The McMaster Students Union recognizes over 350 clubs. According to the MSU Clubs page, the purpose of these clubs is to “provide an insightful and meaningful contribution to the McMaster and Hamilton community.”
Being a MSU recognized club affords certain privileges including being eligible for funding from the MSU. This funding comes directly from the MSU organizational fee, a $130.26 fee that all full-time undergraduate students pay. Within this fee, $8.02 are collected per student to support MSU clubs.
As students are paying for the operations of these clubs, the MSU has a responsibility to ensure that these clubs are not deliberately sharing and promoting misinformation that can be harmful to students.
McMaster Lifeline is the pro-life group on campus. Their mission statement is “to advocate with loving care the legal rights and social support of pregnant women and their unborn children.”
While the presence of a pro-life group on campus is already cause for controversy, the issue at hand is not solely the groups’ existence but that they use student space and resources to share information that is factually incorrect.
The group can often be found at a table in the McMaster University Student Centre, a privilege of being a MSU club, spreading scientifically false information on abortions and reproductive health. In addition to misinformation, the group is known for distributing graphic and potentially triggering images.
Groups like McMaster Lifeline should not be given a platform by the MSU to disseminate false information about individuals’ health.
Namely, the group fails to state that abortions are safe, medical procedures that are fully legal in Canada. Instead, they spread the false rhetoric that “abortions are never medically necessary”, which is simply a lie.
In fact, any student-run group on campus does not really have the credentials to provide healthcare information or advice to students. Abortion is a serious topic that should be discussed with a healthcare professional who can provide factual, non-judgemental information, not with students who some of which have “no experience engaging with people on the topic.”
The MSU should be cautious in ratifying clubs that provide this type of information, as the results can be extremely harmful to students.
With over 350 clubs, it can be difficult for the MSU to ensure that operations of each of their clubs are aligned with the core goal of supporting students. However, that is not an excuse for allowing this behaviour to occur.
Multiple students have on many occasions voiced their concerns against these clubs’ actions. The MSU failing to take action blatantly goes against their responsibility towards their student constituents.
The MSU Clubs Operating Policy states that the MSU “will not attempt to censor, control or interfere with any existing MSU club on the basis of its philosophy, beliefs, interests or opinions expressed until these lead to activities which are illegal or which infringe upon the rights and freedoms of others”.
Due to this policy, on March 22, pro-choice students who were protesting McMaster Lifeline’s table in MUSC were removed and not allowed to distribute pro-choice pamphlets. A claimed “victory for free speech on campus” by the MSU only served to help promote the misinformation on campus.
While the actions of McMaster Lifeline may not be illegal, they certainly are harmful to students and may actually be violating the Clubs Judicial Policy, stated under the MSU Clubs Operating Policy.
Specifically, their actions may be considered to “unnecessarily cause a significant nuisance for an individual or group” (5.1.1.3), have “conduct unbecoming of an MSU club” (5.1.2.7) and most importantly, actions that “unnecessarily jeopardize the safety or security of any person or property” (5.1.3.3).
If the MSU truly wishes to provide a meaningful contribution to the McMaster and Hamilton community, it can begin with properly investigating clubs that may be found guilty of any offences described by the Clubs Judicial Policy. Only then can they truly ensure that their clubs support and protect McMaster students.
If students do wish to learn about their options with respect to their reproductive health, the Student Wellness Centre offers birth control counselling. If a student wishes to speak in a more informal setting, the MSU Student Health Education Centre offers relevant literature, referrals and peer support.
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By: Mia Kibel
This week we’d like to talk about a topic you might expect from your friendly neighborhood feminists: periods and birth control.
Compared to other normal health events, there is a lot of ignorance surrounding contraception and menstruation. Most people can only name two or three kinds of birth control and one or two menstrual products. There is a lack of available information about cheap, environmentally friendly and equitable products. This is a huge disadvantage for anyone with a uterus; period-havers deserve choices that reflect the huge diversity of experience surrounding menstruation and contraception.
Everyone knows someone who feels that the pill made them crazy, who bleeds through tampons, or who can’t afford to be buying this stuff every month, which is just a few of the reasons why we need to know about as many of our options as possible. In the spirit of publicizing alternatives, I want to tell you about a method of birth control and a kind of menstrual product that are radically different from the kind we normally see.
Pregnancy can only occur when a person is ovulating, which normally happens once a month. Users of the “fertility awareness method” (FAM) prevent pregnancy by tracking their ovulation cycle, and avoiding pregnancy-causing sex on fertile days. It is possible to predict fertility to a high degree of accuracy using just a thermometer — there are even apps and thermometers available specifically for tracking fertility. However, when combined with other fertility tracking techniques, a regular thermometer is just fine. When tested in academic studies, the fertility awareness method (when used properly) shows pregnancy prevention rates similar to the pill — around 99.3 percent! It is completely hormone-free, creates no waste — except for possibly thermometer batteries, and paper for period-math — doesn’t cause heavier bleeding or cramping like some IUDs, is cheap and is comparative to other contraception in terms of safety.
Much like the lack of awareness surrounding FAM, most people also don’t know that a period doesn’t have to last five to seven days. Menstrual extraction is a process by which you can have your entire period all at once, not over a week. It can be done by a regular person — you! — not just medical professionals, with cheap and easily accessible equipment. If you’re interested, search around; there might be a feminist group or a midwife in your area that teaches the practice. This could make a huge difference in the lives of many. Currently for people who don’t use hormonal birth control, period skipping options are slim. There are those who might not want to have a normal period; it might be someone with severe cramps and an upcoming vacation, someone who is made uncomfortable by their periods, a sex worker who doesn’t want to lose a week’s worth of income, or an athlete with an upcoming event.
The only way to spread these revolutionary practices is to talk about them. Common arguments against these ‘radical’ solutions are that they require too much work, or that people do not yet have enough knowledge about their own biology. These are not good reasons to avoid the conversation. Individuals can decide for themselves if something is too much work or too hard, and we can’t just assume people are “too grossed out” or “too lazy.”
These options are radical not because they are different from the norm, but because they assume that period-havers are capable, intelligent and responsible owners of their own bodies. They take the control away from companies and doctors, and give primary responsibility to the individual. Current discourse around menstruation does not even begin to cover the full diversity of period-havers. Without these conversations, people who don’t fit the ‘normal’ menstruating mould will have no one to ask for advice, because doctors, friends, and parents aren’t always informed about the whole range of options. We all deserve solutions that put us in control, and that allow us to experience normal life events with dignity and empowerment instead of secrecy and shame. We are not going to stop talking about our uteri.
Photo Credit: MariGurumi
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Nicole Jedrzejko / The Silhouette
Pregnant (adjective): [1] (of a woman or female animal) having a child or young developing in the uterus, [2] full of meaning; significant or suggestive. Origin: late Middle English from Latin praegnant-, from prae ‘before’ + the base of gnasci ‘be born.’
For so many of our peers, this word carries the most uncertainty and fear, and definitely lives up to its definition: full of meaning. As young adults, we are being faced with the frustrating reality that the prime childbearing years are also prime working years, in which most of us are focused on school and career prospects in the preparation for our future selves. More than a third of university-educated women today are having their first child when older than 30 years, another issue entirely when our fecundability (the probability of achieving pregnancy in one menstrual cycle) begins declining in the mid-20s, drops significantly in the early 30s, and plummets by approximately 37. Even with future fertility in question, it is still unthinkable by many in our university culture to consider pregnancy before graduation, as the decision to reproduce is seen as a huge burden on one’s ability to survive and prosper. Financial struggles, impact on education and career, cultural and religious restrictions, inconveniences to current lifestyles, terror of such huge responsibilities, and many other personal reasons have changed pregnancy from a simple change in the body’s reproductive state to the severity level of disease.
But contrary to popular opinion, pregnancy pre-graduation is manageable. There are an overwhelming amount of educational resources on pregnancy, but the most important first steps can be summarized into these six points:
Campus services from the Student Wellness Centre, SHEC, and faculty academic counselors can provide additional resources to help manage pregnancy concerns, but there is a significant lack of support from one of the most powerful forces on this campus: our peers. Dealing with pregnancy, unwanted or not, carries enough pressure to deal with from partners and parents to involve additional prejudices from peers. So often people dealing with such tough experiences do not need our sympathy or pity, but a realization that they are not alone. Mothers come in all shapes, sizes, and ages, as do families. Whichever option you choose to manage your pregnancy is the right one for you. No one has the right to say otherwise, and everyone has the responsibility of respecting your options. It is also up to us all to make our campus a place where a woman’s decision over her reproductive state is respected.
