The comment in the post below deserves more attention, thanks to soapboxspinster for letting us know what’s going on.
Last week, The Gazette, a student newspaper at The University of Western Ontario, published a violent, misogynist article in its “spoof” issue that, thanks to online activism and attention, is shedding light on the paper’s problematic practices.
The article, titled “Labia Majora Carnage,” is about a “Take Back The Nightie” march, trying (pretty pathetically) to poke fun at Take Back the Night marches and The Vagina Monologues, both popular forms of campus feminist activism. One particularly offensive passage goes something like this:
“Upon seeing the chaos, London Police Chief Murray Faulkner stopped greasing his nightstick and intervened. He grabbed the loudspeaker from Ostrich’s wild vagina and took it into a dark alley to teach it a lesson. To Ostrich’s dismay, the vagina followed, giggling as it said, “I love it when a man in uniform takes control.”
As soapboxspinster points out, there are more non-violent, more intelligent ways to make fun of feminists (Steven Colbert’s “Cooking With Feminists,” anyone?).
Here’s a rabble.ca piece that gives the context and some contacts for responding to the Gazette. Soapboxspinster’s blog post and the article are here, and provides some important background information.


Digg
four comments
The newspaper's response?
"...some of these students, who belong to campus minority groups, feel they were negatively portrayed or were outright attacked in the Spoof Issue.
Our response? Get over yourself."
They continue in saying:
"Weve yet to receive a single letter to the editor bashing Fridays Spoof Issue... maybe its just that most of Westerns religions, women, homosexuals, babies, god-like dictators, cyclists, student politicians, police, librarians, help groups, administration, squirrels, geese and zombies know a joke when they see one."
Since I don't think the issue was a "good joke," I encourage you to send more than a single letter to the editor:
The Gazette
University Community Centre, Rm. 263
The University of Western Ontario
London, Ontario, Canada.
N6A3K7
Phone: 519-661-3580
gazette.editor@uwo.ca
Posted by Stacey May
April 8, 2007, 7:09 PM
Wow. Without even touching on the barely-veiled and sickening violence of the Gazette piece, it amazes me that we've gotten to the point where such lame-brained, limp, bumbling, absurdly clicheed writing can even attempt to pass itself off as humour or satire. I mean, I reckon a chipmunk with a partial lobotomy could do a better job at making fun of feminism. Just sayin.
Posted by Anna
April 8, 2007, 7:51 PM
The Miss G Project has written a response about their organizing efforts around this on rabble.ca: http://www.rabble.ca.
Posted by Nicole
April 9, 2007, 10:47 AM
The Gazette article is horrifyingly reminiscent of this real life story from a few weeks back: at the International Women's Day March is Guelph, a cop sexually assaulted a female protester:
"Officer Welsh pinned Ms. Freeborns arms behind her back and then pushed his pelvis into her bottom, asking, so how do you like that? The people who witnessed the assault immediately began yelling to the other cops present, hotel guests and passersby that he had just sexually assaulted her and demanded that she be released. One witness, Veronica, yelled you just sexually assaulted my friend to which Officer Welsh responded whatever."
For the full article: http://mostlywater.org/guelph_police_...
Horrible.
Posted by Thea
April 9, 2007, 5:29 PM
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