Yahoo! ads are demeaning

I am astounded and disappointed by the reaction of the editorial staff to the controversy over the demeaning ads placed by Yahoo as an insert into the paper. I had fully expected that the Parthenon's reaction would be the opposite ­ immediate action to remove such inserts and a profound apology to the women of this campus. Instead, the ads have been dismissed as either justifiable under free speech protection or as the responsibility of a clever advertiser.

I am astonished that you are apparently unaware of the court rulings that material creating a hostile environment for women, the disabled, ethnic minorities or religious minorities in a workplace is not protected by free speech. Men are not "free" to post obscene pornographic calendars in offices where women work; police officers are not "free" to circulate Ku Klux Klan literature at the police station; Neo-Nazi teenagers are not "free" to express their anti-Semitism by posting swastikas on school bulletin boards. (All of the above incidents have been court cases.) So why does The Parthenon think that inserts that suggest date rape, sexual assault, and the general degradation of women is somehow "OK"?

In my many years of teaching, I have counseled untold numbers of women students who have been subjected to degrading remarks, date raped, sexually assaulted, and ­ in general ­ paralyzed by a hostile environment. These women suffer falling grades, require therapy, and often need years to work out their loss of self-esteem and anger.

Apparently The Parthenon has no mechanism for screening the inserts. I wonder if someone in the Ku Klux Klan delivered an insert attacking African-American students whether it would automatically be distributed? Would your editors defend it as "free speech"? Would the administration stay silent? I would suggest that the staff needs a thorough discussion of the ways in which advertising is accepted. After all, you are the student newspaper for Marshall University ­ not a private enterprise.

And I would hope that the Student Government Association might be willing to look at this issue if the Parthenon is not. I would hate to see Marshall University make the news because some women sued the school for creating a hostile environment. I would support that suit ­ but would hope that remedy could be found before it comes to such a drastic measure.

In conclusion, I can only say that I am deeply saddened by what has occurred this last week. I had hoped for better.

Lynda Ann Ewen, Ph.D., is a professor of sociology and co-director for the Center for the Study of Ethnicity and Gender in Appalachia at Marshall.