Columnist represents uninformed journalism

I was very dismayed after reading Daniel Frias’ piece that appeared in the Monday, March 10 issue, “Guerrilla Girls represent boring feminists.” As a person who would like to live in a democracy, I believe that all persons are entitled to an opinion regarding whatever subject matter on which they wish to comment. Unfortunately the opinion piece on the Guerrilla Girls by sports journalist Frias went far beyond the parameters of informed opinion into woman bashing, racism and sexism.
 
I would like to start off by saying the event sponsored by the Women’s Studies Student Association brought awareness to students and the campus community regarding the undeniable sexism in the art world. The event was very well attended by a wide variety of campus interests, from art to chemical engineering majors. I’m sorry to hear that Frias felt bored at this event, because that was definitely not the consensus of the attendees. It is possible Frias was unamused because he failed to see what he was expecting, which was “nudes, art and feminists.” I think he was really expecting to see nude women.
 
Mr. Frias felt there was no substantial information to write about regarding the Guerrilla Girls. This seems to not be the experience of many of his fellow students who turned in several pages of opinion and academic writing on the event for extra credit in sociology and women’s studies classes. This makes me question whether Frias fully comprehended the event.
 
It seemed that Frias went to the event with many preconceived notions about feminism, and proceeded to present his uninformed opinion in a combative way. In his piece, he made sexist and combative comments that were steeped in the stereotypes of the dominant social structure that oppresses women. Frias demonstrated his anti-woman attitudes projected by Frias by questioning the gender of the anonymous Guerrilla Girls and concluding that, “…anybody who can talk for that long and bore you to death has to be a woman.” This kind of thinking is a common way to silence women and promote unequal power dynamics. He also showed great contempt for his previous girlfriends and other women, likening them to blabbering idiots. But he did not stop at just bashing women. “…when I see a gorilla mask I think about Patrick Ewing.” Likening an African-American basketball player to an ape might indeed reflect the opinion of Frias, but printing such opinions in the On-line Forty-Niner serves a destructive racist agenda.
 
Frias makes a mistake when he assumes the Guerrilla Girls represent all of feminism. To suggest that two women represent the entire lot of feminists displays a profound ignorance about the complexity and sophistication of decades of feminist thought. Everyone learns in feminism 101 that all feminists are not the same, and that feminism encompasses a broad range of views, which are disseminated by a wide variety of women and men. In fact, men are feminists too. One of them is graduating from the women’s studies department in May.
 
Feminism is not about male bashing, as Frias would believe. The movement encompasses many different people of varying genders working to eliminate sexist oppression and other forms of domination. Frias also asserts that the Guerrilla Girls are not feminists because they did not know who Annika Sorenstam was. To deduce all the important feminist activism the Guerrilla Girl’s have done over the last 18 years because they were not aware of one woman athlete is unfair and not journalistic.
 
Also, I find it odd that the one question he had to ask the Guerilla Girls was if they were feminists. If he would have stayed awake during their performance, he would have heard them refer to themselves as feminists several times.
 
Frias is a sports writer and as such, interjects much sports rhetoric into his piece.  I do not actually have a problem with this, I happen to be a sports fan. The problem I have is in the way Frias opens his piece with a total disregard to the importance of his job to report on women’s sports. One of the many important gains made by the feminist movement is that women are actually allowed to play water polo in college. To assume that reporting on women’s sports is a second rate journalistic job, and thus undesirable, is a testament to the contempt for women which Frias holds. I’m sorry Frias is unable to understand the true opportunity he has been given to report on such amazing athletes.
 
Frias feels as though he is not getting the work he deserves at the On-line Forty-Niner, and he takes his personal vendetta against Todd Leland out on a very well liked and popular event on campus for what seemed to me apparently no reason other than boredom. This is a bit extreme to say the least.
 
I would also like to take this opportunity to point out that it took a week before any sort of recognition was even placed in the On-line Forty-Niner regarding the event. This is not the fault of Frias, but I must question why the newspaper failed to report on a well attended campus event which was highly promoted and worked on by members of the student body for months? I’m not sure if Frias was put on assignment for this event, I actually believe he attended on his own accord. But where was a On-line Forty-Niner journalist who was qualified to report on this campus activity?
 
Please understand that if you feel as though it is important to trash the hard work of your fellow students to fulfill the angst you are feeling because your journalistic career at the On-line Forty-Niner is failing, please try to base your opinions where opinions should lie, on the fascinating and very informative show put on by the Guerrilla Girls, rather than resorting to sexist and racist gibberish. The subject matter may not be of interest to you, but it is clear from your opinion piece that you could do yourself some good by attending campus events that promote much needed awareness regarding women’s issues and racism.

— Rachel Klimke,
Women’s Studies Student Association
 

Calendar

Display Ads