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4A the university daily kansan
opinion
triday, September 12, 2003
M.G's view
Have you ever noticed that China, with its Juggernaut economy and totalitarian regime, more closely Resembles the Empire that pundits accuse the U.S.A. for being?
No. I'm still into the whole trendy Michael Moore thing.
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although they are quite capable of passing the virus onto another person.
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The naturalization ceremony at the Dole Institute of Politics: The Republican senator's institute welcomed citizens such as Sybil and Ronnie Colin, who will spend their U.S. money fighting AIDS in Africa. Now that's compassional conservatism.
FAIL:
The Student Recreation Fitness Center: The long-delayed opening has been pushed back again to Sept. 23. Is there a time limit before we can start asking for refunds on the student fees that paid for the place?
perspective
There is a problem affecting blood donations, and it has to do with AIDS.
Groups with high AIDS risk should not donate
Arrah Nielsen opinion@kansan.com
The problem: AIDS has been so heavily politicized that treating it as a disease and applying rational public health measures to curb the epidemic is impossible. Stephen Joseph, the commissioner of public health in New York City and author of Dragon Within the Gates, writes, "AIDS is the first major public health issue in this century for which political values rather than health requirements set the agenda." A good example of this was the attempted passage of a Student Senate bill to cease funding for promotion of the Red Cross blood drive.
COMMENTARY
This is not just an abstract issue. It has real implications for real people. Elizabeth Glaser, the founder of the Pediatric AIDS Foundation, contracted HIV from a blood transfusion she received during childbirth. Her daughter Ariel and son Jake contracted HIV from their mother's breast milk. All three have since died. According to The Gravest Show on Earth: America in the Age of AIDS, by Elinor Burkett, "Blood donations from gay men were primarily responsible for the bad blood that made its way into U.S. blood banks."
Objections are raised every year because the Red Cross will not accept blood donations from men who have had sex with other men. Patrick Ross, director of KU Queers and Allies, likened the Red Cross decision to the sort of discrimination African Americans faced under Jim Crow laws. Gaymen comprise 42 percent of new AIDS cases although they make up less than 5 percent of the population, according to www.cdc.gov.
Is it really unfair discrimination to bar a high-risk segment of the population from donating blood because it might taint the blood supply with HIV?
HIV-positive homosexuals did not do this intentionally, and there were also heterosexuals infecting the blood supply. But most heterosexuals who contract HIV are intravenous drug users or prostitutes. And people who spend their days turning tricks or injecting toxic drugs into their veins tend to not be conscientious about showing up for the neighborhood blood drive.
While the blood supply is certainly much safer than it was 15 years ago, and blood banks screen for HIV, testing is not 100 percent effective, and there is always the possibility of human error. An individual recently infected with HIV would not necessarily turn up HIV positive,
Randy Shilts, author of the book And the Band Played On, coined the term "AIDspeak" to describe the attitude adopted by AIDS activists and health care officials regarding AIDS. The purpose of AIDspeak was to reassure people and never offend anyone, even at the expense of truth and lives. A classic example of AIDspeak was resistance to the idea that sexual promiscuity had anything to do with AIDS. "AIDS comes from a government laboratory not your lifestyle," proclaimed stickers plastered all over gay San Francisco.
According to Shilts' book, the early AIDS epidemic in the United States was fueled by the mind-boggling promiscuity and unhealthy sex practices of homosexual males in large cities. Bathhouses were fixtures of gay communities throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The bathhouses had little to do with cleanliness, but provided a place for gay men to engage in anonymous sex with multiple partners. Bathhouses were essentially incubators for disease as most visitors already had hepatitis, herpes, gay bowel syndrome and other STDs that made them more susceptible to contracting HIV. Additionally, few participants used condoms and frequently shared a common hose to clean out their rectums. The average bathhouse visitor boasted 2.7 partners per visit and the average AIDS-stricken gay man in San Francisco racked up an impressive 1,000 partners during his
lifetime.
Burkett recalls how Shilts, an openly gay HIV-positive San Francisco journalist, was ostracized and hated in the gay community for suggesting that it needed to take a serious look at the bathhouse scene and the effect it was having on their lives. When the public bathhouses were eventually closed down, segments of the gay community were incensed. They charged that the closings were not a result of health department regulations, but of homophobia. Was their reaction rational? No, but they weren't talking rationally. They were talking AIDSpeak.
Barring gay men from donating blood is not about "marginalizing a subset of the population," to quote the director of KU Queers and Allies. Nor is it condemning homosexuality. If it were, then lesbians would be prohibited from donating blood. Except for maybe celibate nuns, lesbians have the lowest rates of HIV infection in the nation, according to Burkett. Sexually active gay men represent a high-risk segment of the population and should continue to be barred from donating blood, just as prostitutes and intravenous drug users are. Promiscuous heterosexuals should be booted from blood drives as well. The health and safety of those receiving transfusions is vastly more important than the hurt feelings of gay males who would like to donate blood.
Nielsen is an Andover senior in anthropology.
Calendar proposal threatens to destabilize industry
perspective
Last week, The Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center announced plans to offer an alternative "Women of KU" Calendar to our current, local treasure. The center would lead us to believe that its vision of a calendar highlighting the academic accomplishments of female students would be a positive offering on campus.
In reality, the aim of the center's project is far more serious and far more sinister than it would lead us to believe. Let's face the facts, folks: a new, alternative "Women of KU" calendar would disrupt an entire industry that, for decades, has helped honor and reward females for their hard work, skill and dedication to their craft. And let's get one thing straight: A gorgeous smile and killer curves are indeed a noble craft, even if the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center would have us thinking otherwise.
Ben McCarthy opinion@kansan.com
COMMENTARY
The "Women of KU" calendar would be the first in a long line of honorable occupations to fail victim to this new calendar. The folks at Emily Taylor fail to tell us that they are leading women down a dangerous road. What is happening
Popularized during the Kennedy administration, the Domino Theory held that once we destabilized one institution of positive female images, we ran the risk of bringing down other institutions. Thousands of jobs could be lost if these rebels are successful in altering the attitudes of frisko, Clinton-esque boys. What becomes of the "Girl in bildini standing around at Boat Show with nothing to do?"
brings to mind the political rhetoric of the 1960s and the Domino Theory that warned us of how our female role models would be ripped away from us.
Where will those girls disappear to?
Will all the sacrifice that went into those wet T-shirt contests in Cancun have been for not? The "Women of KU" calendar has highlighted this exact kind of sacrifice, and served as a stepping stone for girls looking for upward mobility in one of America's most noble institutions.
Ordinarily, the chain of progression would go as follows: college student to calendar pin-up girl to Vegas show girl to gentleman's club dancer to extra in cheesy rap video. Sure, a few of the lucky ones may end up on the arm of Snoop Dogg with a chain locked around their neck, but most girls are dependent on avenues such as the "Women of KU" calendar to provide space to showcase their talents. Yet the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center endangers the entire, fragile ecosystem that supports millions of female life forms who sport a small amount of fabric crammed up their posterior. What will be the stepping stone for cheerleaders on their way to the bright lights of Sin City without the existence of the calendar?
Have we forgotten Dr. King's dream for this country? He imagined a world where
women would not be judged by the qualities of their character, but rather by a curvaceous physique. Sadly, this dream seems to be dying a slow death in America.
Nationally, the producers of Girls Gone Wild have been tied up with court litigation for well over a year now. Locally, we are trying to deny girls their right to be memorialized on bathroom walls of middle-aged men who long for their collegiate careers. Isn't it enough for us to prevent girls their God-given right to go wild? "Noooo," says the Emily Taylor Women's Resource Center. Apparently we must do our part locally to oppress these girls. And for what? In order to afford some anthropology major the chance to become a masturbatory fantasy along Avalon road?
It's time we make a stand for the "Women of KU," and their fellow freedom fighters. Lest we forget these brave souls, and what they did to make this country great: Abraham Lincoln, Frederick Douglass, Medgar Evans, Jenna Jarreson...
McCarthy is a Lenexa nontraditional student.
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Is it bad that I want to throw up after looking at the study abroad fair ads?
Do you know what the driest thing ever said on TV was?" Ward, I think you were a little hard on the Beaver last night."
Pedestrians no longer have the right of way for me.
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I slept through my 8:30 class this mourning.
Has that ever happened to anyone else?
You're welcome for the presents.
Who really keeps the thermostat at 82 degrees?
Three cheerleaders, one room. Any takers?
昆
To the hot blonde who joined Clint's Spanish class: Where the hell did you go?
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Driving is a privilege, not a right. Drive responsibly and stay safe.
Thank you to whoever took the stop sign out of the corner leaving Jefferson Commons. You are my savior.
OK, so we are one-tenth of the way through the school year. If we are trying to gain the Freshmen 20, that means we should all be two pounds heavier by now.
I am a Zeta and I really wish you guys would stop writing about us and let us get on with our lives.
I was just wondering if anybody else thinks that the KU channel should play movies after a certain time. That would probably make more people watch it.
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I was at a party last week and this guy said that he liked my red pants. I thought, Does he actually like my red pants or does he want to get into my red pants?
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Colin Quinn is not funny.
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