A Flock of Feminists

We wrote an article about date rape in the gauntlet and Tracie posed for the picture. She a quite lovely hand model, by the way. In the same issue we ran three or four ads for bars featuring scantily clad ladies. Seven days later, we got this letter:

> Hello
> My name is Emily Elder. I'm a fourth year student. Today I picked up a copy
> of the Gauntlet, always interested to see what the campus newspapers are
> doing, as I was interested in writing for the Gauntlet. What I saw made me
> think twice.
>
> Your article on page nine, "Watch Your Drinks" covers a crucial topic to the
> campus undergrad population, most of whom are female. It's a very good and
> important article. However, I found several other features of your paper
> profoundly offensive.
>
> The Whiskey ad on page 19 more than compensates for any cautionary impulses
> that might result from "Watch Your Drinks." Not only are the images
> degrading to and objectifying of women, they exclusively appeal to a
> heterosexual male audience. This audience is further incited to exploit
> women by the text on the button "Get Me Drunk and See Then What Happens". The
> message? Women are only bodies to be used as one sees fit, once they're too
> drunk to consciously choose.
>
> Past that, I count 2 ads on pg 22, and on pg 29 the same Crazy Horse ad as
> pg 22 which are also unacceptable images. I noticed that these semi-nude or
> suggestive images of women are the only ones in your publication. All other
> images used in advertising are male.
>
> Basically, these ads are sexist, degrading, and an exploitative use of
> space. I don't want my student fees to go to a publication that condones
> violence of any sort, especially not sexual violence.
>
> If you're interested in rectifying the gender imbalance that extends to the
> content and tone of your paper, consider a permanent women's page. Since
> there isn't a Women's Centre on campus, there should at least be a voice to
> mitigate the effects of your ads. It wouldn't even be as dogmatic or boring
> as you might think.
>
> I hope to hear your response.
> Thanks for your time.
> Emily Elder

Apparently, the graphic artist for the Whiskey took it upon himself to add the "Get me Drunk..." text and the owner of the bar didn't notice it when he approved it. Our ad manager didn't notice it, our ad layout guy didn't notice and our editor in chief didn't notice it. It ran a second time before anyone realized it.

Hopefully, her letter will help to clean up the ads in our paper.

-Gary Milner, Really Big Internet Superstar