The 2020 kick-off event explored adult sex-ed, and for their second round of Smut, organizers Tamara Faith Berger and Courtney Toderash are asking, “Does the erotic promise on the phone screen lead to sexual fulfillment?”, amongst other questions to better understand the relationship between technology and sex. 

This will be an evening to put away the smart phones (can you do it?) and connect in real time to explore the effects, consequences, and nuances that happen when we use apps like Tinder and Instagram to connect and/or get off. How are they shaping our sexual experiences, our identities? These are questions many of us ask ourselves on the regular, in moments between online flirtation, but this event will give us the necessary pause to properly tackle the subject matter through critical analysis and thought-provoking discussion

The intimate gathering will take place this Thursday evening at The Tranzac Club, and Berger and Toderash encourage guests to share their frustrations, grievances, and ask questions—about anything. 

We think this is an important conversation that needs to happen, and we also think that the bios of the panelists sound  as interesting as the subject matter that will be discussed.

Jess Taylor

Jess Taylor is a Toronto writer and poet. Her second collection, Just Pervs, was released by Book*hug in Canada in September 2019. Recently, a short story from that collection, “Two Sex Addicts Fall in Love”, was long-listed for The Journey Prize and included in The Journey Prize Anthology 30. The title story from her first collection, Pauls, “Paul,” received the 2013 Gold Fiction National Magazine Award. Jess believes that collaboration and helping other writers is an important part of her writing practice. She is currently working on a novel, Play, and a continuation of her life poem, Never Stop.

Elizabeth Lorde

Elizabeth Lorde is a visual artist, writer and sex worker based in Ontario. She is a co-producer of whorestories Toronto, a sex worker story telling night. She is also currently developing a podcast, to be launched in April 2020, alongside Alexia Woodroe.

Hadiya Roderique

Hadiya Roderique is a former Bay Street employment and human rights lawyer, researcher, consultant, lecturer, speaker, broadcast commentator and intersectional feminist. Hadiya is a frequent contributor to newspapers, magazines and panels on issues related to dating, equity, diversity and inclusion. An award-winning writer, she has bylines in The Walrus, The National Post, This Magazine, Flare, Elle and Chatelaine amongst others. Her first piece, “Dating While Black”, for The Walrus, was nominated for three National Magazine Awards, including Best New Magazine Writer. She is currently a Ph.D. Candidate in Organizational Behaviour at the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, where her research focuses on gender and parental bias in the workplace. In 2018, Hadiya was named one of Canada’s Top 25 Most Influential Lawyers by Canadian Lawyers’ Magazine.

Faith Alexandra Marie

Faith Alexandra Marie wishes to politicize their experiences with substance use, challenge the moralizing history of sobriety culture while unraveling the limited representations of the addicted body. They work as an artist, grassroots community organizer, tattooer, writer and zinester. Faith is a mixed race non-binary transfemme dyke of Filipino, English and Irish descent. Faith is a Co-Founder of Pieces to Pathways, a peer-led substance use support program for queer and trans youth ages 16 to 29 years old located at Breakaway Addiction Services in the Parkdale area of Toronto, Canada.

Wednesday, March 11, 7:30-10pm. The Tranzac Club is an accessible venue. Get your tickets now.