hursday • July 16,1998 The Battalion PINION ur Bodies, Our Selves American youth need to take responsibility for their sexual behavior Michelle Voss assistant l opinion editor iberty means responsibility. While American sex ual culture often ignores this vital truism, the near 176 million 20-somethings of Generation X cannot ford to disregard personal responsibility any longer, jmerican youth cannot repeat the mistakes of others id carelessly abuse their bodies through frivolous sex- al behavior. Perhaps the one concrete lea Generation X can unite found is the message of sexual ^Binsibility — an unswerving ‘Spe, t for their bodies. ^Rdeed, the self-destructive ;x|ai habits of Americans just light be one of the most bizarre Idal phenomena of the late Oth century. ^■reedom without intelli- enc e only leads to tragic end- igs, even death. "^glipros and Dionysus vs. Apollo ^^Bontemporary American so la! mores are, for the most part, nstnngent,unbinding and, in a word, lax. Americans r ;vel in a life of privacy, liberty and self-expression, ideas |Hiat any Cuban immigrant would cherish. ■Bet, Americans often make the lethal mistake of com ining liberty and indiscretion. Or, in terms of sexuali- jr, a number of American youth combine highly libidi- gs activity with stupidity. I| According to the National College Health Risk Be- ^■or Survey from the Centers for Disease Control and 'revention, 86 percent of students from America's pub- icand private colleges have had a sexual encounter. Among that 86 percent, 70 percent of the students su r- 'eyed did not use a condom at their last sexual encounter. /hy is this stupidity? — because last year the New ngland Medical Journal printed that one in every five ^jericans over the age of 12 has genital herpes. J|hat means that of the some 44,000 students attend- pg Texas A&M, over 8,000 students could possibly be |fei ted with herpes — this should be sobering as well ijs shocking. l little history lesson seems in order. Thousands of years ago, the Greeks worshiped and loned a number of deities with opposing character- ts. Specifically, the gods Eros and Dionysus who rep- Int seemingly antithetical natures to that of Apollo. Apollo represents rationality while Dionysus, the 1 of wine and sensuality, and Eros, representing sex- [ eroticism, both symbolize irrationality. \lthough these gods appear to be incompatible, the i/al climate of the '90s requires a summoning of Apol lo |he moment Eros appears. [In other words, sex requires thinking; otherwise, sex ^equal death. America will never thrive on death. Xers must be for 's - §4? V 4 imm. life. What is this violence? Sex in America has became a lurid game of violent politics, disease and mortality. With their savvy political agendas, groups ranging from the National Organization for Women to the Christian Coalition to Hollywood all send out propa ganda that blurs the reality of sexual activity in Amer ica. While ultra right-wing groups shout that AIDS is the disease of homosexuals and drug-addicts, the facts could not be farther from this stereotype. In reality, the Journal of American Medical Association reported last year that the fastest growing group of AIDS victims is young females living in the south who ac quired the disease from heterosexual males. That means this is not happening to those damn yan- kees, but rather, it's coming home. Then, off in the distance is the faint whining of NOW, ■ " # ! .. , s : LIKE 1b £)(£{?CI£E -rvitw rlOT TO Niom!! MAIL CALL Athletes receive mdeserved hype response to Len Callaway’s July 8, "Scor- l gan Education’’ column: I have to say for an opinion column, en Callaway's is pretty weak. First, I 1 ' n k that Callaway might be missing 16 premise of his own argument. He htes more than once in this column, "Life does not offer any guarantees, and it very seldom offers second chances — make the most of it while you can." This statement does not re ally support his conclusion that athletes should not leave school without a de gree. Apart from general logistical prob lems of this argument, quite frankly. I'm tired of this "holier than thou" atti tude we impose on athletes. Society likes to stereotype them all as jocks looking for the easiest way out and just "wanting to play some ball." Most of the time, playing is the pas sion of athletes much in the same way writing is the passion of authors. Most ly, athletes are just trying to take the best opportunities to do what they want in life like anyone else. I don't see anyone saying they think Michael Jordan should have finished school before he went pro. And on the level of non-athletes, who tells Bill Gates he should have finished school first? Really, if you asked Reggie Brown today, do you think he'd say he wished he had stayed? I bet he's just thankful for his life and for the opportunity to do something he loves — play football — both in the pros and at A&M. Roxanna L. Robertson Senior English Major The Battalion encourages letters to the editor. Letters must be 300 words or less and Include 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 McDonald with a valid student ID. Let ters may also be mailed to: The Battalion - Mail Call 013 Reed McDonald Texas A&M University College Station. TX 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1.1,11. Fax: (409) 845-2647 Class Council strikes out with maroon T-shirt idea -t : Chris Huffines columnist T he Class Councils are not useless. But, with the latest new tradition from the col lective Class Councils, they really are making an effort. The new tradition of Maroon Out is a bad idea that needs to be nipped in the bud. The Class Councils want every Aggie at the upcoming game with Nebraska, be they current or former student, to wear a maroon T-shirt. These shirts will be sold by the Class Councils for just $5. They will be identical. Maroon Out, thankfully, has not yet gained the approval of the administration, but the Class Councils are mount ing a serious campaign to get that approval. To gain this approval, the Class Councils are toting the ben efits of Maroon Out, which are somewhat dubious. The Class Councils say Ma roon Out will be developing a new tradition, as well as gaining national publicity for the Univer sity. The Class Councils are also saying Maroon Out will develop more unity of the Student Body and the Former Students. Finally, they believe Maroon Out will increase attendance at football games and provide pub licity for various student organi zations on campus. All of these are benefits, and good ones, if they were actually going to occur and not some pipe-dream of the Class Councils. First, the last time anyone checked, maroon is a dark color. Dark colors absorb heat, espe cially while a 50-plus year-old former student is standing in the sun watching a football game in the middle of September in south Texas. Even 20-something current students are going to start regret ting the maroon shirt as the sec ond quarter roasts along. The darned things are just going to be uncomfortable to wear. Second, creating a tradition is not only arrogant, but it's also al most surely doomed to failure. Tra ditions are not created, they occur. Bonfire started as a trash heap. It kept on through the years, and developed into the tradition Ag- gieland enjoys today. No one just said to himself, "I think what Texas A&M needs is a semi-reli gious, burning fifty-some foot pile of meticulously engineered tree trunks." Bonfire happened, it was not invented. The same could be said of all Old Army traditions, and most of the New Army ones. This "tradition" of Maroon Out is doomed to failure, because it will not have slowly evolved into the greatness that all the oth er traditions at A&M have achieved. Third, while national publicity for A&M is good, getting it for acting like the world's largest cult is not exactly the best way to go about getting it. Maroon Out will take a large group of people, unite them in one purpose, start them speaking and singing in unison and dress them alike. If students started castrating each other, it could become Heav en's Gate around Aggieland. Next, exactly how is wearing a T-shirt going to promote stu dent unity? The Class Councils may think sweating together in the hot sun is fun, but few stu dents share that idea. Also, ex actly how many Old Ags are go ing to be wearing these things? Thirty- and 40-year-olds are very much smarter than that. They may be old, but they do under stand basic thermodynamics. Not to throw salt in the wound, but also how is wearing a T-shirt going to increase atten dance at the football games. Those who do not care enough to attend a game now are not going to buy the T-shirts. If these T-shirts were a good idea, how would prostituting them out to various student or ganizations help promote stu dent unity? Every student organization on campus cannot be represented, nor can any few be singled out for the identical shirts. The shirts will only be able to include a few sponsoring groups, which will not increase unity. If anything, that kind of advertising will help divide the student body. Finally, does A&M really need another group of identically- dressed zealots at the football games? The Corps block is bad enough alone, but with Maroon Out, the Keepers of the Spirit of Tradition would be excluded from a new tradition. Competition would break out, and that just wouldn't sit well with the Corps. Or the Old Ags who were in the Corps. Again, Maroon Out will only divide the student body. Maroon Out is a well-meaning ■ idea, much like Pet Rocks or the Macarena. Unlike those, Maroon Out should be buried quietly before it does its damage on society. Chris Huffines is a junior speech» communications major. ‘