<= By Shoshana Berman, Opinions Editor there were three pictures of women’s backsides, one accompanying a parody review of a porno film, which some readers found offensive. Now perhaps there were a tad too many photos of backsides, but they were not obscene, and certainly not hateful. One was even appropriately within the context of the parody. These photos were certainly legal to print and would get past any censor board in Canada. I noticed when I read the paper that the photos and content were a little bawdy. Did it offend me? No. I thought it might be a slow news month; but other than that, none of the images or opinions expressed was shocking. As well, the cover of the issue was a photo of Rosie the Riveter, with the headline article on women and the disabled being the victims of provincial cuts. It was hardly an issue that promotes hatred against women. I have to say that it is not a news flash that a good portion of young men, and at least a few women, find female backsides attractive. Nor is it something we should try to repress. We could just print pictures of coke bottles or orchids if we wanted to be really risqué, if you get my point. Georgia O’ Keefe wasn’t painting flowers. Coke bottles are deliberately shaped like women’s backsides. The Victorians thought that carved table legs were too suggestive, so they covered them with long table cloths. Evolutionarily, larger breasts happened because they mimicked the shape of a backside in order to sexually attract males after female hominids started walking upright. So I assume this attraction has been around for quite some time. I personally prefer to encourage open and honest sexuality, rather than be offended by it. I wonder if these same people would have been offended if there had been an article about the sexual positions that work best for the wonderful variety that exists in the female anatomy of vaginas, clitorises, and labia, accompanied by a lovely photo. It sounds so 90s to be talking about vaginas o make a point about the free expression of sexuality. I guess butts are the new vaginas. I: the August issue of The Other Press, Backsides or burkas? > (O) a Ce Would it be appropriate to have an article in the student press about strap- on dildos with an accompanying photo of a male backside? Absolutely! I’d be interested in reading an article about which dildo gives the most bang for the buck, so to speak. How about an article about a lesbian fetish for leather on bikes with accompanying semi-clad photo? Great stuff! That’s free expression of sexuality, whether straight, gay, transgendered, female, male, fluidly gendered, queer, self-pleasuring, or otherwise. I think these people were offended because it was a male heterosexual expression of sexuality and not a marginalized expression of sexuality. I think it’s good to notice that and great to want more diverse expressions of sexuality in student press. It is not okay, however, to say that male heterosexual opinion should not be published in this paper. That position Says to me, as a woman, that freedom of sexual expression is not welcome on this campus. There is also a positive correlation between the repression of sexuality, and the oppression of women. Obviously, many societies repress homosexuality, both male and female; others also repress female heterosexuality. However, the worst societies for the oppression of women, also repress male heterosexual expression. Women have to wear burkas or nigabs, covering their faces in pubic, for fear of eliciting a male sexual response. The Other Press is the only platform for all student voices on this campus. It speaks to and for the student s of Douglas College. Instead of entering into a dialogue about including more diverse and inclusive voices of sexuality in the paper, some people wish to be censors. I regret this and welcome them to submit articles, suggestions or letters to the paper, thereby entering into a constructive dialogue about how we can have a better student voice on campus. As Opinions editor, I welcome all forms of sexual expression in the Opinions section of The Other Press. I'll take a photo of a backside over wearing a burka any day! . o 2 {lion Print (or at least longhand) is dead One student’s attempt to complete a paperless school year By Shoshana Berman, Opinions Editor paperless school year. Now this is saying something from a 41-year-old Luddite and former school teacher. I love books; I love paper and pens and binders and all that stuff. When I was in grade school photocopies didn’t exist. We copied the questions in full from the board and then wrote the answers in full in our notes. On good days, one lucky student would get to make dittos for the teacher in the office |= decided to attempt to have a card catalogue as scrap paper beside the computers to write down search results. That’s how many cards there were. I also remember being in a lab on campus where zoology grad students were talking in awed, hushed tones about people being able to talk to scientists in Russia on the computer, on the other side of the Iron Curtain. This was earth shattering. So now, many moons later, why am I attempting to do all my school work, notes, readings, and correspondence on the computer and on-line? Yes for the environment, but I’m also trying to teach by cranking a an old i r ; brai aa “My brain is organized completely differently i "My purple liquid than those of the ‘computer generation’ kids. rainis into stinky That’s most of you. | want to be like you.” organized handouts. Perhaps these made us happy because the fumes gave us a buzz at the same time as not having to copy from the board. This was a rare treat! The first time I went through university, all essays were hand written. Only very wealthy students would pay a dollar a page to get their essays typed. We used a card catalogue at the library to search for materials. There were newspapers from all over the world physically available every day and we read older articles on microfiche. Research was done by going to indexes that were actually very large books. When I was finishing up for the first time in 1989, three computers were available in the University Centre for “inputting” essays in Word Perfect on computers run on DOS. There was one printer available in the whole university of about 18,000 students. The library also got its first computer catalogue, not online. The last time I checked it had been over ten years and they were sti/l using the old completely differently than those of the “computer generation” kids. That’s most of you. I want to be like you. I’ve always been very good at getting mostly younger people to do the things I want done on the computer. I have watched countless people layout and design articles and documents for me, at my instruction. I always tell them they’ ve done a beautiful job. I have always only learned what I had to do with a program, not what I could do. I want to learn what I can do. I want it to be second nature. Perhaps it is not going to reorganize my brain. Maybe at the end of the semester after having read articles and notes on line, I won’t remember anything. Then I'll say, “You really can’t teach an old dog new tricks” and go back to reading books and writing on paper. I'll let you know how I’m progressing. I’ve already hit some bumps in the road that I’ll tell you about next week. We’ll see how it goes.