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About The Battalion. (College Station, Tex.) 1893-current | View Entire Issue (July 7, 1999)
The I Battalion O PINION Page 5 • Wednesday, July 7, 1999 e hospital prescript ianovich ring to ready l i he mac;: nethingljL aid. “Butj f really pq irking all Red light special abaret owners should value community virtues over profit, keep adult venues out of Bryan u n t ll Bent Caipib MCDANIEL ow ironic. The same week Bryan officials ented their com- 1998 ttMuty as one of the iens, Gtc|l in the country for up of rcMAll-America City J Bipetition, plans to d Kentticmd a brand spank- i U.S. rcSnew “adult enter- SA Baske jjnment” bar in I «n’s backyard became public, ido, Fla, ^Property owner Don Ball has leased a lot - Bie Industrial Park Center to John lick. The cabaret is supposed to open in ■ober, bringing titillation — at a price — pite Ripko a city desperately trying to clean itself up. n, Fermat. The saddest part is many of the parties all year ivolved in bringing the cabaret to Bryan cooled til to see the irony of its arrival. Because in call temlt entertainment has become so custom- ernandez ry in big cities like Austin, Houston and 0 for mosBas, towns like Bryan seem ready just to lug and bear it when they give in to red |l It districts of their own. fcut nonchalant acceptance of the i j laret is irresponsible and detrimental to mar I community. Red light specials should on Red Soft be given the green light by either the aparra Suers of the bar or the citizens of Bryan, he sbonsfc ome locals — and certainly the owners was thecjwill object to such a stance, could no:|i F ' rst ’ advocates of the bar will dress up i edged I® business with transparent euphemisms. 1 New yllnstead of calling the product what it is mtes | a short °f sex f° r sa l e — they will ed as twcl 11 an a ‘ r sophistication to call it a ^ ^Jcsbaret, ” as if its promised choreography |d musical routines betoken cultural en- pment instead of cheap thrills, his ijumhiM of course, the trick of thinking of more datable names for smut is not a new one year Garciap. ® anie ' to the industry. KUI A S ^' s same marketing tool that calls ballparK. Bpj 0 i nts “gentleman’s clubs.” There was lime when that word meant something, lit the main patrons of these establish- , lents are the same “gentlemen” who have i GntteyJ pg, names f or their private parts and read Manny the newspaper just to ogle at the lingerie id Indiari ; a ^ s vy ow c hi c . weland Secondly, after surrounding their wares with a disingenuous mystique, they will of |Course bring up the money, f Akruck'actually offers pfbfit ds a justifi- fction for his enterprise if hiring women e only otte'tip parade themselves in front of horny men h besidejcm be ennobled with such a name. To the ich. The bftggestion that some members of the corn- iron’s caii'j is yir, nzafe. munity may oppose this seedy use of his property, Ball was ready with an answer. “I don’t believe there’s a Bible-thumper out there who would have done differently with the same monetary offer,” he said. Translated, this excuse amounts to say ing, “The money made me do it.” Such rationalization is all too common these days. Morality gets trampled in the marketplace because money is valued over virtue. Where profits are, entrepreneurs will be; too — clothed or not. Both of these defenses obscure the truth about the adult entertainment industry. The truth is that peeping toms are not gentle men, and bare bottoms cannot be reduced to a bottom line. The truth is that pornographic shows are wrong. The cabarets are wrong because they de grade women. They purposely twist femi nine beauty into an object to be ogled at. The dignity of the women employed by the likes of Skruck is stripped away from them along with their clothes; they are treated as eye candy and nothing more. The cabarets are wrong because they de stroy families and relationships. They offer men and women short thrill rides in lieu of committed relationships, and those who are in committed — even married — relation ships are only encouraged to indulge in for bidden pleasures. Communities of relation ships that must compete with the allure of supposedly no-consequence philandering will not survive. The cabarets are wrong because they pil fer lust instead of love, and as a result, they gratify base desires instead of noble ones. Skruck promises the title of the cabaret will be “nice, short and tasteful,” but the plea sures it sells will only be nice and short, as well. You can call it “adult” entertainment if you like, but it is really the most childish form of leisure around. It delights in imma turity instead of commitment, and it makes excuses for itself because it stuffs the piggy bank with cash. And although the city cannot technically stop Skruck, one can still hope for — and work toward — the day when men like him will grow up to be real gentlemen, temper their freedoms with some responsibility and think more of the welfare of.women and the community. Caleb McDaniel is a junior history major. Mark McPherson/The Battalion t. : ■ performa.-] about h; Leaving early RBkfaUr . , w having|^ood for grads ring dos« | n response to Caleb Mc- ime’s f'Daniel’s July 6 column. : is tied«f i homenn | graduated in the first cer emony in May. When I found utthe College of Liberal Arts vas walking with the College If Engineering, I knew it was Canseco ;jj 0 j n g t0 long. *ays | heard some people com- :o plain that so many left. Canseco "I gut m y parents made a the po";good point: because people ■st p^fjeve leaving in waves rather 80’s, than at the same time, exiting ■ 40 WReed Arena and its parking lot /s last I' 1 went a lot smoother. ;ue in ho Besides, my family went to of the sf MAIL CALL see me graduate and no one else. I would venture to say that many of the families went to see their loved one walk and no one else (with the pos sible exception of former Pres ident Bush, but even he left early). Let them leave. It also helps the flow to lo cal restaurants. Many of the college of engi neering grads and their fami lies were probably eating desert when we were singing "The Spirit of Aggieland.” Perfect timing for the next wave of reservations to invade our favorite eating establish ments. Carino Casas Class of ’99 NOW’s policies hypocritical In response to Mark Passwa- ters'July 5 column. As a conservative woman, I could not agree more with Passwaters’ column about the hypocrisy of NOW. Patricia Ire land was quick to denounce Bob Packwood, but she and the rest of NOW have been deafeningly silent with regard to Clinton, Moran, and any other politician who is pro- choice. Ireland may as well just spare the group any charges of hypocrisy in the future and change NOW’s name to the National Organization to Sup port Pro-Choice Democrats. Ellen Daniel Class of VI 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 ac curacy. Letters may be submitted in per son at 013 Reed McDonald 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 77843-1111 Campus Mail: 1111 Fax: (409) 845-2647 E-mail: battletters@hotmail.com Popular women’s sports re-invent feminine ideals T here used to be a time when the only two women sports figures were Martina Navratilova and Mary Lou Retton — two po lar opposites of the feminine spectrum. Aaron One could scare MEIER the lines off the tennis court. The other was so pixishly petite, her voice made dolphins wince in pain. But lately women in sports have be come more than a nice pair of legs in a tennis skirt. There is the WNBA, which started out as a potential League of Their Own in the making, but has been growing in popular ity in its third season. There has been record-setting attendance at this year’s Women’s World Cup games with the U.S. team taking center stage. While at one point mothers encour aged sexual stereotypes by sending their little girls to ballet lessons and their little boys to soccer tournaments, now Mom puts both kids on opposing co-ed teams and watches as Beth sends Todd home crying. Finally, the world has learned that chicks dig sports. But more importantly, the social stigma of women in sports is slowly disappearing. While at one time the vast majority of female athletes would find that there was no life after the NCAA, today professional and amateur leagues exist for women in terested in practically every sport. While it used to be considered unlady like to sweat or run up and down a court, two years ago a Miss U.S.A. finalist was a player on the University of Missouri bas ketball team. Also, according to a recent AP article, a high school in Maine had a nation-wide first. Its prom queen was also the football team captain. Even collegiate women’s sports are gaining public attention. The Texas A&M Volleyball team had its own mini-super star this year in Stacey Sykora. She domi nated her position as an outside hitter with an on-court personality that made her the Janeane Garofalo of the team. Prissy Sharpe, forward of the women’s basketball team; Melanie Wilson, goalie of the soccer team; and Clara Ho, a fresh man NCAA swimming qualifier, have all left their mark on their sport and A&M athletics as a whole. Not only are women breaking into a field that was once strictly reserved for the “stronger” sex, nowadays they are surpassing men in many ways. Today’s women athletes realize the im pact they have on the youth of America. While male athletes like Charles Barkley and Latrell Sprewell flaunt their irrespon sible behavior, women such as Lisa Lobo . of the WNBA and Mia Hamm of the U.S. Women’s Soccer Team take their roles as role models seriously. In the sport of tennis, it is evident that the women’s matches feature more stars than their male counterparts. Ask the lay person to name a male ten nis player and two names come to mind: Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi. Ask them to name women in the sport and names such as Graf, Williams, Davenport, Seles, Hingis and Kornikova come pour ing out. At this year’s Wimbledon, the quarter final match between Venus Williams and Anna Kornikova had so many onlookers they were practically hanging over the balconies to catch a glimpse of the two prima donnas of tennis. Even the sacred cow of professional sports — endorsements — have come knocking on the doors of women athletes. With the Women’s World Cup under way in the United States, Nike has pro duced a series of commercials touting the strength of the American team. Never be fore has a trip to the dentist been such a team-bonding experience. Individually, Hamm, who has been called the Michael Jordan of the soccer world, has been in several Gatorade spots going head to mid-chest with M.J. While ticket sales to women’s events may not be up to the male leagues and the money involved may not approach the mind-numbing figures awarded to men, if the ladies keep up the excitement and integrity of their sports, then “I shall have two fillings.” Aaron Meier is a senior political science major.