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About Oregon daily emerald. (Eugene, Or.) 1920-2012 | View Entire Issue (April 18, 2005)
Commentary Oregon Daily Emerald Monday, April 18, 2005 NEWS STAFF (541)346-5511 JEN SUDICK EDITOR IN CHIEF STEVEN R. NEUMAN MANAGING EDITOR IARED I’ABEN AYISHA YAHYA NEWS EDITORS MEGUANN ClINIFF PARKER HOWELL SENIOR NEWS REPORTERS MORIAH BALINCIT AMANOA BOLSINGER AOAM CHERRY EMILY SMITH EVA SYLWESTER SHELDON TRAVF.R NEWS REPORTERS CLAYEON (ONES SPORTS EDITOR JON ROETMAN SENIOR SPORTS REPORTER STEPHEN MILLER BRIAN SMITH SPORTS REPORTERS RYAN NYBURG PULSE EDITOR AMY UCHTY SENIOR PULSE REPORTER JOSHUA LINTEREUR PULSE REPORTER CAT BALDWIN PULSE CARTOONIST AILF.E SLATER COMMENTARY EDITOR LABE BRADLEY ANNEMARIE KNEPPER CHUCK SLOTHOWER JENNIFER MCBRIDE COLUMNISTS ASHLEY GRIFFIN SUPPLEMENT FREELANCE EDITOR DANIELLE HICKEY PHOTO EDITOR LAUREN WIMER SENIOR PHOTOGRAPHER NICOLE BARKER TIM BOBOSKY PHOTOGRAPHER KATE HORTON ZANERUT PART-TIME PHOTOGRAPHERS BRET FURTWANGLER GRAPHIC ARTIST DUSTIN REESE SENIOR DESIGNER ELLIOTT ASBURY WENDY KIEFFER AMANDA LEE JONAH SCHROGIN DESIGNERS SHADRA BEESLEY JFANNIE EVERS COPY CHIEFS KIMBERLY BLACKF1ELD PAUL THOMPSON SPORTS COPY EDITORS GREG BILSLAND AMBER LINDROS NEWS COPY EDITORS JENNY GERW1CK PULSE COPY EDITOR ADRIENNE NELSON ONLINE EDITOR WEBMASTER (541)346-5511 IUDYR1EDI. 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The Emerald operates independently of the University with offices in Suite 300 of the Erb Memorial Union. The Emerald is private property. Unlawful removal or use of papers is prosecutable by law. Bret Furtwangler | Graphic artist ■ In my opinion A Call to Reason There has been a series of recent news articles that have done much more than pique my interest in the surrounding world. Each of these stories feels more like a vindictive blow to the stomach than a piece of journalism. I’m talking about Eliza beth Smart, Brooke Wilberger, Sarah Michelle Lunde, and so many oth ers— all young women under the age of 20 who have, probably or def initely, undergone sexual assaults, kidnapping and murder. It seems that every day, a new picture of a smiling female child is posted in the newspaper next to a caption saying she has been abducted. The most painful to me is a recent AP story detailing the brutal sexual assault of a mentally disabled high school girl. In this case, the perpetra tors were a group of male class mates, who dragged the girl into their school auditorium and pro ceeded to videotape the abuse. It is possible that at a high school age, not one young man in that group of assailants realized his ac tions were wrong. Did the boys just stop caring? The time has come for an in-depth, nationwide investiga tion into the circumstances that breed sexual assailants and how these assaults can be stopped. An interesting aspect of this sub ject to consider is Groupthink. Psy chological studies have proved that in most situations individuals will ignore what they know to be correct and agree with the rest of the group. In one famous social psychology ex periment a subject was shown three lines, one obviously longer than the others. When asked which line was the longest, the subject answered correctly almost 100 percent of the time. However, when the subject was placed in a room with other subjects who chose a different, painfully incorrect answer, the actu al subject tended to go along with the group and choose incorrectly. If a person can be persuaded by a AILEE SLATER FURTHER FROM PERFECTION group to misjudge something as clear-cut as a line on a piece of pa per, imagine the problem of Group think when it comes to such abstract issues as right and wrong. So what is breeding a society in which men cannot learn from the world around them that it is wrong to assault? In my mother’s health class, the middle-school-age children are learning to say “No.” I guess not much has changed since the “Just Say No” days of my own health curriculum; unfortunately, not much has changed in the way of sexual assault and teen pregnancy statistics either. I don’t know how to end sexual violence, but here’s a thought to wrestle with: Instead of assuming that school-age children are victims who will one day need to say “No," why not assume that at least a por tion of these children will one day be rapists? By god, that’s hard to say, but it is the truth. Besides the media, which have their heads way too far up their own asses to promote social change, the education system may be the only way to reach the future rapists of this nation. The current rapists of this nation. Youths, especially male youths, need to be engaged in a curriculum unit that tells them not to rape. It is a simple message, but one of a much higher importance than anyone real izes. If I can learn by the third grade something as simple as three times three equals nine, I have no doubt that children can also learn that sex ual assault is wrong. If children are surrounded constantly by the clear, unadulterated message that raping a person is wrong, social psychology surely mandates that these children will be less likely to perform as saults. Enough with abstract messages of peace and goodwill and assuming that this group of students does not contain a future criminal. Victims are told how to defend themselves, but what message is given to perpetrators? I want to hear every sexual education class begin with the teacher saying: “Don’t rape people.” Granted, schools only have so much power in the context of the two other main influences on a child’s development, the home and the media. If children learn in school that violence is wrong, yet return home every day to an abusive set of parents, the message will not get through. Likewise, telling young men not to rape will hit a serious roadblock if every television show and magazine advertisement portrays women as bodies to be sexualized. I guess I can only call for a coun try-wide agenda against masculin ized violence so many times. In stead, here’s a different call to action: Don’t rape people. Don’t as sault people. Don’t kidnap. Don’t perpetrate violence. Don’t perpetrate sexual violence. If every person sits down and decides he or she will not be the reason another little girl is forced to perform oral sex on her male classmates or buried under a concrete deck by her best friend’s fa ther or systematically raped after be ing taken from her bedroom in the middle of the night. It hurts, doesn’t it? But if every single person makes a conscious decision to not be that perpetrator, not be that reason, then maybe actual reason will finally prevail. aileeslaier@ daily emerald, com ■ Editorial Voiding of licenses an egregious violation Last year, about 3,000 same-sex marriages were held in Oregon after Multnomah County followed in the footsteps of San Francisco and began issuing licenses to gay couples. As legally married citizens, these couples en joyed benefits such as access to insurance through a spouse’s job, the ability to file joint tax returns and assumption of spouse’s pen sion after death. Last Thursday, every one of those same-sex marriages was declared void by the Oregon Supreme Court, with justices citing Ballot Measure 36, which defines mar riage as a union between one man and woman, as a major deciding factor. And we thought “take-backs” went out of style after third grade. The Emerald understands that, especially in light of the previously discussed Measure 36, not every Oregonian agrees that same-sex marriages should be legal. However, the citi zens of this state can surely concur that the marriage certificates issued last year were binding legal contracts between two consent ing adults. It is inappropriate for the state to toy with the emotions and the lives of gay couples by voiding a marriage that has al ready been declared legal under state law. It is understandable that political climates change with time and often for the best; how ever, it seems the Oregon Supreme Court has given absolutely no consideration to the up heaval and devaluation of partnership that will occur because of its decision. The lives of gay couples who chose marriage have under gone dramatic changes already. Erasing those changes with the assumption that homosexu als do not have the same basic rights as het erosexuals is surely a toll to both the identity and the livelihood of people previously part of a same-sex marriage. The argument has been made that the court is only carrying out the wishes of Oregon citi zens in general; it is important to remember that as judicial officials, the Supreme Court should be held to a higher standard. It is one thing disallow the issuing of new marriage li censes, but to deny the legality of documents declared legal prior to Measure 36 is unneces sary and verges on vindictive. An unfortunate parallel can easily be made between the de nial of interracial marriages before the 1960s and the denial of same-sex marriages in pres ent day. Although almost every American citi zen would like to believe that our country has changed throughout time for the better, using religious values to deny a minority group’s secular right to a civil partnership is sadly evocative of America’s racist past. The saying goes that it is better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all. In the instance of same-sex marriage, this is one case in which it is not better to have had something only to lose it. We hope the future leaders of this country will someday look back at the voiding of these marriage licenses and recognize it as an event soaked in dis crimination and overall wrong intent. EDITORIAL BOARD Jennifer Sudick Editor in Chief Ailee Slater Commentary Editor Steven R. Neuman Managing Editor Shadra Beesley Copy Chief Adrienne Nelson Online Editor
