December 13, 1993

by Karen Burgess

FREDERICTON (CUP) — Feminist critic
and controversial author Camille Paglia
has condemned the University of New
Brunswick for suspending assistant pro-
fessor Matin Yaqzan.

Paglia, whose most recent book Sex, Art

date rape and other issues of sex and
sexuality, called the university's move
“fascist” and accused. the administration
of infringing onYaqzam’s civil liberties.
“It seems to me that in a democracy,
free speech must be our paramount
principle. It must supersede all ques-
tions of ideology,” she said in an inter-
view with The Brunswickan.

“I believe the more offensive the speech,
the more it's in the best interests of a
democracy.”

Yaqzan, an assistant math professor, re-
ceived a suspension after arguing in a
Nov. 5 opinion piece that date rape is
~ the fault of the woman, not the man,
and should not be considered a crime.
The suspension has since been revoked
but he is not allowed to teach for the

(Contact information and copy
of original disclaimer appear
below article)

by Matin Yaqzan

Assistant Professor, depart-
ment of Mathematics & Statis-
tics

Language changes with time:
new words come into usage; some
words acquire new meanings, and
some become obsolete. While the
dictionaries try to fix the meaning
of words, they are only partially
successful. Rape is one of the words,
which seems to have changed its
meaning, because of the revolution
that has taken place during the last
30-40 years in the realm of human
sexuality. ;

For the vast majority of the indi-
viduals who have been on the planet
earth for less than thirty years, it is
difficulty to visualize the trauma, the
suffering and the pain associated
with the word rape, not only for the
victim, but her parents, relatives and
even acquaintances and strangers.
No doubt, unwanted sexual inter-
course did take place in the past, but
it was rare enough to arouse very
strong emotions and passions. It was
far cry from the routine date rape
of today. One can ask the question
why?

The main reasons for the change
in attitude towards sexual inter-
course have been the introduction
of the pill in the late fifties and the
teaching and preaching of those
who believed that pre-marital sex
would improve the quality of mar-
ried life, and the consequent decline
of the traditional religious values of
sanctity of sex and virginity. There

 

andAmerican Culture includes essays on .

rest of the year.

Paglia called for UNB President Robin
Armstrong to be removed from office.
“He's a totalitarian and has no business
running a university which should be
about free inquiry,” she said.

“But he's consistent,” she continued.
“His behaviour is consistent with this
whole master class of administrators that
rose up after World War II. It is a prob-
lem that afflicts North American edu-
cation. These administrators in this post-
war era are servile to the parents and
their cheque books.

“They think of the faculty as merely
their pawns.”

SinceYaqzan was not on probation with
the university, and had not previously
been warned not to openly express his
views, “then this is a clear case of fas-
cism,” she said.

“It’s like the Salem witch trials, where
a scapegoat is being made just so the
college administration can appear to take
a pious position,” she said.

“It’s absolutely outrageous. All students
should be outraged by this, because this
is the kind of thing that in another cli-
mate would lead to a gay professor get-

are other reasons that are economic
and cultural in nature. For example,
the governments in the non-com-
munistic world, were not supposed
to be directly responsible for the
well being of the children in a fam-
ily. There was no concept of com-
munity responsibility for bringing
up the children of a mother with-
out a husband. There were no sin-
gle parents, except in the case of a
widowed mother or a widower hus-
band. A child born out of wedlock
was frowned upon as a bastard, a
word that is still used to express ones
disgust and distaste.

The Canadian Federation of Stu-
dents, in its publicationThe Student
Advocate, of September 1993, that
I read only October 23, published
an article entitled Recognizing Date
Rape When It Happens, written by
Laura Penny. She describes two spe-
cific scenarios in which a boy is at-
tracted to a girl reacts in a fashion
that implies she likes him too; they
both drink and dance, the boy takes
her out of the dance hall, invites her
to his apartment or room to which
the girl agrees. However, she does
not like the sexual intercourse that
he subjects her to, and this is called
date rape.

Perhaps it should be mentioned that
the human nature, in particular, the
males drive for sex, has not changed
during the last few thousand years.
There is a distinct difference be-
tween the roles that males and fe-
males play in the process of procrea-
tion. The males aggressiveness is not
a result of some social condition-
ing of a particular society. A young
boy and a young girl were chaper-
oned in the past for the obvious rea-
son that a boy could not be éxpected
to be a master of his sexual im-

Other Press

ting penalized for expressing opinions
about gay rights.”

Many of the views expressed inYaqzan's
article are similar to those espoused by
Paglia. She said she is familiar with the
criticisms of Yaqzan’s opinions, as the
same arguments have been used in the
past to refute her views.

“Thave been called pro-rape because of
my positions. Pro-rape!This is how mad
everything is. It just seems to me that
we need more articles like Yaqzan’s at
this point.”

She said she sees nothing wrong with
Yaqzan signing the piece as an employee
of the university.

“Whenever a professor speaks his per-
sonal views he is allowed to put his post,
his position within the university, at the
bottom,” she said. “Everyone does that.”

According to Paglia, opinions like
Yaqzan's should be widely disseminated.

“Tt seems to me that one should have a
million articles like this, not just one,
because it's only when we get the stuff
on paper that we force these issues, and
most of what he says in that article is
completely true.”

pulses. the custom among the civi-
lized peoples to keep most of the
female body under cover, was to
avoid unwanted male attraction. The
use of the veil among Muslim
women was initiated for similar
considerations; it was not a plot to
subjugate women.

The strong sexual attraction of
the male towards the female is a fact
of nature, and cannot be eliminated
or modified without providing ad-
equate reasons and creating circum-
stances conductive to postponement
of the sexual act.The sanctity of sex,
or sexual intercourse, was enshrined
in the past, almost universally, in
some form of a marriage ceremony,
and the male had to make a life-long
commitment to the female to sat-
isfy his sexual needs. The concept
of a family, and the permanent
bondage of the male to the female,
helped bring up the children, that
she could not do very well on her
own. Times have changed. Today the
children are permitted to have
sexual intercourse without any
stigma attached to it. There is no

 

 

...boys, by the time they
reach the age of 17 or
18 years, regular sexual
intercourse must be-
come a necessity...

 

 

concept of waiting until marriage.
The only concern is to avoid dis-
ease, and therefore, the society is
willing to provide condoms in
schools. For such boys, by the time
they reach the age of 17 or 18 years,
regular sexual intercourse must be-
come a necessity. For those enter-

Camile paglia defends unb prof

Female Author Supports Controvertial Date Rape Statements

 

ing a university, the co-ed resi-
dences may be helpful, but they
do not provide an opportunity
for sexual gratification for all the
male students, and therefore the
reason and the need for the so
called date-rape. It is obvious
that a girl who has had sexual
intercourse with a large number
of boys, would not suffer as a
result of an unwanted sexual en-
counter to the same degree as a
girl from whom it might be the
first sexual experience. True, she
might not be in a mood, or
might find the act less than sat-
isfying, but it would have to be
far less traumatic than for a girl
in the past who was a virgin.
Todays girl has the added secu-
rity that an abortionist would be
only too glad to relieve her of any
undesired pregnancy, without a
sense of guilt on the part of ei-
ther. This is in sharp contrast to
what a girl had to face in the past:
loss of virginity and therefore a
disqualification of marriage,
coupled with the fear of preg-
nancy, and a life-long sense of
shame and guilt.

For the girls who believe in
the traditional religions, and con-
sider any sexual intercourse out-
side the marriage a serious sin,
to be punished by their God, rape
must remain a terrifying pros-
pect.Therefore, the girls who use
the word rape to describe their
dislike of a particular encounter
in their endless sexual experi-
ences, do a disservice to those
who abide by the old traditions.

While no amount of education
or legal pronouncements would
change the maie nature, it would
help, if; beside being provided

Professor's "pro-rape’ opinion piece
from brunswickian

with condoms, the boys were also
taught that the sexual needs of girls are
very different from their own. Of
course, the girls should be taught that
while hugging and kissing might be
pleasant and adequate experiences for
them, they are simply a prelude to
sexual intercourse for the boys, and
cannot be carried on indefinitely. When
a boy invites a girl to his bedroom, es-
pecially after meeting her for the first
time, she should consider it as an invi-
tation for sexual intercourse. And, if a
promiscuous girl becomes a victim of
an unwanted sexual experience, it
would be more reasonable for her to
demand some monetary compensation
for her inconvenience or discomfort,
rather than express moral outrage, or
try to arouse emotional response in
others of the kind that the word rape
evoked in yesteryears.

The following is the disclaimer run immedi-
ately below the article:

The opinions expressed above are
not those of The Brunswickan, its edi-
torial staff, or its publishers. This col-
umn is a forum for the opinions of
members of The Brunswickan’s read-
ership. We reserve the right to edit for
length or clarity,.and to refuse any sub-
missions deemed unacceptible by The
Brunswickan’s editorial staff.

Appeared in:

The Brunswickan, Vol. 127
Issue 8

Nov 5, 1993

N.B. Please direct all media inquiries
regarding the article to Karen Burgess,
our Editor-in-Chief and official spokes-

person.

The Brunswickan, (506)453-4983,
fax (506)453-4958
INTERNET email BRUN@UNB.ca