June 20th, 2014
To the Management of Menz and Mollyz Bar:
We are writing this open letter to express our surprise, disappointment, and outrage at the prison-themed event you have organized for June 27th (‘Bad Boyz - Jail & Bail Charity Fundraiser’). The Facebook event description reads: “It can get awfully lonely when doing time and people have needs. We'll be making a makeshift holding cell to hold our jailbirds and will have some sexy deputies around the bar accepting bribes to have your friends thrown in the slammer to do some HARD time.” Further, there was a comment (since removed) from the bar’s official Facebook profile on the event page that read “Just don’t drop the soap.” Further comments from community members expressing concern have also been removed, which we find troubling.
It is unacceptable to us that an event hosted by and for queer people is deliberately romanticizing and sexualizing prisons and policing without any acknowledgement of how alienating and unwelcoming such a theme can be. Queer and trans* people are disproportionately targeted by police and experience overwhelming levels of police brutality, violence, harassment, and imprisonment. Furthermore, the people most likely to experience police-related violence and imprisonment are trans* people, trans women, people of colour, and Indigenous peoples. The portrayal of prisons and policing as simply a fun party theme both trivializes the violence inherent in the prison system and reinforces the relative privilege and comfort that white, cisgender queer people have when it comes to these issues.
It is also unacceptable to trivialize and eroticize rape as a way of promoting this event, especially when queer and trans* people experience significantly higher rates of sexual assault and abuse than the general population (both in and out of prison). Rape jokes uphold rape culture and that is not something we are willing to accept in our community.
While prisons, police, jail, and consensual non-consent scenarios can be elements of fantasy, kink and / or sexuality for many people, we object to the standardization of these themes without context or discussion. The portrayal of prison and rape as simply a fun and sexy fundraiser theme erases the voice of survivors of sexual assault and police brutality and further demeans their experience, something that happens far too often in society and should not be replicated in our queer community.
We feel unwelcome at and alienated by this event, and we are saddened to see it happening.
We call on you to hold an alternative event and issue a statement of accountability addressing these issues. We expect better.
signed:
Sophia Godsoe
Jacqueline Vincent (member, Rad Pride Collective)
Jude Ashburn (member, Rad Pride Collective, Sad Rad Collective member, Queer Peers member, and Outreach Coordinator at the South House Sexual and Gender Resource Centre)
Jean Ketterling (Admin and Volunteer Coordinator at the South House Sexual and Gender Resource Centre)
Shayna George
Alexandra Killham
Ann Harvey
Katerina Stein
Elyssa Canning
Holly Lobsinger
Beck Gilmer-Osborne
Ben Douwsma
Trina Conrad
Ewa Carter
Rebecca Rose (Former NSRAP Board of Directors and former Dyke and Trans* March organizing committee member)
Jillian Stagg
Emily Davidson
Elizabeth O'Brien
Kaleigh Trace
Mynah Meagher
Lindsay Miller
Jordan Roberts
Ruth Vollick
Laura Shepherd
Megg Cooper
Robyn Letson
Hannah Milley, Rad Pride Collective, member of South House Sexual and Gender Resource Centre Board of Directors
Su Donovaro
Lindsay Dauphinee
Justin Lees
Alia Saied
Jean Catherine Steinberg
Margot Durling
Christine Ollier
Jess Geddes
Adrienne Richey
Michael Phillips
Madison Foster
Abbey Ferguson- President of Mount Pride
Emerson Roach
Shila LeBlanc
Madeline Mitchell
Dan Hayward
Hannah Davison
Krista Kirby
Eva Burrill
Kiersten Holden
Elise Boudreau Graham, DSU Equity and Accessibility Office
Jeanne Fay, Executive Coordinator of Second Story Women's Centre
Matty Ellis
Lee Staples, President-OUTLaw Society, Vice President External- Law Students’ Society Schulich School of Law
Stella Samuels
Devon Berquist
Mary Burnet
Harry Makohoniuk (Rad Pride Collective Member, South House Board of Directors Chair)
Rachel Fudge
Lisa Garrett
Joanne Ansell (Monthly guest DJ at your establishment)
Evan Coole
Megan Best
El Jones
Shay Enxuga
Nicholas Hughes
Julia Kemp
Brittany Long
Carmella Farahbakhsh
Anna Taylor
Raghed Charabaty
lavender menace
Vixie Brown
The site for the Halifax local of The Media Co-op has been archived and will no longer be updated. Please visit the main Media Co-op website to learn more about the organization.