fJjQjuesday • October 14, 1997
O The Battalion
PINION
irror, mirror on the wall
IB year-old’s suicide comes as glaring reminder of dangers of focusing on external appearances
Chris
Huffines
columnist
ime awai
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with tht
7:41 " ” Sept.
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tire 17:2; ou,1 g g id
i the scoA England
ikeringi wallowed a
or Sonia atal over-
thegoaliose of
iringintiauikillers.
fted the 'elly Yeo-
hegamt^ans would
1 lromsf: 10 | ma jiy
lave added
r ier name to
mor t ) ^ ^ st suicide vic-
na l ims if not for the reason she
)t Tec: iac * done so. Yeomans was lit-
hoolrecf a dy teased to the point where
he calmly and rationally con-
allto^emplated, and then took her
)lay. iwii life.
) nowois|Brhe 13-year-old was slightly
2 champ(verweight. She could have
inoraii>eeii described as, at most,
egeSta;chubby. Because of this, howev-
:anwm^ r> } iac i ^gj- own little mob of
ormentors, 15 the night of her
. leath, who threw salt in her
ieofbaB C ^’ dumped her clothes in
he garbage and pelted her
louse with stones and then
ard as Wter and eggs, the ingredients
rhesofi-F a cake -
year’spirS^-S callous and insensitive as
feomans’ tormentors were, the
Big 12 juestions remains: How can a
itativecilice, normal girl be so sensitive
winner hat teasing could drive her to
in St. L iuicidg?
fcveryone who has been in
tes unior high school (and if
intota
mark the
and the:
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Southut
mship i
ick have
21 Aggie:
concluci:
'ekroad:
hey travel
i take on:
ri
ion Col
ron’re here, hopefully you
have) knows that teasing hap
pens, and that it can drive peo
ple into depression and can
damage self-esteem. With the
maturity that coming to college
brings, students realize that
those immature little weasels
who teased them earlier in life
were simply trying to improve
their own self-worth by drag
ging everyone else down
around them.
But why is this such a prob
lem in society?
Why have people become so
sensitive about how they look
that it overrides every other re
deeming feature they have?
Society’s obsession with
physical appearance has be
come dangerous. In years past, it
was just an interesting paradox.
Women, who had fought so
passionately for and won so
many rights and freedoms,
were willingly, almost reli
giously, submitting to the slav
ery of physical appearance. But
now, people are dying, by their
own hands.
What can people do about
this? What can one student at
Texas A&M do?
Simply and clearly, students
can break the stereotype. They
can do what they have always
done and refuse to concentrate
on appearance to the exclusion
of everything else. One person
is a rebel. Forty thousand peo
ple make a movement. The ma
jority of a society is ‘normal.’
Society defines normal as
underweight and attractive. So
ciety has forced women into a
role where physical beauty is a
god to be worshiped, not the
secondary condition that it
should be, because most people
seem to believe that is the way
it should be.
The power to change these
destructive stereotypes rests
with the next generation.
Our generation has the
power to redefine normal into
an ideal that does not lead to
depression and suicide.
Chris Huffines is a
sophomore speech
communications major.
Indents overlook various advantages
in attaining a healthy exercise regimen
Kendall
Kelly
columnist
graduJtts
190-3133
3-4330
fell, it’s October
in the Rec Cen
ter. This is the
ime of year when the
last of the undedicated
rickle out and the true
Itness fanatics finally
ave room to breathe.
There are three
roups that students
■ Compaq fall into when it comes
- °n«<* jgo neglecting exercise.
5°™"^ The first and most
* popular group is the “I’m too busy” crowd,
fact, mm students who fall into this category can usu-
illy be found in the MSC, Koldus or sprint-
__ ng back and forth between the two. Other
Jfriembers of the “I’m Too Busy” crowd are
,U|3 tot just the very involved, but the very stu-
iious. They too claim that they are too busy
o take care of their bodies. Their daily exer
ase usually consists of a few brief jogs be-
1 SC l ween tkie computer lab and the library. As
^ "'ast as this crowd goes, one would think
:hey would be sufficiently trained for the
fenneco Marathon very soon.
The second group of exercise neglecters
ire the many, the proud and the clueless. If
Am fall into this category, you avoid exercise
iltogether simply because you are unedu
cated about it. Women of this group might
>ay things such as, “If I work out, I will be big
ind bulky like a guy,” while men say things
uch as, “The machines are only for girls.”
Clueless exercisers are often those who
lisplay the matching sports bra and biker
horts, which probably cost the same amount
is the Stairmaster they are trying to figure out
iow to use. These are the same people who
[hink they should work out on bikes at level
00 until they virtually undergo cardiac arrest.
ents
o
m
□broom
easing
as
>707
George I*
Marioi 1
The third group of exercise neglecters are
people who are doing well have even pur
chased a pair of athletic shoes within the
last five years. Most of you who fall into this
category are in the “I just don’t give a flip”
arena. You’ve been to the Rec Center maybe
once and it was most likely during your
freshman orientation tour. Exercise is not an
aspect of your life and frankly, you cannot
understand why something as ridiculous as
running is considered a hobby.
If you have been faking a healthy lifestyle
and know it, what can you do about it? The
first thing you can do is nothing. Keep up
what you are doing and you too could be
the victim of the No. 1 killer in America,
cardiovascular disease. For those of you
who have identified yourself as a member
of any of the aforementioned groups, how
ever, there are three things you can do to
counteract negligence to start paying atten
tion to the body.
#1: Enroll in a kinesiology class for a grade.
If you are unmotivated, then this gives you
no choice — either show up or fail.
#2: Treat your exercise regimen as a class. If
you do not want be enrolled in a class, then
make the time you set aside for exercise as im
portant as a class. This means that no matter
where you are during your designated work
out time, excuse yourself and head to the Rec
Center. This may sound a bit harsh, but peo
ple do the same thing when they have a class
or a meeting — it’s called commitment.
#3: Work out with a friend. Having a
workout partner is one of the best ways to
motivate oneself about making exercise a
daily part of life. You can burn off calories
while catching up with a friend.
Long-term benefits are more fulfilling
than a Power Bar. Exercising and practicing
an active lifestyle increases chances by 50
percent to maintain low blood pressure, ac
cording to the American Heart Association.
I spoke with one elderly gentleman who
shared with me the long-term benefits he
discovered through making exercise a daily
part of his life. Bart Braden, a 64-year-old
war veteran and a part-time student at Texas
A&M, took up running over 30 years ago and
currently enrolls in two aerobic running
classes each semester.
Since then, he has lost nearly 50 pounds
and boasts that the the only thing in his
medicine cabinet is a bottle of aspirin, expi
ration date 1963, and a box of tissues that
has turned yellow from lack of use. But Bart
wasn’t really interested in telling me about
his bronze medal he won at the Senior
Olympics last month or that he was a charter
member in the Texas A&M Roadrunners
Club. Why does he take exercise so seriously?
“It keeps me sane up here,” he said with a
smile, knocking his head with his fist.
While 1 listened in awe, Bart told me about
a 77-year-old woman pole-vaulter who
cleared four feet, nine inches in 91 degree
heat, and that the only duties of the EMTs
during the six days of events were treating al
lergies. If there were more people such as Bart
and his fellow participants, there would be
less excuses, greater health nationwide and a
significant decrease in the Medicare budget.
It is oxymoronic (emphasis on the “mo
ron” root) that as body-conscious and
weight-obsessive as our country is, the
leading cause of death is cardiovascular
disease. What should be empty are nursing
homes and hospital beds, not the Student
Rec Center.
Kendall Kelly is a junior Spanish major.
Focus on beauty
alienates women
Michelle
Voss
columnist
sage
opeafl
~ father gives thanks
"" for his son’s survival
■ On Sept. 13, my son Zack
- G'fr Washburn, was severely injured
int in an auto /pedestrian accident
a & Cjn College Station.
He was in intensive care at St.
... Joseph Regional Health Center
’ e 1 for several weeks before being
transferred on Oct. 7 to Warm
ll QllBrings Rehabilitation Center in
San Antonio.
n It if 4 wou ^ ^ ke to take The Bat-
i DO talion for publishing articles re-
69
garding the blood drives and
fund raising activities that were
conducted for my son.
Also, I would like to thank the
students, faculty and staff of
Texas A&M University for their
help and concern during this
difficult period.
Wayne Washburn
Fort Worth, TX
Columnist abuses
power with abortion
In response to Joshua Hill’s Oct. 13
"A Swift satire of abortion" column:
Hill’s satire on abortion does
not give the issue of abortion the
degree of seriousness and
thought that it deserves.
The involved laws surround
ing this issue are based on such
complex topics as the point at
which life begins, the civil rights
of both the mother and the child
and the morals of we as people
and as a country.
These topics require people to
both educate themselves on the
technical subject matter involved
and to do a lot of soul searching
within their religions and value sys
tems (as well as knowing the intrica
cies that each proposed law entails).
I for one, have taken this issue
very seriously, and I find Hill’s
absurdities within his column to
be unintelligent and belittling of
the subject.
I would have liked to have
known Hill’s reasons for being
against abortion, and more
specifically, the law in question.
Instead, he childishly chal
lenged others in a battle of satires
while making no genuine points.
Hill is obviously against abor
tion, but his “shock-appeal” tac
tic of challenging it was both dis
gusting, and it eludes the
complexities of abortion that we
all must consider.
Columnists harbor a powerful
position, since they have the
power to be catalysts of impor
tant thoughts, including religion
and politics.
I believe that Hill, and all
columnists, should handle this
responsibility in a dignified and
mature manner.
Chris Fox
Class of’98
The Battalion encourages letters to the ed
itor. Letters must be 300 words or less and in
clude the author’s name, class, and phone
number.
The opinion editor reserves the right to edit
letters for length, style, and accuracy. Letters
may be submitted in person at 013 Reed Mc
Donald with a valid student ID. Letters may also
be mailed to:
The Battalion - Mail Call
013 Reed McDonald
Texas A&M University
College Station, TX
77843-13.11
Campus Mail: 1111
Fax: (409) 84^2647
E-mail: Batt@tamvml.tamu.edu
For more details on letter policy, please call
845-3313 and direct your question to the
opinion editor.
C ookies
are
evil.
Chocolate is
Lucifer.
Cheesecake
is venial sin.
Calories are
death.
Like Alice
in Warped
Wonderland,
the mass me
dia distorts
reality, trapping women in a never-
ending psychological nightmare.
Through society’s looking glass,
the modern woman perceives her
self as overweight, unattractive
and incapable of achievement
without physical beauty.
Just last week, a 13-year-old
British girl took a fatal overdose
of pills, no doubt to kill the pain
of her existence.
After enduring taunts of “fat
ty” from fellow classmates for
three years, Kelly Yeomans com
mitted suicide because she could
not handle the abuse any longer.
A gang of teens gathered outside
of Yeomans’ home and threw a
block of margarine through her
window, shouting abuse about
lard and fat.
Women today have an obses
sion with superficial appear
ance. This modern epidemic is a
direct result of powerful images
and words that alienate women
from themselves.
Contemporary culture is vin
dictive toward nature’s role for
the female body. Starving them
selves, lypo-sucking out their fat
and stair-stepping to nowhere,
women deprive their bodies of
fetus-feeding fat to conform to
societal standards. As a result,
menstruation cycles go out of
wack, calcium deficiency runs
down the woman’s body and hor
mones go crazy.
Society no longer respects
womanhood. Actually, society no
longer respects motherhood. Na
ture gave women more fatty tis
sue than men for the simple rea
son that women carry babies —
shocking, we know.
If an anthropologist, a thou
sand years from now, unearths
an issue of Cosmo or Vogue, he
or she might wonder why adver
tising campaigns feature con
centration camp survivors. As
twinkie crumbs fall onto the
pages of haute fashion maga
zines across the world, women
today wish someone could just
give Kate Moss an M&M.
Models are simply pre-pubes-
cent girls in a state of arrested de
velopment. The only role these
bony, underfed girls can play is
drooling, heroine-addicted euro
trash. Looking like their panties
are too tight, the twigs of fashion
pull six-figure salaries and en
dure the hardships of lounging
around with pouty faces.
Women in ads look like vul
nerable victims, frail kittens
with their appetites scared away.
There is no celebration of the fe
male form. Rather, the fashion
waifs look like trans-gender,
unisex, 13-year-old boys — in a
word, ugly.
In stark contrast to the freak
ish poster-girls of today, visions
of women in past eras were posi
tive. Once considered ideal, the
voluptuous Marilyn Monroe
graced movie screens with her
smoldering sensuality, winking
and blowing kisses.
Botticelli painted fertile
women, glorifying the goddess
like qualities of the female form.
Depicting women as nurturers,
Mary Cassatt painted plump and
rosy women with a glowing
warmth. Now, we no longer re
gard women with soft and curva
ceous figures as ideal.
Today, happiness is not the
goal, but thinness. Perhaps the
social message is that thinness
equals happiness. Fear of social
rejection compels women to
stock their shelves with piles of
styrofoam rice cakes, gallons of
slim-fast and prepackaged
goulash. Herds of calorie-phobic
women base their social worth
upon their weight, believing
somehow that 20 extra pounds
lessens their value.
Leagues of diet-queens such
as Oprah and Jenny Craig lead
the daily crusade against fat.
Hurray, they can wiggle across a
room without splitting their size-
eight cocktail dress. And sure,
they lead healthy lifestyles, ab
stain from fudge, run eight miles
at dawn and drink two gallons of
water every hour. Clap, clap, clap
... their kidneys are clean. But we
can not neglect the inside, what
lingers beneath the skin.
Women need to develop an
appetite for freedom. Rebel
against mainstream images that
deny nature and stifle women.
Rather than feed off of social pro
paganda, build a self-image that
is uniquely your own.
Michelle Voss is a sophomore
English major.