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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (May 25, 1995)
EDITORIAL Legislature must respect voters’ will In November, thousands of Oregon voters <.ast their vote* on moot than a dozen ballot measures, ranging from child pornography to public employees' pension* It was unusual for state resident* to vote on so many mea sures, Hut people were given the opportunity to decide what they want, anil they did It's not their fault the last legislative session was so unproductive that it was nwessarv to file a record number of ballot measures In the Nov«ml>f*r elections, voters d« tded to ban the use of dogs and bait by cougar and boar huntvnt end to limit cam paign contributions Voters aiso refused couttuvefsia! mea* sure* like Measure 15, which would require the legislature to maintain funding for schools and community col logos and Measure 5, which barred new or increased taxes without voter approval Unfortunately, the I.ogislaturo is work ing lo change some of the key measures <li*« idtxl by voters. In some oases, the legislator wants to over turn measures that passed by comfortable margins Legislators are bravely pitting them selves against voters, refusing to pay attention to elections results What goenl is an election if polin clans aren't true to the results? Although law makers may disagree with the outcome of elections, they need to pay attention to what their constituents want About a dozen bills before the Legislature now attempt to change the outcome of November elections For example, several measures before the Legislature would suspend or go around Measure 18, the cougar and bear initia tive passed bv voters The Senate also re< erttly pmmhI a reso lution asking voters to approve a constitutional amendment eliminating free speech protections lor obscenity and child pornography, similar to Measure I'l. which failed by 54 per cent And although Measure ft. whir h plat <>d limits on (campaign contributions, passed by 73 perr ont. the legislature is looking at amendments that include tenfold increases in the new lim its. What good is an election if politicians aren't true to the results? Although lawmakers may disagree with the outcome of elections, they need to pay attention to what their con stituents want. People appreciate their right to vote and the results of elections should lie taken seriously by elected offi cials. If a measure is found unconstitutional, the Legislature should enjoy the right to interfere. However, as long as mea sures passed by citizens are lawful, legislators should stick with what the voters want. If legislators adopt a pattern where they override or alter election results, people will believe they are powerless and may stop voting Many voters already believe the Legislature has betrayed them Politic ians are losing the trust of people. To ensure democracy, the legislature should forms on what the people want, which is reflected through election results. Oregon Daily PO BOl 3m fuGfHt 0*tOON *?a03 T^e CWgtvt £Wk f m putAshed tia^y Uo^diy through f '*dty <.fcjr«r»g ih* *ehoo >«** a/xl T utaday and Thursday Clitfna the py the Oregon Daily fcmeraid PuMfeng Co . Inc «tf the Un-vry *ty of Oregon. 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S.4H, »*«c * ! $ f stKJO f JME Qyt*+ o «4w| _ , n TWAT a ■ OPINION Empowerment key to ending abuse (iayi> Forman have Ixien in an abusive rela tionship 1 am a powerless JLwaif who needs lo be prote< I ®d by a man No one appns tales me lor w hat 1 do. which is cook ing. cleaning oml taking care of the babies I have little authority in the world around me 1 am hated by all men who envy me for my reproductive powers. I am in denial. Are you confused yet ' Don't he I'm still the same friendly neighborhood i olumnist: I have not been lobotoriuzed 1 gamed all of the above insights about myself a! a seminar I took a few weeks ago on domestic violence The goal of this class was to enlighten the masses about the widespread problem of domes tic violence And indeed it is a huge problem, with 4,000 women murdered in domestic disputes each year and millions ol women suffering from all sorts ol abuse. (And yes. men are also abused, but they are a minority and they rarely suffer physical beatings, so boys, don't go getting yourselves into a tizzy.) The seminar had good inten tions — to tench people how to recognize and get out of abusive relationships but the tactics used to attain this goal seemed Itoth i ounterprodui live and dis empowering to all the men and women present The seminar, for the most part, was fine — educational anil provocative — that is, until a male speaker who works with recovering batterers started lay ing a heavy blame session on the men. which is fine by me. If these in-the-know folks think Hi.it it In*;(is to tcii .i roomful of twentysnmething men that they are all potential batterers because they all hate women, 1 won't argue. But while these generalizations are meant to (re ate an aw areness among men, I suspect that the only thing such blanket statements actually achieve is to make men defen sive. And defensive people are not exactly open to new ideas Still. I had no problem with this guilt trip/consciousriess raising session. Difficulties arose, however, when said lec turer, in try ing to educate the men on the gender inequity of society, began lamenting about the sorry state of women in this country Judging from his com ments, we are all housewives, completely dependent on men. We re not appreciated by the men-folk who don't take our work seriously, our work being cooking, cleaning and raising the kids We women all expei • to Iw protected by men, but men renege on that obligation when they beat us up. It went on for hours Women don't enjoy sex; they only do it for the men's sake, he implied. Men occupy all of the power positions while women iron their shirts Men hate and disre spect women. They talk about us, deride us, and compare our bodies to animals. After a few hours of this I was getting really pissed off, and not at the evils of the patriarchy but at this guy's dribble What cen tury was be in? Yes, women still have a long way to go House wives do deserve credit and respect for their unpaid labors. And yes, there still is the "old boys'" network that needs to he infiltrated. But 70 percent of all women in this country work. In medical si boots, it is the XX chromosome people sitting at over half of the desks In law schools, universities and other professional programs, we account for over half of new admissions. Not exactly what I'd call powerless. But from what this guv said, we are lowly slime in the eyes of American men. We deserve pity and need understanding. Not only am 1 offended by his assumption, 1 am disgusted You can look at any issue and see it in a variety of different perspectives ! choose to see women as powerful, decisive and strong That doesn't mean our society has reached the ide al egalitarian state. Women are still raped, abused, underpaid and underestimated and we are working to change that My lecturer friend chose to see us as powerless and weak, and that is certainly his preroga tive. But is that perspective appropriate for a domestic vio lent e seminar? When lack of self-esteem is one of the key reasons why women get involved in abusive relationships, how productive is it to lecture J00 of them on how worthless and weak they are' When 16-yeor-old girls women are having babies because they feel empty, when women of all ages are starving themselves to death to attain some beauty ide al, when women are tolerating abusive mates Inicause they feel that is their place, why disem power them by telling them how powerless they are? The single most powerful tool in battling domestic abuse is to empower girls and women, give them a sense of sell worth, bol ster their self-esteem Sure, men need to be educated, hut the focus should remain on women because it is in their vested interest to stop domestic vio lence. they are the ones getting their asses kicked. And they are ultimately the ones who can stop domestic violence bv hav ing the strength to get out and stay out of abusive relation ships Gayle Forman is a columnist for the Emerald
