Online dating gets student-specific
TORONTO (CUP)—A NEW ONLINE dating website, Datemyschool.com, may soon be making its way to Canada. Created by Columbia Business School students Jean Meyer and Balazs Alexa, the website currently allows students enrolled at over 350 American universities to meet people online who are exclusively within their academic circle of choice. Currently, only those with a post-secondary email address are able to sign up. Users are separated into categories depending on their school and program, and can filter out potential dates according to these fields.
Meyer and Alexa began Datemyschool.com after finding trouble connecting with people from other departments.
“It so happened that one of our friends from nursing school said there are, like, 80 per cent girls in her program … and for us at the business school, it’s 80 per cent guys,” says Alexa. “We were thinking, ‘Why isn’t there any other way to communicate between departments of a school?’”
Although some users are in favour of the selectivity of the site, some young Canadians think that being too selective could ruin a potential relationship.
“How do you know where your true love is? I think going into it knowing specifically who you want to find isn’t a good idea,” says a recent Ryerson grad who declined to give her name. The woman, who has used other popular dating sites, says, “That’s not how love works.”
—Solana Cain, the Ryersonian
Chick Beer was made especially for you and your vagina
VANCOUVER (CUP)—A NEW KIND of beer is taking girls’ nights by storm. Chick Beer, created by American Shazz Lewis, is made especially for women. It’s low in calories and carbs, comes in a pink bottle, and features the company slogan, “Witness the Chickness,” over the image of a little black dress. Six-pack cases of Chick Beer are designed to look like purses, and the beer is said to be less carbonated to avoid any unseemly bloat. Considering that nearly 25 per cent of all beer in the U.S. is bought by women, Lewis seems to have tapped into a previously neglected niche market.
But, according to Scott Anderson, a University of British Columbia philosophy professor who specializes in gender, “The use of derogatory and diminishing stereotypes to categorize women tends to reinforce a sense that women enjoy being treated in ways that are sexualized and unserious.”
Though responses have not been entirely positive, Lewis claims that Chick Beer sends a positive message to women.
“The women who embrace Chick Beer are self-assured, confident, and powerful,” said Lewis. “They believe that fun and sexy are positive traits. They embrace their femininity, and are bold enough to understand that a word like ‘chick’ can’t hold them back.”
—Anna Zoria, the Ubyssey
Lennon relics could fetch up to $160,000
LONDON, U.K.—THE LATEST RELIC from Beatles mega-star John Lennon and his wife Yoko Ono’s famous “Bed-In For Peace” is expected to sell for up to $160,000 at a Christie’s sale of pop culture memorabilia next month in Britain. The placard features the words “bed” and “peace” written by Lennon in black marker, miniature portraits of himself and Ono, their signatures, and “1969 Montreal” scrawled in black marker.
The placard, shown in vintage photos of the event, was taped to the window above Lennon and Ono’s bed at Montreal’s Queen Elizabeth Hotel during their stay from May 26 to June 2, 1969.
“Throughout the week, the couple sat up in bed in their nightclothes and opened their doors to the worlds’ media, speaking to as many radio and TV journalists, politicians, and counter-culture figures as would listen, with Lennon’s objective being to sell the idea of peace to the world,” states Christie’s catalogue for its Nov. 15 sale of pop and rock memorabilia.
Although Christie’s wouldn’t reveal the identity of the placard’s consignor, the auction house stated that it “was acquired by a freelance sound man who was present in the room as things came to an end.”
—Kiera Obbard
