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About Eugene weekly. (Eugene, Oregon) 1993-current | View Entire Issue (March 8, 2007)
TO THE EDITOR Dan Savage always upheld consensual sex, always told people to be honest and al- ways show respect for themselves and others. He always advocates safe sex. He teaches a great many important sexual lessons that most parents in our prudish society can’t bring themselves to talk about. Children are becoming sexually active much younger these days. I think an open, honest forum like Savage provides is good for them. It lets them know that sex is OK, that it can be fun, that it should be safe, that no always means no, and that if your partner is being disrespectful or tearing you down in any way, it’s time to go find someone who values your worth and helps build you up. I learned a lot reading “Savage Love.” A decade later I’m a happily married mother of two, and thanks to all the less fortunate folks out there, I never had to ask Dan’s advice be- cause I got to learn from other people’s mis- takes! Thanks for carrying this vital column de- spite the criticism. I hope it is still around for my daughters to read when their time comes to navigate the jungles of love and lust. Bree Ervin Eugene WALKER BATTLE CRY Sen. Vicki Walker’s recent comments in- troducing her new EW feature (“On a Roll,” 2/8) left me wondering. Does her battle cry “Democrats ... are in charge and taking no prisoners” mean that she intends to kill her political opponents? Of course not. It is most certainly a metaphor expressing her unwill- ingness to compromise. Too bad. I’m sure most of us hope that our legislators “repre- sent” all of us to one degree or another, not just those sharing similar political view- points. We don’t live in a world of absolutes, and politicians who think otherwise are not doing any of us any favors. David Work Cottage Grove WHAT KIND OF SEX? When my daughter was a teen, her grand- mother gave her a subscription to Vogue. I picked up one of her copies and was stunned at the sexual frankness. I didn’t mind her hav- ing the information, but I would rather have her read Dan Savage than Vogue. The articles in Vogue were all about how to please others and gain acceptance. Dan Savage is about being curious, honest, kind and respectful about sex. What kind of sex life do you want your kids to have (as if you could choose!): One that’s focused mainly on pleasing others and gaining acceptance or one that’s about mutual respect and pleasure? Ruby The Resourceress aka Ruby Colette Eugene TUITION EQUITY As a first-generation student at the UO, I know firsthand the difficulties in paying high tuition. Because of the increasing cost of tu- ition and the lack of access of higher educa- tion to people of color, I, along with hundreds of other students, participated in the Oregon’s Student Association lobby day and rally at the capitol last Thursday. I had the opportu- nity to meet with our legislators about issues that are important to me as a student. One of the issues that I am passionate about is tuition equity. Currently, Oregon prices some of our brightest and most talented high school grad- uates out of a higher education by denying them in-state tuition rates due to their docu- mentation status. These are students who grew up in Oregon, worked hard to overcome many obstacles to graduate from high school and will continue to live and work here. Other states have realized that opening doors to higher education for all their youth is best for their state. Those other states, includ- ing Texas, Oklahoma and New Mexico, have passed tuition equity legislation. Oregon re- mains the only state on the West Coast that has yet to commit to graduating more stu- dents from college through tuition equity. With our population becoming more di- verse and with an unprecedented demand for a college-educated workforce, this issue is more crucial than ever to our state’s future. Tell your legislator to do what’s best for our state and pass tuition equity. Lorena Landeros Eugene THE CRINGE FACTOR I live in Corvallis and try to read every new issue of the EW. I want to see the Dan Savage column kept in the EW. “I overheard three middle school children … discussing and laughing about some part of ‘Savage Love,’” Richard Catlin writes in a Feb. 8 let- ter. “It is wrong and probably not healthy for them to be exposed to such writings in a free and ubiquitous paper.” Ahem, these are mid- dle schoolers. They’re going to be talking about sex no matter what they are reading, and I ought to know because I once was one. A large number of them don’t even read these days unless they have to, so I’m actually rather impressed they’re reading the EW to begin with. It’s statistically likely the people he overheard all have computers and have probably seen porn before; eliminating Savage’s column would not curb that. The column addresses questions and problems people have that they might be em- barrassed asking their marriage counselor/therapist/friends about. I agree with Thomas Kraemer’s Feb. 8 letter: Since Savage himself is gay and many halves of same-sex couples write in for advice, this may be one reason why the column’s appear- MARCH 8, 2007 5
