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O^emSerZ, 1990
Confessions of a Soap Opera Addict
Will Duke and Lian be blown to bits? Is Josh falling for Harley? Can a bone marrow donor be found in time for Molly? These are just a few of the dilemmas that
many Salem students face every afternoon. After lunch there is a general migration back to the dorms where we sit before a television set, a color one if we are lucky
in anticipation of entering the wonderful world of soap operas. Oh, sure! Those of you who have never been hooked on a daytime drama have a scornful attitude
towards those of us who, supposedly, 'waste' our precious Hme on such idiotic dribble. Go ahead and laugh about the fact some of us wore black to mourn the death
of the infamous Patch! I believe that soap operas must serve some beneficial purpose or they could not have existed as long as they have.
Soap o^ras are defined, in my 20 pound Webs ter's Unabridged Dictionary, as a daytime television serial drama of a highly melodramatic, sentimental nature. They
are called soap operas because many of the original sponsors were soap companies. ^
Generations of Americans have enjoyed the addicHve qualiHes of soap operas. They are extremely habit-forming. At one point I watched three—all back-to-back
ye^s actually planned my class schedule around my soap opera schedule. Please do not mention that little piece of trivia to my parents this weekend' ^
luring o^ of my clasps, two years ago, my professor, in response to our complaints about having class in the afternoon, replied, "What else are you going to do^
Read your Soap Opera Digest." Little did he know that I had received the first issue of my subscription that very day" ^ ® ^
mgMin^Light. But 1 feel compelled to warn you that anyone who disturbs rnedike I'm not disturbed enough!) during the sacred hours mu^st do so at thrown
The Salemite staff would like to invite you
to express your opinions through letters to
the editors. Since we didn’t get any for this
issue, we are assuming that life here at
Salem is totally hunky-dunky and that no
one has any complaints at all. We are ex
tremely pleased that everything is going
so well. Thank you for your support.
Playboy
Searches For ’Real Women’
The SciCemite
The Uncensored Voice of the Salem Community
Co-T,ditors: Patricia T,arnfiardt & J(aren Tlsey
^Managing T,ditor: Susanne %stes
Mvertising T^ditor: T,CizaSetfi. penned
Layout Lditor: Odanan Mdudd^aitim
(Business (Manager: Laura (BroolQ
CopyLditor: 0(gtfi.ryn Wfiite
Office (Manager: (Donna (May
Staff & ContriSuting Writers: (Mary SiUman, MCysua
\^Armstrong, (MaryStewart ‘Brug/i,'Dorotfiie (Hugftes,
\^(^(pomtna SLf (Mamun, (Metissa (Murray, Susanne
Tstes,LCtzaBetft(FenneCC,LauraLad,Leali(Petree, Slnaie
I Sfwtts,, H(p6in WUson n
Editors of any paper are sent endless
amounts of mail, but I was surprised
when two of the recent letters The Sa
lemite received were news releases for
Playboy's April issue.
I, at first, found humor in the fact that
The Salemite had received mail from
Playboy. More amazed at their audac
ity than anything else, I read on.
Playboy's idea is to have students and
alumnae pose as representatives of their
colleges in an issue to be entitled "The
Women of Women's College's."
This is a sales strategy - much like the
Women of the ACC" issue. However,
the consequences are a good bit differ
ent.
Women's colleges are visibly under
great strain to stay solely for women -
Mill's College, for example.
With the fate of female education
under fire, I cannot think of a worse
incident than pictures of Salem's [or
any other woman's college] women in
Playboy.
We fight enough for the continu
ation of single-sexed education. Why
then should we have to rearrange our
battle for equality to establish that we
are not "airheaded females" who like
to ride horses all day and read Harle
quins in the moonlight?
The April issue of Playboy is proba
bly one of the most timely they have
ever planned. There is no better place
to find a large number of eligible
women than at the nation's women's
colleges.
Our first amendment right to free
dom of speech and personal expres
sion and our right to freedom of choice
are two of the. most important rights
allow^byourCoristitution.However,
why any woman would want to use
her freedom of expression to be ex
ploited in the pages of Playboy is be
yond my comprehension.
Playboy does offer large amounts of
money for posing which would give
financial incentive to many of us on
tight budgets. But, the past has not
shown posing for Playboy as condu
cive to post-college success.
Consider the situation of Vanessa
Williams, 1984 Miss America who was
disqualified after two months. The
public thought she had hit the top
until it was exposed that she had posed
for the magazine. It probably seemed
like the perfect idea at the time. How
ever, it is doubtful that she still feels
that way.
Many college women who have
posed for Playboy's special editions or
the regular monthly editions say that
they have no problem posing for the
magazine because they are as sure of
their minds as well as their bodies.
However, reality will hit when the
reply from the business world comes
back - all bust - no brain - no job. Tra
ditionally, women who pose for maga
zines such as Playboy are not known as
the brightest women around. Take
Vanna White for instance. She does
make good money, but in order to do
so she dresses in tight clothes and turns
letters for Pat Sajack.
I hope there is enough college pride
at Salem to keep our students off the
cover of Playboy.
Salem, and many other women's
colleges, need national exposure, but
wecertainly do not need to obtain it by
over-exposing our bodies.