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Dont get disconnected

Alternative means
of communication
should be mandatory

By Elliot Chan, Staff Writer

dmit it: you’re an important
person. People rely on you,
and it doesn’t matter if
your cellphone is
out of battery
power or if
you're out
of town—
they still
need to
contact
you.

Technology is so accessible now
that it would be ridiculous to
not embrace it.

Some worry that social
networks may become an
addiction and a waste of time,
but the truth is, if you're a
procrastinator, you'll have more
than Facebook and Twitter to
contend with.

 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
  
 
   

Distractions

come in all forms,

and to blame it on one

thing is a lie.

Like everyone else,
I too was initially reluctant

to join an online community

linking me to all my friends,
colleagues, classmates, and
even reproachable family
members, but it’s a simple way

Lowering the bar

Fear mongering in
bar bathrooms

By Avalon Doyle, Contributor

t's Friday night and I’m in

Langley at Gabby’s Country
Cabaret with one of my
girlfriends. I’m there to look
pretty, dance, and maybe lasso
me a cowboy. The last thought
on my mind is, “I’m probably
going to get the Human
Papillomavirus tonight from
said cowboy and die of cervical
cancer.” It’s the last thought on
my mind up until I make a trip
to the loo, where I sit reading
an advertisement for a HPV
vaccination that says, “Don’t
get screwed by cancer: get
immunized against HPV.”

Ads like this are in every
bar I’ve been to in the past
year, and they’re ridiculous for
several reasons. In this example,
the copywriters and drug
company went for a punchy
line over factual accuracy. The
vaccine doesn’t protect against
all forms of cancer; it can reduce
your chances of developing

certain strains of cancer
associated with HPV.

There are many
misconceptions about sexual
health that already exist in the
world, which largely has to do
with society’s values associated
with sexual acts. I don’t think
it’s fair that a huge drug
company uses its ad-buying
power to perpetuate ignorance,
or uses my girls’ night out as a
chance to scare me into using
their product.

My second issue is a much
larger one: these ads are another
form of slut shaming. Especially
the aforementioned ad, “Don’t
get screwed...”: the advertisers
highlighted “screwed” in
red—really driving the point
home. As a writer, I know that
these words aren’t randomly
chosen and the poster isn’t
randomly placed. They put
it in a bar where girls go out,
amp themselves up on a little
liquid courage, and maybe
think about taking home a
cute boy. Then the ad literally
catches them with their pants
down, bombarding them with
an inappropriate message that
suggests they will definitely get
burned by their sexual habits.

of keeping them in my life.

You might not share their love
of cats or inspirational quotes,
and they might not care about
your vacation pictures or status
updates—but that’s not the
point. The point is that you
know they are there, and vice
versa.

If a cellphone is your only
lifeline to the world, then you
might end up a castaway.
News travels fast. If you only
get social updates from word
of mouth, then odds are it’s
already old news. Very few
social engagements are arranged
face-to-face or even over the
phone. Usually there is one
person organizing the event,
which is a strenuous job in itself,
but inviting people is often
even more troublesome. Simply
being present makes their job
a lot easier. If you want to be
properly invited, then allow
yourself the opportunity. That
way, no feelings will be hurt.

Privacy is a problem we
all deal with in social media.
You don’t want your employers
seeing your party pictures, and

There’s no “You could get this,”
or “You might get that.” It’s
always “You will get cancer.” It
reminds me of a scene from the
movie Mean Girls, where the sex
education teacher tells the class,
“If you have sex, you will get
Chlamydia, and die.”

Port Coquitlam’s Treehouse
Pub is even more abrasive.
Their bathroom features an ad
from the Canadian Women’s
Foundation that reads,
“Congratulations, it’s a girl. She
has a 50 per cent chance of being
physically or sexually abused.”
Then the tag line reads, “For
girls growing up in Canada, it’s
tougher than you'd think.” No
shit, Sherlock. I know that—I am
a girl. What I'd like to know is
where that statistic comes from.
Is it 50 per cent because women
make up roughly half the
population? Again, they choose
shock value over helping us to
understand the facts.

I still have no idea why this
is in the women’s washroom.
Does the Canadian Women’s
Foundation believe women
don’t know how difficult and
scary it often feels to be a
woman in our society? When
I was a child, I wasn’t allowed

you don’t
want
disdainful
individuals
creeping

your page.
These are
circumstances
we all have

to face alone.
The same way
you wouldn't
leave your front
door open

for intruders,
you also
shouldn't leave
your Facebook accessible

to just anyone. We’re all on
different levels of security, so
it’s important to recognize the
unsavoury ones.

In the same way that
foregoing insurance is
irresponsible, dismissing
forms of communication is
inconsiderate of yourself and
others, whether they depend
on you to show up for a coffee
date or to meet a deadline.
Technology is good. It’s the new
generation, and though I might

to go outside for recess or ever
play beyond an adult's sight
because a child-molester was
calling my mother every week to
talk about me. That man never
got to me because my mother
and the women around her kept
me safe—the cops said they
couldn’t do anything unless
he hurt me first—and yet the
Canadian Women’s Foundation
thinks we need to be told to
keep women safe. Shouldn’t
such an ad be in the men’s
washroom?

Did anyone know that
Gardasil is available for men
in Canada? It’s not included
in the proposed programs for
HPV vaccinations in middle
schools—that’s just for girls. I’ve
never seen it advertised. I never
hear about men being told to
take care of their sexual health.
In bar bathrooms, advertisers
encourage them to try this new
beer, or these new smokes. Why
not tell them that the vaccine
may prevent their penis from
breaking out in big, nasty genital
warts? Or maybe we should be
telling men their little girl has
a 50 per cent chance of being
physically or sexually abused.

The way it is now makes

   

be
preaching
to the choir, I
would also like
to suggest that
it’s important to
teach these
means of
communication
to the elderly. It might seem
horrid seeing our parents on the
Internet, browsing through our
Twitter and reading our blogs,
but hey, why should we hoard
a good thing? They fill out
census forms and they pay their
taxes, so why shouldn't they be
reachable to the wider world?
After all, your home makes you
a resident of your community,
your job makes you a member of
an organization, and your online
presence makes you a citizen of
the technological world.

me feel like I’m being told that
it’s my responsibility. It’s my
job to keep my precious womb
disease-free, and mine alone.
Just as I’ve always paid for my
birth control and the morning
after pill, and just as it’s women
who accompany other women to
abortion clinics. Sex is a shared
act between two consenting
adults—or it should be—but
the consequences rest on my
shoulders alone.

I’m not asking for it to be
solely a man’s responsibility,
either. That would be just as
wrong. I’m just asking that if
the act is between two people,
that advertisers treat the
consequences equally. There
should be just as much of a push
to vaccinate men, and just as
much responsibility on them
to keep women safe. I’m done
with being told I’m wrong for
being a sexually expressive,
independent woman and that
my actions will undoubtedly
lead to me being raped, getting
HPV, and dying of cancer.

The better option would be
to stick the ads on the back seat
of a cab and make us both think
about protecting our sexual
health.

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