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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 14, 2000)
Editor in chief: Laura Cadiz Editorial Editors: Bret Jacobson, Laura Lucas Newsroom: (541)346-5511 Room 300, Erb Memorial Union P.O. Box 3159, Eugene, OR 97403 E-mail: ode@oregon.uoregon.edu Friday April 14,2000 Volume 101, Issue 131 Effierald Giovanni Salimena Emerald Suicide. Heart attacks. Diabetes. Accidents. Homicide. Cancer. HIV. These are some of the leading causes of death among men. And while they may also be leading causes of death among women, men die on average seven years younger than women. They are one and a half times more likely than women to die from cancer. Twice as many men die from heart attacks. They account for nine out of every 10 deaths from AIDS. The figures are startling, but we’ve known for years that women live longer than men. We’ve just accepted it. Women are more patient, more home centered, more spiritual. Men are more stubborn, more restless, more careless. The stereotypes sometimes fit. But while they illuminate why men have shorter lives than women, they also shine light on how we can change that. We need to break the stereotype of “the man.” Challenging traditional male roles has been a trend since women began asserting feminist theory and in some ways, making men redefine them selves in contrast to the new woman. Society, throughout the years, has come to define manhood in a very narrow box: You have to be strong, tall, stubborn, pain-free, successful and calm. Men don’t cry. Men don’t feel pain. Men don’t ask for help. And while these stereotypes have separated the roles of men and women, they have pushed men into such limited areas. Anything outside of the box is labeled wussy, nerdy, gay, weak or sissy. And when men are labeled by peers or by parents with these hurtful names, the answer is only to get back inside the box. Well, women for years lived inside “the women’s sphere,” and the limiting of women to housework and raising children made them so an gry that they took a stand. Now the women’s sphere includes almost every profession and atti tude imaginable. Men need to take such a stand against their stereotype, and society should support this. Not only will it broaden the scope of all American lives, it might just help heal some gaps between men and women. Women want the sensitive guy — not the macho one. And boys need to be taught that being “girlish” isn’t always a bad thing. In the 1980s, men rediscovering their feminine side and going into the woods to bang on drums gained some popularity. But it also became a target for satire. Maybe that’s because it didn’t have prac tical application. Feelings are fine. But knowing that letting out feelings may extend your life by seven years is a breakthrough. And this shift in how we view men’s health is the subject of a series of events throughout April put on by the University Health Center, the Coun seling Center, the Office of Student Life and Physi cal Activity and Recreation Services. Dr. Will Courtenay, whose research produced the facts cit ed above, spoke Monday to fraternities and sorori ties about how to improve men’s health by break ing the stereotypes of who men are. Men’s health is not limited to physicals and looking like Arnold Schwarzenegger. It’s more about learning to ask for help or guid ance when you need it. To treat your pain. To take pride in the fact you care more about yourself than about your image. And women like that. This editorial represents the view of the Emerald editorial board. Responses may be sent to ode@oregon.uoregon.edu Letters to the editor Protesting for the sake of protesting When I chose to attend the Univer sity, a major factor in my choice was the inherent liberalism of the school — a liberalism that I now see as a sim ple facade. Those of you protesting in front of Johnson Hall, those of you squatting on public land, those of you wasting taxpayers’ money (who else is paying overtime bills to our coun ty’s finest?), those of you disrupting the educational process ... why are you going to school here? Are you here just to protest? You are champi oning a cause that was already in the process of being resolved, even before you started camping out in front of the administration building. Now, by making unreasonable demands (such as forgoing the democratic process by attempting to bypass the University Senate and asking University Presi dent Dave Frohnmayer for full deci sion-making power) you’re simply wasting everybody else’s time. Perhaps it is time to stop protesting simply for the sake of protesting. We’re not our parents, and we don’t need to live up to their activist lega cies. Don’t get me wrong — even I think that the Worker Rights Consor tium is a valid group. But I do not con done the wanton disregard for the democratic process you’ve exhibited in your demands, and like much of the student body, I’m getting tired of the constant disruptions... so I will leave you with a final suggestion: Don’t search for a cause simply for the sake of having one. Jesse Wendel English CAHOOTS deserves funding I appreciated Jonathan Gruber’s sto ry about CAHOOTS, Whitebird Clin ic’s mobile crisis van (ODE, April 4). I think it is indeed one of the more unique, valuable and cost-effective so cial services available in Eugene. They complement and support nicely what many other local service agen cies, including Lane County Mental Health, do. Many of our clients, most of whom are low-income, are also served at various times by Whitebird generally and CAHOOTS specifically. (Of course, Whitebird also serves a lot of people who choose not to have any thing to do with us.) It’s unfortunate, however, that CA HOOTS is available only in Eugene because Springfield has for years de clined to participate in funding this much needed service — a service that is needed in Springfield as much as in Eugene and would be better provided by CAHOOTS than by the Springfield Police. Social services generally, and serv ices to psychiatrically disabled adults specifically, increasingly fail to meet the need. This, even though the need grows significantly because of the clo sure of state psychiatric hospitals, the increasing needs of aging, disabled baby boomers, growth in population and other reasons. This means that compassionate, cost-effective help like that provided by CAHOOTS will play an increasingly important role in responding to the needs of one of our more vulnerable populations — a population that exists in all of Lane County, not just in Eugene. Gary Cornelius Program Services Coordinator Lane County Mental Health Thumbs To helping ease the high school years A new national ad campaign featur ing Portland teens is encouraging kids to help and coun sel friends who feel suicidal. “Sui cide shouldn’t be a secret” isthe slo gan, and the mes sage isworthy. To pressuring the corporations The activist organi zation Global Ex change pressured Starbucks to buy more "fair trade” coffee beans Mon day by announcing that it would protest the coffee shops in 30 cities this week. Global Exchange said that Starbucks could now be a leader in “establishing fair trade coffee as an economically valu able alternative” that should help curb exploitation of some coffee workers. To‘Roman’prison guards Eight prison guards in Califor nia went on trial Monday for incit ing gladiator-style fights between in mates in one of the state's tough est prisons. Not all the classics are good. Tocrash-and-bum airline service Baggage handling is the only part of U S. airline service not declining in quality according to researchers from the Universi ty of Nebraska at Omaha and Wichi ta State University. Time to pass an Airline Passenger’s Bill of Rights.
