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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Jan. 20, 1995)
EDITORIAL Insemination bill lacks legal merit Rep K**vin Mannix stopped in unpopular torrit«>rv this week when he proposed a bill that would mako it iibfga! for unmarried women lo In* artificially inseminated. This bill is absurd for obvious reasons. Any sane politician should know by now that legislating morali ty and family values just doesn't work in Oregon and in this country ll simply doesn't belong in politics. Wo < an In* confident that this bill will never become law However, it does force us to realize that even the suggestion of a "Murphy Brown" law is symptomatic of a confused society that at cepts single motherhood but still blames it for crime and poverty in this notion Ever since Dan Quayle attacked single motherhood and said the nation was experiencing a breakdown in family values, people have been careful not to criticize anyone's child-roaring habits. After all, it isn’t fair to pick on someone for his or her personal lifestyle deci sions. A national altitude of acceptance of single mother hood has prevailed during the past few years Although the intention of this ac < eptance is to take away blame from women who for some reason are forced to raise children alone, It sends an unfortunate message to young women that children don't need the stability of a two parent household. An overwhelming number of teenage girls, not ready for the responsibility of motherhood, have fallen victim to this national attitude They become pregnant and choose to keep their babies. In some communities, babies are even viewed as trophies. Young mothers see Murphy Brown as a role model but they forget that Brown is older, has a stable career with a stable salary and lives in television land where every thing's possible Viewers don't see who is feeding her child while she’s on the evening news. While it's admirable that these young women want to provide for their ( hildren. many find out too late that they aren’t capable. They need support from someone else. Raising a c hild is extremely exhausting and time-con suming. When a mother is forced to serve both as the nurturer and the provider, the job could be formidable. At the same time, we need to stop blaming single mothers for the ills of the world, liac h has her own rea sons why she's raising her children alone And some times single motherhood could be a better alternative than raising a child with an abusive father. Many of these single mothers have overcome impressive obsta cles to give their children a decent life Instead of blame, let's work to keep women from hav ing to fare the pressures of single motherhood. A pre ventative approai h that teat hes young men and women the value of a two-parent household could be a solution. Wo need to place c hildren at a higher value. They shouldn't lmi something that we have to legislate. 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Brad JOftS, Jenn-*«r Roland, CUyton V#* Htwwoom Huvnm Qftte* 346-55tl 346-5512 D>»£May Adverting 0*«4M***Cl AcJ*«Wti»*ng >46-3712 MMM3 DON'T FIRE UNTU- K** sKiMKWtflKS^lHBR '' A'fES.W ■ OPINION Clinton, women deserve respect Pai i VanSk kik ewt Gingrich never fails to surprise uni Or maybe JL ^1 not It he thinks Hillary Rodham Clinton is a ' hitch" (os his mother told Con mo Chung), it isn't exactly Out ol i.harm tor After all. this is the man who visited his wife ill the hospital, who's battling cam er. to get her to sign his divorce papers This is the man who is out to kill public broadcasting. This is the man who's afraid of the first lady, Gingrich is certainly entitled to Ins opinion, however In his cable collage history lecture "Renewing American Civilisation," Gingrich takes a lot of time to espouse his atti tudes concerning women in the United States According to an Associated Press article on the topic. Gin grit h believes women are unfit for combat situations because 'if combat means living in a ditch, females have biological prob lems staying in a ditch for 30 days because they get infections But maybe they would lie lietter off in front o( computers because “males are biologically driven to go out and hunt giraffes His feelings akxiut Hillary, and women in general, aren't exactly new in this country A lot of people seem to think Hillary is somehow evil or an aberration because of her |K>titiial and pro fessional drive — not surprising in a country that has traditional ly tried to breed women who are submissive, selfless and without ambition Hillary, on the other hand, is a Vale graduate, ext optionally intelligent and in a position of relative power Therefore, she must lie a “hitch." logical? )ai kie Kennedy Onassis go! this treatment, so did Kleanor Roosevelt and so did Ruth Bad er-Ginsberg when she was being considered for the Supremo Court All are assertive, power ful women who have boon seen as potentially threatening Hus prevailing attitude about powerful women in this country is. no doubt, fueled by the increasing proliferation of those women in political positions. The threat of women os equals to men in d«i ision-making roles, frankly, strikes fear into a lot of American men's hearts I believe it's called a "back lash." At the very least. Gingrich could have found a better wav to express himself than the word 'bitch,'’ It's one of the most deplorable words in the English language, and borders on misog yny No one would ever allow the use of the "n-word" to refer to an African-American on net work television, yet "bitch" has been given increasingly free reign on the air Not surprising, sim e it has only been 70 years that women have had the right to vote, and hiai ks have had that right since the late 1800s. It hasn't stopped the Ameri can man from trying to t ontrol the American woman, though As recently as last week, an Ore gon congressman proposed a law aimed at controlling which women can get an artificial insemination Apparently, a woman is only fit to bear < hil dren if she has a man in her house But women were never sold into slavery Or wen* they' It has been only sixty years since England allowed men to beat their wives, provided the rod they used could he passed through one's wedding band; a justifiable way to maintain a woman's submission to her hus band At least we know that it's not genetics Tribes exist in Africa where men are the ones who l—-— JJ The threat of women as equals to men in decision making roles, frankly, strikes fear into a lot of American men's hearts. -n wear makeup and compete in "pageants" fur the amusement of the women of the trilx* Men have always had the upper hand in this country From early decision-making, to men claiming to make a consti tution for all Americans, to try ing to take away the right to have an abortion — women haven't been allowed to get a foothold in any aspect of Amer ican politics. And no wonder. It would take an extraordinary individual to stand up to the amount of unfounded criticism Hillary has had to endure in order to main tain even her limited position of political power. And it's only because of her gender. So what do men do when a woman becomes powerful and assertive in her position? Do they applaud her, congratulate her or otherwise support her political aspirations towards gender equality? Nope They call her names. Real mature 1 was glad to see, however, that Hillary didn't lot Gingrich get to her Without batting an eyelid, she invited the Gingrich es on a tour of the White House 1 saw that as an example of the relative quality of the individual in question here. Maybe the name-calling should go the oth er way But what could Hillary ever possibly have to complain about Gingrich? Paul Van Sickle is a columnist for the Emerald. ■ CORRECTION 1 ho lost suntoni e in Brian Wotnat k's column from yesterday's l uicmld should have read, "But if something is not done even tually. when wu ure all senior citizens, we will have wished we would have clone something" (about entitlement spending),” The Emerald regrets the error
