TUESDAY, MARCH 5, 2002
NEWS
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN 3A
Views on women not linked to religion
Women's role in clergy may not affect how students see women
By Maggie Koerth Kansan staff writer
A recent study by a student showed University of Kansas students' views on the role of women in society may not be directly related to their religion's stance on the role of women as clergy members.
Kaili Kuiper, Salina senior, gathered the data for the study last semester as a project for her Sociology 310 class, Introduction to Cultural Research.
Kuiper said she decided to see if students raised in a religion that allowed female clergy had more liberal views about women working outside the home. She said she surveyed about 200 people in her classes.
She said her results showed 40.4 percent of students raised in a religion that prohibited female clergy, such as
Methodism, had conservative views about women's roles. However, she also found the percentage of students in that group with moderate views was 36.4 percent.
"I remember being surprised by how many people who started on either extreme ended up with moderate views," she said.
Kuiper's research also showed the percentages of students with liberal views were about the same, regardless of whether their religion allowed female clergy. Students whose religions forbid female clergy classified themselves as having liberal views was 23.2 percent, while 23.6 percent of students whose religions allowed female clergy said the same.
Kuiper's study did not include students who did not affiliate themselves with a religion.
Joey Sprague, the associate professor of sociology who taught Kuiper's class, said she thought Kuiper's project was interesting.
"Being raised in a certain religion gives you a certain way of viewing women's roles," she said. "But we can
engage in debates with our religion and form our own opinions."
Paul Mirecki, associate professor of religious studies, said a person's religion was not necessarily the biggest factor in how they decided his or her views on women.
"More commonly those ideas stem from the culture they are a product of," he said. "Their religion is a part of it, but they interpret that religion in light of their cultural conditioning."
Mirecki said it was difficult to counteract cultural conditioning.
"It's much easier to slide back into old ideas than to come up with your own opinions." he said. "People who do are being very courageous."
Chris Kittle, Leavenworth senior, was raised in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, which does not allow female clergy. Kittle said he thought women should have a good education, but that the most important thing they could do was bringing up children.
Kittle said his views might be considered conservative and repressive, but he thought raising children was a
"More commonly those ideas stem from the culture they are a
product of. Their religion is a part of it, but they interpret that religion in light of their cultural conditioning."
Paul Mirecki
Paul Mirecki Associate professor of religious studies
very important job and wasn't demeaning to women at all.
Kuiper said the goal of her study wasn't to criticize other people's beliefs.
"I think everyone has a right to be in the religion of their choice, but they should pay attention to the messages they get from their religion and what they say about women," she said.
Contact Koerth at mko尔th@kansan.com. This story was edited by Anne Morgenmeier
Panel discusses body image in advertising
By Summer Lewis Kansan staff writer
"The more a woman subtracts, the more she adds."
This language isn't taken from a math or business class; it's the message of an advertisement saying that women should lose weight. The ad was discussed in a film, Killing Us Softly: Part Three, and in a panel discussion last night at Woodruff Auditorium in the Kansas Union.
About 100 people attended the final event of "Celebrate Every Body" week. The film showed how media messages about body shape and size affect the way women feel about themselves and their bodies.
it pointed out that the advertising market has grown from $20 billion in 1979 to $180 billion in 1999. An individual sees an average of 300 ads per day.
A five-person panel of students and eating disorder experts discussed the film and then accepted questions from the audience.
Linda Keeler, psychologist at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said advertisements made a statement about what it means to be a woman in today's culture.
"Advertising sells more than products. It sells values, images, and concepts of normalcy," she said. "It tells us who we are and who we should be."
Advertising tells individuals what the ideal image looks like, Keeler said.
"The idea of an ideal image affects women's self-esteem and how men look at the women they are with," she said. "It turns women's bodies into objects and things, instead of a human being."
Jenny Bambara, Manhattan sophomore, said that she agreed with the film and panel that the media do have a lot of power.
"Most of us like to believe that the media has no effect on our lives," she said. "This film proves that ads can have a devastating impact on women's images in society. Its message was both sad and infuriating."
Sasha Amirahmadi, Moundsview, Minn., freshman, said she was shocked by the evidence that the media used images of men harming women to sell products.
The film, a part of the series The Myth of Perfection; The Impact of Media and Culture on the Way We View Our Bodies, was created by Jean Kilbourne, advertisement analyst.
Contact Lewis at slewis@kansan.com. This story was edited by Eve Lamborn.
Viewing ads critically:
All media images and messages are constructions, not reflections of reality. Media messages have been carefully crafted with an intent to send specific messages
Advertisements are created to convince a person to buy or support a product or service
Support a present or service.
Individuals decide how to experience the media messages encountered. They can choose to use a filter that helps understand what the advertiser wants a person to think or believe, and then the individual can choose to think or believe that message.
Talk back to the TV when an ad or message causes negative feelings about the body by promoting only thin bodies.
promoting only thin body ideas Source: Eating Disorders and Awareness Prevention, Inc.
Scholarship halls conserving energy during March
By Caroline Boyer
Kansan staff writer
Scholarship hall residents will be turning off their lights and shortening their showers this month in an effort to conserve energy.
Environmental Studies Student Association, Environs and the All Scholarship Hall Council are co-sponsoring a competition between the 10 scholarship halls to see which can reduce water, gas and electricity use the most during the month of March.
Elizabeth Beavers, All Scholarship Hall Council environmental chairwoman, said residents would be encouraged to do things such as turn off unnecessary lights, cut back on the number of loads of laundry and take shorter showers.
'It's just small ways they can change their habits in order to conserve energy," the Ames, Iowa, sophomore said.
A similar competition was held among the sorority and fraternity houses in November. Amy Applebaum, Greek Environmental Board president, said the winning greek chapter was Delta Gamma sorority, which lowered its energy usage by 24 percent.
"We're going to turn it into an annual contest, I think," Applebaum, Overland Park senior, said. "We didn't have a lot of participation because it was the first year, but we think it will be a good thing to do every year."
Unlike the greek competition, the scholarship hall competition does not include heating bills because scholarship halls are heated from the University's steam pipe system.
Scholarship hall utility bills for March will be compared to last month's bills in order to determine the winner, which will receive the Environmental Stewardship Award.
Michael Martin, Environmental Studies Student Association co-president, said the bills in the scholarship halls would be easy to track because the Department of Student Housing could give them itemized bills for each of the halls.
Because the utility bills are paid by Department of Student Housing, the money saved will go into the department budget.
Diana Robertson, assistant director for the department of student housing, said the department had not yet discussed what would be done with the money saved because of the competition. She said the money would likely go towards the scholarship halls and would be available for hall improvements.
Contact Boyer at boyer@kansan.com. This story was edited by Eve Lamborn.
The University Of Kansas
Tuesday March 5,2002
Please stop by and visit with a representative from your high school or community college from 1:30 - 2:30 p.m.
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