Just Imagining 2-5-10

    I can’t speak for all editors, but I know for sure I am one who does not enjoy making people angry. So you can imagine how my stomach twisted into knots when I learned I had severely pissed off several feminist “bears” (my words) on campus with my Nov. 20 anti-feminism column.
    The editor who doesn’t like confrontation … had poked the bear.
    To my surprise, I wasn’t called names or thrown to the wolves in any formal response, but that doesn’t mean the writers held back. They asked why I would make fun of something I obviously didn’t understand. (Sure, I’m not an expert.) They wanted to know why I chose to criticize feminism instead of study it for clues. (Good point.) Most poignantly, they called me out on making a sweeping generalization of feminists, when as a journalist, I am trained to do the opposite. (Ouch – that one’s true.)
    One reader suggested my column’s point was so unclear, it must have been written against a deadline with little time to spare. While truthfully, deadlines run my entire life, I agree my column could have used more than one rough draft. My points weren’t completely fleshed out; in fact, I’d meant for my column to just poke fun at feminism and myself. It had a much more serious tone than I had originally intended, however, which is where the additional drafts would have come in handy.
    While I stand by certain points I previously made, I’ve had more opportunities lately to openly discuss my opinions with self-described feminists, and they in turn have asked me to explore feminist issues.     A starting point has been my participation in Murray State’s 2010 Vagina Monologues. We’re addressing women’s issues that are incredibly commonplace and yet never publicly discussed. It blows my mind things so important to a woman’s total well-being are still considered too taboo to speak of in public.
    The actresses have shown me not all those believing in feminism are brutish, forceful bears. In fact, one letter writer helpfully pointed out I wouldn’t even have the opportunity to be an editor without the generations of women before me who fought for equality – a point driven home recently while listening to ‘60s and ‘70s newsroom stories from a respected Murray State journalism professor, Ann Landini.
    I sat in class as she told us of making roughly half of a male journalist’s paycheck when she first started out as a journalist and not being allowed to drive a work car or even leave the newspaper building to go to lunch – all because she was female. Listening to those stories, I honestly couldn’t imagine saying the words of that column to the face of a woman who had to endure the kind of ignorance then that I displayed now. It’s got to be even worse coming from your own gender.
    As long as I’m leveling with you, though, I’m going to issue a rebuke of my own. I’ve mentioned the students who were kind and bold enough to respectfully give me a piece of their mind.
    What about the rest of you? If you were so offended by what I said, why did I get next to nothing in response? My column was a discussion topic in one humanities class the day it ran, but from the heated banter in that class, only one voice made it a point to carry over to my desk.
    In fact, that is why the commentary spot on page 4a is called “campus voice.” It’s specifically set aside each week to declare your voice, but at times it seems the writers have developed a case of laryngitis.
    When we say we welcome and even encourage feedback of any kind, we mean it. The News exists to serve the University, but when members of that community greet each issue with silence, it cuts us off at the legs. So in the future, please don’t take for granted this entire two-page spread dedicated to you. Read it, utilize it and fill it up with your thoughts.
    Learning is a two-way street, so why don’t we all take a drive together?

  Quote of the week: “Who so neglects learning in his youth, loses the past and is dead for the future.”
                   - Euripides

    Song of the week: “Come So Far (Got So Far to Go)” 
 - “Hairspray” soundtrack

    Contact Keen at jodi.keen@murraystate.edu.