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Oregon Daily Emerald
COMMENTARY
Editor in Chief:
Brad Schmidt
Managing Editor:
Jan Tobias Montry
Editorial Editor:
Travis Willse
rnaay, repruary b, 2UU4
Protect your
name from
theft before
thieves strike
Editor's note: This commentary is part of the ongoing efforts of
the Emerald and ASUO Legal Services to assist students through
education and as well as representation. ASUO Legal Services’ at
torneys are licensed to practice in the state of Oregon. Information
disseminated in this article does not constitute legal advice and does
not create an attorney/client relationship. For legal advice, contact
an attorney licensed in your state. You should not make legal hir
ing decisions based upon brochures, advertising or other promotion
al materials.
Identity theft is a growing problem, resulting in more than
200,000 complaints to the Federal Trade Commission in
2003 alone. The term refers to any crime involving the mis
use of someone's personal information, such as your name,
Social Security number, bank ac
-—— count number or driver's license
Cs* (J SEE If number. The identity thief can use
rHMMFNTARY ^n^ormat‘on to make unautho
vUITIIiIlIi Inll I rized charges to your credit card or
to open new accounts in your
name. They may also obtain iden
tification with your name on it and provide it to police when
arrested for crimes. In this situation, when the ID thief fails to
go to court to answer the charges, a warrant for your arrest will
be issued.
As more and more consumers become aware of the risk of
identity theft, the thieves have become more sophisticated in
obtaining personal information. You therefore must stop and
think each and every time you give out any personal informa
tion. Ask yourself the following questions:
• Is the person requesting the information who they claim
to be? Never give information such as a credit card or Social
Security number or account password over the phone un
less you initiated the call. If someone calls claiming to be
from your credit card company, hang up and call the com
pany back using the customer service number. Similarly, do
not answer any e-mails soliciting this type of information.
Check www.idtheftcenter.org/alerts.shtml for a list of cur
rent e-mail scams.
• L>an anyone overnear tne mtormation you give over the
phone? If you place a call to your credit card company in a
public place, someone within earshot could obtain your ac
count number and password.
• If a legitimate company is requesting the information,
what will they do with it, and how will they keep it secure?
Whenever a business uses your Social Security or driver's li
cense number as an ID, ask to use a substitute number.
You should also limit the potential damage if your wallet
or purse is stolen. Don't carry your Social Security card or
more credit and/or debit cards than you are likely to use.
In addition, protect your mail and your trash from theft. If
your computer contains personal information and is con
nected to the Internet, you need to p#otect yourself with vims
protection software, updated regularly, and a firewall.
Even if you are very careful with your personal information,
you should check your credit report at least once a year. Re
quest a copy from each of the three major credit reporting
agencies: Equifax (http://www.equifax.com), Experian
(http://www.experian.com) and Transllnion
(http://www.transunion.com).
If you become a victim, you should immediately take the
following steps:
1. Notify the credit reporting agencies of the problem. Each
agency will send you a copy of your credit report. Review all
three to determine how your information has been used.
2. Close any affected accounts, and any that have been
opened fraudulendy. You can obtain a fraud affidavit, which
some creditors will request, at
http://www.consumer.gov/idtheff/affidavit.htm. Add pass
words to all accounts.
3. File a police report and a complaint with the FIC. Report
mail theft to the local postal inspector.
4. Visit http://www.idtheffcenter.org and http://www.con
sumer.gov/idtheff for more information.
5. Do not pay any bill that is the result of fraud.
6. Contact an attorney as necessary.
Nicole Miani is an attorney with ASUO Legal Services.
Fighting
for men’s rights
Over the last two centuries, American
society, and moreover Western cultures as
a whole, have made remarkable strides to
ward social equality: The Fourteenth, Fif
teenth and Nineteenth amendments have
paved the road to fair treatment, reforms
of systems with outright or systematic bias,
and the steady erasure of thusly increas
ingly archaic boundaries linked to skin
color and gender. Now more than ever in
human history, people are judged by the
content of their character.
But even the most zealous optimist
must admit that there's work to be done.
American women on average still make
somewhere between 70 and 80 cents for
every dollar men make, depending on the
source and mitigating factors considered.
Fortunately, the public is very much aware
of women's issues. We're reminded by
public service announcements, shelves of
books, countless articles in popular print
magazines and specialist journals alike, ra
dio and television specials, and even entire
University departments of the complex
challenges that modern women face. To
wit, we know that in 2003, the United
States led the 55 United Nations Econom
ic Commission for Europe member na
tions in rape incidents per capita, with 32
reported cases per 100,000 population.
And, as is oft-recalled, some 33.7 percent
of single mothers live in poverty, accord
ing to the U.S. Census Bureau.
But the best news for the erasure of un
due bias and disadvantages, misogyny and
violence against women is that the doors
of dialogue about women's issues are wide
open and often flooded. But herein lies a
systematic and self-feeding double-stan
dard. In our culture's mostly beneficial
and successful education of women's is
sues, societal forces have largely neglected
issues faced specifically by men, and in the
process sometimes created new but often
undiscussed disparities.
nui wnai Kinas or issues are men s issues*
Well, the foremost is that such a ques
tion feels so alien. While media coverage
of women's issues is widespread, issues ex
clusive to men gamer almost no attention
at all. We've heard disturbing statistics
about violence against women as a gen
der-specific problem and rightfully so: The
issue demands our society's dedicated at
tention. But, we hear little about violence
against men as an issue distinct from
generic violence; this disparity is all the
more disturbing after learning that men
were 20.5 percent more likely than
women to be victims of a violent crime in
2001-02 (that figure is down from 34.2
percent the previous biennium).
Men seem to be bear the brunt on the
other end of the criminal justice system,
too. In each category of offense, men see
longer average prison terms; when con
victed of violent crimes, the average male
is sentenced to 39 months more than the
average female, according to the Bureau of
Justice Statistics bulletin "Women in
Prison." (Those figures discount life and
death sentences.) Once men reach prisons,
they are often grossly overrepresented,
compared to their conviction rates: Some
87.0 percent of robberies in 1988 were
committed by men, reported the Nation
al Crime Survey, but men accounted for
97.8 percent of prisoners serving time for
that crime. (The figures are similar for ag
gravated assault and murder.)
In 1990, Sen. Barbara Mikulski, D-Md.,
complained that the National Institutes of
Health spent less than 14 percent of its re
search budget on projects specific to
women's health, a figure often cited as an
example of neglect toward women. If that
number is insufficient, then certainly the
mere 6.5 percent of the NIH budget spent
on male-specific health issues is downright
and dangerously paltry, as reported by Dr.
Andrew Kadar in his excellent 1994 At
lantic Monthly article, "The Sex-Bias Myth
in Medicine."
Travis Willse
Rivalless wit
Suicide, too, is a problem that dispro
portionately affects men: In 1995, there
were 4.5 male suicides for every female
suicide in the United States (the 18th
highest rate among the 76 countries for
which statistics were compiled at Nation
Master.com, a geographical statistics data
base), but resources dedicated to investi
gating this discrepancy seem slim.
Incidentally, women attempt suicide
more often than men do but tend to be
less "successful."
Why, then, is there such disparity in the
sheer quantity of presented information?
The answer is complicated. The feminist
movement of the last half-century galva
nized women (and concerned men) to
identify "women's issues" and organize
political and social instruments to tackle
them. Men, by contrast, have formed no
widespread movements (there is no Na
tional Organization of Men or League of
Male Voters), in part, no doubt, because
most changes in men's roles in society in
recent decades have been passive conse
quences of the active changes in women's
roles. But the discrepancy runs deeper that
that: Societal standards for the value of
men — say, independence and the ability
to solve problems without appeals for
help — discourage wide-scale movements.
Moreover, the lack of societal and media
attention to male issues seems to have bur
geoned into a cultural consciousness not
concerned with negative male images.
While men are often portrayed in the
media as decisive leaders and often posi
tive role models, they are also cast as ar
chetypally insensitive, socially and sexually
selfish or simply stupid — characteriza
tions that would never be tolerated if ap
plied as regularly to women.
"The business of helping men negoti
ate that distance is made infinitely more
difficult by media-promoted lies and dis
tortions which exaggerate men's deficien
cies and play down their personal talents
and achievements," the Sydney Institute's
Bettina Arndt wrote in The Weekend Aus
tralia. "The reality is that neither sex has
a monopoly on vice or virtue but men
have real work to do to restore their dam
aged reputation."
Negative depictions of males are some
times less subtle. While most feminists I've
met have an enlightened view of gender-re
lated issues geared toward understanding
and cooperation, a few are less tolerant.
Robin Morgan, the former editor in
chief of Ms. magazine, sees men, evidently
without reasonable qualification, as
shameless oppressors, asininely opining,
"I feel that 'man-hating' is an honorable
and viable political act, that the oppressed
have a right to class-hatred against the class
that is oppressing them."
American author Marilyn French was
more specific, telling People magazine that
"All men are rapists and that's all they are."
Andrea Dworkin, author of "Heart
break: The Political Memoir of a Feminist
Militant," implicated men as misogynists,
even in the context of consensual sex, in
coherently arguing, "Heterosexual inter
course is the pure, formalized expression
of contempt for women's bodies."
These notions, while representing the
frayed, onanistic edges of radical femi
nism, are still culturally damaging, and at
least as much as notions that women
should be denied education and confined
to homes.
Unfortunately, misandry has found its
way — thankfully in a much more moder
ated tone — into public institutions. For
mer Rep. Barbara Jordan, D-Texas, ad
dressed what she perceived as male
incapability.
"I believe that women have a capacity
for understanding and compassion which
a man structurally does not have, does not
have it because he cannot have it," she
said. "He's just incapable of it."
These messages send a disturbingly ad
verse message to men of all ages about
their value and their role in society.
Sexism, double standards and negative
portrayal in the media plague both gen
ders, but only by recognizing that can our
society fairly address those problems in a
fair and totally productive way.
Contact the editorial editor
at traviswillse@dailyemerald.com.
His opinions do not necessarily
represent those of the Emerald.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Dennis Kucinich is a welcome
face in primaries
I thank Congressman Kucinich, D
Ohio, for staying in the presidential race.
Kucinich has vowed to stay in the race to
advocate for ending the war in Iraq, pro
viding universal health care, promoting a
full employment economy and ending
the unfair trade agreements, NAFTA and
WTO. Without Kucinich in the race, there
would be no need for the other candi
dates to even be discussing these issues
on these terms.
It has been he that has stood unwaver
ing in his convictions and has provided
the voice for progressive issues, not least of
which is the ending of the occupation in
Iraq, that the others, including Governor
Dean, would be avoiding due to the same
fear of an impact on their "electability" if
they stand against the war and its infinite
funding. The record is clear.
Kucinich's effort is only the beginning
of a movement in this country away from
militarism. His candidacy is a place for
coming together of those of us who agree
that our government should serve the
people and be of the people. Dennis
Kucinich is doing our country a great fa
vor by subjecting himself to this rigorous
exercise with grace and his usual dedica
tion to the public good. Let's now get be
hind him and support him vigorously in
these primaries.
Jean Robertson
Cleveland, Ohio