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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 29, 1964)
\ College Sex Mores: The Codes The formal sexual standard professed by our society is one of abstinence; no sex outside of marriage. This code is upheld by religious institutions, and particularly emphasized for the women of our society. This vieyr of sex is expressed by Ira Reiss in his book Premarital Sexual Standards in America. Reiss says, “People who ac cept abstinence believe that sexual inter course is too important an act, too valuable and intimate to be performed with anyone besides one's own marriage partner. They thus want to save sexual intercourse for marriage, which, they feel, is the most secure setting for sexual relations.” The informal codes practiced by our society allow some activity outside of marriage. The most restrictive of these is imiBWBWMillBUBIKglinHWMBWWWHWMWIWiWWIUUUIliWilWI This is the second in a series of four articles related to the chang ing sexual mores in the college environment. Monday's article dealt with means of forming attitudes toward codes. Codes gov erning sexual conduct are con sidered in today’s article. the double standard, which allows premari tal sex for men, but not for women. Men are permitted sexual relations with women below their class (e.g. prostitutes) while women who have relations with men of their class are condemned by these men. A man may attempt intercourse with a woman of his social class, but, if success ful, he immediately “loses respect” for the w'oman. A further consequence of such premarital sexual relations is that the girl generally becomes a social outcast if the man’s success is communicated to others. Women operate under this double stand ard at a great disadvantage. The rules say they should resist attempts at being se duced, although their natural inclinations and/or affection for the person involved may conflict. Girls are expected by the society to establish male-female relation ships with their peers, and this may re quire some permissiveness to hold male attention. Too much permissiveness results in her losing his respect, and too little re sults in her losing him. The girl in such circumstances has to walk a very narrow line and her family training, ignorance, curiosity, as well as her own passions all complicate the picture. The most liberal of these informal codes is the “permissiveness without affection” code. Members of this school would hold that since intercourse is a pleasureable ex perience, physical attraction is the sole requisite for its use, as long as precautions against pregnancy and venereal disease are taken. Of this Reiss says, “Permissiveness without affection is also not well-knit with our marriage institution, since it encourag es casual, temporary, body-centered rela tionships. It is probable that such relation ships will usually not lead to marriage. “The notion of romantic love, as it has grown in American culture, is diametri cally opposed to such a casual view of sex ual intercourse or of one’s sexual partner. Romantic love stresses the importance of the individual and places great value on individual personality traits. It is reasoned that if love is so valuable then so must be the love objects, and if people are so highly valued, one cannot treat them as casual sex objects. Sexual intercourse is associated with love both after marriage and before marriage. Our more tolerant attitude to wards sexual intercourse between two peo ple in love is a reflection of the associa tion we make between love and sexual be havior. Love justifies sexual intercourse to many people—to some only in marriage, to others at all times. But love is strongly associated with sex, and permissiveness without affection violates this connection.” The last of these informal codes is that of “permissiveness with affection.” Its ad herents would argue that people have etno- 1 tions as well as drives, and that the sex act is most meaningful when there is affec- j tion between the partners, as well as physi cal attraction. This code is characterized by person-centered relationships of rela tive permanence and stability. These rela tionships are more likely to end in mar riage than body-centered relationships. Proponents of all of these codes would require that only “mature” people be per ... the double standard mitted to participate, for fear of emotional damage to not yet fully-developed person alities. Historically the informal double stand ard has to some extent always flourished alongside of the formal abstinence stand ard; its injustice of unequal treatment of the sexes is based on notions of relative strengths of the sex drive which have not been shown to have any basis in fact. The other two informal codes seem more reas onable to many because they treat the sexes as equal. allows premarital sex for men, but not for women... Counterpart for NSA Those schools whose membership in the National Student Association has been con ducted on an “in-out-in again” basis now have an alternative. A week ago an organi zation which calls itself ASGUSA (Asso ciated Student Governments of the United States of America) was organized in St. Louis. The group, which claims to be non political, is made up mostly of Southern schools. In defeating a motion calling for a civil rights committee, the new conference made it clear that it will offer the Ameri can student community an alternative on the civil rights question. ASUO President Phil Sherburne, who attended the St. Louis meeting, said the new student group is financed by wealthy Southern businessmen and is in all actual ity a political organization. But whether the group is of a political or non-political vein is not the most important considera tion. We applaud Sherburne for not com mitting the University to membership in this organization. We feel that as a nation al student organization NSA best repre sents our needs. However, ASGUSA ought to be welcomed into the national student community. Student governments that do not agree with NSA’s objectives should have an alternative. We are hopeful that ASGUSA becomes more than a sounding board for Southern schools. It should be an active organization. Two active student groups in the collegiate community will work toward developing a healthy atmos phere for free discussion. ■u*..tuurat tsimtiiuiiiiiiM! tii.ainifi wiinFmwr Ll’ttC'V'S tO tJjC EllitOV muawiiiiui LETTERS POLICY It Ik the policy of The Km erald not to run letters en dorsing or discussing the rel ative merits of ASL'O candi dates on the day of the pri mary or general election. * • • I.iked Convention Emerald Editor: Having participated in the Mock Republican Convention this past weekend, we would like to commend the University, all participating University stu dents, and the faculty and spon sors, for making available this fine opportunity to develop an interest in national politics. For those of us of voting age and those who are nearin; their majority, we feel that the Con vention was an invaluable ex perience for increasing our knowledge of major issues, clar ifying the stands taken by the candidates in the coming elec tions. and aiding in our under standing of parliamentary pro cedure. We only wish that more students had availed themselves of this educational opportunity. We highly recommend that the University and other spon sors continue to have this Con vention in the coming years in order to increase the political awareness of the future voters and coming leaders of this great nation. Susan Yarbrough Junior in political science (Minnesota delegate) I.izz Johnson Junior in political science (Minnesota delegate) Charlie McKinney Junior in business administration (Hawaii delegate) * * * Vote Emerald Editor: There seems to be a danger ous atmosphere of election apathy on this campus before an election that concerns the entire student body. Student government is only as good as the students desire because they have the power to determine its effectiveness. The all-important privilege of voting should be utilized by many more students. It really does not take much effort to study the candidates and the issues involved. Perhaps the easiest way to become ac quainted with these issues is to attend public speeches or de bates by the candidates (the Luvaas-Cowin debates were tre mendously helpful in determ ining and clarifying th<- major issues in this campaign). The effort it takes to edu cate oneself on election issues is minimal, and the result might provide better representation and all-around performance by student body officers. Remem ber, the primary election is in some ways more important than the final because if any incap able candidates are allowed to stay in tne ruce -they may win. Don Powell Freshman, Political Science • • • Do It Now! Emerald Editor: How long are we students at Oregon going to lay down and take the sort of treatment be ing dealt out to us under the guire of the Conduct Code? How long are we going to be subject to President Flem ming’s puppet university and this so-called ‘‘Conduct Code?” N'o longer do the deans have power to deal with disciplinary matters. No longer are coun sellors helpful advisers; rather they have become cheap cops, forced to send all disciplinary cases to student court. No longer do students have the courage to rebel and speak out in their own defense. And no longer (if it ever did) does The Emerald take a stand on controversial issues. Is this also a puppet being controlled by a higher force? Recent cases in the “Su preme” Court and ones to be heard soon prove that students on this campus are being mis treated and forced to prove themselves innocent of charges preferred against them I plead not only for the stu dents to rise up and demand that measures be taken, but also for the alumni to do the same. United we can retain our rights, so let’s go students! Start talking this issue up and let’s do something about it, NOW! Ed Wells, Freshman-Pre-Med OREGON DAILY EMERALD The Oregon Daily Emerald is published twice in September and five days a week during the academic year, except during examination and vacation periods by the Student Publication* Board of the Uni* versify of Oregon. Kntcred ns second class matter at the post office, Eugene, Oregon. Subscription rates $5 per year; $2 per term. Opinions expressed on the editorial page are those of the Emerald and do not pre tend to represent the opinions of the ASUO or the University. EVERETTE DENNIS, Editor JIM SPEER, Business Manager