Asylums were the perfect labs for controversial treatment—insulin shock, ice baths and lobotomies—once heralded as radical advancement. Now, they are synonyms for abuse and imprisonment. Inside one such asylum, Dr. Ivar Lovaas tested a new treatment approach for autism.

““It’s like an East Vancouver pantomime, he lays down his coat on the wet ground outside the Wise Hall,” host Emma Cooper explained beneath the narrow spotlight of the Cultch theatre. At just over 6’0” they’re willowy, like the early fall trees melting into impressionistic dots of red, orange and yellow on the pavement outside. Their cropped brown haircut and tortoiseshell spectacles peer out at the audience. This is the setup to a joke about their rape.

Cooper is the host and producer behind Rape is Real & Everywhere, a comedy show written by and starring survivors of sexual assault.”

“SRO’s, rabid rental rates levied by absentee slumlords, uncontrollable fires, a drug crisis and gang violence paint a portrait of the south Bronx in 1973. Somewhat reminiscent of Vancouver’s downtown East Side today, The Bronx was where DJ Kool Herc, a Jamaican teenager, created an escape for a devastated community through music: hip-hop.”

“The first collage of photos appeared on her Facebook page almost 10 years ago. Jessica A., at the time 17 years old, woke up to find her body laid bare across the page like a crime scene. Each image tagged with her full name blurred into a mosaic of nightmares. “I just remember him saying: “You worthless cunt, 4chan [an imageboard website that generates high traffic] is gonna love your tits.” I didn’t even think about that part. I just went and cried in my mom’s arms. I couldn’t tell her.””