Dr. Martens advertisement promotes violence against women
Lawr’s Bazar recently plac ed an
ad [ODE, Oct IB) featuring the
footwear brand name "Dr
Martens'' printed on a woman's
naked buttocks.
This brings to mind the typical argu
ments about how such imagery objm ti
fies women The woman's buttocks are
stamped like meat t SDA prune cut
no doubt. Or maybe, considering the
woman is still olive, her buttocks are
branded to show ownership — as is
done to chattel and other forms of male
"properly
Nevertheless, this simple question
i ontinues to command my attention.
What does footwear have to do with a
woman's naked buttoc ks ’
Perhaps this is a far-fetched theory.
LETTERS
Thanks, guys
Thank you. Jesse Bohrer-Clan
i v. for your explanation through
quantum mechanic s that God
exists in tfie lectures you fell
asleep in [ODE. Oi t. 13).
Oh. and another big thanks to
Saul Harper for his contribution
to scientific understanding at
the University [ODE. Oct 17)
Mv favorite part was when
JHarperl "dared to sav" that any
"God" that existed in scientific
mystery must be a "Christian
god" and that Bohrer-Clancv's
vision that God only existed in
the unexplained was based on
"Christian theology."
It seems his understanding of
quantum phvsics is only sur
passed bv his studies of the
Bible.
Joshua Akin
Physics
GTFF allegations
Yvonne Rauch and Ernest
Stromberg made some very seri
ous allegations [Opt.. Oct. 19)
about the Graduate Teaching
Fellows Federation's leadership.
The upshot of the allegations is
that the executive board is not
interested in running a democ
ratic union.
I hope to demonstrate that
nothing could be further from
the truth.
First of all, they alleged that
the member* were not informed
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COMMENTARY
i m.nii i; miir] i
htit I'm fort «>d (o wonder if the juxtapos
ing of footwear and a woman's naked
builcx ks isn't h promotion of violent ><
against women f>o»ts the ad not suggest
that wearing I>r Martens and kicking a
woman's ass are fashionable'
Ours is, after all. a culture seething
with violence — particularly against
women
I'he last public servii e annoum ement
I heard on the radio proclaimed that
every 11 seconds another woman is hat
tered That same day, the edition of the
Hegish-r Guard featured a domestii vio
lent e display at Sai red Heart Hospital
constructed in memory of Oregon
women who were murdered by I heir
husbands or partners.
Furthermore, images of violence
against women abound in TV show s
news media, movies, music, advertise
ments. ad infinitum and ad nauseam.
Hmkandslash horror movies are espe
i tally idept ai filling our minds with
extreme violence Granted, these movies
frequently include male vii tuns as well
as female victims But clearly there is a
disproportionate number of female vie
tints who are hat ked and slashed while
they are naked, either before, during or
after some kind of sexual conduct
After some time, the seemingly end
less barrage of this and related imagery
works its wav into our collet ttve, cultur
al unconst ions The imagery fn>< times
part of th»l taken-fur-grnnted portion of
our cultural tx-lii'fs beliefs that are no
longer examined with a critical eve We
just accept naked women/sex violence
ns a viahli' image
To overcome this harmful image of
women, it is imperative that the issues
be brought to a i ohm tons level to work
them out of our cultural um.onst ious
and eventually out of our culture alto
gether
1 am asking the hnu’rahl to consider
the issues raised herein I am asking the
t'mvrald to place integritv above profits
by setting a higher standard for printing
advertisements, by refusing to run such
ads and bv essentially just saying "no"
to sexism
Ltmum llvmu'tt i s a rvsidrnt of Kngent?
about the usual pro-ratification
moating thut occurs nftor a ton
tative agroament on a now i mi
tract that has boon reached
between the GIFT and the Uni
versity Phot meeting occurred
on Oct. t t and was publicized
in advance in the OTFh Voice,
the union newsletter that all full
members rei oive Main of the
questions thev asked about staff
changes were also addressed in
the Voice 1 can only wonder
why thev didn't consult this
newsletter before making such
spurious allegations in public
Their second major claim is
that (/IT's are being kept in the
dark about the negotiating
impasse that now exists between
the executive board and the pro
fesstonal staff There are several
wavs that (i l l s < an get informa
tion about this They can attend
1 ’> hours a wiuik \Vi> want a
more democratu union whare
that memliers are better informed
and more m lively involved
Ken Pendleton
GTFF Vice President tor
University Relations
Sexism is
Hey. Kay Krautscheid You're
right women study ami work
in virtually every field Howev
er, this doesn't automatically
equal equality, as you assumed
in your column {ODh. Oct JO).
Have you compared the num
bers of women with the num
bers of men in those fields and
seen that women are hv far the
''minority" of those educated,
well-paid workers' Have you
looked at the statistics i ornpar
ing the salaries of women and
men doing the same job and
seen that women are paid less'
She probably ha$ however,
been a victim without realizing
it
Currant research still indi
cates that teat loirs pay more
attention to male students give
them more help, and grade them
more highly in the workpltu »>.
identical resumes with male
names get more favorable rank
ings Women are still in the
minority of managerial posi
tions. making less than ?f> per
nmt of what men earn, even
when they do get a job.
Maybe kav really hasn’t lieeii
discriminated against, hot that's
not the point
do, and attitude* have i hanged,
inking discrimination with
ihi'm. then affirmative action
will not have finished doing its
job
Barbara DeFillippo
Graduate Student
Psychology
Vote for Lee
I vs mild like to show my sup
port (or Hobby law. who is run
ning for the Kugeiu* tots
Cumuli As his former room
male, I have witnessed l.ee's
commitment and integrity first
hand and have found him to tie
highly respei table, intelligent
and generous
I he point of affirmative
«< turn is to encourage six it?tv to
be more equitable This is still
not a reality, «?11fu»r for rm oil
minorities or for women. Inter
view top executives or mirmnis
trators and you will find that
many still have stereotypic a!
view they will likely take to
their graves Some of our par
outs and grandparents are of
their generation and hold these
beliefs
Parents today still encourage
their children to play vs it it gen
dor-spec ifit toys, and tern hers
in grade school still think girls
don't do yseli in math We have
come a long way, hut we have
not reached gender equity and
equal opportunity yet, Until we
A group of young University
alumni was formed throughout
the state to help elei t l ee
because we all felt that the
l ugeiieCat\ (animal desjwratelv
needed a drainatu change
l.ee uni lie that change for the
better He is progressive, envi
ronmentally i oust ions and
innovative in polios making
skills
l or some of you seniors, if
you remember Hobby bee when
he was ASt'() president leu k in
1 Ittl2 ll t. you know he has the
leadership skills Talk to your
friends, and support Hobby bee
for bilgene ('.it v Council
Marc Hill
UO Yount) Alumni
for Bobby 1 ee
till WIIMiliMt 1 MU tHIVi; iM'.llli
meetings (which are public ized
in the? Voicr), or they can con
tact the GTTF office ,it 144-08 (2
and make arrangements to speak
to one of the union officers If an
officer is not in the offic e when
you call or come by. one will
contact you to arrange an
appointment. Finally, any t.TFF
member is welcome to attend
the n< tual contra* t negotiating
sessions.
The members of the executive
board have put a lot of volunteer
time into tins union in my
ease somevvfiere hot ween 12 and
Apparently not
Maybe sf you opened your
eyes a little wider (inti took .t
look around you would realize
that the "sexism that oni o exist
ed” still duos
Shannon Varney
Eugene
Not there yet
While I'm pleased kuv
krautscheid has not experi
enced overt discrimination
(VUE, Oct. 20), that is not nearly
as surprising as it used to be
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