Symposium to be Held
By Peggy Woytiuk
“The idea is not so much telling them how to make babies, but to present a full perspective of alternate lifestyles and values”, says animator Sandra Brouillette about John Abbott’s 1975 Symposium on Dimensions in Sexuality. It will be held on Tuesday, April 1 and Wednesday, April 2 in the Centennial Centre on the Macdonald campus.
Day one of the Symposium will basically be an information day. There will be a discussion on venereal disease with Dr. John Scott and Gai Falconer from JAC’s Kirkland medical clinic. Two films will be shown. The first is “About Sex” followed by a question period with Dr. Burman, gynecologist, and Barbara Ford from JAC’s Mac medical clinic. At noon, the film, “Sharing and Caring” will be shown, also followed by a discussion.
In the afternoon, George Wall, chairman of JAC’s physical education department, will discuss Physical Fitness and Sex. There will also be a workshop and discussion on rape with Jocelyn Cottier, chairman of Montreal’s rape crisis centre.
Day two will begin with a discussion on “Sacred Sex” with Jim Christie, JAC’s official chaplain. It is also possible that Dr. Erin Malloy, assistant dean of McGill University, and ex-nun, now married, will be there.A Gay Liberation workshop will take place with Bruce Garside, a professor of philosophy at Carleton University, who has been active in the Gay Lib Movement for four years. The female side will be represented by Lise Morin, an active feminist for over a year, from the Women’s Information Referral Centre.
Rooshi Pandya, from our Humanities department, will lead a discussion on Kama Sutra, with Sandra Brouillette as moderator.
From noon until four in the afternoon, several couples from the John Abbott community will lead a workshop on the various aspects of one to one relationships. A traditional marriage lifestyle will be represented by Leslie and Kirby Breithaupt. Joel and Trudy Hartt will explain an open marriage. A non-marriage (a non-married committed relationship) will be shown by Bob Davidson and Donna Spafford.
Included in this workshop will be a discussion on the legal implications regarding one to one relationships. Milt Winston, JAC’s legal advisor, will explain the practice of common law marriage, divorce and marriage contracts.