issue 26 // vol 44 opinions // no. 15 Dating games > Keeping intimate pictures of your ex is abusive Jillian McMullen Staff Writer ’m not often someone who feels comfortable making character judgements without a lot of information about a person. It feels wrong to determine someone’s value based solely on few—perhaps minute—details, like I’m somehow disingenuous in my interactions with others. However, if you keep revealing pictures of your ex after you've broken up and the relationship is over, I’m totally comfortable assuming you're an abusive human being. This problem came up for me recently when an ex-boyfriend posted a picture he had taken of me in an extremely intimate moment. A girlfriend sent me a screen shot, worried that it was me but hoping that she might be wrong—she wasn't. It was me. It didn’t show my face, and he made no reference to it being me in the photo’s description. But it was me. In all honesty, the picture didn’t show any more of my body than I have felt comfortable revealing at, say, the beach. It’s important to remember, though, that it’s not about how much or how little of my body I’m comfortable Canadian healthcare: More showing on the regular—it’s about how my mostly-naked body was posted without my consent as a cheap ploy for likes from other would-be Instagram “photographers” and that I couldn't have it removed (even though I reported it) because, although it was posted without my permission, its lack of completely nudity meant it did not violate the app’s policies. The incident with my picture really highlighted for me the little microaggressions I had never noticed in my relationship, the subtle power plays and frequent contempt of my autonomy. People like my ex who would make that type of material public often don’t keep it for wholesome, nostalgic reasons and they definitely don’t keep it because it’s “art”. It is kept because possessing something as personal as a nude picture means that the one who has kept it has a certain amount of power over the subject. It means they can intimidate and shame, using past intimacy as a means to manipulate and coerce. It can be difficult realizing just how harmful an ex-partner truly was, but we have to realize that this is textbook domestic abuse. Every minute sign of abuse needs to be addressed, because they do add up and they do become worse. A price tag on wellness > Self-care isn’t just about juice cleanses and bubble baths Jillian McMullen Staff Writer | got a problem with self-care. Well, not really with the concept, but with how people go about their “self-care” routines. Nights spent at home applying face masks have become the iconic representation of what many now think of as self-care. The “girls” or “boys” night is the social reset button, where one night out with your ride-or-dies is equated to some type of therapy. Weekend hikes are “an escape.” To me, it seems many people conflate indulgence with some necessary steps towards self-preservation. A lot of what people think about as self-care is only available to a certain small percentage of the population. Wellness clinics, some of the most recognizable programs in healthy living movements, are primarily marketed to upper middle- class consumers. Think about it—who else in society has enough disposable income to invest in this natural, organic remedy or that yoga retreat? Who else in society can invest so much in just themselves? It’s not someone who has to work two+ jobs just to survive in this city. People like that—people like myself— don't have the resources to focus on what hypocritical than Hippocratic > No, Canada is not the paragon of universal healthcare Graeme Beaton Contributor Cone has prided itself on delivering universal access to one of the best health care schemes in the worldZZor so we claim. During his 2015 election campaign, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declared that “everyone deserves access to timely, publicly funded, quality, universal healthcare— regardless of their background, physical need, where they live, or how much they make.” Despite these words, however, there is a persistent disparity between what Canadians supposedly deserve and what they receive—especially for those who fall on the wrong side of the the statistics. According to two new papers published by the peer-reviewed medical journal, The Lancet, there are serious inconsistencies in Canada’s healthcare system, particularly between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, that make for an uneven standard of care. Indeed, these gaps are only one example of several inconsistencies that are preventing the country’s healthcare system from reaching its full potential. The longer Canada fails to diagnose its own healthcare problems, the more Canadians will continue to fall through the cracks. Beyond the inequalities among First Nations, another example is the three million Canadians who suffer from rare diseases and struggle to get the care they need. The most newsworthy case has been that of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA), an incurable and degenerative genetic disease. The only effective treatment for SMA is the drug Spinraza. Canadian children with SMA were forced to sit idle while Spinraza was approved in the US, watching their American peers show improvement while the approval process dragged on for six months under Health Canada. Once Spinraza was approved in Canada, reimbursement for the treatment became the next barrier to access, with no provinces agreeing to fully fund the drug as of January 2018. While diseases like SMA are rare, failure to provide adequate funding for their treatment is all too common. An u-year-old girl in BC had to “win” access to a $20,000/month drug for her rare form of juvenile arthritis by writing letters to her provincial government explaining how the only alternative treatment felt like “burning fire” under her skin. A nine-year-old boy in Grand Prairie with a rare allergy to water risks losing coverage for his medication and leaving his family with a $2,400 monthly bill, should his worsening condition require more frequent dosage. Canada’s failure to provide affordable medicine doesn’t just affect rare disease patients. In fact, Canada is the only country with a universal healthcare scheme that does not also deliver universal Pharmacare. It’s a ludicrous paradox that essential healthcare is covered, but not medication. The tragic result is that upwards of 700,000 Canadians might be considered the best treatments for physical and mental health. Self-care is about a lot more than just some pampering; self-care is also very much about mindfulness. Being mindful can be respecting one’s boundaries, it can be acknowledging and protecting the meaningful relationships in your life, or it can be as simple as recognizing what time of the day you are most productive. While that doesn’t necessarily require monetary investment, that does require attentiveness and awareness. Yes, I would argue that a little bit of self-centered T.L.C. can be a good thing; We do sometimes need to be reminded to treat ourselves every once in a while. However, I think that because so much of the way we talk about self- care revolves around things we buy into—the beauty products, the foods, and the experiences—we forget to pay attention to the things that might actually bring us relief and comfort. We focus on the wrong solutions because we're told that’s what will make us feel better, and were surprised when we don't. Every person has different needs and wants, so, despite everything that the wellness industry might attempt to market, there’s no one-way road to wellbeing. go without the prescriptions they need. Many more take the gamble of splitting pills or skipping doses to make them last longer. While this may seem shocking, Canadian healthcare coverage goes from uneven to abysmal when geography is considered. If youre part of the 18.9 per cent of the Canadian population living in a rural area, you'll find little comfort knowing that only one in five rural hospitals include an ICU. These access issues worsen the farther north you live. This is especially true if you happen to be part of the 4.3 per cent of the population that are First Nations, regarding whom “the government is aware that it is failing in almost every respect to deliver adequate treatment,” according to a 2017 article from the Globe and Mail. This shortcoming is epitomized by the town of Sioux Lookout, a singular medical hub charged with providing basic healthcare to nearly 50 Indigenous groups across an area of northern Ontario. First Nations and rural Canadians, as well as those suffering from rare diseases, all make up statistics that Canada ignores when it comes to universal healthcare. Regardless of Trudeau’s rhetoric, factors such as ethnic background, treatment needs, geography, and income all matter when it comes to accessing care in Canada. Until the government addresses these disparities, the gaps in the Canadian system are too wide of a stretch to properly speak of “universal” healthcare.