Tuesday, May 19, 1998
Prudish offer short-sighted views
SEX: Daily Bruin demonstrates freedom to express all views by
publishing risque columns, ads
By Lev Lvovsky
Sex! Sex! Sex!
There, I think I’ve gained your attention. Hopefully those too
prudish to handle such words didn’t hurt themselves too badly
whilst fainting.
Have we really come to the point in our society when people
can’t handle something as simple as sexuality? Instead of a giggle,
or perhaps some harmless jokes in response to the full page
Penthouse advertisement in the Daily Bruin (May 5), people are
getting their panties (or boxers) in a knot, accusing the paper of
stooping to sub-standard levels.
The full-page ad taken out by Penthouse Magazine in the May 5
Daily Bruin was a test of the readers, the UCLA students, to see
how many people are truly bothered by seeing something even
remotely associated with sex.a
Open your eyes, folks! Take a glimpse around you, and in your
pants, and realize that sex and sexuality are a fundamental part of
everyone’s lives. For some reason, however, certain individuals
want to totally remove any association that our lives may have with
sex, keeping it in the closet, only to be talked about secretly and
in whispers.
Perhaps, as said by the witty Daily Bruin columnist Neven
Jeremic, America does, indeed, need a collective enema. Maybe we
have become just a little too anal about sex in our culture.
Foreign nations are indeed laughing at our double-standards on
sexuality – we can have scantily clad models on billboards, but we
can’t muster the gumption to tell our kids what it all means.
Focusing more on Kathryn Zally’s shortsighted article, you see
that even something like holding a curled-up magazine is, in her
mind, an allusion to masturbation! From this, we can infer any kind
of sexual pleasure is surely a sin, even self-gratification. How
blatantly obvious this should have been … why didn’t I see it?
Perhaps because anything can have sexual meaning if you put your
head to it. Apparently she didn’t see the word "sex" spelled out in
cryptic letters on the White House’s lawn in the background, or the
cleverly disguised penises that make the supporting pillars of our
president’s home.
Porn and bad writing seemingly go hand-in-hand, too. Zally
mentions how the L.A. Weekly is filled with ads for porn. Never
mind the fact that, along with the New Times (which also relies on
sex to stay free), this paper gives some of the most in-depth and
un-biased coverage in the city. Remembering way back to high-school
econ, one may dig up the term "supply and demand," but this
seemingly doesn’t enter into the argument when good ol’ American
apple pie morals are being argued over. It’s funny how
self-appointed "righteousness crusaders" still want to sweep
certain things under the rug, even though there’s far too much of
it around. Sex has been in every society since the beginning of
time; getting rid of it now would be kind of like plugging a dike
with your finger when all of the water has already escaped.
Ask yourself, would you rather have a school newspaper that is
open to all sorts of political (and even, God-forbid, sexual)
statements and articles, where everyone has the ability to express
themselves freely, or one where a single offensive word or picture
cannot be published to save those who are too shortsighted in life.
What better place to have comments on real life than in a college
newspaper?
Exercise the right of selective reading, and keep the ugly head
of censorship buried.