After reading last week's issue of Spare Rib, I thought of my childhood. I remembered when my parents would go out for the evening and hire a baby-sitter to watch my younger sister and me.
The minute my parents left the house, my sister and I would begin to misbehave. It's not that we disliked our baby-sitter or were evil children, but we new she could not do anything. We misbehaved because we could get away with it.
So how do these childhood reminiscences relate to Spare Rib? The editors of Spare Rib are much like my sister and I were 13 years ago. Why did they choose to publish soft-core pornography under the guise of feminism? For the simple and childish reason that they could get away with it.
While the issue offended my sensibilities, responsible feminists should be most angry with Spare Rib's Sex Issue. To the best of my knowledge, feminism has little to do with the repeated use of profanity, obscenity and sexually explicit stories. Unfortunately, from reading this piece of filth one would come to the conclusion that to be a feminist, one's mind must be in the gutter.
Instead of trying to inform and persuade, the purpose of the issue was to offend readers for the sake of being offensive. While the issue certainly serves to degrade and debase the entire Dartmouth community through its existence, it does little to promote discussion of gender issues.
In its statement of purpose, Spare Rib proclaims that it "is a manifestation of all that Dartmouth women have accomplished." More accurately, the paper is a manifestation of all that its male and female staffers have failed to accomplish.
They have failed to learn how to treat delicate subject matter tastefully. They have failed to learn how to distinguish between intellectual discussion and prurient musings. And most importantly, they have failed to grow up.
Because they hide behind the cloak of feminism, the editors of Spare Rib are virtually immune from criticism from those in the Dartmouth community who would not dare to denigrate such a politically correct cause.
If The Dartmouth Review had used in its paper the exact same diagrams that the Spare Rib printed detailing how a female's genitals look in various positions, I have no doubt that there would have been a campus outcry condemning The Review for tastelessness and irresponsibility. But Spare Rib prints the diagrams and nary a peep is heard.
Such a reaction would not have greeted the paper in most of America's cities and towns. Had Spare Rib been distributed to doorsteps in my hometown, for instance, I assure you that community leaders would have roundly condemned the publication and advertisers would have pulled out from future issues with little hesitation.
While the people of Birmingham, Mich. may not be as sophisticated as those who populate Hanover, they have a far better grasp of basic standards of appropriateness and decency. While those who publish Spare Rib most definitely have the First Amendment right to free speech, community members also have the right to signal through protest that certain expression is completely unacceptable and to refuse to do business with anyone who would advertise in certain publications.
While some advocate banning pornography just as some call for making various forms of hate speech illegal, the most effective way to combat irresponsible speech is not to restrict free expression. Rather, it is to answer irresponsible speech with responsible speech.
When a publication such as Spare Rib seeks to drag the entire community into the sewer, we must clearly, publicly and forcefully resist. We must reaffirm that the publication does not reflect our values or the type of community we wish to live in.
Numerous people have commented to me in private how disgusted they were by the paper. These voices must be made public. We must create an atmosphere where students are hesitant to publish such filth and not where decent students are afraid to criticize obscenity for fear of being labeled reactionary or a prude.
Just as my sister and I grew up and are now capable of behaving properly in the absence of our parents, Spare Rib's staffers will eventually mature and look back with embarrassment at their Sex Issue. It's quite unfortunate, however, that Dartmouth has created an atmosphere where students believe they can get away with such behavior.
