TO THE EDITOR
DISGUSTED BY PRUDERY
HEINOUS M37
I was disturbed to see several letters in the
Feb. 8 EW against Dan Savage’s column and ad-
vertising for sadomasochistic adult activities,
and I wanted to join the ranks of readers who
are more disgusted by litigious sexual prudery
than alternative sexuality.
The EW is not a publication for children, and
I do hope that disturbed readers will ask their
children to refrain from reading it. The newspa-
per itself doesn’t have a responsibility to sani-
tize its content for everyone who may find it ob-
jectionable or inappropriate. It serves a particu-
lar audience, and in the case of the EW, that au-
dience is adults interested in “alternative” as-
pects of society, whether they are political, so-
cial or sexual.
There is absolutely no reason to remove an
informational column from an alternative
weekly that serves its chosen audience well.
Dan Savage’s witty syndicated column, which
appears in alternative weeklies throughout the
country, discusses sexual topics that can be eas-
ily discovered on Internet search engines. The
difference is that Savage has built his reputa-
tion on disseminating truthful information
about aspects of safety and health instead of
merely exploiting sensational images.
Likewise, with the BDSM (bondage, disci-
pline, sadism and masochism) community ad-
vertising, the websites and venues seek to con-
nect a group of adults who seek safe and enter-
taining ways to explore responsibly a part of
their sexuality that society deems dangerous or
pathological. The language of fantasy (“electro-
torture,” “corporal punishment,” etc.) is em-
ployed in BDSM ads to create a mood, not to
suggest that if you decide to go to fetish night
or send an email for more information about
hemp rope, you will be kidnapped and “forced
into sex slavery,” as Deb Huntley’s (2/8) letter
suggests.
Huntley’s letter aptly demonstrates the
paranoia and fear generated when there is a
lack of reliable information about alternative
sexual practices such as BDSM. The letter uses
hyperbolic rhetoric to make a false link between
real torture and consenting behavior between
adults. Worse yet, the BDSM community is por-
trayed as being a menace to the whole city —
somehow threatening to replace the commu-
nity’s “imagination” and “compassion” with
“detachment and delusion.” Oddly, the solution
advocated is censorship and enforcing a con-
cept of “normal” sexuality, neither of which, in
my opinion, stimulate imagination or compas-
sion.
Unlike Huntley, I think it’s great that BDSM
and fetish practitioners have a visible presence
in Eugene. In my research on alternative sexual-
ity, I have read many accounts of unhappy peo-
ple who repress their sadomasochistic desires
or succumb to abusive relationships as a substi-
tute. I have also read of and spoken to people
who have been transformed by a sado-
masochistic experience, using phrases that sug-
gest a spiritual awakening or catharsis. Others
just seem happy to give or receive such a nice
deep-tissue massage.
BDSM activities range from mild to intense
and can be lighthearted and extremely creative
on both ends of the spectrum. Individuals who
are involved in organized BDSM communities
stress negotiation and safety for any activity
between new partners.
Perhaps the community-at-large would ben-
efit from more sexual education in the pages of
the EW.
Jennifer Levin
Eugene
Bob Emmons’ viewpoint “Forces of
Destruction” (2/22) on the “clear cut” corrup-
tion of officials at local, state and federal lev-
els regarding near nonexistent regulation of
land use legislation and blatant illegitimate
logging and clear-cutting operations was
both distressing and sobering.
What recourse do local residents have
when even videotape of months of such
atrocities remains ignored? The idea that de-
velopers are manipulating Measure 37 to
greedily swallow up enormous tracts of land,
to clear-cut and subdivide Oregon’s once-
pristine wilderness out of existence — with
“wink wink” compliance by government
agencies and officials — is heinous. What
legal system do we look to when a DSL field
representative steps up to view the site and
ongoing damage and issues a stop-work
order but is then pulled off the case?
Oregonians must expose such corruption,
and those complicit with it. I salute the neigh-
bors who have continued struggling to get le-
gitimate action taken while living with the
agony of what they are enduring daily.
Zoning and enforcement protections must be
properly implemented.
I further salute LandWatch Lane County
and the Goal One Coalition for, as Emmons
says, continually “challenging the everyday
applications to rezone productive farms and
forests to marginal lands; to build in riparian
zones and floodplains; and to illegally adjust
property lines for template dwellings on re-
source lands.”
The importance of these agencies in strug-
gling to expose the truth, and protect these
lands, cannot be overstated. Their constant
diligence is deeply appreciated and to be
commended.
Sita Stulberg
Eugene
4 MARCH 8, 2007
EVOLVING TOWARD WHAT?
From EW’s slant column (3/1): “Who has
more impact when it comes to saving the en-
vironment? A hundred saboteurs with torches
and monkey wrenches or Al Gore with his
wonkish traveling slide show?” Nice fram-
ing.
Is “saving the environment” like saving
one’s soul? One’s view of the environment
(or of one’s soul) depends on one’s view of its
degree of degradation. The possible range of
solutions: cosmetic corporate/government
fixes, a few minor individual sacrifices, a few
major individual sacrifices, major sacrifices
on everyone’s part (as long as the corporate
bottom line is unharmed), major sacrifices on
everyone’s part, or, we’re screwed — it’s too
late to save the environment. Where does Al
Gore fit into this? Mr. NAFTA will do what-
ever he can to maximize corporate profits
(i.e., megafarming for biofuels) while ap-
pearing genuinely concerned on his road
show (2008 presidential campaign).
Which brings me to “We have more so-
phisticated tools now for organizing and edu-
cating the public.” By “sophisticated tools,”
do you mean voting, signing petitions, annual
marches against full-spectrum dominance
and emailing our corporate representatives in
government? Obstacles to “organizing and
educating the public” need to be removed
first. These include corporate TV and video
games, chemicals and antibiotics in our food
and water, the hundreds of billions of pills we
are persuaded to consume annually for our
health and the great organized religions of the
world, working hand-in-hand with corrupt
governments for our imagined well-being
and supplication.
Yes, “we are evolving as a species,” but in
which direction are we headed?
Robert Simms
Corvallis
NO GOV?
It is excellent that U.S. Sen. Russ
Feingold will introduce legislation “prohibit-
ing the use of funds to continue the deploy-
ment of U.S. forces in Iraq.” If Congressman
Peter DeFazio does not help initiate similar
legislation in the House, then we the people
will have to dump DeFazio in 2008 in favor
of someone who is truly for peace and de-
cency. The same reasoning applies to Speaker
Nancy Pelosi. If we cannot have a peaceful
and decent government, then it is better to
have no government at all.
Bob Saxton
Eugene
GREEN TRACK
Is Eugene environmentally “greener”
than it was 20 years ago?
We definitely burn more petrol than we
did 20 years ago. We didn’t have the mega
big box stores like Wal-Mart, Home Depot
and Target 20 years ago, all of which are
completely dependent on the earth-killing
trucking industry.
The bicycle lane and river path system
hasn’t been upgraded or expanded for at least
15 years. Many bike lanes are dangerous to
ride, such as the broken and chuck-holed bike
lane on West 18th Avenue.
We didn’t have Hyundai/Hynix dumping
diluted toxins in our river or the world’s
largest RV industry (Monaco, Marathon, etc.)
producing 8 MPG vehicles polluting our
planet.
Eugene could get back on track.
For starters, EWEB could place $90 mil-
lion into a precedent-setting solar
energy/conservation incentives program in-
stead of building some new administrative
palace on west Eugene wetlands.
The RV industry could start building hy-
brid diesel buses for public use. Market of
Choice, Eugene’s most successful food mar-
kets, could stop supporting clear-cutting and
herbicide spraying by withdrawing their mul-
timillion-dollar accounts from Umpqua
Bank, which is owned by three of Oregon’s
timber barons.
Eugene should create a real Farmers’
Market Place that is covered and maintained
for year around use to support local farms and
communities. Eugene should create an urban
growth greenway park that the city cannot
grow beyond to protect wetlands for wildlife
and recreation.
I’ve learned when the people lead the
“leaders” will follow.
Shannon Wilson
Eugene
SAVAGE DRUG?
A recent letter compared Dan Savage’s
column to McDonald’s food. Sometimes I
think that’s an insult to McDonald’s, and
maybe meth would be a better comparison.
I’m as progressive as anyone on talking about
sex, as long as it’s about expressions of love
rather than about adolescent hangups verging
on violence and how to limit our love. I feel
the only abuse in my childhood was not being
able to talk meaningfully about certain im-
portant subjects with people who had been
there, done that, so I had to basically figure it
out for myself. And I’m still working on that,
as I hope most of us are.
For instance, why does the word “fuck”
today seem to imply anger and violence more
often than love? There’s a lot on the back
pages of EW that isn’t about expressions of
love. I don’t feel it’s the place for what we
find there. But I wouldn’t mind having a sep-
arate publication for it.
Dan Robinson
Eugene
SAVAGE 4EVER
I swore I wouldn’t weigh in on this, but
the “Save the Children” campaign has finally
gotten to me. I have been reading “Savage
Love” since I was first introduced to it at the
age of 17. It did not corrupt me; it did on oc-
casion shock me, but more than anything, it
reassured me. No matter what I was dealing
with in my relationships someone else out
there undoubtably had it worse.