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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (Sept. 27, 2004)
NEWS STAFF 346-5511 JEN SUD1CK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR AYJSUA YAEIYA JARED PABEN NEWS EDITORS PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTER MORIAH BAUNCIT CANELAWOOD ANTHONY LUCERO KARA HANSEN MEGHANN CUNIFF NEWS REPORTERS CLAYTON JONES SPORTS EDITOR JON ROETMAN SEINOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMI TH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURC PULSE EDITOR NATASHA CHILINGERIAN SENIOR PULSE REPORTER RYAN MURPHY DAHVI HSCHER AMY LICHTY PULSE REPORTERS DAVID JAGERNAUTH EDITORIAL EDITOR TRAVIS WILLSE AILEE SLATER CHUCK SLOTHOWER JENNIFER MCBRIDE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR GABE BRADLEY NEWS FREELANCE EDITOR/ DIRECTOR OF RECRUITMENT DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR LAUREN W1MER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHER ERIK BISHOFF MARK MCCAMBRIDCE PARTTIME PHOTOGRAPHERS BRET FURTWANCLER GRAPHICS EDITOR KiKA I AKK DESIGN EDITOR ELUOTTASBURY CHARLIE CALDWELL DUSTIN REESE DESIGNERS IEANNIE EVERS SHADRA BEESLEY COPY CHIEFS PAUL THOMPSON KIMBERLY BLACKF1ELD SPORTS COPY EDITORS AMMsIDA EVRARD AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS LINDSAY BURT PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR BUSINESS 346-5511 IUDY RIEDL GENERAL MANAGER KATHY CARBONE BUSINESS MANAGER REBECCA CRirCHEXr RECEPTIONIST NOAH EVENS IOHN LONG MALLORY MAHONEY HOLLY MISTELl. XAVIER XIONG DISTRIBUTION ADVERTISING 346-5511 MELISSA GUST ADVERTISING DIRECTOR TYLER MACK SALES MANAGER ALEX AMES MATT BETZ 11!RONCALISCH-DOUtN MEGAN HAMLIN ELISA JESSOP MAEGAN KASER-l.EE DOMENIQUE LAINEZ MIA LEIDELMEYER EMILY PHILB1N SALES REPRESENTATIVES KELLEE KAUFTHEIL AD ASSISTANT CLASSIFIED 3464343 TRINA SHANAMAN CLASSIFIED MANAGER KATY GAGNON SABRINA GOWETIT LESLIE STRAIGHT KERI SPANGLER KATIE STRINGER CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING ASSOCIATES PRODUCTION 3464381 MICHELE ROSS PRODUCTION MANAGER TARA SLOAN PRODUCTION COORDINATOR |EN CRAMLETT KRISTEN DICHARRY CAMERON CAUT ANDY HOLLAND DESIGNERS The Oregon Daily Emerald is pub lished daily Monday through Fri day during the school year try the Oregon Daily Emerald Publishing Co. Inc., at the University of Ore gon, Eugene, Ore. The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of "UNIVERSITY BOMB THREW"..ALL RIGHT YOUNG MAN, ARE YOU AN ANARCHIC A JIHAW EXTREMIST; OR WAS THIS JUST A NATIVE WAY OF GETTING OUT OF AN EXAM? BRET FURTWANCLER I GRAPHICS EDITOR FURTVAN6LE* ■ In my opinion TUpperware fiesta vs. Dildo fiasco Almost one year ago, a legal storm arose in Texas over a terrible, rather novel danger. It’s got nothing to do with the war in Iraq, the 14th Amendment still exists, it’s not even the fact that the students of the University will now be subjected to my commentary once a week. This particular issue concerns a much more peculiar menace: Women who deal in sex toys. In November 2003, Joanne Webb of Burleson, Texas, was arrested with the threat of a $4,000 fine and up to one year in jail for hosting “passion parties” in her home. Like a classic Tlipperware party, primarily female clients learn about and purchase dildos, vibrators, lubricants and other such items that present extreme hazards to society, on par with disgruntled bounty hunters. Webb, a 43-year-old mother, wife and former fifth-grade teacher, was is sued the warrant for her arrest after ex plaining the use of and selling a vibra tor to two undercover narcotics agents. I can only assume that masturbation, rather than illegal drugs, is now consid ered the leading cause of frequent vio lent rampages among urine-soaked methamphetamine users. Webb was accused of violating Texas State Penal Code 43.23 cl: C. “A person commits an offense if, ‘knowing its con tent and character, he promotes ... or possesses with intent to promote any obscene material or obscene device.’” According to a July Reuters article, Webb’s sale to these undercover offi cers, along with her parties, was deemed obscene because she was marketing these products in a direct manner and showing how to use them for sex. The sale of most porn shop paraphernalia is legal under these guidelines, because those products are billed as novelties. Now, 1 don’t know about most of the general public, but I certainly consider the household vibra tors of my roommates and mine to be OF AILEE SLATER FURTHER FROM PERFECTION items with high novelty value. We al ways display these sex toys up on the mantle, right beside our 14th century Ming Vase. Seriously, the distinction between novelty item and actual sex toy is a vaguely drawn line that seems to pun ish people, especially women, for mas turbation. Would a piece of lingerie de signed to attract sexual advances be an obscene item? Kama Sutra books? Or are sexual products only obscene if they involve the sexuality of a woman alone? Intriguing questions indeed, espe cially when one considers the fact that purveyors of male masturbatory de vices, such as Penthouse vendors, have not been threatened with time in prison. Unless I’ve been overlooking strate gically placed legal warnings [“Please note: These adult magazines are meant for novelty use only, and are not to be handled during personal touching.”), I find it difficult to swallow the equality in restricting a primarily female-based source of finding sexual pleasure. Un fortunately, as with too many aspects of “moderp” society, women and their de sires are once more being pushed to ward the margins. Yet another Texas code makes the possession of more than six items de signed or marketed as useful primari ly for the stimulation of human geni tal organs illegal, whereas the possession of more than six firearms designed to stimulate the death of hu man vital organs is OK. tEGON DAILY EMERALD LETTERS POLK raid reserves the right to edit for space, grammar and style. Guest ; ■Willi 'IniUfi!tHUWii 1¥T IBil—l ml iIII Both of these Texas obscenity laws seem, at their core, unreasonable. The primary purpose of TVojan’s new “warming” condom is to stimulate gen ital organs; will I be charged with the crime of obscenity next time I’m in Texas and purchase a pack containing seven of those? Do one’s odds of creat ing obscenity suddenly reach a critical point once there are six chances of a cli max occurring? There are much greater harms occur ring here that support the basic assump tions behind this whole situation. By penetrating society with the message that women should not or do not have sexuality, problems such as sexual as sault are given the chance to rise. The assumption that women lack the desire and ability to choose sex is a key factor in the creation of a rape culture. After all, if it becomes common belief that only men have sexual drives, all gen ders could easily subscribe to the belief that rape is therefore acceptable, as no person would ever have sex if men were not forcing women into it. Furthermore, women who are con stantly subjected to the idea that their sexuality is obscene or non-existent will easily be convinced that sex is less for their enjoyment than for the purpose of pleasing someone else. This case serves to demonstrate that we remain a society in which the sexu ality of men is encouraged in magazine racks and on TV, whereas the sexuality of women is met with legal action. Thankfully, the charges against Webb were recently dismissed on the grounds that the case was a waste of county money. However, only positive growth in the rights of women, along with respect, acceptance and enjoyment regarding the idea of female desire, will help to resolve the real problem demon strated by this ridiculous situation. aileeslater@ daily emerald, com ; are pub! darmonttv Subrnissi^sha at the discretion of tie Emeralc EMHHHK ■ Editorial Emerald is top dog in world of newshounds Hello, and welcome to the first edition of the Oregon Daily Emerald for the 2004-05 academic year. This issue marks the beginning of a spe cial year for the Emerald. We are in our 106th year as a campus news paper and have served for 33 years as an inde pendent student-run publication working to report for the University and Eugene com munities. This issue begins a new look for the Emerald: Color on the front page five days per week, a re designed nameplate and a more vertical, clean layout. The new design incorporates both traditional and modem styles evoking both the cutting edge of a college publication as well as the long and prestigious history of the Emerald. The goal of the redesign is to make the paper more useful and easy to navigate. Our map and text breakout boxes will provide at-a-glance facts, quotes, diagrams and contact information. On line boxes will point to links on featured Web sites and to www.dailyemerald.com, the paper’s Web site, for breaking news and online-only pho tos and stories. The front page no longer features the day’s weather. A three-day forecast now finds its home regularly on Page 3, but it will occasionally move to Page 4. By removing the bottom banner from the front page, the Emerald can provide more space for local, city, state and regional news. The commentary page, always Page 2, has a more fluid design, permitting the publica tion of daily columns and editorials four days per week while creating greater flexibility for the number of guest commentaries, letters and illustrations. During the summer, the paper transitioned from using Knight Ridder wire-service content to stories by The Associated Press. It is a change that will allow us to cover national and international issues better than ever on our daily Global Up date page, usually on Page 3. We have also expanded our freelance base to allow the reporting staff time for more in-depth pieces on issues that affect students and the com munity the most. It is an exciting year for news with a variety of issues to tackle at the University, in the na tion and internationally. Most of all, we want the paper to be relevant, accurate and inter esting in its features, hard news, sports, enter tainment and commentary work. We wel come your feedback and hope the time you spend reading the Emerald is as rewarding as it is for us to produce it. ONLINE POLL What do you think of Ralph Nader's exclusion from the November ballot? Visit www.dailyemerald.com to vote. A. It's good; it will increase votes for democratic nominee John Kerry. B. It's good; Nader’s campaign was removed for legitimate reasons. C. It's bad; it gives Oregon voters fewer choices in the election. D. It's bad; more votes for Kerry worsens Bush's chances. E. Who is Ralph Nader? EDITORIAL BOARD jennifer Sudick Steven R. Neuman Editor in chief Managing editor David Jagernauth Gabe Bradley Editorial editor Freelance editor Jared Paben News Editor msaamms
