Student Newspaper Editorial About Feminist Students Ignoring Pinup Calendar Advertisements
Feminist Majority needs different focus
The fit's about to hit the shan and I hope the Ohio State Feminist Majority has a lot of umbrellas. In the wake of campus-wide, patriarchal, misogynistic oppression, the group has become surprisingly silent.
During the past week or so, fliers have been posted around the OSU campus requesting the "services" of attractive campus women. The posters are recruiting for a calendar of OSU women. Hung on kiosks around the campus area, the posters feature a woman, trying to look sexy, lying over a body of water so that her scantily clad breasts are reflected.
So here's my question: Where's the protest?
We clearly have a situation where the proliferation of female oppression is being played out publicly, and nothing is being said. But, several weeks ago, the Feminist Majority launched an all-out protest over very little.
Wielding signs that included phrases like "Support your mom" and "Support your sister," women protested a comic strip by Bob Hewitt that the Lantern published, because in it he called women's studies students a bunch of old hags.
Since the initial appearance of these posters I have not seen one protester in the Oval, I have not seen one column, I have not seen one letter to the editor. I'm also on the mailing list for the Feminist Majority and, have not even received an e-mail message about it. I don't know about you, but that's the, kind of "support" my mother needs.
I suppose the same reason the Feminist Majority is so silent is the same reason that the National Organization for Women said nothing about the behavior of President Clinton - it's politically convenient. NOW is embodying a "don't bite the hand that feeds you" attitude. I can't even begin to imagine what the outcry would have been had Clinton been a Republican who was against abortion. What we are seeing is a dichotomy that does nothing more than damn feminism to a hell of failure.
The Feminist Majority is a group that appears to do nothing more than gain attention. Had the Feminist Majority actually been sincere in its public statements about resentment for patriarchal systems of sexist dominance, posters that contribute so adversely to women's lives would not have gone without protest.
Seeing through only the male perspective has contributed to women's political underrepresentation in American institutions, which has led to inequalities such as the "glass ceiling." It has contributed to systems that glorify what's between a woman's legs over what's between her ears. This calendar exemplifies that and exploits women, yet the Feminist Majority has said nothing.
The OSU Feminist Majority is a farce, merely a band of angry, brooding women who are doing nothing worthwhile to end systematic female oppression. Apparently, there is a difference between radical feminists and real feminists. There is a difference between radical feminism and feminism. And there is a difference between radical action and radical ideology. ,
The Feminist Majority seems to be the latter, acting as nothing more than an entity with no real goals or objectives. Their action (and inaction) during the past few weeks has been reprehensible to anyone who is remotely serious about making a positive and meaningful difference in the lives of women.
Just what DOES the Feminist Majority believe in? I wonder how they define "reasonable" causes for protest, because I would definitely consider these posters one of them. The Feminist Majority needs some self evaluation, because their recent actions have been nothing short of paradoxical, synthetic manifestations of feminism.
Likewise, if the OSU women's studies department decides that it aligns its own values with the values of the Feminist Majority, then maybe Hewitt's comic strip wasn't that far off after all.
Michael A. Norman is a senior public relations major from Cincinnati.
Originally published March 3, 1999. Story © Ohio State Lantern. This text is exactly as published.
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