The college student newspaper publication is an ideal forum to eradicate ignorance, maintain objectivity and promote respectful discussion of relevant issues. Unfortunately, several portions of the Daily Nexus, especially last week’s Artsweek, disregard these objectives.
With respect to discretion in the publication content, it has been stated that what is printed is the material in which the student body is interested. If this is true, then the Nexus believes the student body is misinformed, apathetic and deluded with visions of sex and alcohol. Focusing on pornography and female ejaculation assumes the students are interested in these subjects.
Being a student, my passion is a dynamic education. Inclusive in this education is also sexuality and its representations. When delving below the superficial hedonistic surface, however, I have found that vulgar instant gratification fails to sufficiently address the issue. Rather than focusing on the social or emotional ramifications of the act, the wall of privacy and modesty has been actively dismantled.
No longer a sacred expression of love, it has become a selfish hormone-driven monster luring students. The stereotype created in this representation is irresponsible, illogical and carnal. Bed-hopping has become a sport of such with some UCSB students priding themselves on this prowess rather than their intellectual or athletic abilities. Rather than continuing to be dynamically defined, pure animal instinct trumps all other interests. When this image is perpetuated, the pessimism in regard to some students’ lack of passions, talents and interests is reinforced.
More disturbing was the cover of Artsweek, which featured a scantily clad woman, suggestively posed. Plastered on the newsprint, she is actively separated from her body and trapped, visually violated with each viewer. In separating sexuality from the individual, the act itself is dehumanized and becomes void of emotion. Whether we actively acknowledge the influence of these advertisements and visual media on our perspectives, they inevitably contribute, even minutely, in our thought processes. The act of sex as well as individuals involved is commodified and dehumanized.
Similar in effect are posters of silicone-enhanced women The woman is idealized, studied and jeered at. There is no attachment to these women in print; therefore no emotion is connected with their treatment. Female people on campus are all too familiar with the result of this disconnection of the female person from her body with consistent catcalls, rating games and other forms of harassment.
The newspaper is a forum for public education aimed at the student body. Rather than reinforce societal degradation and the view of UCSB students as disrespectful and apathetic, we should command integrity of both ourselves and our publication, demanding broad viewpoints without the sacrifice of modesty.
Katherine Drabiak is a junior law & society and sociology major.
