6 The Daily Tar Heel Monday. October 31. 1977
Greg Porter
Editor
Ben Cornelius, Managing Editor
Ed Rankin, Associate Editor
Lou Bilionis, Associate Editor
Laura Scism, University Editor
Elliott Potter, City Editor
Chuck Alston, State and National Editor
Sara Bullard, Features Editor'
Chip Ensslin, Arts Editor
Gene Upchurch, Sports Editor
Allen Jernigan. Photography Editor'
3
Satin
85th year of editorial freedom
Sexual attitudes can lead to problem pregnancies
Canadians come south
for cultural exchange
The Canadians are coming, the Canadians are coming. For the 1 7th year
a group of 35 Canadian students make a sojourn south to Chapel H ill this
week to participate in the Toronto Exchange. They are slated to arrive
Thursday for a five-day visit.
Most of the participating Canadians are students at the University of
Toronto who are familiar with the U.S. But for most, this will be their first
introduction to the South, and we hope their first impressions of our region
are ones they will want to remember.
The Toronto Exchange was founded to promote awareness, appreciation
and understanding of other cultures qualities difficult to find in a world
where increasing nationalist feelings seem to supplant international
cooperation. Students from UNC will visit Toronto in January for a glimpse
of Canadian culture and a look at a Canadian university.
The events planned for the Exchange obviously are not meant solely for
those participating directly in the program. Seminars on U.S.-Canadian
relations, life in the South and the Canadian university system are planned
as well as film clips of UNC basketball and talks by Tar Heel hoop players.
The Toronto students will stay with 39 UNC students in dorms,
fraternities, apartments and houses to get a better flavor of life in the United
States. But the benefits can accrue to the entire University community. We
urge the students and faculty of UNC to participate in the welcome of the
Toronto students and join in the activities planned for the upcoming
weekend. It's a good chance to meet new people, enjoy your favorite b
ballclips and even attend a seminar because you want to.
A subtle racism?
A recent study by New York researchers is an alarming indication that
racial prejudices may effect individuals so subtly they don't even know when
they're making racist comments. The study began when Professor
Raymond E. Rainville of the State University of New York at Oneonta, a
blind man who knows little about professional football, realized he could
tell the race of a football player by listening to announcers' comments about
the player.
Rainville and a graduate student, shocked by the blind professor's
accuracy in predicting color of a man's skin taped 1 2 NFL games broadcast
by the three major networks. They compared the comments made on black
and white players of the same position who shared similar proficiency in
terms of yards gained, passes caught and so on. The researchers found that
black players of equal skill tended to receive less praise than w hites.
According to an article in Human Behavior magazine, the announcers (all
white) "more often praised whites on how they played the game. They more
often put down blacks for past achievements or failures that had nothing to
do with the game . . . when blacks broke through the line or made a long end
run, this was seen as the result of luck, good blocking by other players or
other forces outside the player himself. When whites made the same
accomplishments, this was interpreted as being due to their own skill,
strength, initiative or other internal qualities."
Both researchers suggest that sportscasters are unaware of their biases,
and this is the disquieting conclusion of the study. Individuals who consider
themselves absolutely egalitarian in their outlooks may well have a tinted
view of other races. Network announcers should be confronted with this
data by their employers, and everyday viewers should become aware they,
too, may be unknowingly tainted by prejudice. These findings should be
pursued in further studies, and they should prompt a great deal of
introspection on the part of Americans who are concerned about
harmonious race relations.
Bv HESTER LIPSCOMB
AND NANCY MATTOX
Editor's Note: This is the first in a two-part
series on contraception education and
awareness.
Encompassed in the social atmosphere of
Carolina are messages and subtle pressures
involving the extent of one's sexual activity.
But while overt sexuality is sanctioned in
advertising, in literature, on television and in
films, students still retain feelings of
ambivalence or guilt about sexual behavior.
The consequences of these feelings
potentially set the student up for experiences
of great emotional strain or restricted social
growth as the result of an unplanned
pregnancy.
During the last year, 190 women students
went to the Student Health Service with
unplanned, unwanted pregnancies. The
numbers were fairly equally representative
of every age group and geographic location
on campus (that is, women who live in
dormitories, sororities and apartment
complexes). For a total picture of the
problem, we can only guess, but it is
unrealistic to assume that 190 is the total
number of problem pregnancies that
occurred here in the last year. It is also worth
mentioning that the health service does
many more negative pregnancy tests than
positive ones, indicating that there are many
letters to the editor
more women who have had real concerns
about a potential pregnancy.
This may be surprising to you. considering
the number of confidential education
programs and counseling services and the
ready availability of contraceptives in the
Chapel Hill area. For some of these women,
lack of knowledge or misunderstanding
about sexual functioning, reproduction or
contraceptive methods is part' of the
problem. However, while approximately 75
percent of those women seen at the health
service were using no method of birth
control at the time of conception, most of
them did not give lack of information or
difficulty of obtaining a contraceptive device
as the reason they got pregnant. Reasons
often cited were inconvenience of using the
method they had. guilt about engaging in
sexual activity and apathy that may be
associated with an inability to make
decisions in other aspects of their lives.
Dr. Donn Byrne, a social psychologist
from Purdue, found a situation similar to
Carolina's problem at the University of
Indiana. Byrne's research concluded that
sexual attitudes are the real culprits in a
problem-pregnancy dilemma, attitudes
which are hard to reach in a crash
educational program. Like most UNC
students, students at Indiana were using no
contraception or were using methods
inconsistently or incorrectly. His findings,
reported in Psychology Today. July 1977,
showed "the more negative and anxious
individuals are about sex. the more likely
they are to risk an unwanted pregnancy."
These negative feelings did not keep women
and men from having sex; it just kept them
from consistently using contraception.
Many students have feelings which
include elements of( 1) Denial the thought
that "It won't happen to me, not this time" or
"It's the sale time of the month" or even
denial that, one may be sexually active; 2)
Guilt - guilt about engaging in intercourse
or the thought that using contraception
implies that intercourse was planned and
therefore "wrong"; 3) Assumptions - he
assumes she's on the Pill, or she assumes he'll
use a condom, or one assumes the other will
exercise control for them both, and 4)
Inconvenience the thought that
contraception decreases passion and
spontaneity and, so, interferes.
Although there may be more sexual
activity now among college students and
more media exposure about sexual issues,
there does not seem to be a corresponding
increase in comfort levels regarding
sexuality. Use or non-use of contraception
does not change the morality of intercourse.
The acceptability of whether one engages in
sexual activity is an individual decision,
something a person must work into his or her
own value system. However, unless this
means abstinence to a man or woman, one
must consider pregnancy a real possibility
and take the responsibility for its prevention.
This responsibility involves being
educated about birth control methods, their
use and the risks and benefits involved with
each method. It means accepting risk factors
with some methods and hassle factors
with others. It means having your diaphragm
or condoms with you, taking time to use
them properly, taking your Pill regularly,
remembering to refill your prescription, etc.
For many this responsibility seems too much
to handle, especially if they cannot fully
acknowledge that they are sexually active,
beings.
The reliable, consistent use of
contraception for many men and women
unfortunately doesn't become a concern
until an unwanted pregnancy has been
experienced. It is at this time that a woman,
and sometimes her male sex partner, if he is
responsible, are forced to deal with the
actualities of their sexual behavior. Ideally,
the conscientious use of some birth control
method should begin after the recognition of
potential sexual involvement and the
decision to be sexually active with the first
act of intercourse.
Hester Lipscomb is a coordinator of the
Contraception Health Education Clinic.
Nancy Mattox, a junior, is an English major
from Fajetteville, N.C.
'Yack' campaign: Takes money to make money
To the editor:
We would like to make three points in
response to Betsy Koerber's letter ("Fancy
envelopes," Oct. 28).
First, it is necessary to spend money to be
able to raise money. This year the Yack must
raise almost $70,000, which is more than any
other campus organization (except the Daily
Tar Heel) must raise. We decided to send
letters to undergraduates for a number of
reasons. Many people honesty don't know
w hat a Yack is, and the letter informed these
people. We can't wait for students to come to
us to buy subscriptions because many don't
know where we are. Without an aggressive
sales campaign, we would only sell about
one-half the number of subscriptions we
normally sell.
Direct mail is an effective way to sell Yack
subscriptions. It is also convenient for
students. We're flattered that you thought
the return envelopes looked expensive, but
they cost no more than plain envelopes
would have cost. The amount we spent on
these letters has been recovered many times
over by the number of subscriptions we have
received thus far. Had we chosen any other
way to initiate this year's subscription sales,
we still would have had to spend money on
advertising.
Secondly, we pay for none of the portrait
publicity. The photography studio pays for
any advertising regarding the portraits.
Finally, the 1977-78 staff has no control
over the time at which the 1977 Yack comes
back. The editor and staff are almost
completely different each year, so the book is
different each year. If we had not begun
selling subscriptions before the delivery of
the 1977 Yack, the 1978 Yack would be late
coming back next fall.
Ted K. Kyle
1978 Editor
Betsy R. Gillette
1978 Business Manager
Cruel satire
To the editor:
In response to your editorial, "Science and
Satire Meet" (Oct. 26), I would like to offer
the following comments.
Whether the FDA's decision to ban
saccharin was desirable is certainly arguable.
In making it, they were simply complying
w ith a law passed by Congress. But the use of
large doses to determine whether or not
saccharin increased the risk of cancer was by
no means as ridiculous as it has been
portrayed. The argument is simple. To detect
such an effect, one must either use enormous
numbers of rats with small doses of
saccharin or a reasonable number of rats
with large doses of saccharin. The second
approach was a lot cheaper and the
experiments much simpler. Had the results
been negative, saccharin could have been
considered not a carcinogen. They were not.
There is a risk. How great, we do not yet
know.
As to the "satirical experiment" 1 love
satire, provided it is not needlessly cruel. But
placing sterilized dimes in the peritoneal
cavity of labority animals solely for satirical
purposes is a misuse of laboratory animals.
Jonathan Swift never actually ate little
children to prove his point.
N. A. Coulter, Jr., M.D.
Chairman, BMME Program
5
lette
rs
I he Daily Tar Heel welcomes
contributions and letters to the editor,
l etters must be signed, typed on a 60
space line, double-spaced and must be
accompanied by a return address.
Letters chosen for publication are
subject to editing.
Steve Biko talks before his death on South African struggle over apartheid
Editor's Note: United Press International
South Africa Bureau Manager John Platter
interviewed black leader Steve Biko earlier this
year at a time when Biko was banned from
talking on the record with the press. With the
death of Biko and worldwide outrage over
reports he was beaten to death in prison, Platter
now feels free to release the taped interview.
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa - Steve
Biko, the most articulate leader of the black
rights movement to emerge in recent years in this
white-ruled nation, said, "the violence right now
is destructive. It makes me scared."
And he saw no end to the death and turmoil
that has gripped South Africa since the first
black stirrings against the apartheid racial
segregation policies but hoped blacks might win
freedom by preying on the fears of whites.
"IN QUOTES"
By JOHN PLA TTER
He said he was very confused about United
States policy in South Africa, and that he feared
a dirty deal. And he dismissed Andrew Young,
U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, as "an
ambitious black fellow who is going to have to
play it neutral."
Biko's sudden death in detention in a Pretoria
prison cell on Sept. 12 he was the 20th black
detainee to perish in South African police
custody in the past 19th months thrust the
Biko name into international prominence he
could never have hoped to achieve while alive.
But South Africans still do not know what the
black leader actually said or believed. Biko's
writing and utterances, including this interview,
are banned in the Republic.
A father of two at the age of 30, Biko's interest
varied immensely, from chess to sports to
medicine to politics. And black politics was his
first concern.
Earlier this year, still under a banning order
and officially barred from talking even to foreign
newsmen for on-the-record talks, Biko agreed to
meet me. By agreement, I used the talk only for
my own background. But 1 taped the
proceedings.
We met under the shade of pepper trees that
lined the drive behind a little church in Biko's
hometown. King Williams Town, 800 miles
southeast of Johannesburg.
Tall, bulky and very serious, he wore the
countenance of a man many years his senior. He
arrived at the rendezvous alone in an open shirt
and baggy khaki trousers, driving a red Peugeot
sedan.
We were interrupted during the morning by
plain clothes policemen keeping tabs on Biko.
He dismissed them with a friendly wave.
Excerpts from the interview:
Question: What are your views on political
rights?
Biko: 1 am personally scared of a
conflagration because of the extent to which it
will be determined in terms of purely of race. The
interests of black and white are so diametrically
opposed right now. It's a color thing. The
violence right now is destructive. It makes me
scared. You can walk into town and get shot by
any guy just because you're black. And the
reverse is going to happen. It's irrational. It has
no ideological basis.
Q.: Since the Suweto riots, has a new black
leadership emerged?
Biko: The rioting was originally spontaneous.
The leadership is not coordinated because of the
fast turnover in leadership. You come in, you
stick around and then you go because you have
become a very pried catch for the police.
You will find a continuous regrouping and
action. The present regime can defuse the
situation only by producing an approach other
than the law and order approach which
acknowledges there is a deep seated complaint
that involves negotiation. 1 have seen no signs of
that and the country is going to remain in an
undeclared state of emergency for a long tune.
Q.: If Afrikaner nationalism is based on fear,
are hhik nationalists doing enough to alleviate
w hue fears''
and
time
Stilt illuitrttion by Jocelyn Pgtlibon
Steve Biko
Biko: That would be very difficult now
nossiblv undesirable. You can waste
alleviating the fears of whites. Our program now
is to make tne w hites reaue wnat meir options
are, and 1 sometimes think you can convert
people by playing on their fears rather than by
preaching to them.
Q. How do you assess America's new policy
towards Southern Africa''
Biko: Very confusing. 1 have deep scaled tears
about the role America is ready to play in
changing the present system hete. I he I'.S. has
such a long history ol intciaction with (he while
minoiilv. through hilatctal tuuk'. investments.
diplomatic offensives together and some kind of
tacit alliance over security in the Indian Ocean,
that any agents for change here are likely to be
very suspicious of American overtures. And if
America can't get in with the authentic
revolutionary groups, she won't sit idle. America
would want to promote her own group, make
their particular group the dominant group. My
analysis is that none of the real nationalist
groups would be ready to accept American
assistance because of America's history of
behavior in southern Africa. And if that does
happen, America is likely to do a dirty deal down
the line somewhere, possibly with Zulu chief
Gatsha Buthelezi, chief minister of the Pretoria
created Bantustan homeland KwaZulu or
elements of the white minority.
Q.: And how do you assess Andrew Young
U.S. ambassador to the United Nations?
Biko: Young is in a tight spot. 1 doubt if his
heart is in the right place. My analysis is that he is
a pretty ambitious black fellow who is going to
have to play it pretty neutral. He can't project his
blackness. He has got to project his
reasonableness and acceptability to the
mainstream of white American politics. But he
has created an area of concern and he has singled
out South Africa and introduced an element of
morality in American politics with reference to
South Africa.
Q.: How would the leader of a future
independent black country treat the whites?
Biko: Of course, we accept virtually everybody
who stays here. But they must declare themselves
truly Azanians South Africans. You are going
to find the English-speaking community
accepting this more easily than your Afrikaner,
who is more prejudiced.
The Afrikaner is suffering from the seeds of his
own racial prejudice that he has sown in the
community. To maintain the system, he had to
sow very deep seated prejudices against the black
man. A grand scheme that now cuts across that
type of prejudice will require the defeat of the
Afrikaners own right wing. This is why they fight
with their backs to the wall, why their responses
are not always the most logical.
Q.: How do you think the government will act
in the future?
Biko: There's no doubt, they are trapped by
their own right wing. Also, any concession to
blacks will generate demands for more
concessions and generate more violence. But
people here are going to have to think seriously
in terms of living together, permanently, not just
for the next 10 or 20 years, which is the calendar
the current politians are working on.
But they are old 65, 66 and they don't
really think they'll be around more than 20 years
and so they are just holding the fort. In the next
few years, you will get leaders who are planning
not so much for themselves, but for their children
and their children's children. If they do that
realistically, they'll realize it's better to weld the
population inside than to try to block the rest of '
Africa coming down.
Q.: How does the black movement see the idea
of a deal with the government, say, for a
geographical partition of the Republic for whites
and blacks?
Biko: It has become fixed in people's minds
that Azania shall remain one indivisible country
and any individual pockets like the Transkei
black, independent homeland will simply have to
be overrun and brought back into the fold.
I think the black left will also fight to the bjlter
end to get a completely egalitarian society. But
let's face it, there is a black middle class which
would join ranks with the whites once the color
factor is removed and if there is any eventual
violence, it would be so much better if the color
question had been removed.
Q.: Won't the minimal visible gains from the
current uprisings soon deter the activists?
Biko: The same sort of illogicality which exists
on the white side also exists on the black side.
You have a crystallization of black attitudes
against whites. There is this psychological thing,
too, of the effect on the blacks of having, even if
just for a day, caused panic among whites. Before
there w as just this granite wall. Now they realize
they can make a few dents, obviously at a high
price. But the temptation to make another dent is
very attractive.