An opinion essay by Adam Wallace criticizing the Capilano Courier for their toxic masculinity.
Adam Wallace (he/him) // Contributor & Male Feminist
Scarlett Side (she/her) // Web Art
It’s 6 p.m. on Wednesday, the day the Capilano Courier contributors meet to check in on how the month is panning out. I stand around the corner from the entrance to the Courier office, nervously biting my nails. I know I must go in, but I fear the chaos that stands beyond the front door.
After finally gaining the confidence to enter the meeting, I am promptly struck in the groin by the coarse hands of an insecure athlete. “Nut Taps!” my Editor-In-Chief declares, causing the room to erupt in a chorus of rowdy laughter. Immediately, I am faced with a dilemma: Do I play along, pretend I’m okay and that I’m in on the joke? Or do I reveal my true feelings? The following words wrack my mind on loop: “Stand up to them. Just for once Adam, tell them how you really feel.”
I broaden my shoulders, I tug on my shirt to straighten it a little, and I turn my chin up. I say the words aloud.
“I don’t like nut taps. I don’t find it funny. It makes me uncomfortable, and I want them to stop.”
The room falls into an uncomfortable quiet. Unfortunately this quiet is not dominated by self-reflection and guilt, but rather of annoyance and aggression. People roll their eyes, they shake their heads, they scoff, they stare. The Courier news editor (who shall remain nameless) takes a step closer to me, the brim of their fitted sports team hat in my face.
“Bro. It’s just a fucking joke. Don’t be such a p*ssy about it. God.” At this point, I’m not surprised by their crude choice of politically incorrect terms, but am offended nonetheless. I long to correct their tasteless parlance, but I’m simply too physically intimidated to do so.
A knock at the door interrupts our discussion, and I turn to see a Skip The Dishes delivery person. Dinner time. See, as a part of our monthly meeting, we’re fed dinner. You might be thinking that this is a nice break from tense discussions, but as a vegetarian, it opens up a slew of insults hurled towards me from my colleagues. “Burger King time, boys!” our Editor-In-Chief declares. It’s always Burger King. And no, they never get vegetarian burgers, so my dinner is relegated to a measly side of beige french fries, nothing more.
After dinner, the meeting continues. We begin to discuss the literature column for next month’s issue. Inevitably, the conversation steers towards promoting what is arguably right wing propaganda. I wish I could speak up, but my self-preservation is too strong and I fear being physically assaulted by another nut tap. But when the conversation turns to Joe Rogan and his recent slew of reprehensible podcasts, I decide to do it again: Do it, Adam. Stand up for the truth.
“Joe Rogan is a misogynistic right-wing propagandist.” I say proudly. The air goes ice cold. Not surprisingly, but disappointingly nonetheless, the Courier crew is not in agreement.
“Why do you always have to get like, political and stuff, man?” asks our literature editor. “It’s just a podcast dude, if you don’t like it just don’t listen. Let people enjoy things and stop being a b*tch about everything.”
“I’m sorry, but I have to stand up for the truth.” I state defiantly. “We have a responsibility to our readers to be fair and just, and I simply cannot sanction any sort of untoward rhetoric.”
I end the story here, for it drags on as you would imagine it might. My goal with this vignette is to paint a simple point: something needs to change. Unfortunately, the testosterone fueled frat-like culture of the Courier is hardly the outlier when it comes to student publications. Walk into any university campus, find their student publication offices and I guarantee you’ll find a slew of conservative young men spewing Fox News-like rhetoric. In my lived truth and informed opinion, we cannot simply have these hooligans be the arbiters of truth in our day and age, and if I get fired for stating my truth, for standing up for females & gender non-confirming folx and for speaking on my lived experience, well so be it. But the male dominated, right-wing world of student journalism is long overdue for a reckoning.