Home Blog Page 1365

TSSU votes to approve strike option

By
EIC
-
2

By David Dyck

SGM this week will decide what form job action will take

Last week, the Teaching Support Staff Union held a vote of its membership to determine whether or not to take job action. The preliminary result, according to the TSSU, is that 90 per cent of voters were in favour of job action. Although representatives have not yet released the full voting numbers at the time of printing, they stated that their turnout was higher than that of any GSS elections.

This does not necessarily mean that a strike will take place, however.

“We essentially have the legal right now to take job action, but the decision to actually do anything always rests with our membership,” said Derek Sahota, a spokesperson from the TSSU. There will be a special general meeting held this week to decide on what course to take. Before any job action takes place, the union has to give 72 hours notice to the employer.

Job action could range from instructors taking several minutes in tutorials to explain the strike, to “full picket lines, which is obviously not anything that anyone ever wants,” said Jeff Zurek, another member of the TSSU contract committee.

Justin Wiltshire, a current SFU graduate student who was a TA several times in his undergraduate career, voiced some concerns he had about the union’s position. He argued that there was a lack of balance in representation as well as the quality of the work that is done by TAs.

“I imagine that graduate students are making up the largest proportion of the membership,” said Wiltshire. “I think that you need to have equal representation of all the groups, otherwise you’re going to see what you see now, which is that the TSSU functions as an agent essentially for the graduate students, whereas really the Graduate Student Society should be fulfilling that role.”

Wiltshire’s concerns about work quality have to do with his personal experience. He said that he has had instructors “come to me after they were supposed to have taught their students certain concepts and asked me to explain them. A number of them have told me that they just don’t give a damn, and that it’s not important to them.”

Wiltshire told The Peak that in his opinion, pay should be linked more intrinsically to merit. “When people don’t do a good job they should not be given another chance . . . and when people do do a good job I think they should be able to be rewarded.”

Overall, he stated that he was satisfied with the level of compensation he received for his work.

Sahota and Zurek addressed these concerns. “I think that as a union we do always think of our sessional members who are not graduate students, and always have them on our mind,” said Sahota. “We understand the issues and we get really good feedback from them. I think that’s generally true of all the parts of our membership.”

Regarding the quality of work, they stated that if TAs are doing a poor job, based on the collective agreement, the onus is on the departments to carry these out. “If they don’t do the mentoring first, followed by the evaluation, it’s a problem within the system, it’s not necessarily the TA’s fault,” said Zurek. “That system has to change and work the way that it’s supposed to work even now.”

Last week there were banners displayed around the AQ during the president’s BBQ for Employee Appreciation Day reading “Mr. President, engage us, save SFU.” Although the TSSU officially denied being involved with putting them up, they displayed pictures of them on their Facebook page. Sahota said it was “a great message to the president, to engage the workers, because that’s what has not happened.”

“This is a really positive opportunity to do exactly what Petter has been advertising,” said Zurek. “There’s so many things we have on the table that we say are not monetary that can make this school so much better, and really that’s been our message all along. Changes don’t actually have to cost a lot of money.”

The university informed The Peak that they do not discuss negotiations outside of the bargaining table.

Board shorts

By
EIC
-
0

By David Dyck

Board moves to a new healthcare provider

The board will be entering negotiations with a new healthcare provider, Desjardins, moving away from the current provider, Sun Life. “We discussed this at [the executive committee] and execs have been looking into this for the past one or two months now,” said member services officer Humza Khan. “We as execs have recommended it to board unanimously that we should go with Desjardins.”

Khan stated that Desjardins was offering a lower rate and more flexible plans for students, though the amount that each student will be paying has been set at $198, due to a referendum. The Peak will have more details in next week’s issue.

 

Max hours for non-execs increased to 60 per month

The hours that faculty and at-large board representatives can charge have gone from 40 per month to 60. The constitution and policy review committee made the recommendation in May, but some executive board members were hesitant to approve the increase.

“I don’t know if that’s necessary in the summer term, I think in the fall and spring semester when your portfolio is more full, and we’re just more busy, then it might make sense then,” said external relations officer Meaghan Wilson, citing the fact that only one representative has requested an hours increase. That was applied sciences representative Moe Kopahi, who made the request several weeks ago. The request was denied at that time with only one board member casting a vote.

“I’m completely for the fact that you guys want an increase in hours, my only concern, however, lies in the fact that it wasn’t even a month ago . . . that we denied Moe an increase in his stipend, and he was already going above 60 hours,” said Khan. “It was us who denied him that, so how do we justify increasing it now?”

“Now that I look back at it I wish that we did give it to him, but at the same time we all went over our hours during that month, so it would kind of be unfair to all the other people that we’re not all getting stipend increases,” responded environment faculty representative Monique Ataei. “We all went over our hours, we continue to do so . . . the job has to get done at the end of the day.”

Sarah Veness, the faculty representative for communication, arts, and technology, also defended the motion. “I just really wanted to remind board too that this wasn’t our motion that we put through, this was a recommendation from last year,” said Veness. “I think           . . . it’s sort of a trend throughout the past years that board members have gone over their hours and that’s where the motion comes from.”

 

URO regrets ratified for July and August

This past May, university relations officer Jeff McCann requested standing regrets be ratified for summer, due to a co-op work term. At the time, the board ratified regrets only until the end of June, when the situation could be reevaluated. Last week, board decided to allow the regrets to stand until the end of August.

“He responds in an extremely timely manner even during a workday to questions, he’s always available by phone, I see him in the office sometimes more than I see other board members who are at this meeting right now,” said at-large representative Ashleigh Girodat. “I think that he is doing his job.”

There was one vote against the motion, by treasurer Kevin Zhang, who had raised concerns in May about accountability and transparency.


University briefs

By
EIC
-
0

By Ariane Madden

Virginia university president reinstated after prior ousting
Teresa Sullivan, president of the University of Virginia, was given her job back last week after a brief ousting following “philosophical differences of opinion” with members of the board of visitors, the equivalent to SFU’s board of governors. Ms. Sullivan — also the school’s first female president — resigned unexpectedly last month, prompting protests from students, faculty, and staff calling for her restoration to the post. The board eventually heeded the protestors and voted unanimously in favour of rehiring Ms. Sullivan. The ousting and subsequent rehiring brought to light issues of transparency among university governance as well as ongoing internal struggles over rising tuition, falling government subsidies, and the transition to online education methods. Sullivan was respected as the university’s president, having served at the University of Michigan prior to taking the presidency at Virginia.

Sandusky taunted by Pink Floyd lyrics
Fellow inmates of convicted sex offender Jerry Sandusky have admitted to taunting the former Pennsylvania State University football coach with lyrics from Pink Floyd’s “Another Brick in the Wall” while he awaited trial. The cellmates described having sung the lyrics “Hey teacher, leave those kids alone” in the dark to taunt Sandusky at night, as they were forbidden from speaking directly to the disgraced coach. Jerry Sandusky was convicted of 45 out of 48 charges of sexual assault and child abuse relating to numerous incidents involving young boys at the school and at Sandusky’s private home starting in the mid-1990s. Sentencing is expected to take place in September, where Sandusky could face up to 442 years in prison.

Bhullar goes for gold

By
EIC
-
0

By Graham Cook

SFU wrestler Arjan Bhullar will compete for Canada in the Summer Olympics

Heavyweight wrestler and former Clan athlete Arjan Bhullar is headed to the London 2012 Summer Olympic Games to represent Canada in the 120 kg Men’s freestyle division. Bhullar, a Richmond native and lifelong athlete, has spent recent years constructing a lengthy athletic resume.

While wrestling for the Clan, Arjan Bhullar won two National Association of Intercollegiate Associates (NAIA) Championships and went on to become the only wrestler in history to win both the NAIA and CIS National Championships. He was the 2008 SFU Athlete of the Year, 2009 Canadian Wrestler of the Year, and 2011 Sport B.C. University Athlete of the Year.

Bhullar is still working on completing a major in political science; though he is taking time off to focus on wrestling full time, he stated, “My mom wants me to come back and finish after.” At a banquet in his honour, Bhullar spoke with The Peak  about the upcoming Olympic games for which he said he has been preparing for all of his 26 years. He stated that qualifying for the Olympics was always his goal, adding, “I guess you could call it young and naive . . . but life works in mysterious ways and here I am on the cusp of winning a medal for my country.”

“It’s another day, another match,” said Bhullar about the Olympic games in London. “I’m trying to treat it as another tournament,” he added. Bhullar says he has as much of a chance as any other competitor, but “If you ask anyone else, I’m an underdog.”

Canada’s male wrestling team’s head coach Dave McKay, who also served as Arjan Bhullar’s coach during his time on SFU’s squad, also spoke with the The Peak about the upcoming games. He shared Bhullar’s notion of where the training process stood, stating, “There’s still lots of work to do . . . we’re not ready to peak.” McKay went on to describe Arjan Bhullar as “a guy who certainly put himself in a position to be successful. . . .  He worked really hard, he did all the right things.” He added that Bhullar’s greatest attribute as a wrestler is his intelligence.

Also at the event was the former president of B.C. Athletics and a current Richmond city councillor, Bill McNulty. Also known as “Richmond’s man in motion,” McNulty has been involved in track and field for the past six decades both as a competitor and an organizer. While speaking with The Peak, he shared that he has known Arjan Bhullar and his family since he was a young man. “When you start off, everyone has the potential to be an Olympian . . . you have to have the desire to continue to excel and you have to have gentle handling, coaching, and mentorship to get you to the top,” said McNulty,  who described Bhullar’s strengths as leading to a “tremendous honour for the Indo-Canadian Community.” Bill McNulty added a piece of advice for all Olympic athletes: “When you’re at the very top . . . it is one move that is the difference between gold, silver, bronze, and nothing.”

At the time of printing, there are eight other Canadian wrestlers, four male and four female, that will be joining Arjan Bhullar on Team Canada’s slate. David Tremblay, Haislan Garcia, Matt Gentry, Khetag Pliev, Carol Huynh, Tonya Verbeek, Martine Dugrenier, and Leah Callahan will all be making the trip to London this summer.

Scramble crossing could be more efficient: study

By
EIC
-
0

By Graham Cook 

SFU students look into the math behind red lights

A trio of SFU mathematics students have deduced that Vancouver could benefit from what is known as a “scramble crossing” at select intersections to replace the traditional model used now. This new system would stop traffic from all four directions at an intersection and allow pedestrians to cross the street in any direction they choose, as opposed to the current scenario where automobiles and pedestrians move across in the same direction simultaneously.

The students involved, Sam Maggs, Svyatoslav Glazyrin, and Michelle Leung, conducted the research for their course Math 402W: operations research clinic. The class is an upper division requirement for the relatively new Operations Research program offered at the Surrey campus. The group observed the downtown Vancouver intersection of Cambie and Broadway, deciding that this particular crossing would benefit from an upgraded paradigm. The majority of passers-by that they interviewed agreed.

Though one member of the group was not available for comment, Maggs and Leung spoke to The Peak about the project and the Operations Research program.

“Basically, we made up a mathematical model that determined an optimal light cycle . . . and then deemed that a scramble crossing would work and have improvements if the entire light cycle was shorter than the current system,” explained Maggs. He went on to discuss a problem a scramble crossing could solve, stating that during their observations they saw “a lot of cars that wanted to turn right weren’t able to, because pedestrians were constantly crossing the street either perpendicular or parallel to traffic. . . . Also, a lot of the pedestrians were wanting to get from one corner to the opposite diagonal corner.”

The students are arguing that their proposed intersection would benefit crossings that have higher volumes of pedestrians, citing a scramble crossing in Richmond’s Steveston area.

They were so confident in this assertion that they sent their findings to Vancouver City Hall. As of yet, they have not received a response.

The pedestrians passing by that the group interviewed during their research felt that a Scramble Crossing would make the intersection safer. Maggs and Leung explained that this was due to pedestrians having exclusive access to the intersection, eliminating the possibility of being run over. However, concern was raised over confusion for first time users, which Maggs said would “depend on the city and how they properly communicate [how to use the intersection].” This new system, were it implemented, would also increase wait times for vehicle traffic. The group defended this by stating that the city of Vancouver’s official stance is to prioritize pedestrians over vehicles.

The two students also discussed the Operations Research program itself. Leung pointed out that out of the three, she is the only one majoring in the program, having been drawn to it from another field. She entered the program in spring of 2011 and spoke of the low amount of people actually in Operations Research. “It’s a relatively small group, but I would say it’s a group of elites,” said Leung.

“Operations Research is more applicable than traditional math, calculus, and all that boring stuff . . . and we get a lot of students like myself who want to just take O.R. courses because it’s not as technical,” said Maggs.

The instructor of the Operations Research Clinic, Abraham Punnen, also spoke with The Peak about the course and program. He said that typically for this course he would come up with several assignment options for students to choose from, but the students themselves created this particular project. Punnen described Operations Research as “the science of optimal decision making,” and expressed his hopes that the program continues to grow and develop.

The work was an honourable mention at the Canadian Operational Research Society’s undergraduate student paper competition, with the first prize going to their classmates who looked at a TA assignment problem.

Roommates!

By
EIC
-
0

By Taylor Beaumont

Lawmakers in a difficult position with assisted suicide ruling

By
EIC
-
0

By Benedict Reiners

Recently, a B.C. judge determined that the laws in the province preventing someone from accessing physician-assisted suicide were unconstitutional. This came in the wake of a lengthy court case, initiated by Gloria Taylor, a woman suffering from ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, in addition to four other plaintiffs. She has claimed that although she is not yet at the point where she wants to end her life, she wants the freedom to be able to end it when her suffering outweighs the benefits of living. However, even those who support this must realize that with the judge’s mandate come some negative possibilities.

One of the primary problems with the state condoning assisted suicide is the potential for the system to be abused. The system will need to have many checks and balances in order to ensure that there are none who die without the proper consent being given, as well as ever-present observation to make sure that such regulations do not get circumvented or ignored. To do this, law makers must take a close look at other jurisdictions around the world where such legislation has already been passed, such as Belgium and the Netherlands, and at how they deal with the potential abuse of the system, and consider how best to apply those to the Canadian system. This will not be a fast process, and should not be rushed. As such, the courts must recognize that law makers need to take proper precautions to ensure that any legislation that is presented is the best possible for the matter, especially considering the potential cost of errors. The court must be somewhat flexible with their deadline if the need arises, provided that lawmakers do what they can to speedily implement the legislation.

However, the court’s ruling also raises major questions over the ethicality in taking one’s life, counseling someone to take theirs, and the right to make such decisions, as well as what constitutes a sound mind capable of such a decision. To complicate matters further, the hospitals enacting this policy will be state run facilities.

These questions are only more prominent considering the health care system in Canada. If this were the United States, or any other state with a lesser health care system, such legislation would be easier. At worst, it would mean that the state would be forced to allow private companies to carry out the assisted suicides, and not carry them out in their own facilities. However, this is different in Canada. Here, the responsibility for such a procedure may come from the government, on both the federal and provincial levels, with healthcare being under provincial jurisdiction, but with the federal government contributing money towards paying for such expenses. This makes the whole matter far more controversial, given the fact that the government would not be able to simply stand back and allow others to carry out the policy and legislation. State-run hospitals mean that the government must take an active roll not only in determining how it’s done, but also in actually carrying it out.

Lawmakers will have many questions to sort out when they attempt to fulfill Justice Lynn Smith’s ruling. They will need to not only allow it, but also endorse it. But even before that point, they will need to address just how it will be done, and how to prevent abuse. They have a year; expect them to use as much of it as they can.

Petter Watch: July 1st

By
EIC
-
0

By Gary Lim

Petter initiates and wins and staring contest between himself and a koi fish in the AQ pond.

Gentrification: The Changing Demographic of the Downtown Eastside

By
EIC
-
0

By Ljudmila Petrovic

“Hey, do you like Earl’s?” asks a man with a ragged and unkempt appearance, offering me a $25 gift card to Earl’s that he had gotten while panhandling: he tells me how he had gone to an Earl’s restaurant to try and use it, but they wouldn’t serve him because he was homeless.

“It’s of no use to me”, he shrugs. “I’d rather sleep indoors tonight than eat at fucking Earl’s.”

This juxtaposition of poverty and higher-end living is common in Vancouver, especially in the Downtown Eastside area, where the border between the poorest postal code in North America and Gastown is a vague one. This border is arbitrary, more upheld by social biases and stigmas, than by any physical or geographic markers.

The area that is now considered the shame of Vancouver was once a vibrant center, housing the central library, City Hall, and a streetcar terminal. In 1958, however, streetcars ceased to run through that area, followed by the central library’s move to Burrard and Robson. This, in combination with many companies also moving their head offices from the area, led to a drastic decrease in traffic. Other parts of the city —  including Kitsilano — were seeing a gradual reduction in low-income housing, which brought more people to live in the Downtown Eastside, which was becoming more and more affordable. Another blow to the neighbourhood came when the Eaton’s department store moved to Granville St. from its location on Hastings Street — where SFU Harbour Center is located today.

The 1970s saw a turning point in the neighborhood’s history: due to funding cuts, thousands of psychiatric patients were de-institutionalized and left to fend for themselves. Many ended up in the Downtown Eastside, looking for low-income housing.  The area has since become known for the high rates of drug addiction and abuse. This stems from the late 1980s when cocaine gained popularity over heroin, and consequently, the cheaper, lower quality crack cocaine became widespread. The rise in addiction came hand-in-hand with a rise in crime. As the demand rose, more and more pawn shops opened in the area, which made it harder for other types of businesses to stay successful. The final blow came in 1993, when Woodward’s closed down, bringing down with it what remained of businesses and restaurants in the area.

Last year, the annual Carnegie Community Action Project (CCAP) reported that 328 new units of social housing opened in the area, but also noted that high end restaurants are opening up in the area, causing real estate to skyrocket. “While this has been a good year for social housing, it has also been a year of gentrification,” reads the report. “Speculators are buying hotels and turning them into money-making investments.”

The theme of the annual report was the gentrification of the area.

Gentrification is the process by which businesses and investors build their projects in low-income neighbourhoods, thereby changing the face of the demographic, and usually pushing out the current inhabitants from the area. This is a rising concern in the Downtown Eastside as the trendy feel of neighbouring Gastown starts to bleed into Hastings St.

The CCAP reported at least 700 people that are currently homeless or living in shelters in the concentrated several blocks that the Downtown Eastside consists of, not including those that are living on the street or couch surfing. Thousands more live in privately owned single resident occupancies (SROs), which provide their occupants with little more than a small bed and a hotplate. These places are infested with cockroaches and rats, and are unsafe for vulnerable groups such as women. There are another 1,500 SR’s in the downtown eastside that are government-owned, or run by non-profit organizations. While the hygiene standards are higher in these than in privately-owned SROs, there is nonetheless little room, and no private kitchens or washrooms. Furthermore, many of these SROs do not meet earthquake safety standards. The report found that it is getting increasingly more difficult for low-income residents of the Downtown Eastside — many of whom survive on welfare or disability pay — to stay in even the squalor of privately owned SROs: the rent is growing, and the clerks at the front desk often profile potential occupants based on health issues and race. In 2011, only  seven per cent of these hotels had rents of $375 or less, down from 29 per cent in 2009. There are occurrences of people double-bunking in these rooms, which are already too small for even one person to live somewhat comfortably. Most of these SROs are not allowed to rent by the night or the week, but some do so illegally, which also affects the vacancy of these places.

A staggering number of Downtown Eastside inhabitants are receiving welfare, with a majority on disability pay. According to the National Council of Welfare’s website, a single person on disability welfare in BC receives an annual $11,559, which calculates to $963.25 per month. A single employable person receives $7947 in welfare, which leaves these individuals to live on about $662.25 per month. While rent in SROs can be as low as $375, these are decreasing as real estate prices in the area rise, and vacancies are rare. Some of these SROs can cost upwards of $600 per month, which leaves those living on welfare with little choice regarding where and how they live. I spoke to a man living on disability welfare in the Downtown Eastside whose only choice of a place (based on finances and vacancy) was on the fourth floor — his lung problems made it almost impossible for him to go up that many flights of stairs, so he scheduled his day so as to only have to go up the stairs once each day.

The area is subject not only to deplorable living conditions, but also to corruption and stigmatization of its inhabitants. The 2011 Carnegie Community Action Project noted this as an issue, and provided a case study to paint a picture of the level of exploitation:

“At the Lotus Hotel . . . the lowest rent in the summer of 2010 was $440. In the summer of 2011, CAPP researchers got two different rent prices. A low-income Aboriginal DTES resident was told rent was $800 a month, and that there were no vacancies. A white university student was told by the same manager on the same day that rent was $675 and that the room would be available by the end of the month. The manager said they’re ‘not supposed’ to accept walk-ins, they are supposed to only accept new tenants through Craigslist applications for ‘quality control’ reasons.”

“As a generalized urban strategy, gentrification weaves together the interests of city managers, developers and landlords, corporate employers and cultural and educational institutions,” writes urban theorist Neil Smith. “Gentrification has become a strategy within globalization itself; the effort to create a global city is the effort to attract capital and tourists, and gentrification is a central means for doing so.”

The western area of the Downtown Eastside was among the first parts to experience gentrification: the historic Woodward’s site now houses over 500 condominiums, and the SFU campus at Woodward’s was controversially funded by mining giant Goldcorp. This sparked four more condo developments in the span of several blocks, not to mention restaurants and bars along the lines of Bitter Tasting Room. With the new condo developments, new restaurants and stores had to be built to meet the needs of the new demographic moving into the condos. Many of the restaurants along Carrall Street, as well as some of the condo developers in the area, have advertised as being in neighboring Gastown, which regard as an insult to the Downtown Eastside’s rich identity and history. Closer to the south, even more condo projects were established (V6A, Ginger, Strathcona East, Keefer Suites), and in April 2011, the city of Vancouver approved the Historic Area Heights Review, with new building allowances that approve a 17-storey condo and retail project, and a Rezoning Policy for Chinatown South.

The 2010 Vancouver Olympics were met with opposition for this very reason: the fear that a surge in development would further the process of gentrification. In 2008, after the initial bid for the Olympics went through, Pivot Legal Society — in association with the Carnegie Community Action Project and the Impact of the Olympics on Community Coalition — complained to the UN about the living conditions in SROs in the Downtown Eastside.

“We’re concerned about the 4,000 people living in privately owned residential hotels and rooming houses in Vancouver,” said David Eby of Pivot Legal Society. “They are being illegally evicted, they live in terrible conditions, and they are afraid to speak up because they need that housing.”

These fears, and the consequent protests, did nothing to deter the building and growth that came with the Olympics.

It is not only the Downtown Eastside that is experiencing gentrification: other areas, such as Mount Pleasant and Grandview Woodlands are seeing a surge in rent prices, forcing the inhabitants — mostly seniors and working-class families — to move to more affordable housing. The outrage surrounding the gentrification in Vancouver is further fuelled by the growing socio-economic gap between the residents of the Downtown Eastside and those at the top of the chain.

For example, Brandt Louie and Jim Pattison — both B.C. billionaires — received tax exemptions for their investments in Woodward’s. Another example shows a glimpse into the politics behind gentrification: for the past two municipal elections — both successful — Vision Vancouver allegedly got significant funding from real estate developers. Many see the gentrification not only as a logistical problem — that of where the current low-income residents will go — but also a moral one, even an attack on those that are already downtrodden.

 

“Approaching the isabella I expect to see an upscale enterprise has erased the old hotel & displaced all the misfit inhabitants & wonder what new monstrosity of redevelopment looms amid toronto’s global city agenda driving people into every doorway along bloor street after dark”

 

“Gentrification” -Bud Osborn, Downtown Eastside poet and activist

Confessions of a Playboy subscriber

By
EIC
-
0

By Blair Woynarski — The Sheaf (CUP)

A little over a year ago, I decided to buy an issue of Playboy.

The precise reason for this decision is a little fuzzy, but I believe it had something to do with viewing it as a rite of passage. At 21 years old, I had never flipped through a Playboy in my life, and it seemed that I was missing out on a big aspect of popular culture.

The weeks spent waiting for it to arrive in the mail were characterized by strange emotion. I went out to check the mailbox every day — not because I was dying with anticipation, but rather because I didn’t want my roommate to bring it in first. I felt like I was carrying around a weird, dark secret, or that I had crossed some sort of unforgivable line into a world of perversion. But then one day it arrived, and it is hard to say what my reaction was. It wasn’t excitement, nor was it disappointment; it was a neutral, calculating sense of, “So this is Playboy. Huh.”

One of my first thoughts was, “Wow, this really is just like a normal magazine.” It had advertisements, advice columns, whatever. But as I looked a bit more closely, I discovered something much more shocking. I discovered that it had more literary merit than most of what I could find on the magazine racks.

Don’t believe me? That’s fine. But let me ask you this: who was the most talked-about woman in Playboy last year? While you might not have a specific answer, chances are you are forming a vague mental impression. I can guarantee you are not thinking of the 89-year-old former dean of the White House Press Corps, Helen Thomas, who was the subject of a Playboy interview last April and ignited controversy with her anti-Zionist comments. But that, in fact, is the correct answer.

The time-honoured Playboy interview has, over the years, dealt with many notable figures, including Bill Cosby, Robert De Niro, Barbra Streisand, George Carlin, Anne Rice, John Lennon, Malcolm X, Martin Luther King Jr., Betty Friedan, Carl Sagan, Stephen Hawking and Fidel Castro (twice). Even vitriolic conservatives Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh have deigned to be interviewed.

On top of that, I’ve read articles on the Arab Spring, asteroid mining, shark attacks, the making of Scarface, and the meth empire created by actor Tom Arnold’s sister. Playboy’s journalists not only produce great content, but they also track down intriguing stories that are not picked up anywhere else. So the question is: why does it still come delivered in a blacked-out plastic bag?

Criticism seems to come from two sources. One is an old, conservative generation that feels the need to stamp out boobs wherever they arise, but is still content to let the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition fly off newsstands across the continent. The other criticism is from a younger generation that finds buying Playboy to be the most ridiculous thing in the world when it’s so easy to find pictures of naked women online. And this group elucidates my point perfectly: Playboy lost its “dirty pictures” niche a long time ago, and it keeps going simply because of its strength as a publication.

I am not defending Playboy against any and all criticism. There is plenty you could write about “bunny culture” and its effect on women, though I do not feel competent to weigh in here. I am concerned primarily with the magazine, and the magazine is certainly no more damaging to women than the plethora of publications specifically directed at them.

I find myself staring at a Cosmopolitan cover every time I get my haircut, and frankly, it embarrasses me. They all run together in my memory, but I can recall tags like, “10 Things Guys Crave in Bed,” “9 Times You Won’t Burn in Hell for Being Bitchy,” “‘My Gyno Talked to my Vagina’ and Other Doc Shockers” and countless hard-hitting “Sex Surveys.” Of course, none sticks out more prominently in my memory than “The Butt Facial.” Any woman could read that in public without attracting a sideways glance, yet I would be a pervert for reading an interview with Jon Hamm just because of a partially obscured title printed across the top of the cover.

None of this will change, obviously. I will still furtively ferry my magazine back to my apartment when no one else is around, and I will still peruse deep and thought-provoking articles about solar energy or North Korea while kitschy nude cartoons smile from the opposite page.

I make the following confession: I read Playboy for the articles. Judge me as you will.

1...1,3641,3651,366...1,419Page 1,365 of 1,419

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us: [email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024

Simon Fraser University’s independent student newspaper since 1965.

Contact us:
[email protected]

© The Peak Publications Society 1965-2024