At a time when the #MeToo movement has faded in public consciousness since its viral origins in 2017, and when courtrooms and headlines still abound with striking and at times lurid descriptions of sexual violence, a Vernon poet's debut work interrogates the media, the justice system and society as a whole with reflections on the challenges survivors face, and the need to safeguard their nervous systems from sensory overload.
Jaz papadopoulos is set to launch their first book of poetry, I Feel That Way Too, at the Caetani Centre in Vernon Thursday, Oct. 10, at 7 p.m., as part of B.C. Culture Days.
Originally from Winnipeg, papadopoulus moved to Vernon about a year and a half ago. A Lambda Literary Fellow, their book of poetry was originally their master's thesis in creative writing.
Published on Sept. 14, I Feel That Way Too is an experiment in narrative poetics that weaves through past and present, bringing together elements of art, philosophy and childhood memory to investigate the forces that sustain patriarchal ideologies, drawing on papadopoulos's inspirations from the works of Leanne Betasamosake Simpson, Anne Carson, A.M. O鈥橫alley and Isobel O鈥橦are.
The trial of former CBC radio host Jian Ghomeshi 鈥� who was acquitted of four charges of sexual assault in 2016 鈥� is central to I Feel That Way Too, which takes a critical look at how sexual assault trials impact survivors.
Papadopoulos can recall the Ghomeshi trial from nearly a decade ago with a visceral clarity. Speaking to The Morning Star, they said there was an omnipresence to the media coverage of the high-profile case, which even permeated through discussions with peers when they were studying at the University of Winnipeg at the time.
"I just remember so many people in my community were emotionally impacted by this trial," they said. "You couldn't turn on the radio or I couldn't go to my classes without people wanting to talk about it, and it was just really upsetting all the time."
The barrage of information about the trial coming from all directions prompted papadopolous to explore, through poetry, the effects this environment may have on sexual assault survivors, and people in general.
Papadopoulos said at that time, shortly before the #MeToo movement, people would say they supported survivors, "but the way that things are happening is actually not supporting survivors. It's really painful. And that was kind of the goal of the book was to draw attention to that unaligned intention versus action, and how things actually impact people's nervous systems."
Some of the language in I Feel That Way Too is pulled directly from the Ghomeshi trial verdict, such as an email exchange in which Ghomeshi is asked if he'd like to go for a drink sometime, used as evidence that "there was no violence that happened," papadopoulos said.
The poet said media coverage of sexual assault cases can sometimes "replicate sexism" with lazy word choices that paint victims as untrustworthy, and perpetuate harmful rape culture myths. They said they saw echoes of that in coverage of the Amber Heard vs. Johnny Depp trials of 2022, which were perhaps even more inescapable than the Ghomeshi trial. Having engaged with the Ghomeshi trial to the point of becoming "totally emotionally destroyed," papadopolous practiced avoidance when the Depp vs. Heard trial was getting wall-to-wall media coverage in 2022.
Papadopoulos encourages journalists to consider what is and isn't pertinent information when covering sexual assault trials, and to avoid disrespectful "clickbait" headlines, however tantalizing it may be to have "a juicy spin on things."
For sexual assault survivors who may pick up their book, papadopoulos hopes I Feel That Way Too will help them to feel seen.
"I think that's really the crux behind the name (of the book), which is to offer acknowledgement and a sense of acceptance, kind of in line with a Buddhist meditative thought, which is just to observe and accept that you don't need to fight the bad feelings or the confusing feelings. You don't need to resist them."
Papadopoulos has an intriguing background that includes attending clowning school partway through their university degree.
"I ended up writing my thesis on clowning as a nonviolent direct action, and then I was studying critical theory and decided that experimental poetry was the clowning version of writing, so that's when I got into poetry," they said.
Papadopoulos has been writing poetry for 10 years and is excited to be able to discuss her debut work at the Oct. 10 launch.
The book launch isn't all that papadopolous is getting up to at the Caetani Centre; they are also running youth arts programming called out of the centre. Papadopolous will be running a seven-week writing and mixed media art workshop for the Caetani Centre starting in January.
