Letters to the Editor
February 1, 2007
Posters at sale degrading to women
It is nice to know that the poster sale does not have all that many gay male friendly posters. Fingering through them, however, my friend and I found a whole section of posters dedicated to the objectification of women and the commodification of lesbian culture. Pictures of women in practically nothing were very visible and easily attainable, and I am quite sure that the male clientele were very pleased with these posters, but I, as a feminist, and a queer male, was not.
The one poster that really stood out to me was a poster of a woman, spread eagle, wearing nothing but a bikini and the bottom covering her vagina had the words “eat me” in bright pink letters. The sexualization of lesbians was apparent through posters of women engaging in sexual behavior, and while there are lesbians who would find this enjoyable, the posters are not marketed to those people, but to the hetero-normative male students on this campus.
I was upset, so I went up to the man who was behind the counter and asked him if he had any posters that were marketed for gay men, and the best he could come up with was a poster for the musical Rent, and a poster of David Beckham shirtless. There were no pictures of men making out together, nor pictures of men in barely nothing with the words “eat me” on their behinds.
To the operators of this poster sale, I would like to see something new and exciting and not the hetero-normative bull I saw today for the next poster sale, or maybe the removal of such degrading posters of women.
– Joe Aufenthie, Junior, Women’s Studies,
Red Cross policies unfair to homosexual men
I find it very troubling that BGSU allows the American Red Cross to collect blood donations on campus. The American Red Cross has a policy of discrimination against homosexual men. The American Red Cross does not allow any male that has had sex with another male – even before 1980 – to donate blood.
In the aftermath of September 11 and in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, the American Red Cross turned homosexual men around the country away. The organization says it is protecting the blood supply from HIV/AIDS with this policy. However, the group screens all blood for HIV/AIDS, thus there is no need to directly single out homosexual men and prevent them from helping their fellow citizens in need.
The American Red Cross is still stuck in the mentality of HIV/AIDS being “gay cancer,” and putting any gay blood in the American blood stream will spread the disease and turn more Americans gay.
I think the BGSU community – students, faculty and staff – needs to be aware of this group’s policies and think twice before donating to them. Instead, donate your blood to another group, any other blood group, just not the American Red Cross.
Before you donate, ask their policies on accepting blood from gay men and only donate to blood banks or organizations that are accepting and not discriminatory.
– Stephen M. Croucher, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Communication Studies,
