Advertising free speech

By Sharron Todd

In this week's 'Your Call' I had to address some questions about making people angry with my last article about "exploiting women"; I also answered the irritating question of why students can't park at Smith Hall on the weekends. So sit tight and enjoy.



I don't appreciate how Sharron responded to my question about poster sales that exploit women's bodies which creates a fantasy for other women that leads to eating disorders. I don't appreciate how she answered my questions. I do know that she has freedom of speech and what-not, but I thought the way she responded was very rude. I guess that's why the world is like it is today - because some other women aren't ready to take a stand. Sharron addressed so many different questions which didn't involved anything I mentioned. Where did

"a blonde with big breast and a small waist" come in? And if On The Wall sells posters and pictures of everything, than why didn't they sell pictures of Playgirl models and half-naked men? I don't understand your whole comment and you didn't answer any of my questions. I want you to know I'm going to contact the women's center and see if they read this article and ask them how they feel about it. Then I'm going to contact NOW and I'm going to send them a copy of this article and show them how sexism is affecting SMU here in Dallas. I felt like you were attacking me personally. So thanks for nothing.



Above anything else, I am a woman - A woman proud to be a woman, proud to have the flaws and the beauties I was given and proud to be different and comfortable with my imperfections. You should also know that I don't tolerate sexism, but I am also not sensitive to what I believe to be excessive whining.

The very reason I was chosen to be the "Your Call" editor was because of my strong beliefs and my adamant opinions. This isn't "Dear Abby;" it's a commentary. I didn't take a crash course on sensitivity, but I was prepped on honesty.

I HONESTLY took your comment as taking the entire 'advertising of posters' completely out of context; therefore I responded likewise (hence the sarcasm in my last editorial). I wasn't quite getting the correlation between selling posters of playboy models and eating disorders. It seemed pretty far-fetched. So I gave you a far-fetched answer.

You asked why The Daily Campus continues to exploit women through advertising On the Wall Poster sales that sell posters of Playboy models (in fear that it would give women fantasies of what they should look like, which would lead to eating disorders). Here's where the "blonde with big breasts and a small waist" comes into play. Ask anyone, and they will probably tell you that that's your typical Playboy model.

I'm not sure whether you actually viewed the posters that On the Wall sells, but they do have posters of half-dressed men. You know - the pictures of the real muscular, no T-shirt wearing, oiled-down, Fabio look-a-likes? I don't know about anyone else, but I bought that poster of Bruce Lee with his shirt off flexing his muscles.

The world is the way it is today because we allow people to sit around and pity themselves. We continue to tell ourselves that it is everyone else's fault that we have no self-esteem. WE allow ourselves to believe in fantasies of beauty and then we become obsessed, which leads to eating disorders.

You know why some people don't recover? They continue to blame society and advertising for their misfortunes and they think that the world owes them something. I swear I speak from experience.

There are so many more women's issues that need to be addressed other than exploiting Playboy models in a poster sale: Rape victims, spousal abuse, discrimination of women on a social, political, and economical platform.

When you call in and ask me questions, you're asking for my opinion. And my opinion I gave you. If you want to call in and ask me a question and then turn around and tell me how to answer it, you shouldn't bother asking for my opinion.

You're right, I do have complete freedom of speech, especially since this is a column where I express my own views and not the views of SMU. But just like I have the freedom of speech, you have the freedom to walk over to the Women's Center or NOW and allow them to evaluate my editorial. You know where to reach me.



You know how there is a parking lot within the gates of Smith Hall? I know that it is a faculty parking lot, but on Saturday and Sunday the lot is empty, and I was wondering why we can't park there at least on the weekend.



I was wondering the same thing actually, because I have a friend who lives over there. We always struggle with the question "To park, or not to park?" It really sucks.

I did call DPS and they told me that the reason you can't park there on the weekends is because the Owens Fine Arts center hosts events and there aren't enough parking spaces in that area to accommodate everyone.

So I asked the officer why students have access to the gate if they can't even park there. He sternly stated that students who do use their cards to access the gate have committed a violation that will be sanctioned.

As you can tell, I got a little heat from my last editorial on 'exploiting women', but because I am a woman, it would be pretty stupid if I was actually in favor of sexism. I just found it somewhat ridiculous to be complaining about poster sales when there are so many other women's issues. Since we are on a college campus, I thought that we could all handle a straight-forward answer.

For all the residents in Smith Hall that do have a car....sorry, you just can't park there.