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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (July 11, 1994)
r Ifs the ’90s, right? Give that boy a mop According to a nationwide poll of teen-agers, conducted by CBS News and the New York Timer, many boys still think the woman's place is In the home. Although 86 per cent of the girls polled said they expected to work wnen they are married, only 58 percent of their male peers agreed with them, while 19 percent expected their wives to stay at home. This 19 percent, while not a majority, is troubling. Fol low-up telephone interviews turned up some interesting examples of sexism among the boys. For example, a major ity of the boys surveyed said that most of the boys they knew considered themselves better than girls. Most of the girls surveyed thought that boys were equals. Furthermore, many of the boys who were interviewed on the phone said they favor a I950s-style marriage, and Breton Stout, 15, of Clovis, Calif., offered this particu larly insightful quote: ‘i think girls should do the cook ing and cleaning because they’re better at it. and boys should do the yard work and the planting. I know a lot of girls think it's real sexist to say they belong in the kitchen...but I think they're wrong. It's not a boy's job." Somebody give that boy a mop. There is no evidence that women are better at rooking and cleaning or that men are better at yard work. All that young Mr. Stout can base that opinion on is socializa tion. and. perhaps, the situation in his own family. It is significant that theso young men, who were born when the women's movement was in full swing, should have this cave-man type of attitude. It says that although strides have been made in societal attitudes toward the place of women, many parents are actually defeating that notion by attitudes in the home. Though wo have not had the privilege to enter the Stout residence, such an old-fashioned attitude coming from such a young man is suspicious. It is possible that young Breton has been influenced by a father that tells him that women belong in the kitchen, and a mother who smil ingly agrees with that notion, and does all the cooking and cloaning to prove it. It is highly probable that boys who think girls are bet ter at cleaning have not been told to clean very much, or are angry that thoy have to clean when their father nev er does. These ideas can easily turn into a "women are better at housework" attitude. But there is hope for those boys. They need not harbor such feelings of inadequacy in the realm of housekeep ing. With a little practice, they too can become excellent cooks and cleaners like their female counterparts. After all, women have shown themselves to excel in many tra ditionally male fields. After boing barred from those fields for so long, these women had to work hard to catch up to the skill level of the males who held those jobs, but in many cases, the womon excelled beyond the men. Rather than encouraging these young men to limit them selves to aspiring for careers in traditionally male fields like business and traditionally malo chores like mowing lawns and drinking beer in hammocks, thoir parents should do what many of them have already done for girls: tell them they can do anything, then show them how. Those boys will show skill and expertise in cooking and dusting in no time at all, and they too can compete in the highly lucrative field of homemaking. With the right parental coaching, these boys may even exceed the girls in the household arts, and earn them selves the right to say, "a man's place is in the home." Unencumbered by household chores, young women could pursue careers while thoir husbands reach new limits of equality and perfect the recipe for pound cake. Oregon Daily <■0 00> Jivt toGttrt OKtCOh ». TN» Dragon (tarty In'waW •» pufcfcahad darty Monday through I «Jay during tN> kfoo yaar and Tuaaday and Thyiaday dunng the aummar by lha Oagon Daily Emaiaid t\**»h«ig Co Inc « tha Urwar vty ol Oagon, t ugana. Oagon Tha C mar aid oparataa mdapandanOy oI tha Untvarsrty with o*<« m Su*a 300 ol tha tit Memorial Union and d a member ol the Associated Pinas (ha f marald 'I private property Tha unlawful ia"Ova cr u«a ol papery t proMcutabie by law Editor Kaly Solo Aeeoctate Editor* Mag Deddph. l a Sataxia. Dead Thorn Photo Editor: Mchaet Shmdto Night Editor David Thorn General Man agar: Judy Hwt Advert! »l«g DO actor Man Walt a- Production Man agar: McNM Mom Achrertialng: Bnan Daw* Suba Dutta. Tony Fo». Jan M*w Mchaal Muaita CiawMad: Becky Merchant Manager Buaineaa Kathy Cartona. Scpervtacv Prortoctlon Daa AfcCote ProdUhcm CocnAnaior Tara Gauiinay. Jerwtar ITcvand Bu*ln*M Omc* msii mi—I —rv—ng -TrT-TTT. D—«in«d Advertising_ - MMMJ M€ETVMC OM I POPUtAT»OW iswes /(j Hkt I SfUive A ~~ Lf$J & Dangerous Standardized tests favor rii.h. white males (not necessarily in tentionally) The new admission standards in Oregon will be based entirely on standardized tests of one sort or another It is an effective way to reduce the numbers of minority, economi cally disadvantaged and female college students. Grades will no longer be con sidered, ostensibly becauae high school teachers "shouldn't have to" judge students. It's easy to see why this decision was made Teachers tend to give girls a fair chance, and may discriminate less on rac ial and economic grounds than the standardized tests. Teachers are unionized and are hired locally, not by the po litical power structure There fore, their judgments are dis trusted and now they will be disregarded. Students will be required to have "the skills industry wants " This means that they can perform computer tasks, not that they will know anything In fai t, knowledge is not consid ered It's easy to see why this new system is being adopted. Since Measure 5 passed, business has given up the charade of paying taxes As as result, they have been able to buy the state legis lature The legislature has adopted the standards industry wants, standards that creatu trained monkeys who don't know enough to stand up for themselves, who don't know who Franklin D. Roosevelt was. who don’t know a Douglas Fir from a stick of firewood. Somehow, these new stan dards have to be erased The old standards weren’t perfect, but they were reasonably dem ocratic. and they emphasized knowledge needed by citizens, rather than skills needed by slaves. Knowledge is dangerous. Knowledge is power Ann TattorMlI Eugene Take That How sad it is that Caylo For man is so ready to denounce the media and its "stupid” reporting of Gen X while she demon strates virtually no trace of jour nalistic competence in her own writing on Eugene s '60s culture. Not only did she forget to mention the 'hippies'" direct relation to environmental and multicultural awareness, alter native healing and "natural" lifestyles, she also is unaware that Eugene has more commu nity service organizations per capita than any other American city. She pontificates about our community 's lack of "activism." Such ignorance is excusable but her pompous refusal to even vis it the cultural events she is talk ing about destroys the journalis tic credibility of her opinion. She may wonder how accept ed a "preppie Republican boy" would lie at a Dead show, but if she were a serious journalist, she'd don those pearls she is pictured wearing, find a male escort as uptight as she is about drugs, and investigate what the responses were Although she apparently feels she knows ev erything she needs to know about “hippies." she might be surprised Norton Shaw Eugene No sanctuary Those in the pro-family com munity who believe that minor ity status for homosexuality won't come home to roost in their bac kyard had better think again. Church leaders tend to trust the opposition to leave r their safe haven of "religious freedom” intact. Some believe the constitutionally guaranteed freedom of religion will protect their sanctuary of church from the homosexual agenda to erad icate public disapproval of ho mosexuality. Hidden in the pro-family's false sense of security is the no tion the homosexual communi ty will simply pack up and go home once they achieve minor ity status. Look at Hawaii! Once minority status was secured, homosexuals pushed to legalize same-sex marriages and the North American Man/Boy Love Association succeeded in low ering the age of consent to 14 NAMBLA wants to eliminate all age of consent laws. Oregon's SB34 would have granted minority status to ho mosexuals. During the hearings, two people testified against SB:t4's religious exemption: 1) "We believe it's a serious mis take to exempt religion and per mit them to discriminate," and 2) "There is a segment of our population that uses the Bible as a peg upon which to hang their hatred and intolerance." One might then suppose the need fur thought police to patrol the churches on Sunday to ensure no one exercises freedom of speech or religion against homosexuality. These testimonies should make every Christian’s blood run cold It's time for the pro family community to wake up and shako itself before it's sad dled with layers of pro-homo sexual legislation leaving no safe sanctuary. Loretta Neet Communications Director Oregon Citizens Alliance LETTERS POLICY The Oregon Daily Emerald will attempt to print all letters containing comments on topics of interest to the University community. Letters to the editor must be limited to no more than 250 words, legible, signed and the identification of the writer must be verified when the letter is submitted. The Emerald reserves the right to edit any letter for length or style.
