The Gender Files

The official beer of the Olympics is Coors Light and today I’ll tell you why “light” beer does not contradict basic ideas of masculinity.

According to the CBC, Coors Light is one of the most popular beers in Canada so it makes sense that Moslon Coors would pick it as the official beer of the Olympics. And if you ever watch American television you’ll see that most beer commercials are for light beers like Coors Light and Bud Light.

But as the beverage that is most closely associated with masculinity there appears to be a contradiction between masculinity and a desire for a taste that is weaker (no joke here) and referred to as “light.”

Indeed the commercials for light beer reinforce common associations with beer such as its babe-magnetism and ability to have a good time with the buds.

In other words women will find you just as sexy and your friends will think you’re just as cool regardless of whether or not you’re drinking “light” beer or regular beer.

But there seems to be more going on than just reinforcement from advertisers.

Dan Savage recently put the “performing” back into the Chan Center for the Performing Arts – Bach?? No thanks!!  Performing to a packed crowd he spent two hours answering questions that people from the audience had written on their way to their seats.  The only time he didn’t have the audience howling was when he made references to American politicians who don’t garner much attention from Canadian media, you know, those “family-values” types who end up having extra-marital affairs and/or sex with other men.

 What struck about this is how rare these types of scandals are in Canada. 

The most recent sex scandal I can think of is the barely-legal porn that local MP James Moore had on the background of his laptop – or maybe it was just a picture of his girlfriend, you never can tell. 

In general it seems that Canadians are more open and accepting of gender and sexuality rights than Americans. 

And the audience at the Dan Savage performance was more than happy to proudly clap when Dan Savage praised our legalization of gay marriage. 

The signs were there but it was only last week that I became aware of how hockey’s status as the masculine sport is in decline. 

 Please note that the following anecdote is relatable to both hockey fans and un-fans alike.  For un-fans just think of those times you’ve wanted to go to a pub with your friends and have a nice evening of conversation only to discover that the entire pub is consumed by Canuck watchers.  Well the pub will still be consumed, only now with a different sport. 

Some people assume that learning about history is a boring exercise focused on memorizing names and dates that famous men did famous things. But Becki Ross’ entertaining and engaging new book Burlesque West: Showgirls, Sex and Sin in Postwar Vancouver blows this assumption out of the water, as well as other popularly held beliefs about striptease, morality, and the image of Vancouver itself.

Ross is Chair of the Women's and Gender Studies Undergraduate Program at UBC and the book is a culmination of 11 years of research, including 50 first-person interviews with dancers, club-owners, booking agents, and others involved in the business of striptease and burlesque in Vancouver. Her book and the stories of her narrators have a lot to say about Vancouver.

In an interview earlier this week, Ross said that she started her project out of a personal affinity with rebellious women and because “there was a very large gap in the history about Vancouver.” She pointed out how many histories were written about the men working in the resource industries at the time, while none had been created about the women who provided erotic entertainment for those men.