Call me sentimental, call me carb-obsessed, but I’ve been imagining those St. Viateur sesame bagels all week. Around this time last year, I was in Montréal for a vacation-turned-research trip on call-outs, social justice and processes of accountability, and I lived off bagels. Does Vancouver have an equivalent, cheap comfort food? I could have really used it over the last 11 months.
Circulating on social media right now, there’s a comic illustration with altered dialogue. It shows people grooving out to a band and two people approaching the dance floor. One of them asks, “Isn’t that dude a known abuser?” looking in the direction of a man dancing. The other responds, “He deleted Facebook and moved. Nothing more can be done.” The meme, if you can call it that, is uncredited at the time of this note’s publication.
After so many call-outs, town hall meetings, public statements and policy updates, I wish that image wasn’t still so relevant. When talking with people in Montréal who had already confronted the abusers in their community, I couldn’t have imagined the amount of emotional labour that my own community would spend addressing sexual assault allegations. I saw their exhaustion last summer and now I feel it for myself. We’ve done good, but there’s still work to do.
As the major media cycle moves on from #MeToo, I am reminded that this issue isn’t over at the call-out, town hall meeting, public statement or policy update. And it sure as hell isn’t over when abusers delete their social media accounts, move cities and try to reinvent their public image. Accountability is a process of reckoning, not just with the individuals who hurt us, but with the structures of oppression that enable and even encourage gender violence. It is as much about looking inward and questioning our own actions as it is about dismantling the patriarchal and colonial violence that exists outside of ourselves. If I sound like a broken record, it’s because this message is important to hear.
Discorder has prioritized articles about accountability, harm reduction, consent and toxic masculinity to interrupt the apathy around these topics. This Summer Issue is no different, with features on punk antagonists, lié; the radical CURRENT: Feminist Electronic Art Symposium; the work of queer-Métis fashion designer, Evan Ducharme; and an op-ed on sexual assault in CanLit written by UBC Creative Writing alumna, Keagan Perlette.
There is also an exclusive Bartholomew comic, a short fiction piece by Mack Gordon, reports from Music Waste and Sled Island, and reviews of music, podcasts, film and more.
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Discorder is 35-years old — 35 years of free, independent, badassery — and we’re celebrating with an all-ages 401st Issue Party at Red Gate on Saturday, July 21. There will be performances by BB, Francesca Belcourt, Mourning Coup and The New Rituals, a photo booth, giant Twister and more, $10 at the door. We hope to see you there!
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P.S. I started a summer radio show called BB’s Disco Party that airs every Tuesday from 3-4pm on CiTR 101.9FM in Vancouver and online at citr.ca. Tune in to hear music, etc. from the pages of Discorder Magazine.