“It’s like daddy arrived and he’s taken his belt off,” said Mel Gibson in an interview with Fox News over Trump’s election victory last year. In a post-colonial world, fatherhood has been inextricably associated with themes of dominance and beneficence. Whether it be thirst traps of Mark Carney labelling him “daddy,” calling conventionally attractive older actors “DILF,” or articulations of inferiority by neocolonial Western states with paternalistic attitudes, themes of fatherhood have been exported to various social and cultural domains. Explore these exportations and their roots in our upcoming “Daddy issue”! Reflect on the ubiquitous references to Freud’s Oedipus complex, or tendencies toward infantilisation in modern-day romance – explore the complex relationship between notions of fatherhood and our psychology!
Feel free to review the pitches from each of our sections, and claim any you’re interested in by emailing the attached section editor. Go to our How to Pitch guide to learn how to submit pitches!
Our pitch list is meant to be guiding and generative, not prohibitive; if you have an idea not listed, feel free to reach out to the section editor or email [email protected] with any questions.
Pitches are open to all students regardless of any level of experience, confidence, and access (or lack thereof). The Masthead and Section Editors will readily and enthusiastically help contributors in reaching out for interviews, guiding their article structure, finding resources, and solving any other relevant issues!
When emailing a section editor to claim a pitch, make sure to include:
- HED (the main title)
- DEK (the subtitle)
- Description (let them know what you want to write / the angle you will take with the article)
- Visual Request (what photo or illustration you would like attached to the article)
- Word Count (how many words you plan to write)
Pitches are due Friday, November 14th.
News & Politics
- Restoration of Ryerson’s portrait at Old Vic
- What is Vic’s approach to Indigenous rights?
- Interview Vic administrators about the planned restoration of Egerton Ryerson’s portrait in Old Vic
- Discuss Indigenous rights and inclusion within the university institution. Does UofT/Vic’s engagement with Indigenous rights contribute to meaningful change, or is it largely symbolic? How do institutional equity mandates dilute movements and mitigate calls for systemic change?
- How can the contributions of problematic figures be recognized without condoning the harm they caused to vulnerable communities? How does the memorialization of these figures support historical preservation efforts? Conversely, how does it reinforce historic inequities and how is potential harm to affected communities addressed?
- Ford government to fast track mining
- Controversies around the province’s plans for the Ring of Fire and the new ‘One Project, One Process’ framework and resistance by Indigenous communities over use of their land and environmental concerns
- How beneficial is mining and resource extraction to ‘protecting Ontario’s economy/workers’ when weighed against the environmental costs? Have environmental concerns been addressed by the government? Look into press releases and ads put out by the province.
- How has the government capitalized on the increased economic uncertainty to push for sweeping and controversial legislation (Bill 5)? Explore accusations that these actions are an overreach of provincial power.
Send your pitches to Sijil and Zindziswa at [email protected]
Opinions
- Generational Gaps Between Fathers and Children:
- This piece explores how fatherhood is often shaped by cultural expectations of strength, restraint, and even quietness. It examines what can potentially grow in that silence: misunderstanding, distance, or sometimes empathy.
- The Myth of the Strong Father:
- Similar to the previous pitch, but looking at it from a different perspective, this piece would focus on how cultural expectations to be “the strong one” often leave men emotionally isolated and children disconnected from genuine affection. This article can unpack the origins of this myth (religion, media, tradition, etc.) and what the ideal father looks like in the modern age.
- Reclaiming the term “Daddy Issues”
- This pitch focuses on how the (over)use of the term “Daddy Issues” has become a tool to dismiss women’s pain and oversimplify complex family dynamics. It argues that the term has become a lazy cultural shorthand for emotional need, when in reality it reflects deeper issues embedded within patriarchal standards.
- What we inherit from our fathers
- This is a very open-ended topic (personal narrative) focusing on the invisible things that we inherit from our fathers (beliefs, habits, silences, fears, etc.) or the lessons we learn from them.
Claim a pitch or send your own to Romina at [email protected]
Features
- Paternal Politics
- Politics is rife with allusions to fatherhood. How can we see domineering foreign policy and colonial interventions as paternalistic? How do ideas of “modernization” and “development” reflect infantilization? What is the pull of strong-man diplomacy and nationalist father figures? And why do populist leaders keep getting called ‘Daddy’?
- Nuclear, Family
- Tech bros and trad wives want to repopulate; anti-immigration rhetoric echoes eugenics. Contraceptives are under fire and book bans implore us to ‘think of the children!’ What does this renewed obsession with reproduction and “family values” reflect about our cultural and social zeitgeist?
- Breadwinners: Recession date meals. Therapy speak breakups. Attachment style quiz. Hinge prompts. Get on your grindset to secure your wife. Or, embrace your dark feminine to find a provider. What does dating under capitalism look like? Who are we marketing ourselves to be, and to what end?
- Taboo:
- Daddy Issues shapeshifts between Freudian pejorative and internet punchline, occasionally an aesthetic for the Lana-abiding masses. But when the scandalous can so quickly become ubiquitous, what do we make of our relationship to taboo? In an age of oversharing, can transgression still be achieved? When can taboos be reclaimed? Do subcultures collapse under mainstream attention or can they thrive on visibility?
Claim a pitch or send your own to Lia at [email protected]
Arts & Culture
- Mary and Mary
- Besides Mary Shelley’s greatest accomplishment (Frankenstein), she’s also infamous for having defiled her mother’s, Mary Wollstonecraft’s, grave with her husband, Percy Bysshe Shelley; what does this culturally significant “incident” tells us about our artistic pursuits both as an ecstatic release of energy and as a rebellion against our predecessors?
- Autofiction
- Why has autofiction become such a dominant writing style of this century, and what does it tell us about literature as a means of self-reflection, especially concerning generational turmoil and traumas?
- Nepo babies
- How original can a nepo baby truly be? How does nepotism operate within the industry to prevent outsiders from starting their careers, and to what extent does it “ruin” these industries? How do nepo baby actors, like Lily Rose-Depp, outrun the reputations of their fathers?
- Wife guys
- What does the internet’s obsession with men who love their wives and families, and the ensuing disappointment when these men fail to meet the internet’s standards, say about our cultures? How can we reconcile images of men like Dave Grohl with their art?
Claim a pitch or send your own to Bosko at [email protected]
Science
- Are biological males evolutionary mistakes?
- Explore how the presence of males is caused by nondisjunction or other erroneous genetic events in many species.
- Expand on the importance or uselessness of biological males in a species’s survival. For species that do not require a male sex to reproduce, what purpose do males serve, if any?
- Good dads vs. deadbeats in nature
- Which animals make good dads? How do they participate in childcare and contribute to the family/community unit?
- Which animals are notorious deadbeat dads? Is it evolutionarily favored to be deadbeat, or are those dads just evil?
- Daddies of science
- Name your fav DILF scientist(s). What do they do?
- Science benefits from diversity. Who do you consider to be a non-traditional science daddy, and what makes them daddy?
- The Neurochemistry of Authority
- Explore the ways in which hierarchical figures (fathers, mothers, ‘domineering’ friend or partner, etc.) influence stress, reward, and decision-making processes in one’s brain.
- What effects does a dominating personality or figure have on the dopamine, oxytocin, and cortisol responses that occur in one’s nervous system?
- Could explore why some people are drawn to having authority figures in their lives
- Daddy Issues in the Digital Age
- Explore how online interactions in social media platforms mimic parental approval/disapproval-related circuits in the brain.
- Dive deeper into dopamine feedback loops and reward-seeking behaviour in virtual spaces, and connect this to brain activity that occurs during a parental relationship.
Claim a pitch or send your own to Yaocheng at [email protected]
Poetry
- Spoken in my Father’s Tongue
- Familial inheritance is one of the biggest factors in defining our character and development, whether it be through genetics, culture or family structure. Dialect is not the only language to be passed down from parent to child; we inherit how our worlds are named, what exists inside (and outside) of speech. When you speak, do you ever hear your father’s syntax slipping through your syllables? Has your vocabulary become a heirloom of his? Is your voice echoing a memory?
- Wherefor Art Thou, Sky Daddy
- In the search for god in a sea of different religions and denominations, devotion can get mixed up or effectively relocated. In an increasingly secular society, many show reverence to a variety of organic or inorganic presences. What do you worship that you consider sacred, if not always godly?
- Kill Your Heroes
- In Sylvia Plath’s poem entitled “Daddy,” she explores the complex feelings of anger and resentment toward her deceased father;“There’s a stake in your fat black heart/ And the villagers never liked you./ They are dancing and stamping on you. /They always knew it was you./ Daddy, daddy, you bastard, I’m through.” Is it possible to sustain an idealistic perspective towards our parents? Does it simply die when childhood ceases?
Claim a pitch or send your own to Zoe at [email protected]
Stranded (Humour)
- Slightly More Honest Mugs for your Dad
- Let’s be real here, not everyone’s dad can be World’s Best Dad. Give us some ideas for coffee mugs that more appropriately reflect your expectations of your father. Perhaps something like “World’s Most Occasional Birthday Rememberer” or “World’s Loudest Six A.M. Nose-Blower” would be more true to life.
- An Unoriginal Father’s Day Gift Guide
- You know how Father’s Day gift shopping goes — you start out wanting to get him something thoughtful and original, but about ten minutes of attempted thought and originality are enough to send you trudging over to the Gap to buy him jeans again. Why not dispense with the pretence and give us a catalogue made up only of the safe, boring Father’s Day gifts we end up actually buying, from shaving kits to socks?
- U of T Colleges as Fathers
- Give us the image of fatherhood that you think each University of Toronto college embodies. From Trinity as an overbearing religious patriarch, to Woodsworth as an absent father (because who really knows what goes on over there), let us know how each subdivision of our school would fare as a dad.
- The Case for “Father Support”
- Everyone understands the necessity of paying child support after a divorce, but few have ever considered the opposite. For centuries, the legal system has overlooked the financial security that newly-divorced dads need to buy pre-owned sports cars, fill their house with neon advertisements for various beer companies, and take their easily-impressed children to Disney World once every two weeks. Put forth a case for the provision of father support, and change the lives of paunchy 47-year-old men forever.
- Against the Word “Daddy”
- You may note that I’ve exclusively used the words “dad” and “father” in these pitches, despite it being the Daddy Issue. This is because I find the word “daddy” to be abhorrently cutesy and humiliating when used by anyone over five years old, and so should you. Write about the aesthetic unpleasantness of the word “daddy,” the obvious Freudian subtext behind its common use on the Internet, and what can be done to restore a modicum of dignity to our discussions about fatherhood.
Claim a pitch or send your own to Max at [email protected]