bench

Letter to the Editor

Dear editor, Re: “SFU’s men’s rights activists protest new ‘friend zone’ bench unveiling” The Hi-F.I.V.E Movement for Mental Health Executive Committee was disheartened by your “humour” article, dated November 9, 2015, regarding The Friendship Bench (the Bench). We acknowledge that it is supposed to be entertaining, but we are nonetheless concerned that it damages our efforts to eliminate a stigma that has been so pervasive and unyielding. We believe your article actually perpetuates the stigma surrounding mental illness as early as the first sentence through the author’s tone and language, and by comparing the Bench to the undesirable “friend zone”…

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