CANTA ISSUE 3, 2023

CANTA CANTA CANTA CANTA CANTA CANTA CANTA

Editorial Editorial

Rewind to 2007, 5-year-old me was going into my first day of school. I was slaying in my three-quarter leggings and shorts, Velcro sandals in go mode, with my kindergarten boyfriend (a.k.a arm candy) on my arm.

However, when I walked into the doors of room one, I was shocked by all of the different types of kiddies I saw. They didn’t all look the same like in kindergarten, some were dressed like boys, boys were dressed like girls and some were dressed like neither. I experienced a bit of a mind fuck.

Now back in 2007 this wasn’t very normal. Being a wee bit different was pretty scandalous and would mean you wouldn’t get invited to birthday parties or be picked for alliances in never ending tag. What a stitch up.

If I was to zoom forward 15 years and show my five-year-old self what it’s like now, it probably would have sent me. The amount of varying and different people on campus is nuts. It’s becoming more acceptable to not dress to your gender or do activities that don’t set themselves in those norms either. Slowly people are starting to accept that the heart wants what it wants.

I can’t speak from personal experience as I am not a member of the rainbow community myself. The closest thing I have experienced is my brother teasing me because I haven't brought a boy home from uni, my flat mate’s unnatural ability to death drop in a mosh, and dressing like a little boy.

Because the community is not my own, chats around inclusion, acceptability and improvements aren’t mine to talk about. I don’t know enough as I should and I haven’t experienced the struggle and stigma that others have.

It’s therefore pretty dog to do this Pride issue alone, so we have paired up with QCanterbury, UCs on campus club for the rainbow community. How dope. This issue is one I am pretty bloody proud to

put out, it features the voices of some of our own staff who have had their own experiences

I know many of you will be picking up this issue or even be reluctant to if it ‘doesn’t apply to you’. But these 48 pages are pretty fucking awesome, it’s an opportunity to open your eyes a bit and have a gander. Go for it. Get amongst it you good things.

Go hard or go home, Your 2023 Managing Editor,

Maddy Croad

CANTA-lender

CANTA-lender

Presidents Piece Presidents Piece

Kia ora koutou,

Hope the year is going swell so far. Last week of term is upon us – where did the weeks go! Hopefully you have buckled down into some serious studies, and hopefully you are beginning to see those mid-term assignments fly by with ease. Remember, the stress now will be worth the pay off when you are rolling in those A+ grades – so keep up the work because you can do it!

This is the pride issue, which is coming at the tail end of the biggest Pride week Christchurch has ever seen. It’s been lovely seeing students getting involved, and I’d like to also recognise the work of QCanterbury and their wonderful team. We even got to get those pesky hoardings down around the pride mural outside Haere-roa.

Reflecting on the week that has been, it has been so heartening to see the many displays of individual and collective pride and the community solidarity that is born out of this. However, it has also further crystalised why Pride displays are not only still necessary, but essential in society today.

Pride at its core remains a protest, an act of defiance against the established norm, and in pursuit of lasting freedom from discrimination. It’s often a colourful and exciting protest, but a protest nonetheless. While there are gains that should be (and have been) celebrated, there remains further to go. Further, the maintainence of rights is a constant struggle.

We only have to look to overseas, in particular the United States, where numerous states have proposed or adopted hundreds (yes, hundreds) of laws that would and are curtailing the rights of the Rainbow community in meaningful ways – from healthcare, to visability, to even advancements that were seemingly entrenched, such as same sex marriage.

This is particularly true for our trans and nonbinary community. Wholescale attacks on transgender people have intensified over the past few years with a goal of making it harder to access healthcare, or simply invalidating their identity all together. Trans people already face systemic discrimination, and now face the spectre of legislative opression. This is a global phenomenon, and New Zealand is not immune.

In the past year we have seen this discourse seep slowly into our local politics. MPs, such as Simon O’Connor, and Judith Collins have used their parliamentary platform to name just a few have weaponised transphobia to disparage trans and Rainbow people. Outside of parliament, other groups such as the New Conservatives are more brazen in their Anti-trans rhetoric.

Just this week in Christchurch, during Christchurch pride, we saw a small, ill-informed group of individuals antagonising our Rainbow community, hurling abuse, and suggesting they were perverted just for the crime of existing.

I say this to bring attention to the fact that this behaviour is not a solely American phenomenon. In New Zealand we like to view ourselves as a bastion of social progress, and to an extent we are. However, we cannot let this blind us to the fact that progress is a hardfought gain that can be easily lost.

Thus, it is a duty upon us all to confront this behaviour when it arises in all its forms. Transphobia, and intolerance against our Rainbow community can never be tolerated. We have the power to collectively reject this behaviour, and stand in solidarity with those who face countless hardships that many can only begin to imagine. It is the least we can do.

Thats all from me, enjoy the last week and term break!!!

Pierce

Tumuaki Piece Tumuaki Piece

E tio te Tūī, e ketekete te Kākā, e korihi te Kōkako (It takes many instruments to make a symphony)

Mauri ora e ngā tauira o Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha, Heading into Poutūterangi and the season of Autumn (Ngahuru), Te Akatoki acknowledges and celebrates Pride Month here in Aotearoa. For us as Māori it is important to celebrate and uplift ourselves and our takatāpui community. Takatāpui is the Māori for an ‘intimate relation with the same gender’. The use of Takatāpui is being more recognised and used as a response to the Western ideas of sexuality and gender. In te reo Māori, ‘ia’ is the word used to describe someone such as ‘he’, ‘she’, ‘her’, ‘him’, a gender-friendly term. Dr. Elizabeth Kerekere (Green Party MP) recently spoke in Te Ao Mārama on understanding takatāpui earlier this month.

Recently, the Māori community was celebrating the National Kapa Haka festival, Te Matatini, last month. Angitū, a Kapa Haka group from Tāmaki Makaurau challenged the gender roles within Kapa haka by normalizing the poi to be done by any gender on national livestream.

Angitū’s poi performances had an inclusion of wāhine Māori and takatāpui perform. Led by Pere Wihongi, Tianara Wihongi, Rhys Wihongi, Ranea Takiari, Tūhoe Tamaiparea, Thomas Rawiri, Norbryn Vaiula, Awatea Wihongi and Lilly Rawiri, Angitū placed in the top 12 finalists, taking home a joint win of ‘Te Taonga a Aotea District Māori Council award for their Poi performance. Their performance inspired people across the nation to be proud of who they are and proud to be Māori.

In earlier times, while Māori women used poi for performing and strengthening of wrists, Māori men too had used poi to strengthen their hands and wrists for battle. Seen in many Secondary Regional Kapa Haka performances where all Boy High Schools will perform with poi, such as Hato Paora located up North, and Shirley Boys High School here in Christchurch.

Angitū has shown the nation of Aotearoa that we can break down societal norms and return to the traditional lens when every person has a role and difference to make within their community. More importantly, it also provides a safe space for them to express themselves in their culture and sexuality.

To stay connected with Te Akatoki come along to our weekly Kapa Haka every Tuesday at the Whare. Our Social Sports on Wednesday (Volleyball) and Friday (basketball) at the RecCentre.

Te Akatoki is hosting a Special General Meeting to fill our Science, Education, Business and Postgraduate Academic Representative roles this March. Te Akatoki sits on all of the Faculty Boards and committees to ensure the best outcomes for tauira Māori here at Te Whare Wānanga o Waitaha. If you are a passionate tauira who wants to take on the opportunity to advocate for others, email ta.tumuakituarua@gmail.com. Let us know your name, iwi, study and why you think you’d be fit for the role!

Ngā manaakitanga, Anna Pohatu - Tumuaki o Te Akatoki

Canta news.

Canta news.

Rainbow Community shares hopes and concerns about this year’s Census

Georgia Walker (she/her)

This year’s Census is the first to ask Kiwis about their gender, sexual identity, and whether they were born intersex.

New Zealand is catching up to the likes of Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom who are already asking these inclusive questions.

Building upon this change, Stats NZ is now offering a new position aimed at navigating the data gathered from the rainbow community, given that this is uncharted territory for Aotearoa.

University of Canterbury’s senior rainbow advisor, Ari Nicholson, is relieved that Stats NZ have announced that they are hiring a queer expert.

Nicholson says the data holds immense potential to become a "powerful tool" in formulating policies and distributing funds, that better align with the needs of the communities that the Government serves.

"As long as those groups answer the census questions, then we'll be able to see them for the first time."

Daisy Auker-Woor, a queer student from Christchurch, is "excited" that the census acknowledges that rainbow people matter. "It's such a big step for representation” she said.

Despite the excitement of the queer community, Canta reported last year that more than a third of UC students identify as LGBT+, highlighting the presence of a significant community whose statistics have remained overlooked for far too long.

Although gathering rainbow statistics is important, a few issues have been pointed out by the community.

Auker-Woor said that she was worried that the data collected would be treated as absolute truth, which might not be the case.

Closeted individuals, who aren’t comfortable in their identity, and uninformed parents filling out the census for their children will affect data reliability.

Other members of the Rainbow community share similar concerns.

University of Canterbury English lecturer, Ren Saunders, said they were left with mixed feelings.

Saunders says that Stats NZ now has an important responsibility to address challenges and disparities that the Rainbow community faces, even if the data collected does not accurately reflect the size of the rainbow community in Aotearoa. "You can't discount us; we are a part of the population."

Is ChatGPT students’ essay writing saviour?

Ella Harvey (she/her)

ChatGPT is an artificial intelligence chat bot with the ability to answer questions and produce human-like text.

ChatGPT has risen to fame in the university world over the fact that the AI can produce plausible sounding paragraphs and format convincing essays in seconds.

This obviously brings forward issues of academic integrity, if ChatGPT can complete students assignments for them what does this mean for the future of university assessment?

Plagiarism checker ‘Turnitin’ is now able to recognise essays written by ChatGPT and other forms of AI. This essentially stops students from directly copying and pasting essays from ChatGPT and then submitting them.

Though ChatGPT can still fast forward the academic process for students. The AI can research content for assignments without providing footnoting, and limits students from developing the research skills a bachelor's degree teaches them.

This research that ChatGPT produces is plausible to an extent, but is incredibly average, superficial, generic, and not always 100% accurate. The writing style that ChatGPT

produces is also unoriginal, repetitive, and quite simply mundane. Thus, AI is producing mediocre work that could be easily outdone by a hard-working and applied student. However, as AI improves itself, who knows how its skills can advance, AI may just be the way of the future.

If AI is the way of the future, is it even necessary for young academics to develop these research and writing skills? If ChatGPT is going to do the work for us, why would one need to learn fundamental skills? Why don’t we take advantage of this technology?

With AI taking over and constantly developing itself it is evident that there will be career implications in future. AI is not only taking away the need for fundamental academic skills but could be coming for countless jobs. And that's something no one wants.

Students come to university to gain qualifications which will help ensure steady careers in the future, none of us are paying this much to simply be replaced by AI.

So, now that this ground breaking AI has blown up, everyone is wondering how it will affect the future of not only the academic world but the workforce in its entirety.

School climate strikers occupy Christchurch Council buildings

Matteo Zhang (he/him)

Thousands of students across the country took to the streets in 11 cities across the country calling for urgent climate action.

The nationwide protest on the 3rd of March was organised by School Strike 4 Climate (SS4C) and Friday’s For Future. The youth organisations were joined by other environmental organisations which saw an estimated 10,000 people take to the streets.

SS4C had five nationwide demands which called for no new fossil fuel mining or exploration, lowering the voting age to 16, regenerative farming, 30% marine reserve protection by 2025, and E-bike rebates for low-income households.

In Christchurch, an estimated 500 people gathered in Cathedral Square before marching and later occupying the Christchurch City Council lobby.

Year 12 student Anna who attended the strike in Christchurch told Canta that it was important for them to be there.

“I believe that we need urgent climate action or else we won’t be able to save our future generations” she said.

SS4C Ōtautahi had one regional demand for the council, end the proposed Tarras Airport. The protestors pointed to the council’s declaration of a climate emergency in 2019 as enough evidence to stop the new airport.

The protestors occupied the Council building for hours intending to force the Mayor Phil Mauger to put an end to the plan.

Jonty Coulson, a University of Canterbury student, told Canta that it was vital they act before the climate reached tipping point.

“Our goal is for the council to listen and make distinct change, because there is a lot of talk from politicians about making things happen, but no action that comes from it” he explained.

Mauger fronted up to the protestors 40 minutes after the occupation began, facing heckling from the crowd. While speaking, Mauger stated that he changed his views on climate change following Cyclone Gabrielle.

Councillors, Mark Peters, Sara Templeton, and Celeste Donovan joined the mayor.

Councillor for Riccarton Ward Tyla Harrison-Hunt had been present at the protest from when it started in Cathedral square.

Harrison-Hunt said that he had run on a platform of ensuring that young people would be heard at the council table and that it would have been hypocritical of him not to attend.

“All of it [the demands] is actually achievable, I cannot comment on Tarras as it is a topic that is very sensitive at the council table, legally I cannot talk about that. But I can talk about is the others and what we do value at the council, particularly with our allies and our colleagues, is climate action, climate action now.”

Canta spoke to the mayor after he finished addressing the protestors occupying the council buildings. Mauger said that it was important for him to listen to what they were saying despite the intense questioning he faced.

“It's good for me to be able to do that, if I haven’t got the balls or the guts to stand up there and listen to young people talk to me then I’m in the wrong job. I wouldn’t say enjoy it, but I don’t mind doing it” he said.

UC students hospitalised with meningococcal Matteo

Two students have been admitted to Christchurch Hospital after contracting meningococcal disease, bringing the total to four cases in Canterbury this year alone.

University of Canterbury (UC) students were informed of the first case in an email on the 8th of March.

Paul O’Flaherty, Executive Director of People, Culture and Campus Life at UC, advised students and staff that the risk of contacts of the case also contracting the disease was low.

The first case was an 18-year-old student who lives in Ilam Apartments. National Public Health Service Medical Officer of Health Dr Ramon Pink said that the second case identified was also an 18-year-old student.

In recent years, two UC students have died due to the disease. In 2020, 19-year-old student Miwa Chapman, and in 2021, 21-year-old student Theo Edwards.

Meningococcal disease can lead to two serious illnesses – meningitis (an infection of the brain membranes) and septicaemia (blood poisoning), both are potentially lifethreatening.

There are two vaccines available, both are strongly recommended by the UC Health Centre for students starting their first year at UC.

Both the vaccine for A, C, W and Y strains of the disease which is one dose, and the vaccine for the B strain, which requires two doses, is free for all domestic students under 25 years in their first year of living in a hall of residence.

Despite the dangers posed by meningococcal, the vaccines are out of reach for many students who don’t meet the funding requirements. With the cost approximately $150 for each vaccine, to be fully protected it would be $300.

Meningitis Foundation Aotearoa New Zealand said that the students could have been protected by vaccination had Pharmac and Te Whatu Ora acted faster.

Meningitis Foundation’s chair, Gerard Rushton, said that the funding for the meningococcal B vaccination came far too late, missing the commencement of the academic year for universities and secondary schools.

Gerard says that the government had to tackle the issue on two fronts, drive uptake, and widen access.

Zhang (he/him)

The Recap The Recap

History made as Australian PM marches in Sydney Mardi Gras

The Australian Prime Minster has become the first PM to march in the Sydney Mardi Gras pride parade. 12,500 paraded up Oxford Street under the theme of “gather, dream, amplify”, while being watched by hundreds of thousands who lined the streets.

Anthony Albanese first marched in 1983, five years after Mardi Gras' inception as a gay rights protest, now returning to the parade as PM. In 2018, former New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern was the first NZ PM to march in Auckland’s Pride Parade.

Sydney Mardi Gras returned to its spiritual home on Oxford Street after 3 years of Covid disruption. Many describe the attendance of Albanese and other senior politicians as a sign of the strides LGBTQ+ rights in Australia have made.

Reserve Bank raises official cash rate by 50 basis points to 4.75 percent

The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) has raised the Official Cash Rate (OCR) by 50 basis points despite the recent floods and cyclone, saying that the measures to fight inflation won’t end there.

The OCR is the interest rate at which RBNZ will lend money to banks in New Zealand. The rate forces banks to adjust their lending rates in response. With the OCR increasing it makes lending more expensive and discourages spending in the economy which in theory reduces inflation.

The RBNZ said in a statement that the RBNZ had taken the weather events into consideration, it had to look at the broader economic picture. The RBNZ said it projected a further increase 5.5 percent by the end of the year, signaling more interest rate pain for households with mortgages to come.

Xi Jinping handed a third term as China’s President

General Secretary of the Chinese Communist Party Xi Jinping has been handed an unprecedented third term as president in a ceremony during the National People’s Congress (NPC).

Xi has become the most powerful leader in China since Mao Zedong, who ruled China from 1949 until his death in 1976. Xi has consolidated his power in the single party state by removing factional rivals in the Politburo Standing Committee from power.

In 2018, he abolished presidential term limits setting himself up to be head of state for life. Xi has introduced the most repressive political and social controls in China since the 1960s.

Despite his firm grip on power, Xi faces significant challenges at home and abroad. Economic woes continue following China’s covid policy failures. China’s aggressive foreign policy has alienated many states.

Pacific Island Forum a win for Pacific diplomacy, but political situation in Fiji remains tense

The Pacific Island Forum (PIF) hosted in Suva this year has put Pacific diplomacy on full display as the region grapples with its many challenges.

The forum welcomed back Kiribati after it left PIF due to disputes over the forum leadership. The significant diplomatic efforts to reunite the forum had been led by new Fijian PM Sitiveni Rabuka. The reunited PIF voted on its new Secretary-General Former Nauru President Baron Waqa, a controversial figure in Pacific politics.

The forum has been a political win for Rabuka, but in Suva the political situation remains tense. Former PM Frank Bainimarama resigned from parliament and is now facing charges of abuse of office for interfering with a police investigation. Bainimarama is also under several other police investigations.

Matteo Zhang (he/him)

n queer culture, ‘mother’ refers to a woman or femme person with admirable and/or nurturing qualities. You know, “Jamie Lee Curtis was so mother at the BAFTAs”, “Sasha Colby is always mothering,” that kind of thing.

Trinity Ice is mother. More specifically, she’s my mother. Kind of. In 2019, along with Medulla Oblongata, she helped birth my drag persona Effie Vescent, for a one-night-only performance. Happy to be a very flash in the pan nepo baby.

I asked Trinity (Ngāti Kahungunu) if she was happy to be featured in a Canta piece about her life and career. She very kindly agreed to a video chat following a whirlwind nine days at Sydney World Pride.

The day arrives. I check how I look in my camera app, then press ‘call’. Trinity answers right away, stunning as always, of course. I clarify that she’s welcome to just share what she wants, she responds, “you know me, I’m an open book.”

Trinity started her drag journey at seventeen years old while living in Palmerston North, commuting from Palmy to Levin to Ōtaki to Wellington for her gigs. Today, she’s a drag legend based in Auckland, with more than fifteen years of experience in the cabaret scene as well as charity and corporate gigs.

Charlotte Thornton (she/her)

She competed on House of Drag, a Kiwi reality show hosted by future RuPaul’s Drag Race Down

Under contestants Kita Mean and Anita Wig’lit. At Sydney World Pride, Trinity represented Aotearoa in the Miss First Nation Supreme Queen pageant and was awarded the title of Miss Charm.

She’s beaming when she brings it up, saying she feels blessed but overwhelmed. She calls it the “biggest highlight of [her] career” to compete and to see First Nations and Indigenous artists at the forefront, receiving the praise they deserve.

For her, no corporate event or meeting with a famous person could matter as much as this event. “It’s the cultural awakening that I got from them. They were just so fucking welcoming.”

Trinity says that drag is built by the community. She started her performing career alongside a drag sister and considers it vital to uplift and advocate for other performers. Her focus specifically is on her POC trans sisters and brothers, and the Indigenous artists who have been so often overlooked. “When the community calls, you always answer.”

Within the queer community, she’s an advocate and a businesswoman. She’s the mother of the Haus of Ice, with drag children Elektra Shock, Flor, Kourtney Khaos, and Nikki Notorious making waves in Aotearoa and worldwide. Elektra placed fifth on the first season of Drag Race Down Under and became a fanfavourite, even going on to become a judge on Dancing With the Stars NZ.

Since her appearance in the First Nations pageant, Trinity feels she’s finally in a league of her own, “I’m not, like, ‘Kita and Anita’s brown friend’, or ‘Elektra Shock’s drag mother’. I’m finding my own identity. I’ve just always wanted to be Trinity Ice, and that’s it.”

She now describes herself as an entrepreneur, an emcee, a trans activist, a haus mother, and a showgirl. For Trinity, to be a good showgirl is to be a good hustler, “everything to me is a possible business venture.”

“One quality I have, which is very, very rare in this industry…” she laughs, “and people will all agree when I say – I have the most efficient time management skills out of every drag queen, probably, in Auckland.”

She says it’s important to always say thank you, even in a business context, and to continually seek out your own work. She had just spent an entire day just sending emails to local businesses. “People don’t really know they need a drag queen or entertainment until it’s like, put right in front of them. It’s like a Batman signal.”

In the years to come, Trinity is looking to branch out. She wants to appear more on television out of drag, and to do more producing than performing, but she’s not going to stop there. “In twenty years’ time, I probably see myself moving into politics.”

“It’s really hard, ‘cause there’s that precedent set by Georgina.” Trinity’s referring to the late, great Georgina Beyer, the world’s first openly transgender mayor and a national hero in Aotearoa.

“Georgina said this to me multiple times throughout the years, 'you’ve got the sharp tongue, you’ve got the knack, and the skin for it.'”

I, personally, would kill to see Trinity in government. As a legendary public speaker, activist, and mentor, she’s made for the job. And I promise I’d feel the same even if she weren’t my mother.

Before we sign off, Trinity tells me she’s about to jump into back-to-back, all-day drag at Tāmaki Makaurau Auckland’s Big Gay Out. The thought terrifies me, as I was exhausted after a five-minute performance in short heels and a borrowed wig.

But I couldn’t have done any of it without Trinity. I imagine many of this country’s best performers wouldn’t be who they are today without her. She’s mother, and like most mothers, Trinity deserves more recognition than she receives. I’m in my Trinity Ice era, and you should be too.

HARRY STYLES AND THE RISE OF QUEER JOY

Beccy Arnold (she/her)

In a world where it feels like everything must be categorised, labelled, and compartmentalised, there’s one man who leads the way to a more gender fluid world - Harry Styles.

Harry’s sexual ambiguity and androgynous style feels completely refreshing and his lack of conformity to any one sexuality sets an example for people who don’t want to label themselves. His concert tour ‘Love On Tour’, about creating a safe space for people to be whoever they want to be, which in itself is an example of queer joy. It’s a kind of deep happiness that brings warmth and connection to rainbow lives, enabling them to celebrate their queerness.

Flying pride and bisexual flags have become a staple at every Harry Styles show, setting arenas ablaze with roaring crowds as he waves them around the stage during ‘Treat People with Kindness (TPWK)’. These acts of rainbow support have created a sense of camaraderie amongst the Styles’ fandom. As much as they’re there to see him, they’re there for each other too. His song, TPWK, epitomises his mantra throughout his entire musical career and instils an unparalleled connection between fans. That’s probably why so many people feel comfortable coming out at Harry’s shows.

Occasionally, someone coming out at one of Harry’s shows goes viral on TikTok, but the occurrence isn’t that rare. A quick Google search reveals Harry

aiding fans in announcing their sexuality at different locations on tour - Melbourne, London, Los Angeles, even Milwaukee of all places. He takes his role in their moment of expression very seriously and treats it with care and his signature cheekiness. When Harry reads out their sign, the reaction from the crowd is deafening and the person in question is engulfed in support from the surrounding fans.

An intimate moment really, considering there’s tens of thousands of people watching.

“That’s the magic of Harry fucking Styles”

With the world constantly tracking him, Harry understandably keeps his personal life away from the public eye. Harry’s private demeanour has turned his life into a mystery novel of sorts, one that doesn’t have a definitive answer or solid ending. The harsh edges between Harry’s stage persona, his social media presence and real personality become blurred with only fan conspiracies to guess what remains. There are very few comments from the man himself to dispel the rumours, with Harry stating in an August 2022 interview with Rolling Stone that there is, “always going to be a version of a narrative, and I think I just decided I wasn’t going to spend the time trying to correct it or redirect it in some way.”

Fan conspiracies run rampant around the fandom, with one of the most popular theories alluding to a relationship between Harry and his former bandmate, Louis Tomlinson, coined ‘Larry Stylinson.’ Between Wattpad, Reddit and Tumblr (back in One Directions’ prime), there’s a seemingly endless stockpile of gay fanfiction involving Harry Styles. These stories and theories say more about the fan than they do of Harry, but it has brought up questions of his sexuality.

Harry has not publicly labelled his sexuality, having previously called the need for defining sexuality “outdated” in an interview with Better Homes & Gardens, saying that for him, “it doesn’t matter.” Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what iteration of human sexuality Harry Styles is. What’s important is that he publicly protects and supports the rainbow community, allowing a safe space for everyone to be happy. Because as he says at every concert, “you can be whoever you want to be in this space.”

Since the infamous One Direction hiatus announcement back in 2015, Harry has only grown in popularity, with his most recent release ‘Harry’s House’ winning Album of The Year at the Grammys. There is no doubt that he is one of the most popular artists of the current generation, having received high acclaim from critics and fans alike - though some critics have been harsher than others.

The release of Harry’s 2020 Vogue cover was met with heavy controversy. The December issue features Harry wearing a pale blue Gucci gown on the cover, with the focus on gender fluid clothing as he poses in other designs from Harris Reed throughout the issue. It was only a few days later when conservative author and commentator Candace Owens posted online about her disgust with Harry’s cover, using the phrase “bring back manly men.”

Her misogynistic comments are the complete antithesis of everything Harry stands for.

It sparked massive debates around men wearing feminine clothing, deconstructing what Harry has always worked hard for. Owens’ comments over a piece of clothing is pathetic. It’s not as if Harry is the first male musician to wear dresses either, Freddie Mercury, Prince, David Bowie. They’ve all been wearing feminine clothing for years. But in this chronically online era of people where anyone can be a critic from their own home and spout whatever opinions they feel like, these critiques are magnified. Harry has never let these controversies stop him from doing what he thinks is right.

So now when fans look at Harry, they see in him whoever they want to see, pieces of themselves even. Styles has become this blank canvas upon which fans project their own desires onto, in the humming quiet of their imagination, between chatter amongst friends, behind words of fanfiction.

That’s the magic of Harry fucking Styles.

There really is a mystical air about him, his shows, his

music. Even from an outside perspective, the kind of celebration of rainbow individuals that Harry enables is something we haven’t seen that much before. With the ever-growing popularity of Harry, hopefully we’ll see more artists like him who create safe spaces for people who need them.

The Gothic South’s Ethereal Ethel Cain

In May of last year, I came across a TikTok recommending the debut LP record of a burgeoning artist named Ethel Cain. The project was advertised as simply gorgeous song-writing over exhaustive track lengths, and as someone who would willingly listen to a sixteenminute Car Seat Headrest song, the sell fascinated me.

You know what? I enjoyed it on the first listen, it got my seal of approval. I did think that the tracks were on the long side but, the vocals, production, and storytelling were undeniably captivating. Little did I know at the time though, Preacher’s Daughterwould grow on me like no other album, continuing to climb, and climb, and climb my album of the year list until it dethroned JID’s TheForeverStory.

Now, before I go into insufferable, yet magazine-appropriate, depth about how stupidly brilliant Preacher’s Daughter is, let me give you a background on the virtuoso behind the Ethel Cain moniker, Hayden Anhedönia.

From the crown of Hebrew biblical text tattooed along her forehead to the muffled preaching on her LP’s opening track, Hayden’s upbringing is explicitly woven into her art and aesthetic. Being the daughter of a Floridian deacon and having been raised Southern Baptist, much of her adolescence was grounded in Christian ideology.

At the age of twelve, Hayden came out to her family as gay, and on her twentieth birthday, she came out as a trans woman, dividing her town that is frozen in tradition. Over her formative years, her involvement with the town’s Church dwindled but her artistic interest in Christianity stuck.

Hayden’s ambivalent relationship with her religious past forms the basis of her artistry. On this topic, she says, "whether I like it or not, God always has and always will be a huge part of my life. Whether he's being used as a comforting figure or a threat, I've always been

Ethel Cain

Tim Smith (he/him)

surrounded by it. It's not really something you can walk away from.”

Over the next few years, while studying film, she began experimenting with reverbsoaked, atmospheric tracks under the names White Silas and Atlas. The end of 2019 saw Hayden professionally adopt the Ethel Cain stage name, putting out two EPs, Carpet Bed & Golden Age. After moving to Indiana with a new publishing contract in hand, Hayden refined her southerninfluenced sound with the release of her best-produced EP yet, Inbred The highlight of Inbred is Crush , a puppy-love-infused anthem. This track and its dreamy chorus walked so her later hit-single American Teenager could run.

Now with a series of lo-fi, Americanadrenched snippets out, the seed had been planted for the Ethel Cain character. Her tales of love and faith found and lost collectively pointed towards a bigger picture, soon to be unravelled in the form of her debut studio album.

Preacher’s Daughter is a concept album following the life and death of Ethel Cain, the daughter of a smalltown preacher turned freezer bride. Track-by-track the project reads as a subversion of the traditional, 20th-century American dream, tapping into Southern gothic ideas such as intergenerational trauma, abuse, and poverty. She not only thematically draws from Southern influence but stylistically does, incorporating folk and country elements into her dream popheavy sound to create beautifully haunting soundscapes.

Family Tree (Intro) opens on harrowing bass notes amid muffled preaching. It’s a wicked tone-setter of a track, establishing the overarching theme of the LP: intergenerational trauma. It foreshadows the fate of Cain at the hands of a brutal hereditary cycle.

Probably the most playlist-ready track of the bunch, American

Teenager is a faux-pop album with an anti-war sentiment, which funnily enough was one of Barack Obama’s favourite tracks of the year. Here, Ethel comes clean about the pitfalls of striving to be an American Teen, where the reality is shrouded in pressure, weighty expectations, and alcohol abuse. This is the track you can separate from the story of the album the most because it just rocks in almost any setting.

As heavy piano chords are drawn out, Cain is given room to deliver a commanding vocal performance on A House in Nebraska . In classic Ethel Cain fashion, it transgresses from a stripped-down torch song to a powerhouse track. Throughout Hayden’s work, there are a series of characters that go unnamed in her songs but are canonically established outside of her music. The ex-lover Ethel reminisces about here is Willoughby, who Hayden anoints as “the one”.

Western Nights marks the wheels rolling into action story wise, as Ethel fills the void left by Willoughby with a new troubled man. This slow core ballad starts to dig its teeth into those Southern Gothic ideas, dealing with themes such as abuse and poverty.

Track five, Family Tree, reprises the opening bassline. Contextually, this follows the death of Logan in a police shootout but lyrically begins to set up act two of the album. Act two? That’s right. Preacher’s Daughter was initially conceived as a film instead of an album, which makes perfect sense considering the cinematic weight many of the tracks carry.

Closing act one is my personal standout track, Hard Times . Noteto-note this song is so delicately sung with poignant lyricism. Here, the character of Ethel confronts the sexual abuse she endured in childhood. It’s a lyrically disturbing track but bears testament to Hayden’s ability to deliver perceptive and artistically-inclined accounts of gritty, real-world trauma through her storytelling.

Ethereal Icon

Honing her southern influence, Thoroughfare is a near ten-minute country track, harmonicas and all. Ethel hits the road as she runs away from home, travelling to the west coast with Isaiah, who charms her along the way.

Gibson Girl leans heavily into darkpop, which is quite the switchup off the back of Thoroughfare but it works! The descent of Ethel becomes prevalent at this point, as Isaiah’s true colours show. It’s my least favourite track on the album but it keeps the story ticking along.

Freaky doesn’t begin to describe it for Ptolemaea . Drugged by Isaiah, Ethel loses grip on reality. The production on this track is truly incredible. Its dizzying, droning build-up is disrupted by an explosion of metal-inspired madness.

Next come a pair of instrumentals, which are two of the most cinematic tracks on the record, the latter of which is gorgeous. First up, August Underground – referencing the film of the same name – is a menacing piece, musically narrating Ethel accepting her fate at the hands of Isaiah. Hayden’s favourite track, Televangelism , follows, where ethereal and bright piano keys form the soundtrack of Ethel’s ascension to heaven.

The penultimate track, Sun Bleached Flies , sees Ethel reflect on her life, the decisions she made, and the one she wanted all along – Willoughby. Hayden’s conflicted view on religion is explored in a very upfront manner on this track, and her philosophy is best summed up in the lyric “God loves you, but not enough to save you.”

I don’t know how Ethel Cain managed to make a song about cannibalism astoundingly beautiful but she did. The closer, Strangers, depicts Ethel as a freezer bride, eventually being cannibalised by Isaiah. Ideas of self-worth and morality are brought to light through double entendres that are densely packed throughout

the track. Listening to Strangers is pretty much a course in songwriting 101. The second chorus is jaw-dropping, as tom drums lead up to a flurry of guitars reminiscent of traditional shoegaze. All hell breaks loose on the bridge, as the guitars build into a ferocious display of talent. This track is a spiritual journey in itself, never mind the other 12 tracks.

I can’t speak highly enough of this project, whether that be its highly nuanced production or world-class song-writing. Preacher’s Daughter is the pinnacle of Ethel Cain’s story so far, but just the tip of the iceberg for what is yet to come. It’s not exactly official, but it’s fair to assume that Hayden will continue to explore the tragedy tormenting the women of the Cain family and make one hell of a career out of doing so.

An in-depth rainbow history of The Muppets

It’s important to know our LGBTQ+ history. You’ve likely heard of the Stonewall riots, and probably remember the legalisation of same-sex marriage. Pride is a reaction to oppression and it is vital to continue the good fight. But there’s more to queer history than just political struggle, so I’d like to highlight a group of gay icons: a fluffy, felted, found family.

It makes sense that the Muppets connect with queer audiences. They’re a bunch of misfits with diverse personalities and colourful costumes. Gay icons populate their films and TV shows – Liza Minnelli in The Muppets Take Manhattan, Tim Curry in Muppet Treasure Island, Jim Parsons in 2011’s The Muppets – and who could forget the brilliantly-titled Lady Gaga and the Muppets Holiday Spectacular?

As anthropomorphised bundles of fabric, they’ve always had some leeway in the bounds of gender and sexuality. Miss Piggy is a boisterous, voluptuous diva, and has always been played by a man. She’s a drag queen, y’all. She even appeared on RuPaul’s Drag Race – though, sadly, not to compete herself. Miss Piggy for season sixteen, please!

I have to quickly jump ship from the Muppets to Sesame Street. We can’t skip past Bert and Ernie. Their interactions were based on the real-life friendship between heterosexual co-creators Jim Henson and Frank Oz. But Bert and Ernie’s pseudoromantic dynamic has still been questioned for decades. However, Sesame Workshop and Oz vehemently denied this reading for years.

In 2018, Oz shocked the public by tweeting, “I have now learned that many view [Bert and Ernie] as representative of a loving gay relationship, and that’s pretty wonderful. Thanks for helping me understand.”

Queer representation, especially from decades ago, is often not the work of creators but of audiences. In the 1970s it was a revelation to see a happily married gay couple in any form of media. But here

they were, in a children’s show, bickering over a plate of cookies. Yeah, it’s pretty wonderful.

In my view, though, the queerest of all Muppets is actually Gonzo the Great. He was a last-minute addition to The Muppet Show, made from an abandoned Fraggle puppet and flicking through personality types without much direction. Eventually, he was solidified as an eccentric daredevil. But unlike the other leads, who were based on specific animals – Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Sam the Eagle – Gonzo still has no set species. With a vague identity and backstory came an

In The Muppets’ Wizard of Oz, Gonzo is not the ‘Tin Man’ but the ‘Tin Thing’. This (rather obvious) coding as non-binary ruffled fewer feathers than it might have for a human character in a family show.

Gonzo has remained a niche rainbow community legend. To this day, I cannot meet more than one of my queer friends at a time without trying to figure out which one of us is the Kirby and which is

Charlotte Thornton (she/her)

the Gonzo. He’s probably on every mood board at Dangerfield head office. He should be knighted for his services to fashion and activism.

Gonzo’s non-binary identity was made official in a 2021 episode of Muppet Babies, in which Gonzo becomes ‘Princess Gonzorella’, revealing their identity to their friends by saying, “I don't want to do things just because that's the way they've been done. […] I wanna be me.”

Miss Piggy throws the ball’s rulebook over her shoulder, saying that from now on, anyone who attends can wear anything they like. The episode stirred controversy among adults, but Muppet Babies really is a children’s show, and I’ll bet more than a few kids saw Gonzorella in their princess dress and felt a bit more confident to wear one of their own.

Queerness was built into the heart of the Muppets from the beginning. One of its original puppeteers, Richard Hunt, was a gay man, and his characters remain some of the most beloved to this day: he originated the roles of Statler, Beaker, Janice, and Scooter, and occasionally portrayed Miss Piggy alongside Oz in early appearances. His presence on The Muppet Show helped solidify its status as a family programme which could also be distinctly rainbow community-friendly.

They had plenty of queer guest hosts, like Vincent Price, Rudolf Nureyev, Elton John, and Liberace. They made under-the-radar gay jokes about Bunsen and Beaker. On the spin-off Fraggle Rock, Hunt used his personal experience of losing a loved one to AIDS to deepen his portrayal of a grieving Fraggle. Five years later, in 1992, Hunt also died from complications of HIV/AIDS. He was just forty years old. That year, The Muppets Christmas Carol was dedicated both to him and to the late Jim Henson.

Hunt’s legacy lives on, in his loved ones and in his tremendous creative influence. It’s especially touching that Hunt is honoured in The Muppets Christmas Carol, which has a subtly queer moment that inspired one of my tattoos. The film’s framing device has Rizzo as himself and Gonzo as Charles Dickens (long story) act as narrators; after an argument, there’s a long pause, and out of nowhere, Rizzo kisses Gonzo on the nose. Presumably it’s a blooper that got left in, but it’s never been confirmed. It’s certainly one of the first non-heterosexual affectionate kisses ever to appear in a Hollywood family film.

The Muppets have now been acquired by Disney, whose complex history with the rainbow community is welldocumented. But this has meant that decades of Muppets media are now readily available to new audiences, who might see themselves in Piggy, Gonzo, or Beaker, and feel a bit safer amongst the cavalcade of accepting friends. The Muppets’ queer history, chaotic and tender in turn, does not belong just to its creators but to us. Their queer story is just the beginning, and so is ours.

What it Means t0 Be N0n-Binary

Ella Jenkins (she/her)

Transgender’ represents a spectrum of identities and is an umbrella term, “denoting or relating to a person whose gender identity does not correspond with the sex registered for them at birth.” Not just male to female or female to male but, also others that don’t fit the traditional gender binary.

This is known as being non-binary or colloquially, NB or enby. Nonbinary is almost an umbrella term itself with many other gender identities that don’t get the same attention as the binary trans identities.

For myself, being non-binary is something I do not understand very well. I am a binary transwoman after all, and I feel that I cannot write about non-binary people without understanding their experiences. To do so I would need to talk to a member of the community.

Jaskier Blair is a 19-year-old artist from Christchurch who identifies as non-binary and trans-masculine. Blair explicitly mentions that, “they do not identify as a man.” Blair likes to feel like a, “non-binary creature” as some days they do not “vibe with gender.” Blair uses they/ he pronouns day to day but noted experimenting with neopronouns such as it/it’s.

Blair understands that being nonbinary allows them to present both as masculine and feminine as, “clothes and make up have no gender”, depending on the day they can feel comfortable in both.

Blair feels that they can never identify as a man or a woman, and that feminine pronouns give them severe dysphoria.

To Blair, their identity is constantly changing, they like to think of gender as a quantum particle,

“constantly moving, changing, and evolving, but unmoving when observed.” They think this is the result of their identity being just as much inside their head as it is how they see and think of themselves on the outside. Their gender identity is, “something precious and sacred, something just for [themself].”

Blair is proud to be non-binary and they feel secure in the label they have given themselves. Their gender is constantly changing but not in the same way a person who is genderfluid would change. To Blair, their gender and selfideation is fluid and will change with mood and with day-to-day life. For them, there are an infinite amount of variables that will affect their gender and/or presentation and to them they are all valid.

Blair feels that the laws only exist to make their voter bases happy, but knows that it is “killing trans people.”

Blair feels that people need to get their, “fucking heads out of the ground”, when it comes to the trans and rainbow communities. They said that, “we’ve been here since the dawn of time, it’s nothing new.”

Blair hopes that Aotearoa is becoming more tolerant but it is yet to be seen “if this progression will continue or pause.”

For Blair, they want society to progress to a stage where they feel comfortable and safe to go out with a makeup beard on and/or a masc outfit. They want this for, “all trans men and masc enbies and [they] want all trans women, femme enbies and any other gender queer people to feel safe and protected to go out into public wearing gender affirming outfits and makeup.”

When it comes to allies of the community Blair notes that allies need to keep an open mind as trans and questioning people explore ‘gender’ as it is a construct. Noting it is “unique to every single human being.”

When it comes to society, Blair notes that trans healthcare needs to be “way more accessible and friendly” noting that there is a lot of undiscussed transphobia in the healthcare system. Blair hates going to the hospital as they are constantly misgendered, “even when pronouns are on their chart.”

Blair feels the world is split to being open on trans identities. Noting how the United States is, “fucking terrifying right now”, with how conservative politicians are going after transgender people.

“I need to feel safe. That’s surely not too much to ask society?” Blair knows that others will disagree but they believe it is a human right to feel safe and to present yourself to society however you wish to.

The transgender community is already quite misunderstood by society. But for the non-binary community this is especially true, with challenges that most wouldn’t understand. Simple things like being able to put the gender they identify as on their passports or drivers licence and having their pronouns and identities respected by people during their day to day lives. Things that people inside the transgender and non-binary communities have to fight hard for, but that those outside the communities take for granted.

“I need to feel safe. That’s surely not too much to ask society?”

Disappointed but not surprised Disappointed but not surprised

When I was younger, I tried so hard to be good at everything. I always thought that I was just someone who liked to give everything my all. However, as I have grown up, I have realised that I am 100% almost always doing things to please my parents. See, as a child; even now, I have never once done anything for my parents to be disappointed in me. I was a great student with really good grades, did extracurriculars, studied 24/7. To any parent I was the perfect child. But, when I told them that I was in a same-sex relationship, I of course turned into their greatest disappointment.

You probably think I am overreacting, but my dad stared me in the eyes as he was doing the dishes and said, “I mean yeah it’s really disappointing but something we aren’t surprised about.” Personally, I think mum takes the cake saying, as she teared up, ”I hoped you’d achieve more in life.” This comment was said somewhere within her forty-fiveminute bitch about my choices in life. The support was obviously ‘all there’ for me. At the start, I understood. It was because of their orthodox values and rich beliefs. Who was I to impose on their beliefs? However, now I understand that they hide their homophobia behind their religion. A religion which I am still apart of as it is all I have ever known. Our religion which has made my parents hate me more each day and has made me hate myself.

The irony of all this is that I have never been taught that being gay was wrong. My mum has gay friends and doesn’t look at them with disgust like she does whenever I mention my partner. Once, Dad said to me that he thought, “love was love and everyone should be allowed to love who they want.” So you’d think I was in the clear, but those parents were nowhere to be seen when I came out. It is just because I am their blood and it would look bad if the church community were to find out that I am in a same-sex relationship. Immediately after I told them, damage control was in full swing with my parents trying to work out who knows and how we will react when it gets out.

I think the worst part about all of this is that I am still being punished. My partner and I have been together for a while, and I thought I would have felt better once I told my parents about them. It just made things worse. I can’t hold hands with them in public without

feeling the sting of fear paralyse me. I always pan my eyes every couple of seconds when in public as a couple to make sure that no one from my church, family, or family-friends are around. I won’t sugar-coat it, it sucks. My parents have made me scared to be with my partner in public. Date-nights and anniversaries are supposed to be a happy-time, instead it scares me as it could just be another way to get caught.

A lot of the time, I question whether everything I have ever done mattered. If my existence, my worth has boiled down to this, why have I tried so hard to please? This is the heart-breaking thing, why do I care so much about people that don’t accept me for me?

My parents and I have always had a tough relationship. We almost always got into it, but it was never about my identity. I never had to question whether they loved me, I thought it was unconditional. The church and my parent’s values have made me realise that love is conditional and family is not forever. Yes, I might not be able to choose my family, but I can choose to be around people that love, support, and care for me no matter what.

My cousins have been the best. Without their support I don’t know what I would have done. They are a reminder that there could be people in the church community that could see past my sexuality and see me for me. It is awful that my parents will probably never be able to have a dinner with my partner and I. At least I know my cousins would be super keen to come, that is somewhat comforting.

I never thought I would ever be in this position before. I heard about things like this happening overseas and in movies, but I never thought it would be my life. The hardest part is trying not to lose myself in the process of convincing my parents I am more than this. The more I fight, the more I realise my self-worth, my courage, and the importance of my voice. Now, I do things for myself instead of my parents. No child deserves to be given a speech about how little they are worth in a community they have been apart of their whole life, let alone how little they are now worth to their parents.

An anonymous personal essay about coming out

“No child deserves to be given a speech about how little they are worth in a community they have been apart of their whole life, let alone how little they are now worth to their parents”

“No child deserves to be given a speech about how little they are worth in a community they have been apart of their whole life, let alone how little they are now worth their parents”

it,

get

We

you can sing. Kidding! (Mostly.) You’re a bit of a drama queen but we love you for it –and you’re always hot on the trail of the latest Broadway beef. A valuable member of every groupchat.

In your friend group you

a

You’re

never

really have any idea what’s going on, and that’s okay. It’s just you and your Rosé against the

Wait, these gays… they’re trying to murder you?!

world.

master storyteller

a

You’re

and

hard worker. You never miss a deadline for assignments

Oh, the fracking!

a jack of all trades. You get really pissed off

people misspell your name –valid, though. You made a whole TV special about it, for God’s sake.

when

and you’re

probably heading

for postgrad. And you love Mamma Mia 2, like all sane people do.

You’re a bit of a diva and proudly so. You like everything to go your way, and really, who wouldn’t?

just

You’re

brave enough to say it. And you’re probably a Leo.

all

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about branding.

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an Etsy business or a viral TikTok. You’ll have your own line of chocolate bars one day. I feel it.

got

RuPaul

Mariah Carey

Cher

Jennifer Coolidge

Liza Minnelli

Freddie Mercury

QCanterbury

Kia ora!

My name is Neil, and I am the President of QCanterbury for 2023. Having grown up in Mid Canterbury and realizing that I was gay certainly gave me the fire I needed to fight for the need of the queer voice in discussions. There is something special about being around other rainbow people and allies who support you for who you are. Coming into UC, QCanterbury encompassed all of that and more for me. It brings me joy to continue the rich history I follow and to see more incoming students able to enjoy the social events QCanterbury hosts.

Tell us a bit about QCanterbury!

QCanterbury is fundamentally a social group that puts on events for the rainbow community of UC to come together. We put on large events to bring the whole community together, small events to create those meaningful connections, and everything in between. We largely provide a safe space for everyone who belongs or allies the rainbow community to be themselves and have fun while doing it. Moving forward, we are looking at experimenting with our larger events, pushing more for advocacy of the rainbow voice on campus, and looking at how we can help better support our fellow clubs and their rainbow members.

Promote your club to a newbie. How would you sell it?

Our club is the friendliest, most welcoming, and most open club to everyone. The rainbow community is known for its inclusivity and we welcome everyone, queer or an ally, to come join our club. Making friends, whether it be your first or last year, can be seriously daunting but coming to our events is a sure way for you to meet some new and interesting people. Our club is here to give people a place to be happy and to be themselves.

What are some events or activities you have planned for this year?

We have our popular annual events such as Quiz Night, the Queer Market, Bingo Night, and the Ball. We also put

When you consider the history of the Rainbow community in New Zealand, it probably comes as no surprise that things aren’t perfect. It would be presumptuous to say that all the efforts and actions put in by the government and even in our own universities that *excuse the pun* is sunshine and rainbows. However of course there are stamps, approvals and recognitions that can say `we support the rainbow community’ such as a tick or more commonly a banner. The question is what the practicality of a symbol does to back up what it represents and what it actually means for our university.

According to the 2021 UCount survey 14% of the UC population identifies as Rainbow. That’s approximately 2,200 students. When interviewing Kiera Webb, the Rainbow Advisor prior to mid 2022, she described the system as “working like an ambulance at the bottom of a cliff.”

The department now has two full time staff with one in the works, before there was only one staff member. This was pretty dire especially when we know that people in the community are twice as likely to experience anxiety on a daily basis and 2.9 times more likely to experience feelings of depression than those non LGBT+ (HEC, 2021).

To support these students, rainbow support used to fall under Te Waka Pākākano (Office of Maori, Pacific & Equity), however this has now been disbanded. The impact of this means Rainbow moves under Wellbeing. The concern here is those students who fall under multiple minority groups will no longer have a one stop shop for their needs.

This could mean they will have to choose which aspect of their life is more important to them. So, although there has been real progress in the university we have to be aware that these changes could impact support.

Ari Nicholson the Rainbow Coordinator said “there has been a real culture shift recently- it has come slowly and surely over the past couple of years”. They said concern lies for the university in Rainbow competent counselors which are in short supply across the country and the work in

the curriculum also has a long way to go. They are excited to add another member to the team and continue making moves in the right direction.

QCanterbury is our only rainbow club at UC, and provides a social environment for students that are allies or are within the Rainbow community. Historically, Qcanterbury has been underfunded, unlike other clubs they don’t have a direct connection with university departments so they have no avenue for funding. The lack of financial support has meant events have been limited to only what they can put on with little to no budget.

Then if you consider grants for example UCSA it's on a remuneration basis. So you either pay out of pocket (which is technically not allowed) or you rely on outside avenues. However, they have still managed to put together great inclusive events such as quiz night and the first ball in years in 2022.

Throughout researching this article, I was pleased to see an amazing Rainbow team and a specialized club for the UC community, working to provide an inclusive environment. However, the same progress is hard to find in the Christchurch community. During the recent Christchurch Pride there were protests, hate speech and threats. The effect this has on students can be massive. Expecting a complete culture shift is maybe a bit farfetched but wouldn’t it be great if pronouns were something everyone was just comfortable with? Where students can go to class and feel absolutely comfortable with themselves.

Through having conversations with students inside and outside the community there is a resounding agreement that ‘queerness’ is tolerated here but not celebrated. It reinforces that idea of ‘us’ and ‘them’, not a collective student community who support each other. It’s one thing to have a rainbow inclusive and accepting university but another when you don't feel safe being yourself walking out of the university gates. So, what is under the rainbow banner? At university an awesome team and visible support. In Christchurch? A culture that is exclusive, bigoted and frankly frightening.

Eleanor McEwen (she/her)

Ft: Ari Nicholson - Rainbow Coordinator

What would you like baby Ari to know?

There are 3 things that I needed to know

1. Guess what, you are queer!! Quit “just hanging out” with lesbians and just come out already!! Imposter syndrome is real.

2. Be authentic, people will like you if you are nerdy and quiet. You don’t have to be an over-the-top joker all the time, let yourself be authentic and your people will appear.

3. If you keep starting essays 24 hours before the due date, you are going to keep getting C’s. Printing the reading material and carrying it in your bag for a week, does NOT count as starting your essay.

Tell us a bit about your fresher self

I was that uncool kid, faking being cool… badly! I came from a conservative farming community which did little to prepare me for life as a Dunedin Scarfie. I was lost and very under prepared for study, somehow, I passed two years at teachers’ college and one year at Otago Uni, thank you to all of my tutors and teachers. The thing that got me through was an unyielding sense of optimizing and some great friends.

What was your biggest fresher fail?

It was 1992/93 I joined the student protests; my inner anarchist was in heaven. We were fighting the government policy of student fees and the introduction of the student loan scheme (sorry we failed). We marched to the Otago Uni registry building where a university board meeting was happening. It was a huge old building which had a service hatch to deliver food to important people in meetings. The doors were locked or security was blocking them so dozens of students crawled through the hatch and staged a very noisy sit-in. We stopped that meeting and sent a clear message that we were not happy about the changes. We were also dragged out by police and given warnings. To this day I wish we could have done more to stop the massive increase in fees and the crippling effects of student loans.

Describe your best first year memory

I had a pet, Wolfgang Amadeus, the rat. She was awesome and came everywhere with me, hidden under my long hair or in my bag. There were many adventures and misadventures where I would be asked leave places, including lectures if she escaped and ran down the lecture theatre. She was there for the highs and lows of student life and loved nothing more than lying on the uni lawns and making friends (sometimes) with the other students.

Finding Support as a Transgender Person Finding Support as a Transgender Person

Being transgender is something that differs for everyone. For some the process is rather trouble free and things go somewhat smoothly. For others however the process can be the opposite.

Fortunately, no matter how smooth or rough the process is there is plenty of support out there for transgender people. Whether it be advocacy, counselling or support groups.

When it comes to accessing support, there are a few avenues one can take. For UC students the first port of call would be the counselling offered by the Health Centre on campus. They are accommodating of the rainbow community and are good to talk to if you need to get something off your mind. I found accessing the service to be very useful, whether it be an issue with transitioning or university life, they were always there to help me. I always felt better after having a chat with my counsellor. For more information scan this QR code or call +64 3 369 4444. You can also pop in and see them on campus.

On campus, there is the rainbow club QCanterbury. Not only do they hold events for members of the community throughout the year, but they also focus on creating “safe social places” for rainbow students on campus. QCanterbury have multiple ways to contact them, whether you want advice on accessing support or have a suggestion on how UC can make improvements for rainbow students. They are available in the Rainbow Room in the Logie Building on campus or at this QR code.

The university has six diversity champions who are people that are “knowledgeable on, and sympathetic to, diversity and equity issues.” The list is of the diversity champions is available here.

Off campus there are supportive places for trans people. The most notable of which is Qtopia. Qtopia provide diverse services for rainbow youth, but of significance to trans youth is the Phoenix group. Phoenix is a peer support group made up of trans youth from 18-30 years old. It’s a great place to bring up issues with members of the community who have similar experiences. It’s also just a great place to connect with trans people and potentially make a friend or two along the way. They are contactable via their website here.

When it comes to accessing support there are many options out there, and plenty of good people who are willing to help you through issues, whether it be transition related or just the stresses of day-to-day university life.

Whilst support measures involving support groups and therapy are great, there are some areas in which society can improve to make things a lot better. Not just for transgender people but for everyone.

The first and most obvious of which is unisex toilets, and I’m not meaning the toilets for people with disabilities. For me, toilet anxiety is a big part of my day, as it is for a lot of transgender people. For some, using unisex toilets is the best way to alleviate the anxiety. A lot of unisex toilets however are also toilets for those who have disabilities. It brought me a lot of destress using those toilets in case someone who really needed them was waiting outside. I would fear getting ‘the stare’ or even worse, being told off for “not needing them”. More unisex stalls fix this anxiety. UC is doing a great job of rolling out these toilets, as are some hospitality venues.

One other thing I would like to improve on in society is to normalising asking for pronouns as opposed to guessing. It makes things less awkward and more inviting for everyone, especially those who are non-binary or don’t present as what is deemed ‘normal’, by society.

Whilst this isn’t specific to transgender people’s mental health but everyone in general, I wish it was more common to ask friends or family “how are they feeling?” I know for myself just being asked that and then having a quick discussion about it was enough to lift even a little weight off my shoulders when things were rough.

For me the hardest thing about accessing support was going to talk to people and to book appointments. There’s nothing wrong with asking for help nor is there anything wrong with having a hard time. There are plenty of people who are more than willing to help you through those hard times, without judgement for who you are and what brings you to their office. I strongly suggest that, if need be, anyone who needs them to take advantage of those services. In my experience they have made the transition journey much smoother for me and saved me much mental anguish.

FLAT FAMOUS

Poppie

Flat Role: Mummy

Kink: Older women

Dustiest Moment: Showing everyone her sex toys when she’s drunk

Cassidy

Flat Role: Dungeon Master

Kink: Broccoli

Dustiest Moment: Living in a hallway

Kei

Flat Role: Chef

Kink: Rice

Dustiest Moment: Allocating a whole cutlery slot for chopsticks and buying 20kg bags of rice

Racketts

['rakits] noun

gang acquiring money through murders, money laundering, drug trafficking, and home invasion robberies.

Annabelle

Flat Role: Landlord

Kink: Letterboxes

Dustiest Moment: Paying people to do her laundry

Tessa

Flat Role: Daddy

Kink: Trees (specifically pines)

Dustiest Moment: Leaving the gas valve open and letting the gas leak empty ($119 later)

Baby

Flat Role: Flat slut

Kink: Having five flats on the go

Dustiest Moment: Letting out a sexual meow before running out from under the car with another cat...

England embarrased by France in Six Nations test

The French national rugby side cleaned up after a 53 – 10 win over England on English soil.

England’s dreams of claiming the Six Nations title were obliterated by France who played like their lives depended on it. This is England’s heaviest loss at Twickenham stadium, one which the English fans acknowledged, booing the home side off the pitch after their embarrassing defeat.

Les Tricolores were ten points up inside the first seven minutes of the match. It wasn’t until the 34th minute of the game that England decided to wake up and put some points on the board. However, in the end for England it was a game full of errors, knock-ons and penalties that cost them.

With bad news comes good news, this game was France’s highest score and largest margin of victory in 110 meetings with the England side. Looks like it is back to the drawing board for England, especially with the 2023 Rugby World Cup fast approaching.

Zoe Hobbs sprints to success

25-year-old Auckland based sprinter successfully became the first New Zealand woman to run under 11 seconds in her 100-metre sprint.

A week prior to this outstanding performance, she was competing at the New Zealand Track & Field Championships in Wellington where she ran under 11 seconds. However her time was disallowed due to a wind assist, so it was unable to be recorded.

She managed to leave her mark on the track, finishing well ahead of her opponents with a time of 10.97 seconds. Second place ran in 11.23 seconds with third place close behind with 11.38 seconds. With her record, Hobbs also shaved one tenth of a second from her Oceania women’s 100m record.

With this being just her third race of the season, she is destined for more success on the track this year.

Drop-off drug testing leaves Athletics NZ answering questions

International body, Athletics Integrity Unit (AIU) have told Athletics New Zealand that drug-testing standards need to improve.

If improvements are not made, New Zealand could see themselves under the same tight conditions as Kenya, Ethiopia, and Belarus. This notion comes after NZ athletes competed at last year’s World Championships in the States.

The athletes were found to have been insufficiently tested for drugs in the lead up to the world event. This, being against the anti-doping code for the sport.

Drug Free Sport NZ is communicating with Athletics NZ about the issues that have been raised by the AIU. In hopes that a new, robust drug-testing plan can be put into place that is compliant with the World Athletics’ anti-doping rules.

Kane leads Spurs to victory and top four spot

Harry Kane was a triumph in the Premier League scoring twice in a great victory over Nottingham Forest.

This victory for Tottenham has meant that they have secured their place in the Premier League’s top four. Harry Kane managed to become only the third players in Premier League history to hit 20 top-flight goals in six separate seasons.

Forest have only won just one away game in the league all season. As well as this, they remain the lowest scorers so far in the term. Despite the loss against the Spurs, they still competed even after going three goals down very early in the second half.

With all the pressure on Conte to select a good team for the clash with Nottingham Forest, he seemingly delivered with the side winning 3 – 1. Forest only managed to score in the 81st minute of the match while Harry Kane scored two goals and Son Heung-min scored one.

Northern Mystics wound the Mainland Tactix

The Mainland Tactixs took a beating in the second round of the ANZ Premiership.

On home turf at Christchurch Arena, the Mystics ran away with the last laugh winning 54 – 45 over the home side. This leaves the Mystics and the Pulse as the only unbeaten teams after two rounds of the netball tournament.

Shooting statistics for the match show that the Mystics took more shots at goal which paid off. Tactix shooters: Aliyah Dunn (24/29), Te Paea Selby-Rickit (20/26) and Vika Koloto (1/1). Mystics shooters: Grace Nweke (46/52), Filda Vui (4/4) and Monica Falkner (4/7).

In the end, the Mainland Tactixs were no match for the accurate shooting from the Mystics and the long feeds into the circle. This win after round two, has allowed for the Mystics side to join the Pulse at the top of the ANZ Premiership ladder.

Hariklia Nicola (she/her)

It’s no secret that entertainment media struggle with rainbow representation.

From having straight people play rainbow characters to making most of these characters conventionally attractive, representative progress in TV and film is lacking. Some of the rainbow community are fed up with the representation of WLW (woman loving woman) relationships in TV shows, as often these couples either break up or their relationship is so toxic that realistically, they probably should break up.

Diversity is difficult to depict as it’s so multi-faceted, but accurate representation matters because it fights against stereotypes and helps destigmatise rainbow relationships.

A study from Bradley J. Bond and Benjamin Compton in 2015 found that when heterosexual people see rainbow people on TV, they are, “more accepting of gay equality.” It’s crucial for rainbow people to see themselves represented in TV and film as proper representation validates and affirms their experiences.

Beccy Arnold (she/her)

Shortland Street, set to celebrate their 31st anniversary in May, has been around for a whole generation of viewers and for many is their first experience with rainbow couples. Regina Fisher Van der Veen, student at UC and member of QCanterbury, has said her, “first experience with LGBT couples was actually on Shortland Street when [she] was a kid.” She pointed out that while Shortland Street characters’ Maia Jeffries and Jay Copeland were, “both straight women playing a queer role, they did show insight into the lives of queer couples in New Zealand.”

On the 17th of June 2005, two months after the Civil Unions bill became law in Aotearoa, Shortland Street aired Maia’s proposal to Jay. TVNZ reported that over 500,000 Kiwis watched their wedding episode when it was released later in 2006. However, Maia and Jay’s marriage didn’t last long, ending shortly after Jay cheated on her with a married man.

Another popular drama series, Grey’s Anatomy, is now airing its 19th season after its initial debut in March 2005. It took five seasons for the show to introduce a lesbian couple, a tumultuous relationship between Callie Torres and Arizona Robbins. Regina Fisher Van der Veen called their relationship a, “great example of professional women dealing with the difficulties of a same sex relationship in America.”

Fisher Van der Veen also commented on a particular scene in Season 5 between Callie, her father, and the family priest when she shouts, “You can’t pray away the gay!” She found this scene both “empowering and hilarious,” and it “helped [her] learn that you can stand up against your family in those matters.” As with most lesbian couples on TV shows, Callie and Arizona eventually broke up after a messy and long-winded debacle.

Heartbreak High, a series released by Netflix back in September of last year, features a stunning array of rainbow characters and subsequent relationships. Many have praised the show for its nuanced exploration of teen sexuality, though others have criticised its lack of diversity within their rainbow characters. The main all-female relationship in Heartbreak High is between Quinni Gallagher-Jones and Sasha, both of whom present in a femme way with an abundance of glittery eyeshadow, brightly coloured cropped tops and form flattering miniskirts. UC student Sophie Hodgkiss-Blyth feels that, “a lot of representation [of WLW relationships] is very femme,” and that it, “has a lot to do with the male gaze.”

The way each shot is framed and designed to draw the eye in a particular way is crucial in

understanding not just what we see, but the intent behind it. Every director has different biases whether that be their upbringing, personal beliefs and even gender which plays out in their shot selection. Hodgkiss-Blyth points out the typical male director shots are shot from above or “boobs up” as she calls it, compared to female directors who generally do more full body shots, slowly moving upwards.

The way characters are shown on screen changes the way they are perceived, and even things like camera framing changes representation. Through the male gaze, WLW relationships are being sexualised on our screens for male enjoyment, which completely takes away from the point of having those relationships in the show.

As pointed out by people in the rainbow community, so many same-sex relationships in TV shows don't end well and these shows are no exception. Granted, most are classified as dramas which come with increasingly ridiculous plotlines that don’t necessarily follow real life. But, when the majority of WLW relationships in TV series end turbulently, it becomes a pattern that is not only difficult to break, but weasels its way into reality.

TV shows are an escape, a way to think about a life other than your own. People in the rainbow community are tired of seeing depressing relationships in shows that don’t necessarily give them hope for their own love life. It doesn’t appear that many show creators are listening, and continue with these harmful, stereotypical depictions. So if these all-female relationships aren’t in the shows for rainbow people, who are they there for?

In an age of self-awareness, social ‘wokeness’ and cancel culture, could TV networks be putting in these characters partly for the fact that they won’t get cancelled? Token rainbow characters in TV series are becoming increasingly ubiquitous, and without the authenticity behind their characterisation, the likelihood of misrepresentation becomes much higher. TV shows don’t need more side-lined lesbian characters who are ultra-femme, overly sexualised and end up in a toxic relationship because at the moment, that’s really all there is.

We just want them to get their happily ever afteris that too much to ask?

“...if these all-female relationships aren’t in the shows for rainbow people, who are they there for?”

I’ve taken my fair share of courses at uni over the past few years and none have been nearly as engaging and challenging as Sexualities in Culture (ENGL332/CULT303).

Before enrolling in the course, I’d already shown an interest in the fields of sexual politics and queer theory, also doing my due diligence as an ally. Throughout the semester, I felt pretty up to speed with the content we covered, which in retrospect is quite a privileged position to be in as the quality of sex-ed in New Zealand is still quite lacking for the most part.

Immediately after finishing the course, it resonated with me that this level of sexual education shouldn’t be an elective 300-level uni paper and should instead be an expectation of understanding that we hold for each other.

One area I feel my sexual education lacked in significantly throughout schooling was the coverage of sexual identities. Sure, a handful of labels would be used here and there, but with the absence of constructive conversations about orientations and identities that strongly challenge traditional frameworks. This has led to ignorant misunderstandings of gender fluidity; non-binarism, and of particular interest to this piece; asexuality and its subsets.

Asexuality seems to be one of the trickier rainbow identities for the allosexual (sexual attraction experiencing) mind to understand. More specifically, demisexuality is highly misunderstood within the public consciousness to the extent of being scoffed at. I didn’t properly understand demisexuality until it was explained to me in the context of being under the asexuality umbrella.

But before getting into that, what is asexuality?

The contemporary understanding and cultural definition is simply an individual who experiences little-to-no sexual attraction or sexual desire. I’ve phrased it like this because the definition of asexuality has historically been debated by academics, with some studies being stretched to class sexually inactive subjects as asexual. The reality is though, there are plenty of asexuals’ (aces) who are sexually active and allosexuals who aren’t.

For allosexuals, romantic and sexual attraction are predominantly intertwined, so romantic orientations are generally not discussed. But, for aces, romantic attraction is distinctly separated from sexual attraction. This is described through a Split Attraction Model. Prefixes such as homo-, pan-, and hetero- can be slotted in front of romantic to signify a romantic orientation.

It’s important to remember that asexuality isn’t a monolith

and asexual experiences can vary widely. This is where the umbrella idea comes in, providing a structure to assist in understanding how different subsets and extents to asexual behaviour fall under this label. On a spectrum of assuredly asexual to assuredly allosexual, grey-asexuality describes the cloudy midway point. Grey-asexuals could identify as such for a variety of reasons, such as having had sexual experiences that don’t necessarily align with asexuality or exhibiting infrequent sexual desires. Truth of the matter is that people don’t always cleanly fit into boxes and this can be the source of much personal confusion. That’s why validating the grey area between these poles and normalising not having to fit into the asexualallosexual binary is key.

As I mentioned earlier, demisexuality is sometimes met with hesitance, which I’d argue comes from a misguided viewpoint on what it actually is. By definition, demisexuals’ don’t experience sexual attraction to others until a significant emotional bond is developed.

The pushback against demisexuality is largely centred around claims that this orientation is “just having standards”. This is a rather narrow-minded response considering the vast complexity of human sexuality. Once you think of demisexuality as a subset of asexuality, it makes a whole lot more sense – it’s less about an optional preference and more of a condition of attraction being met. Another way of understanding demisexuality is thinking of it in the context of primary and secondary attraction. Primary attraction is all based on aesthetic first impressions – seeing someone in town and having your jaw drop to the floor. Secondary attraction is the more emotional kind that takes time to develop, the sort that keeps a relationship afloat. Generally, demisexuals solely experience the latter, which settles the condition versus preference dispute. Much like grey-asexuality, demisexuality provides a comfortable label for asexual individuals to use when they feel like they don’t quite tick all the boxes of asexuality.

In talking to asexual-identifying people and reading several studies on the nature of asexuality, it is clear that the asexual experience is a diverse one. In fact, most academia I’ve read has come to the conclusion that, while all under the umbrella of asexuality, samples of asexual experiences can’t be used as a proxy for the wider ace community. One paper expanded upon this, stating that several studies show the asexual label is too broad a category to draw results from, and using those subsets such as greyasexuality and demisexuality (which are only two among many more), is vital towards better understanding the fascinating variance of human sexuality.

Tim Smith (he/him)

Lucky Dip Lucky Dip

As Canta’s longest running segment we play matchmaker and pair up two lucky UC students to hopefully hit it off on a blind date and record their experiences. Sign yourself or a mate up on our website for some free Rollickin and lovin’.

Here are the raw unedited results of this week’s lucky dippers…

One Side One Side

I was so excited to get an email from Canta Magazine to say I had been picked for the Lucky Dip, I hadn’t expected to actually get chosen! Before the date I was a little nervous as I didn't know who to expect, (obviously that’s kind of the whole point). I also had been wondering about what gender my date would be and if I might already know them when I see them.

On the night I was almost running late and couldn’t find a carpark straight away so that added to my stress. When I got to Rollickin’ I saw a girl with really cool hair and a pretty flowery top standing in front of me in the line to the counter. The shop worker took her to a table upstairs so I had my suspicions that she would be my date and turns out she was! When I walked in, she stood up and I stupidly and awkwardly went for a handshake (great start). We lined up to order our gelato and did the usual introductions while trying to decide what flavours to get.

She was really lovely and we talked about what we studied, music we liked and showed each other photos of our pets (she is a Law student and I’m an Engineering student so I’m sure her paragraph will be much better to read as writing is not my strong suit). We both enjoy singing but other than that we didn't really have too much in common and I’m sure she noticed as well that it was a little difficult to keep the conversation flowing. She told me some of her favourite bars to go to in Christchurch and we asked each other some questions that Rollickin had left there for Valentine's day as prompts for you and your date.

After talking about all we could think of, almost an hour had passed. We finished our gelato and then decided it was time to head off. In the end we weren't romantically or physically attracted to each other and so didn’t exchange any socials. I'm not sure if she felt this way too, but with me being a second-year and her being a fourth-year student, it seemed like we were in different stages of life and maturity, but it was good fun to meet and chat with someone new and share some free gelato - thanks Canta Magazine!

The Other Side The Other Side

If I’m being completely honest my love life lately has been a bit of a mess, so I figured what better way to get me out of my funk than a blind date! I picked a cute outfit, gave myself a pep talk, and headed to meet my Canta-provided soul mate. I sat upstairs and waited as patiently as I could, and then my date emerged. I went in for a hug, she sticked her hand out for a handshake, and I knew it was doomed. You might consider this to be a snap judgment dear reader, but personally, I prefer not to feel like I’m in a business meeting while greeting a potential love. Each to their own, I held out hope.

One deeply awkward handshake later, we go line up to order, this is where I find out that not only is she an engineering student (red flag), she’s also a second year. As a world-weary forth year who long ago had that university-loving sparkle extinguished, I don’t see myself being able to relate deeply to someone only a year out of school. I soldiered on and ordered two scoops because if I was going to have to make dispassionate small talk, I was sure as hell going to get my money's worth.

The date goes on. She’s nice enough but not particularly chatty, I think the only question she asked about me was if I had any tattoos (I have 4, and she’s considering it). We then got onto the topic of what we liked to do for fun. I kept my fingers crossed we would finally find some common ground If only to make the chat less painful. Alas, when I told her I liked to spend my weekends going out and dancing with my friends, she gazed at me as if I had just admitted to being in AA, and followed up by asking if I knew any good hikes in the area.

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Colouring C o l o u r i n g

Puzzle Time P u z z l e T i m e

How many words (at least three letters) can you make with the word...

Keen to get involved with Canta this year? Or even get your work in the next issue?

Keen to get involved with Canta this year? Or even get your work in the next issue?

We are constantly on the lookout for contributors to write, draw, photograph, and design in each issue. If you have some work or an idea, fill out the volunteer form under the ‘get involved’ tab on our website ‘canta.co.nz’! Or even flick an email to this address ‘editor@canta.co.nz’.

We are also always looking for students to be featured on Flat Famous and Lucky Dip so fill out those forms under the ‘get involved’ tab as well!

Canta Cody Canta Cody

Introducing the Chronicals of Canta Cody

Aries

HOMOSCOPES

HOMOSCOPES

March 21 - April 19

Treat yourself! You deserve it! After all, you are jumping into your birthday season. This is a sign to do whatever you want. Also, make sure you tell the people around you it’s your special month. Let them spoil you.

Cancer

Jun 21 - Jul 22

I am sorry to break it to you, but this month ain’t going to be an easy one for you. I am telling you now, something is going to go horribly wrong for you. However, I can also tell you it will be for the best and you’ll handle whatever it is with grace.

Libra

Sep 23 - Oct 22

Look, we know all this information is 100% accurate and is definitely not made up. I am telling you right now with all the knowledge I have that you will find the love of your life this month. Keep your eye out, your soulmate could be sitting next to you right now.

Capricorn

Dec 22 - Jan 19

I promise I’ll be nice this time around since I usually rip into you guys. This is your month to shine, I can feel it. Go give everything new a go because you will probably excel at it. You never know, you might find a new hobby or sport to do in your spare time.

Taurus

Apr 20 - May 20

Communicate more please. On behalf of everyone who is just trying to make plans with you. Sit down for an hour, sort your life out and reply to those 300 emails, texts, and chats you keep avoiding. Please, we are getting worried…

Leo

Jul 23 - Aug 22

You are a lot feistier this month. Maybe you are just overloaded with school work or have a lot of social pressures and can’t keep up. Try not to take it out on your loved ones, it’s not their fault you’re eight lectures behind.

Scorpio

Oct 23 - Nov 21

This month, in a social context will be your best month to date. You will be spotted at all the Mono nights, town nights and flat parties. And, even better, you’ll look good while being the coolest person in the room. You go Scorpio!

Aquarius

Jan 20 - Feb 18

You need an extra little bit of love in your life this month. The lovey dovey vibes February gives off just aren’t in your life right now. Let your partner know you need something to spice it up a little. Or better yet, if you’re single, give Tinder a go.

Gemini

May 21 - Jun 20

My pretty little Gemini’s where do I start. This month will be the one you feel the most mentally stable, yay! All that hard work you’ve put in to better yourself has absolutely worked. Good on you, we are all super jealous, as per.

Virgo

Aug 23 - Sep 22

Sneaky, sneaky Virgo. You’ve been the most lowkey sign this year and now that is all about to change. Have fun, let loose, go hard or go home. You need a good party and pride month is the perfect excuse to go out and have a blast!

Sagittarius

Nov 22 - Dec 21

I know a Sagittarius when I see one. Yes, you with the big under-eyebags. Firstly, go buy some concealer. Secondly, get some sleep? We get it you’ve been super busy, socially, and academically but just take a nap alright.

Pisces

Feb 19 - March 20

Stop crying, I know it’s sad that your season has ended. Happens to the best of us. Find a way to channel and maintain all the positive energy you received during your birthmonth. Burn-out ain’t a cute look for your star-sign.

Meet the Team

a n t a 2 0 2 3 Meet the Team

Contributors

If you wish to make a complaint or offer some feedback, please email ‘editor@canta.co.nz.’

Hariklia Nicola Print Editor print@canta.co.nz

Matteo Zhang News Editor news@canta.co.nz

Imy Rice Digital Editor

Tessa Birch Video Creative Editor

Amelia Ware Video & Digital Asst.

Beccy Arnold Feature Writer

Ella Jenkins Feature Writer

Tim Smith Feature Writer

Charlotte Thornton Feature Writer

Pierce Crowley UCSA President Anna Pohatu Tumuaki Eleanor Mc Ewen QC Executive Neil Alombro QC Executive

Ella Harvey Guest Writer Georgia Walker Guest Writer Emma Foung Guest Artist