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An anglophone magazine celebrating the vibrancy of youth culture in Paris

Spring 2017 | Vol. 6.2 peacockplume.fr Editor-in-Chief Shalise Barnes

Deputy Editor Stuart Edwards

Art Director Taylor Raffa

Deputy Art Director Maddy Brookes

Photo Director Nicolas Nemtala

Photographers Nathalie Debroise Nicolas Nemtala Sarah Plattes Rebecca Simor

Marketing Director Lillian Wagner

Staff Writers Safian Ado-Ibrahim Ofir Ben Dor Stuart Edwards Emily Frigon Henry Hardwick Savannah Hunter Asia Letlow Michelle Lynch Elizabeth Nguyen Son Kathleen Nixon Madison Pritchyk Khadija Sanusi Samantha Stiteler Ian Tillotson Hedvig Werner Katie Zambrano

Contributing Writers Lianna Bass Cathryn CondĂŠ Ali Nielsen

Editorial Advisor Marc Feustel Cover photograph by Nicolas Nemtala Design by Shalise Barnes

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Letter from the Editor

Living Outside the Box

By Emily Frigon

Into the Frame

By Samantha Stiteler

The Modern Nomad

By Madison Pritchyk and Katie Zambrano

conten

The Pursuit of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité An illegal immigrant’s journey from Colombia to France

By Kathleen Nixon

Makeup for Men

A masculine take on cosmetics

By Stuart Edwards

If the Stiletto Fits

Beneath the surface of the crossdressing community

By Michelle Lynch

The New Art of Seduction

Debunking the myth of the pickup artist

By Safian Abo-Ibrahim

Pretty Tied Up

The real world of BDSM

By Cathryn Condé

of

ble

nts

And a Side of Global Warming, Please What will it take for us to stop eating meat?

By Hedvig Werner

And on the Eighth Day

France’s modern Catholic revival

By Henry Hardwick

Still Dead

Photographer Charles Roux explores the macabre

By Lianna Bass

La Honte

France’s shameful relationship with racism

By Asia Letlow

Unpacking Autism

Why my toolbox is missing a few screwdrivers

By Ofir Ben Dor

The Road to Success

The death of the single career path

By Khadija Sanusi

If Paris Could Speak

By Savannah Hunter and Ian Tillotson

Stories Behind the Songs

By Elizabeth Nguyen Son

A Political Map of Europe

By Elizabeth Nguyen Son

An Interview with Twitler

By Ali Nielsen

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ŠShutterstock/sunlight77

LETTER FROM THE EDITOR W

ith the election of Donald Trump in the United States and the rise of right-wing populism in Western Europe, we have clearly moved toward a society that is building walls (both metaphorically and physically) to keep those different to ourselves away. But what happens to those of us who are different?

We celebrated the legalization of gay marriage in the US and cried together over the photos of Syrian children whose lives have been devastated by the conflict, but our compassion has its limits. From the continued persecution of the gay community in Russia to the Muslim ban in the United States, those who don’t fit in are increasingly under threat.

This issue of the Peacock explores those “other” from ourselves to remind us about the empathy we have felt for those different to ourselves.

With so much contradictory and false information out in the public realm, ignorance is no longer a choice but a very real threat to our society. Rather than attempting to feed into the dominant discourse of “I’m right, you’re wrong,” we want to provoke readers’ empathy and compassion. Before you condone the ways in which people explore their individualities, we want to encourage you to place yourself into the shoes of “the other.”

To do so, our writers have taken us into communities we may not experience otherwise. Asia Letlow dives into France’s relationship with racism while Cathryn Condé takes us into the world of BDSM. Henry Hardwick explores how youth practice religion in Catholic France and Hedvig Werner asks what it will take for people to stop eating meat. Kathleen Nixon follows the journey of an illegal immigrant from Colombia to France and Stuart Edwards gives a voice to men who enjoy wearing makeup.

But it’s not all serious. Savannah Hunter and Ian Tillotson show us the hidden lives of the gargoyles of Notre Dame, the fetishes of Serge the rabbit on warning signs in the metro while Samantha Stiteler explores what it would have been like to be inside some of history’s most famous paintings.

While we may not have experienced the atrocities of war, we’ve experienced Parisian waiters scoffing at our accents. As expats, we are by definition outsiders to French culture, much like those we may ostracize. As France reaches its own turning point, keep in mind we are all outsiders to someone else.

Shalise Barnes

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LIVING outside the box

By Emily Frigon

The action of occupying an abandoned or unoccupied building without any legal permission is commonly known as squatting. Common among homeless and illegal residents, squatting is also popular with young people who do not have the means to support themselves or who prefer the squatter lifestyle.

Squats are often used for art studios, exhibits, or concerts and are often open to the public. This can be an opportunity for artists who do not have the budget to pay for studios. There are many squats in Paris, such as 59 Rivoli, located at 59 rue de Rivoli in the 1st arrondissement, which has become a major tourist destination for those looking to see local artists’ work. The building itself is owned by the city of Paris and guest artists can apply for the use of one of the 30 artist studios in the building.

© Emily Frigon

We can all relate to the struggle of apartment hunting in Paris. Spending over 800 euros to live in a box the size of your parents’ closet may seem daunting, let alone one which is a sixth-floor walk-up and has a shared bathroom at the end of a dank corridor. While some choose to move to the suburbs where property prices are much cheaper, many of Paris’s 2 million residents have turned to other ways of urban living. From artistic squats to new ways of organizing small spaces, these non-traditional ways of urban livingiving are often more sustainable than a traditional apartment, and will help reduce your carbon footprint.

Squats

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y ne Delafra © Fabien

Paris’s Haussmannian buildings were built with a top floor filled with maid’s rooms known as chambres de bonne. These extremely small rooms, often measuring a mere 100 square feet, are the cheapest accommodation around for those on a budget. Small-space living developed as a strategic way of using storage space to make the most out of small spaces. The French architectural firm Kitoko Studio created an ingenious modular system in a tiny chambre de bonne. Measuring 85 square feet, with walls created from drawers for the occupant’s belongings, the design contains a foldable kitchenette and shelves. The studio even has a tiny open space that holds a small bathroom.

This is an interesting option for those who do not require a lot of space and who know how to live a minimalist lifestyle.

ving i L e c a p mall-S

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Houseboat

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© Shutterst ock/Niko

Houseboats are boats that have been modified to be used primarily as a home. More popular in Western countries, they’re usually privately owned but are occasionally rented out to travelers. In Paris, houseboats or péniches can be found all along the Seine, with Port de la Rapée and Porte Saint Cloud two of the hotspots. While the initial cost of the boat is not as expensive as buying property in central Paris, certificates, licenses, maintenance and gas can add up. This is great for those who don’t want to settle in a specific area or prefer the nautical life, with limited internal space but often featuring terraces and views to rival the most expensive apartments. There is no obligation to settle down, making this the perfect choice for travelers or those who do not want to commit to a specific location. If residents want to relocate to a new area, their home goes along with them.

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Into the Frame

By Samantha Stiteler Have you ever found yourself wanting to step into the painting you are staring at from a distance? Wishing that you could stand alongside the characters and feel the atmosphere in which they exist? Here, we enter three distinct pieces, and discover that the boundary between ourselves and these “others” dissolves.

L’Astronome

Johannes Vermeer, L’Astronome, 1668 Musée du Louvre, Paris

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His thumb rests on a black bird, or rather its constellation.

He touches Aquila, the eagle of Greek mythology who carried Zeus’s thunderbolts. He is reading the third book of Adriaan Metius’s study of astronomy and geography, The Exploration and Observation of the Stars, which describes the physical and intangible tools needed to chart and discover the stars. Adriaan’s brother, Jacob, is said to have invented the telescope 60 years ago and in just 9 years Isaac Newton will publish his theory regarding a force known as gravity. I stand there, close to the deeply concentrated man in front of me, and he does not see me, but I see him. I touch the midnight blue velvet quilt that is embedded with tiny, winking stars and run my fingers over the smooth, cool globe. I have never seen a person so intent on understanding, on grasping the sparkling celestial and unfathomable heavens, pulling them down to Earth, introducing them to ink and paper and bound books, translating them into letters, words, studies.

The luminescence of the pages brightens his face, and evidently his mind, as does the sunlight pouring through the window. Here I am, trying to comprehend the thoughts of the astronomer, and there is the astronomer, trying to find the stars, and there is the man in the painting behind us, searching for something, too. Long ago Adriaan’s brother created the telescope that brought faraway things close, Galileo argued that we are not the center of the universe, and soon, though the man before me does not know it yet, Newton will reveal the power which holds us all here.

Les Nymphéas

Claude Monet, Les Nymphéas, 1914–26 Musée de l’Orangerie, Paris

In the series, Le Matin Clair aux Saules, Monet’s voice echoes over the delicate blues, pink clouds and gentle willows during this sweet spring day in Giverny: “Nerves exhausted by work would relax there, following the restful example of those still waters, and, to whoever entered it, the room would provide a refuge of peaceful meditation in the middle of a flowering aquarium.” I glance across the water, but Monet is not here. They are an ode to peace after war, to meditation in the midst of unspeakable chaos. A gust of wind passes over the water, and the shocking cold reminds me of the horrors that had burned and bruised and torn this country apart. I see lilies and willows, the subjects of the artist’s last creations, and smell the intoxicatingly sweet scent of the air. It is spectacular to lean closer to the water and see that what seemed to be simply blue is in fact hues of cornflower and denim, shades of rose and pearl pink, and varied sunset and stone violets. Monet’s soothing intentions reverberate throughout this landscape; a calm that has been sought out and carefully discovered is almost tangible. The physical being seems insignificant compared to the soul, reflected in the tender madness in which those water lilies exist.

Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe As I peer at the blurred trees and shallow river, it becomes evident that these four characters are at a picnic in the famous Bois de Boulogne. Across from me is Victorine Meurent, Manet’s favorite model. She seems to be bored with the conversation of the two men who are discussing the new Salon des Refusés, an exhibit just opened by Napoleon III that welcomes art rejected by the prestigious Salon de Paris. I wonder if they know that they will soon be presented at this salon of refused paintings, along with all the other decidedly explicit canvases of their time. It is indescribably bizarre, to witness this scene, this era. The men are discussing things that are found in textbooks and heard in stories. They speak of a new Paris, of its grand boulevards and pristine streets and long for the grit and bustle of everyday life in the old city. Their Paris holds no Tour Eiffel; it is characterized by itself, not yet by the now world-famous structure. They mention the Bièvre River, which now flows under the city along with the sewer system, but for them flows above ground, very much alive. Victorine tears a piece of bread, and the reclining man next to me takes off his hat to smooth back his hair. The woman who bathes notices me for a moment, before returning to her thoughts. I feel a certain kinship with these human beings. At first, there seemed to be nothing but time and space between us, and yet now, that distance has vanished.

Édouard Manet, Le Déjeuner sur l’Herbe, 1863 Musée d’Orsay, Paris

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The MoDern Nomad

By Madison Pritchyk and Katie Zambrano

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© Find Us Lost Blog

n a time where technology serves us the world at the click of a button, the desire for wanderlust grows. With evolving minds, the term “normal” is far from what it used to be. Bloggers, vloggers, and content creators are taking over one post at a time and the era of internet influencers is upon us. Along with meticulously curated feeds, perfectly edited photos and rising tensions across the world, the need to escape has never been greater.

Young professionals across the globe are ditching their day jobs to satiate their undying appetite for what the world has in store.

The reason we have so many rich cultures and countries today is because our ancestors traveled from place to place in search of sustainable life sources. When one thinks of a nomad, the first picture to come to mind is probably something resembling a caveman, grunting in his fur as he explores new terrain. However, the definition of a nomad is simply “an individual who roams about.”

These days, nomadism has evolved into more of a lifestyle concept, and has become an almost interchangeable term with traveler, wanderer or explorer.

Some, like Nomadic Matt, the travel blogger and author of the New York Times best-seller How to Travel the World on $50 a Day, quit their jobs to travel with only their wits and a backpack. His way of life is closer to that of a traditional nomad, picking up his few material possessions every few days to continue on someplace else.

Others prefer to see the world from the familiar comfort of an air-conditioned hotel room or cruise ship veranda. There are 195 countries to be explored today and over 7 billion people to meet, and it only takes one plane ride or ship crossing. Virtually anyone can change

© Find Us Lost Blog

their lifestyle and find opportunities that allow them to travel so easily and frequently, if they know where to look.

For Bethany Glover, the ocean seemed as good a place as any to start. Glover was born and raised in Orange County, California, and received her BFA for Dance at Marymount Manhattan College in New York, where she discovered the opportunity of a lifetime. At 21 years old, Glover became a professional dancer with Celebrity Constellation Cruise Lines. “When I was auditioning for dance jobs during my last semester of college, my ultimate goal was to travel while dancing professionally.

I never thought about the option of being a performer on a cruise ship, but when I got this offer and I saw the incredible itinerary, I jumped at the opportunity. I’m a travel gypsy at heart, and I hope to continue throughout my career as much as possible,” she shared. While New York City is considered one of the hottest spots for dance, her courage to make her own way allows her experiences that she couldn’t have had in a windowless studio surrounded by a concrete jungle.

To daydream about what might lie beyond the horizon is something we can all relate to — especially Selena Slavenburg, the author of the travel blog Find Us Lost. She had been fantasizing about moving to Europe, away from the southern shores of California and her job at a marketing firm. When she met her travel-hungry fiancé Jacob Taylor, they decided to take the leap together.

However, Slavenburg insists that the idea to move was mostly her doing, saying, “I knew that I always wanted to live abroad. I thought, ‘Why not, we should do it!’ So I kept bringing it up that we should move, we should try Europe.

I slowly planted the seed.”

But while it may seem easy on paper, the nomad lifestyle isn’t always paradise. Homesickness was a hurdle for Glover, who described her first few weeks adjusting to ship life, “I remember having a mini panic attack on my first night on the ship because reality set in that I was sleeping in this tiny little cabin on one of the bottom floors of a giant ship, in the middle of the ocean, very far from home. I had never been on a cruise ship before, so I had no idea what to expect.” Since then, she’s kept herself busy and stays grounded by reading the news from home.

Like any well-sailed woman, she’s managed to adapt and change with the tides of every new shore she lands upon.

Similarly, it took some adjusting — and six months’ preparation — for Slavenburg and Taylor’s move to

Amsterdam. The hardest part was leaving her old job, she says, “especially knowing that I was happy at my work but also knowing that I didn’t want my life to be there for the next few years.” Fortunately, and much to her surprise, Selena was offered the opportunity to continue her job at a marketing firm remotely, allowing her the freedom to chase a nomadic lifestyle.

Technology plays a major role in 21st century travel.

Documenting one’s travels online has become so popular that it seems as if people are traveling more than ever, often thanks to the inspiration and tips found on social media platforms. Slavenburg explains how it has not only allowed her to live an ever-changing life, but also to make connections. “You can really make friends in so many different contexts. I was hesitant at first but it’s kind of amazing how much of a community exists in social media and abroad. You never know what kind of ties you will have to someone. You can live in a city with millions of

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© Find Us Lost Blog

people and make one friend or you can travel and make ten friends.”

Glover is what one might like to call a “free spirit” and she radiates positivity when retelling her experiences living abroad and visiting over 20 countries. “It’s been a life changing experience. The travel bug has bit me and there are so many more places I want to experience. I believe experiencing cultures that are very different from the one that you’re raised in is important in order to grow and understand other people. I feel like I’ve changed as a person,” she explains.

Living at a time of great political uncertainty, no wonder travel has become such a high priority for people.

Cross borders while you can, taste the different flavors while they’re still hot. Slavenburg’s advice to those with a serious crave to wanderlust? “Step outside your comfort zone. It is cliché, but it rings true. Blending what I know with what I enjoy in my travels with completely new experiences is something I would never have originally tried, and it has been the most rewarding.”

Traveling isn’t as difficult today as it was for our original nomadic ancestors, with so many ways to go about it.

The presence of technology pays a big role, allowing us

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the freedom to take a meticulously planned adventure or a spontaneous weekend getaway. Glover prefers to tag along on guest tours of locations, saying, “I don’t like going into port without having a plan because I am on such limited time at each port.” Clearly, there isn’t one sure-fire way to travel, as Selena and Jacob tend to be more spontaneous, with no definite plans to settle down anytime soon: “We’re playing it by ear. So, hopefully we don’t burn out anytime soon!”

Out of all the countries visited and experiences had, the one memory that sticks out for Glover was her 22nd birthday in Rome. “My friends and I knew that we only had one day to explore because we weren’t going back to Rome on our itinerary, so we ran around the city and crammed everything we could see in a few hours. It was hectic and beautiful at the same time! We had a blast.”

Nomadism is about traveling frequently, in whatever way each individual sees fit. No country is the same, no traveler alike, which can make the world feel so expansive that it’s tough to fathom. The important thing is to go.

How, where or why doesn’t matter as long as it can be explored. The craze of the nomad isn’t going anywhere.

The Pursuit of Liberté, Égalité, Fraternité © Nicolas Nemtala

An illegal immigrant's journey from Colombia to France Cindy in Paris, 2017

By Kathleen Nixon

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ay by day, thousands of individuals, families and groups embark on life-threatening journeys with the intention of crossing their country’s borders in order to reach more welcoming soil. Wars, crises, poverty, the threat of genocide, violence, corruption and other inhumane circumstances push citizens toward fleeing their homelands. Desperation drives them, motivating outlawed entries into various countries, as illegal migrants may not understand other options when seeking safety and opportunity. Newspaper headlines describe thousands of refugees arriving on boats, many of them barely alive. Media coverage revolves around the death of children and the separation of families, all for the sake of obtaining a chance at a better life across the water.

Of the 200,000 migrants who arrive each year, around 90,000 stay. Additionally, over 80,000 illegal immigrants enter France each year. However, as a result of tension between these groups and French society, the French government has begun to implement laws focusing on

rigorous action toward immigrants and illegal entry in particular. In 2012, expulsions peaked with approximately 23,000 people deported. While some were expelled from France, others continued to arrive.

Cindy came to Paris from Colombia in 2011, when she was 26 years old. It took her two attempts, two months, six countries, eight plane rides, two fake passports and a debt of 10,000 euros to enter the European Union.

Cindy is the daughter of an unemployed father and a hopeful, hardworking mother who is constantly paying off her son’s debts to a dangerous group of criminals. Europe was her ticket out of poverty, some 5,000 miles away.

She had never left her hometown of Cali in Colombia, let alone been on an airplane before. “I never fully understood the situation I was getting myself into, until I arrived to Bolivia,” she remembers.

For those who have never experienced life away from problematic economic and social situations, Europe is an idealized destination. France is known as a land where

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© Flickr/Kulo © SkyScraperPage/Jularc © Wikimedia/Diego Carrejo Murillo

Cali, Colombia

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opportunity and liberty can be found on every corner, in comparison to the dangerous circumstances faced in Colombia’s poorest neighborhoods. The Colombian government developed a formal six-tier classification system for socioeconomic status ranging from one to six, one being the lowest and six being the highest. Cindy spent the beginning of her life in estrato uno, the bottom rung of the social ladder. Fleeing to Paris was her only hope of making it beyond the walls of poverty.

It all began with a flight to Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, where she encountered Don Ronald, the man in charge of her new identity and her future. Illegal documentation and human smuggling are a multimillion dollar business, and Cindy was just Don Ronald’s latest “client.” She was given a new passport and an ID from Paraguay. Cindy had two days to change her accent, makeup, style and clothing, and to learn Paraguay’s national anthem. The passport used was real; counterfeiters alter the pictures and the fingerprints but leave the rest intact. Lost or stolen documents tend to find their way to the black market, a solution illegal migrants seek in order to flee their countries. The documents are provided by a human smuggler, like Don Ronald, who provides the necessary tools in order to cross borders through illegal means.

The cost of human trafficking depends on many factors including distance, the final destination, the level of difficulty and the mode of transportation. Cindy’s price, 5,000 euros, was less than for a family, as an individual traveler doesn’t cause as much trouble as a family or a group of people, who may have to resort to other means of entry as multiple forged documents are easier to identify. As an individual, it was easier and cheaper for Cindy to travel by air. She reveals, “The airline is in on it too. You had to specifically buy the tickets from that airline, if not, then you simply didn’t fly.”

Smuggling people is a highly organized business involving many players from recruiters to transporters, hoteliers, financiers, spotters, drivers and others.

Unfortunately for Cindy, Don Ronald left her on her own once it was time for her to fly to Barcelona. “It was around the third time I had ever been in an airplane, I was helpless,” she remembers. Her flight had been delayed; however, the airline offered her a seat on a flight to Madrid instead. A few hours later, Cindy was in the air. Had her transporter been with her, she would have known that immigration services in Madrid are more rigid than the

ones in Barcelona. A couple of hours after landing, her nerves got the best of her. The immigration police would not take their eyes off the woman who kept changing lines. Upon presenting her passport and paperwork the officer instructed her to move aside and wait. In a matter of minutes, Cindy was being deported back to Buenos Aires. “My family had spent approximately four years getting the loan of 5,000 euros in order for me to enter the European Union. I was now penniless.” Helpless and confused, illegal migrants are often placed in situations beyond their control, as they blindly follow instructions without a guarantee of a definite, positive result.

European countries have been developing laws with a strict eye on immigration and particularly migrants without papers and identification. The increase of war and poverty has created a larger flow of migrants into European nations, and populist parties emphasizing anti-migrant views are on the rise. The struggle to find a solution to the migrant dilemma is in limbo.

The black market for illegal documentation and the smuggling of migrants is booming. The world’s crises become profitable and increase criminal activity.

Corruption is also a huge factor that enables this informal industry to flourish. Once in Argentina, Cindy was given her documents back and directed on a plane to Paraguay her supposed country of birth. She was deeply concerned, explaining, “I couldn’t go to Paraguay! I didn’t know anything about that country. They would immediately know my documents were fake.” Cindy escaped from the airport but was detained by police at the border of Bolivia and Argentina. With only $100 left for the rest of her journey, she knew that bribing the police was her only way out of jail. The officer took the money and let her go, leaving her to find her own way home.

Another 5,000 euros later, Cindy was waiting for a new passport. This one was from Uruguay. Once again, there was another border to cross, another bus and another fright, as, unluckily, she ended up face to face with the same policeman who had already locked her

up once. “I could feel my feet ready to run back into Bolivia. Worst of all he remembered me and thought I was from Paraguay. He began asking me questions about ‘my country.’ I grasped onto my passport from Uruguay.”

Negligence, ignorance and luck are factors that help illegal migrants along the way, but also a sense of confidence that comes from having already experienced deportation, arrest or having been on the run for months.

Cindy knew how to handle her second flight back to Europe. She boarded the correct plane and didn’t fidget in line for customs. She realized her transporter had again left her to her own devices when she was told, “Ma’am, your hotel reservation has been canceled.”

Although this was not part of the plan, she knew what to answer. The illegal market will not guarantee nor care what happens to the people placed in such situations. In the end, it is each person to themselves.

After two months, Cindy, had finally made it.

If you have only been in the same house, same neighborhood, same city and same country for 26 years, arriving to a different scenario is unreal and nerve-wracking. A culture shock and language barrier were Cindy’s first impressions of Paris. On one hand, she spoke no French nor English, and knew that her job prospects were either cleaning houses or looking after children. The first few years were tough. Being an illegal citizen means carrying a fake passport around in case someone stops you, although the stamp might not always be convincing. Cindy explained how most of the French government offices for migrants coming to the country tend to help those who are undocumented, although they mostly supply support for health. While Paris will never be her home, the money began to come in as she developed a small clientele of French women whose nails she painted. While life for Cindy in France is not perfect, she ultimately managed to escape the problems that plagued her old life — and find security in new horizons.

“Illegal documentation and human smuggling are a multimillion dollar business.”

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Makeup for A masculine take on cosmetics Men

By Stuart Edwards Photography by Sarah Plattes Illustration by Maddy Brookes

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espite mounting trends in body positivity and the promotion of “natural beauty,� society still holds onto many beauty ideals and standards that the vast majority of people feel a need to subscribe to.

It’s impossible to walk down the street without seeing advertisements plastered with flawless models. Naturally, this sort of pressure can lead anyone to want to cover up an errant blemish or two. The beauty industry indulges what one may call a vain desire; yet, a valid desire, all the same. However, this desire is not universally accepted: while cosmetics use flourishes with women, many look down on the idea of a man joining in on the fun.

Today, the majority of people believe that makeup is only for girls and that a man wearing it is somehow emasculating. On a grand historical scale, this is an aberration. Evidence exists of makeup use being common for both men and women in ancient Chinese, Egyptian and Roman societies. From as early as 3000 BCE, Chinese aristocrats would cover their nails with a mixture made

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of gum arabic to distinguish their status to those around them. In Roman times, it was so common for soldiers from the British Isles to paint their faces in blue woad that they became known to the Romans as picts — “the painted ones” — while Roman men used paint to disguise a balding scalp. By the first century CE, masculine Roman makeup tastes had become even more refined; the average man lightened his complexion using powder, applied rouge liberally and even used a lip stain made of pig fat and blood.

In Ancient Egypt, men followed the same makeup trends as their female counterparts: both genders favored using various colors of kohl as eye shadow, creating the “almond-eye” effect typical of ancient Egyptian culture.

When use of green-pigmented malachite for the eyes became popular around 2600 BCE, makeup took on a religious significance, as this color was believed to invoke Horus, the god of the sky and sun.

Until the time of Queen Victoria, cosmetic use by both genders was accepted as normal in the Western world.

However, as the Catholic church gained power, makeup became regarded as an abomination. It is around this time that the connection between men’s cosmetic usage and femininity and homosexuality was established; as modern times arrived, the idea of a macho man was favored, eliminating acceptance of men’s cosmetics culture entirely.

Despite a preoccupation with beauty that is arguably universal, women are much more accepted by the industry and surrounding culture than men.

Yet, although both the industry and society are yet to fully embrace the idea of male makeup, many men simply use the products that fit their wants and needs, regardless of branding. Twenty-year-old Jack Fossett, a gay man living in New York, delves into the world of makeup with little trepidation. “Now it’s ‘for’ girls and feminine guys. There’s a gap to bridge in the public perception of makeup and I think the widespread discussions on gender and sexuality happening right now are a step toward closing it,” he says.

Fossett points to an unfortunate truth about the makeup industry’s attempts to diversify: brand ambassadors for every makeup brand, big or small, have been women since the beginning of the modern beauty industry. Even as male brand ambassadors begin to be introduced by major brands such as CoverGirl and Maybelline, their goal appears to be to make their brands seem more progressive, instead of actually reaching out to

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Tom Ford Makeup

producT guide

Tom Ford Makeup for Men tends a bit more to the conservative end of the men’s cosmetics spectrum, featuring moisturisers, eye and skin care products, shampoos and deodorants in traditionally masculine fragrances, all in modern, understated packaging. While their line isn’t particularly diverse, their featured products are arguably some of the best on the market, thanks to Tom Ford’s well-known commitment to quality and style.

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L’Oreal Men Expert As is the norm with most of today’s male cosmetics brands, L’Oreal Men Expert is primarily focused on correction and care, instead of the glamor some men may be looking for. Each of their products are specifically formulated for male skin, such as their Men Expert Hydra Power, a skin cleanser designed to cool and refresh, making the skin more soft and supple — a must-have for men bothered by dry skin.

Kenmen Makeup for Men Kenmen is one of the few men’s makeup brands that features a diversity of products rivaling that of the biggest women’s brands. They truly have everything: from powders, creams and liquids for the face designed to do anything from simply correcting a blemish to contouring or bronzing; to eyeliner, lip gloss and brow and beard correctors. Frankly, it’s truly inspiring to see bronzer sold alongside beard oil, and that’s what makes Kenmen shine as a brand: they truly embrace every aspect of the spectrum between masculinity and femininity.

House of Formen Formen’s product packaging stands out — their minimalist, black-and-white logo featuring a moose silhouette is definitely on trend. And really, what better encapsulates masculinity than a moose head? House of Formen’s products cater almost entirely to blemish concealment and skin-tone correction, fields that are often desired by men, yet often overlooked. Their product line features under eye concealers, acne cover-ups, skin tone equalizers and facial shine correctors.

The Men Pen While the Men Pen’s branding style is as manly as possible, there’s no denying the quality of their products. The Men Pen specifically capitalizes on the male desire to correct assumed imperfections, and does so in a compact, discreet package perfect for the more “discerning” man. Their line features sixteen shades, so anyone is sure to find the Men Pen that is perfect for them.

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the male market. Ambassadors such as CoverGirl’s James Charles have a much more gender-fluid presentation, marketing products that are otherwise targeted toward women and are rarely featured in actual promotional material.

Many men are intimidated by the idea of being perceived as feminine or persecuted for choosing to wear cosmetics. Twenty-one-year-old Sixten Heekin, a straight, masculine-presenting man from Cincinnati, Ohio, shared a story about his only attempt at wearing makeup in public.

When he went out to his local mall in winged eyeliner and red lipstick (“Just to try!”) he received overwhelmingly negative reactions from those around him. “Everyone was staring at me — looking at me like I was totally insane. I’ve never seen more disgust and disdain on people’s faces,” he recalls.

Ali Nielsen, a 21-year-old American man living in Paris, chooses to use makeup in a more discreet way. He began using concealer about two years ago after battling adolescent acne, saying, “I still have scars and there are some days when my bad skin will make a reappearance.

On those days, I will put on a bit of concealer just so I feel less self-conscious and more confident in myself.”

Nielsen’s makeup use typically goes undetected.

“Oftentimes, people are shocked when I tell them I am [wearing makeup],” he shares. “I’ll bring it up and people will go silent — I think because they don’t know how to react. A man wearing concealer to look more presentable in public? The horror!”

Despite the stigma still surrounding men’s involvement in the beauty industry, some companies are attempting to subvert these norms by creating makeup lines exclusively for men. Fossett adds that although “makeup ‘for men’ is kind of a silly concept,” it is a step in the right direction: “Maybe those marketing campaigns will inspire men who don’t like being associated with femininity to try something new, like it, and become an ambassador for it.”

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If the

Stiletto Fits

Beneath the surface of the crossdressing community

By Michelle Lynch

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lément Chevalier may be a chemist by day, but by night he paints Paris Ruby Woo red. After a long day of what Chevalier describes as “rigid” work, he trades in his lab coat for velour and sequins. The diva side of Chevalier goes by Veronika Von Lear, who describes herself as a “crazy ‘80s drama mama.” Gushing about his favorite memories as Veronika, Chevalier showed me pictures of decadent outfits, lingering on his favorite one of Veronika as Ursula the sea witch. Chevalier uses drag performances to express his creativity, confiding that Veronica adores musicals more than most drag queens.

Though there has been an increase in substantive discussion around LGBTQ rights, especially where transgender people are concerned, a lack of knowledge often causes people to draw false conclusions about an entire community. With pop culture’s narrow view of trans life as depicted by icons such as Caitlyn Jenner, there is a general lack of understanding of the world of crossdressing, and how it can be entirely separate from gender and sexuality. Crossdressing simply refers to the act of dressing and accessorizing in a style which is associated with the opposite sex. For Chevalier, it can be a form of expression, a source of comfort, a social experience or an artistic endeavor.

Chevalier has been around long enough to see the relatively small drag community gain a substantial foothold in Paris. Along the way, he’s gotten to know the other groups in the crossdressing community. According to Chevalier, there are three main types of crossdresser.

“There are travestis (transvestites); generally, they are straight and just want to feel good in women’s clothes.

Then there are the transformists, what we call the female impersonators, in Paris. And then drag. And I think that sometimes the transformists and drag are mixed, but it really depends.”

While some anglophones might consider the term “transvestite” to be offensive, the French equivalent travesti is the most common label used in France, and lacks any negative connotation. The transvestite community keeps more to itself according to Chevalier, as they are separate from performance, in contrast to what you would expect from the drag community. Transvestite gatherings are a safe place for exploration. He says, “The travesti community is really not for art. It’s really for their personal feeling, their way of life. They want to express themselves and feel good in women’s clothing, but It’s not in a way to

make shows.” The transformists, on the other hand, focus less on personal exploration and more on assuming an identity they idolize. Where drag queens have themed parties and costume competitions, transformists strive to recreate a look that is already known. Chevalier says the transformists are often so good at dressing up, “you can’t see the difference between them and the celebrity they are impersonating.”

Chevalier’s own involvement in the community comes to life when he discusses his own crossdressing experiences in the city. “The drag queens in Paris are growing as a family now. It was really small, but now we are 30 or 40.There are a lot of different types of drag.There’s fashion drag, for people who like to be fashionable, be feminine. There are comic ones, who want to do standup and talk to people. There are also drag people who want to do activism, like feminists. I’m a feminist. But there are people who really want to fight for the rights of gay people, women, the LGBT community. We all do it, but some are really committed to it. But we are all, I think, feminists in drag.”

When taking a closer look, the different groups which Chevalier described are represented in today’s pop culture and there are different celebrities who actively engage in the crossdressing communities. Caitlyn Jenner, the highest profile recent example, crossdressed in secret before coming out in order to segue into identifying as transgender. This is a common practice for those individuals struggling to transition and there are entire online communities dedicated to providing a safe place for transgender people dealing with this. Chevalier explains, “Trans people can do drag, but not all drag people are trans. A lot of trans came out when they were doing drag.

I have a drag friend and his sister came out as trans. She was doing drag and it helped her to transition.”

Contrary to popular belief, transgender people are not the only crossdressing community. The increasing variety of forms of crossdressing in pop culture shows how it does not necessarily have to be linked to gender or sexual identities at all — at its roots, it is nothing more than a form of expression, with various goals and methods. RuPaul’s Drag Race, a drag-focused game show that premiered in 2009, exposed the public to the drag community, revealing drag’s roots in performance and artistic expression. Some drag queens do fashion shows while others sing in order to express their feminine

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“I’m a feminist. But there are people who really want to fight for the rights of gay people, women, the LGBT community. We all do it, but some are really committed to it. But we are all, I think, feminists in drag.”

Veronika Von Lear

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character. One example is the makeup mogul Jeffree Star, who began his career as a pop/punk singer in the early 2000s. Star dressed in drag in his music videos and on tour in order to express himself and add to his artistry, creating an example for drag queens all over the world.

Those interested in drag performance often reach out to drag mothers in their city to begin their careers. Drag mothers have typically been around for the growth of drag houses in their area and host and organize events.

When groups of drag queens band together under a mother, they form what is known as a “drag house.”These houses often perform and compete together at events such as drag balls, competitions in which where they are judged on their dancing, singing, costumes, attitude or makeup. There are even drag superballs held in Germany and extravaganzas held in Paris. These are decadent events where the drag communities come together to show off their finest work.

Perhaps the most delightful information that Chevalier shared was about the infrastructure of the drag community in Paris. “The House of Moda is where the new baby drags always go. It’s where they begin. And after, there are a lot of little events that take the new babies to the stage. Enza Fragola, the mother of the Maison Chérie drag house, takes in all the babies to perform with her.

You have a lot of houses in different places where the families come together. But there is not really a separation between the houses; we are all family.”

When it comes to transvestites, everyone’s go-to example is Frank N. Furter of the Rocky Horror Picture Show. His song “Sweet Transvestite” is the bread-andbutter for the average anglophone’s understanding of transvestite style. While he behaves in a masculine way, he wears lingerie and an unforgettable burgundy lip gloss.

His freedom of expression, especially through his clothing, perfectly capture the feelings of freedom that come from crossdressing for transvestites.

Though the anglophone world doesn’t really have an iconic transformist yet, they’re extremely prevalent in Paris. From transformist cabarets to discothèques, there are events happening every night. One well-known event is the Talon Aiguille, where performers recreate icons such as Marilyn Monroe and Cher. And as Chevalier said, it’s pretty difficult to spot the difference.

According to Chevalier, despite the differences between these groups, they often intermingle without

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issue. Large parties are hosted in which everyone meets and shares in their art and expression. I was tipped off about a weekly event in Paris called JeudiBarré, a party with a weekly theme that inspires creative outfits. A whirlwind of elaborate makeup, inventive style and a never-ending happy hour, the JeudiBarré is just the place for someone wishing to dip their toe into this world, and be exposed to all different forms of crossdressing.

However, not everyone shares the same opinions on drag culture. There is a lot of resistance and tension from groups who feel alienated by the practice of drag.

The comedic and exaggerated aspects of drag are often pointed to as harmful to public opinion by people who are redefining gender concepts outside of the drag world.

Paige Chase, a young transgender woman in Seattle has had a few unfortunate experiences with drag performers.

“I’ve seen and heard of drag queens and kings both degrading trans individuals outside of their community and I do personally feel insulted by how some of the community seems to use it as a way to demean the transgender community. I’m going to quote my coworker when I said that I feel offended by the drag community in my area: ‘Why are you offended, it’s so funny?’ I’m offended by some drag because it instantly associates that feeling of humor to any person designated male at birth trying to present feminine as well as the other way around with trans men.”

Chase remained hopeful that the same was not true for other communities. Still, this very issue can only truly be solved through education. Anyone involved in crossdressing faces possible persecution for standing out and expressing themselves in a different way, and this discrimination can only worsen if people do not understand the motives behind crossdressing. For Paige Chase and so many other transgendered people, crossdressing is a tool which helped her to identify with her true gender and feel more comfortable in her own skin. For Clément Chevalier, drag is what brings him most happiness in life, as it allows him to express himself and explore his creativity. The same core goals hold true for all people who participate in crossdressing. It is something that can be artistic, fun, comforting and liberating. In the words of Chevalier, “A part of it is fun, but you also want to give something to the people that you meet. You give love, art, you create something.”

The New Art of Seduction Debunking the myth of the pickup artist

By Safian Abo-Ibrahim Illustration by Maddy Brookes

“H

onestly, I think that pickup artists are just dumb because they make it seem like all girls work in one specific way,” said my girlfriend Sarah after I asked her about her thoughts on pickup artistry.

She continued, furrowing her brow, “I think of it as completely sexist. It’s based on the idea that there are certain cues that all girls are going to react to, that we’re some kind of objects that work like robots.”

Pickup artistry, also known as the PUA or seduction community, refers to the community of men who use certain techniques with the intent of seducing women.

Most of the women that I have discussed PUA with tend to approach the community with a sense of curiosity, but associate it with street harassment and the men’s rights community. This sentiment is dominant today as protests against seemingly misogynistic methods practiced by the PUA community have become particularly vocal.

It has been argued that pickup artists encourage the objectification and sexual harassment of women because of their association with creepy, predatory behavior.

These claims are underlined by some of the terminology commonly used by pickup artists. Women are referred to as “targets” that must be “isolated” from the many “obstacles” — their friends — in order to increase the chances of getting “close,” which could mean anything from getting a phone number to ending up in bed. Terms such as “high quality woman” perpetuate the

notion of an ideal physical attractiveness — the use of “quality” here reduces women to mere objects.

A lack of self-confidence is what leads many men to stumble into the world of PUA. As an early teen in boarding school I struggled talking to girls, like many others. We were bashful boys who ended up on the internet searching for answers to questions like “How do I speak to girls?”, “How do I start a good conversation?” or “What are pickup artists?” The rabbit hole was endless as I discovered this world of seducers who claimed to know exactly how women worked and used methods, tactics and even jargon to win them over. However, it wasn’t all about having the upper hand in relationships, some PUAs taught respect and understanding toward women as the foundation of what they were selling.

While the art of seduction is one of the earliest forms of human interaction, the field of PUA is a relatively recent one. The modern pickup artist movement dates back to 1970, with the publication of the book How To Pick Up Girls! by Eric Weber. In 1992, Ross Jeffries, an American writer, author and television personality, released his first book, How to Get the Women You Desire into Bed, which introduced a new method he called “speed seduction” involving the rapid escalation of sexual tension through body language and speech. In the 1999 film Magnolia, the central character played by Tom Cruise, a pickup artist and self-help guru, was loosely based on Jeffries.

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The mainstream paradigm shift—one that changed many men’s perspective of the accessibility of PUA practices—came with the release of investigative journalist Neil Strauss’ best-selling book The Game: Penetrating the Secret Society of Pickup Artists (2005), documenting his experience with the seduction community and his journey to becoming a pickup artist.

This book quickly became a sacred text for men seeking out this community and its methods of seduction. This led to a surge of men on the streets practicing one-liners, kino (the use of physical touching) and peacocking (a way of showing off, usually through clothing and accessories), which further strengthened the stereotype of pickup artists as persistent and creepy men. These strategies and techniques developed even further with the rise of Internet forums, online “lairs” where PUAs would discuss theories and pickup methods.

Today, the landscape has become even more commercialized. There are many self-labeled experts circulating their opinions and theories, mostly online. The more high profile seducers and coaches tour around the world, hosting conferences, workshops or giving paid lectures. The community has gone from a US-centric phenomenon to spreading across the Western world.

The seduction community was not the only thing that changed over this period. In a time where sexism is a hot-button topic, contemporary feminism has deemed more manipulative pickup artist methods as sexist at best and sexual harassment at worst. Their denouncement of these tactics has even begun marginalizing the more degrading practitioners.

In 2014, Julien Blanc, a pickup artist whose techniques included choking women and pulling them towards his genitals, had his Australian visa canceled while on tour and was forced to leave the country. Another popular pickup artist called Roosh V was condemned internationally for his advocacy of the legalization of rape on private property, prompting numerous bans and petitions to

prevent him from hosting seminars around the world.

However, this cult of neo-masculinity does not represent the entire PUA community.

For some in the community, PUA techniques focus on building men’s self-confidence in order to help them communicate better with women. Alex Wagner is a husband, father and the founder of France’s first and leading seduction school for men, Morning Kiss.

His method focuses primarily on building a man’s selfconfidence, then teaching him how to approach women respectfully and not under false pretenses.

Wagner and Morning Kiss place a strong emphasis on “kindness, humor and respect,” when approaching a woman. So much so that he published a free guidebook on his website called Le Code de Bonne Conduite (The Code of Good Conduct) because he believes that it is important to have these basic principles of respect before going “into the field” and coming into contact with women. The book was co-published with Bénédicte Ann, a psychologist and life coach who has published five books on the subject. “I think it’s important that a woman puts her stamp of approval on it saying ‘Yeah, okay this isn’t just some guys point of view’,” said Wagner.

Running a seduction school at a time when online dating and social media tools are on a meteoric rise may seem like a gamble. However, Wagner believes that dating apps and sites are more “complementary than competitive” for his business, as they only act as doorways to a real conversation, which is where his work is focused.

Morning Kiss’s positioning as a seduction school in France — a country stereotypically synonymous with the archetypical framing of the seducer or playboy à la Serge Gainsbourg or Vincent Cassel — may seem surprising.

How does this institution expect to maintain a sustainable business in a market that demands nothing of it? In reality, this preconception misses the mark. Most French men do not have the attributes of a natural seducer, or at the very least, do not know how to use them. It would appear

“It is important to have these basic principles of respect before coming into contact with women.”

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that there has always been a market in France that has, until recently, been ignored. Wagner notes, “The French are much easier, much quicker to own their sexual intent.”

He emphasizes that clear intentions lead to more open communication and can be the difference between a potential relationship or the infamous friend zone.

However, for Wagner owning one’s sexual intent does not mean “respectfully” telling a woman how horny you are and how much you want to sleep with her. He explains that for a man to own his sexual intent, he must rid himself of all the verbal and non-verbal cues and techniques stored in his head and instead be completely present with the woman in the moment, otherwise, “You’re not going to be able to appreciate her, you’re not going to be able to take interest, you’re not going to be able to maintain a conversation.”

Wagner met his wife of six years through these seduction skills. “I met her in 2009 in the Paris metro. I find it very attractive, the idea that I’m choosing day after day to be with my wife. Not out of obligation, or fear of being alone, but simply, despite the potential abundance that I have, I still choose to stay with her day after day. And that

to me makes the relationship much stronger.” Wagner’s words illustrate the extent of his self-confidence, a man who chooses the way the ship sails, but seem to leave little room for the female voice.

Coming from a position of complete bewilderment and naiveté, many men struggle with the rush of power they experience after discovering their own self-confidence and its accompanying success. Wagner succumbed to an addiction to seduction at one point, describing it as a “kind of superpower” that he couldn’t turn off. After seeking help from a psychiatrist, he claims to no longer struggle with this problem. But for many men, there is no endgame. Conquering women becomes a sport.

The PUA community will continue to expand in its approach, ideology and variety, and with that will come more scrutiny of its ideals and the dangerous view it can promote of women as sexual targets. The truth of the matter is that while there are men who set out to manipulate women, there are also those who feel socially disadvantaged and learn “the game” as a way of creating opportunities for themselves to talk to women and level the playing field, so to speak.

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Pretty

Tied Up The Real World of BDSM

By Cathryn Condé

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“Y

es, sir,” he hissed into my ear as his fingers continued to pinch and twist my nipple. “Yes... sir,” I responded, exhaling when his fingers finally left my chest. He laced his fingers into my hair and yanked my head back, making me stumble in my too-high heels. “Don’t fall over,” he chuckled. “While we wait for our drinks, go take your tights off. I don’t like tights,” he said. I teetered to the bathroom to remove them, realizing too late that I hadn’t brought my purse in which to hide the offending item. It was only the first of many times that night my face would flush with embarrassment.

Thanks to Fifty Shades of Grey and Fifty Shades Darker, the films based on E. L. James’s best-selling erotic novels, BDSM, or Bondage/Discipline, Domination/Submission, and Sadism/Masochism, has entered the mainstream. Its popularity has sparked everything from Grey-themed beginner BDSM gift boxes (featuring grey ties and simple blindfolds) to discussions within feminist communities about the treatment of women in the films. However, for many members of this community, James’ stories distort and misrepresent BDSM. As a practitioner, I realize the importance of trust and consent in such relationships; one of the many aspects the films fail to explain. BDSM is also an umbrella term that covers a host of diverse sexual practices.

Kinky people are all around you. They come in all shapes and sizes. Your totally normal neighbor may be into peeing on people, or your professor might enjoy getting tied up and sodomized. And this isn’t limited to submissive housewives and sadistic men who want an excuse to beat women. There are women who like to dominate men, men who enjoy watching their spouses have sex with other people, people who like to tie others up without having sex with them, and many, many more. To some, BDSM comes as a revelation through experimentation, to others it is an acquired taste. For many, it is a part of their character, an innate desire that has always lingered.

The Fifty Shades series comes in a long lineage of BDSM-related erotic fiction. Sadism’s namesake, the Marquis de Sade, wrote his novel, The 120 Days of Sodom, in 1785 while imprisoned for his sexual indiscretions. His work has been criticized and even banned in some cases for its use of graphic violence. The modern era of BDSM literature can be traced back to Story of O (1954) written

by Anne Desclos under the pen name Pauline Réage. The

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novel follows a woman though her journey to become a sexual slave and won the esteemed Prix des Deux Magots literary prize, although French authorities still attempted to bring obscenity charges against the author. Despite these moments in the spotlight, BDSM still remained a taboo subject. Even films like Secretary (2002) starring a youthful Maggie Gyllenhaal were unable to break into the mainstream as E. L. James’s novel did.

So what’s the difference between kinky sex and BDSM? According to Dr. Justin Lehmiller, Director of the Social Psychology Program at Ball State University and author of the blog Sex and Psychology, “Kinky sex is a very broad term that can be used to refer to any sexual interest that falls outside the mainstream, regardless of whether it involves BDSM.” People have different interpretations of where the line lies between kinky sex and BDSM; there is no such thing as a BDSM membership card.

There are many kinds of relationships within BDSM including monogamous couples, open relationships and polyamory. BDSM is typically characterized by partners exchanging control, where one becomes the dominant and the other becomes the submissive, whether that control is physical (ropes, restraints) or psychological (rules, punishments). In my own practice, my partner is not my boyfriend. Most often, it will be a friend whom I occasionally have sex with and who acts as my dominant.

Despite my rather authoritative personality, I enjoy being submissive. During the course of sex, I’ll be slapped across the face, forced onto the floor to crawl around on my knees with a belt around my neck, or spanked so hard the marks will still be visible the following morning. If I fail to follow my partner’s instructions, I will be punished, either by a hard slap or a hand on my throat.

BDSM play must always involve some form of consent, often in the form of limits outlined in advance with strict safe words or gestures to be used during a session.

This also includes consensual non-consent, which is the establishment of consent and safe words before a scene that involves roleplaying non-consent, often rape-play.

While many couples only practice BDSM in the bedroom, or wherever else seems appealing, others choose to live it

24/7 without breaking character.

Despite the relatively diverse nature of the BDSM community, certain common themes can be seen among practitioners. Dr. Lehmiller notes that, “People who aren’t exclusively heterosexual seem to have more interest in BDSM. This may be because people who violate one social convention feel fewer qualms about violating others.” This also allows for more sexual exploration within the practice and helps to debunk the myth that all BDSM practitioners are sexual deviants. Rather, it attracts people who already feel comfortable with going against convention. There’s also no correlation between mental illness and BDSM. In fact, quite the opposite. Dr. Lehmiller states, “People who practice BDSM tend to be less neurotic (which basically means they’re more emotionally stable), more extraverted, more conscientious, and more open to new experiences.”

The dynamic of dominant/ submissive relationships in the BDSM world has become more visible in “vanilla,” or normative culture, due to the popularity of the Fifty Shades of Grey series. However, this becomes problematic as people’s understanding of an entire culture becomes based on a piece of (not very good) fiction. One of the film’s main problems lies in the representation of Christian Grey as an abused man whose “affliction” must be cured. For Dr. Lehmiller the film “gives the impression that BDSM practitioners have a lot of emotional baggage and were abused as children; however, research suggests that this isn’t the case and, instead, that BDSM practitioners tend to be just as psychologically healthy as anyone else on average.” Grey’s partner Anastasia Steele’s refusal to abide by his rules and punishments gives the viewer hope that he can be “saved” and that he and Steele will have a heteronormative, monogamous relationship free from mommy-issuesinspired BDSM rules.

What else makes Christian Grey more akin to Patrick Bateman than a real BDSM partner, you may ask.

According to Dr. Lehmiller, the films “give the impression that consent is optional,” while establishing consent is actually a foundational principal within the BDSM community. Coming up with safe words and discussing

“BDSM play must always involve some form of consent.”

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them beforehand or revealing each other’s limits so everyone feels comfortable are common practices. This even includes aftercare: making sure your partner is physically and emotionally OK and knows you care about them. After a few hours of being hurt and degraded during one session, my partner made sure to check that I was alright, making sure I could breathe properly and wasn’t (too) badly hurt anywhere. He also made sure I was fine emotionally, as many women experience mixed emotions after this kind of experience.

BDSM often comes under criticism from the feminist community, who denounce it as promotion of traditional gender roles, involving the submissive wife who obeys the dominant husband. In fact, the idea is not that the dominant dictates orders to the submissive who follows them unconditionally, but rather that the dominant earns the respect and obedience of his submissive. As one kinky woman I spoke to so eloquently put it, “On the surface, it may seem that the dominant has all of the control, doing what he wants to and with the submissive, taking his own pleasure as he wants it. In reality and practice, the relationship is actually all about her wants, needs and goals.” BDSM is reliant on trust between partners which allows an intense bond to form. This trust is built not only through BDSM sessions themselves, but also through things like aftercare where the end of the session is acknowledged and time is spent together out of character.

So then, what exactly makes this practice so appealing?

“For some,” Dr. Lehmiller says, “it’s about an escape from self-awareness — it allows them to get lost in the moment and forget about the things that might otherwise distract them and interfere with sexual pleasure or performance.”

I spoke to a 40-year-old polyamorous woman named Sarah who defines her role as a “little” (a kind of submissive role often relying on acting younger than their dominant, often a “Daddy,” to give up psychological control). She explains, “I like being given choices or asking

permission to do things and my partner is the grown-up who grants the permission. I like being challenged and trying new things, so that sometimes comes out, too.” Dr. Lehmiller also notes, “There isn’t a simple answer, but the fact that BDSM can serve so many different purposes and fulfil such a wide range of needs is probably part of the reason why it’s so popular.”

Some of these needs may be completely unrelated to sexual gratification. One male submissive who is in search of a female dominatrix, or mistress, told me, “I’m overweight, my spending habits are not the best, and I do not have a career. I need someone to help me set these goals, and who will push me to achieve them. In return I offer complete obedience. I want to help my Domme or Mistress achieve her goals, as she helps me set and achieve mine.”

BDSM is entirely based on opposites: domination and submission, sadism and masochism, pain and pleasure, degradation and empowerment. In fact, the same neurotransmitters that fire when we experience pleasure also fire when we experience pain, making the two highly interconnected.

Psychologically, there is also an appeal to experiencing the opposite of our everyday lives, or just further expressing our true selves.

In my life, I tend to take the lead in most if not all circumstances, from work projects to making the first move on dates and in the bedroom. The male partners I’ve had would follow my lead, or even be too timid to make a first move. I enjoy being submissive in BDSM because it finally gives me a chance to let someone else take the lead and to be mistreated in a way I would never tolerate in my normal life.

It’s clear that there are a multitude of reasons people enjoy BDSM, from wanting to feel out of control to simply wanting to try something new. The community is not a homogenous group of sex-crazed fiends with issues, but is made up of people from all walks of life who simply enjoy stepping out of their comfort zone.

“People who practice BDSM tend to be less neurotic... more extraverted, more conscientious, and more open to new experiences.”

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And a Side of

Global Warming, Please

What will it take for us to stop eating meat?

By Hedvig Werner

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n the 19th century, vegetarianism was far from common in the Western world. However, during the First and Second World Wars, it became more popular as meat was hard to come by. In the postwar years, most of those who had been forced to lead a vegetarian lifestyle went back to their regular diets. Adolf Hitler’s support of vegetarianism did not exactly help. It wasn’t until the 1970s that the vegetarian lifestyle again reached prominence when the free spirited “hippies” took over the media landscape. It was no longer completely unusual to be living a plant-based lifestyle.

Today, vegetarianism has become something of a fad-diet. The vegan community has made YouTube its platform of choice to promote the vegan message through videos like “What I Eat in a Day as a Vegan,” “Grocery Hauls” and “Vegan lifestyle Q&As.” Celebrities have also joined the vegan trend. In 2013, Beyoncé and Jay-Z created a vegan meal plan collaboration, “22 Days Nutrition,” with Beyoncé’s personal trainer Marco Borges.

If celebrity endorsement isn’t enough, what will it take for people to finally stop eating meat? So many arguments have already been put forward to dissuade people from consuming meat, from animal rights or global warming

© Nicolas Nemtala

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to the promotion of “alternative” diets driven by health concerns linked to processed and red meat. While these arguments may work in reducing people’s short-term meat consumption, as the direct effects of our actions are not visible, their effectiveness remains limited.

Are people aware of what goes into the process of raising cattle for slaughter? There are no official statistics documenting awareness of animal cruelty, but if people are aware, how does that not have an effect on their dietary choices? Is it just too uncomfortable to face the hard truth? Sharman Levinson, a professor of Social Psychology at the American University of Paris, is personally invested in animal welfare and people’s relationship with the dilemma. She criticizes society at large, as she believes many are aware of their actions, but are just not willing to change. “Lots of people eat meat, and they know that they wouldn’t be able to hurt the animals themselves. It’s a contradiction that people live with.”

PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals) is an organization known for marketing distressing images portraying the process of animal slaughter. There have been numerous campaigns featuring celebrities, including one featuring Pamela Anderson divided into various cuts of meat. While the organization is vocal, Levinson is doubtful that it has a fruitful effect on people, saying, “Showing shocking imagery is not usually the best strategy to promote change, because people push it away.

If you want to bring about massive social change, a more efficient technique would be to make it mainstream.”

Although veganism has gained prominence in recent years, it has often been seen as a Western privilege.

This might largely be the fault of the very outspoken vegan YouTube community, which is mostly comprised of Western, privileged “kids” posting recipes for organic smoothies made out of expensive supplements and green algae. A well-known — and widely despised — channel is Freelee the Banana Girl run by Leanne Ratcliffe, a vegan based in Adelaide, Australia. She has become infamous for slamming fellow YouTubers or other celebrities for eating animal products, often using a strategy similar to that of PETA. Even though she has acquired a sizable following over the years, a quick glance at the dislike button underneath her videos shows that her “haters” might make up a larger proportion of her views than her “fans.”

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There is perhaps no greater threat to Earth than global warming, and there is a growing concern regarding how our everyday habits affect the environment. Meat consumption in relation to the environment became a hot topic after the release of the documentary Cowspiracy on Netflix in 2015, which led to a much greater popular understanding of how methane contributes to global warming. Methane is one of the major greenhouse gases, and some of the biggest producers are, in fact, cows. Unfortunately, animal agriculture is increasing in order to meet the demands of the rapidly growing world population. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, methane emissions stood for about 11 percent of total US greenhouse gas emissions. Animal farming actually produces about 51 percent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and uses roughly 30 percent of the Earth’s fresh water, an increasingly scarce resource.

Cowspiracy truly succeeded in raising awareness, as the film took the topic of animal activism a step further by focusing on the negative effects the raising of livestock has on the environment.

If meats were considered potentially dangerous to the health of human beings, what impact would that have? In 2015 the World Health Organization classified processed meats as carcinogenic, or cancer-causing, placing them in the same category as cigarettes. Red meat was presented as being associated with higher risks of certain types of cancer, but with limited evidence. While cigarettes may have warning labels, processed meats still do not.

In her book The Ethical Carnivore: My Year Killing to Eat (2016), Louise Gray documents a whole year spent only eating meat from animals she had killed herself. She poses the question, “If you had to kill it yourself, if you had to look it in the eye… would you eat it?” Gray promotes the concept of “ethical meat,” which she takes to an extreme level by becoming fully aware of the journey a piece of meat takes from animal to plate. She wanted to understand the complete process, including how it affects the people conducting the slaughter process. With this approach, Gray provides an answer to the question often asked by vegan activists: “Would you be able to slaughter an animal with your bare hands to provide dinner?” It’s an interesting example of how people can increase their understanding of what truly goes into their diets.

© Shutterstock/Mark Agnor

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Š Nicolas Nemtala

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Ethical eating doesn’t mean just eating plants. In 2013, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization urged the world to start consuming insects. According to the organization, there are over 1,600 edible insect species in the world, and there are already several countries in Asia and Africa on entomophagous — insect-based — diets.

The organization encouraged eating insects, as they are an excellent source of the fundamental minerals, vitamins and macronutrients important to human survival. They are also a sustainable food source, meaning production and consumption is environmentally friendly. Insect farming could even potentially create jobs for people in poorer areas. There are already 2 billion people that regularly feed on insects, and many consider it inevitable that the world will turn to entomophagy to feed the expanding population. Brazil has become the hotspot for gastronomical entomophagy. Michelin-starred chef Alex Atala, the owner of São Paulo’s D.O.M. restaurant, has a fondness for the Amazonian ant, serving it on a cube of pineapple in a signature dessert.

Meat consumption is deeply rooted in almost all cultures worldwide, perhaps nowhere more than in France. It becomes clear when glancing over the menu of a classic French bistro that the French consider a meal incomplete without a piece of meat. Some of the most famous French dishes include steak frites, blanquette de veau, pâté, coq au vin and boeuf bourguignon. All of these include meat as a main proponent.There might be simple dishes such as vegetarian pasta or a goat cheese salad available, but the options are usually limited. Vegan meals on the other hand might be harder to come by.

However, according to The Local there was an increase in the number of vegetarian and vegan restaurants in Paris from October 2015 to April 2016.

It’s difficult to say what it will take for people to stop the consumption of meat. Maybe when the effects of global warming are finally felt, people will have to change their minds. In the end, there is probably no single solution, but as long as there is a distance present, psychologically or physically, people will most likely continue to consider it acceptable to devour steak after steak.

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And on the God Said...

Let There

By Henry Hardwick Photography by Nicolas Nemtala

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8 th day, Be

eligious Memes

France's modern Catholic revival 49

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hat does “Catholic” look like? A cranky old man? A stuffy old church? Uncomfortable pews that hurt your knees? Frankly, it can be all that, and often is. But what else can it be? A youth movement? A way of life? A chance at salvation?

Religion is a very personal thing. It’s practically impossible to precisely define what is and is not Catholic, let alone Christian. Everybody connects to these things in their own ways. Some meet God by meditating in the park, others through an internet connection. It may be unorthodox, but it’s effective.

Any attempt to make sense of statistics on religion is next to futile. Most analysis of religious groups focuses too much on groups, not individuals. With religion muddled by polls and church records, it’s hard to tell who is (or qualifies as) what anymore. Unfortunately, religious affiliation is often approached from the perspective of quantity over quality. Based on stats, the percentage of Catholics in France is in decline: the World Factbook claims 68 percent of the country’s population is Christian, down from 88 percent a decade ago.

Still, that doesn’t mean that France is any less Catholic than before. Just look around — it’s not hard to tell why France is known as the “Eldest Daughter of the Church.”

With a national identity rooted in Christianity, the unity of faith in France precedes the unity of the French.

Religion has been so deeply ingrained in French culture that people don’t have to attend Mass or even believe in God to call themselves “Catholic” — despite the fact that 63 percent of the population describe themselves as “non-religious,” the popularity of candidates such as François Fillon in the 2017 French elections began to reveal a “silent majority,” one that supported the Catholic nature of the nation. It’s really no surprise — France has always tried to find the perfect balance between religion and secularism. Just look at Notre-Dame or Sacré-Coeur.

This dual nature is manifested in two of the greatest Parisian landmarks: both are world-renowned pilgrimage sites as well as tourist traps.

As a starry-eyed Catholic, Paris meant one thing to me: pilgrimage. Sure, the lure of the jet-set and expat life drew me in too, but what I really wanted to see was all the old, stony, decrepit churches. Maybe it was nostalgia for my high school exchange, when I got to visit Amiens Cathedral. Maybe it was dreams of a different life, a photo of that big wooden church of Kon Tum in my baby book.

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With over 100 parishes in the Paris archdiocese, religious tourism here is truly a blessing and a curse. I’ve gone to half-empty Sunday Masses and weekday Masses that are overflowing. I’ve heard Mass in English with guitars and slideshows and Mass in Latin with the priest’s back to me. I’ve seen churches constructed by master builders in the 5th century and churches made in the ‘80s out of concrete. It takes a lot of church-hopping (and sermons lost in translation) to find what you’re looking for, but what’s nice about having over 100 to choose from is that you are bound to find something that works for you. If the church down the block only does Sunday services, one of Sacré-Coeur’s three to five daily services could fit the bill.

Maybe you want to find what speaks to you, or maybe you just want an excuse to explore when you run out of cash. Whatever your reason, it’s like they always say: the Church is always there for you.

However, the religious expat community is lucky to have another option when it comes to a house of worship: the American Church in Paris.

Despite being an obviously American institution, I met one of the most interesting (and stereotypical) Frenchmen there.

A Christian-rock loving Parisian, Pierre Lhommé comes from a long line of French Catholics in southeast France. Sitting at a bar on the Seine one Sunday, he shared with me his family’s oral tradition, one of family feuds and court cases against monks pre-dating the Revolution itself. Tracing the feud through a long line of anti-clerics, revolutionaries and republicans among the paterfamilias, it was the women who kept the family’s piety alive generation to generation. While my family can only trace its lineage to World War II, it is personal stories told nonchalantly like this one that make me realize just how French culture and Church history go hand-in-hand.

To me, Pierre’s family represents France itself: two sides of the same coin, the secular and the religious.

While some want to “Make Europe Great Again,” others just want to see people come to church on their own. With a long history of secularism since the Revolution, France has been wary of being “too religious” for good reason. From the First Estate and clericalism

to sex scandals and terrorism, religious institutions certainly haven’t put their best foot forward in the eyes of the people. Ironically, the Christian revival in Europe is awakening because these countries are looking for something to believe in after trying to turn away from it for so long.

It’s not a fad: just look at the French elections.

Despite the apparent commitment to keep religion out of politics in the name of laïcité, it’s obvious that French conservatives see Islam as a threat to what they proclaim as “Catholic France.” From Marine Le Pen’s claim that “Financial globalization and Islamist globalization... want to bring France to its knees,” to Fillon’s assertion that “France doesn’t have a problem with religion [in general].

The problem is linked to Islam,” it’s clear that many have moved away from the original societal taboo: religion itself.

However, this departure from the originally allencompassing concept of laïcité has some benefits as well. Now, Christian youths can freely determine their own faith, not just through spiritual belief, but in finding their own identity. From seminarians subscribing to “Orthodox Christian Memes” for “Straight Outta Compline” covers on Facebook to the darkest recesses of 4Chan following the “Medieval Music - ‘Hardcore’ Party Mix” and Lazy Town/Spongebob Crusader remixes on Youtube, it’s not just the memes.The Pope is on Twitter under multiple languages as @Pontifex. There are multiple My Mother Mary pages on Facebook. My newsfeed gets flooded with it all, and my poor Facebook friends see it every time I like something. God have mercy on their souls.

Whether intentional or not, the sharing and spread of media offers a new form of evangelism; an outreach that penetrates all but the tightest social media bubbles.

Even more so, it’s not just an anglophone movement — it’s a global phenomenon. What’s the favorite thing to share for my old lycée friends from Amiens? Classical art memes, filled to the brim with religious symbolism. From a painting of a nun surrounded by demons captioned as “Last call at the club” to “When you drink too much wine

“People don’t even have to believe in God to call themselves ‘Catholic’.”

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during the Last Supper,” these memes aren’t just social commentary, but cultural commentary.

My host brother from Amiens, Antoine Bouvet, said, “It’s a part of our history. It just makes sense.” And why not? The Kingdom of France was one of the most influential Medieval and Christian nations. It’s like an American seeing George Washington with the caption, “When you just got a new country and leave your kids alone with it for a couple centuries and they already broke it.” It’s a part of history. It just makes sense.

Moving forward, it’s hard to tell where both church and state stand. Maybe it’s the end of an era. Maybe we’re looking at a brave new world. With so much emphasis placed on demographics and infographics, we often forget that these aren’t numbers, but individuals. If the nation has changed, it’s because the people changed too.

The 2017 presidential election did a lot to disrupt the nation’s façade, but it also made a necessary revelation.

After all, France has always thrived on its integral values: Catholicism and secularism. While laïcité has been seen as a struggle between God and the “godless,” this revelation does offer a silver lining. When you focus on what’s pseudo-secular and pseudo-Catholic, you forget about what’s genuine, what’s human.

According to one of its priests, the Église de la Madeleine is kept running by the proceeds from the tourists who have come to gawk at the columns. Just like any other ecosystem, there are checks and balances that require each other not only to survive, but to thrive.

Maybe they can be separate in society, but why does that need to carry over to the people? The faith has inspired so many; just look at Joan of Arc. She heard holy voices and led France to win the Hundred Years War at the age of 19. In Belgium, a young Monsignor Georges Lemaître proposed the big bang theory because he didn’t believe the universe to be static.

These people didn’t see the world in black and white, didn’t draw lines, and they’re certainly not what one would see as poster child representations of the “young Catholic.” In the end, the Church may struggle to get anywhere in the secular world, but the secular world may struggle to get anywhere without the Church too.

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still dead Photographer Charles Roux explores the macabre

By Lianna Bass Photography by Charles Roux

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© Alexis Garcia

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e’re all going to die. For most, this is a hard truth to swallow — but it's a fact of life. We panic, cry and shake. We host grand funerals and write obituaries. Sometimes we cope, sometimes not.

While some spiral into an existential crisis at the thought of a corpse or coffin, others explore the idea of death with fierce interest.

Parisian artist Charles Roux actively works to demystify death through his photography. His use of macabre ideals attempts to push viewers to confront their fate one frame at a time. He does not believe death should be an entirely bleak affair, nor does he want to project unnecessary meaning onto things. “I don’t think we have ownership over death and we shouldn’t sacralize it,” he said.

Roux's interest first stemmed from a deep desire to learn everything about everything, from astrology to zoology. Over time, he became increasingly interested in death and the mortal coil. His relationship to death is quite specific, which is reflected in his art.

In the Still Dead series, Roux combines the tropes of still life photography with his macabre sen-sibilities. Animal bones and bodies, raw fruit and furniture are frequent subjects. “I don’t want my photos to be a gruesome display of death and of things being rotten,” he explained.

“I just like the beauty of these objects.”

Even while capturing images of death and decay, Roux’s work has an amorous air about it. He takes his photographs intuitively, often going into a different mind state while he is working.

“Through the macabre, one is able to see life in an entirely new light. You’re not used to seeing a cat with no skin on its face, so a skull has a very specific beauty,” Roux said.

“It’s all related to body, to mental constructions and to fear — they are interwoven and interconnected,” he told me. “People need a landmark in order to feel secure within their fear and fate.”

Roux’s macabre sensibilities carry into his Parisian apartment as well. His bedroom is home to three human skulls, a taxidermied weasel, and other curious objects.

“I understand why people think that would be morbid,” he acknowledged. “Some people enter my room and say, ‘How could you sleep at night with those in your room?’

And I really don’t care.”

Charles Roux Though a deathlike aesthetic is nothing new in the art world, Roux has noticed the macabre has become actualized and “trendy” in recent years. In his view, “most people are afraid of death, but there is also a trend about death and the macabre.”

He feels that those who fall under the Generation Y category struggle with these themes the most. “I think my generation is scared of everything — life and death — but also things not being as they should,” he said. “Young people are just looking for landmarks and things to hold on to.”

Roux believes the pressure placed on these groups by baby boomers is often to blame, saying, “I don’t understand why people from older generations say we’re lazy. In actuality, I just think that we have different concerns.”

Meanwhile, Roux tries to live his life as authentically as possible, accepting the unavoidable reality of life and death. “I’m not afraid, I don’t have fears,” he claims. “I think I have angst. I am anguished. It might be death related, but I think it’s more life related.”

“Through the macabre, one is able to see life in an entirely new light.�

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“People need a landmark in order to feel secure within their fear and fate.�

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“I don't think we have ownership over death and we shouldn't sacralize it.�

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La Honte France's Shameful Relationship with Racism

By Asia Letlow

Š Shutterstock/arenysam

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Š Shutterstock/Melanie Lemahier

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aking the choice to live outside one’s home country comes with great challenges. As an expatriate, the differences that separate you from others are much greater, and there are additional cultural shifts to adjust to. Several layers of your identity are reshaped by other people who do not know the sum of your experiences. As a woman of color, that experience is magnified; race plays a significant role in the ability to mold an identity that must carry from one culture to another. When you enter in a new place, racial identities are imposed upon you and you do not have the space to create an identity of your own. Other people are able to define your identity because you are not a part of the culture and therefore do not have the right to do so for yourself.

Female expatriates may move abroad to advance their career and gain a new perspective, but they often end up being further separated from their peers in a different culture than they originally came from. Having to adjust to a new setting that undermines their agency takes a toll on them emotionally and impacts how they view themselves against the foreign landscape. They have often already been marginalized in the places they come from, but when moving to a new place, the experience of being both a woman and a person of color impacts all the other layers of identity.

The term expatriate means “to withdraw oneself from residence in or allegiance to one’s native country.” People of color are often not perceived as expatriates due to the assumption that they are of a lower class or education level. In an article published by the Guardian, Silicon Africa editor Mawuna Remarque Koutonin declared that even when people of color migrate from one country to another with an array of qualifications, they are classified as immigrants because the status of “expatriate” is linked to affluent Europeans. The term is often associated with people who are affluent and possess some level of privilege or wealth — and who are white.

In response to Koutonin’s claim, the sociolinguist Nic Subtirelu conducted a study using web-based language data to compare the association of 20 adjectives, both negative and positive, to the terms “expatriate” and “immigrant.” Subtirelu determined that there is a much higher tendency to attribute negative terms such as “illegal” and “foreign-born” to immigrants than to expatriates. He discusses how the roles of “expatriate” and “immigrant”

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lend themselves to different societal expectations.

Expatriates are able to keep the connections they have with their country of origin. Additionally, the study shows that there is a certain level of ignorance they are allowed to possess in regard to their adopted country. Meanwhile, immigrants are expected to assimilate completely and sever ties with their home country.

This rather prejudiced semantic difference is as present as ever in France. Additionally, there seems to be a sort of universal avoidance of acknowledging race as the issue — which is an issue in itself. Race becomes problematic when people do not acknowledge it; especially in the realm of police brutality and the treatment of people of color. There are several similarities between racially motivated violence in France and the United States; yet, unlike the US, France has yet to take as much of a stand

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on the issues that are affecting people of color. Paris’s banlieues, or suburban areas where many immigrants live are stigmatized among the greater population and can be the sites of religious or racial violence.

On February 2, 2017, a 22-year-old black man named Théo was allegedly raped with a truncheon and beaten by police in the suburb of Aulnay-sous-Bois following a routine ID check. Police maintained that any injuries inflicted upon him were accidental, although the wounds he suffered as a result of the alleged attack were brutal.

Following the death of Trayvon Martin, a black teenager who was shot by neighborhood watch coordinator George Zimmerman in Sanford, Florida on February 26, 2012, the Black Lives Matter movement was founded, declaring itself to be a “call to action and a response to anti-black racism that permeates [American] society.”

© Shutterstock/Joseph Sohm

The hashtag #BlackLivesMatter appeared on Twitter as a means of protesting anger at the injustice black people face in the hands of the justice system.

In France, #BLMFrance surfaced after Adama Traoré, a 24-year-old male, died in police custody in Beaumontsur-Oise in the summer of 2016. The #JusticePourTheo hashtag followed on Twitter in response to Théo’s tragic encounter and also as a means of solidarity among people of color in France. However, hashtags like these are far less visible than their American equivalents and, as yet, no movement has emerged in France on the scale of Black Lives Matter in America. The protests that took place in France as a result of these tragedies have frequently been labeled as riots overshadowing their character as protests against racially motivated acts of police brutality. These reactions from the media have only helped to perpetuate

the harmful colorblindness that fuels racial tension in the country.

With the rise of racial unrest between civilians and police, new American transplant Monique Callender frets for her younger brother back home in Northern Virginia, due to the accounts of police brutality and racial unrest across the States. Although there is a similarly problematic landscape in Paris, Callender finds that being here has allowed her a sense of relief, because while brutality and racial disparity are present in Paris’s racial politics, it has not reached the same level or frequency as the United States. Being physically removed from the weight of its effects gives her a chance to be less consumed with it in her everyday life. “Right now, I need to escape it for my own mental wellbeing,” she admits. Though discrimination in France is not as racially driven as in other diverse

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© Shutterstock/a ktaz

countries, discrimination based on religion is another matter.

The concept of laïcité, or the separation of religion from the public sphere, is central to France as a secular republic. However, the concept has become increasingly controversial because, as a traditionally Catholic nation, France tends to protect those whose views stem from Christianity.

There have been several instances of prejudice in response to Muslims donning the hijab, a traditional garment worn to cover the hair of Muslim women. It is an expression of Muslim identity that is often threatened in public spaces; laws have been implemented to limit its presence in public settings. In April 2016, Prime Minister Manuel Valls called for a ban on hijabs in French universities, claiming that such expression of religion as inconsistent with the republic’s ideals. Valls was opposed by other socialist leaders who concluded that the headscarf was not banned by French law, and should be allowed under freedom of expression. Education minister

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Najat Vallaud-Belkacem determined that students have the “freedom of conscience and religious liberty” to express themselves, and should not be restricted on the basis of cultural difference.

Unlike affluent European expatriates, those who are of color are given an identity and are forced to discard ties to their home countries in an effort to assimilate.

Ultimately, however, the general population disguises these issues of race under the guise of classism or religious expression. Expatriates of color in France face great hardship when they come to the country because of their race, economic status, and religion. They face a struggle to preserve their identity in a space that does not allow them to define themselves.

Unpacking Autism Why my toolbox is missing a few screwdrivers

By Ofir Ben Dor Illustration by Maddy Brookes

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o you have certain physical motions you like to repeat? A restricted number of personal interests? Do most social cues seem to fly right over your head? Do you find it impossible at times to distinguish between the literal and figurative meaning of an idiom? If you answered “yes” to all of these questions, no need to worry, we all have our quirks. You should know, though, that these are some of the symptoms of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD).

Individually, many of the criteria that make up ASD can apply to any person; yes, even you. The difference, of course, is that those on the spectrum meet most of the criteria and not just one or two. The two general groups that the criteria fall into are: difficulties in social communication and interaction, and restrictive, repetitive patterns of behavior. The symptoms and their severity vary wildly; some are able to perfectly integrate into society, while others require daily assistance.

Many individuals on the spectrum start speaking at a relatively late age. For me, it was when I was two years old. My parents did not notice my early symptoms, and it

was not their fault considering the circumstances. At the time, they had taken me and my sister to spend three years in Latvia, which meant that I started learning both Hebrew and English from scratch at an international school. As a result, any difficulty I had with language was simply excused. I was also in a very small class with about three or four other kids, so I had a much easier time being sociable.

It wasn’t until we returned to Israel and I found myself in a class of 30 kids that my parents began noticing my strange behavior. At the time I apparently tried to call attention to myself, to turn myself into a joke. Whenever I was happy or excited I would also start to “flap” my hands like a bird. After being punished by the school for a silly prank a friend and I did, my parents were convinced that my behavior was due to me being bored in class. The diagnosis took about a week: I was, in fact, a gifted child and I also had Pervasive Developmental Disorder - Not Otherwise Specified (PDD-NOS).

Until 2013, the autism spectrum was referred to as PDD. It included Classical Autism, PDD-NOS, Asperger

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syndrome, Rett syndrome and childhood disintegrative disorder (CDD). The current definition of ASD incorporates all of these except for Rett and is defined by the severity of the symptoms that the individual exhibits.

Low severity — referred to as level 1 — means that the individual requires very little support and, for example, has difficulty making eye contact. While high severity — level 3 — means some individuals are not able to speak at all. ASD covers everything in between these two points and much more.

Knowing now how large the spectrum truly is, it seems a bit bizarre that it does not get the representation it deserves in popular culture.There seems to be a difficulty accepting that ASD is a spectrum, with many portrayals only showing the socially awkward, savant male with Asperger syndrome. Take Raymond (played by Dustin Hoffman) from the movie Rain Man (1988) for example, one of the iconic on-screen representations of autism.

Raymond is socially awkward, repeats phrases, has a rigid schedule and is also a savant with an incredible memory.

Asperger’s had not been defined at the time of the release of the film, but he is described as a high-functioning autist. Another example is Rizwan Khan (played by Tanay Chheda), from the Indian drama My Name Is Khan (2010).

He is also socially awkward, repeats phrases and is a savant with the “special ability to repair any machine that is broken.” He is also aware that he has Asperger’s.

There are also other characters with similar traits whom the public has deemed to be autistic, possibly due to the mass media’s limited representation of individuals on the spectrum. Sheldon Cooper from the popular TV series The Big Bang Theory (2007–) has been said to have Asperger’s, but the creator of the show has stated that isn’t the case. It does not help that he acts in a similar way to Raymond and Khan with his social awkwardness, repeated phrases and savant-ness. These characters are not necessarily bad representations of individuals with ASD, the problem is rather that they have become the only representation of individuals on the spectrum.

The moment the media makes the choice to show greater variety in their depictions of ASD, many myths about autism will slowly be unraveled. For example, not all individuals on the spectrum are savants or have high IQs — toward the more severe end of the spectrum, many individuals actually have a lower-than-average IQ. While it is true that limited interests are one of the

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symptoms of autism — which leads many individuals to become experts in their fields — this is not the same thing as being a savant. There is a myth that just because a person is on the spectrum, they must have some kind of superpower — like Raymond’s memory or Sheldon’s scientific knowledge — which is incredibly misleading. Popular culture has an easier time showing autistic characters as socially awkward savants; this way it does not need to deal with some of the more complex examples on the spectrum.

However, there is one large set of myths that popular depictions help battle — those which purport that people on the spectrum do not want to make friends, are unable to feel emotions and do not find love. While social awkwardness is present in on-screen representations, many of these characters are able to do all of the things the myths say they can’t — make friends, fall in love and have complex emotions. In real life, just because individuals on the spectrum have a difficult time expressing emotions and connecting to other people does not mean that they are unable to.

One recent addition to the list of representations of ASD is Julia, a 4-year-old, autistic puppet who made her first appearance on Sesame Street in April 2017. Julia’s character is part of an initiative by the show to introduce young children to the basics of autism and is the result of five years of planning and research. Julia still showcases many of the symptoms of the previously mentioned characters — repetitiveness, fixation, social awkwardness, etc. — but in her case, it seems much more subtle. One very important step in the right direction is not making her a savant, but rather as having a specific interest that she really likes — as the official website puts it, she “can remember all the words to lots of songs.”

Julia is still another example of high-functioning autism, but this is perfectly fine since there is no need to bombard young children with the complexities of the entire spectrum. Her character is a great way to teach children about the basics and how they should behave with autistic children in their class, helping to disprove myths from a much younger age.

I don’t remember a lot from the time I was first diagnosed at the age of six. I now know that both of my parents were confused by what PDD-NOS actually meant at first. I remember going to occupational therapy to develop some important skills and work on combatting

some of my more problematic behavior. For most of my life, I have learned to deal with the obstacles that the disorder has given me and to work toward integrating myself into society with the help of teachers, therapists and psychologists. While some of the symptoms have subsided — the “flapping” ended at around the age of 9 — many still exist. My sense of touch and pain were always subdued; for the most part this is no longer so, but when I was 15, I was unaware that I had a giant blood clot in my right leg aside from some mild discomfort.

I still feel awkward in social situations, and unless I can find someone to talk to about my very restricted list of interests I just sit to one side and stay quiet. I still get very anxious when things do not go my way, and I always prefer to have precise instructions than vague ones.

This rigidness of mine may lead some to find it strange that I decided to pursue a major in creative writing, where at times there are no precise instructions. How come I did not choose to follow the subjects I find easier to understand such as math and science? The answer is very simple — they did not interest me. Unlike what

many stories in books and Hollywood tell you, there is no strict connection between math and the sciences and autism. While it may be true that I have a better grasp of chemistry and algebra than of literature, that is just me.

I know many people on the spectrum who have a hard time with math and are more interested in art.

Having ASD is not the end of the world. The problem is that it disconnects people from the world around them on some very basic levels, and if they do not come forward with these problems they will never be helped.

Imagine that every person is born with a toolbox; each one has different tools in it and, over time, you acquire more tools and replace some of the old ones. For me, and for many others — not just those born with ASD — some tools are inherently missing. Throughout their lives, these people will need to work hard to either get these tools or to work around not having them. It is an uphill climb from the get-go, but the only way to get your toolbox ready for life is to realize that some of those tools are missing.

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The Road to SuccesS The Death of the Single Career Path

By Khadija Sanusi

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F

or baby boomers and much of Generation X, your generation has been engineered to think a certain way about everything — dressing, slang, opinions and, of course, career choices. You went to school if your parents could afford it, graduated and got into the labor market. With your degree, getting a job really wasn’t that hard. Besides, you probably wanted that job since you were a child. Then you stay with that one job in sickness and in health, until retirement do you part. And why not?

It pays well, you can afford to provide for your family, take vacations twice a year. A monotonous 9-to-5 job is just a price you have to pay to live the standardized, American dream. In this dream there is a chicken in every pot and a car in every garage. At age 65 it is time to retire because any younger and you’re lazy and any older…well, let’s just say a machine can easily replace you.

Generation Y has a set of completely different rules. Education, though still important, has become an expectation, and now almost everyone who has the desire to can go to school. If your parents can afford it, great. If not, you can find scholarships elsewhere, your government can help you out or you can apply for financial aid from your school. This results in millions of fresh graduates worldwide all competing for the same jobs across different industries. You go back to school for your master’s (because your résumé cannot survive without it) to learn skills, perhaps including a new language or familiarizing yourself with updates in technology. You take the first job offer you get, because your parents strongly encouraged it and you didn’t have any options.

It’s a 9-to-5. You dive in, get a taste of it, and realize it isn’t for you. You hop into another and it doesn’t satisfy you, then others — law, engineering, economics, medicine, etc.

Your only desire is to make a name for yourself by singing depressing songs about the crappy boys in your life and make money off of your heartbreaks.

Gallup recently produced a report on the millennial generation, “How Millennials Want to Work and Live,” which “reveals that 21 percent of millennials say they’ve changed jobs within the past year, which is more than three times the number of non-millennials who report the same.” The study concluded that many millennials put neither energy nor passion into their jobs.

After obtaining his degree in marketing and finance from the University of Essex and having completed his Master’s at the University of Warwick, Gbolahan Olatunde

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proceeded to work at the United Bank of Africa. Two days into the job, he realized, “It wasn’t for me. I can’t do a 9-to-5 job. I don’t like routines.” Olatunde later tried the music industry getting over 4,000 views on YouTube for his single “Confam Girl,” before entering the media industry. “I now talk for a living; I’m a media personality, a comic, an actor, an MC and also a TV presenter. I don’t have a typical day — I wake up not knowing how the day is going to be or what I’m going to be doing.” By following his passion for comedy and diversifying into different businesses, Olatunde is able to perfect his skills. A LinkedIn study also showed that job-hopping is most popular among people who work in media, entertainment and non-profit organizations.

The Gallup report also reveals that only about 29 percent of millennials are really engaged at work, while 16 percent are actively disengaged in their jobs and the remaining 55 percent are not at all engaged.

Bernardino Koku Avle is one of those millennials who are really engaged at work. He holds a first-class degree in economics (a path he has chosen to desert) and has worked as a journalist for the last 12 years. He hosts the ‘Citi Breakfast Show’, a daily program on Ghanaian radio and is also the Director of News at Citi FM, where he supervises news strategy for both the radio station and its online platforms. Avle is so passionate about his job that he claims he would “do it for no pay.” But, of course, he’s part of a minority group, showing that not every millennial hops from one job to another.

Greg Harris, the CEO of Quantum Workspace, wrote a piece for Entrepreneur magazine in which he asked, “What if the root of the problem isn’t millennials?

What if it’s actually employers who are failing to create a workspace that meets the needs of the generation?

So they go from one company to the next, looking for an organization that can fulfil them professionally.” In the Harvard Business Review the authors of the Gallup report noted that for a company to maintain millennials, it needs to understand them — what motivates them, what doesn’t and the “delicate balance of the two.” David Cruickshank, global chairman of consulting firm Deloitte, also added that although salary is important when choosing a job, “It’s clear that millennials won’t stay with companies for money alone.”

Guy Berger, an economist for LinkedIn, analyzed the career trajectories of three million college graduates.

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According to his research, “A college degree used to slot you into a 40-year career. Now it’s just an entry-level point to your first job.” And, sometimes — as in the case of Sam Tucker — even a degree in marketing isn’t enough to pursue a career, or at least enter into an industry in which the degree will be useful. Having graduated from the University of Bournemouth, Sam could have been a marketing executive for a highly rated company or worked in advertising or public relations. He left the corporate world to pursue a career as a pastry chef in Switzerland and currently works at a seafood restaurant in Paris. Sam believes cooking to be an art: “I get to see the finished product straight away, not marketing projects that go on for months.” Degree or no degree, some choose to follow their dreams.

Habitualization, as described by 20th century Russian critic Viktor Shlovsky, “devours work, clothes, furniture, one’s wife and a fear of war.” This is the same technique Generation X has been taught to associate with success — a 9-to-5 office job with a monotonous lifestyle.

Generation Y disagrees. We choose to pursue careers based on our passions, interests and, in some cases, beliefs. In the words of the English spoken word artist Suli Breaks, “There is nothing wrong with making an honest living, but — be honest — are you, honestly living?”

If Paris Could Speak

By Savannah Hunter and Ian Tillotson Illustration by Maddy Brookes

Statue of Louis Pasteur I vividly remember when the De Gaulle family lived a short distance from here. So why, why do we have to endure the indignity of children? I swear the brats get worse with every generation. The Grim Reaper underneath me was egged for the sixth time this week. The indignity.

The worst part isn’t even the children. Not the drunks either, although the muses keep getting peed on at one or two in the morning. No, it’s the air pollution. Just this last September everybody here got a thorough cleaning from the city municipality. It’s only been a few months and I can already feel the grime and dirt sinking into my skin.

I’m four or five meters above ground, how do I get so dirty so quickly? Oh yeah, the pigeons, that’s how. The rich, pampered dogs are pretty bad too, always marking the podium underneath me. Which, of course, encourages the other dogs. I can’t even stand. Stiff can’t begin to describe how my legs feel. At least the figures below me are standing. If there’s a minor consolation, it’s that I avoid the worst of it. That’s something, I guess.

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Spoiled Dog Ugh, the owner won’t give me any of the charcuterie. It smells so good. She usually gives me some, this is weird.

Maybe if I rest my paws on her lap and look cute enough, I can get a slice of that ham. Nope. Unresponsive. She’s talking into that rectangle of hers. It’s hopeless. We’ve been here for an hour and a half now. All the good smells, the neighbor’s cheese plate, the residual smell of the alley cats, and the mark of another dog, don’t interest me anymore. Some kids stopped by to pet me earlier, which was nice. They even called me a good boy. How nice is that? As much as I don’t like to be sitting around for long periods of time, the walk to the café was great!

I love walks up and down Boulevard Saint Michel. There are so many interesting smells, and I love the attention I get from people. The lights are amazing at night. I love this place! I even like my leash. Well, less so when I’m tied to a chair leg. It’s uncomfortable when I stray too far and it pulls on the collar. I love my collar too. My owner says it’s “custom made” with a tag with my name on it. So not everything is bad.

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Serge, the Metro Rabbit Some call me Serge, some call me the Lapin du Métro Parisien, but you can call me anytime. I spend my days and nights warning little shits about putting their hands in metro doors, but I can always make time for you. Personally, if you are dumb enough to put your hands in the metro door, then you deserve any pain that comes your way.

Maybe they get off doing it, I am not one to kink-shame. I’m no Christian Grey, but we all have our weaknesses. Just try to save it for the bedroom, yeah? There’s nothing you want less than angry Parisians on the metro.

Trust me, I really get it. Most people don’t know that I go home and put my balls in all kinds of dangerous contraptions for pleasure. Hey now, don’t give me that look.

I’ve seen your browser history and you have no room to judge. Being an icon for safety doesn’t mean I have to be safe. Right? If I want to get my rocks off in similar ways to torture techniques, then I should be allowed to. Anything is possible. Like the chances of you going home with me tonight. No? I promise no whips and chains. Just rat traps and staplers. Still a no-go? Your loss. We could’ve reproduced like rabbits.

Gargoyles of Notre Dame You know, back in my day, gothic architecture was hot. But according to Twitter, the goth phase ended for most back in ‘09. Guess none of us got the memo. How were we expected to? Sure as hell wasn’t about to be Quasimodo delivering that news anytime soon. After being put into the friend zone by Esmeralda, no one was going to get him to stop crying while listening to Drake. If you ever need good breakup music, hit up ‘Modo. Drake is not even that good. Let’s be honest with ourselves here, the real amazing thing about him is how he managed to date Rihanna for a fraction of a second.

We aren’t any of that Disney crap. We aren’t Victor, Hugo, or Laverne. We’re unnamed and unimportant.

That’s how we felt until the movie was released in 1996.

It took about 150 years for people to give us recognition and they had to go and make us look like stone knockoffs of the friendly ghost’s uncle and Ursula from the Little Mermaid. We’re ugly, but not that ugly. Blow me, Walt. I’d rather be publicly outed by Kim Kardashian than ever be portrayed that way again. In the words of Taylor Swift, I would very much like to be excluded from this narrative, one that I never asked to be a part of since the mid19th century. Can I tell you a secret? I find the princess narrative to be a lot more fitting. I’d make a fine princess.

Move over, Belle.

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Stories Behind

By Elizabeth Nguyen Son

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Cage the Elephant — "Sweetie Little Jean"

Samuel Barber — "Adagio for Strings"

Cage The Elephant’s "Sweetie Little Jean," released in 2015, is an alternative rock song with a steady rhythm from drums, bass guitar, and keyboards, filtered vocals, and melodic electric guitar snippets that come together to create a more sensory experience. The lyrics of the song appear confusing at first. Is it about a lost lover, or someone who has literally been abducted and gone missing, or perhaps someone going through acute depression? It appears to be a little bit of each. Singer Matthew Shultz wrote the song based on the traumatic disappearance and death of a childhood friend. “When I was 12, a girl from my neighborhood was murdered. She was my little brother [Jeremy’s] girlfriend. We were all playing that day, and they went to go get some change for a drink, so we got split up. Later we found out she had been kidnapped.

It was the most traumatic experience of our lives.”

The girl who inspired this song was named Morgan Violi and her case remains unsolved to this very day. In the summer of 1996, she was kidnapped from her front yard while playing with her sister and a friend, and was found dead four months later.

This experience inspired Shultz to write about the way people can seem to disappear when they were going through severe depression, something he realized in the aftermath of his friend’s death. The unfortunate event from their childhood became an analogy for the struggles you may be faced with when someone you care for is going through depression.

"Adagio for Strings," composed in 1936 by Samuel Barber, is one of the most tragic songs of all time. The song is composed mainly of violins that play at different times in groups to create an overlapping of chords, melody and harmony in B-flat minor at an adagio tempo, a musical term for slow and graceful, all of which make the song sound so melancholic. Barber’s classical style is often referred to as neo-romantic. It has been played during the funerals of Albert Einstein and Princess Grace of Monaco, among others, and was used for the announcements of Franklin D. Roosevelt, John F. Kennedy and Princess Diana’s deaths. It was also played to honor the victims of the Charlie Hebdo attack, the 2016 Brussels bombings and 9/11. Interestingly, "Adagio for Strings" was also one of the few American songs to be played in the Soviet Union at the time of the Cold War and Barber was one of the first American composers to visit the Soviet Union.

Aside from being used in times of mourning, Barber’s masterpiece has also been featured in films, television shows, and video games.

Although "Adagio for Strings" is commonly listened to on its own, it was originally just one of the movements of his String Quartet No. 1, Opus 11. Barber’s muse for his adagio is speculated to be Virgil’s The Georgics, a booklength poem about nature in the Italian spring.

The SongS

The Eagles — "Hotel California"

TLC — "Waterfalls"

The Eagles released Hotel California in 1977. According to Rolling Stone, “The Eagles sought to capture the excesses and self-destructive behavior that had become status quo in the rock world.” Bernie Leadon was the only band member from California — the band was mainly middleclass from the Midwest — so the song represented the new high style of life they were living in Los Angeles. In the documentary History of the Eagles, Don Henley describes the song as “a journey from innocence to experience.”

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame declared that "Hotel California" was one of the songs that helped to shape rock and roll. The song won Record of the Year in 1978, however none of the band were present at the awards to accept their Grammy as they were at band practice instead. The song has a deceptive sunny pop-rock style, in contrast to the tone of the lyrics. Don Felder, who was added to the band for his unique electric guitar sound, was the man behind the reggae feel of the song, originally entitled Mexican Reggae. He told Gibson that when he “came up with the Hotel California progression, [he] knew it was unique but didn’t know if it was appropriate for the Eagles. It was kind of reggae, almost an abstract guitar part for what was on the radio back then.” Although the song is six minutes long with an introduction that is a minute long (both double the requested format for songs on AM radio), Henley still chose to release Hotel California as a single. Although Felder strongly disagreed to begin with, he claims to have “never been so delighted to have been so wrong in [his] life.”

TLC’s "Waterfalls," released in 1995, was their “version of going alternative at the time” according to an interview with VH1. TLC was an R&B and soul girl band with a slight nineties pop feel, however Waterfalls had a more funky jazz and sophisticated vibe. The song’s initial purpose was to teach a lesson about how we sometimes chase intangible dreams without even thinking about the consequences of our actions, yet TLC wanted people to have fun with it so as to not appear as preaching.

The two verses of the song describe two different stories with the same moral. The first is a son who begins to chase “waterfalls,” which are money and respect, through drug dealing, and how that affects his relationship with his mother. The second is a man’s sex life and his “natural obsession for temptation,” where he contracts what seems to be HIV at the end and dies, as the lyrics are “three letters took him to his final resting place.”

The song's rap verse was written by Lisa Lopes herself, about her rocky relationship with football player, Andre Rison. The lyrics to the verse were engraved on Lopes’ gravestone after her death in a car accident in 2002.

TLC’s reference to AIDS comes as no surprise as they were very active in helping at AIDS charity events where they would also perform and generally raising awareness for the cause; many victims thanked them for being their voice. Lopes, also known as Left Eye, often added condoms to her colorful outfits to not only make a fashion statement but to make a social statement.

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GERMANY Germany is set to hold its federal election in September, with high stakes for Chancellor Angela Merkel of the center-right Christian Democratic Union party, who has been in office for nearly 12 years. Losing Merkel would signal the beginning of a radical shift in German politics.

While her popularity has decreased over the course of this election due to her open border immigration policies, she still remains more popular than any other candidate.

However, the far-right Alternative f r Deutschland (AfD) party, has been on the rise with a campaign that echoes that of Trump's from late last year with ultra-nationalist and conservative policies. The AfD opposes gay marriage and immigration, and while it is not opposed to Germany's membership in the European Union, it supports the division of the Eurozone.

A POLITICAL MAP OF EUROPE

By Elizabeth Nguyen Son Illustration by Maddy Brookes

A lot of change was anticipated in world politics for 2017, from Trump's inauguration to the potential dissolution of the European Union. In the wake of Brexit, the focus has shifted to the upcoming federal elections within the EU. With the Dutch general elections already behind us, what's next for Europe?

FRANCE France's federal elections occur every five years and use a two-round system, whereby if a single candidate does not win a clear majority in the first round, the top to candidates move on to a second round. Having faced low approval ratings for months, former President Franรงois Hollande declined to run for re-election this term despite being eligible. France's far-right Front National has gain a significant foothold in mainstream French politics, reaching 47 percent in the weeks leading up to the election. After numerous terrorist attacks in France since the last presidential election, it's no surprise France has seen a rise in the far-right movement.

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SOCIALIST-LIBERAL GRAND COALITION & CENTER CENTER-RIGHT OTHER

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Good afternoon, Mr President, I wanted to start by asking how confident you are that your airstrike will deter further military action by Syria, or her puppetmaster, Russia. As you well know, Obama was considering military options in 2013.

Well it’s just an observa….

I understand that yo…

Right, and according to reports, you notified the Kremlin that the strike was going to take place before you notified congress. Some are even calling this strike an act of war.

Were you wrong to not notify congress?

Alright then, let’s move on: you were very vocal about President Obama golfing during his term, but now a lot of people are pointing the finger at you claiming that your golf use has gotten out of control. What comments do you have?

You were very vocal towards President Obama against the use of force in Syria about four years ago. What were your words exactly?

I think I’ve done enough on this subject to prove your hypocrisy, let’s move onto your plan to repeal & replace the Affordable Care Act. What’s the plan?

And when will that be?

Well, a lot of people are worried that you and the Republican Party have not worked hard enou…

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Okay, that’s enough hypocrisy for one interview, but before we let you go, we know how much you love and admire the voting margin in which you won in the electoral college. Is the electoral college a good system?

But what did you say about it when Obama won in 2012?

I’m happy how easy it is to prove how full of shit you are, Mr President, thank you for taking the time to tweet at us.

The Black Dahlia

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