‘Mainland. This unharnessed growth threatens our well-being. Every year, we find it more

April 30, 1996

Progress watch

A bird’s eye view of modern society

by Tarina Palmer

He sits silently, this lonely hawk, surveying rush-hour traffic on the busy Mary Hill Bypass. From his cold, steely perch, he has seen many frightening changes in his world. Not the least of which is the fact that his traditional perch — a warm, protective tree — has been replaced by a man-made steel post with only a light for warmth.

At times, I feel that we are kindred spirits struggling to adapt to the expanding Lower

difficult to find clean air, pure water and quality shelter. If these changes are the cost of progress, then its price is too high.

Progress. This is the term some people (usually property owners) use to validate their quest for profit. This quest for profit has forced humans and animals to abandon their homes and to establish themselves in unfamiliar territory. This forced exile causes stress.

Isn’t it ironic that a wealthy city such as Vancouver has no place for the homeless to live. No wonder the hawk and I are concerned about our future.

Will progress force us out of our homes too?

We feel the pressure as we are forced to search longer and harder in order to meet our basic needs. I am forced to leave the quiet, rural community of Maple Ridge in search of employment. I sense this hawk would rather hunt for food in a quiet, green forest than look for prey from the side of a noisy, gray highway. We face the same dilemma. Will we be able to support ourselves and our families?

A new ‘F’ word for the 90s

Feminism reborn by Samantha May

As I look at this hawk, I wonder how far from his original resting area has he ben forced to move. How far will I have to move to find a job? Sometimes I think his eyes reflect the anger and disgust that he must feel

for what humans have done to him in the name of progress. What pain have we caused him and all the other animals who have been pushed out of - their natural habitats? Will he see the same message in my eyes five years from now? We share a mutual plight. é All of us must balance the demands of progress with those of the environment.

Like an acrobat ona high-wire, we must carefully weigh each step with the utmost attention to detail so as not to destroy our equilibrium. For an acrobat, the loss of equilibrium can lead to death. In the same way, a lack of balance and attention to progress may lead to the permanent destruction of our environment.

The hawk and I don’t know how long we can continue this balancing act.

We witness trees being cut down and creeks being filled in for the sake of progress. Despite government regulations, the blatant destruction of our natural environment continues. Will people ever learn the balancing act? Our future depends on it.

All of us must ensure that progress does not destroy this clean and vital world where people and hawks can coexist. ‘

Ideally post-secondary institutions are to provide an atmosphere conducive to intellectual growth and exploration. Douglas College must have achieved this goal to some extent or I wouldn’t be writing this article and you wouldn’t be reading it.

Yes, we the future intellectual elite are concerned with many issues: the environment, our careers, our sexuality, our hair and our ever-changing gender roles. An issue which seems to be looming particularly largely is that of feminism. More to the point, why has feminism, a movement which started with such good intentions, become the new ‘F’ word of the 90s? Why are so few people, including women who were -the intended beneficiaries of this movement, willing to identify in any part with these eight, fairly harmless, little letters?

An answer to this question came to me a few weeks ago when two Douglas students, who were deeply concerned with the topics of feminism and gender roles, loomed a little too largely and managed to drag my friends and I into having about a year’s worth of feminism related conversations over two days. .

he was merely trying to share an interesting experience he had had and all my friend and I could do was to look at him in disbelief at what we were hearing.

What do these attitudes contribute to feminism? In my opinion, feminism should be aimed at redefining gender roles so that they benefit both sexes; it advocates the empowerment of women as a method of achieving equality. Thus, someone who claims to be a feminist and yet places men lower on the social ladder than women is just as sexist and poses just as much a barrierto true equality as the one who prevents men and women from pursuing activities not traditionally associated with their genders.

To deny or attribute certain personality traits to men and women on the basis of gender is the ultimate form of sexism and a complete denial of the individual rights we seem to value so highly in this society. Yes, women have been oppressed and continue to be oppressed. And yes, men have remarkably similar problems.

Both sexes face the same issues and have the ability to reach the same goals if they choose.

...f men try to control things, they will inevitably screw them up because men are all the equivalents of walking penises.

The first half involved someone who thought of herself as a feminist and yet was afraid of men to the point of judging her male friends by much harsher standards than her female friends. She openly realized her personal policies were unfair towards men, but was unwilling, or unable, to change them. All the while, she claimed to believe in equality between the sexes.

The second set of discussions stemmed from a friend who was earnestly trying to explain the wisdom he had gained from a weekend long men’s workshop on inter-gender relations. According to him, men should stop trying to be women and women should stop trying to be men. Women should control their relationships with men because if men try to control things, they will inevitably screw them up because men are all the equivalents of walking penises.

Furthermore, the seminar taught that women are not competitive, they are not aggressive and they are not physically violent. I tried to see the wisdom in all of it because I respect that friend’s opinions, but I just couldn’t do anything except argue with him. Understandably, he was a bit put out because

According to a women’s self-defense instructor at Douglas College, both men and women have the same chance of being violently attacked, and a recent sociology textbook states that, in 1990, women earned 54% of all bachelors degrees in Canada.

The political and legal systems of this country tend to support the assumption that all people are equal regardless of physical and mental gifts or deficiencies. Is it too radical to think of men and women as equals regardless of any actual differences between us? Have women been empowered to the point where no further radical philosophies or actions are required to ensure that their status remains on par with men? Are men as equally empowered?

Perhaps not. At the same time, I do not enjoy my intellectual or personal freedom being hampered by political correctness, feminism or some guy I don’t even know who runs expensive, weekend-long seminars. Constantly probing and re-probing the issue like an old, festering sore will not cause gender relations to improve nor will it rid the world of any remaining sexual discrimination.

I think the key to breaking down the sex barrier in this society is to let it crumble from the slow and constant pressures of humanity and time, like an ancient ruin. We can still recognize its significance

in the past and deny it any impact on our future. O genders do not have to determine the rest of our lives. Men and women should not be anything other than the people they always wanted to be.

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