Finally being able to enjoy Thunder Bay’s PA downtown, this time I was looking at the space in terms of gender and sexuality, something I had never really noticed or considered while I was living there. There is a lot less sexuality in the downtown spaces in comparison to Saskatoon and New York’s spaces. While there may be occasional instances of sexual display, and I am not unaware of the attire during night life, but there is more modest dress during the day and less displays of affection in public space.During the Y-art sale, there was a heat wave that was comparable to Saskatoon’s heat in May this year. While people were in shorts and skirts or open backed summer dresses, no one felt the need to wear full bathing attire to keep cool. Despite being very near the shore of Lake Superior, people were dressed in a non sexual manner. I noted the gender of the people in the space was obvious through their clothing, men having a similar long shorts style while women wore dresses or skirts, but there was not a display of skin and sexuality that I saw in other cities on my travels. There was a modesty that did not present itself elsewhere.
While there is still a difference of male and female attire, there was not a discrepancy in the who was showing their sexuality, the women were not more exposed or singled out than the men.There was a wonderful enmeshing of male and female identities in a way that didn’t accentuate their differences.
This downtown Bay Street area was surprising after my experiences in other cities, I was not expecting such a neutrality of sexuality and gender as among the hippies of Thunder Bay art scene. I wonder now if that is why Thunder Bay has always felt more comfortable to me in the past, or has some sort of influence on my own reflection of the space.
