edibrio
s ys. m s rv
y
SSffiSS&l
eminMOuwry
now subdued
a
"Tn ma. women are no more than a oastime.
hobby. Nobody devotes too much time to a hobby."
Secretary of State Henry Kissinger
In these subdued days following the feminist
outcry of several years ago, the fact that such a
statement could be made by an unquestionably
intelligent and highly influential man is evidence that
the underlying concepts of the women's movement
still are being misunderstood, ignored, or rejected by
a vast number of Americans.
The saddest part of all is how many women must
be included in that number.
The radical approach of the Gloria Steinem's have
alienated countless women. And while I have long
held similar ideals to be true, it has taken me as it
has taken the women's movement itself time to
mature into the confident and constructive force I
had the potential to be.
The crazy days of bra-burning have passed and the
form of the movement has so metamorphasized that
its new shape leaves no room for criticism of the
past. The role of the movement now is to educate the
public about this new mode of thinking.
According to statistics released by the Feminist
Press, over 1,000 colleges and universities now offer
Women's Studies courses, and more than 80 of these
have programs leading to an undergraduate degree in
this field.
In fact, three major schools presently grant
masters degrees in Women's Studies George
Washington University, Sarah Lawrence College and
CambridgeGoddard School for Social Change.
At UNL this semester, six courses in Women's
Studies are offered. For example, in the History
Dept., two women are team-teaching Women in
History, a 300 level course.
amy struthers
broad side
One of the instructors, Ann Kleimola, said 38
students have enrolled in the class, although only
four or five of them were men. The semester will be
spent reading documentary material on European and
American history, with emphasis on the usually
ignored roles of women in the course of events.
"All this business about equality bores rne.
Women were meant to be loved, not understood."
If this statement stirs up enough dissent in
students to get them talking, then Pat Knaub's first
discussion on Women in Contemporary Society has
succeeded.
Even over the telephone, Knaub's eloquence and
enthusiasm are clear. She must be dynamite in class,
guiding discussion through the stages of women's
growth and education.
The English Dept. offers two Women's Studies
courses. Sex Roles in Literature, taught by Louis
Crompton, will include readings of Kate Millet's
"Sexual Politics" and Ibsen's "A Doll's House," along
with works by "male chauvinists" such as D. H.
Lawrence and Thomas Hrdy.
The second class, C temporary Women Writers,
is taught by Dorothy Zimmerman and will be an
examination of the writings of European women such
as Simone de Beauvoir."
Finally, both the Anthropology and Psychology
Depts. are offering new courses. Women's Culture
will be the topic for the Anthropology seminar, which
has three -preceding anthropology courses as a
prerequisite. Details on the psychology course were
unavailable.
This brings the number of Women's Studies hours
at UNL to 18, enough to constitute a Plan A minor in
Hie Culicye Oi AiiS and Scit-nCGS.
If the response to these classes is good and,
according to the instructors I've talked to, it seems
to be we should be able to look toward an
increased number of courses in this area.
- The addition of four or five courses would make a
Women's Studies major a reality. Currently, students
are using the Integrated Studies approach to follow
such a curriculum.
It is a reasonable and just question to ask what
one might do after graduating with such a major or
even a minor. Many fields exist where a specializa
tion in women's studies would be beneficial,
including law (divorce and child settlement cases),
social Welfare, anthropology and medicine, to name
just a few.
Even for those who do not plan to follow a
Women's Studies program, the experience of just one
of the above classes' could be an important part of
developing coif-awareness and sensitivity in both
men and women.
beer and
survival
tim sindelar
beer and
loathing
.fVy
v
Old friends gather by chance over a brew or two.
After a pitcher and the what-have-you-been-do ng s
have been shared, the conversation takes the inevitable
turn- "Hemember ihe good Oiu .uoyo-u
when we really were alive? What's happened to all
Perhaps that questioning is best answered by a hard
analysis of what actually went on during what many of
us affectionately referred to as ''the Revolution . .
Few will argue the contention that the 60s were a
time of mass action such has seldom been seen in this
country People principally students, but later
housewives, professionals, and eventually persons
from every walk of life-took hard action, to the extent
of going into the streets, to effect a change in
government policy. .
The next question is to ask why. It's easy to write that
people were upset by the moral and political
consequences of our involvement in Vietnam. But,
aside from those idealists among us, very few people
get extremely upset over vague moral or political
issues, at least not enough to do anything more drastic
than talk. , . .
Let's accept, then, the most pragmatic viewpoint
the whole issue was actual, physical survival, life and
death, "I don't want to die". Those cf draft age were
the most concerned; others were worried about the
continued existence of their sons, lovers, friends and
neighbors. , ' .
Guided by natural instincts for survival, people acted
in self-interest. And policy changed. Once inertia to
action had been overcome by the dominant issue of the
War, actions in other areas (ecology, racism, sexism)
became easier to take.
Today, the life-and-death situation no longer stares
us in the eye. The idealists still peddle their issues, but
inertia has resumed for the bulk of us, and once again
it's difficult to move.
Perhaps it's time to abstract this analysis a bit for our
situations today. The economic scene could very well
become life and death, unless some action is taken.
(And I don't believe the proper action is to study hard to
get good grades in order to secure a good Job in order to
establish a good standard a living . . . ad nauseum.)
We could abstract a bit further to environmental
concerns; to mental survival in this rat race (or is that
an abandoned concept?); to the question of anyone's
continued survival in a system .dominated by
repression, sexism, racism and exploitation.
Of course, that may be just a bit too abstract for us.
So, let's just continue to sit on our pragmatic asses as
long as the old wolf cf life and death keeps away from
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"Remember Butz said not to do any panic buying.
Consumers need defense
One of the most important pieces
of consumer legislation in years
needs to be pushed to a showdown in
the Senate.
A Senate filibuster so far has
blocked the establishment of a
much-needed consumer lobbying
within the federal government.
Approved by the House in April,
the proposed Consumer Protection
Agency (CPA) would operate as a
Ralph N arjor-t y po ytC'hdOg MOt 0
much over business as over agencies
and regulatory commissions that
supposedly protect consumers.
Such an agency seems necessary
because federal consumer regulation
procedures too often are dominated
by big business' political muscle.
Instead of protecting consumers,
many agencies are obliged to the
industries they supposedly regulate
and depend upon them for technical
advice.
The CPA would voice consumer's
interests to agencies such as those
which set airline rates, rule on
oil-price increases, ret safety stand
ards for cars and school buses and
control the flow of mortgage money.
The CPA also couid appeal court
rulings that conflicted with consumer
interests. Labor negotiations and
license applications before the Fed
eral Communications Commission
would be exempt from the agency's
authority.
'Though established in the execu
tive branch, the CPA would operate
independent of other agencies. It
would submit its budget to Congress
of Management and Budget. Hope
fully, this independent budget sub
mission would make the CPA almost
-immune to political inlluencc.
The measure's chief sponsors in
the Senate Democrats Warren Mag
nuson of Washington and Abraham
Ribicoff of Connecticut and Republi
cans Jacob Javits of New York and
Charles Percy of Illinois reportedly
will try once more after Senate
returns from its Labor Day recess to
obtain cloture.
If they succeed and the bill is
passed, its enactment despite the
strong opposition of major business
organizations will be a heartening
advance for the consumer movement.
Jane Owens
daily nebraskan
friday, august 30, 1974
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