. called Black Friday
which earns 11 Grammy accident in Honduras. Among the TIME’s list of 100 most influential
Their blend of pop and rap also pave the way for depicts a bloody sce
nominations and five wins. Hill group’s many successes was their album people.
hip-hop’s mainstream success in the ‘90s. she is holding a swo
is the first artist to blend CrazySexyCool, which is certified
pink-wigged severe
together rap, soul, reggae Diamond having sold more than ten
the floor (representi
1993: MC Lyte’s single “Ruffneck” is and R&B, making her music million copies. TLC often used their music
seems that despit
certified gold by selling over 500,000 completely unique to this day. to touch on sensitive subjects like AIDS
female hip-hoppers
copies. It is the first time for a female and struggles with self-image.
competition can still
rap artist to reach such success. this case, to an exces

6 Clicking Into Fashion

6 Pressure En Pointe
SHORTS 7 Beyond the Pink Ribbon
8 Geared For the Challenge
10 Woman in Hiphop

Q&A
1984: The culture of battle rap is seen by
New York group UTFO, called “Roxanne
9 Jully Black
Roxanne.” It causes hundreds of people to
write response songs, but the most notable
comes from a 14-year-old girl in Queens.
Her name is Roxanne Shante, and her song
“Roxanne’s Revenge” soon entitles her as
the “First Lady of hip-hop.”
1989: Queen Latifah releases her
debut album All Hail the Queen. On it
is the song ‘Ladies First’ in which she
counters the misogynistic lyrics of male
rappers. The album’s empowering
message has a profound impact on
hip-hop culture, emphasizing female
1996: As the only female
member of rap group Junior
Mafia, Lil’ Kim steps out on her
own with her album Hard
Core. Following the rapping
styles of the time, she makes
heads turn with explicitly
sexual lyrics, revealing outfits
and colourful style.
1997: Danyel 2003: “Best Female Rap Solo
Smith becomes Performance” becomes a Grammy
the first female
editor-in-chief of
the hip-hop
category. Missy Elliott is the first to
take home the award for her song
“Scream...a.k.a Itchin.”
2010: Trinidadian-born rapper N
releases her debut album Pink F
magazine VIBE. years of underground success via m
has a colourful, loud style and quick
to success, being the first artist to
2000: Journalist Joan Morgan releases her book
songs on the Billboard 100 chart
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life As
time. The only downside is her hea
A Hip-Hop Feminist. The book addresses issues facing

12 Unstoppable respect and sisterhood. Latifah wins a black women through a no-nonsense, post-feminist lens.
feud with Lil’ Kim, which began in
Kim implied during a performance

NELLIES
grammy and the title of “Best Female It also talks about being a female fan of a largely

13 Uncovered Stories Rapper of the Year” from Rolling Stone. male-dominated genre.
should “pay homage” to her.

14 Born to Play
15 Freedom Fighter

16 Cash on Delivery
ATTRACTIONS 19 The King Takes the Stage
27 Chemicals for Candy

PHOTO ESSAY 22 Letting Go

SHE SAID, SHE SAID 32 Showing Skin: Empowering or not?

COLUMN 34 Capital W

DIY 35 Bust a Move

HERSTORY 36 Celebrating Womanhood

38 My Kind of Beautiful

40 Cruel and Unusual

REVIEWS 40 In the Name of Honor
41 The Last Living Slut
41 The Folk

COMIC 42 Diet Diaries

MCCLUNGS.CA 5
 Clicking Into Fashion
By: Stephanie Fereiro
I
t influences us everyday. We think about the
clothes we put on in the morning, even if it
means dressing like we don’t care. Yet, fashion
has long been dismissed as shallow, unimportant
and even “unfeminist.”
The ideals expressed in mainstream magazines,
including the cost of luxury goods, lack of diversity
on the runway and manufacturing practices chal-
lenge us to ask why fashion should be taken seri-
ously. Yet some bloggers find that fashion can be
empowering.
“To be crass, people are like, ‘oh my God, fash-
ion, that’s for bitches and fags, that’s not serious,
that’s not real,’” writer Meg Clark says.
Her blog, morningmidnight.com, covers femi-
nist and queer issues relating to the fashion in-
dustry. Despite negative stereotypes of fashion—
which sound curiously similar to stereotypes of
women—feminism and fashion are inextricably
bound. “It’s hard to look at one without thinking
about the other,” Clark says. “You could say that
one of the first core issues of feminism as it started
Pressure En Pointe
By: Olivia Stefanovich
A
ngela Beauchesne wants to cry as she
watches a fellow dancer starve herself.
“All you could see was bone,” she says.
“She always looked so frail and her knees were the
only part of the leg touching when she stretched
her legs together.”
The pressure placed on female athletes often
lead to body image issues, including eating dis-
orders. Women competing in aesthetic sports, in-
cluding dance, continue to be at the highest risk of
developing eating disorders, according to a study
by the National Eating Disorder Information Cen-
tre. Yet, Beauchesne is an example that the ballet
6 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
would be the question of what does it mean to be
a woman, and what defines a woman?”
How can you talk about fashion, then, without
considering women’s issues? Several fashion blog-
gers, including Tavi Gevinson (thestylerookie.
com), Isabel Slone (hipstermusings.blogspot.com),
Arabelle Sicardi (fashionpirate.net) and Clark are
addressing women’s issues such as abuse and body
image on their blogs. This brings feminism to a
new audience: fashion-lovers who might not nor-
mally sit down and read a feminist blog.
“There’s too much of a reputation that feminism
is not fun, isn’t funny, isn’t pretty,” says Marisa
Meltzer, author of How Sassy Changed My Life and
Girl Power. “I think these blogs are showing, in a
really organic way, that feminism doesn’t have to
just be politics and anger and disappointment. You
can be active and aware of the world and you can
also love other things.” M
world is not nearly so dismal.
Some like Beauchesne are able to overcome a
distorted self-image by focusing on their artistry
instead of how their body looks. “It’s hard when
you are constantly looking at yourself in the mir-
ror, but you need to look not always at the nega-
tive,” she says. “The positive attributes will give
you the desire to keep working hard.”
Her peers sometimes question how she stays
healthy despite the pressure to maintain a thin and
lean body. Before choosing the dance program at
Ryerson University, she participated in a week-
long audition for Canada’s National Ballet School
teacher training program where she recalls one
dancer who was very surprised by her figure.
“You eat so much, but you’re so thin,” she re-
members the dancer saying while having a snack
during break. She does not remember the dancer
eating anything during these breaks between classes.
Despite the immense demands placed upon
dancers, keeping herself attached to her art form
keeps her well grounded. “I know I am never go-
ing to be Greta Hodgkinson [prima ballerina at the
National Ballet of Canada]. I am just going to be
myself and that’s fine,” Beauchesne says. “Trying to
be the best you can be is much more fulfilling than
constantly comparing yourself with others.”
It is her overwhelming passion for dance that
drives her through everything. M
Beyond the Pink Ribbon
Capturing the reality of breast cancer
By: Jillian Bell
A
slim young woman with a trendy short
haircut, clad in only a pair of jeans, stands
sideways against a plain backdrop. She
makes no effort to hide her exposed chest as she
peers defiantly into the camera. The black and
white photo could easily blend in amongst the
edgy fashion editorials of Vogue Paris were it not
for one detail: the flat, horizontal scar where her
right breast should be.
The striking image is part of the SCAR (Surviv-
ing Cancer. Absolute Reality.) Project, an aware-
ness campaign for breast cancer in young women,
spearheaded by fashion photographer David Jay.
Showcased in an exhibition and coffee table book,
the campaign is a series of his photographs featur-
ing topless young survivors—all sending a power-
ful message.
In a world where breast cancer awareness has
become synonymous with cutesy pink ribbons or
tongue-in-cheek “Save The Boobies” campaigns,
such a stark portrayal of its effects can be jarring.
Jay is quick to point out that he isn’t opposed
to traditional pink ribbon campaigns, and that
they’ve raised huge amounts of money and atten-
tion for the cause. Jay believes, however, that “the
whole pink-washing thing has anaesthetized the
public to the reality of breast cancer…I think the
public really needs to see everything.”
The project’s inspiration began four years ago,
when news of his close friend Paulina’s breast can-
cer diagnosis at age 32 shattered Jay’s world. He
describes Paulina as “a beautiful, healthy, strong
girl…the last person you’d expect to be affected by
breast cancer.” Jay hadn’t even known women that
age could get the disease.
Within weeks after her diagnosis, Paulina had
already undergone a mastectomy and chemother-
apy. Jay decided to take a portrait of her. Paulina
then suggested that some of the young women
she’d gone through chemotherapy with might also
find it interesting to have their photograph taken.
The SCAR Project was born.
Jay started posting on breast cancer forums in
search of subjects for the project. “To be honest,”
he says, “I had no idea if anyone would want their
picture taken at all, or if anyone would want to
look at the pictures once they were taken.”
It turns out that this wasn’t a problem. Jay was
immediately inundated with emails from survivors
who wanted to pose for him. While the SCAR
Project began primarily as an awareness campaign,
he quickly realized that it was also therapeutic for
the women learning to accept their past. “I think,
in the moment, what goes through their minds
is: ‘What’s happened to me was horrific, just un-
thinkable, but this is me now and I’m not going
to hide.’”
Jay has been shooting photographs for the
SCAR Project for over three and a half years now,
and so far it’s been a roaring success. The response
to the project “has been unbelievably beautiful
and positive,” but as gratifying as the feedback has
been, he’s just proud to be leading a campaign that
“doesn’t wash over the reality of what [breast can-
cer patients] are really dealing with.” M
MCCLUNGS.CA 7
 Geared For the Challenge
One woman’s struggle to plunge into the commercial diving industry
By: Ashleigh Gaul
S
he was inspecting a hydroelectric dam in
Gatineau, Que., when a current swept her
under the wall and pinned her there for 90
minutes. It was December and she was 20 feet un-
derwater. Her support crew pulled and pulled on
her air hose until it ripped off. They then wrapped
a rope around her waist and pulled some more
with a crane. When she arrived at the surface she
was dead—torn in half.
This story isn’t entirely true.
A woman, Martine Coté, did die in Gatineau
while working on a hydroelectric dam, but she
wasn’t yanked with a crane; she died of hypother-
mia. In the two years I trained and worked as a
commercial diver in Ontario and Nova Scotia, I
heard this story countless times, on different dive
sites hundreds of kilometers apart.
It could be argued the men who told me this
story were just exaggerating and that, had Coté
been a man, they still would have made a blood-
bath out of it. For them, it was an unconscious as-
sociation: woman dives—woman dies. For me, it
was a bogeyman story, because Coté was the only
working female diver I knew of and my colleagues
had ripped her apart.
In commercial diving, as in many dangerous
construction professions, it is believed that wom-
en’s bodies are obstacles to our success: “We don’t
have enough upper-body strength, our hands are
too small, we don’t have the brains for tools…”
says Heather Purser, a Washington state diver.
“We’re a distraction to the other divers.” She says
a classmate once told her not to dive while on her
period; it made her irrational.
The effects of diving on pregnant women are—
and will likely remain—largely unstudied. Field
surveys of women who dived while pregnant
against the advice of their doctors are too few
and unreliable to make any conclusions, says Dr.
Ken LeDez, a specialist in diving and hyperbaric
medicine. “There are women out there who do it,”
he says, “but they’re probably going to keep quiet
about it.” LeDez adds that lab research is “difficult
to get funding for” and dive companies are not
about to cough up. “They’re more likely to just
say, ‘okay, we’ll just hire a man.’”
This lack of research can force women to make
a dramatic choice between family and career, since
there is no maternity leave in diving. Tracy Park,
executive assistant at Diver Certification Board
of Canada (DCBC) said in her nearly three years
8 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
with the board, she’s only seen one woman renew
her initial certification, and she had to go back
to college for reassessment after having children.
DCBC doesn’t publish statistics by gender, but
Park estimated the number of female certifica-
tions to be three, compared with 753 males. “It’s
definitely not in the double digits,” she says. “And
there’s no trend. Period.”
Aaron Griffin, program coordinator of Sen-
eca College’s underwater skills program, says the
school doesn’t actively recruit women either. “It
takes a special kind of man to make it in the in-
dustry,” he says, “but it takes an extraordinary
woman.” Asked why a woman recently quit the
program after her first day of classes, he says,
“she smartened up.”
Oddly enough, I got into diving
in the first place after reading
about Chinese pearl divers.
They hunt for oyster shells
on the sea floor sometimes
hundreds of metres down,
and they have always been
women. These divers are so
good at their underwater col-
lection that anthropologists
have claimed that the male
body cannot do it. In the 1950s,
it was thought that women had
higher lung capacities than men
and more body fat, which makes
them less susceptible to cold.
For me, the problem wasn’t
physical. The apparent weak-
nesses of my body were easily
overcome. I developed muscles.
I learned how to get the best
leverage out of tools like the
pipe cutter and the hydrau-
lic breaker. I decided I never
wanted to have kids anyway.
I earned the best accolade a
female can get in commer-
cial diving: “She pulls her
own weight.”
But I couldn’t get Mar-
tine Coté out of my head.
After two years of diving,
I let my certification expire
like so many other women
before me. I couldn’t bear to
hear that story anymore.
M
Q&A: Jully Black
By: Arti Patel
Canadian singer, songwriter, television correspondent and the new ambassador for Care Canada, Jully Black is a versatile R&B musician. Raised in Toronto,
she has worked with industry hotshots like Kardinal Offishall and the Black Eyed Peas, winning a Juno Award along the way. Arti Patel finds out what inspires
this fearless female powerhouse and how she’s able to keep a level head.
A: The song “Queen,” for me, re-
ally emphasized who you are. How
were you inspired to write this song?
J: I knew that there weren’t any other
R&B singers that influenced me from
this country. I knew that since I was a
little girl, but it wasn’t real to me be-
cause I actually wasn’t aspiring to be a
musician, I just sang because I loved it.
Once I checked into my role, I realized
‘wow, I’ve got work to do, not for me,
but the next generation.’
A: How important is it for you to
have music that is original?
J: It’s important for me to write my
own songs because I have a lot to say.
My songs are very much like a diary for
me. I have a public diary.
A: In Black Book you describe this
album as stories that were earned to
be there, how does a story get a spot
in your music?
J: It’s the way it resonates with my
life. As a songwriter and musician with
so many people involved in your career
you are chasing the hits. Is it radio?
For me it goes the other way around:
do people feel this, do people relate to
this? Its unfortunate, but I have to stay
true to who I am. Music has changed so
much that it’s become about the beat,
how fast it is, what can the DJ mix with
it? We lost quite a bit of the lyrical side.
A: Do you ever feel pressure work-
ing in the industry?
J: I don’t feel any pressure at all.
I don’t feel that pressure to look like
something else and be like something
else. I think it’s because I’ve always
taken the opportunity to take care of
myself and no one has to tell me to do
it. I’m already five foot ten, I can’t get
any shorter [and] I’m not a size two.
There’s ways around it. People who feel
the pressure are the ones who really
haven’t taken the time to get to know
themselves and know who they are, not
what they are.
A: You have said that music is your
escape, what are you escaping from?
J: The loudness of the world. And
your mind, it can get really loud in
there, like we’re the only ones in there.
It doesn’t even have to be in entertain-
ment, it can be the loudness of your
household [and] complaints. That’s
what music does for me, it’s my sanctu-
ary. It’s like I’m baking a cake and I’m
cake boss.
A: What’s next for you and the re-
lease of 8IGHT?
J: I call it Jully-jambalaya. It’s re-
ally a fusion of all my records and
all my sounds, all my influences.
8IGHT signifies possibilities
and that’s how I feel about
my music.
A: You use social media
a lot to leave, what I think,
are inspirational messages for
your fans. Why do you focus on
women’s rights at times?
J: There are many women who
lack self-esteem and a lot of them are
mothers, what children learn is often
stemmed from what you see, your
household. A lot of who I am came
from being able to see my mom be
strong. You can tell when a woman is
involved; I don’t care if it’s a corpora-
tion or a party. We hold the power, we
really do and it took a while for me to
know this. M
MCCLUNGS.CA 9
 Over the years, hip hop has grown into a multimillion-dollar industry, ma
male artists. But there are female rappers worth thanking for carving
game, allowing women to be included and empowered by their music. H
have elevated the role of females in hip hop—both the genre and culture

1985: Females are still rarely heard in the genre, which

1981: After meeting Fab 5 Freddy of The
Sugarhill Gang, Blondie is inspired to
include a rap verse on their single
“Rapture,” done by female Debbie Harry.
This is widely known as the first commercial
female rap—and one of the first
chart-topping rap performances ever.
remains underground. This makes Salt N’ Pepa’s debut
1998: Lauryn Hill
Hot, Cool & Vicious so significant. With their assertive
her solo debu
subject matter about sex and female independence, the
Miseducation of Lau
duo (and their DJs) mark the first all-female hip-hop group.
which earns 11 G
Their blend of pop and rap also pave the way for
nominations and five
hip-hop’s mainstream success in the ‘90s.
is the first artist to
together rap, soul,
1993: MC Lyte’s single “Ruffneck” is and R&B, making he
certified gold by selling over 500,000 completely unique to
copies. It is the first time for a female
rap artist to reach such success.

1984: The culture of battle rap is seen by 1997

New York group UTFO, called “Roxanne
Roxanne.” It causes hundreds of people to
write response songs, but the most notable
comes from a 14-year-old girl in Queens.
Her name is Roxanne Shante, and her song
“Roxanne’s Revenge” soon entitles her as
the “First Lady of Hip-Hop.”
Smit
1996: As the only female the f
member of rap group Junior edito
1989: Queen Latifah releases her Mafia, Lil’ Kim steps out on her
debut album All Hail the Queen. On it the h
own with her album Hard mag
is the song “Ladies First” in which she Core. Following the rapping
counters the misogynistic lyrics of male
styles of the time, she makes
rappers. The album’s empowering heads turn with explicitly
message has a profound impact on sexual lyrics, revealing outfits
hip-hop culture, emphasizing female and colourful style.
respect and sisterhood. Latifah wins a
grammy and the title of “Best Female
Rapper of the Year” from Rolling Stone.

10 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011

ade famous by the work of
2009: While the gangster rap
out their own piece of the trend slows down, an
Here are some women who alternative hiphop movement is
e. By: Sophie Yalkezian born through the likes of
Illustration arranged by: Jennifer Yeung K’Naan and Kanye West. The
female face of the movement
belongs to M.I.A. The Sri-Lankan
born artist is commended for
releases blending elements of world
ut The 2002: Lisa Left Eye Lopes, the hip-hop music and electronica with 2011: Lil’ Kim releases a mixtape
uryn Hill, portion of girl-group TLC, dies in a car hip-hop. She is given a spot on called Black Friday. The cover
Grammy accident in Honduras. Among the TIME’s list of 100 most influential depicts a bloody scene in which
wins. Hill group’s many successes was their album people. she is holding a sword beside a
o blend CrazySexyCool, which is certified
pink-wigged severed head on
reggae Diamond having sold more than ten
the floor (representing Minaj). It
er music million copies. TLC often used their music
seems that despite how far
this day. to touch on sensitive subjects like AIDS
female hip-hoppers have come,
and struggles with self-image.
competition can still arise. And in
this case, to an excessive degree.

97: Danyel 2003: “Best Female Rap Solo

th becomes Performance” becomes a Grammy
first female category. Missy Elliott is the first to
or-in-chief of take home the award for her song 2010: Trinidadian-born rapper Nicki Minaj
hip-hop “Scream...a.k.a Itchin.” releases her debut album Pink Friday after
gazine VIBE. years of underground success via mixtapes. She
has a colourful, loud style and quickly skyrockets
to success, being the first artist to have seven
2000: Journalist Joan Morgan releases her book
songs on the Billboard 100 chart at the same
When Chickenheads Come Home to Roost: My Life As
time. The only downside is her headline-making
A Hip-Hop Feminist. The book addresses issues facing
feud with Lil’ Kim, which began in 2009 when
black women through a no-nonsense, post-feminist lens.
Kim implied during a performance that Minaj
It also talks about being a female fan of a largely
should “pay homage” to her.
male-dominated genre.
MCCLUNGS.CA 11
 Unstoppable
Fighting for international equality, renowned activist and feminist Stephen Lewis is not finished yet
By: Pia Bahile
H
e was meant to lead an extraordi-
nar y life.
Born on A rmistice Day 1937 to Sophie
Lewis and David Lewis, a R hodes Scholar,
National Secretar y of the Co-operative
Commonwealth Federation, MP and later
national leader of the NDP, it is fair to as-
sume that many predicted a bright future
for Stephen Lewis.
In the almost 74 years since that A r-
mistice Day, Lewis’s life path has indeed
been extraordinar y. In the early 1960s,
the young universit y dropout spent over a
year travelling and teaching in A frica as
a member of the Socialist International in
the heady days of decolonization. In 1970
he was elected leader of the NDP and then
in 1984, Lewis was appointed Canada’s
ambassador to the United Nations.
Thus began an illustrious diplomatic
career. Lewis ser ved as ambassador until
1988 and was deput y executive director of
U NICEF from 1995 to 1999. Starting in
2001, he spent the next f ive years as the
U N Secretar y General’s Special Envoy for
HIV/A IDS in A frica.
These days, Lewis criss-crosses the globe
on behalf of women’s issues. He can be
found convening with the grannies of Swa-
ziland, caretakers of the countr y’s A IDS
orphans, giving an opening speech at the
Cit y of Joy in the Democratic Republic of
Congo, Eve Ensler’s learning academy for
sur vivors of sexual violence, or celebrating
the long overdue opening of U N Women
in New York.
But Lewis wasn’t always the vociferous
feminist he is now.
“A s a young man, I was a young punk
12 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
when it came to issues of gender,” Lewis
says. “Michele is responsible for giving me
a feminist dimension to my socialism…I’ve
lived with Michele [Landsberg, journalist,
prominent feminist and fellow off icer of
the Order of Canada] for 47 years so clear-
ly she’s had the greatest inf luence on me,
but I’ve been fortunate that in all of the
areas in which I’m involved now, I work
with terrif ic feminist women.”
Through the Stephen Lewis Founda-
tion—a charitable organization started
with his daughter Ilana Landsberg-Lewis
in 2003 —he is able to focus his time and
resources to HIV/A IDS in sub-Saharan
A frica.
In addition to his work at the founda-
tion, Lewis ser ves as a commissioner on
the Global Commission on HIV and as a
board member on the Law and of the Clin-
ton Health Access Initiative. These jobs
require him to attend conventions, press
junkets and conferences on several conti-
nents, where he is often in the company
of the most powerful actors on the world
stage.
“I make sure that on ever y platform,
particularly in the United States, I pro-
claim unequivocally that I am a socialist
and a feminist. So, I give them a cardiac
arrest on one hand and traumatic apoplexy
on the other.”
His commitment also carries over to the
lecture hall. In September 2010, Lewis was
appointed a distinguished visiting profes-
sor at Ryerson Universit y in Toronto. He is
teaching a course on the U N’s Millennium
Development Goals.
In line with trends in higher education,
women made up the majorit y of the stu-
dents during the f irst semester his class
was offered. Through his lecture, young
Canadian women, some of whom no doubt
identif y as feminists, are learning about
the plight of women in the developing
world and the international communit y’s
pitiful response.
W hat is it that these young women can
do in their own communit y and in the
wider world, to build on the gains made
by feminists of generations past? How do
they go about breaking the glass ceiling in
Canada as well as f ighting for the rights of
women in the developing world?
“Be uncompromising,” Lewis says.
“[Don’t] submit to the nonsense of societ y
and to predetermined male values. There
are a lot of areas now where women are lis-
tened to as never before and the important
thing is to have a voice, and to use it...one
day we’ll get closer to gender equality.”
Lewis tells me he isn’t thinking about re-
tiring. He says this with a look in his eyes
that seems to say, I know this is an extraor-
dinar y life. I won’t give it up. M
 Uncovered Stories
Author Faï za Guène finds inspiration in her own backyard
By: Meghan Davidson Ladly
F
aïza Guène wants to show you an-
other France.
She is committed to ensuring that the
experiences of France’s sizable yet underre-
ported North A frican Diaspora are repre-
sented in the countr y’s literature and cin-
ema. “I discovered that a lot of people were
amazed to know what I told in my f irst
book,” she says. “They clearly discovered
a different realit y, one that we live. Then
I said to myself, ‘how is this possible that
there is such a cleavage in our societ y?’”
Guène’s f irst book was Kif fe Kif fe De-
main. The title loosely translates to “Same
Same Tomorrow,” and comes from Ver-
lan, A rabic slang brought to France by its
North A frican Diaspora. It tells the sto-
r y of Doria, a 15-year-old resident of les
banlieues, the suburbs that extend from
the outskirts of many French cities. The
daughter of migrants, Doria’s father re-
turned to Morocco to f ind another wife,
leaving her with her illiterate mother who
works as a motel cleaner.
Before the rioting in 2005 forced im-
migrant issues onto the national stage,
les banlieues rarely received multifaceted
coverage, seeming to exist as places of
crime and gangs. Published in 2004, Kif fe
Kif fe Demain exposed the nuanced real-
it y of suburban life and the public took
note. The novel has made its way to book-
stores in 27 countries and sold more than
300,000 copies in France.
W hat is perhaps most remarkable about
this success is the fact that Guène was only
19 when Demain was published. She cred-
its chance for her career path. “I often say
that it happened by accident,” she says. “I
always loved writing, but I grew up in an
estate where I didn’t know all the possi-
bilities I had.”
Guène was raised by A lgerian parents
in the Courtillières estate of Pantin, a
landscape of cur ving concrete council
f lats in a densely populated municipalit y
in the northeastern suburbs of Paris. A
teacher discovered her talent for f iction at
a screenwriting workshop held in the com-
munit y. She was 17 and had already writ-
ten the f irst 30 pages of Demain. “He read
it and sent the text to my publisher; it was
a huge surprise when [the publisher] called
me and offered me the opportunit y to f in-
ish the book and sign a contract.”
In 2006, Guène released her second nov-
el Du rêve pour les oufs. Her work contin-
ues to focus on the underclass within her
home countr y, now governed by a Nicolas
Sarkozy-led government, placing new re-
strictions on immigrants. The protagonist
is A lgerian-born A hlème, who does not
have French identit y documents yet.
Du rêve pour les oufs was written during
the publication blitz of Kif fe Kif fe Demain,
but Guène maintains that writing for her
is connected to pleasure so there was no
pressure to replicate her f irst achievement.
Published in 2008, her third novel, Les
gens du Balto, also tack les the quotidian
realities of les banlieues.
Despite the immense success of her f irst
novel and her second book ’s publication
for the English language market under the
title Dreams from the Endz, Guène con-
tinues to occupy the place of an outsider
within the French literar y establishment.
“I feel that I have touched a new, young
and popular public,” she says, “but I don’t
think that the French literar y scene con-
siders my work as ‘literature’; this Parisian
scene is so closed, it turns on itself and in
their eyes my work seems to lack nobilit y.”
Still, Guène continues to pursue and ex-
cavate subjects close to her heart. She has
also directed several short f ilms, including
her latest project. She is currently work-
ing on a script for a comedy f ilm about the
expectations surrounding marriage for sec-
ond-generation, French-Maghreb women.
French politics continues to indicate the
need for more dialogue bet ween the France
of Guène’s writing and the France of the
Palais de l’Elysée. With the government’s
fall 2010 ban on the wearing of the niqab
and burka in public, the f issures within
French societ y concerning identity and
ethnicit y remain evident. Luckily for her
readers, the woman who grew up with the
notorious postal code 93, Seine-Saint-De-
nis—a marker that no one in France wants
on their resume —is extremely passionate
about her craft.
“I don’t consider myself an activist,” she
says, “but I am always really inspired by
the realit y that surrounds me. I cannot re-
frain from interjecting into my work a lot
of subjects that concern me as a citizen.”
M
MCCLUNGS.CA 13
 Born to Play
Meghan Hines doesn’t let anything hold her back from living life her way
By: Claire Prime
W
ith two minutes left in the game and
a lead for Toronto, Minnesota’s Chris
Kram makes one of his last shots at
home net. Meghan Hines deflects the ball with
her chair and directs it to the corner where To-
ronto forward Michelle Du Boulay shoots it to
the far end of the floor. It was one of many dra-
matic saves by Hines that helped her team win
the bronze medal at the North American Power
Hockey Cup tournament held at Ryerson Univer-
sity this past August.
“They’re kind of known as one of the harder
teams,” Hines says about the intense competition.
“We were all at the edge of our seats the whole
entire time, hoping they wouldn’t get a goal.”
Hines was born with muscular dystrophy, a ge-
netic disorder characterized by weak and underde-
veloped muscles. But as a player for the Toronto
Power Wheelchair Hockey League (TPWHL),
and an electric wheelchair hockey player since she
was 11, she has never let her disability stand in the
way of living the life she wanted. Hines knows she
can handle anything, whether playing the same
sports as her able-bodied friends or leaving home
to attend university. “I may do it a little differ-
ently, but I can do anything.”
A representation of the best senior players in
the TPWHL go on to play for the league’s com-
peting team, the Toronto Lake Raiders. Hines has
been playing with the Lake Raiders since the TP-
WHL was first established five years ago and has
played in North American tournaments in Cal-
gary, Minnesota and Toronto.
At the tournament in August, she was named
best defence for the second time. “It was my sec-
ond North American tournament,” she says laugh-
ing. “A lot of the defencemen are bigger males and
14 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
I’m like this little girl—and I won best defence.”
Electric wheelchair hockey is open to people
of varying levels of ability. “We have players who
have extremely limited upper-body strength, we
have people who are on ventilators,” Hines says,
“…and they are still able to come out and play
the game and enjoy the competitive nature of
hockey.”
To keep both sides of a game balanced, play-
ers are classified according to their upper-body
strength. Only a set number of each strength level
can play on the floor at one time. Those who are
able to shoot and manoeuvre the ball quickly are
classified as level one players and tend to play in
forward positions. Those who have their sticks
held in one position and rely, for the most part,
on strategic use of their chairs like Hines, are clas-
sified as level three players.
Hines first heard about the hockey league when
she was on her way to a doctor’s appointment at
Holland Bloorview Kids Rehabilitation Hospi-
tal, near York University. She was approached in
the parking lot by a young boy and his mother
who asked her if she had ever played wheelchair
hockey. The sport is not as well known as sledge
hockey or manual wheelchair sports, even though
it’s open to a larger range of people.
But Hines and four others from the TPWHL
are trying to change that. They’ve joined with the
International Committee of Electric Wheelchair
Hockey to discuss how to bring the game to the
Paralympics. To qualify, the sport must develop
an international set of rules among other things.
Hines says she’d like to see the sport grow, and
getting it into the Paralympics also means giving
young people role models.
Growing up, Hines’s role models were the older
players in the TPWHL and the Canadian Elec-
tric Wheelchair Hockey Association. “You kind of
look to them and think ‘you know what? I can do
this. If they can do it, I can participate in sports,
or I can go to school,’” she says.
Some of those role models were friends who
helped her navigate life at university and learn
how to get funding through the Ontario Disabil-
ity Support Program. She is now in her second
year studying commerce at McMaster University.
She received seven scholarships out of high school
from a various organizations and completed her
first year with an 80 per cent average.
Although she’s living in residence at McMaster,
she finds time to visit her family and friends, to
play hockey in Toronto, and to continue working
on getting the sport into the Paralympics. Hines
says it probably won’t make it there for another
five to 10 years. But when it does, she’ll be trying
out. M
 Freedom Fighter
Bold and defiant, Adeena Niazi is determined to provide a safe space for Afghan women in Canada
By: Vajiha Sipra
A
toddler anxiously frees herself from her
mother’s careful grip. The tot’s teenage
brother yawns while he plays Doodle
Jump on his iPhone. A girl with magenta streaks
in her ponytail furrows her brow while rhythmi-
cally tapping her foot against the wooden centre
table. Everybody in the waiting room is here to
meet Adeena Niazi.
Niazi is the executive director of Afghan Wom-
en’s Organization (AWO), which she co-founded
in 1990 after arriving in Canada as a refugee.
Born in Kabul, Afghanistan, she is the same quiet,
bookish type that she was growing up. Niazi left
for India on a scholarship to study Sanskrit at
University of Lucknow in 1978, a year before the
Soviet invasion of Afghanistan. She didn’t return
for 21 years and never saw her parents again.
“After the Soviet invasion, I became a refugee.
I’d lost everything. My country, my family, my
hopes for the future. I felt my life was ruined,”
she says.
In a letter to her mother, Niazi swore off mar-
riage until Afghans were free. Thirty-five years
later she is still committed to her promise. Bound
to Afghanistan’s independence, Niazi built an or-
phanage for abandoned girls in Kabul and started
income-generating projects for women, particu-
larly widows, eager to take control of their lives.
In 1988, after working as a newsreader and
producer for All India Radio, Niazi left India for
Canada as a government-sponsored refugee. Fol-
lowing her work at the Afghan Association of
Ontario, Niazi became frustrated with the lack of
services catered to Afghan women.
“The women were there only to cook, clean and
arrange meetings and there was absolutely no in-
volvement in decision making,” she says. She cre-
ated AWO as the remedy—to help women and
their families from war-torn Afghanistan adjust to
Canadian life.
Occasionally, dozens of new arrivals to Canada
packed Niazi’s North York home. These gather-
ings revealed increasingly disturbing stories of
women being raped and kidnapped by warlords,
and then stoned to death by the Taliban.
After hearing these unsettling revelations back
in 1997, a perplexed Niazi crossed the Pakistani
border into Afghanistan to inspect. Peeking
through her chaderi covering, she didn’t recognize
her own country. “I felt that Afghanistan had gone
backwards a century,” she says.
Before returning to Canada, she started secret
classes for girls in local women’s homes. Niazi’s
hushed boldness is responsible for the establish-
ment of five girls’ schools. “Today, Afghan women
survive to secure a stable future for their children.
They fight for peace and security in a country
where being a woman can be dangerous,” Niazi
says.
The walls of her Parkdale office are cluttered
with weekly bulletins and posters for workshops
on computer training and job-searching skills. In
the 21 years since she founded the support group
with four other women, it has grown room by
room, assignment by assignment. They now have
four offices, bustling with over 60 employees in
the GTA.
Annually, AWO assists around 6,000 people
through individual counselling and group pro-
grams to ease transition and reduce culture shock.
Gaps are created between parents and girls after
arriving in Canada. The culture at home is dif-
ferent from culture at school. Plenty of work is
required to bridge that gap, according to Niazi.
“Sometimes parents can be too rigid and girls may
blindly follow their peers. We aim to ensure these
girls find a balance and don’t face identity crises.”
After Niazi meets with everyone in the wait-
ing room outside her office, the toddler sleepily
waves to Niazi as she leaves the building with her
iPhone-hooked brother. Not long afterwards,
their mother grabs his phone and thanks Niazi for
her time. “Tashokor,” she says. M
MCCLUNGS.CA 15
 Cash on Delivery
Historically aimed at protecting Francophone culture, the Quebec
government offers financial incentives for women to have
children. Still, without enough accessible social services, some
children are not receiving the support they need
By: Erin Byrnes

16 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011

S
he was 11 years old when she was
raped, stabbed, murdered, stuffed
into a hockey bag and thrown away in
a dumpster. Her 16 -year-old boyfriend was
the f irst to notice she was missing. Child
protection ser vices had been involved in
her life for years but had never taken ac-
tion. The kids at school said her mom was
a partier, one of those people whose dealers
waited outside the welfare off ice for them,
while they hustled their children into the
warm conf ines of the bureaucracy only
to drag them back into the cold— empt y
handed. The news reports said the child
was a tough old soul, who often showed up
to school without boots or a lunch, com-
plaining of headaches, stomach aches say-
ing, “Nobody loves me.”
She died in the same neighbourhood in Que-
bec where I grew up. Counsellors spoke at local
elementary schools, and a colour print out of her
face hung in the corner video store. As a child, I
thought the government paid for babies and that
there was no stork, just a womb-to-voter transi-
tion financed by the Government of Quebec. I
saw children at my school being neglected and
mistreated. I blamed it on the idea of compen-
sated conception and the Bloc Quebecois’ will to
separate from Canada. My parents are Anglos and
were raising a child in a tense era in Quebec. My
father told me he worried about the distance be-
tween words and actions as he pushed my baby
carriage along the aqueduct canal and over the
painted words “kill the English.” Printed signs im-
plored the aid of the FLQ, the nationalist paramil-
itary group responsible for bombing the Montreal
stock exchange and murdering Quebec Labour
Minister Pierre Laporte. Spray painted walls made
the message clear as separatist supporters wrote in
a foreign tongue “English go home.” Beside it the
response again translated for the other to read, “Je
suis, Je reste.”
Protection of the French culture and language
are a bulwark to assimilation in Canada’s only
Francophone province. In 2006, the House of
Commons recognized the “Quebecois as a na-
tion within a united Canada.” Pronatalism (the
encouragement of birth) and nationalism have a
complex relationship in a province that almost be-
came its own country in 1980 and 1995. The cre-
ation of a nation within a nation has often fallen
on the women of Quebec.
The Revanche des Berceaux or Revenge of the
Cradles, called on French Canadian women to
withstand economic pressure to limit their fam-
ily size, in order to wash away English domina-
tion and resist cultural assimilation. The Quiet
Revolution brought an end to the old way of
doing things and women reclaimed their sexual
and reproductive rights. In 1959, Quebec had
the highest birthrate in the country. By the end
of 1971, it had the lowest. Nationalist conserva-
tive movements were clear: women who chose ca-
reers over the nation-building project were simply
being selfish. But women were still choosing to
have smaller families. Ideologically thwarted, the
next government’s approach to the demographic
issue was the 1980s introduction of baby bonuses,
known as the Allowance for Newborn Children.
Feminist political scientist Jill Vickers makes
the distinction between women in Quebec having
babies and surrendering their other abilities. She
says the Quebec baby bonus was designed to help
couples have more francophone children. “But
governments aren’t trying to get women to stay
home. They want women to be both workers and
reproducers.” Reproductive rights, procreation
and pronatalist policies throw the individual and
collective rights of women into a mix where femi-
nists have found little consensus.
By 1990, a mother would receive $500 for her
first child, $1,000 for the next and $6,000 for
each subsequent birth. These policies encouraged
women to have large families. Vickers notes that
the whole project only produced a blip in the de-
mographic, that it was $7 a day daycare that did
more to increase the population. The question is
whether the government was doing enough to
support the health, education and well-being of
children born under the province-wide promise of
cash on delivery.
The baby bonuses were aimed at maintaining
the francophone language and culture. It is not
uncommon for governments to try to dictate what
kind of citizens they want and what kind of babies
are welcomed into citizenship. When Australia in-
MCCLUNGS.CA 17
 troduced a baby bonus in the early 20th century
for example, recipients of government assistance
were required to be women of European descent.
The provincial government still offers financial
support for families to have children, albeit in a
different form, yet the accessibility of public social
services that help kids break vicious and endemic
cycles of poverty are still questionable. While fam-
ily friendly measures aimed at working parents,
such as paid paternity leave, belies an understand-
ing of the support necessary to raise children,
the programs are not considered economically
sustainable. Government incentives and support
might remove barriers to people who want large
families or parents who want to stay at home, but
some children do fall between the cracks.
Melanie Wand, however, chose to be a stay-
at-home mom when she left the corporate life to
have three kids. She appreciates that the govern-
ment support paid to Quebec parents helps pay
for diapers, snacks and the chance to raise her
kids the way that she was raised—with love, at-
tention and afternoon bubbles blown with a straw
off a paper plate filled with suds. She says being
18 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
a mother is the ultimate joy. “Its like a salary for
staying home with my kids,” she says happily. “It
helps us to stay afloat from month to month.”
Some women don’t have the option to stay at
home. Anne* and Emily* met in their late teens
because both of their boyfriends were being held
at Bordeaux Prison. Anne says that when she had
her daughter, her whole world changed and she
left her abusive partner. “Every decision I make
revolves around what it would do right or wrong
for my kids.” Eight years ago she was a single teen-
ager with an infant daughter. Welfare and family
allowance payments didn’t cover her bills. She got
a job working under the table at an all-night diner,
in order to earn enough money to get by.
Years later, life is still a juggling act of paying
bills, deferring others, going without things for
herself. She put her daughter through Montessori
daycare and herself in a professional formation
program. She lives with her new partner and was
thrilled at the birth of her second daughter. She
pays $35 a day for daycare for her second child.
While Quebec is legendary for its family friendly
$7 a day daycare, Anne says getting a place in one
is the luck of the draw. “Sometimes, you have to
wait up to three years,” she says. “After that, what’s
the point?”
Anne says Emily is raising a family like the one
she came from, where nobody held a job and ev-
eryone was dominated by an abusive man. Emily
and her partner receive about $3,000 a month,
including their welfare payments, and when she
had her fourth child, the baby didn’t have a crib
to go home to. Anne’s partner used cocaine, the
kids didn’t have dressers and dirty clothes were
piled up under the kitchen table. When Emily
left the hospital she took her 4-day-old and three-
week premature infant on a late October tour
of friends’ houses, calling others to borrow baby
clothes. Anne says she feels pity for Emily, but
could no longer be part of her life. One of the last
times she saw her, Emily was dragging a little girl,
stony-eyed and still wordless, around the avenues
of Verdun with her, telling people “She’s my tough
little shit, that’s what I call her.” M
* not their real names.
MCCLUNGS.CA 19
 T
he changing room was dark, cramped
and cold. Sparkling outfits and brightly-
coloured wigs were strewn about. Loud
music pumped through the thin walls. Michael
DiFruscio looked at himself in the mirror and
smiled. He brushed his hand across his smooth
chin, pulled out a tube of mascara and began to
apply it in quick, even strokes. Soon the peach fuzz
along his jaw line was coated with black makeup,
masking his soft features with a crusty beard.
After a few final adjustments to his outfit, DiFr-
uscio looked like a man. He had short black hair
coated with gel that stood on end, and a full black
beard. His breasts were hidden by a baggy, jewel-
encrusted T-shirt that swallowed his petite frame,
and he wore loose jeans that hung from his body.
He swayed and walked with his hips low to the
ground, mimicking a man with poor posture.
“Ladies and gentlemen, put your hands togeth-
er and make some noise for the hottest, the sexiest,
the one and only…Clint Lyckher,” announced the
host at George’s Play, a bar on Church Street.
DiFruscio is a drag king.
Growing up in the small town of St. Catha-
rines, Ont., DiFruscio didn’t know what a trans-
20 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
gender person was. He was raised as a girl, Justiene
DiFruscio, but knew something was wrong. It
wasn’t until he was 23 and moved to Toronto that
he started to interact with transgender people and
realized he was meant to be a man.
“I started hanging in the Village and asking
“I am just really happy to be in a place that I
am comfortable with
transgender people how their process went so that
I had an idea of how the process would go for me,
and slowly I started to live as a man,” DiFruscio
says, while preparing himself for his performance.
DiFruscio, 26, is in the beginning stages of
his sex change. Last year, he began taking hor-
mone shots once a week. Since then, his voice
has dropped and he has grown dark, coarse body
and facial hair. But for DiFruscio the changes are
much more than physical.
“I have more energy than ever,” he says. “I am
just really happy to be in a place that I am com-
fortable with.”
DiFruscio plans to have his chest reconstructed
as soon as he can afford it. The surgery to remove
and transform his breasts will cost about $6,500.
He isn’t sure if he will undergo full genital recon-
struction due to a number of risks and the high
cost. The government covers about 10 sex reas-
signment operations per year, but the applica-
tion process is competitive with thousands fight
ing for the spots. “It’s a lottery draw,” DiFruscio
says.
Sex changes are complex and often risky, trans-
men face a particularly difficult challenge early
in the transformation process—a lack of informa-
tion and education regarding the procedure. This
makes it difficult for women, who wish to be men,
to begin their transition.
“You search trans-female and the Internet
blows up with videos, pictures, information, per-
sonal blogs, etc. This basic info isn’t available to
us,” he says.
He says, however, there are many trans-men
willing to discuss their process, and talking to
someone who understands is an extremely helpful
“I went to a show with a friend who was
doing drag, he got me to try it and it just
stuck
way to ease into taking your first steps. “The scari-
est thing to do is accept it,” he says. “From there
it just gets easier.”
DiFruscio hangs out in the local bars nightly in
the Church Wellesley Village, often as Clint Lyck-
her, performing five to seven drag shows a week.
As a natural performer, drag is his art form. He
attended Randolph Academy for the Performing
Arts and was a competitive dancer for six years,
but had no idea that his training would lead to
drag. “I went to a show with a friend who was
doing drag, he got me to try it and it just stuck,”
he says.
Now he is trying to make a difference in the
drag world, where kings are not as common as
queens and are not seen as great as performers.
They are also tipped less. Each time he’s on stage,
DiFruscio uses his enthusiasm and skill to show
his audience that kings can be just as entertain-
ing. This past year he was named best drag king
performer by Xtra!, Canada’s gay and lesbian news
source, and is making his way on to the main stage
at clubs where he was once placed in the back.
“These people came out to see a show and I’m
going to give them a show,” he said, moments be-
fore his performance.
The loud music halted. Green and white lights
danced around the bar, lighting up the faces of the
audience that waited for the next performer. As
the music started up again, DiFruscio made his
entrance as Clint Lyckher.
A number of people got up from their bar
stools and surrounded the stage. Lyckher was
draped in a long vinyl jacket that swept the floor
as he walked while swinging a black cane around.
As he turned his back to the crowd a young wom-
an walked up to him. The lyrics, “come on, shake
your body baby, do the conga…” blared over the
sound system as the woman removed his floor
length jacket, revealing a black and white military
coat. The dark room was suddenly flashing with
white lights, which he had sewn into the front of
his jacket. He slid across the stage and pumped
his hips back and forth. A tall man walked up and
stood in front of the stage with a five-dollar bill
protruding from his mouth. Lyckher twirled over
to him and ground his body into the man’s. He
grasped the money with his teeth, tucked it into
his pocket and kissed the man on the lips. The
crowd cheered.
“I live for that stage,” he says. “I love it, I love
it, I love it.” M
MCCLUNGS.CA 21
22 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
MCCLUNGS.CA 23
24 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
MCCLUNGS.CA 25
26 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
 A lack in mental health training often leaves physicians vulnerable to pharmaceutical
marketing ploys, casting mood-altering drugs in a positive light. With doctors so quick to
prescribe these medications especially to women, what are the consequences?
By: Julianna McDermott

MCCLUNGS.CA 27
 May
Caus
e Diz
zines
s
E
lle, 16, pounds her emotions into
her pillow; f ists clench, teeth grit,
face tightens.
Years of perfectionism and people pleasing cor-
rode identity; lead to insecurity, underachieve-
ment, promiscuity and abusive relationships.
They take their toll on her, press down on her.
Cuts she etches in her thighs provide momentary
release, but not tonight. Tonight, the weight, it
asphyxiates her and it
Just
Will
Not
Let
Up
ENOUGH!
She needs to escape. Not die. Just get away for
a while.
She gets up and steals down the hall into the
kitchen.
There are no tears, just numbness, frustration.
Why can’t I just feel good? She wants to scream.
She opens a cupboard door, the one next to the
fridge. Wide green eyes scan the shelf: vitamins…
dad’s blood pressure medication… aspirin… She
grabs Clonazepam—an anti-anxiety medication
her doctor prescribed along with the antidepres-
sant Effexor to regulate her mood—then a carton
of strawberry Fruitopia from the fridge.
She returns to her room, dumps about 30
white, aspirin-sized tablets into her palm. A cou-
ple fall to the floor: tick, tick, tick. She slams them
down her throat, takes a swig of juice. She tastes
their sweet, candy-flavoured coating.
She feels woozy, drunk.
Now, Elle will show her family what she has
done.
She stumbles into the hallway. She can no lon-
ger support herself, falls. Thud!
28 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
Mom is suspicious.
“What did you take? What did you take?” She
grabs Elle by the shoulders, “What’s wrong? You
have to tell me!”
But Elle’s motor skills are shot. She cannot re-
spond. She reveals the empty pill bottle.
Mom and Dad rush her to the car and lay her
across the back seats. She can scarcely decipher
their muffled voices.
They support her from either side through the
entrance of the local hospital. A nurse glances over
and calls for a wheel chair.
They lift her onto a narrow hospital bed; stab
an IV into her wrist. It takes three tries.
Elle’s too numb to notice.
Doctors prod her with questions to keep her
conscious. They hold a white Styrofoam cup filled
with thick, granular charcoal to her mouth. The
taste alone induces her to vomit into a shallow,
kidney-shaped tray. The black substance will stain
her mouth for about a week.
An hour passes.
Her mind clears.
She looks to Dad who slouches at her bedside,
head in hands. Hopelessness hangs beneath his
pale blue eyes.
She feels ashamed…
***
When we think of “mental health care,” it is
natural to envision a psychiatrist or psychologist,
pen to pad, untangling thoughts as they pry into
the distressed patient’s mind. When we develop
symptoms associated with mental health, how-
ever, such as unhappiness, stress or anxiety, the
majority of us turn to our family physician (FP).
In fact, more than 60 per cent of Canadians
who consult a medical professional for depression-
related concerns consult their FP, according to
Mood Disorders Society of Canada. That’s who
16-year-old Elle trusted when low self-esteem,
depression and anxiety began interfering with
school, work and relationships. FPs can spend up
to half their time diagnosing and managing pa-
tients’ mental health needs—the majority depres-
sion related.
Our FP is someone we know, someone we
trust—often unquestioningly. But many FPs
never received adequate mental health training in
medical school.
“Younger family doctors have more train-
ing in mental health care than some of the older
physicians [50 plus],” says Dr. Donna Stewart, a
University of Toronto professor in the faculty of
medicine, and pioneer in women’s health research
and education. “They get basic training in mental
disorders, they get some practical experience and
they get some supervised training.”
But a 2008 survey in British Columbia found
that FPs feel a strong need for further education
and training in mental health diagnosis and treat-
ment. And with a long list of patients to see in a
day, there’s little time for thorough mental health
screenings and an overview of treatment options.
A psychiatric appointment can last 30 to 90 min-
utes, whereas an average FP visit only lasts eight
to 12.
“[That] isn’t really long enough to assess some-
thing like depression,” Dr. Stewart says. “Some
family doctors will say, ‘this sounds really com-
plicated, let’s book you a longer appointment,’ or
send [the patient] off to see a psychiatrist, social
worker or psychologist. Or a [FP] may simply
prescribe an antidepressant, and I think that’s
where the problems come in—if patients aren’t
adequately assessed.”
A time shortage also means FPs cannot always
keep up with the latest developments in psychia-
try. And pharmaceutical companies have acquired
increasing influence over the sources of informa-
tion FPs do depend on such as clinical research tri-
als, continuing medical education programs and
medical journal articles. This gap in expertise has
left FPs vulnerable to pharmaceutical marketing
and misinformation about mental illnesses and
the safety and efficiency of prescription drugs, re-
sulting in an over-reliance on psychotropic medi-
cations such as antidepressants.
But these mind-altering medications are not
compatible with all, and Canadian women are
paying the price.
“Sometimes people who need antidepressants
aren’t given them, and other times people are
given them when, in fact, it’s a social problem
that they would benefit from talking about,” Dr.
Stewart says. This is often the case for women di-
agnosed with depression.
Women make up two-thirds of depression-re-
lated visits, which have almost doubled over the
past two decades. High depression rates among
women are partly due to socio-economic factors.
Women are more likely to suffer from poverty, be
victims of violence and have high-stress careers,
while balancing multiple responsibilities such as
parenthood. All of these factors may be expressed
as psychological complaints, making women more
likely to be diagnosed with mental health prob-
lems.
The treatment prescribed usually isn’t talk ther-
apy, and more often than not, there is no referral to
a mental health professional. Rather, 80 per cent
of Canadian women who visited their FP in 2008
with depression-related concerns, walked away
with a prescription for an antidepressant—usually
a Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitor (SSRI).
SSRIs are prescribed to alleviate symptoms asso-
ciated with anxiety and depression by increasing
the amount of serotonin in the brain—the neu-
rotransmitter theorized to influence mood.
“There are some patients who have serious de-
pression who do very well on [SSRIs] and say,
‘if only I could have had these years ago my life
would have been completely different,’” Dr. Stew-
art says. “If [SSRIs] are prescribed for a social
problem that isn’t going to change—then they’re
not going to work.”
SSRIs are among the highest-selling drugs in
the world, even though there is little proof that
they are more effective than placebos, and there
is increasing counterevidence that a chemical or
serotonin imbalance triggers depression. Never-
theless, pharmaceutical marketers keep this simple
1960s hypothesis circulating in order to sell drugs.
And they are masters at selling sickness to sell
drugs, going so far as to have natural physical
events women experience labelled as disorders
requiring drug treatment. When pharmaceutical
company Eli Lilly’s patent on SSRI Prozac was
about to expire in 1999, they had severe PMS
declared a mental illness (premenstrual dysphonic
disorder (PMDD)), and claimed Prozac was an
effective treatment. Lilly marketers repackaged
Prozac in purple and pink capsules, renamed it
Sarafem and advertised the “new” drug to wom-
en. Their patent on Prozac was extended for seven
years thanks to the invention of PMDD and Sara-
fem. There is no scientific evidence that PMDD
exists (European regulators banned the selling of
Prozac for the nonexistent disorder), but it expos-
es more women to these chemicals, sometimes for
years despite the risks and side effects.
SSRIs are also among the highest-prescribed
drugs for Canadian women of childbearing age
(15 to 49)—a group at risk of experiencing some
of the drug’s gravest side effects. Reactions to
SSRIs range from the irritable to the lethal and
include worsened depression leading to suicide;
sexual dysfunction and birth defects. The SSRI
Paroxetine (Paxil) falls under Category D of the
US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) phar-
maceutical pregnancy categories, meaning there
is evidence that the drug is harmful for human
fetuses.
“You have to weigh out the dangers of not treat-
ing depression in pregnant woman as well as the
dangers of giving a pregnant woman medication,”
Dr. Stewart says, who wrote a review about the
issue for the New England Journal of Medicine.
Women who become pregnant while taking
SSRIs cannot simply end treatment. The drugs
can be difficult and dangerous to stop because of
worrisome withdrawal symptoms. Health Canada
issued an advisory in 2004 warning women taking
SSRIs during their third trimester that even their
newborns may experience withdrawal symptoms
such as difficulties breathing, seizures, jitteriness
and constant crying.
Withdrawal?
Not according to pharmaceutical companies.
They tell FPs that patients ending antidepressant
treatment are simply experiencing something they
call “discontinuation syndrome,” and downplay
its severity and frequency. They don`t want the
word “withdrawal” to be associated with their
medication, because it implies dependency, which
might dissuade doctors from using SSRI treat-
ment. Unapprised about adverse side effects, FPs
are ill-equipped to recognize them when encoun-
tered, putting patients like Elle in danger.
During her first appointment, Elle’s FP ques-
tioned her level of physical activity and her eating
habits—nothing appeared abnormal. The FP did
not order blood tests to rule out underlying physi-
cal illnesses, or refer her to a mental health profes-
MCCLUNGS.CA 29
 sional. The appointment lasted about 15 minutes.
Elle’s FP encouraged her to try the SSRI Effexor as
a method of “leveling” her mood.
“Doctors are educated that these conditions
are very serious (and under diagnosed), and that
if they don’t treat them, people will commit sui-
cide, they’ll lose their jobs, they’ll abuse drugs
and they’ll have failed marriages,” says Dr. David
Healy, director of North Wales Department of
Psychological Medicine of Cardiff University.
“They aren’t told that most cases of nerves... are
fairly mild and will clear up within a few weeks,
whether or not they are treated with pills. If doc-
tors were told that, and about the risks of the pills,
I think they would be slower to prescribe them.
The problem is all of the information doctors
have, push them towards quick and thoughtless
prescribing.”
Elle’s FP used a diagram to illustrate her “un-
balanced” mood: a straight horizontal line repre-
sented a level mood. A wavy line that extended
slightly above and slightly below the level mood
line represented natural mood shifts. Finally, a
more dramatic wavy line that extended further
above the level mood line and dove quick and
steep below it depicted Elle’s severe mood shifts.
The FP explained that Effexor would naturalize
these fluctuations.
With faith in her FP’s knowledge, Elle accept-
ed treatment.
“I was 16. I didn’t know what I needed. I just
didn’t want to feel shitty anymore,” Elle says. “So
when an opportunity comes up like, ‘take this pill
30 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
and everything will be okay,’ what 16-year-old is
going to turn that down?”
There was no discussion about side effects. Elle
started on the lowest dose of Effexor.
Elle also didn’t know that antidepressants are
not approved for people under 19 in Canada, be-
cause they can increase their risk of suicide and
self-harm. The year before Elle began treatment,
the FDA ordered SSRI manufacturers to add
black-box warnings to their product labels, ad-
vising physicians that their patients may become
suicidal, especially within the first few weeks of
treatment or with an altered dose.
Elle began awaking in an anxious state after two
weeks on Effexor.
“I almost felt as though I was startled awake
every morning,” she says.
At times, she felt euphoric. Everything in be-
tween, however, was dull and grey.
“Nothing was too bad, but nothing was very
great either. I felt flat-lined and out of focus.”
Elle went back to her FP and declared that the
antidepressant was ineffective. Her FP assured her
she simply needed an increased dose.
Dr. Stewart says follow-up appointments like
this are important, but don’t happen as often as
they should.
“[Patients] should been seen regularly once
the antidepressant is started to ask about possible
side effects, how they’re feeling, whether the an-
tidepressant is working or if they need the dose
adjusted,” she says. “That’s really where the impor-
tant work can get done.”
A problem arises, however, when women who
start SSRI treatment experience persistent or ag-
gravated symptoms of their disorder, but their FP
mistakes the reaction for further mental-health
problems. Rather than take the patient off the
medication and try alternative treatments, they
increase the dosage.
Elle’s side effects worsened with her increased
dose. She became impulsive, frustrated and devel-
oped self-harming thoughts. She cut her thighs,
her arms and her wrists, and covered the evidence
with pants, long sleeves and thick wristbands.
“Before taking the drug I had never had any
self-harming behaviours, all of that came after,”
she says. Once more, she expressed her distress to
her FP.
Again, the FP’s response—increase the dosage.
Nothing improved. Elle called it quits, ending
treatment on her own—a dangerous step.
Effexor is known for its lightning-fast with-
drawal symptoms. About 78 per cent of patients
who stop Effexor cold turkey experience symp-
toms such as electric shock sensations, irritability,
dizziness, confusion, moodiness, anxiety, insom-
nia—and suicidal tendencies.
Elle was no different. Her condition deterio-
rated leading to the moment where she attempted
suicide by overdosing on a medication that was
supposed to help regulate her mood. She was ad-
mitted into the youth psychiatric wing in a nearby
hospital.
About 70 per cent of FPs are unaware of SSRI
withdrawal symptoms, and are often untrained in
the delicate processes of tapering patients off the
medication. Unwary FPs can mistake withdrawal
symptoms for the return or worsening of a pa-
tient’s original condition, and put them back on
the medication.
Dr. Healy and Dr. Stewart agree patients need
to be carefully tapered off SSRIs, usually over the
course of few weeks.
“Ideally, you would do this working closely
with your doctor,” Dr. Healy says. “The problem
is there are still a lot of doctors who don’t believe
you can become physically hooked to the drug or
that withdrawal problems can be serious. People
who do want to be advised by their doctor... may
find that their doctor is not very sympathetic.”
Nevertheless, it can be beneficial for FPs to as-
sist patients with mental health needs. Private psy-
chological services can be pricey and the waiting
lists lengthy. The national median waiting time for
psychiatric care is about 17 weeks, according to
the Fraser Institute.
“[FPs] are the first point of entrance into the
system,” Dr. Stewart says. “They provide most
of the mental health care in Canada and in most
other countries.”
With this in mind, a committee of doctors
and members of the Ministry of Health in Brit-
ish Columbia united to establish a mental health
training program for FPs, designed to provide
them with the knowledge and confidence to bet-
ter screen, diagnose and treat mental illnesses. By
August 2010, about 30 per cent of the province’s
FPs enrolled in the program. About 90 per cent
of participants agreed that the training enhanced
their skills in treating mental health conditions.
More than 40 per cent said they became less reli-
ant on prescribing antidepressants.
Dr. Healy also says FPs can handle antidepres-
sants well—if they are given the right informa-
tion.
“I don’t think specialists [psychiatrists] are real-
ly much safer than generalists [FPs] when it comes
to using drugs like the antidepressants,” he says.
“The problem is the information that has been
withheld from generalists and specialists.”
Health Canada does not require pharmaceuti-
cal companies to publicize negative clinical trial
results—even if negative results are the majority.
Doctors can file adverse drug reaction (ADR) re-
ports, but since the procedure is voluntary, most
ADRs like Elle’s go unreported. In fact, less than
one per cent of physicians are believed to file ADR
reports on drugs they prescribe.
“If I was to report an effect to the regulator,
they take the report from you, but they don’t do
anything about it, it doesn’t have any impact on
clinical care,” Dr. Healy says. “A whole range of
awful things could be happening to you... but the
world doesn’t get to hear about it.”
And FPs won’t read about ADRs in medical
journals either.
“It should be the case that [doctors] are in-
formed, that they have access to good articles and
good journals, but the problem is they’ve been
taken over by the pharmaceutical companies,” Dr.
Healy says. “I think we have as big a problem at
the moment as you could possibly have.”
And without access to comprehensive and
impartial results from clinical research trials that
expose a drug’s benefits and hazards, individuals
like Elle who reach out to well-intentioned medi-
cal professionals, won’t receive the care they need.
“The key thing that has to change is getting ac-
cess to the information from clinical trials, and
at the moment—we don’t have that access,” Dr.
Healy says.
Until then, training programs for FPs like the
one launched in British Columbia are a start.
As for Elle, she’s now 22 and still resents being
prescribed that first antidepressant.
“I was prescribed serious medication when I
was 16, when a substantial amount of brain de-
velopment hasn’t happened,” she says, “and you’re
introducing this chemical—it just seems wrong.
It makes me wonder whether I ever needed [medi-
cation] at all, if I would have benefited from talk-
ing to a counsellor once in a while. I was a teenage
girl, of course I was emotional.
“To prescribe these mind altering drugs with-
out any caution—it’s scary that that’s going on.”
Elle decided to supplement drug treatment
with running, after having a reaction to another
SSRI prescribed by the same FP. “Running has
always helped my anxiety,” she says. “When I’m
running I feel more confident, more energetic and
more level headed.
“Taking a pill is never a solution for any mental
or emotional or problem. It’s a Band-Aid.” M
MCCLUNGS.CA 31
 Showing Skin: Em
YES
By: Natasha Fonseka

I
must be easy. I’m getting ready for a night out about how dressing provocatively cannot be
and I’ve put on a fitted, black satin dress that the practice of the strong and empowered.
stops mid-thigh. I’ve paired it with cream- She makes connections between how women
coloured, knee-high leather boots and my best who choose to wear revealing clothing usu-
push-up bra. ally jump at the chance to flash their
We get to the club and a cute guy approaches breasts or lift their skirt for cameras
me on the dance floor. We start dancing to Mi- on popular shows like Girls Gone
chael Jackson’s “Thriller.” There’s no sexual conno- Wild. However, that mentality
tation, we’re not even touching, just having a good does not accurately reflect most
time. For whatever reason, he decides it would be women.
funny to lean close into my chest and pretend to But making generalizations
motorboat my breasts. I stop dancing. I’m beside about women based on at-
myself with laughter. Why would anyone think tire seems to be a common
that a woman would be impressed by that? practice. At York University
“I’m going to go,” I say. early this year, a Toronto
“No, don’t,” he pleads. police officer told students
With one final look over my shoulder, I walk attending a campus safety
away laughing hysterically, ready to tell my friends seminar that women can
what just happened. But later it got me thinking, avoid sexual victimization
would he have acted the same way if my hemline by not dressing like “sluts.”
hadn’t been so short, my cleavage so prominent? It’s disgusting to think that
What we wear is supposed to say something a civil servant responsible
about who we are, and yet the message received by for upholding public safety
onlookers isn’t always accurate. could make such an igno-
Apparently, that night my outfit said that I was rant comment. No matter
looking to get laid. I wasn’t. what you are wearing, there is
Some argue that women who dress “trashy” are no such thing as “asking for it.”
just looking to get attention, or are self-objecti- The reality is, people will al-
fying and inviting others to judge. Feminist and ways be critical. If we begin to
author of Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the cover ourselves up in an attempt
Rise of Raunch Culture, Ariel Levy, describes her to avoid objectification, are we
shock at how our culture has shifted from fight- still dressing for the benefit of
ing for women’s rights by protesting Playboy and others? Or perhaps in order
burning our bras, to using the word “chick” and for us to be “real” feminists,
wearing low rise jeans, thongs and little tops that we must renounce makeup,
reveal cleavage and navel piercings. razors, fitted clothing, high
Clearly we must have slipped back into the dark heels and the like.
ages of repression. Here we are wearing apparel Understanding that
that has been deemed by men to be sexy because it those items may have
places greater emphasis on our physical attributes. been created to sexualize
OMG! women is important, but
Is it really so unreasonable to believe that a giving them up is unreal-
woman can dress risqué and also be a feminist? istic for our society. Our
When you put on an outfit that is revealing and attire does not define us.
wear it proudly, you exude confidence. Your per- Wearing a short skirt or
sonal decision to wear a particularly sexy item can low-cut top doesn’t make
be liberating. Why should anyone be able to tell you easy. The only per-
you otherwise? son who can make that
The point Levy tries to stress is that our “raunch call is you.
culture” and women’s liberation do not go hand
in hand, but she makes several generalizations

32 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011

mpowering or not?
T
he first racy thing I ever bought was at age
14. It was a deep red dress with a plung-
ing neckline, a mini hemline and no back.
Brazen, bold and demanding attention, it was
nothing like me.
I needed it.
After finishing my first year of high school,
my self-worth had been severely deflated.
Initially excited to start fresh, I quickly
learned that as a minority in a mostly
white school, I didn’t automatically fit
in. Worse still, dreams of teenage ro-
mance were abruptly crushed when I
realized only thin, pretty, fair (read:
white) girls seemed worthy of male
attention.
Going home to face braces, prob-
lematic brown skin and baby fat in the
mirror became so unbearable—I simply
stopped looking.
That is, until I saw the dress.
Part of me reasoned the dress could instill
qualities in me I needed to be attractive and
popular—so I bought it. Of course, I had
nowhere to wear it so I tucked it away in my
dresser, believing one day it would rid me of
my troubles.
The reasoning behind buying my little red
dress is the kind I take issue with when it
comes to women dressing “trashy.” The issue
isn’t the clothing itself, but why we choose
to wear it.
Many argue dressing provocatively is a
choice, and an empowering one at that.
But thinking about the motives behind
that choice causes the word “empower-
ing” to become questionable.
Does she truly love herself that way,
or does she believe others are more like-
ly to love her? Instead of wearing what
we like without hesitation, we stop to
wonder if everyone else will approve.
This is not empowering.
For centuries women have been sub-
jected to changing ideals of what it means
to be attractive, bombarded by images of
idealized beauty, conditioned to believe this
is what we must be in order to be loved.
Attractive is being fit, young, stylish and
preferably white (if you can manage to be
blonde with blue eyes, even better). And if you
NO
By: Kimberly Rupnarain
happen to fall short of any of these requirements,
you can always make up for it by highlighting
whatever assets you do have.
Though modern women would think it C-R-A-
Z-Y to allow any man to dictate our beauty regime,
the truth is we all abide by rules made by men long
ago. Advertising executives have controlled the im-
age of beauty for decades to move a product. For
example, the standard to have a relatively hairless
body began with an ad placed in a 1915 issue of
Harper’s Bazaar, showing a fashionable woman
without any unsightly hair. Since it was 1915, and
King C. Gillette was trying to sell his new razors,
I think it’s fair to say women were not the ones
dictating this standard.
The harsher truth is inadvertent: most women
still allow what men deem sexy to define their
choices. To stray from expectation is to be an out-
cast and certainly not desirable.
This is not empowering.
Over the years, I’ve pulled out that dress
many times, to see if it really fits. The style suits
my 20-year-old frame better than my awkward
14-year-old one, but somehow the dress seems ill-
suited for my personality, my style—me.
To don a dress that is revealing because it makes
you happy is empowering.
Choosing to cover up a bit more because it
makes you happy is also empowering.
Dressing to meet an image of beauty ad execs
have invented, or for a random guy in a bar who
buys into that image, is not.
Whatever you choose is hardly the point. The
point is your choice should be for yourself–-not
a man, not society—but personal satisfaction.
Whether you choose to dust off your little red
dress, your definition of beautiful is the most im-
portant one there is. M
MCCLUNGS.CA 33
 Matthew Scianitti challenges traditional gender roles
By: Matthew Scianitti
Sometimes I have trouble sleeping.
I stare into the darkness and wonder if I’ve
made the right choices, the right decisions, the
right bets. Taller, stronger, greyer men tell me a
man should think about such things. He should
ponder whether he is the best kind of man.
But who is that?
Ernest Hemingway and Norman Mailer con-
ceptualized ideal masculinity and carved protago-
nists who were peculiar, aggressive and seemed
completely flawed to the supporting cast. Nev-
ertheless, they were triumphant, because they
fought horrific battles with terrible cards, pressed
gun muzzles against their heads and rowed their
broken boats into the middle of the ocean. There
they cursed all existence and ate too much, drank
too much and lifted too much. They could do all
and take all to the nth degree because they were
Men. Capital M. And they didn’t need a Woman.
Sure, they could have women, as many as they
wanted, as mothers, sisters, friends and lovers—
definitely lovers—so long as she followed behind
34 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
him. Combined, Hemingway and Mailer would
marry 10 times.
A capital M can’t be in the same sentence as a
capital W.
Why not? And who is a capital W?
I’m the son of one.
She lost her father as the world was teaching
her why life sucks, then started hole punching pa-
per at a television station while capital M’s started
floors above her. She took those odds and turned
them into big opportunities. When arthritis start-
ed taking the strength from her joints —as they
bent and creaked against her will—a man (not a
capital M) told her to “suck it up.” She did to spite
him and to provide for her family. And she cursed
the world when it took away her younger brother,
leaving her older and sorer. But she continued to
play her hand, turning it into six figures and an
executive position at Canada’s largest television
network. I follow that Woman. Capital W.
Certainly, I like to think of myself as a capital
M—big shoulders to carry my big mistakes and
hold up my big ideas—and I run with Heming-
way’s bulls and appreciate Mailer’s “The White
Negro.” But they’re wrong. A Man can follow a
Woman, because she loves and fights, falls and
heaves, counsels and destroys. She can be angrier,
stronger, bolder, smarter…better.
(Rosie the Riveter has mighty forearms.)
And isn’t that a great challenge? Isn’t that an all-
in bet? Isn’t that a great test of a Man?
So I shut my eyes and I sleep soundly with a
slender arm draped around my shoulder and
across my chest. Her breath is warm on the back
of my neck. She’s smaller and softer than me, but
cradles my bones with enviable strength. My girl-
friend. My love. A capital W.
I made the bet.
And I won. M
Bust a Move
How to do a Baby Freeze
By: Jessica Chiu

Breakdancing is an energetic dance that combines strength, creativity and rhythm. Although breakdancing incorporates many different moves and
positions, this style of dance is very improvisational. How the dancer chooses to use the moves and techniques is entirely up to the imagination. One
technique breakdancers do is a freeze, which is when the dancer ends their steps and poses. A freeze can be very challenging, or it could be as simple
standing with your arms crossed. The following four steps will take you through how to do one of the more beginner freezes: the Baby Freeze.

1
Start in a squatting position

Reach both your hands over to your right

2
side. Place your left elbow to your right knee
joint and place your right elbow to your side.
- Once you have your elbows in those places,
make sure they stay there. Pretend they are
glued to your body!

3
Slowly lean your body towards the ground, using your hands to support
you. Continue leaning until you can rest the side of your head on the
ground as well.
-Think of yourself as a human tripod. All your weight is being supported
by three points of your body.

4
Lift your legs up.Your right leg should
be straight and your left leg is bent.

MCCLUNGS.CA 35
 Celebrating Womanhood
Lakshine Sathiyanathan reflects on her “puberty ceremony,” a norm in Tamil culture
By: Lakshine Sathiyanathan
A
s palms beat the tabla, the deep bass tone
mimics the pounding of her heart. A
young woman steps through white doors,
her face cloaked by a golden veil, petite frame
draped in a mauve sari with intricate gold sequin
details.
She walks down the aisle, one foot in front of
the other so her sari sways like her mother told
her. Two flower girls, who delicately drop petals
on a red carpet, lead the way. The 11 year old
walks with an entourage of 33 women and girls
to a canopy adorned with flower garlands in red
and yellow.
It has been almost nine months since I got my
first period, and today my coming-of-age ceremo-
ny is about to start.
The gathering for 200 guests has come with
all the trimmings: an early morning photo shoot,
makeup and hair artists and a video production.
It rings in at more than $5,000. In fact, this is on
the smaller scale.
The first menstruation is embarrassing, some-
times traumatic and, more often than not, not a
big deal. But among Hindu Tamils, it is a point of
36 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
pride. The lavish celebration, pooppunitha neerattu
vizha loosely translated in English, a puberty cer-
emony, is a set of rituals that celebrate coming of
age, coming into womanhood.
For Tamils, your period is the unique gift to
give life. It is treated as a sacred time and the
primping and pampering is thought to strengthen
a woman for when it is time to bring new life into
the world. It is a stark contrast to the hush, men-
strual taboo mentality in western culture. We have
many celebrations to mark important events and
transitions in life. Retirements, graduations and
birthdays are generally commemorated, but the
transition to womanhood is seldom celebrated in
Western culture.
The night I got my period, we finished puja for
the harvest festival, known as Thai Pongal. I was
reluctant to tell my mother, knowing the news
would spread to aunts, uncles and second cousins
and a production would ensue. “She’s a big girl
now,” Mom told them.
While close relatives raved over the auspicious
day for Hindu Tamils, Mom had two reasons to
celebrate that night.
Ecstatic, she rushed to the local Tamil grocer to
pick up turmeric, saffron and other groceries for
the rituals in the evening. I bathed in water with
turmeric steeped in it, considered an auspicious
act and known for its anti-bacterial properties.
My mother and grandparents poured the yellow-
tinted water on my head. The pungent, bitter taste
seeped into my mouth and marked my gown with
yellow stains like a napkin used by fingers covered
in curry.
I stayed home for the week and was fed a rich
diet, including coconut milk-infused rice and
eggplant cooked in sesame seed oil. I protested
the menu by the fourth day, but my mother and
grandmother insisted I eat until the plate was
empty. The strict diet is meant to give a girl her
strength and to fend off pesky period symptoms
such as cramps and backaches. To this day, my
mother blames my period pains on my picky eating.
A modest ceremony at home with close rela-
tives marked the end of my first period. That day,
I wore a sari for the first time in a brilliant red,
pleated and meticulously pinned to fit my small
body. My mother had the tailor make a sari blouse
fit for a doll with puffed sleeves. It felt like an eter-
nity being pinned and poked at. But when I faced
the mirror for the first time, I felt beautiful in the
silk that draped my body. I fit in with the older
girls and I was accepted into this circle of women.
In the northeastern villages in Sri Lanka, girls
become women and their womanhood is revered
in an intimate ceremony, marked not by wealth
but ritual. Though in Sri Lanka, the puberty cer-
emony identified a prospective girl for marriage,
today, they celebrate womanhood. At home, the
celebration put on by the Tamil Diaspora has
grown opulent but its ultimate end preserves an
ancient and sacred custom.
My mother kneels down and wraps silver brace-
lets around each ankle that make a tinkle with
each step. They are a melodious reminder that you to remove the gold that wraps my neck, wrists and
are present. They are the same anklets she wore at fingers, except for the silver bracelets that hug my
her age-attainment ceremony. She tells me to walk ankles.
tall with honour and dignity. Someday, I will wrap those bracelets around the
I stand under the canopy that overlooks three ankles of my own daughter and let her know that
generations of women: little girls, young women her first footsteps into womanhood will be heard too.
and their mothers and grandmothers. Two aunts M
step forward, separated by a silver tray, laden with
fruit, and revolve the tray around me. It is a belief
that the girl should be treated like a Hindu god-
dess. The blessing, once passed to them, has now
passed to me.
Relatives come forward to pose for pictures.
They drape gold necklaces around my neck and
hand me envelopes bulging with money.
At the end of the night, I walk to the backroom
MCCLUNGS.CA 37
 My Kind of Beautiful
Jessica Galang learns to accept herself after struggling with alopecia areata
By: Jessica Galang

38 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011


“
It’s okay, just don’t look down,” I tell myself
in the shower. “This is a phase. It will pass.”
No matter how slowly I drag my fingers
through my hair, I can feel my roots detach from
my scalp. This began a few weeks ago, and I’ve
become used to shaking clumps of wet hair off my
hand. But I can never look down and watch pieces
of myself twist into the drain.
It’s the month before my final year of high
school—and I’m losing my hair.
Alopecia areata is a condition where the im-
mune system mistakenly attacks the hair follicles
and suppresses hair growth. Although it affects
two per cent of the population and hair usually
falls in patches and grows back, I was part of the
rare one to five per cent of people with alopecia
who lose all their hair. Most doctors agree that it
is hereditary or stress-related, but the true cause
is a mystery.
During the first few months, I hope the bald
spots go away. Different doctors say the same
thing: “There’s no way to tell with alopecia.”
The small bald spots grow bigger. I stop con-
centrating in school. All that exists is the dark
brown hair I pull out every day.
Every time I look at my reflection, hate con-
sumes me. You’re disgusting. You look like a mon-
ster. How can you even live with yourself? My
punishment is looking at old pictures of myself:
A pretty face with a crown of thick, stylish hair. I
look back at my reflection. There are dark circles
under my eyes, my skin is riddled with stress-
related acne and patches of limp hair sag on my
balding scalp.
A week before graduation photos, I buy a wig.
Prom is coming too. Every girl dreams of look-
ing like Cinderella, but I’m going to be the ugly
stepsister.
By December, I’m bald. I cling to the idea my
hair will grow back, but my doctor tells me it may
never.
In the new year, I check alopecia websites
searching for tips on how to use wigs and makeup
to look “normal.” I’m convinced no one can be
bald and beautiful.
Believing I will be bald forever, I eventually
take off my wig in front of my friends. They
surprise me. Instead of shock and horror, their
anxious faces turn into smiles as they all agree I
look amazing without hair…maybe even better.
I disagree, but it’s wonderful knowing I haven’t
changed in their eyes.
On prom night, I worry people will laugh at
my dark, curly wig. But I never feel like the ugly
stepsister, and that night I take another picture.
Now I see a glowing teenage girl with radiant
brown eyes, a bright smile and a smooth, bald
head. I’m genuinely happy, and in this moment,
my looks don’t matter.
I’ve achieved love for my imperfection. I feel
liberated.
It’s late summer and I’m starting university at
Ryerson. I slowly try going out in public with-
out my wig, flaunting my baldness as a fashion
statement. It’s stressful at first; I feel people’s eyes
focused on my head. The anxiety ebbs, but weeks
later something strange happens. I find a small
patch of thin, dark hair on top of my head. My
doctor has no explanation, and I don’t care.
Today, my hair has grown to the point where it
just looks like I keep it short. Girls tell me, “You’re
so strong for going through that. If I lost my hair,
I would die!” I laugh because it’s not true. When
I was bald, I became obsessed with looks and my
self-esteem was fragile. When I lost my hair, a part
of me—my vanity—did die, but was replaced
with newfound strength and a constant desire for
self-improvement.
Though I lost a part of me, I found myself.
M
MCCLUNGS.CA 39
 REVIEWS
Imagine a woman being thrown into a men’s have sex reassignment surgery that she ends up in
prison. Sounds a little unfair, but for trans wom- prison after trying to rob a bank. “I didn’t want
en in the United States this is the reality. Their to hurt nobody. The gun didn’t even have bullets
position leaves them vulnerable to bullying, as- in it,” she says softly.
sault and rape—over and over again. From dingy motel rooms, to the vast deserted
Cruel and Unusual is a documentary that fol- strips of highways, to grimy downtown locations
lows the lives of five transgender women who and stark prison cells, the filmmaker uses physi-
have been sent to prisons for men. cal surroundings as a reflection of where these
These women identify and live as women, yet women stand—on the fringes of society.
the U.S. justice system strips them of their identi-
ties, forcing them into male ones.
As Anna, one of the characters says, “it’s re-
ally inhumane to put people who lived lives as
women on the outside to strip that identity from
them, and force them to live among men who
are lonely, are abusive [and] are sexual predators.”
Cruel and Unusual - 2006 The documentary reveals the abuse and isola-
Documentary Review tion these women face in prisons across the coun-
By: Sara Faruqi try.
The film not only looks at what life is like in
Director: Janet Baus, Dan prison for these women, but how they end up
Hunt, and Reid Williams there. It illustrates the struggle and discrimina-
tion transgender people face daily leading to un-
64 Minutes employment and poverty.
Ophelia, another character is so desperate to

Muhktar Mai never thought she would pay the lives of many others.
price for someone else’s mistakes. She creates awareness for other women in
In her memoir, appropriately titled In The similar situations by starting a school to educate
Name of Honor, Pakistan-born Mai tells the story young girls, while fighting for her own justice.
of her family’s victimization by the Mastois fam- This memoir also tells other horrific stories of
ily of a higher caste, and ultimately how she is left women who seek refuge from men and the laws
to pay the price. in their communities.
Mai’s 12-year-old brother is accused of speak- While these stories reflect shared realities, it
ing to the Mastois family’s older daughter. Even depicts the possibility of a brighter future. Mai
though he is innocent, he is imprisoned and Mai is an inspiration and her memoir is a must-read.
is forced to bring peace between both families.
Mai never expected their reaction. She is gang-
raped by four Masto is men and is expected by
the community to feel shame and commit sui-
cide, all for the honour of her family. Despite the
demands of the Mastois men, Mai finds the cour-
age within herself to not only fight her depression
but to fight back—for herself and other women.
In the Name of Honor takes readers on a jour-
ney with Mai and allows them to understand the
In the Name of Honor - 2006
scandal, shame and utter struggle she survives.
Book Review
She tells her story with a humble tone and high-
By: Christina Fanioudukis
lights that she is not looking for an escape from
Pakistan, but rather ways to help it. By making
Author: Mukhtar Mai
the choice not to end her own life, Mai saves the

40 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011

REVIEWS
Double penetration, masturbation and a “bad
obsession”; not usually topics explored in most
feminist works, but Roxana Shirazi’s The Last Liv-
ing Slut is hardly a traditional take on women’s
rights.
Fleeing Iran in the midst of a revolution to
immigrate to England at age 10, Shirazi eventu-
ally finds empowerment and a sense of self in the
rock-and-roll, groupie lifestyle. But the journey
is a rough ride, ridden with abuse, anger, depres-
sion, loss and an untamed sexuality. Night after
night, she dances side stage as Guns N’ Roses per-
form. She parties with the likes of Mötley Crüe
and Velvet Revolver, sleeping with most musi-
cians of interest along the way.
While much of her memoir may read like a
porn star’s biography with vivid descriptions of
sexual acts performed and received, it is the way
she narrates the more common events of her
The Last Living Slut - 2010 life that really pulls you in. Shirazi describes her
Book Review childhood experiences with such innocence and
By: Natasha Fonseka her personal hardships are relatable to the aver-
age reader. She is successful in painting a gripping
Author: Roxana Shirazi portrait of a real woman struggling with issues of
If you’re anything like me, you live in your
own soundtrack and have the right song for every
moment. In my soundtrack, Toronto’s The Folk
are about cold city sidewalks, late nights becom-
ing early mornings, and infinite possibilities.
An indie-rock sound infused with touches of
upbeat electro-pop and classic-rock-riffs, their
music is laid on a strong foundation of technical
skill and growing up on good old rock n’ roll.
Released in early 2011, The Folk’s self-titled
EP contains six stunning tracks ranging from the
raw and raging to the contentedly heart-ached.
Garage-grunge infused opening track “Gone
Astray” sets a righteous tone with a pounding
beat and tangled guitars. From there, the album
moves to the starkly honest and poignantly vul-
nerable “Girl With Princess Eyes.” This track’s
repeating lyric “where do we go,” pulsing rhythm
section and twangy synth, pay a charmingly
modern homage to Rusted Root’s 1995 hit “Send
The Folk - 2011
Me On My Way.”
Album Review
Layered and intricate, The Folk have an almost
By: Acey Rowe
psychic ability to highlight one another’s talents
and seamlessly shift focus between elements.
Unsigned
From this, it’s not surprising to learn that synth/
molestation, stigmatization and gender inequal-
ity.
The numerous partners, group sex sessions,
and that pink “goodie bag” filled with lingerie,
KY Jelly and sex toys galore dragged to every
show might categorize her as a “whore,” but her
unapologetic attitude makes her a feminist. Shi-
razi simply refuses to accept that the promiscuity
of men is celebrated, while women are labelled as
“sluts” and chastised for the same choices.
Although the realities of her lifestyle can be
uncomfortable and hard to digest, her positive
feminist ideals are reflected throughout the book.
It will make for an interesting read—if you can
stomach it.
singer Sara and guitar/keys Emma Bortolon-
Vettor are twin sisters. Sharing the spotlight are
bassist Liam Magahay and guitarist Mark Ferrari,
who takes lead vocals on the country-organ track
“Confetti and Question Marks.”
Notable is lead singer Sara’s rare vocal quality
as both soaring and gritty. Where too many fe-
male leads are either too harsh or too flowery, she
has an extraordinarily expressive ability to pierce
precisely in between.
Depending on your feelings about lo-fi, the
production quality of the album is its only flaw.
Intermittently misjudged pans and dropped
vocals give the EP a definite basement quality.
However, this also works to highlight the pure
talent of the performers who shine through—a
fact proven by their overwhelming live show.
After an all too short journey through small
sweet moments, longing, demanding and even
some dancing, the EP closes on its standout hit,
the cascading and expansive “Evening Breath.”
If all your best ideas come to you after 2 a.m.
on the streetcar ride home, then The Folk belongs
in your soundtrack.
MCCLUNGS.CA 41
42 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011
 toy
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44 MCCLUNG’S / SPRING 2011