Controversy over a York Federation of Students’ fall orientation event has forced the Student Centre to implement a change in their monthly “Dirty Bingo” nights. After the of YFS-sponsored Shirley’s Dirty Bingo during the Fall 2008 Orientation Week, several students launched complaints with York’s Centre for Student Community and Leadership  Development (SC&LD). Despite nearly six years of Dirty Bingo nights hosted by Shirley, the complaints caused the Student Centre to discontinue their bookings with the host until further notice. “The quotes I saw were more graphic than what we normally expect [ . . . ] We thought it was best to take a breather,” explained Student Centre director Robert Castle.
Gilary Massa, YFS vice-president external, explained that the student union hosted the Sept. 8 event because they knew it was popular, and they had hosted similar events in the past.

Massa said she didn’t feel comfortable commenting on the situation any further. According to the Welcome Week information posted on the YFS website, the event promised “an exciting night of Dirty Bingo with the very entertaining host Shirley! “Learn about dispelling the taboos of sexual identity while promoting safe and healthy sexual activity.” Dirty Bingo host Shirley is widely known as a pre-operation transsexual who, for the last 16 years, has taken pride in being “an X-rated version of your grandma’s favourite game that is all about filthy jokes, sex-toys.” Castle stated that due to the often- explicit nature of her shows, Student Centre staff has always placed a disclaimer on posters advertising Dirty Bingo at the Underground. “Dirty Bingo has a certain culture, and I’m not sure that people who were in the audience [during Welcome Week] were expecting that culture and found it surprising, and I think that offended some people,” Castle expressed. In the event’s description, YFS had a disclaimer that read, “There will also be cheeky prizes from the{mospagebreak}

New host for Dirty Bingo 

Despite this, some students were not prepared for the event. “It was an orientation event so there were first-year international students there who had to turn to their interpreter and say ‘What does the word “whore” mean?’ and everything has context,” Castle said. “The concept of Dirty Bingo is that people are there to have a no-holds-barred fun time. The prizes are fairly graphic sex toys and people can tend to have a lot of ‘good fun,’” he added. SC&LD informed Castle of the concerns that had arisen. Due to their nature, the Student Centre decided to rethink how the event was hosted. “We are trying to be proactively positive in our response and manage a situation that was not of our making,” Castle said. Not all first-year students were offended by Shirley’s performance. First-year kinesiology student Mathew Qaqish attended Oct. 28’s Dirty Bingo at the Underground after attending Shirley’s event during Welcome Week.

“I came to the first one at [Founders Assembly Hall] and it was funny and I won something, and I wanted to win more stuff tonight,” he said. “I like Shirley, but this guy’s alright [Matt McAllister],” he added. Qaqish plans to return to the next Dirty Bingo event the Student Centre hosts. Saq Rajaan, Student Centre marketing and events manager, found Matt McAllister after contacting several universities and colleges to locate an alternate host for Dirty Bingo. McAllister is vice-president academics of the Mohawk Students’ Association
at Mohawk College of Applied Arts and Technology and host for Dirty Bingo events at Mohawk College. Some students, like Mark Cannata, have attended the Underground’s event for years. “It’s ridiculous and it’s a great opportunity for people to explore different sexual deviances,” the third-year physics major said. “Actually, I whipped out my penis at last year’s Dirty Bingo.” Following October’s Dirty Bingo night, the Student Centre board will discuss how to proceed. “After tonight we’re going to debrief and conduct an evaluation and see how we go forward,” Castle stated. Despite several attempts, the YFS did not return Excalibur’s requests for further comment.

- With files from Brent Rose