Page 2
LAMBDA
Oct. '9?
Co-editot fi Comet
by Jennifef Poorbqugh
And Cwlg ledfbPd
Alcn are From Mars,
Women are From Venus, by John
Gray, has been on the best-seller's
bst for years. This book gives
hands-on advice for married cou
ples (heterosexual, mind you) on
how to be more happy, to get
along better, to have a relationship
that works. He has written an
entire series on how men and
women differ, and how to work
around these differences to create
meaningful, heterosexual relation
ships. However, his basic premise
for all these books, the premise he
is selling to America, is false. He
assumes that men and women are
so different they might as well be
from different planets. Gray tells
us that men are goal-oriented Mr.
Fix /i’s and women are social be
ings who just want to talk. Be
cause of this, he explains, when
women want to talk about their
bad day, they just want to talk but
men want to solve their problems.
On the other hand, if a man has a
bad day, he will interpret a woman
trying to get him to talk about it as
an insult because he wants to solve
his problem on his own time.
These differences, he says indi
rectly by stating them as facts, are
innate. This is not true. While
men are more likely to keep their
feelings inside than women, this
difference occurs because of the
way we are socialized by our par
ents, our siblings, our friends, our
teachers, tv shows and commeri-
dals, newspapers, magazines, ad
vertisements, and just about any
thing else that exists in society. In
fact, I would propose the idea that
most of the differences between
the sexes are due to socialization.
Little boys see everywhere im
agery that it is bad to be not be
agressive, to show your feelings,
bascially to be feminine. Little
girls discver that it is better for
them to be polite, well-mannered,
and to play with dolls. These are
the roles society lays out for us,
and this is where differences ap
pear between genders. So, when
Gray is solving all heterosexual
marriage conflicts, he is ignoring
why these conflicts appear in the
first place. Instead, he, and all the
rest of us, should focus on why
what sex you are plays such an
important role in who you become
and what activities are okay for
you to enjoy.
On another note...
New York, Sept. 23—
The military’s “don’t ask, don’t
tell” pobcy does not discriminate
against homosexuals, a federal ap
peals court ruled Wednes
day (2 3rd), overturning a lower
court decision. In a 28-page rul
ing, a three-judge panel of the 2nd
U.S. District Court of Appeals up
held the 1994 legislation that insti
tuted the policy. “We will not
substitute our judgment for that of
Congress,” the panel said.
In 1995, ^.S. District
Court Judge Eugene Nickerson
became the first federal judge to
strike down the policy. A military
“called on to fight for the princi
ples of equabty and free speech
embodied in the United States
Constitution should embrace
those principles in its own ranks,”
Nickerson wrote.
In a related story, the
Navy has gotten itself into trouble
trying to honorably discharge a
Senior Chief Petty Office Timo
thy McVeigh (no relation to the
convicted Oklahoma City
bomber). Apparently, a naval in
vestigator was surfing AOL and
found the word “gay” in the mari
tal status of McVeigh’s member
profile. Without identifying him
self, the investigator told an AOL
representative named “Ovyen” that
he just wanted to verify that the
person with McVeigh’s screen-
name was the person that he had
received a fax from—something
that is a violation of the AOL
members’ terms of service.
AOL’s service contract states that
it will only give out the personal
information of its dients if a law-
enforcement agency presents to
them a subpoena, court order, or
search warrant. By not identify ing
themselves and receiving informa
tion under false pretenses, the
NAVY violated the Electronic
Communications Privacy Act.
However, the Navy pursued a
continued on page 9
Untitled
by Jeffrey Beem
The evening’s feebJe
CTJi
ippled
feeling
o
mv loneliness
Then
a breeze
The flowers
The breeze
Mis moist cheek
his mouth
his breath
the thorn
less
ro.se
We .said soodni^ht
Death would have ta.sted better