Wj A) = we “What Is A Woman's Centre? by Margaret Park The function of the Women’s Centre is to assist women in making educational and occu- pational choices. “I try to provide as much information as possible about traditional and non-traditional occupations,’’ said Marian Ex- man, Women’s’ Centre co-ordinator. ‘‘Some lower level jobs that women are be- ing trained for are going to disappear.” Within the next ten years, clerical jobs may become com- puterized,’’ she said. ‘‘The fu- ture is probably going to be in computers; the very high level occupations such as systems analysis.”’ In addition to providing infor- mation on careers and educa- tion, the Women’s Centre is a drop-in centre for community and college women. There is a wide variety of resource mat-’ erials, and films and speakers on topics pertinent to women are periodically presented. Funding for the centre is pro- vided partly through govern- ment grants and partly through the college. ‘‘They can’t cut back too drastically here because they’d be cutting into grant money. They can’t do that,’’ Marian said. Finan- cially, the Women’s Centre is relatively safe, and is running on a budget of about $30,000 a year. If anyone has any ideas of activities that they would like to run through the Women’s Centre, Marian would be plea- sed to hear them. The Women’a Centre is lo- cated in the counselling centre off the main concourse. THE OTHER PRESS WOMENS PAGE From CCAMP The Canadian Coalition Against Media Pornography is composed of concerned indi- viduals who recognize that pornography and sex-role stereotyping violate the dig- nity and right to self-deter- mination of women. We define pornography as verbal or pic- toral material representing sexual behavior that is deg- rading or abusive to one or more of the participants in such a way as to endorse the degradition, and believe it to be substantially different from erotica, which we consider to be mutually pleasurable sex-. ual expression between people who have enough power to be ~ Fight Pornography! there by positive choice. We are not for the repression of sexuality but rather are seek- ing a new portrayal of mut- uality and respect in the rep- resentation of sexuality. The Canadian Coalition Against Media Pornography believes that pornography and sex-role stereotyping, a multi- billion dollar industry in North America, promotes a climate in which women’s physical saftey in the street and in the home is jeopardized, and women’s right to equality in the workplace continues to be denied. We are particularly concerned with recent govern- ment and business sponsor- ship of pornography on tele- vision and in the Canadian film industry and believe it to be a violation of the cultural integrity of Canadian artists and performers. CCAMP’S objective is to in- crease public awareness of the negative images inherent in pornography. Our elected officials must be pressured to strengthen and enforce the laws which will create. an enviroment in which women, men and children are all as- sured equality, dignity and self-respect. Your membership and act- ive participation will provide the necessary clout to achieve this objective. For more information write; Canadian Coalition Against Media Pornography P.O. Box 1065, Station B Ottawa, Ontario. K1P 5R1 Can Fantasy Be Reprinted from The Charlatan by Maureen Murray A photograph of a nude woman is explicit. A film where a woman is nude and hung by her heels like a side of beef is perverse. Both images can fall within the realm of pornography. One depicts a woman in a vulnerable state, the other places a woman in a violent way: How do we reconcile these two extremes ranging from eroticism to horror? The issue of pornography is so complex that approaching it from the point of view that it de- grades and exploits women is inadequate. Defining eroticism and obscene pornography and then forming general laws and values is difficult because one person’s erotic fantasy is another’s sexual perversion. But a better question is, to what extent does sexual fantasy projected in the media benefit society and at what point is it a danger and a threat? Dr. Pierre Clement, an Ottawa psychiatrist who specializes in human sexuality says feelings of fear and guilt are often associated with sex. Putting sexual fantasies on the screen can help people to identify their fantasies, release their fear and guilt about them, and make them realize it is normal to fantasize. But there are dangers involved. Pornography today is sexist because it presents fantasy from a totally male viewpoint. It is not about two individuals relating sexually. Rather, ‘‘it concerns a man confronted by his own fantasies acting them out on a woman he sees only as an object,’’ says Dr Clement. The industry disregards the fact women share in sexual fantasies. Films and magazines are concer- o acai Prodnie SERRE Compromised ned only with the male’s wants and needs. Women are seen as unwilling victims of the sexual act or as creatures intent on satisfying the bodily needs of a man. As women gain equality in other areas it will change the nature of erotic material on the market, says Dr. Clement. He also says changing attitudes will result in more erotic material written through the women’s perspective and explore all realms of human fantasy. Another problem of pornography is the possibility that people will incorporate their fantasy into their real lives. Do distorted images on the screen con- tribute to sexual deviation or anti-social behaviour? ‘So far, there has been no clear evidence to show that pornography will provoke-a man to out and commit rape. All studies of this area are limited because they deal primarily with adults who have already formed their sexual attitudes and measures their immediate sexual reaction to certain stimuli. Researchers, also, haven’t had the resources to measure long range effects of pornography on child- ren or adolescents just forming their sexual atti- tudes. Furthermore, the last extensive study of porn- ography was made by the U.S. commission on obscenity and pornography over a decade ago. Since then the industry has gone far beyond the soft-core porn the study looked at. Sado-masochism and bestiality are very different from girlie mag- azines. A study done today might come to very different conclusions. Seeing a woman chained to a bed and whipped certainly cannot be a positive influence. A psychology PhD student at Queens University who has worked with sexual offenders at the King- ston Penitentiary says pornography is not the only ‘young children, ‘‘It may very well reinforce ideas in cause of sexual deviance. Ian Shields says most child molestors he works with have never had normal sexual experiences. They are much younger mentally than their actual age and if such a person watched a film showing sex with his head and spur him to act.”’ Shields found rapists to be surprisingly naive and ignorant about sex. They had ‘‘very strange ideas about women and divided them into categories: either whores or madonnas.”’ Dr. Clement says sexually-restrictive environments can lead to a distorted vision of sexuality. He says adolescents lacking in sexual knowledge, are most likely to act out their fantasies. He says young people need information about sex in order to understand themselves and often they don’t receive it. ‘‘We do not talk about (sex) in an open and honest manner but rather are still hiding behind closed doors.”’ The Chaplain at Carleton University in Ottawa, George Tattrie, says the lack of strong moral found- ation in society is another element in the prolifer- ation of pornography. Rev. Tattrie says we are vulnerable to our ‘‘sex- ually super-saturated climate’’ because society has lost a sense of its morals. With the breakdown of the family unit in the past 20 years, values are no longer being taught in the home. He says pornography, ‘‘feeds the notion that it is okay to exploit.”’ Pornography is a danger to society, but it is just one symtom of a larger problem. Society must come to terms with the negative aspects of pornography by recognizing women as sexual equals;by helping children understand and come to terms with their sexual identities; and by judging more critically what we feel is acceptable and what is exploitive.