Lecturer decries nation's lack of sex education
Gilbert Herdt addressed the
Bush administration's
attacks on gay marriage
Thursday in the EMU
By Jeremy Berrington
Freelance Reporter
Cultural anthropologist Gilbert
Herdt focused on the role of local
communities and their imparts on
the lives of America's lesbian, gay, bi
sexual, transgender and queer youth
in a lecture in the EMU Fir Room on
rhursday afternoon.
Herdt, a professor of human sexu
ality studies and anthropology at San
Francisco State University, has been
conducting research on sexuality for
30 years. He is the director of the Na
tional Sexuality Resource Center, and
his research has taken him around
the world.
While Herdt acknowledged an
overall increase in sexual tolerance
in contemporary society, he cri
tiqued America's shortcomings in
sexual literacy. Many of these at
tacks were directed at the Bush ad
ministration.
"The government of the United
States is not contributing to sexual lit
eracy at all," Herdt said. "Quite the
contrary — they are making political
ly motivated attacks against sexual ed
ucation from all issues ranging from
abortion to the dissemination of safe
sex information."
According to Herdt, the Bush
administration has continued its
conservative attack on the LGBTQ
population with a plan to impose a
constitutional amendment outlaw
ing gay marriage. Herdt said these ac
tions help to create social oppression
and inequality.
"How can homosexuals express
themselves in a sex-negative, chau
vinistic environment?" Herdt asked.
"They can't. There is no develop
ment. Only unexpressed desire, si
lence, shame, torment and a legacy
of social oppression."
Herdt said America leads the indus
trialized world in some undesirable
categories.
"We are number one in unwanted
abortions, unintended pregnancies,
HIV rates and sexual violence," he
said, mis is due pnmanly to the lack
of sexual education and dialogue in
American culture."
Theater arts major Wayne Bund
agreed with Herdt's assertions.
"As a homosexual in contempo
rary society, 1 have found my experi
ence to be very in line with much of
what Dr. Herdt was describing," he
said. "There is a tremendous amount
of pressure not to speak up about
differences of sexuality."
Herdt's main suggestion for the im
provement of sexual literacy in the
United States was to move the intro
duction of sexual education to first
grade classrooms.
"This has been done in the Nether
lands, it has been done in France and
it has produced very favorable
results, he said.
Event organizer Lynn Stephan said
programs such as this are an integral
part of sexual understanding.
"The University has attempted to
sponsor these events annually in or
der to help raise more awareness
about the state of sexuality in our so
ciety," Stephan said.
Stephan said the lecture's schedul
ing had nothing to do timing-wise
with the national election.
"We did not ask Dr. Herdt to come
here to raise any political sentiments
or create controversy," Stephan said.
"This is merely to educate and inform
people."
Jeremy Berrington is a freelance
reporter for the Emerald.
ETHICS
continued from page 1
Carroll dted a study released last year
that showed Americans had three main
misconceptions about Iraq: That
weapons of mass destruction had been
found, a connection between al-Qaeda
and Iraq had been demonstrated and
that the world approved of U.S inter
vention in Iraq. He said 80 percent of
people who primarily got their news
from Fox believed at least one of the
misconceptions. He said the figure was
more than 57 percentage points higher
than people who get their news from
public news broadcasting.
"How in the world could Fox have
left its listeners so deeply in the dark?"
Carroll asked.
He added that a difference exists
between journalism and propaganda.
As he addressed some of the hard
hits journalism has taken in the field
of ethics, Carroll noted that anyone
could be a journalist because, unlike
other fields, journalism had no quali
fication tests, boards to censure mis
conduct or a universally accepted set
of standards.
However, Carroll said a great depth
of feeling remains on the importance
of ethics that is centered around news
papers' sense of responsibilities to
their readers.
"I've learned that these ethics are
deeply believed in even though in
some places they are not even writ
ten down," he said. When ethical
guidelines are ignored, their propo
nents respond with 'tribal ferocity,'"
he added.
"If you stray badly from these rules,
you will pay dearly," he said.
He said while much media has end
ed up "in the gutter," the LA Times has
a different philosophy and was dedicat
ed to taking the "high road."
"I do think that a lot of newspaper
people have made a lot of strategic mis
takes, " he said. 'They cut back space on
things people really need to know."
Carroll, whose career as a journalist
spans 40 years, joined the L.A. Times in
2000, according to the paper's Web site.
Under his leadership, the paper earned
five Pulitzer Prizes this year.
Tim Gleason, dean of the SOJC, said
Carroll is a "journalist's journalist."
"As an editor he cares deeply about
the integrity of the profession and he
believes that news, real news is the
heart and soul of the business of jour
nalism," Gleason said as he intro
duced Carroll.
University graduate student Mose
Mosely had similar sentiments. He
said he admired Carroll not only for
his vast experience around the coun
try, but also for his consistent com
mitment to his ideals.
"The depth of his integrity is very
impressive," Mosely said.
Bobbie Willis, a staff writer for the
Eugene Weekly, said she felt Carroll
brought up some relevant issues in to
day s media environment.
"It really made me take a look at
my career as a journalist," she said.
Willis said she understood Carroll's
concerns about the state of journal
ism nationally, but added that many
of the journalists she has encountered
were very committed to accurate and
ethical reporting.
Carroll had a few words of advise
for student journalists; he told them
to pick their boss carefully.
"Don't be lured by the money or
the big name of the employer," he said,
Tim Kupsick Photographer
L.A. Times Editor John Carroll spoke about journalism ethics and pseudo-journalism
at the Gerlinger Lounge on Thursday.
adding that journalists should not al
low their integrity to be compromised
by unscrupulous employers.
"Don't be a piano player in a
whorehouse," he said.
Contact the news editor
at ayishayahya@dailyemeraid.com.
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