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.
Oregon Daily
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■ 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