Letters to the Editor

Wearing low-cut shirts not a feminist act

Besides people on cell phones, there is… Wearing low-cut shirts not a feminist act

Besides people on cell phones, there is nothing I find more annoying than the ranting of some quasi-feminist “intellectual” (“Being a Woman No Easy Job; Stereotypes Make it More Difficult” by Katie Renze, March 23). I have read this article a thousand different times by a thousand different authors. Katie Renze uses recycled, unsubstantiated rhetoric that fails to introduce any new concepts or to promote further understanding of the subject. However, her article does a fine job of contradicting itself. Renze speaks of, “pig headed perverts who view us [women] as nothing more than sex objects” right before she goes into a diatribe about her propensity to wear “relatively low-cut shirts to emphasize the two good assets [she] was blessed with.” Emphasize to whom? Her mother? her female friends? I doubt it.

It is no wonder guys get the wrong idea when there are women willing to use euphemisms like “sexy” and “vivacious attitude” instead of the more accurate terms “available for sex” and “tease.” Renze, if you are sick of “dealing with stereotypes” and “being labeled a whore” then I suggest you do not define yourself in terms of your physical appearance. You can’t have it both ways: Either wear revealing clothes and own your identity as a “sex object” or dress like a woman who is not preoccupied with impressing the opposite sex. Please, just stop complaining and put on a shirt that adds a little mystery to your God-given assets.

Rachael E. Cohen

Political Science/Spanish

Junior

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Eating disorder caused Schiavo’s condition

With all of the recent media attention on the Terri Schiavo case, it surprises me that little attention is being paid to the reason Terri fell into a vegetative state in the first place. In fact, I had not even thought about it until I read it in an article on www.msnbc.msn.com. To quote the article, written by NBC’s Pete Williams, “Schiavo suffered brain damage in 1990 when her heart stopped briefly from a chemical imbalance believed to have been brought on by an eating disorder. Court-appointed doctors say she is in a persistent vegetative state with no hope of recovery.”

Schiavo struggled with bulimia, and she went into cardiac arrest because of a potassium imbalance in her body. I guess my point is that it surprises me that there aren’t any organizations emphasizing this fact.

I sense that the overall feeling toward eating disorders is that anorexia is the disease that kills people; bulimics just deal with rotted teeth until they recover and move on. But, in fact, some bulimics can die right over the toilet. Also, bulimia is much more difficult to detect. Bulimics do not usually show major or rapid weight loss, like anorexics, and most bulimic behavior is secretive. According to the Web site for ANRED (Anorexia Nervosa and Related Eating Disorders), research shows that about 4 percent of college-aged women are bulimic. Without treatment, up to 20 percent of people with serious eating disorders die. With treatment, that number falls to 2 to 3 percent.

Unfortunately, either Terri was uninformed, or she decided that gaining a few pounds was worse than death. Now, it is up to Congress to decide whether a 15-year coma is worse than death. Young women rarely think about heart attacks, brain damage or comas when they compare their own bodies to unrealistically thin actresses and models.

Last semester, I found support at the University Counseling Center, in a counseling group called “Women, Food, and Self-esteem.” I encourage anyone struggling with any eating disorder (and yes, there are others than anorexia and bulimia that are just as severe) to go to the Counseling Center or try to find help in other places. Visit www.anred.com to find information about eating disorders and where to find treatment. Though Schiavo’s case is tragic, maybe something this powerful can be the turning point in another person’s life.

Courtney Swartz

Pre-pharmacy

Freshman