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.
GENERAL MANAGER
KATHY CARBONE
BUSINESS MANAGER
LAUNA DE GIUSTI
RECEPTIONIST
FERED NAGEL
PATRICK SCHMERBER
HOLLY STEIN
IANA SWANSON
ROB WEGNER
CAROLYN ZIMMERMAN
DISTRIBUTION
ADVERTISING
(541)346-3712
MELISSA GUST
ADVERTISING DIRECTOR
TYLER MACK
SALES MANAGER
MATT BETZ
HERON CALISCH-DOLEN
MEGAN HAMLIN
KATE HIRONAKA
MAEGAN KASER-LEE
KELLF.E KAUFTHEIL
MIA LEIDELMEYER
SHANNON ROGERS
SALES REPRESENTATIVES
CLASSIFIED
(541)3464343
IRINA SHANAMAN
CLASSIFIED MANAGER
KORALYNN BASHAM
ANDO
KATY GAGNON
KERI SPANGLER
KATIE STRINGER
CLASSIFIED ADVERTISING
ASSOCIATES
PRODUCTION
(541)3464381
MICHELE ROSS
PRODUCTION MANAGER
TARA SLOAN
PRODUCTION COORDINATOR
FEN CRAMLET
KRISTEN DICHARRY
CAMERON GAUT
SABRINA GOWETTE
JONAH SCHROGIN
DESIGNERS
The Oregon Daily Emerald is pu6
lished daily Monday through Fn
dayduringthe school year by 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
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