1
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
OPINION
ideo acgenwithrinina, urlontheircould
rersity saw build-ction us is more
builtwingitionloose,
WWW.KANSAN.COM
TUESDAY,OCTOBER 11,2005
PAGE 5A
Domestic abuse: a black eye on our society
SAY A LITTLE PRATHER FOR YOU
Wherever you are right now, stop and look around. If you are female,look at two girls sitting next to you.
Now imagine that one of the three of you has been domestically abused.
If you are male, observe three women around you on campus. Pick one of them out.
You have just brought to life with your imagination the statistic that one in three women will be domestically abused in their lifetime.
Domestic violence is defined as "physical, sexual, or psychological harm to another by a current or former partner or spouse," according to the National Center for Injury Prevention and Control.
October is National Domestic Violence Awareness month, and on Oct. 4, 2005 at City Hall Mayor Dennis "Boog" Highberger proclaimed that the City of Lawrence recognized this month through supporting victims of domestic violence.
ERICA PRATHER
opinion@kansan.com
Because domestic violence affects nearly 5.3 million women age 18 and older in the United States, it is clearly a problem that needs addressing.
According to the NCIPC, the predominant age group for domestic abuse is 19 to 29. Traditional college students fall directly into this category. Domestic violence is abuse by an intimate partner.
ic type of relationship. Heterosexual, homosexual and platonic couples all face the affects of domestic violence.
Some may overlook the fact, that verbal abuse is considered domestic violence. Name-calling, threats and intimidating language are usually what starts a vicious cycle of abuse and can lead to physical abuse and even death.
According to the U.S. Department of Justice, 1,247 women were murdered by their intimate partner in the year 2000. This averages out to three women a day and is an astronomical number for a country that was founded on escaping oppression.
Although women constitute 85 percent of domestic abuse cases, men are affected as well. According to the October 2003 Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report, there are 835,000 domestic abuse cases against men per year.
If you think that because you have not been abused that your life is not directly affected by domestic violence, think again.
"It is a silent problem that plagues women of all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic status that will never be solved unless we all take a stand."
As a taxpayer, you should know that your government spends approximately $5.8
billion on health related costs because of domestic violence (also according to Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report). This money goes to physiological counseling, medical attention and government-sponsored shelters.
So what can you do to help support victims of domestic violence? For one, you can volunteer your time at Women's Transitional Care Services, a safe house for women who are in abusive relationships right here in Lawrence.
You can make donations of clothing, hygiene products or money to The United Way of Douglas County. It has workers to deliver donations to the safe house. You can participate in a 3-on-3-basketball tournament November 12 hosted by Alpha Chi Omega Sorority.
the alpha Chi Omega Foundation, which gives monetary donations to women's shelters.
Victims of domestic violence are mothers, sisters, daughters, aunts, cousins best friends and lovers.
If you suspect domestic abuse or are in an abusive relationship, call WTCS for shelter or counseling at (785) 843-3333. Domestic abuse is not something to be taken lightly.
It is a silent problem that plagues women of all ages, ethnicities and socio-economic status that will never be solved unless we all take a stand.
All proceeds go to benefit
♦ Prather is a Wichita junior in English and communication studies. She is a member of Alpha Chi Omega sorority.
Free All for
Call 864-0500
Free for All callers will 20 seconds to speak about any topic they wish. Kansan editors reserve the right to remind comments. Standerous and obscene statements will not be printed. Phone numbers of all incoming calls are recorded.
Free for All Reloaded: www.kansan.com. Be there.
Can we just agree that people within the greek community think it's great, and people not in it think it's really lame?
To the person who flashed their lights at me on 31st street, thank you so much. I totally would've gotten a ticket from that cop.
Huh. I just read the comic section and Steven Levy's cartoon sucks just like all the rest of them.
+
Dear Free for All, do you like me? Check yes or no.
My glasses are not Robo-Cop, they're Robo-Hot.
Start Marcus Hereford.
This is Mrs. E's crew, and we're going to start incorporating the grilled cheese with tomato soup. All you have to do is ask the person working the grill to make you a grilled cheese and they will be happy to do it. Thank you. Editor's note: Another win for Free for All
+
Whoa, whoa, whoa. I have always been an advocate of the tequila.
Why don't you just give the people what they want and call it the University Daily Free for All and then have a small, little section called the University Daily Kansan that people can flip to and have a few laughs at. That'd be good.
Come on people, will someone please get Salman Rushdie a glass and throw away that plastic cup?
Bill Self looks like Mr. Belding.
+
Everybody go to the Hawk! It's definitely open.
Plus, the Rhombus House goes to the Hawk.
For my friend's 21st, I vow from the bottom of my heart that I will get him poontang.
This is for the guy that stood up in Earthquakes today;
That was really mean, and the professor is real cute.
Superman would take Batman any day.
What the eff is Rhombus House?
Girl 1: Hi, are you going to read the Daily Kansan tomorrow? No, I'd rather kill myself!
Long live The Hawk! Long live The Hawk!
Girl 2: And the Wheel! And the Wheel!
Girl 1: Yeah, totally! Who! And the Wheel!
+
(The exact same message again about The Hawk. No, seriously,the exact same message.)
To the convevette that is parked in the Templin lot:
If you're car is parked there for one more week,
bad things are going to start happening.
6th floor Ellsworth is one big happy family.
One big happy drunk family!
Free for All, finish your beer, there's sober people in India!
So, I'm pretty sure I have bed-bugs, and I'm pretty sure we aren't going to be getting along
Will you marry me, Sean?
I'll have you know, I crushed a girl's hopes by leaving when she went to the bathroom. Now who wants to sleep with me?
We got next Books are the devil. Books are what is wrong with this country today.
I was just wondering if maybe all the GDI's and Rhombus House could stop hating on the greeks because they couldn't get any bids.
Megan Logue and all the really, really cool GDI's are just mad because when they go to The Hawk they get dissed on by all the Greeks.
✨
Actually, the North Templin Liberation Front's efforts will be postponed by a week while we sober up.
I think Sigma Nu has the cutest girls on campus.
George W. Bush doesn't care about The Hawk.
This goes out to the non-Hawkers:
Let The Hawk live on. Also, let the Dance Factory live on. That's all I got.
I am waiting to watch English Alternative Theater. Good bye.
I just want to let everyone know to not ride bikes when you are drunk that are not yours. It might get you arrested and that's not a fun time.
I'm high and drunk at 9:50 in the morning. It's awesome!
+
We may have lost the game yesterday, but we still took their women and alcohol. Also, K-State sucks.
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
Performance not heritage
I was fascinated by your choice for the cover story on Oct. 5 ("Offensively Funny" by Malinda Osborne).
by Malina Osborne).
First, with all else that was covered, even on your own front page, "Mr." Carlos Mencia's "performance" was hardly the one that ought to grab the headline. I feel sorry for the Lama Palden Gyatso (his, a more compelling story).
Not picking his story hardly evidences Kansas as a university in the literal sense. Second, to characterize the content of Mencia's "performance" as somehow reflective of "Hispanic Heritage" is both short-sighted and insulting. Apparently, "Hispanic heri-
Apparently, "Hispanic heritage" worth top billing in your paper is vulgar, racist,
I'm sure that there were other quotes available illustrative
- To read the article in question, visit...
http://www.kansan.com/stories/2005/0ct05/mencia/
"...To characterize the content of Mencia's 'performance' as somehow reflective of 'hispanic heritage' is both short-sighted and insulting."
THE ARTICLE
misogynist pabulum. Lastly, it is irresponsible journalism to include a euphemism for the female genitalia in a quote as if the quotation marks somehow make it excusable.
All of this is notwithstanding the several typographical errors, verb tense issues and overall awkward syntax in this hastily constructed issue. Please be more discriminating and do justice to this as a learning institution.
of Ms. Osborne's weak point (although I am sure that Mr. Mencia provided little worth publishing at all).
John Smolen Overland Park junior
LETTER TO THE EDITOR
I attended Carlos Mencia's show at the Lied Center on Oct. 4, and read the Kansan article "Offensively Funny" the next morning.
The only thing that offended me was how Mencia was misquoted in the article. After his routine, he was kind enough to stick around for a Q & A session with the audience.
Because Mencia's schtick was to make fun of everyone and everything, one of the audience members asked him what, if anything, actually offended him. His response was absolutely nothing
"If I slap you, it's offensive. If I call you a cunt, it's funny." He explained that physical violence and oppression were offensive to him, and
"The point is that the difference between laughable and funny and the context of the quote are huge, and it's irresponsible to get such an important word wrong..."
that words can only hurt you if you let them.
To illustrate, he told the story of how a man was stabbed to death right outside his door when he was 8 years old, and
shakily said that was the kind of thing that offended him.
That's when he said "See, if I come over there and slap you, it's offensive. If I call you a cunt, it's laughable."
That, indeed, got a big laugh (we needed one right then). I don't think I need to break down what distinguishes the words funny and laugable from each other for a bunch of college students.
The point is that the difference between laughable and funny and the context of the quote are huge, and it's irresponsible to get such an important word wrong in such a short quote.
- Kevin Hess
  Wichita senior
TALK TO US
Austin Caster, editor
864-4854 or acaster@kansan.com
Jonathan Kealing, managing editor 864-4854 or jkealing@kansan.com
Matthew Sevcik, opinion editor
864-4924 or msevcik@kansan.com
Joshua Bickel, managing editor
864-4854 or jbickel@kansan.com
Sarah Connelly, business manager
864-1043 or addreder at kansan.com
John Morgan, sales director
684-4492 or addressor@kanan.com
SUBMISSIONS
Milcotm Gibson, general manager, news adviser
864-7687 or mglbon@kansan.com
Jennifer Weaver, sales and marketing adviser
864-7685 or jweaver@kansan.com
The Kansen welcomes letters to the editors and guest columns submitted by students, faculty and alumni.
The Kanseis reserves the right to edit, cut to length, or reject all submissions.
For any questions, call Austin Caster at 864-4810 or e-mail opinion@kansan.com.
General questions should be directed to the editor at editor@kansan.com.
LETTER GUIDELINES
Maximum Length: 200 word limit
Includes: Author's name and telephone number; class, hometown (student);
position (faculty member); phone number (will not be published)
GUEST COLUMN GUIDELINES
Maximum Length: 650 word limit
Include: Author's name; class, home-town (student); position (faculty member); phone number (will not be published)
Also: The Kansan will not print guest columns that attack another columnist
EDITORIAL BOARD
Elis Ford, Yanting Wang, Joel Simone, Dan
Hoyt, Anne Weltmer, Julie Perali, Nathan
McGinnis, Josh Goetting, Sara Garlick,
Travy Brown, Julian Portillo, David Archer
SUBMIT TO
Kansen newroom:
111 Stuart-Flint Hall
1435 Jayhawk Blvd.
Lawrence, KS 66045
(798) 854-4810 opinion@kansen.com
CRAPTACULAR
Seth Bundy/KANSAN